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The Northern Alliance[1] was a military junta founded and led by the self-proclaimed "Dragon God", Drago Bludvist.
History[]
Background[]
“ | I alone can control the dragons. Let's see how well you do without me. [src] | ” |
— Drago Bludvist |
When he was a boy and lost his family, Drago vowed to rise above dragons. Thus he set himself to conquer the world by using dragons. During his earliest conquests, he found a Bewilderbeast hatchling and raised it with cruelty. He then formed the Northern Alliance composed of Dragon Trappers from numerous nations such as Slavic, Sami, and Asiatic, along with thousands of enslaved dragons. He also built many traps, weapons, and armor made for his enslaved dragons.
About 15 years before the events of How to Train Your Dragon, Drago attended a gathering of chiefs to speak to Chief Stoick the Vast and others. There, Drago claimed that he alone could control dragons if Stoick and the other chiefs would follow him. Stoick and the other chiefs laughed at Drago's claim until Drago wrapped himself in his cloak and cried out, "Let's see how well you do without me!" At that moment, several of his armored dragons attacked the Great Hall, burning all the chiefs alive except Stoick.
As revealed in "The Wings of War, Part 1", after burning down the Great Hall, Drago met up with Krogan, and they made their escape aboard a pair of Rumblehorns.
Dragons: Race to the Edge[]
Season 3[]
In "Last Auction Heroes", Krogan was sent to buy dragons from the Dragon Hunter Chieftain Viggo Grimborn's, dragon auction. Krogan tried to buy the last known Night Fury, Toothless. However, he left without the Night Fury when Berk's Dragon Riders freed the auction's dragons.
Season 4[]
By the time of "Midnight Scrum", Krogan appears again, where he knocks out Throk with a dart after a difficult battle and captures Hiccup in an attempt to get the bounty on him placed by Viggo Grimborn. Upon bringing Hiccup to Ryker Grimborn, he is betrayed and ambushed by several Dragon Hunters, whom he defeats. Later, Krogan attacks Hiccup, who had escaped during the ambush, stating that he would take him to Viggo himself to get the bounty. During their battle, Hiccup removes his mask and recognizes him as the same man who attempted to buy Toothless at Viggo's dragon auction, much to Hiccup's anger. When they both end up hanging at the end of a cliff, Krogan grabs onto Hiccup's prosthetic leg and tells Hiccup to drag him up. However, much to his shock, Hiccup, still angry at him for attempting to buy Toothless, instead removes his prosthetic leg and sends Krogan falling below.
After the Dragon Riders rescue Hiccup, Ryker attempts to throw a dagger at him, only for Krogan, who is shown to have survived, to knock him out. Realizing that he is outnumbered, he jumps out of the cliff and escapes without a trace.
Season 5[]
In "Living on the Edge", Krogan then took over the Dragon Hunters after the apparent demise of Viggo and captured the Death Song of Melody Island. He and the Hunters then used it to capture other dragons.
By "Return of Thor Bonecrusher", Krogan then had several bandits hold the Outcasts' chief, Alvin the Treacherous for ransom. The bandits demanded to be paid in Ice Tail Pike to secretly feed the Northern Alliance. However, they failed and were most likely executed for letting the Dragon Riders get involved. Krogan then formed a partnership with Viggo, who turned out to still be alive.
During the events of "Dawn of Destruction", Krogan, his Flyers, Viggo, and his Hunters then worked together to take Dragon's Edge from the Dragon Riders under Hiccup Haddock III. They were successful.
In "The Wings of War, Parts 1 and 2", Krogan, his Flyers, and Viggo with his Hunters then searched for the Dragon Eye in Dragon's Edge's volcano. Viggo was successful and he then worked on it. Krogan, who was watching when Viggo tested it to see if it would work and when it did, Krogan threatened to kill Viggo for it. However, Krogan was stopped when Viggo was informed that Berk's fleet and their A-team were approaching the Edge.
Krogan then sent his Flyers to deal with Stoick, Hiccup's riders, and the A-team. However, Hiccup and Berk's forces were able to free the Flyers' Singetails. However, Krogan and Viggo then made their escape on Krogan's Singetail in a fog bank along with the Dragon Eye.
In "Sins of the Past", Krogan then arranged for Harek to claim that Oswald the Agreeable was alive so that he may acquire Heather's Dragon Eye lens. He then had his Flyers go after Heather, Snotlout, and Johann. The Flyers were then able to capture Windshear. Krogan then arranged an exchange at the Sea Stacks; Windshear for Heather's Dragon Eye lens. The Flyers then knocked Windshear's cage into the sea and made their way back to Dragon Hunters' headquarters. There, Krogan and Viggo installed the lens as they were joined by their, previously silent, employer, Johann.
Season 6[]
Following the defeat of the Dragon Hunters and the Dragon Flyers in "King of Dragons, Part 2", Krogan is brought before his superior Drago Bludvist. Drago clarifies his displeasure by chastising Krogan for his failures and proceeds to have the latter executed. Drago then tells one of his soldiers to bring him his maps and plans to find another King of Dragons himself.
How to Train Your Dragon 2[]
“ | But even as a boy, left with nothing, I vowed to rise above the fear of dragons, and liberate the people of this world. [src] | ” |
— Drago Bludvist |
When news reached Berk about Drago Bludvist’s growing army of humans and dragons, Stoick set the entire island on lockdown. But Hiccup believes that he could reason with Drago to prevent war.
Following Hiccup and Stoick’s absence, the other Dragon Riders captured Eret, Son of Eret as a hostage who will lead them to Drago’s camp. When they reached the place, the Northern Alliance ambushed them and took the dragons for their master. Drago then learned about Berk’s coexistence with dragons and decided to launch an attack on Valka's Mountain before moving on to Berk.
A huge battle erupted when the Northern Alliance laid siege on Valka’s Mountain. Despite the Dragon Riders’ best efforts, Drago's Bewilderbeast managed to kill Valka's Bewilderbeast and took control of all the dragons before ordering the mind-controlled Toothless to kill Hiccup. Stoick sacrificed himself by taking the blast and the satisfied Drago rode on Toothless to lead all the dragons to Berk, informing his followers to meet him there.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World[]
One year after Drago's defeat, the Northern Alliance was eventually controlled by the Warlords who continued to poach and capture dragons throughout the Barbaric Archipelago, only to have their operations continuously foiled by the Dragon Riders of Berk. The constant interference of the Dragon Riders forced them to hire Grimmel the Grisly, a famed dragon hunter, to capture all of Berk's dragons, including Toothless, the last living Night Fury.
The Northern Alliance is eventually defeated for good after the Dragon Riders rescued all of their dragons, burned many of its ships, and caged its Warlords.
Games[]
Dragons: Rise of Berk[]
The navy of the Northern Alliance appears repeatedly in this game in a 'Defend Berk' activity for players. Drago attacks Berk again and again from the sea with a collection of various ships. The player must send dragons to battle the ship and defeat them.
Dragons: Rise of Berk also reveals the training and duties of some of the dragons under his control:
- Liberated Floutscout - Scout areas ahead of an attack.
- Liberated Haulmauler - Attack ships and abscond metal weapons.
- Liberated Trolboulder - Ambush unsuspecting enemies.
- Liberated Whip-Wreck - Attack weapon caches and storage.
Members[]
- Drago Bludvist (founder and former chieftain)
- Chaghatai Khan (chieftain)
- Griselda the Grevious (chieftain)
- Ragnar the Rock (chieftain)
- Ivar the Witless (officer)
- Krogan (second-in command) (deceased)
- Dragon Flyers (soldiers)
- Flyer Leader (officer)
- Asian, Slavic, and Sami tribes
Trivia[]
- The Northern Allaince serves as the overarching antagonistic faction of the franchise.
- The Alliance is never referred to by name in either the second or third film for which they appear in.
- The Dragon Hunters also use Drago's symbol in an attempt to brand Hiccup. ("Enemy of My Enemy")
- The armor of Drago's tribe was inspired by Slavic culture.
- It is unknown why the Northern Alliance never showed up on Berk during the final battle, even though Drago himself told them to meet him there.
- A possible explanation for this would be the sheer distance between Berk and Valka's Mountain.
- The Northern Alliance was intentionally made to appear culturally diverse, in order to illustrate that Drago's tyranny stretched far across the world.
- Despite this, it has never been shown just how far the Alliance’s empire has reached, due to no maps of its territory being presented. However, the army consisting of Sami, Slavic and Asian warriors indirectly confirms that Drago has influence over parts of Europe and Asia alike.
- Furthermore, concept art for the second movie revealed that aside from the 3 known tribes, there were also supposed to be Inuit, Equatorial and Mongol soldiers serving in the Alliance, suggesting an even larger empire.
- Despite this, it has never been shown just how far the Alliance’s empire has reached, due to no maps of its territory being presented. However, the army consisting of Sami, Slavic and Asian warriors indirectly confirms that Drago has influence over parts of Europe and Asia alike.
- The ships used in the Alliance’s fleet appear to be based off of European ships used during the Age of Sail, which would not be used for several hundred years following the Viking era.
- The Sami tribe members of the Northern Alliance are absent during “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”, with the army only being composed of the Asian and Slavic soldiers. This may imply that the Sami tribe left the Alliance following Drago’s defeat. If this is indeed what happened, it is unknown why Ragnar (who is Sami himself) is still a general within the Alliance, or why he is part of it at all.
- It might be possible they are wearing lighter clothing, being farther from the cold regions of the Archipelago. Ragnar and Griselda, two representatives of the Sami and Slavic tribes, wear similar looking armor which might also be the case with the rest of the soldiers, making them hard to tell apart.
- Another possibility is that the Sami faction of the Alliance is still capturing dragons in and around Norway, while the Asian and Slavic factions are occupying more southern regions. This would line up with the location of the Warlords' Military Base, which is shown to be far south of the Archipelago, while Itchy Armpit (where many of the Sami trappers are) is east of it.
- This is reinforced in the scene where Grimmel talks about where the Berkians might have gone, as he says they would want to avoid their enemies in the southern and eastern sides of the Archipelago.
- Drago generally controls the Northern Alliance through fear, whether it be fear of torture or fear of his dragons.
- It’s implied in the third film that Drago didn’t teach his troops how to tame dragons prior to his defeat, hence while the Alliance still has many captured dragons, they aren’t able to control them and no longer use them in battle.
- Given Drago’s obsession with being the only one to control dragons, it’s likely he never taught his men so that no one could undermine his title as the “dragon god” and to ensure that none of his subordinates could use the dragons against him.
- The Alliance’s headquarters in the third film, is similar in appearance to Stonehenge, an ancient Neolithic structure located in modern day England.
- The crest of the Northern Alliance is depicted as the head of a Monstrous Nightmare with a sword running down through it.
- Despite this, many of the Alliance’s ships are shown having different symbols on their sails. A possible explanation for this, is that these might be the crests of the different tribes comprising the Alliance.
References[]
- ↑ At first, the army (aka the « northern alliance ») was made of different tribes.. (Date Posted - June 30, 2014). Nicolas Weis's Website.
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