AN: I just felt I had to write this. I love that Dreamworks gave Hiccup the peg leg for three reasons. The first- it adds realism. He fought a huge dragon five thousand times his size and NO, he did NOT come out unscathed. I love the books to bits, but eleven books in and four Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus later, the only lasting injuries Hiccup has are the Slavemark and a shrivelled pinkie toe. Gods forbid he has a shrivelled pinkie toe~
The second reason is that it's a shoutout to every person with a disability out there, saying that they too can be great. Hiccup becomes the hero and pride of Berk, and he's the youngest amputee in Berk's history. Raise your glass for equality, people.
The third is derived from a line I read in David Gemmel's Troy series. I can't remember the exact wording, but Hector and the Trojan Horse (their cavalry) are returning from a great victory, and Priam has sent orders that the healthy soldiers are to be clothed in the clean garments he's sent and in their polished armour, while the injured are to be sneaked into the city under the cover of darkness. Hector is appalled, and says something along the lines of 'Only the whole are praised as heroes. The ones who've sacrificed the most are disgraced and unfit for the crowds.' This spoke to me, and it made me realise that we all need to stand up for the marginalised. That's another reason I love HTTYD; it's a zero-to-hero story, but Hiccup doesn't miraculously gain muscles or anything. He stays exactly the same. He's still the talking fishbone, albeit a talking fishbone with one leg, but it's the people AROUND him who change. Instead of Hiccup changing himself to fit what they want, he waited fourteen years for everyone, even his own father, to realise that while he couldn't be the Viking they wanted, he could be the Viking they needed. And now I've gotten myself into a vendetta kind of mood.
This story is in Toothless' point of view. I don't own HTTYD.
I snuffle happily. Hiccup-boy is waking up! I nudge his face with my snout, excited beyond words. He opens his eyes weakly, and smiles. He says my name, and I start licking his face. Hiccup-boy is safe! He's alive! He laughs feebly, and I lift one paw up onto the hard-wood-sleep-place to reach his face better. A mistake as it turns out; I've stepped on his stomach. He lurches upright and groans, and I back away apologetically. I run in circles around the small-wooden-warm-den, clambering over their logs and bits of metal, finally choosing a branch in the roof as my perch. I look happily at my Hiccup-boy. Small, limp, and battered he may be, but he's alive! He goes to climb out of the bed to follow me, and then stops. I drop to the ground. I know how he is about to feel. He lifts up the soft-warm-cover and looks underneath it. He takes a moment, then places his furry paw on the ground, followed by the not-Hiccup-cold-fake-paw. I sniff at it. It smells like the sharp-bad-wrong-things that the two-legs-no-wings used to hurt us, but the not-Hiccup-cold-fake-paw will help Hiccup-boy, like the not-Toothless-part-Hiccup-tailwing helped me. He breathes in deeply and, leaning heavily on the hard-wood-sleep-place, stands up. I'm astonished. When I lost my tailfin, I threw a complete fit. He's not even doing that strange eyes-rain that two-legs-no-wings do when they're sad, like Hiccup-not-want-hurt-fur-face did when Hiccup-boy and I fell out of the sky. He takes a step and gasps. It must hurt, much worse than my tailwing, because Hiccup-boy needs to put his whole weight on it. He breathes in and takes another step, and his legs buckle. I quickly catch him, and he murmurs something to me in thanks. He arranges his paws around my head, and I help him slowly make his way to the big-wood-den-hide-thing. He opens it, then slams it shut in fear. He tells me something, and his intent is clear. He wants me to wait here. I huff in frustration but do as he says. He limps- step, squeak-clunk, step, squeak-clunk, out into the fresh air, and I wait. I'm so, so proud of my Hiccup-boy, my partner-of-heart-and-mind, my other half. He is a better soul than I will ever be.