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No! You wish I was your sister! You think I'd be dragging your monkey butt all over the jungle, risking your life, if my brother weren't the most important thing in the world to me?! Think about that!
―Ruffnut.

Ruffnut Eugene Thorston is one of the the main characters in the DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon franchise. She appears as a ally of Hiccup Haddock III. She has a twin brother named Tuffnut and they share a Hideous Zippleback named Barf and Belch

Background[]

Personality[]

Ruffnut is tomboyish in nature, mostly because she is a Viking, but she does tend to find it offensive when Tuffnut negatively comments about her physique.

Ruffnut can often be smug, snarky, anarchic, irresponsible and sometimes downright vicious but she also has a strong compassionate and selfless side as she was willing to cut her braids off so that they could serve as a substitute for a rope to save Scauldy. She also stubbornly stood her ground when the gang tried to persuade her in leaving when the Changewings were approaching, refusing to let Scauldy die. In the same episode, it's revealed that when the twins were little, while Tuffnut was afraid of the dark, Ruffnut used to be afraid of her brother. While Tuffnut was talking with Barf about Ruffnut in the episode, "Zippleback Down", he concludes that she has a lot of rage and frustration because she feels trapped since she's "a woman in a man's world".

In the DreamWorks Dragons: The Series, despite having tamed Barf (and technically Belch), she seemed to have a slight fear of wild dragons that could potentially kill her and would often panic in situations in which she encounters a wild dragon. It's also shown that she might be afraid of dying, even to the point of naming the Scauldron "Please-Don't-Kill-Me".

Ruffnut loves punching and wrestling with Tuffnut. In "Twinsanity", despite their quarreling, on occasion, she is shown to pull herself and Tuffnut out of danger. Ruffnut dislikes having to share everything with her brother and had a brief fallout, but they reconciled when they realized Barf and Belch were in danger. In the first movie, she has a short-lived crush on Hiccup but seems to have outgrown it when Hiccup didn't return the interest. In How to Train Your Dragon 2, she starts crushing on Eret, Son of Eret instead.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut seem to actively cultivate the impression of being completely crazy, competing between themselves to outdo each other's outlandish behavior. This, along with downplaying their intelligence and exaggerating their difficulty paying attention, dramatically lowers everybody's expectations of them, allowing them to do virtually no work.

She and Tuffnut appear to be very keen on theater, acting in a very theatrical manner and using almost Shakespearean words and phrases, meaning that they could actually be very smart, as is evident in "Total Nightmare".

When she was captive of Grimmel the Grisly Ruffnut wasn't even the least bothered by her imprisonnement and greatly annoyed her captor by talking endlessly about herself and her love life and by taunting the dragon hunter unashamedly and directly.

Ruffnut can also be really thoughtless as she inadvertently revealed to Grimmel the existence of New Berk during her captivity and did not bother to check if Grimmel was following her after he released her, even saying to Hiccup that she never looks back, which allowed him to find New Berk and to capture Toothless and all the other dragons on the island.

Abilities and Talents[]

  • Fighting: Ruffnut is moderately skilled in combat, usually sparring freestyle or attacking Tuff when they are arguing. She was able to take on several Berserkers with a spear, and, with the juvenile Razorwhip Wingnut on her back, she could defeat three Dragon Hunters with ease.
  • Zippleback Gas Resistant: It has been shown in the television series that the twins are the only ones who are not affected by Barf's gas, which can cause disorientation and a sick feeling, possibly because they have gotten used to it.
  • Thievery: Ruff is also a very experienced thief and pickpocket. Following an attack on Berk in "Team Astrid", she was able to loot damaged homes. However, Ruffnut was told to return the items when someone found out about them and complained about an ‘unknown theft’. She was also able to pickpocket by pretending to beg, such when she and the Dragon Riders were first captured by Ryker's Dragon Hunters. In "Night of the Hunters, Parts 1 and 2", she was able to steal a piece of chicken and the keys from one of the Hunters.
  • Acting: Ruffnut is shown to be a good actress as she was able to pickpocket a guard by putting on a theatrical act.
  • Intelligence: She's unable to sit still and pay attention without fighting and/or getting into trouble with her brother, causing most of the other Viking teens to doubt their abilities. Often, the others of the group have to explain to her when they're about to execute a plan. Despite her inability to pay attention, she always knows how to make people or dragons angry, often proving helpful for Ruffnut to act as a distraction or bait. In the television series, Ruffnut has been shown to often have outbursts of intelligence and a smarter outlook on life, alongside Tuffnut, revealing that the twins are much more intelligent than they initially seem, which seems to imply that they simply choose not to listen or think. She even thought of using her hair as a rope to help Scauldy and able to fool Tuffnut by thinking they share the same pain and making believe he has an invisible tail.

Appearances[]

How to Train Your Dragon[]

Joining the same Dragon Training class as Hiccup, at first, Ruff delights in taunting Hiccup over his poor performance, although she doesn't have much success either because she couldn't get along with her brother in battle. Later, however, when Hiccup displays an amazing talent for subduing the Dragons, she becomes his avid fan (often pushing and shoving Tuff to be the first to talk to him). In addition, Ruff seems to develop a crush on him and flirts with him (before Astrid pulls her away). Finally, Ruff decides to help Hiccup fight the Red Death and bond with the Zippleback trapped in the training arena before.

To confront the Red Death, the twins mount a Hideous Zippleback, which fits their fractious relationship, the two naming the dragon Barf and Belch. Each head seems to agree with one of the twins in particular - Ruff taking Barf and Tuff Belch, and they ride it to great effect in the final battle and afterward. Notably, they were the only ones not forced from their dragon in the final battle.

How to Train Your Dragon 2[]

Ruff has grown and, like the other Viking teens, plays Dragon Racing. She has shown that her childish acts still remain with her in some ways.

Trivia[]

  • Unlike Tuffnut, Ruffnut doesn't appear in the books. She is an additional female character created for the film franchise.
  • Revealed in "Snotlout Gets the Axe", Ruffnut's middle name is Eugene.
  • Ruffnut is the sixth Viking teen to ride Toothless as of the episode, "The Zippleback Experience".
    • Hiccup, the first Viking in the entire film franchise, Astrid, the second Viking in the original film, Snotlout, the third Viking as of the episode "Defiant One", Tuffnut, the fourth Viking, and Fishlegs, the fifth Viking as shown in "The Iron Gronckle".
  • Ruffnut's name indicates the phrase "rough".
  • Tuff is the older twin by five minutes.
  • In the film, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were voiced by T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig respectively. In the television series, Ruffnut is voiced by Julie Marcus, while Tuff has the same voice actor. Ruffnut changes voice actor again in Dragons: Defenders of Berk (Andrée Vermeulen).
    • The fact that Ruffnut has been voiced by three different actors makes her character the most changed in terms of the cast.
  • Ruffnut and her brother Tuffnut are one of the only Vikings on Berk who has a known sibling, in this case, each other.
    • The other only known Viking siblings are Gustav Larson and his baby sibling and Dagur and Heather.
  • Ruffnut, including her brother Tuffnut both mentioned that they have a large amount of hair and that they love it dearly in the episode, "Zippleback Down", although Tuff said that his back hair had gone up in flames while flying over the forest fire.
  • Ruffnut, as well as her brother, are one of the only Vikings on Berk to have more than two horns on their helmets (they have nine horns, to be exact).
    • The only other person to have more than two horns on their helmet is Mildew with six horns (but he joins the Outcasts later on).
  • In "A View to a Skrill, Part 2", Ruffnut states that Outcast food gives her gases.
  • At the end of "Free Scauldy", Ruff cut her hair to serve as ropes to finish Scauldy's splints, although her hair grew back to its original length as of the episode, "Frozen".
  • Both Ruffnut and her fraternal twin have trained a large dragon and later released into the wild. It is also possible that the dragons they trained (Torch by Tuff and Scauldy by Ruff) are counterparts to each other.
    • Scauldy was trained by Ruff in the episode, "Free Scauldy", while Torch was trained by Tuff in the episode, "The Terrible Twos".
    • Scauldy is a Tidal Class dragon (dwells within the water and sprays water), while Torch is a Stoker Class dragon (dwells on land and manipulates fire and air to attack).
    • Scauldy was hostile and a danger to the Viking teens, while Torch was more friendly from the beginning.
  • As seen in "The Eel Effect", the twins seem to show a level of intelligence when they caught the Eel Pox, doing experiments on air resistance, inventing ice cream, and speaking with advanced vocabulary.
  • In How to Train Your Dragon 2, her and Barf's team colors are light green and yellow.
  • At the end of How to Train Your Dragon 2, when Fishlegs and Snotlout rescue her, she may have fallen for them. She even held out her arms at the end of the film to hug them but lost out to their dragons.
  • Unlike her brother, Ruffnut seems to be attached to Barf as an individual rather than as part of Barf and Belch; while Tuff has expressed regret that he and Barf don't talk much, Ruffnut actively shoved Belch away after the dragons were restored to Berk following the defeat of Drago's Bewilderbeast. Though she obviously cares about Barf and Belch as a whole.
  • According to Tuffnut in a How to Train Your Dragon 2 deleted scene, she has a sixth toe. 
    • This is reiterated in the comic, "Burning Midnight".
  • Ruffnut was afraid of Tuffnut when they were little.
  • Both Ruffnut and her brother reference modern items such as hospitals and sliced bread for humorous effect.
  • It is revealed in "Defiant One" that Ruffnut once peed in her helmet, there being no other place to use.
  • Ruffnut can't whistle.
  • She and Tuffnut are considered the world record holders for biggest explosion.
  • It is revealed in "Ruff Transition" that his brother is better at training dragons.
  • on "Tone Death" she doesn't seem very good at singing.

Navigation[]

v - e - d
How to Train Your Dragon logo
Media
Films: How to Train Your DragonHow to Train Your Dragon 2How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden WorldHow to Train Your Dragon (2025 film)

Shorts: Legend of the Boneknapper DragonGift of the Night FuryBook of DragonsDawn of the Dragon RacersHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming
Spin-off series: DreamWorks Dragons (Episode List) • Dragons: Rescue RidersDragons: The Nine Realms
Video games: How to Train Your Dragon

Characters
Film Characters: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock IIIAstrid HoffersonStoick the VastValkaGobber the BelchFishlegs IngermanSnotlout JorgensonRuffnut ThorstonTuffnut ThorstonEret, Son of EretGothiSpitelout JorgensonDrago BludvistGrimmel the GrislyWarlordsZephyr and Nuffink

Spin-off Characters: Dagur the DerangedMalaHeatherHeather's ParentsAtaliGustav LarsonMindenBucketMulchSilent SvenTrader JohannAlvin the TreacherousViggo GrimbornRyker GrimbornMildewCaptain VorgKrogan
Dragon Characters: ToothlessStormflyMeatlugBarf and BelchHookfangCloudjumperSkullcrusherGrumpRed DeathToothless' RivalScauldyWindshearShattermasterTorchLight Fury
Dragon Species: Night FuryDeadly NadderGronckleMonstrous NightmareHideous ZipplebackTyphoomerangThunderdrumHotburpleFirewormScauldronWhispering DeathSmothering SmokebreathChangewingScreaming DeathFireworm QueenFlightmareSkrillLead StingerSpeed StingersStormcutterTimberjackSnaptrapperTerrible TerrorBoneknapperBewilderbeastSeashockerRazorwhip

Songs
How to Train Your Dragon: Sticks and Stones

How to Train Your Dragon 2: For The Dancing And The DreamingWhere No One GoesInto A Fantasy
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World: Together From Afar

Cast
Films: America Ferrera (Astrid) • Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fishlegs) • Craig Ferguson (Gobber) • Cate Blanchett (Valka) • F. Murray Abraham (Grimmel) • David Tennant (Spitelout)

Shows: Chris Edgerly (Gobber) • David Faustino (Dagur) • Alfred Molina (Viggo) • Adelaide Kane (Mala)

See also
Locations: BerkItchy Armpit

Objects: Hiccup's ShieldInfernoDragon EyeDragon Eye II
Crew: Dean DeBloisChris SandersBonnie ArnoldAlessandro CarloniDavid Soren

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