| “ | Everybody needs a place in the world. Some people are born to theirs. Some people discover theirs. And some people make a place for themselves. But then the world around them changes, and the place they made is gone. | ” |
| — Hiccup |
Viking for Hire is the second episode of Dragons: Riders of Berk. It was shown as a sneak peak that aired on August 7th, 2012. It is preceded by How to Start a Dragon Academy and succeeded by Animal House.
Overview
Without battling dragons anymore, Gobber feels that he has lost his purpose as blacksmith because he is only used to making weapons. Hiccup tries to find a new job for him, but Gobber seems too violent to help with much...
Major Events
- Gobber becomes Berk's dragon dentist.
- Plans for official Dragon Riding saddles are first conceived.
Plot
The episode starts with flashbacks of past Hiccup narrating everyone has their place in the world and are born with it, discover it, or make a place of there own but the world around them changes and the place they build is gone.
The scene changes to the Dragon Arena where Hiccup asks questions about Dragons to the teens who are in two teams: Team Astrid (Astrid and Fishlegs) and Team Snotlout (Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut).
Hiccup teaching the teens
Unfortunately, they aim their dragons at each other, and Hiccup calls off the training before the scene escalates into a full-out brawl. When Snotlout tries to teach Team Astrid to "prepare to face the Monstrous Nightmare", Hookfang sets himself on fire while Snotlout rides on him, causing him to jump into a cradle of water. Hiccup states Hookfang never flames up while Snotlout rides him, leading to Astrid stating Hookfang realized who his rider was. Snotlout tells Astrid there's room for two people, causing her to shove him into the water. The scene shifts to Gobber, who tries to sell his weapons by showing they could be used for other things, but people weren't interested in them. Afterwards Mildew approaches Hiccup, telling him he put Gobber out of business with his "peace pact with the Dragons" and ruined his life, causing Hiccup to feel guilty. Later at night, Hiccup tells Toothless that Gobber taught him everything he needed to know about how to "make his tail". Stoick enters the house tired out, telling Hiccup he been all over the island throughout the day and wishes there were two of him. This give Hiccup an idea, and he tells Stoick there are two of him (although Stoick initially thought he cracked another joke about his weight).
Hiccup telling Gobber about the saddles
Hiccup explains Gobber could be the other him, and Stoick agrees on that. The next day, Stoick splits his schedule to Gobber who says he needs to handle certain situations with diplomacy. Gobber assures him he's more than capable of doing as such. Stoick is surprised Gobber is capable of sensitively and tactfully dealing with situations, but is discouraged when Gobber expresses his belief diplomacy revolved around freely using physical force on people. Gobber begins his duties with officiating a new born girl into the tribe. He quickly sours the event by choosing the name Magnus over Hildegard as per her parent's request, remarking she wouldn't look like a girl when older due to her apparently repellent appearance, and by giving her a mace as a teething toy. He later deals with Mulch and Bucket over a sheep Mulch purchased and refused to pay Bucket for, an accusation he denies. As a result of his deeply flawed view of diplomacy, Gobber has the two settle the matter by fighting with weaponry and carries on. He next repairs a ship and foolishly using iron in place of wood reasoning it'd be better suited for defensive purposes. Stoick, having been informed of Gobber's mishaps, heads to the dock to confront him over his less than stellar actions. Whilst demonstrating to Stoick the repaired ship, Gobber accidentally causes it to roll off the platform and into the bay upon which it sinks under the metal's weight. Gobber takes the incident in stride and adds recovering the ship as a later item. He cheerfully asks Stoick 'Same time tomorrow?' leaving the Viking leader embarrassed by Gobber's actions as Stoick's representative reflect on him.
That night, Stoick rests his stress induced headache with ice blocks when Hiccup gives him a drink. Noting his father's frustration Hiccup assures him tomorrow would end better when Stoick tells him this is the case as he dismissed Gobber from assisting him. When Hiccup objects, Stoick points out his numerous mistakes and tells Hiccup he (Hiccup) is going to be busy finding a job for Gobber so Hiccup lets him join the Dragon Training Academy, but Gobber has the idea of training dragons by threatening to kill them, causing all the dragons to flee the arena and the teens to hunt them down. The scene changes to Toothless and Hiccup in the arena and Astrid, Ruffnut and Tuffnut entering (along with Stormfly, Barf and Belch) and complaining about the pain of riding on their dragon's bare backs. Hiccup said he's flown for hours on Toothless and never felt pain. Astrid replied it's because he has a saddle, causing Hiccup to get the idea for Gobber to build saddles for the dragons. He gives Gobber some of his designs to help, but having already built saddles for other animals, the blacksmith states he has his own ideas.
The next day, Gobber shows his saddles to the teens, but the saddles weren't good for the dragons, and caused a huge mess at the end of the day, causing Hiccup to clean up the Arena. Stoick enters while Hiccup cleans, and states the Arena actually looked cleaner when they killed dragons. Hiccup tells him the place got "Gobbered" and Stoick tells Hiccup he had to do what was best for the academy, and the best might be to fire Gobber. Hiccup goes to Gobber (along with Toothless) and tells him the news. Upon hearing he was about to lose his job, Gobber is saddened but tells him he can live without a job. While walking, Hiccup tells Toothless he feels awful and wonders what could be worse than that. Hiccup sees Hookfang on fire and breathing fire everywhere. Snotlout rushes to Hiccup, shouting for help.
The scene cuts to Hookfang spinning out of control and Stoick tells everyone it's not safe. Hiccup gently walks towards Hookfang and throws him a fish, but he spits it out, causing it to land on Stoick's beard. Hiccup tries to calm Hookfang down but the moment he touches his jaw, he goes out of control again, causing Toothless to fight him so that Hiccup can flee. Stoick calls Gobber for help, and he goes to the plaza to kill Hookfang. Despite Hiccup's protests, Gobber is sent in to kill Hookfang, until the two see he only had a toothache. Gobber puts away the sword he intended to use, and wrestles with Hookfang until he pries his mouth open and pulls the tooth out, calming him down. Gobber becomes a dentist for the dragons.
| “ | When the world around you changes, the good men find a way to change too, and that Gobber is one of those men. In fact, he's one of the best. | ” |
Cast
- Jay Baruchel as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
- America Ferrera as Astrid Hofferson
- Nolan North as Stoick the Vast
- Chris Edgerly as Gobber the Belch
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman
- Julie Marcus as Ruffnut Thorston
- T.J. Miller as Tuffnut Thorston
- Zack Pearlman as Snotlout Jorgenson
Trivia
- This episode may show that Toothless is so intelligent he can read. He was looking at a book with Hiccup, when they were waiting for the others to return after Gobber scared them. This may not be true, because Toothless might be just looking at the pictures or at the letters.
- Gobber's father taught Gobber how to swim by acting like he would kill Gobber if he could catch him.
- A running gag in this episode is that Gobber tries to give away or sell his weapons for purposes they're not intended for.
- Gobber reveals he never liked school.
- Stoick questions if Gobber can speak to people with tact and sensitivity. These traits were pointed out in the first book as not Gobber's strong points.
- This is the first time Hookfang uses his Fire Jacket ability and burns Snotlout's butt causing him to jump in a tray of water to extinguish himself. This is now a running gag in the show.
- This episode lesson at Berk Dragon Academy: a quiz about knowledge in the Book of Dragons including subjects as which dragons has the hottest fire in the entire dragon world and what is the shot limit of a Hideous Zippleback.
- Gobber naming his catapult Big Bertha is likely a reference to the Howitzer used by the Germans in the end days of World War 1. Both Gobber's Big Bertha and the Big Bertha used by the Germans are artillery pieces in there respective timelines. It could also be a reference to Big-Boobied Bertha in the books.
- This is the second time Hookfang and Toothless fight (the first time being in the movie). The outcome was the same (Hookfang was defeated), as was the reason (Toothless protecting Hiccup).
- According to Gobber, the only time a Viking takes a break is to die.
- During the quiz on the knowledge in the Book of Dragons, the teams were made up of the most intelligent teens (Astrid and Fishlegs) versus the less intelligent teens (Snoutlout and the twins). The final tally for this quiz was 100 (team Astrid) to 15 (team Snotlout).
- This is the first time anyone refers to the Berkians as the Hooligan Tribe in the series.
- After Gobber becomes a dentist, it is assumed that the other riders will get their saddles from Hiccup. However, their dragons don't have saddles until In Dragons We Trust.
- First appearance of Silent Sven. However, in this episode he's a fisherman who has Gobber repair his boat with metal.
- Gobber says he made Hiccup's diapers when he was a baby.
- When Hookfang opened his eyes when Snotlout got on him, his pupils were missing.
- The piece of paper Stoick gives Gobber at around 6:24 is actually covered in drawings of Toothless. This may have been done to save production time, if they had already made the piece of paper.
Transcript
The full transcript can be found here
