How to Train
Your Dragon
Two Hallmark ornaments for the boy who befriended a Night Fury. Katrina Bricker's 2010 Hiccup and Toothless from the original film — 5¼" wide, the two of them just learning to fly together. Jake Angell's 2014 version from the sequel — the red prosthetic tail fin, the skies already familiar. The rarest and most intelligent of dragon species, on the Christmas tree. This is Berk.
A Viking Boy, a Night Fury, and Two Ornaments Four Years Apart
How to Train Your Dragon was released by DreamWorks Animation on March 26, 2010 — directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, based on the book series by Cressida Cowell. The film follows Hiccup, a young Viking who is expected to become a dragon killer but instead befriends Toothless, a rare and highly intelligent Night Fury dragon that he shoots down and secretly nurses back to health. When Hiccup realizes that dragons are not monsters, he must find a way to change his entire village's relationship with the creatures they have feared and fought for generations. The film won the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Its score by John Powell is among the most critically praised animated film scores of its era. The franchise became one of DreamWorks Animation's most beloved properties.
Hallmark released the founding ornament in 2010 — the same year as the film — designed by Katrina Bricker at 5¼" wide, featuring Hiccup and Toothless at the beginning of their partnership. Four years later, for How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Jake Angell produced the sequel entry: a teenaged Hiccup and Toothless flying together, the red prosthetic tail fin that Hiccup built for Toothless in the first film now visible as the ornament's most meaningful detail. The 2014 entry is noted as rare by multiple collector sites. Both ornaments are not dated — they rely on the film context to place themselves in time.
"Hiccup and Toothless have taken to the skies, only to discover brand new threats to their now peaceful existence. Hang this unlikely duo high up on your tree to show your love of 'How To Train Your Dragon 2,' as well as your longing for adventure — and the mysteries that often come with it."
— Hallmark Digital Dreambook description, 2014 Hiccup and Toothless — How to Train Your Dragon 2 · Artist: Jake Angell · QXI2643 · 3¾" × 2½"🔴 The Red Tail Fin — The Most Meaningful Detail in the 2014 Ornament
In the first film, Hiccup shoots Toothless down with a bola — damaging his left tail fin, which a Night Fury needs to fly. Toothless cannot fly without it. Hiccup builds him a prosthetic tail fin — a mechanical replacement that Toothless can control, but only while Hiccup is riding and operating it. The tail fin is the physical embodiment of their friendship and mutual dependence: Toothless gives Hiccup flight; Hiccup gives Toothless his tail back. Neither can fly without the other. The "red flag on his tail" noted in the 2014 ornament description is that prosthetic fin — the detail that makes the Jake Angell ornament about the relationship, not just the characters.
Size: 5¼" W · Not Dated
SKU: QXI2323
The founding ornament — Hiccup and Toothless in the year of the original film. The partnership just beginning.
Toothless — "The Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself"
Toothless is a Night Fury — described in the films as "the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself" and in the lore as the rarest, fastest, and most intelligent of all dragon species. In the first film, he is believed by the Vikings of Berk to be the most dangerous dragon alive. He is, in practice, a large black cat who becomes intensely bonded to the person who earns his trust. The Night Fury design — sleek, entirely black, with large expressive green eyes that dilate like a cat's — was intended to be the "ultimate dragon": the most threatening, the most powerful, and yet, when you actually get close to him, the most warm and playful. The Jake Angell 2014 ornament captures the mature Toothless of the sequel — larger, more confident, the red tail fin indicating that the bond with Hiccup has been his normal for four years. "The rarest and most intelligent of dragon species," Jake Angell's Toothless. On the Christmas tree, the Night Fury is finally in a place where dragons belong: the one space where they were never enemies.
Tips for the Collection
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01Display both ornaments together as the four-year arc of the friendship. The 2010 Katrina Bricker ornament shows Hiccup and Toothless at the beginning — just learning to fly, the partnership newly formed. The 2014 Jake Angell shows them four years later in the sequel — a teenager and a dragon who have become the aerial pair that defines their world. Together on adjacent branches they show the same two characters at two different stages of the same story.
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02The 2010 ornament is notably larger — give it a branch with room for the 5¼" wingspan. At 5¼" wide the 2010 Hiccup and Toothless is significantly larger than the 2014 entry (3¾" × 2½"). Give the 2010 a long outer branch where the full width can extend without obstruction. The 2014 can go on a tighter branch closer in. The size difference naturally suggests positioning the 2010 at a lower, wider point and the 2014 higher up, as if Toothless is climbing.
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03The 2014 ornament (QXI2643) is noted as rare — if it's in stock, it is worth acting on. The 2014 HTTYD2 Hiccup and Toothless is flagged as rare or hard-to-find by multiple collector sites. It was produced for a specific film's release in 2014 and has not been reissued. The red tail fin detail, Jake Angell's sculpting, and the sequel context make it the more historically specific of the two. Both are available at Already Christmas — the rarer one may not always be.
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04Both How to Train Your Dragon Hallmark ornaments are at Already Christmas. The 2010 original and the 2014 sequel. Hiccup and Toothless, both times. The red tail fin. The Night Fury. Both here.
Both HTTYD Hallmark Keepsakes
Katrina Bricker · Jake Angell. The Night Fury. Click to shop.
Katrina Bricker's 2010 Hiccup and Toothless — 5¼" wide, the year the film came out, the partnership just beginning. Jake Angell's 2014 sequel version — 3¾" wide, the red prosthetic tail fin that means neither of them can fly without the other, noted rare by collectors. The rarest and most intelligent of dragon species. A Viking boy who refused to be who his village needed him to be. Two ornaments. Both here. This is Berk.
✦ Part of our Collection: DreamWorks Animation Hallmark Series, Explored ✦