Gaul

Gaul is the Ape King, ruler of the Apes and a loyal servant of Malefor in the The Legend of Spyro series. He is the main antagonist of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, who is responsible for staging the raid on the Dragon Temple and stealing Cynder's egg, leading her to be corrupted into Malefor's devoted servant.
==Appearance==
Gaul is an enormous, hairy, and wart-covered ape with one eye as a green shining jewel. Several scars run across his demented face, evidence of his experience in combat. He has a purple, horned helmet that looks very similar to a Viking's helmet. He wields a pair of scimitar swords and a long staff brimming with magic.
==Personality==
Gaul is a ruthless Ape who cares about nothing more than to await the resurrection of his master, Malefor, who he believes will bring about a new age of power for the Apes. He appears to have a great hatred for Dragons, though it is unclear if it was caused by their war or another event. Gaul does have a sense of honor, wanting his followers to stand back so he can battle a element-deprived Spyro one-on-one.
==Abilities==
Gaul is a seasoned fighter, having participated in the war against the Dragons for many millennia.
=== Physical Strength ===
In combat, Gaul is definitely a force to be reckoned with and a formidable foe. When not using his weapons, he can use his jewel eye to fire an energy laser and can spin around to turn into a tornado to pull his enemies closer to him.
=== Dual Swords/Boomerang ===
Besides his own strength, Gaul attacks with two large swords and has the ability to launch green fireballs with them. His two swords can double as a bladed boomerang when put together, but Gaul has only used this tactic in the Nintendo DS version of The Eternal Night.
=== Magic-Draining Staff ===
Gaul also wields a staff with a green gem embedded at the tip. With its magic, he can drain the energy of his foes, rendering them weak and purged of their elemental abilities. When Gaul zapped Spyro with his staff, the young dragon was unable to use his elemental powers and instead had to fight the Ape King using melee attacks. 
=== War Hammer ===
During the isle-wars, Gaul used a war hammer in his fight against the Dragons, as shown in a flashback in A New Beginning.
==Story==
===History===
Some time after his exile, the Dark Master Malefor built an army of Apes, with Gaul being one of his many followers. The Ape King was present in the war against the Dragon race until Malefor was imprisoned in Convexity. Despite their master being locked away beyond the Dragon Realms, Gaul and his Ape army were still able to carry out Malefor's commands, prolonging the war. 
=== The Raid on the Dragon Temple ===
Many years later, Gaul and the Dark Armies were given orders by Malefor to destroy the egg that contained the next purple dragon and to also steal an egg that held a dragon with the ability to open the portal to Malefor's prison. During the Year of the Dragon, Gaul led the raid on the Dragon Temple on the night of Spyro's birth. In the mist of the attack, the Ape King stole one dragon egg, which was Cynder's, while his army defeated the Dragon Guardians and smashed the rest of the dragon eggs, unaware that Spyro's was saved by one of the Guardians. Gaul would later perform the ritual in corrupting a young Cynder with Malefor's dark magic, transforming her into a monstrous black dragon made to serve the Dark Master. As Cynder led the Ape army in her quest to free Malefor and gain territory, Gaul participated once again in the war against the Dragons.
===The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night===
Weeks after Cynder's defeat at the hands of Spyro, Gaul and his Apes journeyed to the Well of Souls where the Ape King planned to revive Malefor so they could get revenge and to satisfy their lust for power in the impression they would be rewarded. Gaul's minions later captured Cynder at Fellmuth Arena and held her at the Mountain of Malefor to either be taken back by the Dark Master or killed if he chooses.
Spyro arrived at the Well of Souls to save Cynder from Gaul, but the Ape King had anticipated his arrival, using his staff to render the young purple dragon weak and drained him of his elemental powers. Gaul then gloated to Spyro that he was no match and that all it took to lure the purple dragon into the Ape King’s clutches was Spyro's friendship with Cynder. He then ordered Cynder to destroy Spyro to break his spirit, but she instead made an attempt to snatch Gaul's staff, only for the Ape King to catch the black dragon by the neck and throw her into a wall, knocking her out. As an Ape Leader advanced towards the weakened Spyro, Gaul stopped him, announcing that the purple dragon was his to kill.
Wielding two large blades at his disposal, Gaul battled Spyro in the throneroom, though the young dragon was able to hold his own in spite of his disadvantage. As the Ape King prepared to kill the purple dragon with his swords, Spyro dodged the strike, causing the floor beneath them to crumble when both of Gaul's swords pierced the ground heavily. The two combatants were sent falling down into another floor of the mountain, resulting in Gaul's staff spiraling out of his grip and shattering into pieces upon coming in contact with the floor. At that moment, the Celestial Moons eclipsed one another and generated a column of light that shot down through the Well of Souls directly into Spyro. Infused by the dark power of the eclipse intended to free Malefor, Spyro transformed into Dark Spyro and engaged Gaul once again, this time gaining the upper hand. Knowing he had been beat, Gaul demanded Spyro to finish him off, but the young dragon hesitated. The Ape King, seeing his adversary not moving in for the final blow, called Dark Spyro a coward before releasing a guttural laugh. 
Gaul then crawled back to his feet and charged at Dark Spyro to kill him during his moment of hesitation, but Dark Spyro finally reacted and ultimately destroyed Gaul in cold blood by using Dark Aether to reduce the Ape King to ashes and scattering him into pieces.
==Relationships==
===Spyro===
Gaul sees Spyro as a whelping, thinking he was no match for him. The Ape King is aware of Spyro's friendship with Cynder and attempted to break Spyro's spirit by having Cynder attack him. When that failed due to Cynder's defiance, Gaul engaged Spyro in mortal combat to kill him. When the battle turned over to Spyro's favor, Gaul wanted the young dragon to finish him, only to laugh when Spyro refused.
===Cynder===
Gaul stole Cynder's egg during the raid on the Dragon Temple, choosing her to be the one who would free his master Malefor from the altar in Convexity. He and his minions brought up Cynder under the shadow of evil, until the time came for Gaul to perform the dark ritual that would corrupt Cynder into Malefor's faithful servant who would turn the tide in the war against the Dragon race. When Cynder was defeated and deprived of Malefor's influence years later, Gaul branded Cynder as a traitor and had her brought before him in the depths of the Well of Souls. Gaul reassured Cynder that Malefor may take her back for being "a faithful servant", but the Ape King seemed interested at the possibility of her having the honor of being the first to perish by the Dark Master should he decide to kill her.
When Spyro came for Cynder, Gaul ordered her to kill the weakened purple dragon. Cynder instead defied Gaul by atttemping to snatch his staff, but the Ape King managed to catch her and bitterly proclaimed their fued wasn't over before knocking her out.
===Malefor===
Long ago, Gaul was Malefor's lead general during the war against the Dragon race. Even after Malefor was stopped and imprisoned by the dragon ancestors, Gaul and his army still followed Malefor's orders from the boundaries of the dark realms and was eagerly awaiting his return during the events of The Eternal Night. The Ape King, like the rest of his followers, believed Malefor's return would bring forth a new age of power for him and the Apes that would allow them to have their unspecified revenge, foreshadowing his self interests and disloyalty to Malefor.
==Strategy==
Gaul serves as the final obstacle of the Mountain of Malefor, and is overall the final boss of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night.
In the first stage of the fight, Gaul mainly attacks Spyro (the player)with his very large swords. If Spyro gets too close to him, Gaul will swipe at Spyro with one of his swords (being hit three times by Gaul's sword slash will kill Spyro). If this doesn't work, Gaul leaps into the air and stabs down with both swords, sending out a shockwave of green energy. The various green fires around his throne room seem to enhance his shockwaves, so unless the player are an expert, it is best if Spyro destroys them to increase his chances of survival. Gaul's final stab is the strongest, but it will cause his blades to get stuck in the ground (two small stabs will kill, and the final strong stab is a one-hit kill move). And this is the player’s chance to strike at Gaul, they can also use Dragon Time to have even more time to deal damage to Gaul. After recovering, Gaul would sometimes hurl a smoldering, green fireball in Spyro's direction (this is not a strong attack, but still must be avoided), the strategy must be completed until Gaul's lose his first bar of health.
In the intermission cutscene, Gaul loses his swords, his helmet, his shoulder-plating, and his magic staff. Although he now uses different attacks, he is still a very formidable foe and he can still kill Spyro in no time at all.
In the second stage of the fight, Gaul seems to be able to use his jewel eye to fire an energy laser which can deal high damage and push Spyro (it is useful for pushing Spyro off the edge). He also can spin around to transform into a tornado that sucks Spyro towards his flailing limbs (this attack is normally unavoidable but it can be avoided if you charge fast enough. It does not inflict damage on Spyro). He can summon fireballs to fall from the sky and explode near the ground, but it is almost impossible to get hit by this attack if Spyro is careful. For physical attacks, he wields a pair of blades ejected from his gauntlets. He will chase the Player around the room, and if too close, he will swipe at Spyro; usually three attacks will kill Spyro.
The strategy in this stage of the battle for the player to use Dark Spyro's Dark Aether breath to deal damage to Gaul, a must more useful way to deal damage to Gaul is to wait until after Gaul uses either his eye energy laser or his fireball attack, as after using them Gaul will momentarily stand still.
After lowering Gaul's health all the way, prepare to finish him off when prompted to, and player will have won the game.
==Gallery==
::Main article: Gaul/Gallery
==Trivia==
*In the last cutscene of Spyro's battle with the Ape King, when the villain is turned to ashes, it is seen that both hands go up in a surrender like manner. It is unknown if he was truly surrendering, or just trying to protect himself.
*Gaul is the only final boss in The Legend of Spyro to only have two health bars, while Cynder has four health bars, and Malefor has multiple health bars for each phase.
*Gaul could possibly be named after the Roman city-state of Gaul, which is now present-day France.
*In The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, Gaul was briefly pictured in the beginning of Ignitus's tale, roaring his challenge to the dragons with a massive hammer slung over his shoulder. He is never seen using this weapon in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night.
*Gaul's death is similar to how Starscream dies in the 80's Transformers movie.
*Gaul is very similar to the Lloyd Alexander's first book villain the Horned King, as both were sent to kill the main protagonist and an important object (in Gaul's case, Cynder; in the Horned King, one Hen Wen) and Gaul's death is similar to that of the Horned King; both were killed by a lighting beam, but in the Horned King's case it was because they mention his real name, in the case of Gaul, Spyro killed him.
* It is unknown if, like the rest of the Apes, Gaul was simply following Malefor for power and greed or true loyalty, as in game actions seem to make him out to be very loyal to his master. It is possible though that Gaul might have been one of the few Apes most loyal to Malefor and merely kept his soldiers in line in such terms, but after Gaul's death, the remaining Apes were now free to think more of their own selfish desires than loyalty to Malefor despite continuing to serve him.
* He is more reminiscent of a demonic baboon than an Ape.
*In the Nintendo DS version of The Eternal Night, Gaul has his two swords put together into a scythe and there is only one stage in the battle.
**In the concept art for The Eternal Night, Gaul's scythe can also be used as a bladed boomerang, but he only uses this tactic in the Nintendo DS version.
*Gaul is the only main villain of The Legend of Spyro series who is not a dragon.
ru:Галл
Category:Characters
Category:The Legend of Spyro characters
Category:The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
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Category:Enemies
Category:Bosses
Category:Villains
Category:Apes
Category:Deceased Characters
Category:The Legend of Spyro
Category:Bosses (The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night)
Category:Main Antagonists
Category:Characters (The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night)