Profile Meme
[Character Name] Astrid Hofferson
[Canon] How To Train Your Dragon (movieverse)
[Point Taken from Canon] After Hiccup is found unconscious post-battle with the Green Death, but before he awakens back in Berk.
[Age] 15ish
[Gender] Female, despite gendertype indications of her surname
[Sexual Orientation] Well, she seems pretty taken with Hiccup by the end of the movie, if nothing else.
[Eye Color] Light blue
[Hair Color] Blond
[Height] Unconfirmed. Taller than Hiccup. >:[
[Clothing]
[Background] Hailing from the same tribe as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, Astrid may not be particularly hairy, but she's definitely a bit of a hooligan. Along with the other youngsters of her clan, Astrid plays the part of Happy Helper when it comes to putting out the fires during inevitable dragon attacks. While not a lot is known about her history--we're never given any indication who her parents are or what role they might have played in the clan--it's pretty obvious she was raised to be strong, independent, and Not Take Your Crap. When it comes time to learn to be a dragonslayer, Astrid quickly proves herself to have the strength and smarts to back up her brash attitude, and has little difficulty rising to the top of the class, as it were. She wastes no time grinding salt into Hiccup's already wounded ego when he comes up short.
Much to her chagrin, however, Hiccup's ineptitude is short-lived, and before long he is her only competition in the race to decide which student will be granted the honor of slaying the Monstrous Nightmare. When Hiccup is chosen by the village elder, Astrid is livid, and takes it upon herself to figure out what his secret is. So when the boy runs off, surely to his secret training grounds, Astrid follows him, only to discover something she was absolutely not expecting. Startled and feeling betrayed on sheer principle that Hiccup has been keeping a dragon as a pet, she makes to flee, probably to tell the village what she's seen, but Hiccup and his reptilian companion will have none of that. After being scooped up and deposited in a tree and informed that the only way she's getting down is if she listens first, Astrid begrudgingly concedes to being "shown", since she outright refuses to listen to what he has to say.
Astrid finds herself violently thrust into a change of heart as Toothless proceeds to dive and loop, spiraling through the air until she apologizes for her stubbornness and promises to be civil if the dragon just chills the heck out. Like magic, Toothless straightens up and flies right, and whether she's swayed by how obviously intelligent the dragon is or by the simple breathtaking beauty of the flight itself is uncertain, but as evening falls, it becomes clear she's been persuaded to reluctant respect bordering on potential lack of disdain. That is, of course, until Toothless suddenly stops heeding Hiccup's directions and flies the children straight into a flock of dragons returning from their day's kill. Little did they expect to be led straight to the dragons' nest--the most evasive and coveted location in the clan's mind--to discover just why dragons keep attacking Berk: they essentially live like a hive, and if they fail to bring enough food back for the queen, the gargantuan Green Death, they will be eaten themselves.
Escaping the den, they return to the grove where Hiccup has been hiding Toothless. Astrid wants to tell the village what they've found, so that they might finally bring an end to the destruction of the village, but Hiccup begs her not to, fearing that his father will want to kill Toothless. She sullenly agrees, and then punches him on the arm. "That's for kidnapping me," she grumbles, and then before she can think better of it, she kisses him on the cheek--"And that's for everything else."--before heading back.
The following day is Hiccup's much-anticipated final exam, during which he has to slay a Monstrous Nightmare. Astrid bids him good luck, and he asks her to make sure Toothless isn't found should anything go awry. She agrees, though she doesn't like the sound of where this is going. When Hiccup tosses aside his helmet and weapon in a peacemaking attempt, his father bellows to stop the fight, spooking the dragon into attacking. Frightened for Hiccup's safety, Astrid scrambles into the ring to try and help him, but they both end up cornered by the dangerous dragon. Stoick enters the ring to try and save the youngsters, but before things can turn truly bloody Toothless comes to the rescue, wrestling the Nightmare and then turning on Stoick, viewing him as a threat. Hiccup screams for Toothless to stop, and as he and Astrid watch in horror, the vikings swarm over him, dragging him away to whatever fate. Hiccup tries to stop them, but Astrid holds him back, knowing it will do no good.
Later, she finds Hiccup sulking atop a ridge after losing his dragon and being all but disowned by his father. Honestly curious, she asks him why he didn't kill Toothless when he had the chance to initially, and is surprised when he replies that he couldn't. And then she promptly catches him saying instead that he "wouldn't", and prods the distinction. He explains that he saw too much of himself in the downed and frightened dragon to kill it. She prods a little further. "I'll bet he's pretty scared right now," she says, and asks him what he intends to do about it. He replies that he'll probably do something stupid, and she refutes that no, he's already done that. So he corrects himself, "something crazy," and takes off running.
Crazy, indeed. Hiccups great rescue plan involves all of the kids in the village riding dragons off to the dragons' nest to save Toothless and put an end to the pointless war between dragon and viking for good. Easy, right? ... Sure. Paired with a Deadly Nadder, Astrid lets Hiccup bum a ride to ground zero, where she drops him off to free Toothless from the currently burning barracks of the ships set aflame by the Green Death. Then it's off to fight the good fight. Knocked from her dragon during the battle, Astrid braces for a painful fall to earth, but is thankfully saved by Toothless before she is injured. But she watches with pride as Hiccup and Toothless take on the Green Death in a daring display of gallantry, sending it crashing to a fiery demise. Then before her eyes everything takes a turn for the worst as Toothless's tail mechanism is burned up in the flames, and he and Hiccup plunge toward the earth, swallowed by the fires of the vanquished Green Death.
Rushing to the site of impact, the vikings search for Hiccup, hoping to find him safe, but all that greets them is the fallen form of Toothless amid the rubble. Astrid is nearly reduced to tears--just when she started to really enjoy his company, he had to go and do something noble like die for the clan? What the Hel was that all about?--until Toothless unfolds his wing to reveal the boy clutched gently in his talons, alive, if barely.
====[This is the point from which Astrid is being pulled into Somarium]====
A few days later, Hiccup regains consciousness to discover he has a prosthetic leg. When word gets around that he's back on his feet (as it were), Astrid makes a point to punch him, "for scaring [her]," but then pulls him into a kiss without further clarification. Hiccups decides he could get used to this, and the movie concludes with Hiccup, Astrid, and the other children of the village all riding their own dragons, while the adults and other dragons are shown helping rebuild Berk. Yay happy endings!
[Personality] Despite being slender, diminutive, and female, Astrid is no damsel in distress, and the second you don't respect her you'll end up with the butt of an axe haft in your brisket. One of only two girls shown in the group of youngsters in the clan, Astrid has more viking spirit in her pinkie finger than pretty much the rest of the gang combined. Determined and tenacious, she never goes easy on anything, herself least of all, and strives every day to be better and stronger than she was the day before.
She's sassy and sarcastic, decidedly haughty, and maybe even a little bit of a snob until she decides you're worth her time. She repeatedly rebuffs Snotlout's eyebrow waggling and attempts at flirting, and barely gives Hiccup the bat of an eye for a good half the movie. In her opinion, if you're not strong enough to stand up for what you believe in, then what good are you? And Hiccup's general wishy-washiness is unimpressive at best, so far as she's concerned. (And Snotlout's just an idiot.)
A bit short tempered and easily riled, Astrid is very proud, and also has a jealous streak to her. She therefore finds Hiccup's unexpected leaps and bounds in dragon training absolutely infuriating. Rather than accepting his impressive skills for what they are or bothering to outright ask what his secret is, she ignores him harder than ever before, and when forced to acknowledge his existence, she lashes out violently, spitting venom and gnashing her teeth as he outstrips her in aptitude. However, we learn that despite this volatility, there's a curious, suspicious side to Astrid. After Hiccup has once again miraculously come out at the head of the class, she decides there must be some trick to this, and so like a tiny angry blonde ninja she skulks after him, following him to the sunken grove in order to discover the secret behind this particular tricksy Hobbit viking.
Despite everything, she does seem to have a bit of a soft spot for Hiccup, general irritation aside. Once she realizes he's braver than he seems and stronger than his frame might suggest (what do you mean strength's not only about how much you can bench-press?), she takes a genuine shine to him, and puts forth a lot of effort to try and help him. She genuinely worries for him when she thinks he's getting in over his head, and while she seems to subscribe to tough love methods, she's quick to make certain Hiccup knows violence is just how she shows affection. Astrid's iracund nature and short fuse notwithstanding, she's a good, kind person at heart, and with a little gentle persuasion (or shanghai by dragon, whatever works) she might just come around and see it your way. In the end, it is her die-hard stick-to-your-guns nature that makes her such a strong ally, because once you have her as an ally, she'll never leave your back exposed.
[Specialties/Abilities] If Hiccup is a black belt in Martial Arts and Crafts, then Astrid is a master of Good Old Fashioned Fisticuffs. Don't let her small frame fool you--she can swing an axe with the best of them. And you thought she wouldn't even be able to pick it up, didn't you... Too bad, now you're missing a hand. Aside from being able to lift weapons that look like they should possibly be physically impossible for her to lift, Astrid also seems to have a remarkable tolerance for the elements. I mean, it's like frigging Norway and she's wearing a skirt with leggings and a sleeveless shirt with arm socks. Vikings are apparently Just That Hardcore. Additional badassery includes her very fast reflexes and ability to easily think on her feet and outside the box when faced with dangerous situations.
In less tangible fields, she's also sharp as a tack (easily answering questions during dragon training that left others fumbling), and seems to have a keen eye for strategy and details. She's quite studious, and takes being a viking very seriously. When the dragon slaying class is told to spend the evening studying the dragon manual, she assures Hiccup she's already read it. She's also sensible to a fault. Telling the village about the dragons' nest would have been The Right Thing To Do, even if her explanation for how she got there would have been a bit condemning. It was only after Hiccup appealed to her heart (which he seemed convinced, at the time, may have been three sizes too small) that she conceded to keeping quiet so long as he promised to figure something out. So while her heart does sometimes get the better of her, she usually seems to think with her head first.
[Affection] Astrid is rather possessive, and has already shown an affinity for Hiccup, having initiated Public Displays of Affection on more than one occasion. That said, she's smart and pretty and if she happens to catch the eye of your character, that's fine. Just bear in mind she shows affection by punching people.
[Fighting] Oh I am so all over asskicking sessions. She lacks superpowers, but provided we're fighting under mortal constraints, she's quite a capable combatant. Oh, and she also has a pet dragon that breathes fire and can shoot poisonous spines from its tail.
[Other Permissions] I'm open to most things, really, and it's kind of impossible to list every permission anybody might potentially think of, so if you have an idea for something, just ping me! :D I love getting tangled up in plot, be it serious, silly, or otherwise, so if you wanna throw something Astrid's way, please don't ever hesitate to chat with me about it! You can PM this account, or just poke me on AIM at kawreee (yes, that's three e's). I work weird hours, but if I don't respond, just leave a message; I'm pretty good about returning those.
[Other Facts] An intriguing bit of trivia: Astrid's surname should technically be Hoffersdottir. Vikings traditionally went by a patronymic naming system was used--that is, a child's surname usually came from their father. For example, the famous viking Leif Erikson's surname means 'son of Erik'. So good old Leif's dad was named Erik. Female children were also usually named for their fathers, however the suffix was changed to -dottir. So if Leif had a sister named Helga, her name would have been Helga Eriksdottir. Son and daughter--seems sensible enough. Now, whether there is actually significance to this little slipup with Astrid's name, we may never know, but it's undeniable that Astrid has more stones than some of the boys in the village, so it's always been a little bit of my personal headcanon that her father, old Hoffer, really wanted a son. So when a dainty tow-headed girl was born instead, he decided to name her as his son and raise her like a boy, giving Astrid her tough-as-nails personality and, coincidentally, making the confusing gendertype of her name stick through her life.