History VideoGame / TheLegendOfSpyro

Whereas the original games usually opted for an ExcusePlot, these games had a complex story spanned over three games. Basically, Spyro is a legendary Purple Dragon, a rare breed that can master the Elemental Powers of every other breed of Dragon. This would be useful in fighting off the Dark Master, a powerful enemy trying to destroy the world, except that the temple Spyro was born in was attacked, forcing Ignitus, guardian of the eggs, to send Spyro's egg down a river. There it was found by a family of dragonflies, who raised Spyro to believe he was a dragonfly, too. A big, purple, dragonfly.

Purple dragons are rare and have immense power, so it's no wonder that, when a purple dragon egg is laid, every evil man and his EvilMatriarch wants to get their hands on it. A army belonging to an unseen villain called the Dark Master storm the dragon hatchery, breaking all the eggs - but wise Ignitus manages to save the little purple egg and set it downriver, where a family of dragonflies adopts it. Many years later, little Spyro begins to realize that he's not quite what he thought he was when he figures out he can breathe fire, and he and Sparx set out on a quest to stop the evil Cynder! Late in the game it's revealed [[LateArrivalSpoiler Cynder was the only other dragon egg to survive]], who was taken by The Dark Master's army as part of his plan to release him.

With Spyro's successful defeat of Cynder, the Dark Master's power over her wanes, and she changes back to her true form - a young dragon no older (or larger) than Spyro. Yet, touched as she is by the darkness, Cynder is compelled by a shadowy figure named Gaul to try and release the Dark Master from the Well of Souls - the aim to cloak the world in an endless night. Spyro, lead by visions of a strange dragon master, pursues her in the hope he can prevent her from making a horrible mistake. But in the process, Spyro may fall victim to the darkness himself...

** In ''A New Beginning'', Ignitus reveals that Cynder is not so different from Spyro either - her egg was among those the Dark Master sought to destroy when searching for Spyro's egg. To specify, they both hatched from the same Year of the Dragon egg clutch.

* DamageSpongeBoss: Gaul in the Eternal Night. [[spoiler: Besides the fact that you don't have access to Spyro's elements for it]], Spyro's normal attacks against him do pitiful damage, despite the fact that his attacks aren't too hard to dodge. As a result, the battle with him can take anywhere from twenty minutes to a solid half hour. [[spoiler: Thankfully, his second form goes down far quicker since Spyro is in his SuperPoweredEvilSide form during it.]]

* HumanPopsicle: ''Dragon'' Popsicle considering the series; to survive a huge cataclysm, Spyro shields himself, Cynder, and Sparx in a crystal. They wake up 3 years later.
* DemotedToExtra: Volteer and Cyril in ''Dawn of the Dragon''. Both were chatterboxes in the first two games, but in DOTD they each get a single line. A DeletedScene originally was intended for them to have their normal chatterbox status, but it was cut.

** The DS versions of the trilogy themselves had a completely different gameplay style from each other; the first one was basically a SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/SpyroShadowLegacy'' with its top-down perspective, the second one was a 3D platformer with puzzle elements, and the third one was a side-scroller.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: There are two instances in the final battle of [=DotD=] where, it may just be the distortion in is voice, but for all the world sounds like Malefor is saying: "Damn it!"
--> '''Sparx''': You with me? Let's blow this dam thing up!

* AndTheAdventureContinues: The ending of ''A New Beginning'': Spyro purifies Cynder and prevents her from freeing the Dark Master but the war's not over yet.

* RayOfHopeEnding: The Eternal Night. After being sealed in crystal, the Chronicler tells Spyto that when he awakes, the world will be different but he won't be alone. We then see Hunter watching over the three of them.

* HumanPopsicle: ''Dragon'' Popsicle considering the series; to avoid a huge cataclysm, Spyro shields himself, Cynder, and Sparx in a crystal. They wake up 3 years later.

* PlotRelevantAgeUp: ''Dawn of the Dragon'' picks up three years after the end of ''The Eternal Night'', and Spyro and Cynder have grown into teenage dragons rather than their smaller selves from the first and second games, despite remaining the same height. This was because of the change in art direction and game developers, and was done in order to better show off the next-gen graphics of the PS3 and Xbox360.

* RealIsBrown: The PS3/Xbox360 versions of ''Dawn of the Dragon'' have heavily abused the 'bloom' effect, as noted in [[http://gangles.ca/2008/07/18/bloom-disasters/ this article]].
* RecurringRiff: The main theme's meleody from ''A New Beginning'' keeps on reappearing in multiple other tracks in the series, most notably [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMKMcebheTU The Valley of Avalar]] and "Guide You Home" (from the credits of ''Dawn of the Dragon'').

* ShoutOut: The siege of Warfang is basically one giant ShoutOut to the siege of Minas Tirith in ''Film/ReturnOfTheKing''.

* OminousFloatingCastle: Malefor takes over the Dragon Temple and turns it into one of these in the three years between ''The Eternal Night'' and ''Dawn of the Dragon''. For added ominousness, there's a massive volcano erupting underneath it that the Destroyer emerges from. [[spoiler:It gets destroyed when the Destroyer completes it's path around the world, triggering the volcano to erupt.]]

* MixAndMatchCritters:
** The Death Hounds are a mix between dogs, lizards and armadillos.
** Scratch and Sniff, the two pirate parrots have bat wings and lizard tails.

** The Death Hounds are a mix between dogs, lizards and armadillos.
** Scrath and Sniff, the two parrots have bat wings and lizard tails.

* PirateParrot: Two parrots from ''The Eternal Night''.

* PantheraAwesome: Armored sabertooths appeared as enemies in the DS version of ''The Eternal Night''.
%%%* PirateParrot: Two parrots from ''The Eternal Night''.

* GoodColorsEvilColors: ''Sort'' of in ''A New Beginning''. Cynder is the only black dragon in the game, so naturally, she's the villain, right? Well, sort of. She was actually TheDragon (no pun intended), controlled by the REAL BigBad and only happens to be a black colored dragon. At the end of the game, she becomes an ally and more of an example of DarkIsNotEvil for the rest of the series.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: The ending of ''A New Beginning''': Spyro purifies Cynder and prevents her from freeing the Dark Master but the war's not over yet.

** [[spoiler:Ignitus focuses a fire-dampening spell around Sypro and Cynder, excluding himself to make it work better. He burns to death.]]

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Spyro turns into Dark Spyro and obliterates Gaul with it, when he previously lossing. It turns up again when Spyro gets upset over [[spoiler:Ignitus' death and Cynder snaps him out of it]]

* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: The Destroyer in ''Dawn of the Dragon'' is supposed to go around the entire world in order to create the Belt of Fire that will destroy the planet, but manages to cross that entire distance in the space of a cutscene at so high a speed that even the dragons wouldn't be able to catch up with it.

* YouCanNotFightFate: Played straight in ''The Eternal Night'' when Spyro is told by the Chronicler that there's nothing he can do to stop the Night Of Eternal Darkness and Malefor from being freed. Given that said event is a celestial alignment, Sypro can't stop it. This is subverted in ''Dawn of the Dragon'', though the only opinion we have on the world's destruction being fated to happen is from the one trying to destroy it.

* AllYourPowersCombined: This is a trait common to purple dragons because they are not limited in their elements like other dragons. Spyro does this with his ElementalPowers at the end of [=TLoS: A New Beginning=]

* BagOfSpilling: Due to exhaustion from his battle with Cynder at the end of ''A New Beginning'', Spyro loses access to his elemental powers and has to re-learn them via dreams, coached along by the Chronicler. However, he keeps them in ''Dawn of the Dragon''.
* BeamOWar: The final battle features one as the deciding move, [[spoiler: Malefor tries to kill Spyro and Cynder with his Aether Breath, only for them to counter with their respective Fury Breaths. After a beam struggle, the heroes finally overpower him.]]

* BewareMyStingerTail - In ''Dawn of the Dragon'' Cynder has a blade on the end of her tail that she sometimes uses as a weapon, particularly in heavy melee attacks and her Scorpion Strike (where it is imbued with her Poison element). She also primarily uses this to attack [[spoiler: Spyro]], when she is [[spoiler: temporarily re-corrupted by Malefor]]. She also does a tail whip when she is fought in ''A New Beginning'', though this seems like more of a TailSlap.

* TheCameo: In the Celestial Caves of ''The Eternal Night'', you can see fellow Activision platformer VideoGame/CrashBandicoot frozen in the ground.

* ChainedHeat: Dawn of the Dragon has this as a mechanic--Spyro and Cynder can't go too far from one another. They can use the chain to their advantage for maneuvering but they can also be pined down by special anchors.

* ContinuityReboot: We now have a solid planet instead of a PortalNetwork of realms and worlds of unclear geography. The dragons are now far fewer in number and purple is legendary, rather than rare but otherwise dismissed. Dragon flies and young dragons being in a relationship is now considered odd. We could go on.

* DarkestHour: The end of ''Dawn of the Dragon'' is the bleakest part of the trilogy. [[spoiler:Ignitus is killed in a HeroicSacrifice]], the Destroyer is getting close to starting the world's destruction and nothing can stop it, and [[spoiler:Cynder is under Malefor's control]]. A HopeSpot comes when [[spoiler:the PowerOfLove frees Cynder]], giving them a fighting chance, but it's crushed when [[spoiler:the Destroyer finishes its journey and begins the end of the world. It eventually gets better and Spyro manages to perform a WorldHealingWave and fixes the world, but it was certainly a dark moment.]]

* KidHero: Spyro and Cynder, who are both 12 when the series starts. Due to the art change in ''Dawn of the Dragon'', they evolve into KidHeroAllGrownUp where they're both now 15.

* VillainousBreakdown: Malefor has one in ''Dawn Of The Dragon'' when [[spoiler:Cynder breaks free of his control thanks to the PowerOfLove]]. He reacts by getting enraged for the first and only time in the entire series and instantly cutting straight to the FinalBattle.

Purple dragons are rare and have immense power, so it's no wonder that, when a purple dragon egg is laid, every evil man and his EvilMatriarch wants to get their hands on it. A army belonging to an unseen villain called the Dark Master storm the dragon hatchery, breaking all the eggs - but wise Ignitus manages to save the little purple egg and set it downriver, where a family of dragonflies adopts it. Many years later, little Spyro begins to realize that he's not quite what he thought he was when he figures out he can breathe fire, and he and Sparx set out on a quest to stop the evil Cynder! Late in the game it's revealed [[LateArrivalSpoiler Cynder was the only other dragon egg to survive]], who was taken by the Dark Master's army as part of his plan to release him.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: Just as Spyro is about to unleash his Fury Wave to stop the destruction of the world, which may end up as a HeroicSacrifice, Cynder, who refuses to leave Spyro's side whispers to him "I love you". Although it seemed they have survived the ordeal at the end of the post-credits scene, WordOfGod states that their ultimate fate is left ambiguous]].

** The Golem boss battle involves wounding it's arm enough to jump on and climb up to it's head and smash it's brain. Answering the question of why they don't just fly up to do it, the Guardians tried that and failed horribly.

* CutsceneIncompetence: It is very obvious in The Eternal Night, where in a cutscene Spyro gets captured by the pirate Skabb, right after defeating a magic being three times Skabb's size, without even the player being given the opportunity to fight for his freedom. Later in the game one does have to physically fight and defeat Skabb.

* DarkestHour: The end of ''Dawn of the Dragon'' is the bleakest part of the trilogy. [[spoiler:Ignitus is killed in a HeroicSacrifice]], the Destroyer is marching around the globe and nothing can stop it, and [[spoiler:Cynder is under Malefor's control]]. A HopeSpot comes when [[spoiler:the PowerOfLove frees Cynder]], giving them a fighting chance, but it's crushed when [[spoiler:the Destroyer finishes it's journey and begins the end of the world. It eventually gets better and Spyro manages to perform a WorldHealingWave and fixes the world, but it was certainly a dark moment.]]

* PlotRelevantAgeUp: ''Dawn of the Dragon'' picks up three years after the end of ''The Eternal Night'', and Spyro and Cynder have grown into teenage dragons rather than their smaller selves from the first and second games, despite remaining the same size. This was because of the change in art direction and game developers, and was done in order to better show off the next-gen graphics of the PS3 and Xbox 360.

* PunnyName: In the first game, the Manweersmals. Say it out loud--slowly--if you don't get it. (For the record, they're about the same size as Spyro, though given he's a 12 year old dragon, he's small anyway.)
** Upon meeting one, Spyro even says, "Man, they are small."
*** And, Mount Boyzitbig. At the very beginning of the level, Spyro says, "Boy, it's big."

* ShipperOnDeck: Ignitus in Dawn of the Dragon. When he notices that Spyro and Cynder are tethered together he has a few words of encouragement, punctuated by a sly grin towards Sparx.

* YouCanNotFightFate: Played straight in ''Eternal Night'' when Spyro is told by the Chronicler that there's nothing he can do to stop the Night Of Eternal Darkness and Malefor from being freed. Given that said event is a celestial alignment, Sypro can't stop it. This is subverted in ''Dawn of the Dragon'', though the only opinion we have on the world's destruction being fated to happen is from the one trying to destroy it.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In ''Dawn of the Dragon'', Malefor does this to the apes by rewarding them with a FateWorseThanDeath for freeing him from his prison. Since he quickly replaced them with the Grublins, it's rather clear his intention was to do this from the get go.

This series has also caused a bit of a [[BrokenBase gap]] in the ''Spyro'' fanbase. Although the creator mentions he only "scratched the surface" with the trilogy, the Spyro franchise ultimately got rebooted again and spun-off into the far more successful ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'' franchise. The Legend series wasn't entirely forgotten, though, as several elements from it carried over into the Skylanders lore. Spyro's backstory is based on his Legend counterpart, and Cynder returns as a playable character. BigBad Malefor is also mentioned in the backstories of several Skylanders and appears in person in the tie-in comics. Furthermore, the Skylanders TV show, ''WesternAnimation/SkylandersAcademy'', has Spyro as the main character, and recently added Cynder and Malefor.

* DownerEnding: The ending of The Eternal Night: The Dark Master is freed and Spyro, Sparx and Cynder are frozen crystal, where they'll stay for the next three years.
* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:Malefor's demise is a bit vague, but it certainly has this feel to it since the spirits of dragons grab him and pull him underground.]]

* EvilVsEvil: In Dante's Freezer, the Apes and Ghouls are fighting one another as well as Spyro. The apes attack the scavengers too.

* PlotRelevantAgeUp: ''Dawn of the Dragon'' picks up three years after the end of ''The Eternal Night'', and Spyro and Cynder have grown into teenage dragons rather than their smaller selves from the first and second games, despite remaining the same size. This was done in order to better show off the next-gen graphics of the PS3 and Xbox 360.

* TouchedByVorlons: Cynder was touched by darkness, leaving her with a bevy of DarkIsNotEvil powers.

Creator/{{Activision}}[=/=]Creator/{{Sierra}}'s ContinuityReboot trilogy of video games based on the ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'' franchise. In comparison to the lighthearted tone of classic ''Spyro'', the ''Legend'' Trilogy had a much darker atmosphere, including the major changes to characters, story, and gameplay.

* DemotedToExtra: Volteer and Cyril in ''Dawn of the Dragon''. Both were chatterboxes in the first two games, but in DOTD they each get a single line. A DeletedScene originally was intended for them to have their normal chatterbox status, but [[CaptainObvious it was cut]].

* FlunkyBoss: The electric elemental in the GBA version of ''the Eternal Night''. On it's own, it would be fairly easy. It's invulnerable and causes collision damage as its main attack, but it's not too hard to dodge. When it does become vulnerable, however, it ''summons an entire freaking swarm of LedgeBats to protect itself!''

** There's also a subverted case. [[spoiler: It seems like Spyro and Cynder make one in the end, even they seem aware this may be their end, but they ultimately are revealed to be alive.]]

** Sparx munching on butterflies in ''The Eternal Night''. In ''A New Beginning'', there's also races of fawns and moles, possibly a ShoutOut to Elora and the Professor from the original trilogy.

* PlotRelevantAgeUp: ''Dawn of the Dragon'' picks up three years after the end of ''The Eternal Night'', and Spyro and Cynder have grown into teenage dragons rather than their smaller selves from the first and second games. This was done in order to better show off the next-gen graphics.