Astrid's old axe (which had previously belonged to her mother) is a weapon Astrid carries in How to Train Your Dragon and through all the seasons of DreamWorks Dragons: The Series and Dragons: Race to the Edge.
Design[]
Unlike Astrid's current axe, her old axe used to have a pretty standard and common design, similar to that of many other Viking Axe-fighters.
The blades of the head already looked worn and rusty in the first movie, which insinuates that this axe had been used a fair amount. There seems to be leather twirled around the shaft for a good grip, studded with several metal pins in order to hold the axe together and increase stability.
History[]
Shortly after Astrid's introduction, she is seen sitting in the background holding her axe. She uses it on several occasions throughout the first film and seems to enjoy fiddling with it, especially sharpening it. She often brings her axe along with her and uses it to gesture with, confronting those she doesn't like with it and even threatening with it.
Astrid's old axe also makes several appearances in the TV series. The head of the axe seems to be much more refined and polished in newer seasons suggesting she may have had it professionally cleaned at some point. Many a time, Astrid is seen fighting or merely sparring with her axe, and during "Snotlout's Angels", Astrid gets into a fight with Snotlout over her axe, blaming him for its disappearance, which Snotlout used her axe once to clean Hookfang's talons, much to her charging. It is also revealed that the handle has her initials carved in it. This is yet another indication that Astrid's axe was of great significance and importance to her.
During "King of Dragons, Part 2", Astrid deflected a fire blast from a Singetail with her axe, causing the blade to be destroyed and leaving only the smoldering handle. After the loss of her axe, a look of brief horror crossed Astrid's face, but she swiftly got over her emotion and began to re-analyze the fight. This sharp display of emotion is most likely due to the fact that Astrid's axe was a gift from her mother.
At sometime before the second film, Astrid gained a new axe following her old axe's destruction.
Appearances[]
Films and Shorts | ||||||||||||
"How to Train Your Dragon": | Appears | "How to Train Your Dragon 2": | Absent | |||||||||
"Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon": | Absent | "Dawn of the Dragon Racers": | Absent | |||||||||
"Book of Dragons (Short)": | Absent | "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World": | Absent | |||||||||
"Gift of the Night Fury": | Absent | "How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming": | Absent |
Riders of Berk | |||||||||
1. "How to Start a Dragon Academy": | Absent | 11. "Heather Report, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
2. "Viking for Hire": | Absent | 12. "Thawfest": | Absent | ||||||
3. "Animal House": | Absent | 13. "When Lightning Strikes": | Absent | ||||||
4. "The Terrible Twos": | Absent | 14. "What Flies Beneath": | Absent | ||||||
5. "In Dragons We Trust": | Absent | 15. "Twinsanity": | Absent | ||||||
6. "Alvin and the Outcasts": | Absent | 16. "Defiant One": | Absent | ||||||
7. "How to Pick Your Dragon": | Absent | 17. "Breakneck Bog": | Absent | ||||||
8. "Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Man": | Absent | 18. "Gem of a Different Color": | Absent | ||||||
9. "Dragon Flower": | Absent | 19. "We Are Family, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
10. "Heather Report, Part 1": | Appears | 20. "We Are Family, Part 2": | Absent |
Defenders of Berk | |||||||||
1. "Live and Let Fly": | Absent | 11. "A View to a Skrill, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
2. "The Iron Gronckle": | Absent | 12. "The Flight Stuff": | Absent | ||||||
3. "The Night and the Fury": | Absent | 13. "Free Scauldy": | Absent | ||||||
4. "Tunnel Vision": | Absent | 14. "Frozen": | Appears | ||||||
5. "Race to Fireworm Island": | Absent | 15. "A Tale of Two Dragons": | Absent | ||||||
6. "Fright of Passage": | Appears | 16. "The Eel Effect": | Absent | ||||||
7. "Worst in Show": | Absent | 17. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes": | Absent | ||||||
8. "Appetite for Destruction": | Appears | 18. "Bing! Bam! Boom!": | Absent | ||||||
9. "Zippleback Down": | Absent | 19. "Cast Out, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
10. "A View to a Skrill, Part 1": | Absent | 20. "Cast Out, Part 2": | Absent |
Race to the Edge, Season 1 | |||||||||
1. "Dragon Eye of the Beholder, Part 1": | Appears | 8. "Crushing It": | Absent | ||||||
2. "Dragon Eye of the Beholder, Part 2": | Appears | 9. "Quake, Rattle and Roll": | Absent | ||||||
3. "Imperfect Harmony": | Appears | 10. "Have Dragon Will Travel, Part 1": | Appears | ||||||
4. "When Darkness Falls": | Absent | 11. "Have Dragon Will Travel, Part 2": | Appears | ||||||
5. "Big Man on Berk": | Absent | 12. "The Next Big Sting": | Absent | ||||||
6. "Gone Gustav Gone": | Appears | 13. "Total Nightmare": | Absent | ||||||
7. "Reign of Fireworms": | Absent |
Race to the Edge, Season 2 | |||||||||
1. "Team Astrid": | Appears | 8. "Edge of Disaster, Part 1": | Appears | ||||||
2. "Night of the Hunters, Part 1": | Appears | 9. "Edge of Disaster, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
3. "Night of the Hunters, Part 2": | Absent | 10. "Shock and Awe": | Absent | ||||||
4. "Bad Moon Rising": | Absent | 11. "A Time to Skrill": | Appears | ||||||
5. "Snotlout Gets the Axe": | Appears | 12. "Maces and Talons, Part 1": | Appears | ||||||
6. "The Zippleback Experience": | Absent | 13. "Maces and Talons, Part 2": | Appears | ||||||
7. "Snow Way Out": | Appears |
Race to the Edge, Season 3 | |||||||||
1. "Enemy of My Enemy": | Absent | 8. "Stryke Out": | Appears | ||||||
2. "Crash Course": | Absent | 9. "Tone Death": | Absent | ||||||
3. "Follow the Leader": | Absent | 10. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place": | Absent | ||||||
4. "Turn and Burn": | Absent | 11. "Family on the Edge": | Appears | ||||||
5. "Buffalord Soldier": | Appears | 12. "Last Auction Heroes": | Absent | ||||||
6. "A Grim Retreat": | Absent | 13. "Defenders of the Wing, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
7. "To Heather or Not to Heather": | Absent |
Race to the Edge, Season 4 | |||||||||
1. "Defenders of the Wing, Part 2": | Absent | 8. "Gold Rush": | Absent | ||||||
2. "Gruff Around the Edges": | Appears | 9. "Out of the Frying Pan": | Absent | ||||||
3. "Midnight Scrum": | Appears | 10. "Twintuition": | Appears | ||||||
4. "Not Lout": | Appears | 11. "Blindsided": | Absent | ||||||
5. "Saving Shattermaster": | Absent | 12. "Shell Shocked, Part 1": | Appears | ||||||
6. "Dire Straits": | Absent | 13. "Shell Shocked, Part 2": | Appears | ||||||
7. "The Longest Day": | Absent |
Race to the Edge, Season 5 | |||||||||
1. "Living on the Edge": | Appears | 8. "The Wings of War, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
2. "Sandbusted": | Absent | 9. "The Wings of War, Part 2": | Appears | ||||||
3. "Something Rotten on Berserker Island": | Absent | 10. "No Dragon Left Behind": | Absent | ||||||
4. "Snotlout's Angels": | Appears | 11. "Snuffnut: | Appears | ||||||
5. "A Matter of Perspective": | Absent | 12. "Searching for Oswald... and Chicken": | Absent | ||||||
6. "Return of Thor Bonecrusher": | Absent | 13. "Sins of the Past": | Absent | ||||||
7. "Dawn of Destruction": | Appears |
Race to the Edge, Season 6 | |||||||||
1. "In Plain Sight": | Absent | 8. "Triple Cross": | Absent | ||||||
2. "No Bark, All Bite": | Absent | 9. "Family Matters": | Absent | ||||||
3. "Chain of Command": | Absent | 10. "Darkest Night": | Absent | ||||||
4. "Loyal Order of Ingerman": | Absent | 11. "Guardians of Vanaheim": | Absent | ||||||
5. "A Gruff Separation": | Absent | 12. "King of Dragons, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
6. "Mi Amore Wing": | Absent | 13. "King of Dragons, Part 2": | Appears | ||||||
7. "Ruff Transition": | Absent |
Comics | ||||||||||||
"Dragon Down": | Appears | "The Legend of Ragnarok": | Absent | |||||||||
"Dangers of the Deep": | Absent | "Underworld": | Absent | |||||||||
"The Ice Castle": | Absent | "The Endless Night": | Absent | |||||||||
"The Stowaway": | Absent | "Snowmageddon": | Absent |
Trivia[]
- In a deleted scene which was cut from the first movie because of the length, it is stated that Astrid's old axe belonged to her mother.
- Another deleted scene showed that Astrid's axe head has been replaced, as Hiccup accidentally broke it on a whetstone whilst sharpening it. When Astrid remarked that it felt different, Hiccup stated that he had "tightened it up a bit".
- During the "Fright of Passage" flashback, a five year old Astrid is seen carrying around a very similar looking axe.
- Astrid sleeps with her axe under her pillow, as mentioned by Snotlout in "Not Lout".
- Astrid has allowed Heather to borrow her axe, indicating the strength of their friendship, as she has been seen to be very possessive of her axe, not allowing anyone else to use it.