Free Scauldy is the 13th episode of Defenders of Berk. It was aired on January 15, 2014.
Overview[]
Hiccup, Toothless, and the dragon riders discover an injured Scauldron on the shores of Changewing Island. When the Scauldron takes a shine to Ruffnut, the kids see a chance to heal the dragon and return him safely to the ocean, before he falls victim to the elements, as well as the territorial Changewings.
Plot[]
The episode starts off with the twins, Hiccup, and Fishlegs on patrol in search of the Screaming Death. The twins take delight in doing dangerous stunts to which Fishlegs laments on how they were stuck with the twins. Hiccup answers that it was either Ruffnut and Tuffnut or Snotlout. Meanwhile, Snotlout begins to hit on Astrid, which greatly annoys her and she tries to ignore it.
Later, Hiccup, the twins, and Fishlegs approach Changewing island in which they find an injured Scauldron with one wing pinned under the rocks. Seeing that it was injured. Hiccup attempts to train it, but the Scauldron merely attempts to attack him. Later, the twins and Fishlegs attempt to douse the dragon in water, hoping to win it's friendship, but it knocks both dragons and their riders off their dragon. Hiccup and Fishlegs start to conclude that they couldn't do anything for the Scauldron without hurting themselves or the Scauldron. While reluctantly attempting to leave, the dragons refuse to leave, in which Barf and Belch toss their riders around.
Tuffnut lands near the rocks, but Ruffnut is tossed in front of the Scauldron where it defensively growls at her. The Scauldron then starts sniffing her. Taking this as a sign of aggression, Barf and Belch attempt to attack the Scauldron to protect Ruffnut, but Hiccup commands them to stand back as the Scauldron hasn't hurt Ruffnut yet. It continues to sniff her and Hiccup ponders on why it was sniffing her. Tuffnut then comments on how weird she smells because she puts fish oil in her hair. Fishlegs and Hiccup figure out that the Scauldron hasn't attacked Ruffnut because she smelled like his home.
Astird and Snotlout wait for the others to arrive at the rendezvous point, in which Snotlout takes the time to flirt with Astrid, in which she decides to fight back with aggression, but only makes Snotlout try harder. After deducing that Hiccup was in trouble, she takes off to find him, with Snotlout soon following. Meanwhile, the Hiccup walks through with Ruffnut to train the dragon, but they have to hurry since Scauldy is starting to dry up because of being out of the water for too long. She names him Scauldy and soon, the Scauldron allows Ruffnut to pet him. Suddenly, Changewings attack and the part of the gang barely managed to defend Scaudly if it wasn't for the arrival of Snotlout and Astrid.
They successfully drive the Changewings off and Hiccup asks Ruffnut to make sure that Scauldy doesn't pay attention to them as the gang attempt to remove the boulders that have fallen on his wing. Trying to grab his attention, Ruffnut tries to imitate Hiccup, but it fails. Tuffnut then suggests that she sings a lullaby that her mother sang to her when she was little and afraid of the dark. She begins to sing which captivates Scauldy enough to allow Hiccup and the others to remove the boulders, but their efforts are in vain as they realize that Scauldy lightly broke his wings.
Fishlegs analyzes the situation and explains that it wasn't that bad and that they could fix it with a splint and the gang sets to work. While Ruffnut entertains Scauldy, the gang get to work making a splint. Snotlout and Astrid go to keep a watch out for Changewings. As they are flying, finally fed up with Snotlout, Astrid pretends to be overly-attached to Snotlout which grosses and scares Snotlout enough for him to stop flirting with her. After spotting Changewings, they head back to the gang who are still constructing a splint for Scauldy.
After warning the others about incoming Changewings, the gang attempt to fix up the last of the splint, but the vine snaps and has become to short for the splint to be properly finished. Hiccup relunctantly tells the group to evacuate, but Ruffnut refuses to leave. While attempting to convince Ruffnut to go, Scauldy pushes Ruffnut away, aware that she is trying to risk her life to protect him and urges her to go. Astrid warns the group that the Changewings are approaching and they should hurry up.
Ruffnut then looks around in attempt to find something to tie up the splint, with the gang pleading with her that they should go. Getting an idea, she takes out a knife. Changewings fly in and charge into the clearing to find Scauldy and the gang gone.
Later, it is revealed that Ruffnut has cut her hair off so that her hair may serve as a substitute for the ropes for Scauldy's splint. Hiccup and the others comment on her quick-thinking, courage, and devotion to Scauldy and compliment her. Hiccup apologizes to Astrid for having her stuck with Snotlout the whole day, but Astrid claims it wasn't that bad because she had managed to gross Snotlout enough to stop his flirting with her.
Ruffnut approaches the water where she reaches out her hand where Scauldy pokes his head out of the water to allow Ruffnut to say a proper good bye. She tells him that she's sad to see him go, but tells him that he can come visit sometime. After the good-bye, Scauldy dives under the water again. Tuffnut then comments about Ruffnut, telling her that she looks like a boy and Ruffnut implies that Tuffnut does not look like a boy but instead looks like a girl. Scauldy is then seen swimming off to freedom.
Trivia[]
- The name of the episode is a pun on a 1993 film Free Willy.
- This is the third appearance of a Scauldron, but the first time the Scauldron is the main focus of the episode.
- This is the first episode where Ruffnut is one of the major characters of the episode without her brother Tuffnut with a major role.
- It is revealed that Tuffnut was afraid of the dark when he was younger and that Ruffnut was scared of him when she was younger.
- It is revealed that Ruffnut has a "Hiccup impression" which involves her saying with a nasally voice "Hello nice dragon, you can be my friend. My leg fell off. All of the dragons are my friends".
- Ruffnut cuts her long braids in this episode to save Scauldy by using her hair to finish making a splint for Scauldy's broken wing so he could escape the Changwings. As of now, she now has a new short, boyish hairstyle. It is possible that in future episodes, her hair will remain short until it grows back
- This is the second time a character hair was completely altered. The first time was in Heather Report Part II when Astrid dyed hers.
- When Snotlout mentions to Astrid that they face danger every week, it is a possible allusion to how an episode of DreamWorks Dragons is released every week.
- When Astrid is pretending to be in love with Snotlout, the Romantic Flight soundtrack can be heard.
- It is possible that after Astrid pretends to be in love with Snotlout and using reverse psychology on him, Snotlout loses interest in Astrid as he becomes unnerved and grossed out by her "love". This is supported by the fact that in the trailer for the second How to Train your Dragon film he is shown hitting on Ruffnut instead of Astrid.