Dil and Ichy. Are they Chompers gone bad?

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

Ok, something interesting just occurred to me about our favorite Belly Dragger and Sharp Beak.  It would make a lot of sense and could be an excellent plot line.  It also might show, if  I'm right, what kind of future Chomper might get if he ever did turn against Leaf Eaters.  

Perhaps Dil and Ichy had lost their parents in some sort of tragedy or had been abandoned for some odd reason by their parents.  They were found by Leaf Eaters, who, like the Gang of Five, had realized that perhaps they could be nice.

They may have lived with Leaf Eaters for quite a while, which would explain why they can talk Leaf Eater.  They might not even know the Sharptooth language, which also explains why they are practically the only Sharpteeth that have been on screen for a long period of time not to ever use it.  

At some point, perhaps nature took over for them and they attacked/killed a Leaf Eater.  They then had to run for it.  Dil might have been injured in the chase,hence her eyesight problem.  

Dil and Ichy may have lived there and met before both having to flee.  Perhaps they met near the place where they'd long lived (maybe they lived with separate groups of Leaf Eaters but still nearby) and they helped each other escape, hence their partnership.

Anyway, as they never lived with Sharpteeth, they didn't integrate with their own kinds as they couldn't and sort of ended up living as outcasts and together near the Land of Mists.

Were Chomper to go bad, other Sharpteeth still might not accept him for all the years he was odd and also his Leaf Eater friends wouldn't like him anymore so he too may end up living alone in a place like the Land of Mists.  

Also, the sadness of what happened with the Leaf Eaters in their past and other things may explain why Dil and Ichy have trouble getting along yet they don't really leave each other (Dil looks like she was looking for Ichy at the end of IV.)  

[jansenov]

Dil probably learned the Leafeater language from Ichy. Dil wouldn't have had much opportunity to learn Leafeater due to her lifestyle that is connected with water and the danger she would pose to leafeaters, so they would avoid her like the plague. Ichy on the other hand, is a small creature that lives on fish and other small animals, so leafeaters would tolerate his presence (or at least, being a flyer, he would be difficult to chase off) and he would have had the opportunity to learn their language.

Dil and Ichy were probably underdogs in their former societies. Dil, with her poor eyesight, and Ichy, either being weaker than other members of his species or being a pain in the ass, were the obvious surplus an expanding population would try to get rid off.

As such, they partnered up and eked out an existence for themselves on the fringes of the Valley of Mists. This would be my reconstruction of their pasts.

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

Would they avoid Dil as a baby?  I mean, what if she was similar to Chomper, you know, cute and sweet and all that?  She might have lost her family and her egg hatched near tolerant leaf eaters?   When she was younger, she was fine,  but nature took over and she whacked somebody when she became an adult and had to run for it, perhaps injuring her vision in the process of her escape.  

As for Ichy, he tried to eat the Gang of Five, so obviously fish ain't on the menu. If it were, he'd not need Dil.  

[jansenov]

Hm, you just may have brought up a good reason for Ichy being expelled from his society. His dietary habits were different from the other Ichtyornis, who were fisheaters, so he disgusted them and had to go.

I sincerely doubt that adult leafaters would adopt a meateater like Dil. Ms. Swimmer is the epitome of tolerance, and based on her opinion and (rightful) fear of sharpteeth I really don't see her taking in a carnivore. The Gang adopted Chomper for a time, but they were children, and even they would have given up on Chomper had it not been for Littlefoot's persistence, which is very strange behaviour on Littlefoot's part (considering his past) and to this day hasn't been properly explained.

I still think my hypothesis is valid, the only thing I would change is Ichy's reason for expulsion: his dietary habits.

[Serris]

Icthy probably learned Leaf-Eater by hanging around the herbivores where he supplemented his diet with hatchlings or eggs.

As for how he got there, he's probably an outcast and possibly too weak to hunt -- hence him partnering with Dil once the herbivores chased him off upon finding out what he was doing.

Dil probably learned Leaf-Eater from Icthy. Although it is a possibility that she learned it as an adult from passing herbivores.