The Dragon Riders are a group of character of How to Train Your Dragon.
The title "Dragon Riders" refer to any human being who forms a genuine bond with another dragon and learn how to ride them. They are different from Dragon Flyers (humans who make dragons their companions by force). They were later succeeded by the Dragon Club many years later.
Appearances
Background
Prior to the events of How to Train Your Dragon, there was a man named Drago Bludvist, who was the first person to have trained dragons, albeit forcibly against their will. When dragons became a major threat to the Barbaric Archipelago, the chiefs of the tribe held a meeting to find a solution to this. Drago seized this opportunity to gain power and authority. In exchange for his services, the chiefs of the tribes must swear allegiance to him. They refused and mocked him, and for that, he had his Dragons kill them all, except for Stoick. (How to Train Your Dragon 2) Stoick also saw Drago with another man who had a pair of dragons for Drago and himself to make their escape. ("The Wings of War, Part 1")
How to Train Your Dragon
Many years later, the Isle of Berk became active on killing and finding the Dragons' Nest, to rid of them forever. However, Hiccup tried to convince the people of Berk that dragons were not what people believed they were. While his attempts to prove this failed, and his own dragon, Toothless, was captured by Hiccup's father, Stoick the Vast, to lead the Vikings to the Dragons' Nest. However, it soon became apparent that the Vikings could not defeat the monstrous Red Death on their own. Hiccup, along with Astrid and their Dragon Training classmates, acted under initiative, and decided to ride the dragons like Hiccup had with Toothless. Very soon after, the battle was won, and Dragon Training was widely accepted by the Vikings.
Dragons: The Series
With the Berk Dragon Training Academy established, it was set up to increase knowledge about dragons, as well as a medium for their riding. As well as this, three Berkians who were not officially part of the Training Academy, Stoick, Gobber, and Gustav Larson also began to ride dragons. During a ban on flying, Hiccup put the group of teenage Dragon Riders together to form a secret Dragon Flight Club, with its first rule being, 'there is no Dragon Flight Club,' to the confusion of some of the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. This was intended to be behind Stoick's back. But very soon, after he found out about it, he joined it also.
There are also numerous other people outside of Berk who also ride dragons. The Berserkers Heather and Dagur the Deranged had some exposure to dragons as well and got the opportunity to ride on dragons of their own, Windshear, Shattermaster, and Sleuther.
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Though she was originally from Berk, Valka, Hiccup's mother, also rides dragons, and has become very successful in her dragon riding. Also, though arguably the riding was one-sided, Drago Bludvist has ridden dragons before, including Toothless and his Bewilderbeast, which he used to attempt to control all of the other dragons with. His plan failed, and he presumably died on the back of his Bewilderbeast. Eret, Son of Eret bonded with Stormfly and later inherited Skullcrusher after Stoick passed away.
How to Train Your Dragon 3
With the uprising of Grimmel the Grisly, the dragon riders were forced to find a new home, designated as New Berk. The Dragon Riders were disbanded when their Dragons went to live in the Hidden World.