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Grimmel: "The Deathgrippers will have to forgo dinner."
Ruffnut: "Ewww. You feed your dragons... dragons?"[src]
  — Grimmel and Ruffnut  

The Deathgripper is a medium-sized Strike Class dragon that first appeared in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

Official Description[]

Deathgrippers are a monstrous species with their protruding tusks, foreclaw pincers, and poisonous clubbed tails. Traveling in packs like wild dogs, Deathgrippers enjoy hunting for prey and should be avoided at all costs.
  Dragonpedia stat cards  
Deathgrippers are venomous, violent, and vile dragons. Perhaps a real Berkian trainer can bring out their softer side... but for now: avoid at all costs. The monstrous Deathgripper can hack, slash, and bludgeon a foe with lethal force. They should be avoided at all costs... unless they are on your side.
  Dragons: Rise of Berk  
Deathgrippers are a one-of-a-kind dragon, born with venomous pincer tails which are eerily to those of a venomous scorpion. These dragons love spending time up in the air, helping Vikings reinforce dragon riding skills as they go.
  School of Dragons  


Development[]

We want to make every one of our dragons interesting and intriguing, so the idea for the Deathgrippers was that they could reveal a scorpion pincer from the tail, or they could protrude their tusks and pull them in, or do other things to get themselves into a heightened, surprising state by changing aspects of their body.
  Simon Otto  

The Deathgripper's final design was the work of Jean Francois Rey.[1]

According to Simon Otto, Deathgrippers were inspired by scorpions, black widow spiders, and hunting dogs.[2]

Physical Appearance[]

Egg[]

ROB-Deathgripper Egg

The Deathgripper's egg in the School of Dragons is large and ovoid, and its outside is covered with scale patterns. Its surface is red with a spiraling dark blue stripe running from top to bottom.

The Deathgripper's egg in Dragons: Rise of Berk is covered with spike-like ridges and protuberances. The egg's numerous facets are banded by broad black and crimson streaks, giving it the appearance of a gem.

Hatchling to Adult[]

Deathgrippers are medium-sized dragons with a row of armored plates lining their backs and a telescopic, scorpion-like tail. They have raptorial forelegs to grip their prey, much like the praying mantis. They have large yellow eyes and long, retractable tusks in their jaws. Their uniquely shaped skulls give them a sadistic grin-like expression but also keep them from fully closing their mouths. Their bodies are mainly black with striking red markings on top, resembling black widow spiders.

1,300 years later, Deathgrippers are still mainly black but now have striking orange, red or green markings. And two of the openings of their tails have small spikes at the end, making them have three rather than a singular.

Titan Wing[]

A Titan Deathgripper embraces a mighty appearance, with its bold long tusks and a highly venomous pin-like tail used to spike their prey in a matter of seconds!
  School of Dragons  
DeathTitanRender

Like most dragons, Titan Wing Deathgrippers are bigger than their Broad Wing counterparts. Their back plates expand and develop jagged, sharp edges. They grow a second set of tusks near their primary set, and their stingers become longer. The red coloring on their bodies intensifies and becomes more noticeable.

Abilities[]

Acid Blasts[]

These dragons are no joke, Deathgrippers can launch green acidic blasts that are able to melt through nearly anything imaginable.
  School of Dragons  

Deathgrippers can launch thick streams of potent acid at their targets.

This acid is green and highly corrosive, dissolving most materials quickly, including wood, stone, and metal. It is also flammable and will catch fire when exposed to oxygen.

1,300 years later, their acid seems to now only melt organic material such as leaf blades. The acid doesn´t burn anymore and is now like the acid of the Changewing.

Venomous Stinger[]

Deathgrippers have a fascinating control over their own venom. One strike from a Deathgripper's tail paralyzes the prey. A second strike puts it out of its misery. A third strike makes the body of the prey poisonous to the touch!
  World of Dragons  

Deathgrippers have a scorpion-like stinger at the tip of their telescopic tails to inject their venom into opponents. Small doses of the venom have sedative effects on both humans and dragons. The stinger is hidden inside a club-like sheath that unfolds into four pincer-like digits, each ending in a small claw.

The first strike from the Deathgripper's stinger paralyzes the victim, making it calm and obedient. The second strike puts an end to its suffering, and the third turns the prey's body poisonous to the touch.

According to Slaughterdijk's description, Deathgrippers can use their stingers to inject a small amount of venom into a small wound on their victim's body. The first dose is negligible enough to go unnoticed, but it will eventually spread throughout the victim's body, paralyzing it and allowing the Deathgripper to feast on it.

As mentioned in Fenrir's Eviscereaper's description, Deathgripper venom does not numb the victim's pain receptors, allowing the victim to feel the agony of being dismembered piece by piece before being put out of its misery.

According to Grim Hornettle's description, the first sting from a Deathgripper numbs at least some sense of feeling. However, as the paralysis subsides, the victim will develop a burning rash that covers their entire body and causes "pins and needles" pain throughout.

The venom also has a strong hypnotic effect, which expert hunters use to control their prey. The Deathgripper's venom can warp the minds of the infected into helpless obedience via an injection apparatus strapped to the head or if they are stung or scratched by the stinger such as Webs was. This hypnotic venom is possible to use for prey to guard their territory for short time or nest until to be fed for themselves. They will blindly follow the orders of the Deathgrippers and forgot who they are, as they are treated for a short period of time as their kin, until eventually they will become a meal.

Strength and Combat[]

Deathgrippers are considerably powerful dragons. Four of them could carry Grimmel's airship over long distances, even with the added weight of the Toothless and the Light Fury. Another Deathgripper managed to temporarily knock out a Stormcutter in mid-flight. They also can easily carry one human on their back and push medium sized dragons down to the ground with all their brute strength.

Their pincers and stingers are capable of piercing wood and stone, as well as pulling and prying blocks from structures. Their sheathed scorpion tails can be wielded as a bludgeon as well.

They are also resilient fighters that fight until their prey or enemies are rendered helpless.

Climbing[]

Deathgrippers are adept climbers, easily crawling up vertical stone walls and chains while pursuing their prey.

Endurance and Stamina[]

As a Strike Class dragon, the Deathgripper's endurance appears to be incredibly high, as they can withstand being buried under the debris of a rock tower without suffering any visible wounds. Another situation was their fight with Toothless, where one of the Deathgrippers was slay by broken rocks after a plasma blast of the Night Fury. So Deathgrippers are one of the most durable dragons. One Deathgripper in the Giant Realm could plug in an attack of Plowhorn.

Deathgrippers have great stamina, as demonstrated by four of them hauling an airship over great distances without tiring. Even in the future they kept the same resilience being able to continously give chase to the intruders and take serious damage without a skretch from all 5 dragons.

Weaponry[]

As described in Glaivedriver’s description, Deathgrippers have an arsenal of natural weapon-like physical features, including a spiked body, venomous sword-like teeth, sharp tusks, foreleg pinchers, and a sharp stinger. Deathgrippers, as mentioned in Maelstrom's description, can use their powerful wings to create "inescapable waves in the water, sending ships down a watery grave," which may be a trait shared by the entire Deathgripper species.

Retractable Tusks[]

Deathgrippers have tusks that may be retracted into their lower jaws and quickly extended to impale victims or merely terrify adversaries. According to the Marshland Deathgripper's description, these tusks are also employed to lift plates in other dragons' armor, allowing the dragon's stinger to inject venom more effectively into its prey.

Raptorial Limbs[]

Deathgrippers evolved raptorial forelimbs. These raptorials are used for both walking and securing prey during an attack. Some individuals, such as Glaivedriver, have claws powerful enough to sever limbs. They can also use their pincers as scythes to cut through the tall vegetation around the Giant Realm to make a path or destroy some hiding places of their prey.

Venomous Teeth[]

Some Deathgrippers, such as Glaivedriver, can use their teeth to inject lethal venom into their prey. The venom emitted by their teeth is most likely the same as that injected by their stinger.

Speed and Agility[]

Deathgrippers are very fast in the air and on land. They can fly fast enough to catch up to a Night Fury and move quickly to deliver deadly strikes on their victims. They were shown to be very agile, as Grimmel's Deathgripperss could make remarkably tight turns and curl themselves up when pursuing and striking dragons. Despite being on land in the Giant Realm, Deathgrippers have shown remarcable speed and agility on land while persuing the gang all around the territory around their lair until they exhausted almost all the dragons.

Acute Senses[]

Deathgrippers have acute senses of smell and hearing. They could see Hiccup and the Dragon Riders approaching Raven Point in the dead of night. As mentioned in Slaughterdijk's description, Deathgrippers can use their forked tongues to smell blood from up to twenty miles away.

Stealth[]

As mentioned in Glaivedriver's description, Deathgrippers may use the wind's whistling to camouflage their movements as they stalk their prey. This was demonstrated by two of Grimmel's Deathgrippers, who sneaked up on Valka and Cloudjumper without their knowledge. Also they can be stealthy on land while searching any intruder that may trespass their nest as shoen by the pack of Deathgrippers that lived in the Giant Realm.

Intelligence and Social Nature[]

Deathgrippers are Strike Class dragons with high intelligence. This was shown by Grimmel's Deathgrippers, who could comprehend orders through whistles and finger snaps. Grimmel's Deathgrippers also work in groups to hunt any dragon their master desires. Also shown by the pack leader of the Deathgrippers who shows that can plan in advance plans and make full use of the venom in helping him to bring down any intruder.

Some Deathgrippers, such as Slaughterdijk and Glaivedriver, can devise intricate hunting strategies. These involve stalking the prey, causing a brief scuffle in which the dragon pretends to lose but leaves a small wound on the prey's body, and then tracking them with their blood. They will patiently wait until the small dose of venom in the wound paralyzes the prey before dragging it inside their nest to be eaten.

They can also use natural sounds to hide their movements, even fooling humans.

They work in packs to track and hunt down any prey available, after 1300 years even a pack of 3 Deathgrippers can be a formidable unit against 5 Riders and their dragons by using their weaponry and good knowledge of their hunting grounds.

Weaknesses[]

Lack of Venom Immunity[]

They are also vulnerable to the other effects of their venom besides keeping them in a constant state of agony

Deathgrippers, like Speed Stingers, are susceptible to their paralyzing venom, which can even be used against them, as it was when Grimmel subdued six of them into total submission. While their venom can drug them, it is unknown if they are also vulnerable to the other effects of their venom besides keeping them in a constant state of agony.

Limited Durability[]

The remaining four were electrocuted to death

Despite their incredible durability, Deathgrippers have limitations. Toothless dispatched them using lightning, electrocuting four of them in the process. They, like all dragons, have thinner and weaker scales in their underbelly, which explains why Toothless' electric-cloaking explosion could kill them.

Behavior and Personality[]

They are highly attentive of their surroundings and prepared for the unexpected, allowing them to indomitable become leaders in the sky.
  School of Dragons  

Deathgrippers are highly aggressive dragons that live and travel in packs. They also enjoy playing with their prey before killing it, with some, such as Fenrir's Eviscereaper, preferring to eat their prey alive for maximum agony.

Despite their typical pack-hunting behavior, some individuals, such as the Miasmic Deathgrippers, are solitary due to their cannibalistic nature. When the babies hatch, they are so focused on food that they begin to eat each other for sustenance, with the only survivors being those who manage to escape the others. Because of this, Deathgrippers will lay thousands of eggs in a single nest, hoping that at least a few will survive and produce the next generation. During the mating season, female Deathgrippers eat their mates to ensure that their eggs mature faster. Others, like Glaivedriver, choose to live alone because of their behavior.

Other individuals have highly specific food preferences, which leads to a solitary life migrating to follow those food sources, such as Monarchic Murderfly. It travels in a seasonal pattern following the migration path of some rare species of butterflies and the growth cycle of Flower#Milkweed.

Training[]

This stated, it is possible to tame a Deathgripper, but the process of winning its confidence is no easy matter. It is easiest to do so by starting with Deathgripper hatchlings, imprinting as their mother as they emerge from the egg.
  Marshland Deathgripper's description in Dragons: Titan Uprising  


Grimmel the Grisly, a dragon poacher, uses specific amounts of the Deathgripper's paralyzing venom to "mind control" dragons and make them docile and willing to obey his commands. He designs harnesses that deliver the venom directly to the dragons' heads or necks, including the Deathgrippers themselves.

Another way is to find its egg and train it from when it hatches.

Deathgrippers are extremely difficult to train, but imprinting on them as a hatchling might work. Adult Deathgrippers can also be trained, as demonstrated in School of Dragons. If a person saves a Deathgripper's life, the dragon will be grateful and loyal to them. An individual Deathgripper was successfully trained by an unnamed person in Berk. It is unknown how they accomplished this.

Training Deathgrippers is challenging due to their aggressive and predatory nature. However, in the episode "How to Train Jörmungandr," it was demonstrated that even when a Deathgripper saved itself from a perilous situation, it still exhibited aggressive tendencies. With the assistance of Valka's Staff, the Deathgripper's behavior was eventually calmed. This showcases that training Deathgrippers without the aid of the specialized tool, Valka's Staff, presents an opportunity for the trainer.

Comparative Statistics[]


Appearances[]

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World[]

Hiccup-toothless-how-to-train-your-dragon-1 Main article: Grimmel's Deathgrippers

Grimmel the Grisly was able to capture six Deathgrippers and drug them with their venom, training and forcing them to obey only his commands. Because of the strong hypnotic effect of the venom they just follow the commands of Grimmel. But it doesn´t restrict their senses. The Deathgrippers are perfect dragon killers. Thanks to them Grimmel could hunt and kill the Night Furies to near-extinction. The Deathgrippers assisted the legendary hunter on numerous hunting expeditions, including his quest to capture and kill Toothless. Finally, as they clung to the Night Fury's body in the sky, the latter summoned lightning from the clouds, electrocuting the Deathgrippers and sending them plummeting into the sea. It is unknown what happened to the Deathgrippers after that.

Dragons: The Nine Realms[]

Season 6[]

In "Webs' Masters", when the riders encounter a pack of three Deathgrippers living in the Giant Realm of the they attacked the Dragon Club and stung Webmaster, putting him under their venomous mind-control. He followed them back to their cave and Eugene Wong also followed in hopes of getting his best friend back. The lead Deathgripper stayed in the cave while his followers went after the riders. Once Webmaster broke free from the venom's control, the leader spotted him and the boy and attacked, but Webmaster grabbed his tail and redirected the stinger towards the Deathgripper so he could sting himself. The follower Deathgrippers had the other riders cornered, but Feathers uses her sonic screech to scare the dragons into the air, where they get eaten by a giant swooper in the sky, causing the riders to leave immediately.

Season 8[]

In "How to Train Jörmungandr", when Tom was getting better at using Valka's Staff he and Thunder notice a dragon hiding behind some rocks and having confidence Tom tries training it but is surprised to see that its a Deathgripper. he tries to use the staff on it but due to the dragon's aggressive nature it doesn't work forcing them to retreat. Later when the duo are evacuating the Nature Realm from Jörmungandr's rampage they find the Deathgripper again who is trapped under a tree branch, despite concerned how it would want to hurt them Tom and Thunder still tried to save it by moving the branch off it however the Deathgripper was still intent on killing them forcing Thunder to fight it but as Tom finally manages to master the staff he uses it on the Deathgripper making it docile and obey him so that Tom can then order it to retreat from Jörmungandr.

Games[]

Dragons: Rise of Berk[]

The Deathgripper was added to this game in the October 2019 update.


School of Dragons[]

Deathgrippers were added to the game as trainable dragons in update 3.0.0.


Dragons: Titan Uprising[]

This game features several Deathgripper individuals, including Marshland Deathgrippers, Miasmic Deathgrippers, Slaughterdijk, Sappheral, Fenrir's Eviscereaper, and Glaivedriver, as well as hybrids.

DreamWorks Dragons: Legends of The Nine Realms[]

Wild Deathgrippers appear as enemies in this game, staring with the Fire Realm. The player must defeat them using Thunder, Plowhorn, Wu and Wei, and Feathers in order to receive crystals and advance in the game.

Trivia[]

  • Asterisk-TransparentThe official measurements given by DreamWorks Animation do not appear to be realistic when considering the relative sizes the viewer sees within the Franchise. Based on the Model Sheet for the Deathgripper, this dragon should have a Wingspan of 39 feet (11.8 meters).
  • The Deathgripper resembles and may be based on Cloudjumper's concept art.
  • The Deathgripper's green flammable acid is similar to the properties of Game of Thrones' wildfire substance.
  • The Deathgripper is similar to the books' Sabre-Tooth Driver Dragon.
  • The behaviors of dragons drugged by Deathgripper venom resemble those under the Bewilderbeast's control: their pupils constrict, and they become expressionless, until they are put into combat, whereupon they become fierce killing machines.
  • Deathgrippers do not appear to be native to the Barbaric Archipelago, as Hiccup did not recognize them, whereas the soldiers of the Northern Alliance did. Given Grimmel's accent, Deathgrippers may have originated in mainland Europe, possibly Russia.
  • According to concept artist Jean Francois Rey, the Deathgrippers were originally known as "Deathclaws."[3]
  • Each Deathgripper appears to have its distinct stripe and color pattern, similar to tigers and zebras.

References[]

Deathgripper uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the Dreamworks School of Dragons Wiki page Deathgripper. The list of authors can be found on the page revision history (view authors). SODWikiLogo
Deathgripper uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the Rise of Berk Wiki page Deathgripper. The list of authors can be found on the page revision history (view authors). ROBWiki Logo
Deathgripper uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the Dragons Titan Uprising Wiki page Dragon Species. The list of authors can be found on the page revision history (view authors). Wiki-Wordmark-TU

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