Grimmel the Grisly

"…or I will destroy everything you love!"

- Grimmel threatening Hiccup.

Grimmel the Grisly is the overarching antagonist of the How to Train Your Dragon animated franchise, serving as the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 36th full-length animated feature film How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the final movie of the trilogy.

He is a ruthless dragon hunter who won the reputation of driving the Night Fury race of dragons to near extinction and has his eyes set on Toothless, the last Night Fury in existence, and will stop at nothing to hunt the dragon down, putting him in conflict with Hiccup along the way. He is the greatest threat to the Dragon Riders and Hiccup's second archenemy after Drago Bludvist's death.

He was voiced by the Academy Award winning actor F. Murray Abraham, who also played Antonio Salieri, Bernardo Gui, Ru'afo and Cyrus Kriticos.

Early life
Before the events of the third film, Grimmel once found a Night Fury in a vulnerable state, but killed it in its sleep instead of training it. As such, his village considered and treated him as a hero. He later started to make the Night Furies extinct, hunting down all of them, save for one—Toothless, possibly because the latter was with Hiccup and sheltered as a result, yet Grimmel became aware of it.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
One year after the death of Drago Bludvist, the Warlords hire Grimmel to capture Toothless, the sole Night Fury he hasn't hunted down, because of their problem with dragon poaching; their intentions were to conquer the world by using dragons they are trying to hunt now that they have assumed the leadership of Drago's Army. Grimmel accepts the offer, but hides from them secrets about what he plans to do with Toothless. He plans on using a female Light Fury as bait for Toothless, and frees her at Berk, but leaves a poison dart nearby and hides a trap.

Grimmel walks down the stairs and approaches Hiccup whilst the latter is studying his father's notes, and pours himself a glass of tea. He explains to Hiccup how he nearly hunted down all of the Night Furies, and shoots Toothless sleeping under a blanket, not realizing that it was actually Fishlegs who was sleeping under the blanket instead. Hiccup detests Grimmel by proclaiming that he will never give up Toothless. Then, the Dragon Riders come out of hiding and enter the room, revealing Toothless wasn't shot, but Fishlegs. With that, Grimmel orders Deathgrippers in an assault on the Dragon Riders. The Deathgrippers use their acid to burn down Hiccup's house, and Grimmel disappears with an ultimatum: if Toothless isn't surrendered the next day, then he will destroy everything Hiccup loves. In response, Hiccup leads the Berkians away from Berk on a journey to find the Hidden World. However, unbeknownst to them, they do exactly as Grimmel had planned. Later after this happens, by the Great Hall, Grimmel reveals to the Warlords exactly where the Berkians are headed.

Hiccup and Astrid return with Toothless from the Hidden World back to New Berk and find out the Light Fury followed them. It's at this moment when Grimmel decides to strike and capture both Toothless and the Light Fury. However, all of the dragons from the island appear with intentions to save Toothless. Grimmel foresees this, and orders Toothless to call off the dragons as he points his crossbow at the Light Fury. Grimmel succeeds in his mission and leads all of the dragons to the Warlords, but alters their deal, deciding to keep both Toothless and the Light Fury for himself to dispose of them.

Hiccup and the rest of the Dragon Riders, wearing their flight-suits, fly toward the armada to start a battle against Grimmel, much to the latter's surprise. During said battle, Grimmel's platform is quickly destroyed. Because of this, he makes an escape attempt by putting one of his collars on the Light Fury. The collar injects her with his Deathgrippers' venom, allowing him to gain control over the dragon. Hiccup is able to free Toothless, and starts to chase Grimmel down. However, Grimmel has prepared for this, and shoots one of his darts at Hiccup. The latter jumps off Toothless, thus evading the dart, but this causes the dart to hit Toothless instead, prompting him to plummet toward the ocean. Hiccup drubs Grimmel by kicking him off the Light Fury, and removing Grimmel's collar after seeing Toothless fall. He then tells the Light Fury to save Toothless and lets go of her, causing him to almost fall to his demise while Grimmels rips off Hiccup's "wings" to ensure his death as well. However, the Light Fury comes back for Hiccup after saving Toothless. Hiccup removes his prosthetic leg to separate himself from Grimmel, thus allowing the Light Fury to carry him to safety. Meanwhile, Grimmel impacts the ocean water below hard offscreen. Grimmel's fate remains unclear, but it's possible that the impact crushes his bones and effectively kills him; if not, Grimmel surely drowns in the water as he is never seen again afterwards. Thus, his days of dragon hunting are now permanently over.

With Grimmel gone for good, the dragon hunters were useless without their leader and were forced to leave. This would be the final time dragon hunters would come to capture and harm dragons, who were finally forever safe and currently hiding in the Hidden World until they can eventually co-exist peacefully with humans who care for them. Until then, only the Berkians will guard their secret.

Appearance
Grimmel is a tall, slender man with receded but frizzled gray hair, pale skin, and light blue eyes. He wears a dark brown robe with a hooded jacket and leather armor, brown pants, and grayish-brown boots. Mostly, the latter ends up looking like Drago.

Personality
Grimmel has been referred to as one of the darkest adversaries to all of the Dragon Riders, including the draconic creatures themselves. He possesses a deep hatred for dragonkind and believes humans and dragons cannot coexist peacefully together, and that dragons should be wiped out completely from the world. However, Grimmel is delusional by his thinking because deep down, he is a ruthless hunter who went deep beyond redemption. Despite wanting to hunt all dragons down, he is very sophisticated by not attacking all at once, also showing himself as sensible, as he hatched twisted plans which only he knows how they work, being the smartest villain in the series.

In spite of his sadism, delusions, and wicked nature Grimmel seems to own a tiny bit of nobility, as according to his dialogue between Hiccup in their first encounter, it can be implied that Grimmel had at the very least respect for Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's late father, because both of them apparently agreed with their views on the danger that represented the dragons, though Grimmel was oblivious that Stoick later changed his opinion. However, Grimmel did sit on Stoick's chair right in Hiccup's house, something he's called out for. He also has loyalty to no one, as though he made a deal with the Warlords to bring them all the Berkians' dragons, he altered it and refused to give them Toothless and the Night Fury so he could dispose of them himself, therefore being dishonorable.

Powers and Abilities

 * Dragon Hunting: Grimmel is known as the smartest dragon hunter in the world. His skill in dragon hunting is unmatched.
 * Dragon Manipulation: Grimmel was capable of manipulating dragons under the command of Drago's Army.
 * Dragon Riding: Grimmel was capable of riding the dragons.

Quotes
"When all of this is set and done, this young chief will hand me the Night Fury. They don't have a leader, just a boy."

- Grimmel about Hiccup to the Warlords.

"I've hunted every Night Fury. Except yours. Hand him over."

- Grimmel first meeting Hiccup.

"Ah, a fighting spirit. I love that. Only, I'm afraid you are mistaken. You've never seen anything like me."

- Grimmel to Hiccup.

"I am the Night Fury killer."

- Grimmel boasting himself.

"History has shown us that we are the superior species."

- Grimmel about his beliefs.

"You tried your best, but you're nothing without your dragon!"

- Grimmel taunting Hiccup.

"Best of luck controlling them without an alpha."

- Grimmel betraying the Warlords.

Trivia

 * In many ways, Grimmel is considered the evil version of Hiccup—an example of what Hiccup could have become if he had killed Toothless the first time they met.
 * It's possible Grimmel had dealings with Drago Bludvist, as Drago wore a Night Fury skin cape to cover his mechanical arm and Grimmel hunted the Night Furies to near-extinction.
 * Grimmel is the most foremost antagonist in the How to Train Your Dragon series, proving to be arguably more dangerous than Drago Bludvist, who was just being driven by revenge to hunt and enslave dragons rather than being driven for sadism and pleasure to kill them without reason. Grimmel also serves as the final antagonist of the series.
 * Although driven for his desire of killing dragons as previously mentioned, considering that he apparently had no specific reasons regarding his motives, it's debated whether Grimmel just wanted to exterminate dragonkind for pure sadism and delusions, or if he was just trying to eliminate all dragons to ensure the safety of humankind, just as Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's father, wanted in the first film. However, Grimmel gives no reasonable explanation as to why he's trying to commit genocide on all dragons, which seems to point to the former.
 * Due his madness and desire to kill all dragons in existence, Grimmel the Grisly is considered one of the darkest DreamWorks Animation villains, also perhaps one of the most disturbing.