Fishlegs in How to Train Your Dragon: Who He Is and Who Plays Him

Fishlegs is one of the young Vikings in Hiccup's dragon training class on Berk, and he is credited in every main film of the series. In How to Train Your Dragon (2010), directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, Hiccup joins the class alongside Astrid and the other teens. Fishlegs is billed sixth in the cast. He is credited as "Fishlegs" in the live action film and "Fishlegs (voice)" in the animated productions.

Christopher Mintz-Plasse voices him in How to Train Your Dragon (2010), in How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), directed by Dean DeBlois, and in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). He also voices the character in the short Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury (2011), released on home video on November 15, 2011, and in the NBC special How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019), which aired on December 3, 2019. Julian Dennison takes over on screen in How to Train Your Dragon (2025), again directed by DeBlois.

Two questions come up constantly. Why is he called Fishlegs? The credits and published plot outlines for the films give no reason, so any explanation would be a guess. And what is the name of Fishlegs' dragon? Searchers usually mean Meatlug, but the published plot outlines focus on Hiccup and Toothless and do not name the dragon Fishlegs rides.

Fishlegs goes from a student in Hiccup's dragon training class in How to Train Your Dragon (2010) to one of the riders who stand with Hiccup through the war with Drago Bludvist and the dragons' departure in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). The published plot outlines center on Hiccup and Toothless, so the riders are mostly described as a unit.

In How to Train Your Dragon (2010), the class is where the teens first learn to face dragons. After Hiccup's secret comes out and Stoick sails with the fleet to find the dragons' nest, Hiccup frees Toothless and rallies his friends to ride the training dragons into the battle against the Red Death. Fishlegs is among the class. The film ends with Vikings and dragons sharing their homes.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) jumps five years ahead, to a time when the Vikings of Berk have made peace with dragons. Hiccup and Toothless chart unexplored lands. When Drago Bludvist captures Astrid and the other riders and takes control of the dragons with a Bewilderbeast, the class is pulled into a war. Stoick is killed shielding his son, and Hiccup becomes chief.

In How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), Berk is overcrowded with rescued dragons and raided by hunters. Hiccup leads the villagers and dragons away by sea, and they settle on New Berk. Later, after Hiccup and Astrid find the Hidden World, Hiccup and the riders use wingsuits to strike back at Grimmel. At the end the Berkians free their dragons to go to the Hidden World.

How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019) is set ten years after The Hidden World, just before the epilogue. The new generation of Vikings has forgotten the link between dragons and humans, so Hiccup, Astrid and Gobber organize a Snoggletog pageant to celebrate dragons. Fishlegs is credited in the special, voiced by Mintz-Plasse.

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) retells the first film with Dennison in the role. The plot follows the same beats: Hiccup spares Toothless, wins over the class, and he and his friends ride the training dragons into the final fight against the giant dragon at the volcano.

Fishlegs' closest ties are with the other riders in Hiccup's class, and the films present them as a friend group more than as pairs. The early productions show how consistent that group is: in How to Train Your Dragon (2010), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) and Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury (2011), the same actors voice Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut alongside Mintz-Plasse. In those productions Jonah Hill is Snotlout, Kristen Wiig is Ruffnut, and T.J. Miller is Tuffnut.

The circle changes later in the animated run. In How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), Justin Rupple voices Tuffnut and T.J. Miller is not in the cast, while Hill and Wiig remain. In How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019), Zack Pearlman voices Snotlout and Rupple voices Tuffnut.

The live action film recasts the whole circle. Gabriel Howell is Snotlout, Bronwyn James is Ruffnut, Harry Trevaldwyn is Tuffnut, Nico Parker is Astrid and Mason Thames is Hiccup, with Dennison as Fishlegs. The profile of Ruffnut and Tuffnut covers the twins in more depth.

What about romance? Are Fishlegs and Ruffnut married, and does Ruffnut marry Fishlegs? The published plot outlines for the four films and the two shorts do not record a marriage between Fishlegs and Ruffnut, so the films do not present them as married. They do not name a love interest for Fishlegs either. The marriage the films do show is Hiccup and Astrid's, in the epilogue of The Hidden World.

For the full group, see the guide to the how to train your dragon characters.

Fishlegs is never shown dying, and no film or short records his death. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) ends with Hiccup saying goodbye to Toothless, the Berkians releasing their dragons, and Hiccup and Astrid becoming chieftains of New Berk. Ten years on, they visit Toothless and the Light Fury, who now have three young hybrid dragons.

How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019) credits Fishlegs, voiced by Mintz-Plasse, and the special is set ten years after The Hidden World, with New Berk preparing for Snoggletog. That makes it the latest point in the story that the character appears.

In How to Train Your Dragon (2025), the giant dragon is destroyed, Hiccup wakes with a prosthetic foot, and the village lives alongside dragons in peace. A sequel is dated for June 11, 2027.

What about the next film? The live action How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2027) is in production, with Universal dating it for June 11, 2027. The sources behind that date do not name who plays Fishlegs, so his place in the next film has not been confirmed. The how to train your dragon 2 live action page tracks the status.

In my opinion, Fishlegs works best as part of an ensemble, so his best moments are the group scenes where the riders finally act together. This is a personal ranking, and it leans on the scenes where all the teens are visible at once.

First, the ride into the final battle in How to Train Your Dragon (2010). After Stoick disowns Hiccup and sails for the nest, Hiccup frees Toothless and rallies his friends on the training dragons. It is the point where a class of nervous kids becomes a team.

Second, the wingsuit strike in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). Hiccup and the riders swoop in to free Toothless from Grimmel. It is a different kind of teamwork from the first film, because these characters now know exactly what they are doing.

Third, the pageant in How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019), where a generation that has forgotten dragons is reminded that dragons and humans are bonded. It is a short, warm special, and it rewards anyone who has followed the group for a decade.

On animated against live action, perhaps the most interesting change is simply the voice becoming a face. Mintz-Plasse gave the character a recognizable sound across five productions, while Dennison, billed sixth in 2025, has to carry him with expression and body language. The live action runs 125 minutes against 98 for the 2010 original, so if you want a shorter sit, start with the animated film.