#these were all circumstances that he chose to react to that's why i didn't include things like going to america or fighting the romans

[wickedcriminal]

Some of the most grown up, bravest things book Hiccup has ever done that I think about often;

(Spoilers)

Unarmed and staring down a sword, a deadly dragon, and an erupting volcano, and still managing to sing in the face of death

Freeing the Wanderers on the American Dream 2

Freeing a gigantic terrifying dragon just because he couldn't stand to see it so sad and trapped in chains

Defeating his own father in a duel for the crown, even though he didn't want it, just so that he could free the dragons and hopefully end the war peacefully

Being a branded Outcast and still having the compassion to free and disarm dragon traps, even when both humans and dragons were trying to kill him

Willingly entering Prison Darkheart to look for his best friend

Willingly staying in Prison Darkheart to look for his best friend even when staying was extremely dangerous for him specifically, and even when given ample opportunity to escape, instead giving up that opportunity to a little girl who couldn't even remember her mother. He even redid all the buttons on her bear suit so that she would look her best when she went back to her family that is the sweetest thing--

Waiting patiently for the perfect moment to kill a dragon even when he was literally being digested alive by it

Saving Snotlout even though doing so would literally put him and all of his friends at risk of being brutally killed by dragons and even though Snotlout himself wasn't above killing him

Realizing Snotlout had led him into a trap, coming to that realization, and, this is extremely important-- ultimately decided to let himself be led into the trap on the off-chance they might let slip where the lost things and Camicazi were. He actually made a choice in his head, and then steeled himself, and willingly walked into Alvin and the Witch's trap on the off chance he could find the lost things. That's ballsy for a fourteen year old kid

ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING HE WAS TORTURED

Speaking of that-- ENDURING WATER TORTURE. His dragons managed to keep him from drowning and getting torn to bits by pirhanna dragons, but that water was freezing and clearly did a number on him mentally. And he never broke. That was so brave of him and I'm never getting over it.

Not to mention that moment where he looked Snotlout in the eye, even after everything he did, and told him he never gave up on him-- and he still isn't giving up on him-- before jumping back into the freezing water to escape. Nerves of steel.

Then he woke up from a shipwreck with amnesia to a little dragon telling him "Hey good morning. You're the top most wanted enemy in the archipelago. Dragons and humans think you're dead but they'll definitely kill you on sight if they find out you're not. You're being hunted by dragons right now actually. Also you need to get to this island full of dragons (that kill you by launching you into the sun the second you step on it), because your arch-nemesis is there and he's about to become king of the archipelago. You need to not only stop him from becoming king, you yourself need to become king of the archipelago, and then you need to face this BIG GIANT HUMAN HATING ISLAND BURNING DRAGON in SINGLE COMBAT to determine the ultimate fate of human and dragon kind."

And Hiccup said, "okay."

AND DID IT

That kid managed to get to that island JUST IN TIME, with AMNESIA, and interrupted Alvin's coronation even though he was black and blue and torn to shreds and limping and crying and couldn't even remember his own name and STILL told them all that he was willing to become King of the Wilderwest.

What a kid

Not to mention he faced that human hating island burning dragon with the courage of an entire army's worth of heroes.

AND ENDED THE WAR PEACEFULLY!! BY BEING KIND AND COMPASSIONATE AND WILLING TO WORK WITH FURIOUS TO MAKE A BETTER WORLD FOR BOTH SPECIES AND IM SOBBING HE IS SUCH A GOOD BOY HE IS SUCH A GOOD KID

Even when Furious dies he promises to the end of his life to try to make the world better for dragons and he DID to his dying breath he tried

He tried and it mattered

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is quite possibly, in my opinion, one of the coolest protagonists ever

[mittensmorgul]

One could argue that the winchesters still don't have free will. Because if Chuck is who Chuck is, then he knew already how Sam and Dean would react, and what choices they would make, and so Dean choosing not to shoot Jack and Sam shooting Chuck instead is all part of his plan. He's acted like he didn't know what was going on before, why would he do any different now?

I don’t know... I mean, he’s always seemed completely surprised with how the Winchesters (including Cas) have reacted within his stories. He doesn’t control THEM, because he gave humanity free will. He only controls “their universe.”

I hope this makes sense, because it’s very hard to explain :P

But this is why they’re his “favorite show.” He’s not controlling THEM, you know? He literally never knows how they’ll behave in a certain circumstance. And I think that’s the difference between Humanity and angels. Angels are programmable. They’re predictable. They follow the prophecies and do as they’re programmed to do (well, again, except for Cas, which is why he counts as a Winchester). Chuck even gave the angels two distinct sets of instructions, giving them the choice of which plan to follow-- were they supposed to watch over and protect humanity, or were they supposed to destroy the world? We know from the Apocalypse AU that those angels chose wrong. That’s why THIS universe’s version of Sam, Dean, and Cas are his favorites, you know? They defied the story every time. Endlessly entertaining for Chuck.

Until his characters told him they didn’t want to play out his torture porn anymore, you know? We’re now living in a post-Chuck-Amuck world:

you think I’m kidding, but this... this is Chuck’s metanarrative in a fun lil 6 minute cartoon.