Dark Spyro

Dark Spyro is a powerful dark form in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night that Spyro gained during his fight against the Ape King Gaul. It has since served as the dark side of the young purple hero in The Legend of Spyro series.
==Appearance==
=== 2007-2008 ===
Dark Spyro is a deep black-scaled dragon with blank white eyes (at times his normal eyes are seen when he is in control) and greasy claws, horns and wings. He has some chalky-white imprints on his forehead, shoulders, and thighs. A black, shadowy aura emits from around his body, and as for his energies, they changed from their usual color to a pure and divine, pink, white and violet color in the after-effects.
In the Nintendo GameBoy Advance version of The Eternal Night, Dark Spyro doesn't possess a tar, brown set of colored body features, nor have blank white eyes. Instead, he gains blood red eyes and claws, and gray wings and horns. However, this noticeable difference in the radiation effects of the same Well of Souls is unknown besides the chosen style of animation.
=== Crash Bandicoot: On The Run ===
Dark Spyro shares the same black and silver color scheme as his Skylanders Academy counterpart. Unlike his previous Legend of Spyro designs, he has visible red eyes and he resembles more of Classic Spyro than his original Legend counterpart.
==Personality==
Dark Spyro possesses a split personality where during the first phase of his transformation, Spyro demonstrated a free will and ability to witness his power and his surroundings with a positive or cocky nature. However in the fullest phaze of his new power, Dark Spyro became an unresponsive and ruthless creature who ignores anyone who opposes him, thus, becoming one with the Dark Aether that was steadily swallowing his mind, body and soul. If things get out of control, some emotional reminder can help free Spyro from his dark state.Avatar Update. (Date Posted - Apr. 15, 2016). DeviantArt.
In Crash Bandicoot: On The Run!, Dark Spyro is said to be one of Spyro's notorious enemies. He is wicked, wild and tyrannical, seeking to take over Crash Bandicoot's dimension as his own. His takeover in the Spyro-themed lands within Crash's world imply he is also very vain, as banners of his Dark Aether emblem and portraits of his likeness are spotted hanging around the areas.
==Abilities==
As Spyro gained access to the power of Dark Aether, his powers manifested as Dark Spyro and he has now become a near-unstoppable force of nature. His new access to the dark side of Aether makes his abilities more intimidating, such as unleashing a series of devastating attacks which combine nearly every melee attack he knows, breathing a beam of concentrated dark magic and expelling enormous amounts of collected energy with his Dark Aether Fury which seem to impact his surroundings and destroy with heavy force. In this state, Spyro's wings have been empowered to the point that he can dash airborne with ease and hover much longer. His new potential in this state is unknown but even with just one element, Dark Spyro demonstated earth-shattering feats.
In Crash Bandicoot: On The Run, Dark Spyro can breathe purple fire and summon dark lightning from the sky. In promotional art and the event trailer, he's shown to breathe regular fire as well. With pumps of his wings, he can use the gust blown from them to push stationary obstacles towards his enemies.
==Story==
===The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night===
During Spyro's battle with Gaul within the Well of Souls, he fell down into the lower floor of the mountain and got caught in the beam generated by the Lunar Alignment of the Celestial Moons that was used to free Malefor. Spyro accidentally combined with its energy, transforming him into a dark dragon. This change of events allowed Spyro to gain a powerful upperhand in his duel with Gaul. When the Ape King demanded Spyro to finish him off, the young dragon hesitated, and Gaul laughed, calling Spyro a coward.
Possessed by the influence of Dark Aether, Spyro used his immense power to turn the weakly advancing Gaul into stone and ultimately killed him out of cold blood. He proceeded to leap back into the beam of the Lunar Alignment, determined to stay in his dark form. Spyro was about to turn on Sparx and Cynder, but he struggled to gain control over his dark form. Cynder jumped into the air and quickly knocked Spyro out of the beam, freeing him from the Lunar Alignment's power and the influence of darkness. Spyro afterwards, felt hurt when he apologized to Sparx and Cynder that he couldn't stop the darkness from doing the actions he had done, before the Mountain of Malefor started to crumble around them.
===The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon===
When Ignitus sacrificed himself to get Spyro and Cynder through the Belt of Fire, Spyro was devastated and refused to believe that his mentor had perished. Cynder told Spyro to let Ignitus's death go, but the darkness the purple dragon unintentionally gained in the Well of Souls three years prior took hold of him, transforming him back into Dark Spyro. He threatened to harm Cynder with levitating rocks as he was willing to go back into the Belt of Fire in an attempt to save Ignitus, telling Cynder that she couldn't stop him from doing so. However, Cynder's words managed to bring Spyro out of the dark influence and he returned to normal, accepting Ignitus's death. He sadly muttered that he felt alone without his mentor, but was then comforted by Cynder, who told him gently that he wasn't alone.
==Other appearances==
===Crash Bandicoot: On The Run!===
Dark Spyro is the main antagonist of the Battle of the Dragons season event in Crash Bandicoot: On The Run, having arrived from his dimension of The Legend of Spyro universe to take over Crash's world. He and Gnasty Gnorc entered Crash's dimension after a dimensional portal was left open by N. Tropy after her defeat. The two villains proceeded to take over the Spyro-themed lands around the Wumpa Islands, with Dark Spyro's presence being seen across the realms in the form of banners and other crafts bearing his likeness. Spyro followed Dark Spyro and Gnasty Gnorc to Crash's world, but the portal back to the Dragon Realms broke in the process. Through the efforts of Crash and Coco, Dark Spyro's threat over the Wumpa Islands came to an end when he was defeated and banished back to the dragon realm.
==Unlockables==
After completing The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, a series of 'Dragon Challenges' are unlocked. As a reward for completing all five challenges, Dark Spyro becomes accessible in story mode by pressing a certain button. This allows the player to control Dark Spyro for an infinite amount of time and switch between normal and dark. While dark, the regular elements are not available, but Dark Aether breath is used, being the most powerful available.
There is also a strong attack move by pressing a certain button. Once pressed, Spyro will do a series of fast, strong attacks that hit every enemy in range. The final smash is the strongest attack. Using this same attack move, Spyro can "fly" over some hazardous lakes or obstacles. It should be noted that, while the player can return to Spyro's regular form at any time, the Spyro in the in-game cut scenes will appear as Dark Spyro whilst in that form.
A glitch can be performed allowing players to ‘fly’. It can be performed in both versions. In the PlayStation 2 version, toggle to Ice and switch to Dark Spyro. In the Wii version, Toggle to Ice before an in-game cutscene and turn into Dark Spyro as the cutscene occurs. After performing these actions, repeatedly press the Secondary attack button.
Whilst Dark Spyro is not playable in The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, Aether is obtainable as a temporary Fury breath. By equipping a specific complete set of armor, both Spyro and Cynder can also use the Aether Breath. This is the most powerful breath in the game.
==See also==
*Dark Cynder
==Gallery==
::Main article: Dark Spyro/Gallery
== Trivia ==
===The Legend of Spyro===
*In the PlayStation 2 Version of The Eternal Night, it is actually possible (due to glitches) to combine Spyro's regular elemental attacks with Aether attacks. To do so, the player must start using the regular elemental attack, for example, the Electric Tornado, and then press R3 to transform into Dark Spyro whilst continuing the attack. Spyro will continue to perform the attack, but he will be in his Dark Spyro form. When using this method whilst charging an Electric Orb or a Polar Bomb, or an Earth Flail, or Breathing Fire, Spyro will start shooting Aether out of his mouth, yet the other attack will still be in use. If the player walks away from Spyro's previous position whilst still holding the attack, the original attack will remain in the same place as it was before.
* Dark Spyro also has a similar appearance to Dark Sonic from Sonic X.
* He does not appear in the Nintendo DS version of Dawn of the Dragon.
* During Spyro's transformation in Dawn of the Dragon, the dark energy that was used in the transformation from The Eternal Night was absent, indicating that it was stored inside Spyro laying dormant. It is also possible that this dark form can be triggered by extreme emotions shown by Spyro's intense grief and rage by Ignitus's sacrifice.
*Spyro's temptation to use the powers of his dark form are very similar in concept to the Force and the temptation of the Dark Side in Star Wars. This temptation to use Dark Powers is something which Darth Vader up until episode 6 couldn't resist. Coincidentally, Mark Hamill, the voice of Malefor, portrayed Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy.
**In the Nintendo GameBoy Advance version, his first act was to also eradicate the Wraiths mercilessly, not unlike Anakin's disproportionate revenge upon his mother's killers.
*Spyro's Mana depletes much slower when using Dark Aether than when using regular elements.
*Dark Spyro's melee attacks take off less of Gaul's health than regular Spyro, most likely due to most of the power he possesses in that form is in his Elemental attacks.
*Due to its rarity, an animation is seen with a glitch (features hidden in almost everywhere of the game, but never ruin the programming) which, if you use the cheat code to obtain Dark Spyro when you trigger the Fury Imput, Spyro will perform the animation with the model's between him and his dark form switched at the same time.
===Crash Bandicoot: On The Run===
*Despite being stated by the game as one of Classic Spyro's notorious enemies, Dark Spyro never made an appearance in the old standalone Spyro games and has yet to appear in a Spyro game after the Spyro Reignited Trilogy.
*Several of Dark Spyro's banners displayed around the Battle of the Dragons levels he took over bear symbols of the Dark Aether element as his signature emblem.
*His power over dark electricity is a reference to his Skylanders and Skylanders Academy counterparts.
**Half of the banners around the Battle of the Dragons levels have horn designs and portraits of Dark Spyro based on his Skylanders design.
==References==
Category:The Legend of Spyro characters
Category:Male Characters
Category:Dragons
Category:Characters
Category:Purple Dragons
Category:Neutral Characters
Category:The Legend of Spyro
Category:Playable Characters
Category:The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
Category:Characters (The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night)
Category:The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
Category:Characters (The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon)
Category:Crash Bandicoot: On The Run!
Category:Dragons (The Legend of Spyro)