The Screaming Death is a Boulder Class dragon appearing in the How to Train Your Dragon Franchise that is a subspecies of the better-known Whispering Death. Larger and more powerful than its counterpart, it only appears every 100 years according to notes taken by Bork the Bold. It was first discovered by Fishlegs Ingerman and named by Tuffnut Thorston. Alongside the Bewilderbeast, Red Death, and Foreverwing, it is one of the largest and most powerful dragons in the Barbaric Archipelago or faced by the Dragon Riders of Berk.
Description[]
The Screaming Death is nothing short of an albino Whispering Death, but huge and powerful. Serpentine with wings and no legs, it has blood-red eyes and sharp spikes covering every inch of its snakelike body from behind the head to the tip of the tail. Like the Deadly Nadder, it can shoot these spines as weapons and like Whispering Deaths, can bore through rock with its rows of razor-sharp teeth. It scales are the hardest of any dragon known.
History[]
One of these dragons served as the former secondary antagonist in Defenders of Berk, due to it being an obstacle for Hiccup and the Dragon Riders. Savage, lieutenant of Alvin the Treacherous, and his fellow Outcasts return to Berk to check on the infant Whispering Deaths that have hatched in the caves beneath the village since they were planted there during their last attack on Berk as a surprise attack. Many eggshells were scattered along the cave floor, but much to Savage's surprise, one certain egg shell, a red one, was truly massive. The hole left in the ceiling from the infant as it burrowed out is nearly the size of an adult Whispering Death tunnel, but this creature has just hatched. It can be assumed that this was the egg of the Screaming Death, and as Savage and his men retreat from the cave, the Screaming Death's roar can be distinctly heard echoing through the cave.
The Screaming Death first appeared as the leader of the Whispering Deaths in the episode "What Flies Beneath". The creature, which had been sleeping at the start, was awakened by three of its Whispering Death siblings, who were at the moment being driven away by the Dragon Riders. The massive dragon rose from its cave in anger and headed towards Berk. Upon being attacked, Screaming Death demonstrated his deafening scream attack (which summoned its three Whispering Death back), which frightened Dragon Rider Fishlegs Ingerman. This gave Tuffnut the idea of naming the new dragon as the "Screaming Death." Hiccup discovered that Screaming Death was also attracted to the light reflecting off of his shield rather than being afraid of it like the Whispering Deaths were and used it to lure the dragon into ramming into one of the rock pillars. Its wing was injured from rocks falling on it. The Whispering Deaths took the Screaming Death away from Berk and nursed it back to health. However, Hiccup was concerned that Screaming Death would return, noting that Whispering Death hatchlings are very territorial of their birthplace.
The Screaming Death, which did indeed get bigger and became smarter, returned where it was sinking the other islands that dragons lived on in the episode "Appetite for Destruction". It made it to Dragon Island, and would soon reach Berk afterward. Hiccup tried to distract it with his shield again, but it ignored the light this time probably because it learned its lesson and began to avoid shiny objects. Fishlegs rounded up the dragons that lived on the islands that Screaming Death destroyed to fight it off. After being defeated, Screaming Death left Dragon Island, but Hiccup was sure it would return to exact its revenge.
While the Screaming Death did not reappear, the riders were still on the lookout for it in case it ever did return.
The riders began having attack drills for it in preparation for the Screaming Death's possible return to Berk and Hiccup said that he made the device known as the Thunder Ear to try and locate it through its scream.
In the events of "Cast Out, Part 1" and "Cast Out, Part 2" , the Screaming Death was found when it attacked Snotlout and Hookfang and would have killed Snotlout if Alvin the Treacherous had not saved him. It was later seen smashing out of a sea stack. The Screaming Death was then found by Fishlegs while he and Meatlug were out on patrol. Hiccup later finds out the reason that the Screaming Death is destroying the islands is to search for the Whispering Death known as Groundsplitter, his mothe, and sent ai mail back to the Dragon Academy. Later, Fishlegs uses the Dragon Root to lure Screaming Death to Outcast Island. As the Outcast Island training arena was collapsing, Screaming Death saw its mother, however, it returned to attacking after Dagur had captured her. Eventually, Groundsplitter was freed by Snotlout and Hookfang, and she and its siblings flew out to meet with it. The Screaming Death, realizing that it had been the Dragon Riders who had saved its mother, gave one last roar of thanks to Hiccup, then left with its family. It was later added to the Book of Dragons by Fishlegs.
Three years later, the Screaming Death was living with its mother, Groundsplitter, on an island. When Stormfly, Astrid and the other Riders were captured by Ryker Grimborn and his Dragon Hunters during the events of "Night of the Hunters, Part 1", Hiccup, Toothless, Snotlout, and Hookfang then went to its island. There they found it and were chased by it; however, Groundsplitter stopped him, giving the riders permission to take the Screaming Death's scales to use them as Dragon Armor.
Behavior[]
Even a a hatchling, the Screaming Death is enormous. The Screaming Death is also attracted to light as opposed to having an aversion to light as the Whispering Deaths do.
The Screaming Death also seems to have a mutated maturity cycle and seems to become a full-grown adult faster than normal Whispering Deaths do. As only one has ever been seen, its is unknown how long these dragons take to grow to full size or what age they mature at.
Initially, the Screaming Death was violent and destructive, even to the point of destroying entire islands. It was later shown to be merely seeking its mother, indicating it was lonesome and sought to reunite with its family. After the reunion with her and his siblings, the Screaming Death became calmer than in previous times and thanked Hiccup for reuniting it with its mother by roaring at him before leaving for parts unknown.
The Screaming Death seen on Berk appears to be the Alpha of the group of Whispering Deaths that attacked Berk. Though this might be because the dragons it is aligned with are its siblings, as shown by their looking after one another, including helping the Screaming Death when its wing was injured and gathering food for it. It can also mean the Screaming Death has certain control over its Whispering Death brethren.
'The real strength' of the breed is said to be their insatiable appetites. Like the Whispering Death, they favor tunneling, and like to feed on sea stacks, and which can result in the decimation of entire islands.
Screaming Deaths also have extremely strong homing instincts, holding strong bonds to certain locations.
Abilities[]
The Screaming Death, being a Boulder Class dragon, can eat rock and like its Whispering Death kin, can bore tunnels through the stone. However, it has the ability to sink entire islands and is insatiable in its appetite.
- Sonic Roar: The Screaming Death also can scream loud enough to stun and disorient other dragons, and it possesses none of the weaknesses of Whispering Deaths: it is attracted to light rather than frightened of it, and is highly intelligent. When defeated once, the only known individual learned from its mistakes and that Hiccup was the person who saved its mother. Despite this, it does not have the best memory, as three years later, it did not remember that Hiccup rescued its mother, forcing Groundsplitter to intervene on their behalf. It may also control its siblings among the Whispering Deaths to some degree, as they cared for it after Hiccup and Toothless injured it.
- Dense Scales: The scales of the Screaming Death are the hardest of any dragon known on Berk, and can be made into armor, giving it a perfect defense in battle.
- Firepower: The fire of a Screaming Death is terrifying as well; while Whispering Deaths breath rings of flame, the Screaming Death's fire is worse. Able to fire two rounds of a dozen shots in quick succession like a gatling gun, it can wreak utter devastation, with the excess flame vented from the gaps between its frill.