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How to Train Your Dragon 2 turns ten! Come and share your memories on the thread.

Posting reply to Just a Random Thought...
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Clickable Emoticons	Cartoon Freak wrote: > [quote=RealHousewifeofBerk,(time=1407890035)]I was just thinking one day > when this weird thought came to me: just how awkward would it have been if, > in the 20 years that Stoick thought Valka was dead, he had remarried? How > would their reunion be different? What would have happened once Valka got > back to Berk? Just a random idea that I'd like to hear other people's > thoughts on.[/quote] > > Congratulations - you just created a more interesting and believable > relationship in your idle thoughts than the one in a major motion picture > that took about four years to make. Admittedly, that's not particularly > difficult in this instance, but still, kudos for being better than > professional writers in any area. > > Okay, possibly I'm being a little bit harsh on DeBlois and co. here. > Ultimately, the reason why Stoick hadn't remarried by the time of the first > film is because having a mother in there would just have made the film > overly complicated. Gobber serves pretty much every purpose that the > hypothetical mother or stepmother would have served in the film, plus adds > a great deal more. > > Still, they could have had Stoick remarry between the first and second > films in order to create some conflict between him and Valka. Yes, it > would have been something artificially added to create conflict, but when > you get right down to it, that's HTTYD 2 in a nutshell, and all things > considered, one can't really argue with the results in and of themselves > (and that's coming from me). > > Besides, literally any conflict between a good guy (or girl, for that > matter, though I appreciate there wasn't really time to do much of anything > between Valka and Astrid) and Valka would have been better than the creepy > situation we get where no one seems to be able to act like a human being > around her. You could have had her engaging in a long-winded argument > about what colour Toothless's prosthetic tail fin would be, and it would > still be an improvement. > > [quote=Whitefang,(time=1407899316)]I wouldn't like Stoick as much, either. > The fact that he stayed devoted to Valka after she was presumed dead for > twenty years is simply amazing. It's inspiring. If he had remarried, I > think their reunion would be pretty awkward for everyone, Hiccup > included.[/quote] > > While I don't know how Vikings approached marriage (not that that would > necessarily have any bearing on the world of HTTYD), I know that modern > western society (along with Biblical-era Jewish society, and likely some > others) have a "til death do you part" clause of some sort in > there. In other words, I really fail to see how Stoick not remarrying is a > particular act of loyalty or devotion to Valka. That's not to say that he > didn't stay devoted to Valka - heck, he's still got the helmet (though that > connection isn't raised in HTTYD 2, for reasons I can't possibly fathom), > but there's really nothing in that that would stop him from remarrying. > Nor do I see any indication that he stayed unmarried because of Valka. > More likely, he just didn't find someone else that he wanted to marry. > Heck, as I recall, he would have been 40 or so when Valka "died". > Add in some time to move on with his life, and he's not exactly a spring > chicken. > > And what exactly is wrong with some awkward situations, if done well? > Conflict is the lifeblood of stories, and that applies just as much to the > relationships between the good guys as it does to any big bad villain. > > [quote]On the other hand, Stoick remarrying could've helped Hiccup. He'd > have had someone else to talk to- someone who would probably be a little > more understanding (no offense, Stoick!) than his father was. Still, at the > end of HTTYD 2, which person would Hiccup call his mother? It's kind of > confusing. :blink: > [/quote] > > It's not confusing at all; the hypothetical woman who raised Hiccup would > be his mother in every way that matters. Valka is little more than genetic > material and a nine-month storage facility. Well, actually that's being > generous, but since we don't have an accurate number, I'll go with that. > Heck, even in the actual timeline of the films, Gobber has been way more of > a parent to Hiccup than Valka was. > > Alternatively, if you want to see how this would work in practice, watch > The Land Before Time 8, a movie that dealt with that rough concept > surprisingly well. Yes, I'm completely serious: a Land Before Time sequel > had a more interesting and believable familial relationship than anything > involving Valka in HTTYD 2. I'm not entirely sure whether that's a > compliment to the former or a criticism of the latter. Heck, I suppose it > could be both.
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dorcas18 14 Aug 2014, 10:46

Eret
13 Aug 2014, 16:29
Anyway, in my opinion, if Stoick moved on, Valka couldn't really blame him. It was, after all, essentially her decision to never try and come back to her family in all those 20 years. There are a lot of reasons why they obviously decided not to give him a second wife (the main one being the first movie was never originally intended to be the first of a trilogy and they got rid of his mom in the first place for being too extraneous to the plot so what would the point be of adding a step mom................) but if he had, in some alternate universe where the movies are more realistic and have all the time in the world to divulge in a myriad of side characters and subplots, it would be understandable.

I agree.
However I do prefer the whole single parent agenda being simple and clean; it keeps the theme of the story focused.

RealHousewifeofBerk
14 Aug 2014, 14:08

Quote:

Heck, as I recall, he would have been 40 or so when Valka "died". Add in some time to move on with his life, and he's not exactly a spring chicken.
According to the HTTYD website, Stoick is 50 in the second movie, so he would have been 30 when Valka disappeared.

That also means that Stoick got Hiccup when he was 30! Same age when my dad got me

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How to Train Your Dragon 2 turns ten! Come and share your memories on the thread.

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