Chapter 4: The Scottish Play

''The political landscape that Haddock and his tribe found themselves thrust into was one marked by extensive conflict and political fragmentation. The most significant power in Europa, beyond that of the Catholic Church, was the Holy Roman Empire, under Henry III, and it was undergoing a period of consolidation, and the Byzantine Roman Empire, which was likewise experiencing an era of decay in the aftermath of the death of the Emperor Basil the Younger in 1025 CE. Otherwise, there were few extensive centralized powers; even those rulers who could claim significant domains, such as the Kievan Rus', consisted of tribal or feudal confederations that were not politically unified beyond the person of their sovereign.

—Corpus Historiae Berkiae, 1396

Chapter Overview
Stormfly recovers from her injuries while Hiccup experiments with more inventions. One of these is an improvement to Astrid's parents' millstones.

Snotlout tries flirting with Ruffnut only to be firmly rejected.

Donald Mac Bethad hears of Hiccup's feats.

Trivia

 * The title of the chapter is a reference to the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, tying in to the fact this chapter is the introduction of King Donald Mac Bethad and his court.

Payoff:

 * Setup from Chapter 1: Several of the Green Death's massive scales survived its destruction. One of these scales is obtained by the bard shown in this chapter who told the story of Hiccup's taming of dragons to King Mac Bethad, resulting in Mac Bethad taking actions that impact heavily on the story.

Epigraph Tie-In

 * The epigraph talks about the status of the political landscape of Berk's surrounding areas around the time they domesticated the dragons. King Mac Bethad hears of Berk and their dragons and his court discuss what to do about the news.

Links to the Chapter
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