Trader Johann is a seafaring trader who visits Berk from time to time, offering goods to barter for. However, he is later revealed to be allied with the Dragon Hunters, having secretly been working against the Dragon Riders by pretending to be their ally for years. He made his first appearance in the Dragons: Riders of Berk episode Dragon Flower.
Quick Answers
What role does Johann play in Dragons: Riders of Berk and Dragons: Defenders of Berk?
What is the true identity of Johann in the Dragon Hunters?
How long was Johann pretending to be an ally to the Dragon Riders?
What kind of goods does Johann offer to barter for on the Isle of Berk?
What is the significance of Trader Johann's in the franchise?
DreamWorks Dragons: The Series
Dragons: Riders of Berk
Dragon Flower
Trader Johann came to Berk and was surprised to see that the inhabitants of Berk had made peace with the dragons. He also inadvertently gave Mildew a batch of Blue Oleander flowers, which were poisonous to dragons in exchange for some of his cabbage. He also traded a botany book to Fishlegs in exchange for a dragon teeth necklace.
Breakneck Bog
Trader Johann then found a toy that Valka had made for Hiccup and sent word to Stoick. However, he tried to make up for lost and lost his ship while traveling through the bog. He was then found by Hiccup and his riders. Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were tasked with flying Johann to Berk, but instead they left him on a small sea stack in the middle of nowhere. When Johann and his ship were finally brought to Berk, Stoick asked if there was anything he could do for Johann besides having the ship repaired. Johann angrily requested five minutes alone with Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut.
We Are Family, Part 2
He made his third appearance when he went to Outcast Island. Stoick saw his ship while searching for Hiccup, and asked for his help to trick the Outcasts. When his ship reaches the shores of Outcast Island, the Outcasts immediately board the ship and start trading. Then Trader Johann opens a trapdoor of his ship, and Stoick, Gobber, and the gang start attacking the Outcasts. They manage to defeat them with Trader Johann's help.
Dragons: Defenders of Berk
The Flight Stuff
Johann was briefly mentioned by Stoick. He informed the dragon riders that Johann had overheard the Berserker leader saying that he planned to test it soon. However it turned out Dagur had leaked the information on purpose to lure and trap Hiccup and Toothless.
Frozen
Hiccup brought Johann to Berk after his ship was stuck in the ice. When they got back, the entire village was empty after the Speed Stinger invasion. He helped Fishlegs and Hiccup bring a paralyzed Meatlug to the cove where the tribe was hiding. Hiccup and Toothless later brought Johann back to his ship when the frozen sea thawed and gave Hiccup a bottle of squid ink as thanks.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
When he went to Berk to trade his wares, he sold Gobber a pile of metal from an undisclosed location. Shortly afterwards, the village of Berk was plagued with a metal thief every night. When Hiccup figured out it was Smothering Smokebreaths and suspected Johann's metal, Johann initially wouldn't confess due to customer confidentiality but was threatened by Stoick, and told them he got it from a Berserker at Breakneck Bog for a great price. Hiccup tells him it was from a Smothering Smokebreath nest and the metal had eggs, but Johann simply states he is sorry. Hiccup and Stoick leave angered and Toothless interrupts Johann before following them. At the end of the episode, to make up for knowingly giving them metal from the suspicious Berserkers and not warning them, they force Johann to sail his ship full of the scrap metal to lure the smothering Smokebreaths away, much to his chagrin and despite his pleas.
Dragons: Race to the Edge
Dragons: Race to the Edge, Season 1
Dragon Eye of the Beholder, Part 1
Three years later, Johann had his ship stolen by Dagur the Deranged during his escape from Outcast Island. He was then found by Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and their dragon Barf and Belch near Bucket's and Mulch's ship. Johann then told the riders about Dagur's escape and the theft of his ship. He also told the riders about where he hid his treasure in the Ship's Graveyard and warned them about a heavily booby-trapped ship known as The Reaper.
Have Dragon Will Travel, Part 1
Johann then had dealings with Heather and her Razorwhip, Windshear. He acts as her informant when they raided ships. Hiccup confronted Johann about this, and even though the trader had sworn to secrecy, he told Hiccup that Heather's village was attacked and had been returning stolen goods to victims who had similar experiences. And that Heather was now going after the man who wiped out her island and family, Dagur the Deranged.
Have Dragon Will Travel, Part 2
Johann met up with Heather at her campsite, who was with Astrid. Johann was relieved to see her, as he tried to send her a message and found her site was empty, fearing the worst. He then proceeds to tell the girls that Dagur planned to purchase dragon-proof catapults and winches. When Astrid asks if Johann is coming, he points out he's not one to ride into battle on a dragon.
Dragons: Race to the Edge, Season 3
Edge of Disaster, Part 1
Johann sends a message to the Riders that his ship is under attack by the Dragon Hunters. But when Hiccup, Snotlout, and Fishlegs arrive, they see he is being attacked by a pack of wild dragons under Scardian. They soon attack the Riders, and make off with Fishlegs. While tracking them down, the three find it strange how aggressive the dragons were. Johann admits a bit of a relief when they started attacking the Riders over him. They soon find the pack surrounding Fishlegs on their island. Johann and Snotlout think about just leaving him, but Hiccup has a plan to save their friend.
Edge of Disaster, Part 2
The three work together with Johann riding Meatlug to distract the sentries. However, the Gronckle hears her rider's voice and comes flying to him, ruining the plan. Hiccup, Johann, and Snotlout are forced to retreat. After talking with Fishlegs, Hiccup explains that the rogue pack had been attacked by the Dragon Hunters, thus explaining their hostile nature. He comes up with another plan to lure as many of the wild dragons, including their leader, away so Johann and Snotlout can grab Fishlegs. They all soon reunite, along with the dragon pack after Hiccup showed them they were not the enemy with his flightsuit. Ruffnut, while riding on Windshear, finds them and tells them the Dragon Hunters are attacking Dragon's Edge. The Riders and wild dragons team up and chase the Hunters away. After the battle, Hiccup and the gang take the pack back to their island, leaving Johann alone with Smidvarg.
Johann then sent a message to Hiccup, thanking him for rescuing him.[1]
Last Auction Heroes
Johann then stole information from a pair of Dragon Hunters on Outcast Island. He then took Sir "Ulgerthorpe" and his valet to the Dragon Auction on Dragon Hunter Island. He also "brought" Viggo Grimborn and his brother Ryker dragons to be sold at the auction. He also brought Hiccup and his riders in secretly.
Dragons: Race to the Edge, Season 4
Dire Straits
Johann was the sole survivor of a Submaripper attack. He eventually sails to Berk where he tells the Dragon Riders of his past experiences with a Submaripper.
Dragons: Race to the Edge, Season 5
Living on the Edge
Sandbusted
The Wings of War, Part 1
Searching for Oswald... and Chicken
Sins of the Past
It was later revealed in this episode that Johann had been working with the Dragon Hunters secretly all along, in order to get a specific Dragon Eye lens that was unexpectedly on Heather's belt the whole time, without the riders knowing.
Games
School of Dragons
Johann was added to School of Dragons to trade produce for money.
Dragons: Rise of Berk
Johann has been added to Rise of Berk. In the game, he gathers items needed for collections and trades them a certain amount of wood, fish, or runes. These items can be used towards gaining Battle, Exotic, or even Legendary dragons.
Physical Appearance
Trader Johann has dark brown hair and beard tied into a twist knot. He wears an off-white sack hat on his head, long-sleeved shirt with deep blue white-swirled imprinted tunic and deep red sari over it, light gray cloth bracers on his arms (each bit of cloth goes between the second and third finger), brown belt with a yellow pack and knife around his waist, multi-colored pinstriped pants, and light brown boots.
Personality
Johann pretended to be a likable fellow, and everyone on Berk greatly anticipated his visits. His bargains seemed reasonable, and he even gave away an object freely from time to time. Stoick and Gobber seem to enjoy his company and are quite willing to mend his boat when it is damaged. He does not dress in typical Viking garb, and he talks in an English accent. Even though his garb is not typical of a Viking, he does still sail a typical Viking ship. His nationality is unknown, but he does claim Berk to be his favorite island (though he also says that Outcast Island is his favorite Island while he and the Stoick, Gobber and the riders were there, but it might have been part of the plan or a marketing tactic.) He is certainly cultured from his many voyages, and because of this he is greatly looked up to by some of the inhabitants of Berk and Outcast Island.
Johann may possess fighting prowess, as he claimed to have wrestled a giant squid for its ink, and was willing to act violently toward Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut for leaving him stranded in the middle of the ocean. However, despite his apparent friendly relations with Berk, he is still a businessman first (albeit an honest one), as he sold metal from a Berserker to Gobber, despite the fact the two have bad relations, implying he didn't care enough to warn them and when told it had led to all their metal being stolen as eggs were laid in the metal, he simply apologizes and says nothing can be done.
However, at the end of season 5, it is revealed that his whole kind and easily frightened personality is fake, and that he is actually evil and manipulative. He has secretly been after a dragon eye lens on Heather's belt that could lead him to the "King of Dragons ", and only begrudgingly pretended to be kind to Stoick and Berk to get close to them. Johann is also extremely patient, willing to wait for many years in order to completely gain Stoick and Berk's trust (though Snotlout has doubted him several times already).
Appearances
| 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": | Appears | ||||||
| 8. "Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Man": | Absent | 18. "Gem of a Different Color": | Absent | ||||||
| 9. "Dragon Flower": | Appears | 19. "We Are Family, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
| 10. "Heather Report, Part 1": | Absent | 20. "We Are Family, Part 2": | Appears | ||||||
| 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": | Mentioned | ||||||
| 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": | Absent | 16. "The Eel Effect": | Absent | ||||||
| 7. "Worst in Show": | Absent | 17. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes": | Appears | ||||||
| 8. "Appetite for Destruction": | Absent | 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": | Absent | 9. "Quake, Rattle and Roll": | Absent | ||||||
| 3. "Imperfect Harmony": | Absent | 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": | Absent | 13. "Total Nightmare": | Absent | ||||||
| 7. "Reign of Fireworms": | Absent | ||||||||
| Race to the Edge, Season 2 | |||||||||
| 1. "Team Astrid": | Absent | 8. "Edge of Disaster, Part 1": | Appears | ||||||
| 2. "Night of the Hunters, Part 1": | Absent | 9. "Edge of Disaster, Part 2": | Appears | ||||||
| 3. "Night of the Hunters, Part 2": | Absent | 10. "Shock and Awe": | Absent | ||||||
| 4. "Bad Moon Rising": | Absent | 11. "A Time to Skrill": | Absent | ||||||
| 5. "Snotlout Gets the Axe": | Absent | 12. "Maces and Talons, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
| 6. "The Zippleback Experience": | Absent | 13. "Maces and Talons, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
| 7. "Snow Way Out": | Mentioned | ||||||||
| Race to the Edge, Season 3 | |||||||||
| 1. "Enemy of My Enemy": | Absent | 8. "Stryke Out": | Absent | ||||||
| 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": | Absent | ||||||
| 5. "Buffalord Soldier": | Absent | 12. "Last Auction Heroes": | Appears | ||||||
| 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": | Absent | 9. "Out of the Frying Pan": | Absent | ||||||
| 3. "Midnight Scrum": | Absent | 10. "Twintuition": | Absent | ||||||
| 4. "Not Lout": | Absent | 11. "Blindsided": | Absent | ||||||
| 5. "Saving Shattermaster": | Absent | 12. "Shell Shocked, Part 1": | Absent | ||||||
| 6. "Dire Straits": | Appears | 13. "Shell Shocked, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
| 7. "The Longest Day": | Absent | ||||||||
| Race to the Edge, Season 5 | |||||||||
| 1. "Living on the Edge": | Appears | 8. "The Wings of War, Part 1": | Appears | ||||||
| 2. "Sandbusted": | Appears | 9. "The Wings of War, Part 2": | Absent | ||||||
| 3. "Something Rotten on Berserker Island": | Absent | 10. "No Dragon Left Behind": | Absent | ||||||
| 4. "Snotlout's Angels": | Absent | 11. "Snuffnut: | Absent | ||||||
| 5. "A Matter of Perspective": | Absent | 12. "Searching for Oswald... and Chicken": | Appears | ||||||
| 6. "Return of Thor Bonecrusher": | Absent | 13. "Sins of the Past": | Appears | ||||||
| 7. "Dawn of Destruction": | Appears | ||||||||
| Games | ||||||||||||
| "Dragons: Rise of Berk": | Appears | "School of Dragons": | Appears | |||||||||
| "How to Train Your Dragon": | Absent | "How to Train Your Dragon 2": | Absent | |||||||||
| "DreamWorks Dragons: Wild Skies": | Absent | "DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders": | Absent | |||||||||
| "Dragons: Titan Uprising": | Absent | "Dragons Hero Portal": | Absent | |||||||||
| "DreamWorks Dragons: Legends of The Nine Realms": | Absent | |||||||||||
Trivia
- From his attire, it can be assumed he holds Middle Eastern or eastern European heritage. His name, however, is the German form of "John" ("Johan" or "Jan" is the more usual Scandinavian form).
- Johann is the only character with an original design who has never been an antagonist at some point in the series. This was, however, proven false in Sins of the Past as it revealed he was working for the Dragon Hunters over the course of the entire franchise.
- Although he is fascinated that Berk has trained dragons, Johann is still nervous around them, possibly due to his alliance with the Dragon Hunters.
- He has a long scar under his left eye.
- Johann has a habit of telling long stories about his travels.
- He calls most male characters 'Master'
- He calls most female characters 'Miss'
- He claims to have visited many very far away lands such as Papua New Guinea and Palau (which could either refer to Palau, Sardinia or the Palau islands in the Pacific Ocean).
Quotes
Riders of Berk
| “ | I won't go back! You can't make me! I have a knife in my boot!........I don't have a knife in my boot. | ” |
| “ | Ah, Berk. My favorite of all the islands I travel to! | ” |
| “ | Ah, men riding dragons. What a magnificent sight! | ” |
| “ | The fog . . . the fog . . . | ” |
| “ | Just give me five minutes alone with the three that dropped me back in the ocean! | ” |
Defenders of Berk
| “ | We shall pass the time with stories of my grand adventures that are sure to warm your heart and stoke the fires of your imagination! | ” |
| “ | How did we miss that? | ” |
Race to the Edge
| “ | He's out. He's more berserk than ever. And, from the way he was talking, Hiccup, you're number one on his revenge list! | ” |
| “ | When Dagur commandeered my precious ship, he also came into possession of a very important map. One that leads to a graveyard of ships, hidden in that fog bank! | ” |
| “ | It's where I store all my treasures and wares. | ” |
| “ | I'm sorry, Master Hiccup, but I've been swore to secrecy. The chief of the head-hunting Asmat Tribe from Papua New Guinea couldn't part these lips. | ” |
| “ | Oh, Miss Heather! I'm overjoyed you're not dead! | ” |
| “ | What part of this implies rushing into battle on a flying lizard? | ” |
| “ | Master Snotlout! Thank Thor! | ” |
| “ | My poor heart surely will not stand more of these heroing moments. | ” |
| “ | There hasn't been destruction like this since Emperor Nicephorus and the Byzantines were mercilessly annihilated in the Battle of Pliska. They say that Khan Krum had Nicephorus' skull encased in silver and drank mead from it | ” |
| — "Living on the Edge" |
| “ | And I nearly risked revealing everything to get it! | ” |
