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Ruffnut is one of the main characters of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. She is featured as an ally of the main protagonist Hiccup Horrendous 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.

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 seems to be slightly more mature than her brother, but she has shown that her childish acts still remain with her in some ways.

Gallery[]

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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".
  • In the video game, it is stated that Tuff is the older twin by five minutes, but Ruff is slightly taller. However, the TV show reverses this.
  • 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 back 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 gas, although she has never been shown on-screen to be eating it, so it's quite possible that she was lying so she wouldn't have to go spy on the Berserkers.
  • 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".
    • Since hair takes at least five years to grow from just above chin-length all the way down to waist-length, it's possible that Ruff made hair extensions for herself.
  • 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.
  • Ruffnut and Tuffnut hug each other for the first and only time in the whole franchise in the episode, "Bad Moon Rising" after her brother believed he was turning into a Lycanwing.
  • In the Race to the Edge episode "Snow Way Out", it is revealed she is a great shopper, and that she got both her and her brothers outfits for the price of one.
  • Ruffnut is the smarter twin (by a little). This suggestion is because of the brief moment in "Shell Shocked, Part 2" when she and Tuffnut come running to Hiccup, Tuffnut blurts out the sentence in a jumble. Hiccup asks, "Translation, Ruff?" then Ruff re-explains her brother's sentence in a smarter more understandable way.
  • 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.


v - e - d
How to Train Your Dragon Logo 2019
Media
Feature Length Films: How to Train Your Dragon (2010) • How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) • How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
Short Films: Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010) • Book of Dragons (2010) • Dragons: Dawn of the Dragon Racers (2014)
Television Specials: Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury (2011) • How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019)
Characters
Hiccup HaddockToothlessAstrid HoffersonStoick the VastGobber the BelchFishlegs IngermanSnotlout JorgensonRuffnut ThorstonTuffnut Thorston

Other Characters: ValkaEretDrago BludvistGrimmel the GrislyZephyr HaddockNuffink HaddockHeather

Dragons Characters: StormflyHookfangMeatlugBarf and BelchCloudjumperSkullcrusherGrumpLight FuryValka's BewilderbeastDrago's BewilderbeastThe Red DeathYetiwing

Locations
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