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[sarnai4]

A Trio Of Perfection

(Spoilers ahead for RTTE). There's never been a time when I didn't like Dagur. I always thought he was a fun character, but I'm so glad that he turned good because his character grew so much more. There are three episodes in his post-redemption time that I feel do the best to show him.

The first is "Enemy of My Enemy." For this episode, I truly realized how competent Dagur is. It's not that he wasn't before, but with him being on the good side, we're able to see that directed in a better direction. At each turn, he's proving how capable he is in multiple situations. Obviously, he can fight. He easily dispatches the Hunters throughout the episode and does so stealthily too. That much I expected. The fun details were how cognizant he was of leaving trails, clearing up Hiccup's and his own so that no one followed. Along with that, we can see some of his practical skills with survival. He found a hidden shelter with fresh water nearby. It doesn't seem like Hiccup saved him by showing up just in time. Dagur was actually doing fine. He might have been lonely, but I'm almost not even convinced of that, however, I'll circle back to that. We also see Dagur's competency with softer moments, not being rough with Toothless who's hurt by the Dragon Root; more of his intelligence since he had the wherewithal to memorize the antidote; and his emotional intelligence since he can tell what's going on with Hiccup and tries to steer him away from his path of vengeance. Another little touch is how we saw his other practical skills like being a great swimmer since he got to the ship and also being a capable sailor since he was able to use it without any other Vikings there.

Returning to my point about Dagur possibly not being lonely, he just became my idol for all things introverted. The episode sort of tries to play it like spending all that time alone got to his mind more, but it actually helped. Speaking honestly, Dagur will never be fully sane and I'm glad they didn't try to unrealistically have that happen. His issue isn't being "crazy," it's being evil. He fixed that. Since being born, Dagur's been surrounded by 50,000+ Vikings. That's smothering. Even when he was on his own in "The Night and the Fury," he wasn't alone. The others were on the side of Dragon Island. Now, Dagur finally is alone and it's not a devastating thing. It's enlightening. It gives him time to think about what he wants in life. What he wants. Not what his father would have wanted, or what's expected of him as chief, just how he wants to make his life matter. Dagur said hours upon hours of alone time did him well and he was telling the truth. It gave him the chance to reflect, decide that he wanted to really have a family and make friends, and start taking measures to make this happen (meditation to control his temper more). I LOVE this episode. I could analyze it all day long, but for the sake of not taking up too much time in one post, I'll go to the other two episodes.

The second one is "Family on the Edge." Now that the audience is aware of Dagur wanting to be good, we're able to have less of the "Are you being serious right now?" type of scenes and focus on how he wants to go through his plan. It shows that he's not one to sit on his hands and hope things improve. He's willing to do everything he can to make things up to Heather and the others. He wants to apologize to them all and prove he means it. Something I love is that Dagur doesn't even feel entitled to their forgiveness. He knows he's done terrible things and that if the roles were reversed, he wouldn't be so forgiving either. This also shows us more of Dagur's emotional side since he does try to hide it from them. We see in "Gold Rush" and "Mi Amore Wing" that he's not shy about being teary-eyed in front of others when the reason isn't overly personal. Still, he wanted to leave before the Riders could see him crying when he thought that the one family he could have didn't want him. This leads to a part of the episode that I think is so beautiful. Dagur immediately goes into protective mode when he sees through Viggo's trap. He doesn't care that he was rejected by his sister and the Riders. He just wants to keep them alive. When he goes to the ships later, he's actually fighting against Heather who still thinks he's there to betray that. Imagine that. You wrote a goodbye letter because you knew that you could die while going through with something and the very person you're doing this for is trying to stop you. Only, they're not doing that out of love. They're trying to stop you because they just can't accept the truth that you want them to be okay and are assuming you're trying to hurt them. Dagur didn't even care that Heather had basically threatened to torture him earlier (mentioning how she could think of some things to do to him when they got back). If saving her meant death, then that's fine by him.

The third episode I love for Dagur is "Searching for Oswald...and Chicken." We see more of Dagur's protectiveness here, but it's also at what I consider to be a healthy level. He isn't the type of protector who won't let you go anywhere. He just wants you to do it in the safest way possible and if he sees that it'll hurt you, then he'll try to prove why it's a problem. He still knows she trusts Hiccup more than she trusts him and he goes there to get the Berkian to support him in this. At this point, Dagur doubts Oswald's alive and he doesn't want Heather getting hurt anymore. If all he can give her are a few answers about what happened to their father, then he'll do whatever he can. Even when the Sentinels try to not let them enter, he finds a way. When Dagur's confronted with the possibility that he's alive, he doesn't even know how to feel. This goes back to him hiding his emotions, but he breaks here when he's looking at that shelter. He tries to use humor to shrug off how scared he is, but it doesn't work because he has no time to delay. He has to open that door and find...what? A man who might hate him for leaving him on the island? A parent who might have hated him enough to leave in the first place? A former chief whose title was taken without it being properly handed down? A father who, even if he didn't hate him before, likely would after he'd explained every horrible thing he's ever done? When it's revealed that Oswald's already dead, it goes back to Dagur's own experiences. He also had been shipwrecked, but he found clarity and hope for the future. When Oswald was shipwrecked, he found only death and solitude. Still, Dagur doesn't let this break him. He reads the note, continues his father's fight for the dragons, and returns with the information he had promised himself he would give to Heather.

I really could go on and on, but I'll stop here. Every moment with Dagur is one I enjoy, but these episodes just are chock-full of them in my opinion. So many of the reasons I love to analyze Dagur are contained here.

[sarnai4]

"Modern" Composers

I'm not sure why I started thinking of this, but I imagined some composers as teenagers together based off how I interpret their music and here is the result.

Beethoven: He's the emo kid. You just don't understand him or why he felt the need to make the 3rd movement of Moonlight Sonata that fast. It's art. You wouldn't get it. He's totally not a drama queen. It's just you.

Bach: Prankster. There's no other reason that he'd have 5 voices in fugue XXII when the average person only has two hands. Why, Johann? Why?? Answer - because he is a troll.

Chopin: The cool kid. (Might be my biases here) I feel like he'd be the one everyone admires. He's just effortlessly cool and laid-back, but then he can be really deep and emotional too without you expecting all that from him. You might not even realize how popular he is until you look closer. (I had no clue the famous funeral song was one of his pieces!)

Satie: Introvert. He likes it when it rains, doesn't talk a lot unless it's important, and loves wrapping up in blankets. He always comes close to seeming depressed, then you realize he's just naturally calm and reserved.

Mozart: Fancy. He goes golfing, enjoys fine-dining, and frequents the opera. His manners are impeccable and put royalty to shame.

Debussy: The daydreamer. He's lost in the clouds all throughout the class, but that world he transports himself to is pretty magical. He doesn't really need to ace the next final, though. He's going to compose "Clair De Lune" or "Reverie." Wouldn't you prefer he do that?

Tchaikovsky: Theater student. He's doing ballet, singing, and acting. It all comes incredibly naturally to him and he's the best one there. He just can't stop himself from turning something into a grand show, so he's normally the one to create plays too.

Coleridge-Taylor: The low-key cool one. No one really notices him at first, then he does something awesome and everyone's just wondering how it took them this long to pay him attention. (His music is great. I highly recommend checking out "Three-Fours.")

Grieg: Another low-key one, but you kind of notice him a bit more. He keeps trying to get your attention. You just always come in right after he's done something amazing. So, you know that a cool thing happened; you just don't know who did it. (I have heard "Morning Mood" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" since I was an embryo and somehow didn't know who he was until a few years ago)

Liszt: Speed demon and track star. Why is Hungarian Rhapsody 19+ pages of speed and/or hand-breaking torture? Just when you think he's calming down (Oubliee No. 1), he reminds you of his fast ways and now you're pulled into it too. You hate how much you love hanging out because you're always sore the next week.

Strauss the 2nd: The loud one. He is very outgoing and likes to be the center of attention. It doesn't take much before he's been noticed by someone (probably by doing something dramatic). His inside voice is just whatever won't burst your eardrums, but you also do want to hear what he's got to say, so it's a fair trade.

Vivaldi: The seasonal buff (half-joking). He's a great academic. His music has a very serious yet delicate sound to it that I can see him taking a lot of pride in his studying (if he actually was a terrible student, I'm going to laugh). Not quite as fancy as Wolfgang, but also fancier than most of the others here.

Camille Saint-Saens: The guy who does one thing and will never let you forget it. (No offense to the rest of his pieces, but I think it's a fair assumption that the bulk of us know "Danse Macabre" and that's it.)

Please share your favorites if they're here! Sorry if I missed them. These are just the main ones I listen to.

[sarnai4]

Chapters: 1/2 Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Dagur the Deranged, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Mala, Astrid Hofferson, Heather, Fishlegs Ingerman, Snotlout Jorgenson, Ruffnut Thorston, Tuffnut Thorston, (Mentioned Toothless) Additional Tags: Humor, Friendship, Based off a random Tumblr thought I had a little while back, some innuendos Summary:

In this modern two-parter, Hiccup, Mala, and the other Riders learn what happens when you have movie nights with Dagur the Deranged. It might just be more than they bargained for.

[sarnai4]

Equal Opportunity

A quick thought came to me the other day about Dagur. Even when he was evil, we can't say he was prejudiced. He's not someone who's going to look down on anybody for a superficial reason. Quite the contrary, he'll try to kill them just as if they're anyone else. He's not ageist since he was quick to threaten Mildew when the Berkian tried to hit the Skrill. Dagur definitely meant every word of that and was absolutely going to shove that cane up his mouth (probably up through his head too while he was at it). He's not sexist. Before he found out who Heather was, he had his Berserkers attack like they would against anyone else. He also didn't hesitate to try to ax Astrid in half or start a fight with her. Dagur obviously isn't an ableist either because he could not care less that Hiccup is an amputee. He's still alive, right? Well, not if Dagur has anything to say about it. It's almost beautiful in a messed up way😂.

[sarnai4]

Golden Retriever / Siberian Husky mix

That is seriously the cutest puppy I’ve ever seen.

[sarnai4]

Dagur's Diagnosis

To begin, I am not, repeat, not an expert. I like Psychology and have fallen in love with the DSM-5. Because of an unhealthy obsession with Dagur, I have decided to see how I would diagnose him if I had to. So, please do not take these to heart. It's just my opinion from what I've seen him do and what I've read. Also, major spoiler warnings since I use some scenes for examples. With that out the way, let's begin:

For some background info, when a disorder is first called “unspecified” or “other specified,” that means that some of the symptoms are exhibited in statistically significant ways, but the criteria is not fully met. Their only difference is that the therapist didn't say said which are not shown and which are or they did, respectively.

Other specified ADHD: Dagur does have symptoms of inattention with not being able to sustain attention on one thing for a while (shown in earlier seasons with him getting bored/impatient in a matter of a few seconds and in the finale with him being bored on Berserker Island since there was nothing to do). He does not qualify for the full criteria of having 6 + symptoms such as forgetting what he is doing, losing items, or avoiding tasks which make him have to focus for a while. If anything, he can get fixated on things. He also lacks the criteria for hyperactivity, including fidgeting (although I do like to include it for some fanfics), not waiting your turn, etc., but he has two disorders commonly associated with ADHD which are the following.

Oppositional defiant disorder: This involves ongoing anger, arguing, defiance, and irritability towards parents/authority figures. Dagur was shown to be very rude towards Stoick when he was a kid and spoke disrespectfully about his father as well. He also disliked Alvin taking charge. Even though he agreed to seemingly team up with the Grimborns, he didn't like working for them either.

Conduct disorder: This is characterized by having a difficult time following rules and behaving in socially acceptable ways. These people might become bullies or hurt animals (the former of which I think he was inadvertently towards Hiccup when they were kids and the latter of which he very intentionally was doing with dragons). 

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: Dagur has severe, recurrent temper outbursts which aren't explained by manic or hypomanic episodes associated with bipolar disorders. These outbursts are for most of the day, nearly every day, and observable. Even when he's trying to be better, he regularly yells at people like roaring at Astrid in "Chain of Command" when she tried to calm him down and yelling at his Berserkers to shut up when he was trying to address them.

Posttraumatic stress disorder: With his experiences in jail, I believe Dagur now has this and is traumatized/has trouble sleeping with nightmares (one at least shown the only time he was shown sleeping in "Enemy of My Enemy.") This could also explain the bags under his eyes not seen on most of the other characters, especially the younger ones. Other symptoms include avoiding the distressful situation (he used humor immediately afterwards to dismiss it), distrusting others since he used to only trust himself, blaming others like those on his revenge list he tattooed to his arm, and being in a persistent negative emotional state. He engages in verbal/physical reactions of violence with little provocation, can be reckless, and probably has sleep disturbances. 

Unspecified neurocognitive disorder: I think Dagur has this since he has issues of executive function, namely his inhibition seen in how he just responds strangely to situations and seems to lack a filter even when he is not trying to be offensive. It's like when he insulted Hiccup twice, trying to insult him neither times. The first was when he started to call him a runt when they were kids and stopped himself; the second was when he likened him to a wimpy Dragon Hunter. Also, this is associated with a loss of sympathy or empathy which he had as a bad guy, killing Vikings for weapons even when he could just buy them. 

Formerly narcissistic personality disorder: Dagur he had a grandiose sense of self-importance and entitlement in addition to being preoccupied with success and power. Evil Dagur thought he was the most important person in the world and there's still a bit of cockiness when he's good (thinking having a Gronckle was "beneath [him].") He was also interpersonally exploitative with taking advantage of others like his fellow villains, again with lacking empathy, being envious of others (Hiccup had a dragon and he didn’t), and arrogant. 

Lastly, general personality disorder: I think Dagur has this with his cognition (ways of perceiving/interpreting himself, people, and events) being impaired. He naturally thinks very differently from the others. For instance, he thought getting down on one knee was a normal way to ask someone to be your best man...I mean, I haven't actually seen it happen in-person, but I feel like it isn't. Hiccup would seem to agree. His affectivity with emotions being intense and changing also are impaired as well as his impulse control. GPD is also known for being stable which it is since it’s a persistent thing that didn’t change even when he was good. I feel like this affects Dagur the most since it's here no matter his good or bad alignment and effects many areas of his life since our cognition is a major influence in our lives.

I'm curious what everyone else thinks! Do these seem possible or are you thinking something else?

[sarnai4]

@nathanwpyle

I literally love this.

I couldn't stop laughing for 20 minutes.

No joke.

[sarnai4]

art by @/rainjeanne on instagram

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS ART IS AMAZING like mai as koh and azula as vaatu and sokka and suki as tui and la

[sarnai4]

Maturity

I'm curious if this is just me, but I feel like Dagur has the potential to be both the least and most mature in the friend group at any given moment. I've seen stuff like that from in the show. It happened both as a bad guy and good guy. As a villain, he was talking about calling dibs on dragon hands; who saw something first and thus, deserved to be the one to kill it; and making the trade of Gustav and the Dragon Eye seem like a game by focusing on who would go first in such a light-hearted way. At the same time, he was worried about the costs for adjusting his armada with the new Night Fury addition, didn't let Gustav's insult of his battling against Hiccup get to him, and de-escalated the issue with Ryker and Heather without bloodshed.

As a good guy, we've seen him be impatient and very similar to a kid wanting to go somewhere they're excited for (when they were heading to Vanaheim and the twins were delaying them) and intentionally mess up Snotlout's name just because he knows it'll annoy him. Then, we also see him give genuinely good advice to Hiccup about not letting vengeance become his new drive and treat a childhood bully with respect even though the other Viking still won't show him any.

I think it's really funny because Dagur can seem so childish in one moment, then snap back into business mode and either calm down a situation or let someone know what they need to hear. Dagur's the guy who pouts over not being allowed to take his knives into the arcade and the one you can turn to for advice when your world just got flipped on its side. Only he could somehow do both of these and have it stay in-character.

[sarnai4]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Dagur the Deranged & Heather Characters: Dagur the Deranged, Heather the Unhinged, OCs, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Snotlout Jorgenson, Astrid Hofferson, Ruffnut Thorston, Tuffnut Thorston, Fishlegs Ingerman, Mala, Throk Additional Tags: Family Fluff, Family Feels, Angst and Drama, Humor, Really depends on which chapter, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Protective Siblings, Found Family Summary:

In an alternate world, Dagur and Heather become close even after getting separated through adoption in childhood. As time passes, they figure out what they want from life, make new friends, and expand their family. This series of one shots will show their experiences as they go through their rough times and happy moments.

[sarnai4]

Apprentices

Spoiler for RTTE. I WISH that we'd gotten to see the time spent while Gustav was a faux Berserker Apprentice. It would've been hilarious because Dagur was so determined to keep up the act that he was actually a fan of the kid. We also know how much Gustav ruins everything he touches. I think it was this episode that made me give up on him. There's nothing that works with him. The Riders shunned him and he caused problems, Dagur embraced him and he was still pathetic...what are the other options? I wonder how many things he ruined on the island and how many times Dagur did his angry meditating to keep from adding to his already high body count. I bet that at least once, he considered Stoick asking Gustav to stay there as an indirect declaration of war. Still, it was funny to watch poor Snotlout just be fooled the entire episode until it was proven that Dagur disliked Gustav too. We have to remember also that Dagur had Gustav graduate two weeks early (even though he sucked, so this was to get rid of him sooner than later). I'm convinced we were deprived of some great comedy there. What a good way to test out Dagur's goodness, though. I mean, if he didn't kill Gustav, he's definitely a better man than he used to be. He didn't even need to kill Gustav before and was still planning on it. Which sorta leads me to my last point: It would've been funny too to see this because I'm sure Gustav was initially scared by being sent to the island of the man who was planning on killing him. That change from fear to thinking they're friends would just be a case of so many oblivious actions from him.

[sarnai4]

Character Designs

A little something I like a lot about Dagur is how they handled the character designs. First off, we have his younger look.

I think it's fun! He immediately stands out from the others by having some distinctive features. That's actually another thing I disliked about Grimmel. I feel like outside of having gray/white hair, he wasn't distinctive. I can't really describe how Grimmel looks, but I can give a description of Dagur with his blue tattoos (the only character at this point of the story who has tattoos, mind you), a red braid, tall and horned helmet, and a belt with a large, golden buckle. He stands out in a crowd visually as much as he does when you get to know him. You see him and know that he's going to be a character who's important because it wouldn't have been worth the time to do all that designing otherwise. There's also something else I like about it. He looks put together. For someone called "Deranged," he doesn't fit the stereotype when you see him. His clothes are clean, his braid is neat, etc. For all we know, he could be sane if we could only judge that by looking at him.

Now we have his second look from RTTE.

One of the main things I like is how vastly different it is. Dagur's really the only character who has such a redesign. New, shorter hair, armor vs the more cloth-based clothing, larger build, scar, facial hair. It works to me because it makes sense. He's the only one who's really changed in three years. He's become more deranged, more angry-more dangerous in general and his look reflects that. He doesn't look as "neat" anymore. The beard is scraggly, the haircut is choppy, and his facial expressions have a lot more range in the extremes they hit. Now, he does look the part for his moniker. He's not the lean kid with the occasional odd look in his eyes. He's the young man who's probably about to try to kill you and could very easily.

[sarnai4]

Chapters: 6/? Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Snotlout Jorgenson, Dagur the Deranged, Spitelout Jorgenson, Oswald the Agreeable, Snotlout Jorgenson's Mother Additional Tags: Developing Friendships, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bullying, Child Abuse, Drama Summary:

Meeting during an annual peace treaty signing, Dagur and Snotlout form a quick bond. In time, the friends learn that they share a dark secret. With this information, they can help one another or choose to use their time together to just be kids for once.

[sarnai4]

And the Emmy Goes To...

(Spoilers for RTTE). I realized that there is a skilled actor in the Dragons universe. No, it's not Sir. Oglethorpe, but he's a runner up for the Emmy. It's Dagur. He is almost always acting and convincing everyone or nearly everyone.

First, he played the role of the patricidal maniac. Everybody bought that.

Then, he played the role of the inexperienced leader, so Alvin wouldn't know he was planning on taking the Skrill.

Next role was to seem like a loyal lackey for the Hunters. Neither Grimborn brother knew he was going to betray them from the get-go.

Acted like a loyal Hunter AGAIN after he undoubtedly killed a few when he was proving the one spot was a trap. He did this well enough that he found out where Shattermaster was being taken and could even club one Viking in the back of the knee without them thinking they should attack him.

In the same episode, he pretended to be a homeless traveler and almost convinced Hiccup (even though the Berkian literally saw Dagur with the Hunters, so extra kudos for still making him think it's possible that he's got a unique form of amnesia).

You'd think this would be enough, but he has one more unless I'm miscounting. The final time was when he pretended to be the proud mentor for Gustav. Neither Gustav, Snotlout, nor the other Berkians realized that Dagur really knew the kid was incompetent and had been cheating through everything. (Personally, a hilarious detail is that he's graduating two weeks early. Dagur couldn't take two more weeks of him and still didn't want to just say he sucked and had to go😂).

So, I never really thought about Dagur taking an acting role, but heck, he's been doing that all show. He'd be amazing. Whether he's playing a nice, bad role, or anything in between, I'd put money on him being able to pull it off.

[sarnai4]

Morbid Humor

Quick post. Not sure if it's more fun or concerning to watch Dragons and consistently laugh with Dagur. I feel like the writers would lean towards the latter because almost everyone gives him 👀when he finds something funny. Yet, I can't help but join in. It doesn't help that I just find his laugh contagious anyway. Hopefully, I wouldn't be around him in the earlier seasons because (looking at how he yelled at Savage) he didn't like people to join in and laugh with him. Guess I'll just be stifling my chuckles behind my hands and hoping no one notices.

[sarnai4]

Chapters: 27/40 Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage Characters: Dagur the Deranged, OC - Character Additional Tags: Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Drug Abuse, Mental Health Issues, References to Depression, Dysfunctional Family, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Prison, Past Rape/Non-con Summary:

In this AU set in modern times, a psychologist is hired to rehabilitate the inmates in the city of Berk's overflowing prison. When he begins providing therapy for the life-sentenced Dagur, questions arise regarding the details of his crimes and possible corruption in the prison itself.

[sarnai4]

Just a Few More Episodes

(Spoiler alert) Something I've been thinking about with RTTE is how I almost wish Dagur had stayed bad just long enough to meet Krogan while on the villain side. I am very curious what their working dynamic would've been. We already know the Grimborn brothers hated him. Frankly, I think Krogan would have too, but I also think Krogan would be the only person there to not think he's on their side. It could've been fun to have him almost know that Dagur's plotting against them and Ryker and Viggo are just thinking he's got no thoughts in his mind to even consider something as complex as betrayal. It could be like this silent feud between them. Krogan wants to kill Dagur so that he won't be an issue; Dagur wants to kill Krogan so that he won't mess up his scheme.

Meanwhile, the brothers are just wondering why those two always look like they just got out of a fight with a wolf pack.