20 Movie Characters Completely Different From Their Source Material

Some cinematic adaptations can either end up as completely unnecessary shot for shot remakes, while at the other end of that spectrum are such films that hold barely any resemblance to their source material at all. 

Weirdly, How to Train Your Dragon has experienced both, as the 2025 live-action remake was an almost shot for shot remake of the 2010 outing, which in itself was adapted from the children's book series with little more in common than a few names and the fact that there were Vikings and dragons. As such, Toothless is barely recognisable.

The fact that Toothless the Dragon is a dragon named Toothless in the films is about where any similarity ends. On the big screen, the beast is a rare Night Fury, a figure of something akin to legend and myth in the Viking community, whereas in Cressida Cowell's novels, Toothless is a tiny green dragon small enough to fit on Hiccup's shoulder.

Again, the entire story is changed with this most loose of adaptations, and this new narrative certainly wouldn't have worked with a Toothless faithful to the source material. There is also the small matter of the dragon being able to talk, which was not something carried over to the movie.