How to Ride a Dragon's Storm recap

An inter-tribal swimming race sends Hiccup, Fishlegs and Camicazi into the sea, where the contest quickly becomes a real struggle for survival. They are carried far from the course and fall into the hands of Norbert the Nutjob, the Hysteric chief who still wants revenge on Hiccup. The voyage continues west across the unknown ocean. Along the way Hiccup protects a terrified Windwalker dragon that seems unable to fly, while Norbert's plans make it uncertain whether any of the children will return. They reach the western land that Viking maps say does not exist, but must still get home before the race's three-month limit. In the final storm the Windwalker finds its courage, carries Hiccup through the sky and helps him reach the finish in time. Hiccup wins, his friends survive and the voyage proves that a whole land lies beyond the familiar archipelago.

Previously: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is the small and unconventional heir of the Hairy Hooligans on Berk. He can speak Dragonese and travels with his troublesome little dragon Toothless. His closest friends are Fishlegs and Camicazi. Hiccup has saved Vikings from sea dragons, Romans, Alvin the Treacherous, Vorpentitis, fire dragons and a volcanic eruption. He has also entered the forbidden Meathead Public Library and used its hidden knowledge to add to his own guide to dragonkind. Norbert the Nutjob, chief of the Hysterics, has hated Hiccup since Hiccup stole the Hysterics' sacred potato to save Fishlegs.

The Hairy Hooligans, Bog-Burglars and Murderous Tribe gather for an inter-tribal swimming race. Hiccup is at an immediate disadvantage: he is smaller and weaker than most Viking competitors, while the adults treat the dangerous event as friendly sport. Hiccup, Fishlegs and Camicazi are swept away from the expected course. What should have been a race near home becomes a journey into open water with no easy way back. The rules allow three months before the contest is finally over, but surviving the sea is now more urgent than winning.

The three children are carried farther from Berk and encounter Norbert the Nutjob. Norbert has not forgiven Hiccup for the theft of the potato that cured Fishlegs, and any help he appears to offer cannot be trusted. The voyage turns westward into waters that the Vikings barely know. Hiccup also meets a Windwalker dragon made helpless by fear. Rather than abandon or bully it, he treats it as a creature that may recover. As the distance from home grows, the three-month deadline becomes a nearly impossible target.

Hiccup, Fishlegs and Camicazi cross the great western ocean and reach a land their own people believe does not exist. The discovery proves that earlier stories of voyages beyond the Viking world were true. It does not make the children safe: Norbert remains dangerous, supplies and transport are uncertain, and the race clock is still running on the other side of the sea. Hiccup has to plan a return across the same enormous distance. The Windwalker stays near him, but its fear of flight means he cannot yet rely on it for the journey home.

The return voyage becomes a race against both Norbert and a huge storm. Hiccup's earlier kindness to the Windwalker proves decisive: the dragon overcomes its fear, accepts Hiccup as a rider and carries him through weather no swimmer or ship could beat. Fishlegs and Camicazi make it back safely, Norbert is defeated, and Hiccup reaches the finish before the three-month limit expires. He wins the swimming race by arriving on a dragon, an answer no conventional competitor had imagined. He also brings home proof of the western land and gains the loyalty of the Windwalker, whose courage has grown alongside his own.

After reaching the western land that the Vikings believed did not exist, Hiccup, Fishlegs and Camicazi still have to cross the ocean and meet the three-month deadline of the swimming race. Norbert's treachery and the great storm make the return as dangerous as the outward voyage. The Windwalker, which Hiccup protected when it was frightened and unable to fly, finally trusts him and carries him through the storm. Hiccup reaches the finish in time and wins the contest in the most unlikely way possible: by riding a dragon after a race that began in the sea. His friends return safely, Norbert is defeated, and the journey brings back proof that there is land beyond the known ocean. The Windwalker remains attached to Hiccup, giving him a larger flying companion alongside Toothless and rewarding the kindness he showed when the dragon seemed broken.