Meatlug is Fishlegs' Gronckle from the film. In the film she was kept for Dragon Training and unnamed. She's partly based on both Horrorcow and Seaslug.
Quick Answers
What is the personality of Meatlug in How to Train Your Dragon?
How does Meatlug differ from other Gronckles in the series?
What is the relationship between Meatlug and Fishlegs Ingerman?
What unique habits does Meatlug have in the series?
Why is Meatlug considered affectionate compared to other Gronckles?
Appearance
According to Fishlegs, Meatlug is 14 feet long, has an 18 foot wingspan, and weighs 5,724 pounds. She's dark brown in the film, but a lighter brown.[1] She's also covered in small purple spots. Meatlug's height is about the same as Gobber's.
In How To Train Your Dragon
Meatlug is the first dragon the teens are forced to battle during the Dragon training lessons. She downs all of them except for Astrid and nearly kills Hiccup. She notably does not even contemplate sparing him, but Gobber yanks her away just in time to save Hiccup. The teens continue to train against her throughout the film, and Hiccup's tactics he has learned from watching Toothless work very well with her. At the film's climax, Hiccup taught his classmates how to ride the dragons before they flew off to rescue their tribe from the Red Death. Meatlug was ridden by Fishlegs. She fights in the battle, but gets discombobulated by the noise of the Viking shields. She spins out of control and lands on Fishlegs. That ends her part in the battle. She is seen again at the end of the film being ridden by Fishlegs. She and her rider race off after Hiccup as the new era of Berk begins.
In Gift of the Night Fury
In Gift of the Night Fury, it is revealed Fishlegs named his Gronckle Meatlug, and Berk is preparing to celebrate Snoggletog for the first time with their dragons when suddenly the dragons all leave.
Fishlegs is revealed to have chained up Meatlug, preventing her from leaving until Hiccup accidentally releases the Gronckle and she flies off with him. After the takeoff, Hiccup yells, "Meatlug?!", in surprise that Meatlug had not left. Meatlug did not acknowledge Hiccup until he yelled by taking her eyes off the sky in front of her to look at Hiccup in equal shock for a second before returning to flying. Inside the barn where Fishlegs kept Meatlug, he, Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut discover that Meatlug is a she when they found her eggs in the hay. Until that point, the Vikings had thought that Meatlug was male, although apparently having noticed some behaviors more in line with female dragons, Fishlegs comments that "actually explains a few things".
Meanwhile Meatlug, with Hiccup on her back, flies to an island filled with dragons and their newly-hatched babies. There, Hiccup realizes this is where all the dragons come to lay their eggs. Hiccup manages to return all the dragons and their babies to Berk, where Meatlug immediately goes to feed her hatchlings which she left at the barn and is tackled by a happy Fishlegs. Meatlug presumably partakes in Snoggletog with her rider as Fishlegs is holding two of her babies.
In Dreamworks Dragons
In the TV series, Fishlegs and Meatlug establish a very endearing relationship, very similar in strength to Hiccup and Toothless' relationship.
Riders of Berk
Side-by-side, they express that they really care for each other and both appear to be extremely heartbroken when they had to leave each other.[2]
Fishlegs has developed a series of hand signals to give Meatlug instructions without needing to speak. Meatlug and the other dragons were able to scare off the Berserkers.[3]
Fishlegs tells a story to Meatlug, which involved Meatlug to fart an awful smell which Fishlegs quotes as: "Smells like rose petals." But despite his words he keels over and passes out from the terrible stench.[4]
Defenders of Berk
Meatlug, when she and Fishlegs were dismissed from finding an Outcast ship because they were slow, Meatlug ingested a large amount of rocks, which allow her to create a lava pool that when dried up was stronger and lighter than iron, dubbed Gronckle Iron by Gobber. After she ran out, Fishlegs and Gobber gave her different rocks, accidentally giving her a magnet making her skin magnetic. Meatlug became frightened and ran out of the village after attracting different metal objects, including Hiccup's metal leg, and discovering the Outcast ship, Fishlegs and Hiccup used her magnetism to disarm the Outcast ship, sinking it in the process.[5]
Meatlug then went with Fishlegs and Stormfly to assist Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless in fighting off the Flightmare during Aurvandil's Fire.[6]
Meatlug felt neglected when Fishlegs spent time training with Iggy. During the competition, Meatlug found Alvin and the others spying on the teens. She was captured and used as a hostage. The Terrors were used to save her, and she was finally playing with Fishlegs after being rescued.[7]
Meatlug and fishlegs were then able to rally the wild Gronkles of Dragon Island to defend their home against the Screaming Death.[8]
Meatlug then helped Fishlegs and Hiccup examine the Frozen Skrill that was found by the Berserkers. Meatlug and Toothless then tried to keep the Skrill at the Academy but escaped. Meatlug then held off the Berserkers while hiccup took on the Skrill. After the Skrill and the twin dissapeared, Meatlug and Fishlegs then searched for them with little success.[9]
In How To Train Your Dragon 2
Five years after the first film, Meatlug and Fishlegs participated in Dragon Racing. However, at the behest of her rider, she gave Ruffnut the black sheep. She and the other dragons then helped Astrid in finding Drago Bludvist but were captured by his men. After Eret helped them escape, Meatlug then helped Hiccup's mother Valka in fighting Drago. However, After Drago's Bewilderbeast defeated hers, Meatlug and the others then followed its call. However, Meatlug and the other dragons were then freed when Toothless challenged the Bewilderbeast and became the new Alpha dragon. Meatlug was then reunited with Fishlegs and they resumed their participation in the dragon races.
Relationships
Fishlegs Ingerman
Being her rider, Fishlegs and Meatlug are shown to be extremely close, to the point that their relationship is slightly odd; Fishlegs often refers to himself as Meatlug's 'Daddy'. Meatlug has been known to lick Fishlegs' feet before going to bed, and Fishlegs sings her songs and tells her stories about 'Princess Meatlug'. Meatlug is extremely affectionate and loving towards Fishlegs, and had saved him several times. They have similar personalities, and have shown to hate being apart from one another. Meatlug always knows when to comfort Fishlegs, though this is not always two-sided.
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
Hiccup first met in the Arena, where she tried to kill him, but was fortunately stopped by Gobber the Belch. She was later outsmarted by Hiccup, because he used Dragon nip on her. Later, he helped Fishlegs train her. In Gift of the Night Fury, Hiccup briefly rode Meatlug by accident, resulting in him landing on the Dragon Rookery. In The Eel Effect, Meatlug 'hugged' and licked him. In Gronckle Iron, Hiccup's metal leg briefly became stuck to Meatlug when she became magnetized as he was trying to calm her down from her panic, resulting in him spending some time dangling from Meatlug until Fishlegs and Toothless were able to get her to expel the magnetic rocks.
Toothless
Though their relationship has never been truly showed, it can be assumed they are on friendly terms. Toothless was shown to comfort Meatlug in Worst in Show, and she helped capturing Toothless when he had Eel Pox.
Astrid Hofferson
Though they are not very close to one another, Meatlug did gave Astrid a ride in How to Train Your Dragon 2, when she had saved her from Drago's Traps.
Gobber the Belch
She shown at first to be like other dragons to be aggressive. She was going to try to kill Hiccup but she was interrupted by Gobber to be pulled back to her cage. She shown later to like him when he became more of a friend to Fishlegs. Later in The Iron Gronckle, she was sick from eating too much rocks and she was helped by Gobber by tickling her with a feather. After that, she with Fishlegs and Gobber created Gronckle Iron. Later she was fed different types of rocks only to make her a magnet. Later, when they caught her, Gobber tickled her again to spit out the magnetic rock. For thanks, Gobber made her a pair of earrings as a gift for producing Gronckle Iron. It can also be assumed that they are on good terms.
Personality
Meatlug mellowed the most after the events in the movie. She is very kind and loving. Meatlug is also motherly, as she even plays with the younger kids on Berk, as seen on Gift of the Night Fury. She also comforts Fishlegs when he's down. Meatlug can also be hostile to enemies, as seen in Worst in Show. She cares about Fishlegs very much, and is usually by his side. Meatlug has shown multiple times to be very loyal to Fishlegs. They have a very sweet, though slightly weird relationship. They also understand each other very well. Like most dragons and their riders, they have a similar personality. They both shown they can be both very afraid of things but both will try to get over their fear to face it. She saved Fishlegs on numerous occasions and stood by him when he needed her, which was shown in the cave. She shown to be protective of Fishlegs, which was proven when she protected Fishlegs from the Speed Stingers. She was visibly worried about Fishlegs when he got close to Gobber's traps. Meatlug is also smart in her own way.
Abilities and Skills
She has shown to be training very well with Fishlegs to improve her abilities to be useful against enemies and showing off her skills to the other riders from her trainer.
Strength: Meatlug has shown to be quite strong, though not as strong as other Dragons. She can tackle large Vikings, like Stoick, to be stun on the ground for short time and she can tackle large dragons, like the Screaming Death.
Fire: Like all Gronckles, Meatlug eats rocks in order to breath fire in the form of balls made of molten lava. However, a hidden ability of her is that the type of lava she producers, depends on what type of minerals she ate. This was how Fishlegs and Gobber discovered Gronckle Iron.
- Gas, & Tail-Bludgeon: She'll wait for an enemy to get close enough, then passes gas right in their face to stun them, then use her tail to finish them off.
- Stop, Drop, & Hover: She flies up in the air with her rider, then falls down with great speed. But this actually is a rescue skill.
- Gale Force Gronckle: Meatlug will start spinning at a very high speed using her head and clubbed tail to attack. It's shown to be so powerful, that it can knock a fully grown Typhoomerang out of the air.
Intelligence and Communication Skills: She is shown to understand Fishlegs and humans in general quite well. She usually knows when Fishlegs needs company or comfort (Though this isn't always two-sided) and can understand hand signals, such as when Fishlegs saved Ruffnut and Tuffnut from a breaking tree branch. She also figured out quickly Toothless had eaten an eel. Meatlug has been trained to understand Fishleg's hand gestures as commands, she has also learned how to recognize her rider's dragon call that acts as a beckon in case she and Fishlegs get separated. She might be near as smart as Toothless or Stormfly.
Gas: When trapped in the Screaming Death's mouth, Meatlug released gas. The Screaming Death immediately let the Gronckle go in disgust and surprise.
Endurance and Stamina: Her skin is made mostly of rock like body armor making her an endurable opponent. She can be hit in the face by Alvin the Treacherous, and still able to stand to try to hold her ground. Her stamina has shown to be about one day long, before she dropped on the ground, exhausted.
Body Slam: Meatlug can use her heavy body weight, with the extra weight of Fishlegs, to pin down other vikings and dragons, such as Snoutlout and Toothless.
Senses: Meatlug has shown to have an amazing sense of smell. She was able to find Fishlegs under his bed, her enemy's Vikings such as Alvin the Treacherous, Savage, and Mildew. She can also maneged to find a Changewing egg that was burried in the sand.
Acrobatics: Like most Gronckles, Meatlug is a very agile and maneuverable flier. She can fly not only forward, but also backwards, up, down, and even hold still. She has also shown to be able to stand on her hind legs.
Weaknesses
Despite how great her abilities are, she is not completely invulnerable. She is very slow as demonstrated in a few episodes. This is due to her small wings and size. If she eats certain rocks, she can become a magnet and if she eats too many rocks she cannot use her lava blasts.
Fire types
Meatlug's fire disposal comes in 3 different forms ( 4 technically)
Lava blast- The first form of her rock disposal is a "lava blast", which is really a molten rock melted in the Gronkle's stomach that is spat out.
Twin lava- in the httyd game, a gronkle's level 2 fire fires 2 blasts of lava that lock on the opponent with very very rare failure, unknown what the move is called in general, It might have been called twin lava.
Lava burp- level 3 fire of the Gronkle is called the lava burp, the gronkle spits/burps a ball of condensed, heated rock that burns the opponent before exploding into 3 balls of fire with common failure,
Lava burst- and no, if your thinking a burst of lava you are wrong. it's really the same fire as the lava blast, just fired at very high speeds.
Trivia
- Meatlug and Fishlegs have a very close relationship; one example of this is that Meatlug licks Fishlegs' feet before he goes to bed. Possibly just as close as Hiccup and Toothless
- According to Fishlegs, Meatlug's favorite food is granite.
- Meatlug likes to play Toss the Sheep with Fishlegs.
- In the film and in The Gift of The Night Fury, Meatlug's wings beat like a hummingbird where you can't see the individual beats. In the series, you can easily see each beat of the wing.
- In the sequel, Meatlug's coloring is the same as in the series, not the first movie.
- Meatlug has shown to be able to walk on her hind legs and can stand up for the entire night just like Toothless, but prefers walking on all fours.
- In How to Start a Dragon Academy, Fishlegs mentioned Meatlug had a cousin, who was killed during the Dragon Training in the Arena.
- Meatlug is incorrectly thought to be a male and her gender is revealed in Gift of the Night Fury when the twins find her eggs.
- She has the ability to create Gronkle Iron.
- She is the slowest of the dragons.
Gallery
