Apes

Diet

## **Biology**

They have different fur and skin colors depending on the region, but they are functionally still the same.

* In the Swamp, their fur color is darkish gray and their skin color is pitch black.
* On Dante's Freezer, their fur color is vanilla white and their skin color is lukewarm blue.
* On Tall Plains, their fur color is red and their skin color is grayish purple.
* In Munitions Forge, their fur color is gold and their skin color is dark grayish purple.
* In Concurrent Skies, their fur color is pure white and their skin color is darkish gray.
* At the Mountain of Malefor, their fur color is darkish lavender and their skin color is murky green, which appears to be their main fur and skin color.

## Ranks

### Notable Officers

* Gaul (King)
* Torac (King, formerly)
* Warmong (King, formerly)
* Cynder (General, formerly)
* The Assassin (King's second-in-command)
* The Conductor (Possible chief of security as well as head distributor)

### Henchmen

* Soldiers
* Leaders
* Commanders
* Disciples
* Gunners

### Additional Forces of the Apes

* Dreadwings
* Tremors
* Venavis
* Buffalo Beetles
* Conduits
* Death Hounds
* Snail Riders
* Electric King (Cynder's personal bodyguard)

### Allies of the Apes

* The Hermit
* Minotaurs

## **History**

### **Service to the Dark Master**

Prior to Malefor's arrival, the Ape army tried crippling the dragons for generations with little success. After Malefor was cast out of the Dragon Realms, he encountered the Ape army and recruited them, and taught them how to artificially harness the power of the Gems, the Dragons' life force. It was then that the Apes served as the perfect army for Malefor, who was now called the "Dark Master". The new lord and king of the Apes after Torac's death was his son Gaul, who finds the irony that a Dragon would be their greatest warmonger. The duties of his army were to fight wars against the Dragons, win battles in order to gain ground, and occupy the Dragon Realms. At one point, they launched a massacre upon Warfang to complete that goal, killing many lives, until a Golden Light stopped it all.

Years afterwards, Malefor was defeated by an Adalisk named Zirra, and his essence was sealed in Convexity and his spirit in the very mountain he created, the Well of Souls. Despite this setback, the Apes were still able to carry out Malefor's orders.

### **Attack on the Dragon Temple**

Under Malefor's orders, numerous raids were inflicted on the Dragon race which resulted in many dragon eggs being smashed, endangering their existence. The most devastating raid was the one that took place at the Dragon Temple. Gaul led that raid to destroy the dragon eggs in order to prevent the birth of the next purple dragon, but Spyro's egg was saved by the Fire Guardian Ignitus. Malefor also needed a Dragon who was born in the Year of the Dragon to open the portal in Convexity that served as his prison, and Cynder's egg was captured while the rest of the dragon eggs were smashed by the Apes. The Apes would raise Cynder until she was of age, when she would later be poisoned by the Dark Master's powers, possessed by Zirra's soul that was twisted by the dark influence of the Mountain of Malefor, turning her into an evil dark dragon to help him spread destruction throughout the world and becoming a general to the Apes.

### **A New Beginning**

A group of Apes found Spyro in the Dragonfly Swamp, believing him and his fellow clutchmates to be dead 12 years prior. They captured Sparx as means of using him as a lantern. Spyro killed the Apes and freed Sparx, but the Ape leader of the group escaped to alert Cynder of the young dragon. After leaving his home to find out who he truly was, Spyro was chased by Apes in the swamp. They later appeared, having overrun the Dragon Temple, but Spyro, along with Ignitus, wiped them all out.

From that point on, the Apes would become one of the main obstacles Spyro would encounter throughout his travels. They were stationed in Dante's Freezer, Tall Plains, Munitions Forge and Concurrent Skies. There is one particular Ape in Munitions Forge who is a Conductor, and drives a steam engine he dubbed Steam.

### **The Eternal Night**

A few weeks later, the Apes launched an all-out attack on the Dragon Temple led by the Assassin, but Spyro and the Guardians foiled their plans. Hunter of Avalar explained in a letter that Gaul has placed a bounty on all of the Dragons, including Spyro.

The Ape army soon attacked the Fellmuth Arena, capturing Cynder in the process, and they appeared lastly on the Mountain of Malefor.

### **Dawn of the Dragon**

The Hermit in the Valley of Avalar revealed that the shadowy skeletons that attacked Spyro and Cynder were of the Ape clan. According to him, they only served Malefor because they wanted to use his power in their vengeance against the Dragon race, and they showed no true loyalty to the dark purple dragon. For those reasons, Malefor repaid the Apes for their services by turning them into Shadow Apes upon his return to the Realms. The Apes were doomed to dwell in the darkness. The Grublins have taken their place in the battle, leaving the Shadow Apes to attack stragglers from the shadows.

## **Trivia**

* The Apes and the Monkeys don't see eye to eye and end up clashing a lot.

## **References**

1. ↑ http://dragonoficeandfire.deviantart.com/journal/Q-A-with-Jared-Pullen-lead-concept-artist-of-TLoS-591799120
2. ↑ https://seeraphine.tumblr.com/post/682040076602064896/is-your-agent-9-an-ape-or-a-monkey