| “ | Since as far back as Breakneck Bog, I've been doing everything humanly possible to rid the Archipelago of you and your Dragon Riders. But you have a most annoying habit of not dying when you're supposed to. | „ |
| ~ Johann revealing his true colors to Hiccup. |
| “ | My infiltration into the Berkian world, years of building trust, behaving as if I were some buffoonish fop, kissing the boots of Stoick the Vast and his scrawny heir to the throne, all in pursuit of the one thing I could not obtain myself: The King of Dragons. | „ |
| ~ Johann's revealing his true goal. |
| “ | Such heroism! And for what? FOR WHAT!? | „ |
| ~ Johann's final confrontation with Hiccup. |
Trader Johann is the secondary antagonist of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
He is a seafaring trader who visits Berk from time to time, offering goods to barter for. Despite being introduced as a good ally to the Dragon Riders and Berk, he is later revealed to be the true leader of the Dragon Hunters after Viggo's defeat, having secretly been working against the Dragon Riders and Berk by pretending to be their ally for years.
He was voiced by Michael Goldstrom.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
- Killed several seafaring traders prior to the events of the show so he could pose as a merchant and establish good ties with Berk in hopes to learn their weaknesses and strengths, convincing them of his claims with the items and stories he stole from his victims.
- While one can dismiss these murders as offscreen villainy, they do have an impact in the story because it was thanks to these murders that Johann fooled all Berkians.
- Has secretly been working against the Dragon Riders and Berk and orchestrating every event in the franchise.
- Sold blue oleanders to Mildew despite them being dangerous for dragons.
- Tricks Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and his Dragon Riders into looking for his ship at Breakneck Bog to make the Smothering Smokebreaths kill them, though they fortunately survived.
- Leads Stoick the Vast into a battle against Dagur the Deranged by commenting around him about Dagur having a new weapon to attack Berk. Although it's ambiguous if he conspired with Dagur to get Stoick killed or if Dagur threatened him to assist him in his plans, Johann still lied to Stoick knowing that doing so could cause the death of the Berkian chief.
- Sells scrap metals containing a nest of Smothering Smokebreaths to Gobber the Belch to provoke mayhem over Berk, feigning an apology when confronted by Stoick and Hiccup.
- Docks his ship near the prison of Outcast Island to break Dagur out.
- Tells Hiccup and the Dragon Riders about the abandoned dragon hunting ship known as The Reaper fully knowing that it was riddled with lethal booby traps; in other words, sent several teenagers to a suicide mission.
- Helps Heather in her attempts to kill Dagur for massacring her adoptive village, but secretly wished that she and her friends would be captured or killed by Dagur.
- Provokes some dragons by injuring them to have Hiccup save him while the Dragon Hunters invade and take over the Dragon's Edge.
- Causes the Berkian financial crisis by tricking Hiccup to take his island's gold to an auction only for it to be all stolen by Viggo Grimborn, economically crippling Berk for a long time.
- Talks Hiccup into leaving the Edge to find the materials he needs for a new Dragon Eye so he will leave the Dragon's Edge unprotected and defenseless for the Dragon Hunters to invade it once again, but this time, the Hunters succeed and take over the Edge.
- Manipulates Heather into giving Krogan her Dragon Eye lens by threatening her dragon Windshear's life after luring her into a trap with fake information about her biological father, even though Heather liked and trusted him.
- Threatens Hiccup with death if he doesn't surrender his Dragon Eye lenses to him after revealing his true nature.
- Sends three traders to take supplies to help Berk's economy after Stoick has his latest shipment destroyed upon finding out about his true colors.
- However, although Berk desperately needed Willow Bark to produce medicines, Johann sends his three traders without that specific product as a distraction for the leaders to allow Krogan to ravage Berk with his Dragon Flyers.
- Alongside Krogan, he led the war against the Dragon Riders, resulting in several islands being invaded.
- He attempted to have Viggo killed by sealing him inside a cave once he outlived his usefulness. This act of betrayal was what ultimately led Viggo to redeem himself after a Monstruous Nightmare saved him.
- He later stated that he also intended to kill Krogan after he was no longer useful.
- While it was said that Krogan and Johann allowed vacation, this was for pragmatic reasons like to keep the men in line.
- Imprisons and abuses Gruffnut Thorston after being given by him the final Dragon Eye lens he needed.
- Leaves the injured Titan Wing Dramillion for dead once he gets the location of the Bewilderbeast, the King of Dragons, and the Dramillion would have died if it hadn't been healed by Fishlegs Ingerman and Mala.
- Tries to capture the Berserker Island's Bewilderbeast to profit, but when that goes wrong, resolves to go after one of the her eggs instead.
- Sadistically tries to stab Hiccup with his spear before the Bewilderbeast blasts him with her icy breath, fatally freezing Johann solid.
- While he does have some comedic moments, all of them happen while he was undercover, and once he reveals himself to actually be evil, he stops having any comical moments.
Why Doesn't He Stand Out?[]
- He fails to meet the baseline Heinous Standards of the franchise due to the high volume of IH and PE villains, including Jörmungandr, Wilma Sledkin, Leonard Burne, Ryker Grimborn, Krogan, the Red Death, Dagur the Deranged, Viggo Grimborn, Drago Bludvist and Grimmel the Grisly. While Johann's crimes of murdering other merchants could potentially put him over the baseline or even let him be PE, they are completely off-screen, and most of his actual on-screen crimes are shared with other villains, primarily Krogan.
- While his worst crime of manipulating the Dragon Riders is bad enough for him to not be considered bog-standard, this no longer unique to him following the release of Dragons: The Nine Realms, as it introduces Jörmungandr, Wilma Sledkin, and Leonard Burne, who all manipulate the Dragon Riders of that series as well and do it with less resources than Johann.
- While it's mentioned that the entire Archipelago could be endangered if he successfully captured the Bewilderbeast, this relies on Fridge Horror, since it's not made clear how devastating his actions would be if he succeeded, in contrast to Ryker Grimborn, who explicitly planned to annihilate all life in the Archipelago.
External Links[]
- Johann on the Villains Wiki
- Johann on the How to Train Your Dragon Wiki
- Johann on the DreamWorks Wiki
- Johann on the Heroes and Villains Wiki
- Johann on the Universal Studios Wiki
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 Villainous Benchmarks
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Alvin the Treacherous | Warlords | Chief Berserk | Johann | Screaming Death | Drago's Bewilderbeast | ||
 Villainous Benchmarks
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Animated Features Animated Television See Also | ||