How to Twist a Dragon's Tale

And now that its ruby eyes are set into the gold, you cannot see their tear-shape, so they seem to be laughing rather than crying. It is a constant reminder to me of the human ability to create something beautiful even when things are at the darkest.

The Hero cares not for a wild winter's storm. For it carries him swift on the back of the storm. All may be lost and our hearts may be worn, but a Hero fights forever.

Human hearts are not made out of stone. Thank Thor. They can break, and heal, and beat again.

If you're going to start a new life, you might as well start it NOW.

Slowly, Gobber stood up. Carefully, he removed his helmet from his head, and placed it very gently on the chest of the dead Goliath.

Hiccup had made leaps such as these all his life. Leaps of faith, leaps of hope, leaps out into the unknown. Hiccup had always trusted in his luck, in his faith that the universe was ultimately kindly, a Good Egg, as Stoick would put it, rather than a Bad Egg, and would reach out and save him. But this was more of a leap of despair.

Is the universe a Good Egg or a Bad Egg?

You see how good and evil are twisted together? Like a golden dragon bracelet snaking brightly about a person's arm.

The dragon bracelet that Humongous created, out of misplaced love and gratitude, in the hellish nightmare of the Lava-Lout Jail-Forges is exquisitely made, for he was a far better goldsmith than he was a singer. It curls around my arm, its shining wings folded back, as if about to unfurl and take off, and now that its ruby eyes are set into the gold, you cannot see their tear shape, so they seem to be laughing rather than crying. It is a constant reminder to me of the human ability to create something beautiful even when things are at their darkest.

Hicke hade tagit liknande språng i hela sitt liv, språng undan faror, språng ut i det okända, språng utan skyddsnät. Hicke hade alltid litat på turen och på förvissningen om att världen i grund och botten var vänligt inställd till honom (s. 224, 226).