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Vanaheim, it's so full of mysteries and mythology! This is just a thread in the tapestry of its deep, rich history. [src]
  — Fishlegs  

Vanaheim is an island that is first introduced in Dragons: Race to the Edge. It serves as the final resting place for sick and dying dragons.

Official Description[]

A remote dragon graveyard with frigid foundations, Vanaheim brings peace to ailing dragons — and danger to all others.
Protected by towering ice spires and flocks of Sentinel dragons, the Isle of Vanaheim welcomes all sick and elderly dragons who make their final pilgrimage to this sacred land. Vanaheim's jagged coastline and foreboding atmosphere keep all but the most intrepid of explorers at bay. But those who manage to get past the unblinking guardians will find a treasure trove of diverse remains and a lasting testament to the mystery and grandeur of dragons.
  Dragons: Race to the Edge Interactive Map  
A remote dragon graveyard with frigid foundations, Vanaheim brings peace to ailing dragons—and danger to all others.
  Dragons: Rise of Berk  


Geography[]

Vanaheim contains peaks and plateaus of light-grey rock, grass, and trees. It is home to the edible Vanaheim Fruit: a delicious and juicy red-pink fruit that grows on bushes around the island, which are much like plums or peaches. Vanaheim is surrounded by ice spires and jagged, rocky coastline. It also contains dragon tombs organized by species, tended to by the resident Sentinel dragons, which also consume the fruit on the island. These tombs are created from the many rocky caves and crevices local to the island.

Viewing the island from afar, the topography includes the skeleton of an enormous deceased dragon, specifically an ancient Bewilderbeast laying on its side.

In School of Dragons, Vanaheim is developed further as the resting place of Luminous Krayfins, only underwater at its shores. The immediate underwater environment is filled with seaweed, giant clams, and some crabs.

According to Dragons: Rise of Berk, Vanaheim has an extremely high mountain peak on it. This peak is where the Sentinel Silent Knight roosts.

Mythology[]

Vanaheim is an Old Norse world where the Vanir[1] Tribe of gods live and is associated with nature. Its character is believed to be chaotic, and wild as it is well outside the fortified worlds of humanity.[2] It is also one of the places where the valiant dead go, the other being Valhalla. This bears a strong resemblance to the use the dragons have for it.

Appearances[]

Dragons: Race to the Edge[]

Season 5[]

Hiccup: "The Vanaheim legend, it's the mythical last resting place of all dragons."
Mala: "Vanaheim is very real. It's been part of our culture for centuries."[src]
  — Hiccup and Mala about Vanaheim  
The organization is uncanny. And the fact that the dragons do this on their own, that they can understand abstract ideas, this place implies a structure to the dragon world we never knew existed.
  — Fishlegs Ingerman  

In "A Matter of Perspective", Vanaheim is told by Mala to be the retirement home and final resting place of dragons when the Great Protector (an Eruptodon) starts showing an inability to protect their island any longer. It's also said to be sacred and untouched ever by humans. The Twins' curiosity, however, gets the best of them, and they secretly follow the dragon to the secret site. Hiccup and the other Riders catch up to them before they could cause any harm, and plan to bring them home, but some Sentinel dragons, who guard over the aging dragons living there and take care of the island, refuse to let them leave. They soon learn about some of the death and burial rituals of wild dragons, and that each different species has its own part of the island of the riders’s dragon, all expect Night Fury. Which gives Hiccup and Toothless the idea that they might be able to escape the Sentinels and get help. However, discovering that the dragons are blind and love a certain fruit that grows on site, the Riders disguise themselves with the scent of the fruit to make their escape and leave the island unharmed, and the Great Protector to enter peacefully into the next life. Toothless then destroys the notebook the Twins had been using to write all about the island because Hiccup insisted no other humans should even know about the place.

The Dragon Riders visit Vanaheim again in the episode, "Searching for Oswald... and Chicken". Oswald's diary leads Hiccup, Dagur, and Fishlegs back to Vanaheim. They find some sketches inside that suggests Oswald had been there, and might even possibly still be there. Despite Hiccup's discomfort at humans being on the island again, they stumble upon an old shack, only to find a dead body inside. They soon learn that it was Oswald, and he had lived on the island for many years after being shipwrecked. And now he had also died on the island. Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Dagur bury Oswald in front of his shack, and Dagur mourns over the loss of his father whom he had been searching for so long.

Season 6[]

Vanaheim has been attacked by the Dragon Flyers. [src]
  — Heather  

The Dragon Riders revisit Vanaheim in the episode "Guardians of Vanaheim". Heather had been visiting Vanaheim to get some closure with her father, Oswald. However, she was followed by some Dragon Flyer scouts, leading to Vanaheim's discovery. Heather is able to make it to Berk to ask for help from the Riders. The Riders go to Vanaheim and discover that the Flyers had bombarded the island with fiery blasts from their Singetails and appeared to "kill" the Sentinels. The Riders go after the scouts to stop them from telling Krogan its whereabouts, while Fishlegs stays behind to tend to Meatlug and the Sentinels, as she does not want to leave them. The Twins stay behind to watch a Flyer who was left behind. Spurred by Meatlug's insistence at tending to the Sentinels, Fishlegs discovers that the Sentinels aren't dead; they only appear to be so and need to recuperate. Heat speeds the process. Ultimately, Hiccup, Astrid and Snotlout are able to take down the Flyer scouts, thus preserving Vanaheim's sacredness.

Games[]

Dragons: Rise of Berk[]

The Vanaheim Toothless search location was originally called Sentinel Island but was later changed to Vanaheim. At its introduction, the Sentinel and Whispering Death could be found here in both the Toothless and Light Fury searches. However, in March 2019, the search parameters and dragons were updated. The Whispering Death was replaced with the Grim Gnasher. In May 2021, Vanaheim was introduced as an island in the game, the location of the Legendary Dragon, the Elder Sentinel.

School of Dragons[]

Vanaheim was introduced in March 2018 at the release of the "Wrath of Stormheart" expansion. Nikora Stormheart finds the island and ransacks the dragon bones after immobilizing the Sentinel dragons with pepper gas. Underneath the sea surrounding Vanaheim is a graveyard for Luminous Krayfin dragons. An ancient artifact Nikora wants is located there. Skulder the Archaeologist also visits Vanaheim during the expansion.

Dragons: Titan Uprising[]

Vanaheim is a section of the Mysterious Marshlands. A Shellfire resides in the waters around this island. The dragon acts as a 'big boss' that the player must defeat in battle in order to advance in the game.

DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders[]

Vanaheim appears at the end of the game. Hiccup takes the player's characters - Scribbler and Patch - there because Patch is dying from an abnormally short lifespan as a Chimeragon before showing his rebirth ability.

Trivia[]

  • The skeleton's massive size is an error in the series production since the two Bewilderbeasts seen in How to Train Your Dragon 2 are confirmed Titan Wings and are as large as Bewilderbeasts are supposed to get. As the film released two years earlier and was available to reference at the time Vanaheim was conceived, the TV series production team are at fault for the error.
  • Originally in the game Dragons: Rise of Berk, this island was called Sentinel Island. At a later point, the game changed the name to Vanaheim; most likely to be in greater correspondence with the series.
  • The nature and sentiment of Vanaheim is very similar to the legend of elephant graveyards.
  • It remains unknown where the final resting place for Night Furies are possibly due to Grimmel the Grisly hunting them to near-extinction, and that Vanaheim has no Night Fury bones or resting area.
  • It is unknown if Vanaheim still fulfilled its role as the resting place of all dragons, following the departure of the world’s dragons to the Hidden World.
    • In addition, Hiccup mentioned that all evidence of the dragons’ existence, including their bones, were taken to the Hidden World as well. It currently remains unknown if this includes the Bewilderbeast’s bones at Vanaheim.

References[]

  1. Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg Vanaheim on Wikipedia
  2. McCoy, Daniel. (2012). Vanaheim. Norse Mythology for Smart People. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
Vanaheim uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the Rise of Berk Wiki page Sentinel Island. The list of authors can be found on the page revision history (view authors). ROBWiki Logo
Vanaheim uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the Dreamworks School of Dragons Wiki page Vanaheim. The list of authors can be found on the page revision history (view authors). SODWikiLogo

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