Ruffnut Thorston

**Ruffnut Thorston** is a teenage member of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. She is the fraternal twin of Tuffnut Thorston.
 She is often arguing with her brother, often to the point of physical
violence, though never seriously enough to separate them for too long.
In the first film she is 15 years old, 19 years old in Race to the Edge
and 20 in *How To Train Your Dragon 2*. Her dragon is a Hideous Zippleback named Barf and Belch, which she shares with her brother.

## Personality

In the first season of the television series, Ruff has a slightly
more passive role than her brother, although she has a more prominent
role in the second season. She's tomboyish in nature, mostly because she
 is a Viking, but she does tend to be slightly neater in terms of looks
and finds it offensive when Tuff negatively comments about her physique.
 Ruff is also seen to be extremely compassionate and selfless, as she
was willing to cut her braids off so that they could serve as a
substitute for rope without hesitation to save her friend. Ruff also
stubbornly stood her ground when the gang tried to persuade her to leave
 when the Changewings were approaching, refusing to let Scauldy die. In
the same episode, it's revealed that when they were little, while Tuff
was afraid of the dark, Ruff was afraid of Tuff, although she outgrew
this trait.[2] While
 Tuff was talking with Barf about Ruff, he concludes out that she has a
lot of rage and frustration because she feels trapped since she's "a
woman in a man's world", as he said before.[3]

In the television series, despite having tamed Barf (and
technically Belch), she seemed to have a slight fear of wild dragons
that could potentially kill her and would often panic in situations in
which she encounters a wild dragon. It's also shown that she might be
afraid of dying, even to the point of naming the Scauldron
"Please-Don't-Kill-Me" until realizing he was friendly. She has a slight
 motherly side and is quick to comfort Scauldy like how often a mother
treats her kids.[2] Ruff
 loves punching and wrestling with Tuff, often getting the better of him
 (which suggests that she may be stronger than him, or equally likely
she is a better fighter than him). Despite their quarreling, on occasion
 she is shown to pull herself and Tuff out of danger. Ruff dislikes
having to share everything with her brother and had a brief fallout but
they reconciled when they realized Barf and Belch were in danger.[4]. She also appears to be slightly more intelligent and serious than Tuff.[2] In
 the movie, Ruff had a short-lived crush on Hiccup, but she seems to
have dropped it because there is little evidence of Ruff having a crush
on Hiccup during the television series. However, in *How to Train Your Dragon 2*, Ruff has a crush on Eret.
 There is a possibility that, while neither of the twins score very
highly on the intelligence side of things (either voluntarily or
naturally), Ruffnut is the smarter of the two, as demonstrated on two
occassions[5]in which she successfully pranked her brother with very little effort.[6] She often has a sick toothy smile on her face.

In Total Nightmare,
 she and Tuff appear to be very keen on theatre, acting in a very
theatrical manner and using almost Shakespearean words and phrases.

## Appearance

In both the television show and the first movie, Ruff wears a light
brown, animal skin-like vest and a dark blue tunic that goes a little
over her hip and ends in tatters. She wears a grayish-brown short skirt
that also ends in tatters. Around her waist, she wears a metal-leather
belt with an unidentified metal crest in the middle of it. Ruff wears
dark brown leggings and dark blue furry boots. On her arms, she wears a
long dark-gray cloth brace (somewhat similar to what Astrid wears) that
starts at her elbows and stops at the wrist. A bit of the cloth also
goes through between her first and second finger. Ruff's helmet is
studded with four horns, just like her brother's, albeit being longer
and more slender: the top two are thinner bull-like horns while the two
bottom horns are longer and curved. Without her helmet, her hair is
evenly divided in the slightly to the side and short bangs across the
left side of her face. She has two small braids near the top of her hair
 and longer braids that reach to her waist. There's also an additional
braid on her back. Around her neck she wears a necklace with the pendant
 of a tooth or claw that may have came from a Dragon. She's skinny for
her age and has tan skin, just like her brother, along with a pair of
pale-blue eyes.

Ruff sacrifices her braids so that they could serve as a
substitute for the missing ropes to make Scauldy's splint. She had a
short, rough, boyish hair, in which Tuff says makes her look like a boy;
 however, in a Tweet, the director of the show confirmed that this was
only a temporary hairstyle. Her hair then becomes long hair.[6]

In the second film, Ruff has an older appearance, along with a
new set of clothes. She wears the same helmet from the first movie,
along with a yellowish-brown dress that goes down to her thighs. Over
that, she wears a dark blue tunic-like vest that covers her torso and
stops at her waist opening in the middle with a red cloth belt around
her waist along with another vest made of tan fur.

She wears brown leggings paired with dark blue furry boots that
have thin red cloth wrapping them. On her arms she wears a long
dark-blue, violet, and light brown cloth brace that begins at her elbows
 and ends at her wrists. A bit of cloth goes around her middle finger.

## In *How to Train Your Dragon*

Joining the same Dragon Training class
 as Hiccup, at first Ruff delights in taunting Hiccup over his poor
performance although she doesn't have much success either due to the
fact that she couldn't get along with her brother in battle. Later,
however, when Hiccup displays an amazing talent for subduing the
Dragons, she becomes his avid fan (often pushing and shoving Tuff to be
the first to talk to him). Ruff seems to develop a crush on him and
flirts with him (before Astrid pulls
 her away). Ruff decides to help Hiccup fight the Red Death and bond
with the Zippleback that had been trapped in the training arena before.

To confront the Red Death, the twins mount a Hideous Zippleback, which fits their fractious relationship, the two naming the dragon Barf and Belch.
 Each head seems to agree with one of the twins in particular - Ruff
taking Barf and Tuff Belch, and they ride it to great effect in the
final battle and afterwards. Notably, they were the only ones not forced
 from their dragon in the final battle.

## *How to Train Your Dragon 2*

Ruff has grown and, like the other Viking teens, plays Dragon Racing.
 She seems to be slightly a bit more mature then her brother, but in
some ways she has shown, that her childish acts still remain with her.

## Skills and Abilities

**Fighting:** Ruff is skilled in fighting, usually sparring
violently with Tuff when they are arguing. In the television series,
Ruff is shown to be slightly better at fighting than her brother, often
overpowering him in sparring matches and duels, as well as winning
verbal arguments. Tuff even states that her slaps "are like a guy's",
even to the point of tears. They share the same preference for the same
weapon, which is a double-ended spear. It has been shown in the
television series that the twins are the only ones who are not affected
by Barf's gas, which can cause disorientation and a sick feeling,
possibly because they are either immune or have gotten used to it.

**Intelligence:** Ruff doesn't seem to be too bright, though
she is often shown to have the intellectual edge over Tuff. She's unable
 to sit still and pay attention without fighting and/or getting into
trouble with her brother, causing most of the other Viking teens to
doubt their abilities. Often, the others of the group have to explain to
 her (and Tuff) when they're about to execute a plan. Despite her
inability to pay attention, she always knows how to make people or
Dragons angry, often proving helpful for Ruff to act as a distraction or
 bait. Recently in the television series, Ruff has been shown to often
have outbursts of intelligence and a smarter outlook on life, alongside
Tuff, revealing that the twins are much more intelligent than they
initially seem. So it seems that they simply choose not to listen or
think.

The twins also have a strange ability (purposely or not) to get in trouble no matter where they are, even in an empty room.

Ruff can easily see through Tuff's lies and is able to pry him open of the truth without much effort.

**Dragon Training and Riding:** She is moderately skilled in
training dragons, as shown in several episodes. She (along with Tuff)
trained a Terrible Terror and taught it how to attack.[9]
 Ruff was also able to train Scauldy and quickly develop a strong sense
of loyalty and trust to each other in a short amount of time.[2]
 Despite her Dragon Training skills, she often has trouble riding Barf
and Belch because one can't ride without another and the fact that she
argues with Tuff over what to do and how they would do it.

## Relationships

### **Tuffnut**

Ruffnut and Tuffnut have a strong love/hate sibling relationship.
Although most of the time quarreling and fighting over trivial things in
 life, they show an inseparable bond with each other and rarely spend
too much time apart. They both enjoy the feeling of pain, especially if
the pain is inflicted on the other twin.

On occasion, Ruff is willing to help Tuff. Ruff showed concern
for her brother after realizing there was a forest fire approaching
towards his location as well as when she saw a wild Typhoomerang
 right next to her brother. She also was willing to stay up late to help
 Tuff out of the trap he got caught in (though it ended in failure).[3] In the movie, Ruff is seen dragging her brother out of the Deadly Nadder's blast of fire, in spite of their argument.

As twins, Ruff and Tuff share a strong invisible connection
towards each other. They have the ability to understand each others
thoughts and ideas without speaking, as shown several times to finish
each others sentences or to have the same idea at the same time. They
also have the ability to stay together as they are rarely too far apart
for a long time. Wherever one twin goes, the other twin is never far
behind, even if they intentionally try to stay away from each other.
Ruff and Tuff also work incredibly well together (when they want to) and
 can synchronize themselves to do the same actions at the same time.
It's also possible that they are able to sense where the other is and
what happened to them, as other twins are able to do.

### **Barf and Belch**

Being their dragon, the twins had to share riding it. The twins care
tremendously about their dragon, although not as much as Hiccup cares
about Toothless. One head is loyal to each twin (Barf and Ruff, Belch
and Tuff) and on occasion, the heads will fight each other when the
twins fight each other. Usually the heads will work in unity if they
feel that their Riders are in danger and feel that their rider's
constant quarreling is annoying. Both dragon and Rider are willing to
risk their necks to save each other. Tuff even states that Barf and
Belch is his "totally awesome dragon" that he shares with his "totally
un-awesome sister". Several times during the TV Series, Barf and Belch
are seen to be extremely protective of their riders when they are in
danger, as shown as they are willing to fight a Typhoomerang to defend
Tuff[3] as well as leaving the cave to search for Ruff.[10]

### Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III

Not a lot of screen time is shown between the twins and Hiccup. Most
of the time, they follow Hiccup's commands, although not always done in
the right way. On occasion, they disobey him or misinterpret his orders.
 Despite Hiccup doubting their abilities most of the time, he
acknowledges their abilities to work together if they want to. He gains
respect for the twins when they figure out the idea to "fight fire with
fire" and Tuff's ability to train Torch.[3]
 Although finding them annoying from time-to-time, Hiccup is shown to
care for them as he and the other Viking teens attempt to find them
after their disappearance and was relieved to find out that Ruff and
Tuff were both okay. He also acknowledges their decision to follow
Alvin's ship to spy on him.[7]
 They also care about Hiccup, (even though it's hard to tell), like when
 they, along with the other Riders, were very happy to see that he was
alive after the battle with the Red Death[11]
 and when he fell down a hole, (then came out okay later). She also
found the painting of him very attractive though she wasn't as vocal as
Astrid.[12]

### Astrid Hofferson

Although they rarely interact in the show or movie, they remain
neutral to each other and will work together when it comes to it. Most
times, Astrid will get angry if they do something wrong, especially if
it's because they're not paying attention or just being silly. Like
Hiccup, she doubts their abilities as Dragon Trainers due to their
inability to pay attention, although it is assumed that she gained
respect towards the twins when they put out the fire and trained Torch.
On occasion, she will punch Tuff if he angers her, although Astrid is
never shown on-screen to hit Ruff. It's assumed that Ruff and Astrid are
 on mutual friendly terms as they are the only girls in the group.
Astrid was one of the Vikings who attempted to find the twins after they
 were blasted out of the sky. It is presumed that off-screen, she had
attempted to find them although Stormfly soon grew exhausted, showing
that she does indeed care for the twins.[7]

### Snotlout Jorgenson

Snotlout and the twins share a close relationship. Often times, the
twins will follow Snotlout and act as one of his supporters when he
bullies Hiccup and possibly Fishlegs as well in the first film. In the
video game, they listen to Snotlout's plan to cheat in the competition
against Hiccup/Astrid. Snotlout often thinks the twins are incredibly
dumb and in return, they sometimes exclude Snotlout from their ideas.
Although sometimes siding with Snotlout, they occasionally bully him
back, like how they fooled him into thinking he was dying.[13]
 It's presumed that Snotlout had attempted to find the twins (as stated
by Hiccup) after they disappeared after being blasted out of the sky,
which shows his apparent caring personality towards them.[7]

In *How to Train Your Dragon 2*, Snotlout is shown to be
flirting with Ruff, although she merely grunts in annoyance and flies
away. Snotlout is also responsible for saving Ruffnut during the war,
when she falls of her dragon, although Fishlegs is another person who
saved her too.

### Fishlegs Ingerman

Fishlegs and the twins rarely share any screen time together.
Sometimes, the twins are seen to bully Fishlegs because of his size,
although Fishlegs bests the twins in terms of knowledge. The twins find
it annoying that Fishlegs knows a lot of things. In *A View to a Skrill Part II*,
 Fishlegs attempted to find the twins after they were blasted out of the
 sky, along with Meatlug, but ends up over-exhausting his dragon. Even
so, he offered to join Hiccup on his search again and shows worry when
Hiccup tells him that there was no sign of them. Although being slightly
 annoyed at them at the start of the episode, Fishlegs compliments
Ruff for her great work with the Scauldron.[2]
In the second film, Fishlegs and Snotlout are now competing for
Ruffnut's attention, although you can see Fishlegs, is jealous as well
as Snotlout, when Ruffnut starts flirting with Eret, Son of Eret.

### Stoick the Vast

Stoick is well aware that the twins are capable of causing dangerous
accidents and pranks, as well as notorious for causing mischief. Ruff
and Tuff show a level of respect for Stoick, possibly because he's the
chief, but also like to make fun of him when he's not around. He's the
one who possibly created the saying "Where there's smoke, there's the
twins".[3] In *How to Train Your Dragon 2* along with the other Riders, she searches for Hiccup being enforced by a worried Astrid, against Stoick's rule of no dragon flying while Drago is preparing for war. She also, along with the other Dragon Riders, Valka and Eret,
 cries after Stoick's death as well as at his ship burial. She fires a
flaming arrow to Stoick's sailing ship in honor of his chieftain legacy,
 and out of respect.

### Eret, Son of Eret

When the Riders are rescuing Hiccup and Toothless,
 Eret shot a net at her and Tuff and she instantly fell for him as
evidenced when she says (in slow motion) "Me likey." This is also shown
when she is willing to become Eret's prisoner when she says (in slow
motion as well) "Take me," while throwing her hands up in the air (while
 Tuff stares at her like she's crazy) followed by her and Barf getting
caught in Eret's net. On Drago Bludvist's
 ship, she gazes in awe of Eret's muscles as he sets Stormfly free from
Drago's trap. It is also shown when Astrid and Stormfly capture Eret,
Ruff immediately wants Eret to ride with her, but instead Eret pulls
away, so Ruffnut's bites at the air. In another scene, Eret has shown
some respect to Ruffnut when they work together for a couple of seconds
when Eret asks Ruff "Is anyone coming?", she simply replies back "I
don't know, just keep doing what your doing". Ruff and Eret's
relationship seems to be respectful, but in an awkward way, although
Eret does count Ruff as a friend.

## Trivia

* Ruffnut is only Viking teen not to ride Toothless. (Hiccup in the entire film franchise, Astrid in the original film, Snotlout in *Defiant One*, Tuffnut in Twinsanity and Fishlegs in *The Iron Gronckle*)

* Her name indicates the phrase "Rough."
* In the video game, it's said that Tuff is the older twin by five minutes, but Ruff is slightly taller.
* They appear to be based off of Jackal and Hyena from *Gargoyles*
* In the film, Tuff and Ruff were voiced by T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig, respectively. In the television series, Ruff is voiced by Julie Marcus,

 while Tuff has the same voice actor. Ruff changes voice actor again in
Defenders of Berk (Andree Vermeulen).

* + The fact that Ruffnut has been voiced by three different actors makes her character the most changed in terms of the cast.
* Ruff and Tuff are one of the only Vikings on Berk who has a known sibling in this case, each other. The other only known Viking

siblings are Gustav & Hildegard and Dagur & Heather.

* Ruff and Tuff both mentioned that they have a large amount of back hair and that they love it dearly, although Tuff said that his back

 hair had went up in flames while flying over the forest fire.[3]

* Ruff and Tuff are one of the only vikings on Berk to have more than two horns on their helmets (The twins have nine horns). The only

other person to have more than two horns on their helmet is Mildew with
six horns (but he joins the Outcasts later on).

* Ruff states that Outcast food gives her gas, although she has never been shown on-screen to be eating it, so it's quite possible that

she was lying so she wouldn't have to go spy on the Berserkers.[7]

* Ruff cut her hair to serve as ropes to finish Scauldy's splints[2], although her hair grew back to its original length[5]. Since hair takes at least five years to grow from just above

chin-length all the way down to waist-length, it's possible that Ruff
made hair extensions for herself.

* Both of Ruff and Tuff have trained a large dragon and later eleased into to the wild. It's also possible that the Dragons they

trained (Torch by Tuff and Scauldy by Ruff) are counterparts to each
other.

* + Scauldy was trained by Ruff, Torch was trained by Tuff.
	+ Scauldy is a Tidal Class Dragon (dwells within the water and sprays water), while Torch is a Stoker Class Dragon (dwells on land and

manipulates fire and air to attack).

* + - Scauldy was hostile and a danger to the Viking teens, while Torch was more civil and friendly from the beginning.
		- Torch was the one who (partially) saved Tuff, and Ruff was the one who saved Scauldy.

* The twins seem to show a level of intelligence when they caught the Eel Pox in *The Eel Effect*, doing experiments on air resistance, inventing ice cream, and speaking with advanced vocabulary.
* In *How To Train Your Dragon 2*, her and Barf's team colors are light green and yellow.
* At the end of *How to Train Your Dragon 2*, when Fishlegs and Snotlout rescue her, she may have fallen for them. She even held out her arms at

 the end of the film to hug them, but lost out to their Dragons.

* Unlike her brother, Ruff seems to be attached to Barf as an individual rather than as part of Barf and Belch; while Tuff has

expressed regret that he and Barf don't talk much, Ruff actively shoved
Belch away after the dragons were restored to Berk following the defeat
of Drago's Bewilderbeast.

* According to Tuffnut a How To Train Your Dragon 2 deleted scene, she has a sixth toe, however it is unknown if it's true or not.
* She was afraid of Tuffnut when they were little.