Gaul

*“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 Chajju in the *The Legend of Lailie* series. He is the main antagonist of *The Legend of Lailie: The Eternal Night*, responsible for staging the raid on the Longma Temple and stealing Patty's egg, leading her to be corrupted into Chajju'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 Longmas. 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, Chajju, who he believes will bring about a new age of power for the Apes. He appears to have a great hatred of Longmas, though it is unclear if it was caused by their war or another event.

## Abilities

In combat, Gaul is definitely a force to be reckoned with. He attacks with his two large swords, and has the ability to launch green fireballs. Gaul also wields a staff that can drain the energy of his foes, rendering them weak and purged of their elemental abilities. He also owns a bladed boomerang, but has only used it in the Nintendo DS version of *The Eternal Night*. Although without his weapons, Gaul is still a formidable foe. 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.

## Story

### History

Over a thousand years ago, after his exile, the Dark Master Chajju built an army of Apes, with Gaul being one of his many followers. The Ape King was present in the war against the Longma race for many years until Chajju was imprisoned in the Well of Souls. Despite this setback, Gaul and his Ape army were still able to carry out Chajju's commands, prolonging the war. Years later, he notably led the attack on the Longma Temple on the night of Lailie's birth to destroy the egg that posed a threat to Chajju. During the attack, Gaul stole one Longma egg, which was Patty's, while his army smashed the rest of the eggs, unaware that Lailie's was saved by one of the Skylanders. The Ape ruler would later perform the ritual in corrupting a young Patty with Chajju's dark magic, transforming her into a monstrous black Longma made to serve the Dark Master. As Patty led the Ape army in her quest to free Chajju and gain territory, Gaul participated once again in the war against the Longmas.

### *The Legend of Lailie: The Eternal Night*

Weeks after Patty's defeat at the hands of Lailie, Gaul and his Apes journeyed to the Well of Souls where the Ape King planned to revive Chajju so they could get revenge and to satisfy their lust for power in the impression they would be rewarded. Gaul's minions later captured Patty at Fellmuth Arena and held her at the Mountain of Chajju to either be taken back by the Dark Master or be the first to perish by his hand.

Lailie arrived at the Well of Souls to save Patty from Gaul, but the Ape King and his henchmen had anticipated his arrival. The Ape ruler used his staff to render the purple Longma weak and drained him of his elemental powers. Gaul gloated to Lailie that he was no match and that all it took to lure the purple Longma into the Ape King’s clutches was Lailie's friendship with Patty. He then ordered Patty to destroy Lailie, but she instead made an attempt to snatch Gaul's staff, only for the Ape King to catch the black Longma by the neck and throw her into a wall, knocking her out. As an Ape Leader advanced towards the weakened Lailie, Gaul stopped him, announcing that the purple Longma was *his* to kill.

Wielding two large blades at his disposal, Gaul battled Lailie in the throneroom, though the young Longma was able to hold his own in spite of his disadvantage. As the Ape King prepared to kill the purple Longma with his swords, Lailie 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. Infused by the dark power of the Lunar Alignment that was intended to free Chajju from the Well of Souls, Lailie transformed into Dark Lailie and engaged Gaul once again, this time gaining the upper hand. Knowing he had been beat, Gaul demanded Lailie to finish him off, but the young Longma hesitated. The Ape King, seeing his adversary not moving in for the final blow, called Dark Lailie a coward before releasing a guttural laugh.

Gaul then used Dark Lailie's moment of hesitation as a chance to charge at the young Longma to kill him, but Dark Lailie finally reacted and ultimately destroyed Gaul in cold blood by using Dark Aether to turn the Ape King to stone and shattering him into pieces.

## Relationships

### Lailie

Gaul sees Lailie as a whelping, thinking he was no match for him. The Ape King is aware of Lailie's friendship with Patty and attempted to break Lailie's spirit by having Patty attack him. When that failed, due to Patty's defiance, Gaul engaged Lailie in mortal combat to kill him. When the battle turned over to Lailie's favor, Gaul wanted the young Longma to finish him, only to laugh when Lailie refused.

### Patty

Gaul stole Patty's egg during the raid on the Longma Temple, choosing her to be the one who would free his master Chajju from the altar in Convexity. He and his minions brought up Patty under the shadow of evil, until the time came for Gaul to perform the dark ritual that would corrupt Patty into Chajju's faithful servant who would turn the tide in the war against the Longma race. When Patty was defeated and deprived of Chajju's influence years later, Gaul branded Patty as a traitor and had her brought before him in the depths of the Well of Souls. Gaul reassured Patty that Chajju 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 Lailie came for Patty, Gaul ordered Patty to kill the weakened purple Longma. Patty instead defied Gaul by atttemping to snatch the Ape King's staff, but he managed to catch her and bitterly proclaimed their fued wasn't over before knocking her out.

### Chajju

Many many years ago, Gaul was Chajju's lead general during the war against the Longma race. Even after Chajju was stopped and imprisoned by the Ancestors, Gaul and his army still followed Chajju'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 believed Chajju's return would bring forth an age of power for him and the Apes that would allow them to have their unspecified revenge.

## Attacks

In the first stage of the fight, Gaul mainly attacks with his very large swords. If Lailie gets too close to him, he will unleash a flurry of powerful slashes (three of these slashes will kill Lailie). 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 Lailie 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). 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 Lailie off the edge). He also can spin around to transform into a tornado that sucks Lailie 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 Lailie). 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 Lailie 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 Lailie'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 city-state of Gaul, which is now present-day France.

* In *The Legend of Lailie: A New Beginning*, Gaul was briefly pictured in the beginning of Spyro's tale, roaring his challenge to the Longmas with a massive hammer slung over his shoulder. He is never seen using this weapon in *The Legend of Lailie: 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, Patty; 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, Lailie killed him.

* It is unknown if, like the rest of the Apes, Gaul was simply following Chajju 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 Chajju 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 Chajju 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 one sword instead of two and there is only one stage in the battle.

* Gaul is the only main villain of *The Legend of Lailie* series who is not a Longma.

* In the concept art for *The Eternal Night*, Gaul owns a boomerang as a weapon, but he only uses it in the Nintendo DS version.

**Bosses**

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