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| “ | I, alone, control the dragons! | „ |
| ~ Drago |
Drago Bludvist is the main antagonist in How to Train Your Dragon 2. He was a power-hungry tyrant who sought to amass a massive dragon army by enslaving dragons with his Bewilderbeast before proceeding to dominate humankind in a reign of terror.
He is voiced by Djimon Hounsou.
Biography
Past
Drago's early life is shrouded in mystery, but Drago himself revealed that he once lived in fear of dragons, and had supposedly lost his family and an arm to them. Vowing to "rise above his fear" once and for all, Drago learnt how to control dragons with brute force and gathered an army of loyal humans under the guise of a "Dragon God", one who had absolute control of dragons. He eventually found a hatchling Bewilderbeast in one of his earliest conquests, and tortured it until it became completely subservient to him.
Several years before the events of the first movie, Drago visited a then dragon-terrorised Berk in an attempt to sway more people to his cause. He entered the Great Hall where an assembly of chiefs was present, promising them peace and freedom from the threat of dragons only if they bowed down to him. The chiefs rejected his offer, and proceeded to humiliate Drago by laughing at him. Angered, Drago left the hall before ordering two dragons to raze the building to the ground, killing all but Stoick.
How To Train Your Dragon 2
In the film, Drago is described by Stoick as a madman devoid of conscience or mercy. His vast military resources have been acquired over the years by indoctrinating countless people, slandering dragons as savage beasts meant to be controlled and reinforcing the belief that he, and only he, has the power to conquer dragons and by extension, keep the people safe. In reality, he exercises absolute control over his followers, and will not hesitate to execute those who have failed him. He has also no tolerance for those who oppose his cause.
Having heard rumors of other "dragon masters", Drago immediately orders his army to invade the nearest dragon nest and take down its alpha. Here, the dragon riders of Berk interfere, destroying many of the army's traps and weapons all while the alpha Bewilderbeast of the dragon nest emerges. In smug retaliation, Drago unleashes his own Bewilderbeast and allows the two to fight for supremacy while he duelled with Stoick.
Then, Drago meets Hiccup in the heat of battle, with the latter imploring Drago to stop his evil, saying that dragons are not just monsters as well as pointing out the senselessness of the warlord's actions. Drago rejects Hiccup's pleas and instead has the Bewilderbeast possess Toothless before giving the order to kill Hiccup. As a result, Stoick gets killed in an attempt to save Hiccup from being blasted by the possessed Toothless. Hiccup, in a fit of despair, disowns Toothless. Toothless and all of the adult dragons present at the time of the attack under the influence of Drago's Bewilderbeast, are captured by Drago. He then rides Toothless and his massive army to Berk.
Upon arrival at Berk, Drago announces to the villagers that their chief had perished and proceeds to annihilate the village with his Bewilderbeast by attempting to freeze it. Hiccup intervenes not long after and Drago gives him a "chance" to try and win back Toothless' loyalty with the expectation that Hiccup would fail. To his surprise, Hiccup succeeds and Toothless breaks free of the Bewilderbeast's psychic grip. He then whacks Toothless with his melee weapon in an attempt to get him back under the Bewilderbeast's influence, but he fails and is dismounted by Toothless. He lands on his Bewilderbeast, where he orders it to kill Hiccup and Toothless, encasing the pair in a large tomb of ice, seemingly killing them.
Drago soaks in his victory, before an explosion shatters the ice, revealing both Hiccup and Toothless to be unharmed. Toothless, now with enhanced powers and immunity to the Bewilderbeast's control, challenges the latter for the position of alpha dragon, repeatedly pummeling the Bewilderbeast with shots. This distracts the Bewilderbeast enough to free the other dragons from its control and they unleash a massive volley of fireballs, forcing Drago to take cover, but not before several blasts knock off his mechanical arm, exposing a stump where his real arm used to be. Toothless fires one last huge shot, taking off one of the Bewilderbeast's tusks.
Drago and his Bewilderbeast are defeated, and the latter retreats into the ocean with Drago still on it. Drago's fate is unknown at this point, but it is presumed that he drowned.
Trivia
- He is referred to as a "mad man" by Stoick.
- He appears to have a cape made of dragon hide that can withstand the fire of a Monstrous Nightmare.
- Drago seems to have successfully enslaved a Bewilderbeast, as the beast doesn't mind letting the man on its head.
- He also has a mechanical / prosthetic left arm. However, because of his narcissistic need to appear invincible, he hides it with a cape from his men and his enemies.
- The characters of him and Valka are portrayed as counterparts to each other: both are obsessed with dragons, know ways to control dragons and both are able to summon their own Bewilderbeasts for a battle. However, they are also depicted as opposites: Drago has many followers and back ups, while Valka struggles alone; Drago subjugates dragons by force, while Valka wins them over with benevolence.
- He shares various facial characteristics with his enslaved Bewilderbeast: Dreadlocks, wrinkles, broad chin, darker-than-usual skin tones, well-built physique, and so on. With this point, it contrasts with Valka's mask.
- Methods used by Drago to enslave dragons are not entirely known, but it is implied that his acts of taming dragons are traumatically violent.
- Hiccup and Drago seem to share some characteristics: They both have prosthetic limbs and personal objects most probably made from parts of Monstrous Nightmares.
- Drago is the self-proclaimed "Dragon God".
- One of Drago's dragon-capturing machines is called the Scrambler. It makes a screeching noise that paralyses a dragon into submission, and then Drago can bend the animal to his will. It's possible that Drago may have seen a Screaming Death, and had been unable to capture it. However, he could have figured out that the scream it emits temporarily disorients dragons and possibly based the Scrambler's design on this concept.
- Drago could have drowned after his Bewilderbeast retreated into the ocean, since he would not have been able to swim with his mechanical arm destroyed during the battle.
- Drago is unusually cruel to his henchmen when compared to most other animated villans in films aimed at a general audience.
- Drago shares similarities with Professor Screweyes: Both experienced a somewhat tragic event in their lives which caused them spiral into evil; both are deathly afraid of dragons and crows respectively, but conquer their fears by surrounding themselves with the very thing they dread; and are determined to spread fear and take control over people.
- Drago and General Mandible are the only Dreamworks villains TV Tropes regards as Complete Monsters.