How the World of How To Train Your Dragon Has Changed

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Some movies have epic worldbuilding. Others have a better plot but hardly any world development. I have come across movies that have both, but one particular trilogy has built a fascinating world and shows how it has changed as the series progressed.

The How to Train Your Dragon trilogy is set in a fictional Viking world where dragons and Vikings fight with each other. After a young Viking named Hiccup meets and trains a Night Fury named Toothless, they team up to prove that dragons and Vikings can coexist.

As a long-time fan of the series, I've always been excited to see how much the world of HTTYD has changed since the last movie. As the season’s change, so does the world - let’s journey there to find out how it has changed!

Life on Berk: Before and After Dragons Moved In

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"This is Berk. It's twelve days North of hopeless, and a few degrees South of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery.” - Hiccup, How To Train Your Dragon

The Isle of Berk, also known as Berk, is a small island located in the Barbaric Archipelago and has been inhabited by the Hairy Hooligan Tribe for seven generations. It's got a lot of dense woods, waterfalls, streams, and cliffs.

In the first movie, the main character Hiccup says that “it snows nine months of the year and hails the other three," which means that Berk suffers from perpetual winter most of the year. While the way Hiccup describes the weather is not directly seen, we can assume that heavy storms and snowfall hit the Isle of Berk very hard.

The island may be old, but the architecture is relatively new and well built. The image above shows the village of the Hairy Hooligan tribe that suffers from constant dragon attacks.

Because of the dragon fire, the Vikings living there have to repair their homes and buildings.

Through the acts of Hiccup and the other Dragon riders in HTTYD1, Berk became a place where dragons and Vikings could coexist.

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When the dragons came to live in Berk, structures were constructed to meet their needs. These structures, such as the Dragon Stables, which was designed to house the numerous dragons on Berk, are a significant example of how Berk changed after the events of the first movie.

It seems like dragons have a nice home on Berk. There are feeding stations, a dragon wash, and even more amenities.

There's also dragon racing! Wow!

Life for Vikings and dragons on Berk is definitely better, with all the facilities that dragons can enjoy, and plenty of Vikings caring for and training them.

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Dragon Utopia and the Hidden World

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Berk has improved a lot over the series, becoming more than a home for dragons and Vikings - by the third movie, it has become a Dragon Utopia!

Hiccup has fulfilled his great dream of creating a happy home where dragons can live peacefully. He and the riders also bring new dragons to the island.

The more dragons who come to Berk, the more overcrowded it gets. It's not necessarily the problem of dragons living there. It's the problem of how big some of them are and how much space they take up.

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Having so many dragons on a small island could pose a problem, so to solve it the series introduces the Hidden World.

It's a gateway to the world of dragons, where they all come from and live in secret from the outside world. Apparently, it's located at the edge of the earth, a place with coral and bright, shiny crystals hanging from massive cave ceilings. It is really a beautiful place for dragons to live in and raise their families there.

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We’ve travelled so far, we've seen so much. Will you return to the world of HTTYD again someday?

Seeing the world of How to Train Your Dragon changing as the series progressed showed me how my world can change over time, and how change can affect the people living there. I think it’s a very cool tip to have, readers!

Watch the movies if you're interested in finding out more about the worldbuilding. If you want to know about the books that inspired them check out author Cressida Cowell's website!

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Ashley Lalonde

Ashley Lalonde is a student at Algonquin College. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Asian dramas, playing video games, and writing her own fanfiction and original stories.

Cane: The Magical and Dangerous World of Winterspell

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Travelling through a fantasy world is exciting - I’ve had the privilege of visiting many amazing worlds in books! Sometimes I find myself drawn to reading more about the world than the story.

If a book has rich writing but a complicated plot, an interesting world could be enough to get me to turn the pages. This is the case with Winterspell, by American author Claire Legrand, a modern - and dark - retelling of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, by German author E. T. A. Hoffman.

A young girl named Marie Stahlbaum receives a Nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve, and enters into a world of battling mice and toy soldiers, attempting to stop the evil Mouse King. It’s such a magical story full of childhood wonder and adventure. This is why I was drawn to Legrand’s retelling of my favourite childhood fantasy book.

Come on, let's go to world of Winterspell to see magical faeries and mechanical creatures!

The Crooked City and the Faerie Land

map of cane created by Author and artist catherine scully. photo credit

From a corrupt world to one filled with danger, mystery, and magic - are you going to follow the Nutcracker to the war-torn land of Cane?

In my last post, A Guide to Building a Steampunk World, I said that 19th-century England is a classic setting found in steampunk literature. Legrand chose a different setting, the main character Clara lives in a corrupt, crime-ridden version of 19th-century New York.

Specifically, she lives in 1889, at a period in which poverty is very common in her home-world. When Clara is plunged into the Faerie Land, it’s clear that Cane and her home-world share something in common: the humans are suffering, and most of them aren't in power to bring change.

In Cane, humans are under the control of the faeries, who they never trusted and never understood. The effects of the war on the people are indeed explored upon in the world, from the way the humans are treated terribly to how mages - a completely different species in the Winterspell world - don't have any influence or power any more than the humans do.

The faeries don't seem benevolent because of the way they treat other races. Can they be trusted?

The Races Inhabiting Cane

A race of beautiful yet dangerous magical beings are in control of Cane - will you trust them or the "honest" Nutcracker?

Before the faeries took control of Cane, humans had social structure, courts, rules, laws, and monarchy, while the faeries didn’t.

Faeries, on the other hand, lived in forests, villages on the seaside, or in dark caves. These two races are entirely different, but they have their way of living and understanding the world. It’s a shame the humans and mages are now at the mercy of the faeries.

Cane's beautiful faeries love iron, too. Their magic revolves around the use of iron and mechanics, which is a completely different take on faerie lore in which iron repels them. Not all of the races use magic, but it certainly has a way of creeping into their lives.

Next are the mages, the subjects of humans, who do not rule and have no control or power. It's very different from most other works of fiction in which mages rule or have more influence than humans do.

Then we have the mechaniks, creatures made of metal and clockwork. If you could even call them creatures, these dangerous hunks of living metal spare no time in killing living things. Encountering these races in Cane could be good or bad, depending on how you see it.

Finding Your Way Home

After exploring Cane and encountering the races, it’s time to go home - will you remember the journey?

After falling in love with Cane, I return to it now and then to explore more about the world!

If you are interested in travelling to Cane, I suggest checking out Winterspell on Claire Legrand’s website.

You may discover more about Cane during your magical journey, or get inspired to write your own adventure into a fantasy steampunk world - either way, you won't be disappointed!

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Ashley Lalonde

Ashley Lalonde is a student at Algonquin College. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Asian dramas, playing video games, and writing her own fanfiction and original stories.

A Guide to Building a Steampunk World

What is Steampunk, You Ask?

The concept behind steampunk is a modern or futuristic technology with an old-fashioned industrial twist. Specifically, it focuses on the style of the 1800s and Victorian aesthetics. It portrays an alternate history/timeline that demonstrates how technology would have evolved from an industrial era if major electrical advancements had not been made, sending us to an age where machines are still mechanically powered by driving forces such as steam.

It is this concept of an alternate history of gears, flying airships, and steam-powered machines that is so compelling to so many fans of this genre.

But because it is such a highly visual genre, it can be hard to build a steampunk world for your story. Luckily, this guide is targeted at those who want to write their own steampunk novel but do not know how to create a fleshed-out, believable world.

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Which Era is Right For Your World?

First things first, when you consider the era, the setting in which you want your steampunk world to take place, 19th-century Victorian England is a classic example of a good setting.

The Victorian era may have been a very progressive time, but it had issues of its own. It had poverty, murder, crime, racism, and discrimination. All of these things need to be considered when creating a world with this kind of setting. Visit the English Heritage site here to read more about Victorian England.

The American West is another good setting. For those who like steampunk technology and aesthetics and the dangerous and violent but fascinating environment and history of the American West, this rich and interesting period might be the right one for your world. For more information on various aspects of the American West, see this archive.

Making a world where magic is outlawed and science reigns supreme could be interesting, but how science and magic have an impact on an era like Victorian England or the American West is important to consider.

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Why Research the Era?

Doing research doesn't sound as fun as writing it, but it's necessary to make sure your world is well-developed.

If you don’t understand the era in which your world is taking place, it may leave it feeling flat. I’ve run into that problem myself, so I recommend researching the era that is being explored to create a convincing world that can appeal to your audience.

For example, if you want your steampunk world set in the 19th century Victorian England to be realistic and you want to include an event that happened during that time, make sure the event you're depicting doesn’t have any inaccuracies in it.

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How Will the Economy and Political System Work?

It helps to have some knowledge of what the era was like and how society operated during that period. For an alternate history with steam-powered technology to work, you need to understand economics and politics in that time.

You can ask questions, take notes, and think about how society worked in the era you're writing about, and see how you can apply what you've learned into your world.

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What Technology Will Your World Have?

Technology isn't supposed to be your main focus when building your world, but its role in the genre is essential. There are several obvious examples, such as an airship-something that I have been guilty of using too much of in my own work.

The steampunk technology should impact the people and cultures that exist in your world, rather than just being something that you simply put into it without putting thought into why that technology exists.

In a previous post, I stated that you need to think about the people who live in your world. Why are the people living in your world using the technology they have invented? Will some people be happier without that technology, or is it somehow needed for their society to function? Have they been forced to adapt to advanced technologies by a higher authority, or are inventors chosen to advance and improve society?

Taking the time to build a few explanations for what kind of technology exists in your world and why the people use it can make the world come alive.

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A Challenging, But Exciting Experience

Building your first steampunk world is going to be an exciting and challenging experience, but hopefully, with the help of this guide, you have at least got a rough idea of what to expect and how to plan.

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Ashley Lalonde

Ashley Lalonde is a student at Algonquin College. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Asian dramas, playing video games, and writing her own fanfiction and original stories.

5 Worldbuilding Tips for Writers Getting Started

Worldbuilding is a very important process for creating and telling a story—particularly in science fiction and fantasy—but writing the first one isn't easy or simple.

It's a process that can be daunting, and as a writer who can relate to dealing with creating worlds from scratch, I think this process can be very difficult. If you are looking to develop a new world for your next epic fantasy book or want to build one for your next D&D session, here are five tips to help you get started.

1) Building Your Foundation

Ask yourself a simple question: where is your world set? Is it set in the wild west with gun-toting desperados, and bounty hunters chasing down outlaws, or an unsightly, dangerous place full of demons and the undead?

If you look at the world of Harry Potter, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a boarding school of magic for training witches and wizards, which has interesting places to visit and secrets to uncover.

Intriguing places to explore could make your world feel larger and more expansive. Once you have your answer, think about the people that inhabit it.

2) Understanding the Basics

Think about the basics: how do people get food in your world, and where is the food found? What about transportation and trade, how do those work? What about the need for shelter?

Basic essentials are the core part of any world. Some of these essentials are food sources, water sources, transportation, trade, commerce, and law.

These are obvious—we need food to survive and trade to thrive in real life. Think about the necessities and resources we need to survive in our society, then put those into your own.

3) Diving Deeper into Immersion

Think about how immersive you want your world to be.

You decide whether it should be an expansive fantasy-like realm with plenty of secrets and dangers and wonders, or a post-apocalyptic wasteland with all the trappings of war and survival.

For example, if a country is at war, think about how the war impacts the people of that country, the economy, government, security forces, and even the neighbouring countries. Things like this can impact the degree of immersion and make your world feel more alive.

4) Adding Cultures and Mythology

Do you see your world as being divided into many separate cultures? If so, are there differences between cultures, and are there ever conflicts between cultures and religions?

Are there myths and legends, and if so, do some cultures share similar beliefs or different ones?

Various cultures with similar or different beliefs can enrich your world and make it more interesting.

5) Keep at It

Don’t get discouraged if the world you want to make has already been done before—you can always add your own spin to it. If you have an idea for one, go ahead and make it.

Don't worry about whether it's good or bad. Every writer takes inspiration from every other writer. The one you create will be different because it will be your own. If you still need some support in building one, there's a worldbuilding questionnaire that goes more in depth about it, and it's free. Find out more here.

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Ashley Lalonde

Ashley Lalonde is a student at Algonquin College. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Asian dramas, playing video games, and writing her own fanfiction and original stories.