Stoick the Vast

**Stoick Hamishsson** is Chief of the Hooligans of Berk, and Hiccup's father.

## Biography

### Background

Stoick has led the Hooligans of Berk since the death of his father Hamish in 1019. During his chieftanship, the Dragon War came to an end, when his son Hiccup led the other teenage Hooligans on dragonback to defeat the Green Death. During the battle, Stoick saw that he had been wrong about Hiccup, and freed Toothless from drowning so the Night Fury could help his son. At some point after the battle, Stoick bonded with a Thunderdrum that he named Thornado.

### Book III

After learning of the Anglo mercenaries who attempted to kill Hiccup and his companions, Stoick and Magnus lead the attack on London. Stoick duels Harthacnut in single combat until he yields, but Harthacnut tries to stab him in the back and is killed by an arrow in the eye.

At the Thawfest of 1043, several of Mac Bethad's spies are discovered. Hiccup, Astrid, Wulfhild, and several others go to confront the Red King, but Stoick realizes they're flying into a trap when Mildew's letter arrives hours after they've left. He immediately rallies the village and leads a large force on dragonback to Inbhir Niss, where they reinforce Hiccup's party and ensure the surrender of Alba.

### Book IV

In 1043, Stoick convenes the Citizenship Conclave, which establishes a code of laws for the Kingdom of Berk. During the Conclave, Stoick asserts the right to adopt people into his clan without restriction. When some of the other clanheads object, Stoick officially declares himself a King and claims it as the legal right of Berk's royal family.

During the Conclave, Elinor and Fergus Dunbroch tracked down the living relatives of Stoick's mother, who had been an Alban freedwoman. They invite his cousins Sunach and Lowrans to Berk to meet him, but don't tell them that he's the king. He offers them adoption into House Haddock; Lowrans declines, but Sunach decides to move to Berk with her family, though not as a Haddock.

In the aftermath of Henry the Sinister's war in Normandy, Stoick resolves to meet personally with King Henry of the Capets to discuss the future of Normandy and Brittany. He intends peace, but Henry assumes that he wants to annex those duchies, and uses the month or two between Stoick's message and his visit to prepare many of Hiccup's anti-dragon weapons. When Stoick arrives, carrying the peace treaty, Francians fire on them once they realize the Berkians have spotted their weapons. Thornado is killed, and Stoick falls to the ground with a spear through him. The riders carry him back to London, where he's placed in the hospital under the healers' care.

## Relationships

### Hiccup clan Haddock

Hiccup's relationship with his father was not always the best, with him failing to live up to Stoick's expectations of what a viking should be. After the defeat of the Green Death, Stoick gained a newfound respect for Hiccup.

### Gobber the Belch

Gobber is Stoick's steward and close friend. When Stoick is grievously injured by the Francians, Nanna commissions Gobber and his apprentices to create the medical tools they will need for surgery.

### William the Bastard

Stoick takes William as a guest, and later adopts him as a son.

### Esther bat Rivkah clan Haddock

Esther becomes Stoick's aide, and in some respects a surrogate daughter. This sparks some rumors that like her namesake, she is planning to become, or already is, his concubine. Esther refutes this rumor, as neither of them have any interest in romance or a sexual relationship. Esther invokes the Bog Burglar sanctuary clause to get out of the marriage her father was arranging for her, ignoring her wishes to not marry at all. Stoick adopts her into his clan, making her legally Hiccup's sister.

## Personality And Traits

Stoick is big, strong, and in general what everyone expects a viking to be. However, he is more intelligent than many would suspect, especially in terms of international relations. He was also the first to figure out why dragons shed their scales around hatching time.

He is demisexual, and has never remarried after Valka's disappearance.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 73: Harthacnut Is Better Than None
2. ↑ Chapter 118: Something Wicked This Way Comes
3. ↑ Chapter 119: Dust To Dust
4. ↑ Chapter 134: Rank And Privilege
5. ↑ Chapter 146: Invocations Of Faith And Power
6. ↑ Chapter 147: Death In The Mourning
7. ↑ Chapter 150: Inflection Point
8. ↑ Chapter 127: Bonds Of Many Forms
9. ↑ https://athingofvikings.tumblr.com/post/175372793980/vigilantsycamore-so-athingofvikings-is-getting