How to Train Your Dragon 2 is a 2014 American animated fantasy film written and directed by Dean DeBlois, based on the book series by Cressida Cowell. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, it is the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and the second installment in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller reprise their roles from the first film, with Cate Blanchett, Djimon Hounsou and Kit Harington joining the cast. Set five years after the events of the first film, it follows 20-year-old Hiccup and his friends as they encounter Valka, Hiccup's long-lost mother, and Drago Bludvist, a madman who wants to conquer the world by use of a dragon army.

A sequel to How to Train Your Dragon was announced in April 2010, with the outline first drafted in February. DeBlois, who co-directed the first film, agreed to return on the condition he would be allowed to make a trilogy. He cited The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and My Neighbor Totoro (1988) as his main inspirations, with the expanded scope of the former being particularly influential. DeBlois and his creative team visited Svalbard to look for inspirations for the setting. Composer John Powell returned to score the film. It was DreamWorks' first film to use scalable multi-core processing and the studio's new animation and lighting software.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2014, and was released in the United States on June 13 by 20th Century Fox[a]. Like its predecessor, it received critical acclaim, with praise for its animation, characters, writing, voice acting, score, action sequences, emotional depth and darker, more serious tone. It grossed $622 million, becoming the 12th-highest-grossing film of 2014. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature and six Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The final installment in the trilogy, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, was released in 2019. A live-action remake is scheduled for release in 2027.

Plot

Five years after the Viking villagers of Berk and the dragons have made peace,[b] Hiccup and his Night Fury best friend, Toothless, map out unexplored lands. Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast, pressures him to succeed as chieftain, although Hiccup is uncertain whether he is ready.

While investigating a burnt forest, Hiccup and his girlfriend Astrid are ambushed by dragon trappers led by Eret, who works for Drago Bludvist, a warlord who plots to enslave all dragons into becoming soldiers. Hiccup and Astrid escape to Berk and warn Stoick about Drago. As Stoick fortifies Berk to prepare for battle, he explains that he once met Drago at a chieftain gathering, where Drago offered them protection from dragons if they pledged to serve him; upon denying him, he had his dragons attack them, leaving Stoick as the sole survivor.

Hiccup refuses to accept that war is inevitable and flies off with Toothless in search of Drago to change his mind. Instead, they encounter a mysterious dragon rider, who is revealed to be Hiccup's mother, Valka, who was presumed dead after being taken away by a dragon during a raid. Valka explains that, like her son, she could not bring herself to slay dragons; instead, she rescues them from Drago and brings them to an island nest formed out of ice by a massive, ice-breathing alpha dragon called a Bewilderbeast, which can control smaller dragons by emitting hypnotic sound waves. Stoick and his companion Gobber track Hiccup to the nest, where Stoick discovers that Valka is alive, and they finally reunite. Meanwhile, Astrid and the other riders force Eret to lead them to Drago, who captures them. Upon learning of Berk's dragons, Drago directs his armada to attack the dragon nest. He also tries to execute Eret, but Astrid's dragon, Stormfly, saves him, prompting Eret to help the others escape.

A battle rages at the nest between dragon riders, Valka's dragons, and Drago's armada. Drago unveils his own Bewilderbeast to confront the alpha, killing it and becoming the new Alpha, thus controlling all dragons. Hiccup urges Drago to cease the violence, but he refuses, citing his family's deaths from dragon attacks in his childhood and his desire to conquer the world. His Bewilderbeast hypnotizes Toothless and forces him to kill Hiccup, but Stoick sacrifices himself by taking the fatal blast instead, and Hiccup drives Toothless away out of grief. The group is stranded as Drago takes control of their dragons and rides Toothless to conquer Berk. After the group holds a Viking funeral for Stoick, Hiccup feels lost without his father and his dragon, where Valka reminds him that his father believed he could unite humans and dragons. Inspired, Hiccup and his allies return to Berk on baby dragons, immune to the Bewilderbeast's influence.

Back at Berk, they find that Drago has attacked the village and taken control of the dragons. Hiccup frees Toothless from the Bewilderbeast's control and confronts Drago before the Bewilderbeast encases them in ice, from which Toothless shields Hiccup. However, Toothless blasts away the ice and enters a glowing, super-powered dominant state, making him immune to the Bewilderbeast's control. Toothless challenges the Bewilderbeast while repeatedly shooting at it, breaking its control over the other dragons to side with him. The freed dragons fire at the Bewilderbeast until Toothless fires a massive blast, breaking its left tusk. Defeated, the Bewilderbeast retreats to the sea with Drago.

The Vikings and dragons celebrate their victory. Hiccup is officially made chieftain of Berk, Valka decides to stay with her son, and the dragons accept Toothless as the new alpha. Berk undergoes repairs, and Hiccup feels confident that they will defend their way of life.