Which author created the How to Train Your Dragon book series that inspired the films?

Cressida Cowell created the How to Train Your Dragon book series that inspired the films. The first book was published in 2003, several years before DreamWorks released the animated adaptation.

Cowell’s books follow Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, a Viking boy whose full name and characterization differ from the cinematic version. The novels use a humorous, illustrated style and build a distinct fictional world around Hiccup, dragons, and Viking society.

The films borrow the central idea of a young Viking forming a bond with a dragon, but they are not direct scene-by-scene versions of the novels. For example, the movie’s Toothless and the book series’ dragon characters are presented differently. This is why identifying Cowell as the original author does not mean every film detail comes from the books.