Frequently Asked Plot-Related Questions

I get a lot a questions asked repeatedly for A Thing Of Vikings, so I’ve compiled an FAQ. (All of the following are questions that get asked repeatedly for ATOV; I’ve also posted the same text to the AO3 Appendix)

WHERE IS VALKA?  IS SHE GOING TO MAKE AN APPEARANCE?
Read And Find Out.

WHAT ABOUT THE BEWILDERBEAST?
Read And Find Out

SHATTERMASTER?
RAFO

SCREAMING DEATH?
RAFO

DEFENDERS OF THE WING?  WINGMAIDENS?
Probably not; the Wingmaidens’ narrative niche as a female-dominated faction is occupied by the Bog Burglars (and much more naturally, I feel), and the Defenders don’t fit at all with the European attitudes towards dragons (also, Mala is a Sanskrit name…)

THE LIGHT FURY?  OR GRIMMEL?
Having seen HTTYD 3 now, I can solidly classify both of these as RAFO topics.

WILL JOHANN TURN OUT TO BE A TRAITOR?
This one I’m going to answer flat out. No. He will not.

For a couple of reasons, which I will outline here.

First, I started writing this fic well before that lazy plot twist was revealed, and had already built him into my worldbuilding in a manner that did not fit with that characterization.

Second, Johann, even before that character twist, was an antisemitic caricature (foreign untrustworthy/mercenary merchant with a hooked nose, big beard and beady eyes, and voiced by a Jewish man).  Then they went ahead and made it worse, to the point that he could literally be something from Nazi propaganda: a backstabbing conspirator with a false-front of friendliness who is actually a member of a conspiracy for world domination?  Yeah, I’m Jewish, so even in as something as small as a fanfic, I will give a hard pass on continuing to perpetuate stereotypes that hurt my people.

IS HICCUP GOING TO FIND THE DRAGON EYE?
No.

Being quite blunt about it, while I hate what the writers did to Johann with him being an antisemitic caricature, the Dragon Eye bothers me as a writer.  One of the primary things I’ve noticed about RTTE is the number of Plot Items unsupported by the worldbuilding, with the Dragon Eye and Dragon Root being the two purest examples. They’re both obviously there to enable plots that the writers wanted to write, and nothing more.

Consider this. If I wanted to include the Dragon Eye in ATOV, I would have to answer all of these questions before I could possibly include it:

●        Who made it in the first place?

●        Who decided that this complicated method of information storage was optimal?

●        Who designed it to be readable only with the glow from a dragon’s throat when–as far as we know–Berk is the first place to engage in dragon taming?

●        Why did Berk have no knowledge of all of these new dragon species that are within a week’s flight of their home prior to this point?

●        How are all of these hidden lenses still in usable condition?

●        Why were they hidden in the first place?

●        WHY NOT JUST WRITE A BOOK!?

So, yeah. No Dragon Eye in ATOV.

WHAT ABOUT DRAGON ROOT?
Same problem as the Dragon Eye; they’re both plot devices shoved into the world with no consideration for how they’d affect that world. Can you imagine how that final raid we see in the opening of HTTYD 1 would have gone if they’d had Dragon Root? But, hey, it’s not like they haven’t lived in the region for 300 years!

It’s so transparently a plot device to take the dragons out of play without permanent harm so that the good guys can be put in peril without dragons getting in the way. But anesthetics and toxicology don’t work that way; there is no perfect knockout drug, especially one that works instantaneously on an animal the size of a dragon with a dose small enough to fit on a dart.

So, yeah, no Dragon Root either.

HAVE THE NORSE COLONIZED AMERICA?
Historically speaking, yes; there were small Norse colonies in Vinland and sporadic contact starting about AD 1000. Whether or not that’ll have impact on the plot is a RAFO topic.

WILL YOU BE BRINGING IN EASTERN DRAGONS (CHINESE, JAPANESE, ETC)?
RAFO

WHAT DID CLODGALL DO TO GOBBER?
Answered in story.

ABOUT HOW LONG WILL A THING OF VIKINGS BE?
I’ve got 6-8 books in total roughly plotted out. I’m ballparking it to be somewhere between 200 and 250 chapters in total.

WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN TO CHRISTIANITY?
I’m not. I’m presenting it honestly; the Church’s corruption and brutality during this era is a matter of historical record. I can give sources for the massacres and atrocities committed.

CAN YOU HAVE THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION OCCUR 500 YEARS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE?
Now for what possible reason would that happen?

ISN’T HAVING LGBT CHARACTERS HISTORICALLY INACCURATE/BRINGING IN MODERN POLITICS?
You’re kidding, right? LGBT people have existed all through recorded history. It’s only since the takeover of Christianity that they were forced to hide for fear of persecution. And with the inclusion of Cami and the Bog Burglars, I think I have enough support in the worldbuilding for Berk being reasonably LGBT-friendly!

POLYAMORY IS IMMORAL AND CHEATING; WHY DID YOU INCLUDE IT?
Historical accuracy, because the Norse were polygamous, and because I’m polyamorous, as is my wife, and there are moral and ethical differences between consensual non-monogamy and cheating.

SHOULDN’T WULFHILD GET PUNISHED FOR LYING TO HICCUP AND ASTRID?
If you’re of a punitive mindset, sure. But Hiccup is much more forgiving, and managed to bring Astrid along for the journey to forgiveness.

WILL YOU INCLUDE [PLOT IDEA I WANT YOU TO INCLUDE]?
No.

WILL YOU INCLUDE [CHARACTERS OR PLOT IDEA FROM MY FAVORITE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY]?
No.

WILL YOU INCLUDE THIS DRAGON OR OC I JUST MADE UP?
No.

WHY NOT?
Because if I include your OC/original dragon/crossover/etc because you asked, then I have to explain to other people why I didn’t take their requests. I do occasionally offer Tuckerizations to friends (i.e. having a character named after them because names are hard), but I don’t accept unsolicited requests to have material included into my story. Period. I’ve had enough tantrums thrown in my inbox over this that I’ve had to make it a blanket policy, thank you.

BUT I WANT YOU TO INCLUDE IT!
And I should include it… why?

BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO!
Well, you are welcome to write your own story and include it then. This story is mine, and you don’t get a say on how it goes.