Gaul

## Gallery

   *Full image gallery of Gaul can be viewed here.*

*“Long have we waited, long have we suffered! But soon, our master will return, and his coming shall bring forth a new age of power for the Apes, and we shall have our revenge!”*
    —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*. He was 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 a disgusting, hairy wart-covered enormous ape with one eye as a green shining jewel. Several scars run across his demented face, suggesting that Gaul was a seasoned fighter during the war against the Dragons. 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 of Dragons, though it is unclear if it was caused by their war or another event.

## Abilities

Gaul is a seasoned fighter, having participated in the war against the Dragons for many years. In combat, he 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 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

   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 this setback, Gaul and his Ape army were still able to carry out Malefor's commands.

### The Raid on the Dragon Temple

Many 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 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 the Apes could get revenge on the Dragon race and to satisfy their lust for power in the impression they would be rewarded. Gaul's Apes later captured Cynder and held her at the Mountain of Malefor to either be taken back by the Dark Master or she would be the first to perish by his hand.

Spyro arrived at the Well of Souls to save Cynder from Gaul, but the Ape King had anticipated his arrival, using the magic from his staff to render the purple dragon weak and drained him of his elemental powers. He gloated to Spyro that he was no match and that all it took to lure the purple dragon into Gaul's clutches was Spyro's friendship with Cynder. He then ordered Cynder to destroy Spyro, 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, 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 possession and shattering into pieces upon coming in contact with the floor. Infused by the dark power of the Lunar Alignment that was intended to free Malefor from the Well of Souls, 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 Spyro a coward before releasing a guttural laugh. The Ape King then used Spyro's moment of hesitation as a chance to charge at the young dragon to kill him, but Spyro finally reacted and ultimately destroyed Gaul in cold blood by turning him to stone and breaking the Ape King into pieces using his Aether Fury.

## Character 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

Over a thousand years ago, Gaul was Malefor's lead general during the war against the Dragon race. Even after Malefor was stopped and imprisoned, 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 disloyalty to Malefor.

## Boss Strategy

In the first stage of the fight, Gaul mainly attacks with his very large swords. If you get too close to him, he will unleash a flurry of powerful slashes (three of these slashes 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 you are an expert, it is best if you destroy them to increase your chances of survival. His 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). After recovering, Gaul would sometimes hurl a smoldering, green fireball in your direction (this is not a strong attack, but still must be avoided).

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 you in no time at all.

In the second stage of the fight, Gaul seems to be able to use his jewel eye to fire a laser beam (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 you around the room, and if you get too close, he will swipe at you; usually three attacks will kill you.

After lowering Gaul's health all the way, prepare to finish him off when prompted to, and you will have won the game.

## Trivia

* In the last cutscene of Spyro's battle with the Ape King, when the villain is turned to stone, 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 could possibly be named after the Roman-named "province" 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 DS version of *The Eternal Night*, Gaul has one sword instead of two and there is only one stage in the battle.
* Gaul is the only main villain of *The Legend of Spyro* series who is not a dragon.

 Apes (Soldiers - Leaders, Commanders) - Toad Weeds - Bulb Spiders - Death Hounds - Dreadwings Grove Worms - Grove Mites - Grove Beasts - Growths - Skavengers - Skurvywings Blundertails - Fire Cannons - Sabertooths (DS) - Armourdilloes - Stone Trolls Fire Elementals - Elemental Crystal Brutes - Crystal Ball Spiders
**Bosses**