The Legend of Spyro: A New Dawn

The Legend Of Spyro: A New Dawn is a The Legend of Spyro fanfiction written by Kendell. It can be read here.

It's been nine years sense Malefor's defeat and peace has finally been restored to the Dragon Realms. Spyro and Cynder return to the rebuilt Dragon Temple to help the remaining Guardians protect the new eggs laid on the Year of The Dragon. However, Cynder's been having nightmares of her past recently, and is uncertain as to whether or not it's a bad omen of things to come or simply nightmares.

After their arrival, they discover that not only is Cynder a natural black dragon, a second one has been laid. It's parents unable to care for it, it was put up for adoption, saved for Spyro and Cynder. Not planning to have their own children this year, the duo decide to adopt it as their own child, Cynder bonding with it quickly. However, another new suprise also awaits them, a pink dragoness named Ember who survived their Year of the Dragon genocide by being taken into the wilderness and raised by her mother. Due to being the only Fire dragon left from her year, Ember was appointed and is being trained as the new Fire Guardian. While she has a crush on Spyro, her and Cynder still manage to become friends.

But all is not well. An ancient race called the Naga emerge from the mysterious Unknown Realms, seeking revenge on the Dragons for banishing them eons ago. Deadlock, a three-headed dragoness and their leader, has a personal grudge on Spyro and Cynder. During the raid, she makes off with a group of eggs, including Spyro and Cynder's. Along with Ember, Spyro and Cynder must venture into the Unknown Realms to rescue the eggs before Deadlock can have her way with them.

This story mixes comedy with action and even some dark and emotional moments. It has presently become one of the writer's most popular Fan Fics.

Word of God has confirmed an intention to make the fic the first in a trilogy. The sequel, The Legend Of Spyro: The Falling Darkness has been announced and a "trailer" posted.

A Spin-Off story has been posted called A New Dawn Side Story: Broken Wings staring Cyros, a villainess from the original fic who is now The Atoner on Redemption Quest that leads her into a fight with a group of raiders. Warning, this story contains spoilers for the original story, as does its trope listing!

Tropes used in The Legend of Spyro: A New Dawn include:

The Legend Of Spyro: A New Dawn

  • Adaptational Badass: In the games, the Naga was a boss only in the Gameboy Advanced version of The Legend Of Spyro: The Eternal Night, and not even canon at that. Here they're an ancient warrior race who nearly conquered the entire Dragon Realms eons ago.
  • A Day in the Limelight: "Breakout" mainly focuses on Ember and Sparx.
  • Action Girl: Cynder, but Ember also qualifies.
  • A God I Am: Empress Tyrania carried out three genocides so she'd have a race of beings willing to worship herself as a God. Evidentally, in the eons she's been worshipped, she came to see herself as one as well.
  • Agony Beam: The Warden has a special golden collar he wears that causes anyone who was inflicted by a special curse debilitating pain if they touch or attack him in anyway. The Gargoyle guards who watch the slaves also keep whips with pieces of his body in the tip to trigger this to punish the slaves. That is until Sparx steals his collar and Blaze smashes it.
  • And Then What?: Nina and Flash ask this to Deadlock about the Cycle of Revenge.
  • Anti-Villain: Deadlock. Despite being a vengeance crazed and insane dragoness, she still cares deeply for her adopted children and is a Benevolent Boss. She didn't decide to be the bad guy, a series of tragic events warped her into one and even then, she manages to retain some of her past goodness. Infact, there's even a part of her that truly wants to change her ways but she believes she's gone too far to change her ways.
  • Ascended Fangirl: Ember was a major fan of Spyro and Cynder, then she got to go on a mission with them and be a hero herself. This shows at times, such as her reaction to just meeting them for the first time and having a Squee reaction to Cynder's new Fury attacks.
  • The Atoner:
    • Drake. He killed a baby dragon the night of the raid and he can't forgive himself even 24 years later.
    • Cyros after her Heel Face Turn. Despite being forgiven by the main group (except Sparx and Demi, who refuse to do so until she's earned it), still refuses to forgive herself and shows desire to make up for everything she did. This causes her to nearly die Taking the Bullet for Spyro and Cynder the next chapter.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Drake is the leader of his band of Apes, and is effectively their most Badass member.
  • Ax Crazy: Deadlock's fire head is prone to suggesting this. Her other two heads tend to keep it in line.
  • Back from the Dead: If a Phoenix dies and the proper rituals are followed, they're capable of doing this. A great many Phoenixes do this after Tyrania's demise. Siria sacrifices her ability to come back by giving her new life to Blaze after he's killed by Empress Tyrania, allowing him to come Back from the Dead himself at the cost of being Killed Off for Real herself.
  • Badass Adorable: Ember is a naive, childish, and rather cute pink dragoness, but she's also the new Fire Guardian and suprisingly powerful.
  • Bad Boss: Subverted with Deadlock, whose actually really good boss. Played straight with Empress Tyrania.
  • Badass Normal:
    • Ember, despite being a normal dragoness with only a fire element paired with the two dragons who between them can use eight, is able to keep up with Spyro and Cynder and kick just as much tail as them. Though she eventually becomes a Badass Abnormal.
    • Demi is also a Badass Normal, as she has no true superpowers, but is by far the most physically powerful member of the main group.
  • Badass Abnormal: Ember becomes this after obtaining Phoenix powers.
  • Badass Family: Drake and Demi are both effectively Badass. Since the whole group is a Band of Brothers and Nakama, the rest of the Apes probably count too.
  • Battle Couple: Spyro and Cynders have been mates for several years and love one another, but can still kick butt when they need to.
  • Benevolent Boss: Deadlock is actually rather kindhearted to her minions, even asking her Dragon if he was ok after fighting Spyro and Cynder. Some of the Naga seen actually say she's the best queen they've ever had. In fact, she overthrew their former queen because she felt they deserved this over a tyrant.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Never tell Cyros she'll lose anything.
    • Do not harm a Cheetah in front of Ember. The Warden found this out the hard way
    • NEVER harm Ember in front of Cynder. Worse, never make Cynder harm her!
  • Best Served Cold: Deadlock waited 24 years for the chance to get her revenge on those that she blames for the deaths of her mate and her children. The Naga have waited centuries for Malefor to be disposed of so they could take revenge on the Dragons.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: The fanfic has at the moment a total of three Big Bads at the moment:
    • Deadlock, the Queen of the Naga and The Heavy of the three, as she's the central villain with a direct grudge on the heroes.
    • Empress Tyrania, the ruler of the Gargoyles. She might be working with Deadlock, but she's not working for her and has her own plans and is the Big Bad during the Gargoyle arc. Especially now that she's actually launched an assault on the Dragon Realms after realizing they'd be unprotected with Spyro and Cynder gone. Meets her end when the group flies down her throat and destroys her heart.
    • Boss Kaze serves as the Big Bad for Pyrus' journey before he meets Spyro and company. He has no big plan other than being a thief and generally causing people trouble, but he kidnaps Pyrus to pretty much ransom off to whoever pays the most. Is the first Big Bad to be defeated, falling to his Disney Villain Death.
    • General Grendel turned out to be the Man Behind the Man to Tyrania and Kaze, having manipulated them to work with his plans for revenge on the Dragons and getting Pyrus out of the picture. To some extant, he's manipulating Deadlock, but it's mainly permitting her plan so she stays out of his way. He's now proceeded along his own plot for revenge against the Dragons. In the end, after Deadlock is defeated and makes a Heel Face Turn, Grendel becomes the True Final Boss by performing a ritual giving him the power of the Naga Spirit Of War.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Drake and the Apes pull this in the final battle with Empress Tyrania, coming to route her Gargoyle army so the group can fight her without interference.
  • Big Damn Villains: Commander Venti survives his fight with Dark Spyro and manages to emerge several hours later. Before he can make good on his plot to kill Pyrus, Cyros and Kage show up and kill him, Cyros to steal his power and Kage because he never liked Venti in the first place for his sadism.
  • Bigger Bad: Malefor. Despite being defeated for good and sealed away in the core of the world, his raid on the temple and war with the dragons are what drove Deadlock insane and he was the one who defeated the Naga centuries ago, leaving them thirsty for revenge on the Dragons. The main plot only happened because of him, even if he's met his end.
  • Big Sister Bully: While they're the same age, Cyros is bigger and more mature than Pyrus and treats him like dirt. However, they used to be close and good friends, until Pyrus became Prince and she thought he betrayed her.
  • Big Sister Instinct:
    • Cynder towards the childish Ember. She even refers to Ember being like "an annoying little sister" who she still cares about reguardless. This becomes rather obvious when Cyros gets Ember kidnapped is enough to trigger Cynder going Super-Powered Evil Side and totally obliterating everything in her path in an attempt to save her.
    • Seems to also be extended to Demi due to her shyness. Suprisingly, Ember has also kind of done this to Demi, due to Demi's shyness over becoming the new Earth Guardian.
  • BFS: Drake wields a pair of these.
  • Black Magic: Deadlock has started messing around with this to reach her ultimate goal. Ignitus implies even she doesn't know what she's dealing with.
  • Borrowed Catchphrase: Just before the Final Battle with General Grendel, Delilah barrows Rarity's "It-Is-On!". Counts here instead of as a Shout-Out due to the fact that she actually knows Rarity personally.
  • Break the Cutie: Cyros manages to do this to Ember in one chapter, first revealing Cynder's anger towards her and forcing Spyro and Cynder to break her heart by revealing the truth about their relationship and tell her she can't be with Spyro. It continues next chapter were she's locked up in a mine and beat half to death by a Gargoyle. Thankfully, Siria the Phoenix Queen snaps her out of it.
  • Break the Haughty: Cyros ends up getting this. The power she absorbed drove her near insane, causing her to nearly kill the one being in the entire world she considered a friend and almost her own brother, and she then realizes the entire reason she had for hating her brother as she did was a misunderstanding on her part. Both of those reduce her to a sobbing wreck as she finally realizes she'd ruined her great relationship with her family over a simple misunderstanding her brother had spent years trying to undo. This ultimately leads to her Heel Face Turn and swear to make up for everything she's done.
  • Broken Bird:
    • Deadlock. She lost her mate and eggs all in one night during the raid. Despite her intelligence and cunning, she shows in chapter 10 when she's alone she still cries for her mate. On top of that, her childhood involved her being abandoned by her parents for being a "freak" and being the victim of bullying for it.
    • Turns out Cyros is an even bigger Broken Bird than Deadlock, but for different reasons. Her entire motivation centers around the belief the world is just a cruel and selfish place were you're the only one who can watch out for herself. She feels like Pyrus betrayed her by taking the throne after he promised her she could be the princess, leading to her believing she could trust no one and must become so strong no one can ever hurt her again.
  • Broken Angel: Cyros becomes this at the end of "What Really Matters". Not only does she get badly wounded and nearly dies, her wings are so horrifically damaged the author leaves most of it to the reader's imagination. The next chapter reveals that her wings actually couldn't be saved and had to be cut off. Her Spin-Off story is actually titled "Broken Wings".
  • Bullying a Dragon: Sparx, as always. Turned out Deadlock was the victim of this because she had three heads and was thusly a "freak", the bullies completely forgetting that she can utilize three elements and is a good bit stronger than a normal dragon.
  • Cain and Abel: Pyrus and Cyros. Cyros is a sadistic egomaniac who loves torturing her smaller, more kindhearted brother. Pyrus is kind and friendly on the otherhand, and isn't aware of just how villainous his sister is.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Pyrus calls out Deadlock on her plan and if it'll be worth it when all is said and done. She replies that it'll be worth it to her, but is deeply troubled over it, because she's afraid he's right. In this case, it's not so much that he doesn't like her, it's because he does and wants to stop her from doing something she'll regret.
  • Catch and Return:
    • Cynder's new Wind Sphere attack can do this with elemental attacks by sucking them in before being fired.
    • Venti's Metal Warlocks are able to do this with their magic staffs. However, certain attacks crack the crystal and make it backfire.
  • Challenging the Chief: Deadlock became the Naga Queen by challenging and killing the previous Queen, even though she wasn't even a Naga to begin with. This is apparently normal, as Drake states this is the only way someone not of the leader's family line can take the throne. There was just no rule saying only Naga could do it, so Deadlock was perfectly in the right to do so. Not that the Naga are complaining, as Deadlock is great at her job. It's later revealed that the previous queen was a tyrant and Deadlock overthrew her because she thought the Naga deserved better.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Early on, Ember uses a ring of fire to "choke out" a fire golem on White Isle. This technique is ultimately used to defeat Commander Hades.
  • The Chessmaster:
    • Cyros. She fully mapped out a complex Plan before leaving home and managed to make a Villain Song into a Xanatos Gambit.
    • Deadlock. She was able to flawlessly invade the temple and steal what she wanted before anyone even knew she herself was there and has a much more long term plan in the works. Justified as she has three heads who are able to get along well enough to plan things out.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Empress Tyrania. She betrayed her own race and the race they defended to invaders, then betrayed the invaders. She even admits Deadlock is a "smart girl" for not coming to visit her for that very reason.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Delilah, when she's not in an important situation, is this. Though she is from another world and a Dimensional Traveller, so a lot of the stuff she says does make sense from her point of view, but she's still rather silly. It's no wonder that apparently, she's friends with Pinkie Pie...
  • Co-Dragons: Commanders Venti and Gaia to General Grendel. Commander Hades was also one, but this isn't revealed until he's already dead.
  • Conjoined Triplets: Deadlock.
  • Continuity Nod: Ember provides a lot of this due to her Fan Girl nature. She invokes this to kill Empress Tyrania with the same tactic used to beat the Destroyer. Also, the spell Cyros uses to steal Tyrania's power is the same one Cynder used to steal the power from the Guardians in A New Beginning.
  • Cruel Mercy: Cynder spares General Grendel's life after his defeat, not because she's feeling kind but because he wants to die a warrior's death and he doesn't deserve it. Deadlock deals with him the same way, banishing him in shame to Dutchman's Isle for the rest of his life because execution would be too kind.
  • Cry for the Devil: Most reviewers have admitted feeling very sorry for Deadlock due to her tragic past.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Drake vs. Hades. Hades had already taken a beating from the heroes, Drake just made sure he didn't escape. Hades tried to fight back, but gets killed in short order. Extra points for the fact that Drake really didn't give Hades too much notice.
  • Cute Bruiser: Demi is a sweet, innocent, little dragoness whose also really shy. Then in "Breakout" it's revealed she spent the time when she couldn't learn her elemental powers practicing her physical ones. Cue her smashing down an iron door with her head, all the while remaining her meek, cute self.
  • Cycle of Revenge: A major theme in the story is how one act of revenge leads to another. The Naga were banished in retribution for their crimes on the Dragons and other races and now seek their own revenge while Deadlock and the Naga's attempted vengeance nearly caused Cynder and Spyro to seek revenge on them. However, Spyro and Cynder were wise enough to break the cycle, deciding not to take revenge on Deadlock and just go to retrieve the eggs she kidnapped.
    • Refrenced In-Universe by Nina and Flash, who point out to Deadlock that it's a never ending cycle unless someone breaks it. She wants to listen, but believes she's come too far to turn back.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: The Warden's energy ball attack takes a bit of time to charge up, but several characters are Genre Savvy enough to take advantage of the charge up time instead of just standing there. Sparx uses it to steal his cursed collar while he's not looking. Ember actually kills him off by hitting him with her Blue Fire while he's charging up to try Taking You with Me.
  • Dare to Be Badass: Cynder tells Sparx to step up and be a hero when they really need him to be. It works!
  • Dark and Troubled Past: No suprise, Cynder has one (but those who played the game already knew that much), though it's given a bit more exposition than in the games. Deadlock is revealed to have one as well.
  • Dark Is Not Evil:
    • Cynder, as always.
    • Drake and his band are Apes, which were previously believed to be Exclusively Evil. These ones are good guys and he himself actually saved a baby dragon and raised her as his adopted daughter.
    • The Gargoyles, suprisingly. Despite being giant, demonic stone creatures, only Tyrania and her creations were evil, the rest of them were heroic guardians for the Phoenixes until Tyrania wiped them out.
    • Kage, despite being a Naga with a name meaning shadow, is Cyros' Morality Chain and the least evil Naga seen so far.
  • Deader Than Dead: One possible fate for Venti and Tyrania. When the crystal containing their stolen power is shattered, a black smoke manifests and takes on their forms before vanishing. Word of God states a valid interetation of this is the destruction of their spirits.
  • Death by Origin Story: Deadlock's mate, Andreas and their second clutch of eggs were both killed the night of the raid, which is Deadlock's Start of Darkness.
  • Death Glare: Blaze shoots one at the Warden when he's free from the curse that's been preventing him from touching the Warden before this. It's actually described as being so hatefilled that you could practically hear him saying "I'm going to kill you".
  • Dimensional Traveller: Delilah the Kitsune is capable of this, though apparently it's difficult. She's stated having met the Original Spyro the Dragon, the Doctor, and witnessed the fight with Nightmare Moon. Oh, and apparently Pinkie Pie threw a party for her in her typical fashion.
  • Dirty Coward: The Warden is powerful and normally a Smug Snake, but the moment the tables are turned on him he resorts to begging for his life and instantly backs down when Tyrania so much as glares at him. This may be due to the fact that he's used to everyone under his thumb being literally incapable of laying a finger on him. Turns out Ember's calling him a bully was pretty spot on.
  • Disappeared Dad: Ember's father disappeared during the war, leaving her and her mother unknowing of what happened to him. It's discovered later that he was kidnapped by the Gargoyles and is being used as a slave.
  • Disk One Final Boss: Empress Tyrania and Boss Kaze.
  • Disney Villain Death:
    • The incarnation of Cynder and Ember's fears in the form of Dark Cynder is sent falling into an abyss at the end of the boss battle. Her wing was badly damaged by Cynder's last attack, rendering her unable to save herself.
    • Due to being in a base built into the side of a very high mountain, Pyrus and Delilah end up dishing out quite a few of these to Mooks climbing Kaze's fortress, though not always on purpose. Boss Kaze ultimately falls to his death by trying to attack Pyrus when he tries to Save the Villain. Delilah then points out all the gruesome ways the fall could kill him, much to Pyrus' discomfort. Delilah even lampshades this trope due to being Genre Savvy:

Delilah: Villains never take your hand and let you save them. They take a wild swing at you, you counterattack and they plunge to their deaths or the like because of their own stupidity, trust me, I'm over 200 years old, I've seen it a lot.

    • Empress Tyrania's death plays with this trope, as she does fall out of the sky, but it's not the fall that killed her, it was the heroes destroying her heart. Also, we see her hit the ground and shatter into pieces.
  • The Dog Bites Back: The Warden gets the living crap beatened out of him by the slaves when his collar is destroyed.
  • The Dragon:
    • General Grendel to Deadlock. He may have been beaten in the first fight with him, but it required tricking him into hurting himself just to do any lasting damage. It's also implied he wasn't really trying too hard, as Deadlock reveals he wasn't truly trying to kill them, just knock them out.
    • The Warden to Empress Tyrania. Ember takes him out with some help from Sparx, her father, and the rest of the slaves.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: General Grendel is revealed to be this, having his own plans that he's doing behind Deadlock's back which includes manipulating Empress Tyrania into attacking the Dragon Realms. He also had a hand in Kaze kidnapping Pyrus, as he sees Pyrus' pacifist nature as standing in the way of his plans.
  • The Dreaded: Drake is discribed as being someone even the Gargoyles are afraid of, and the Naga who came to help them seem to at least be unnerved about facing him. Turns out, while they have very good reason to fear him, he's actually the least menicing Ape the group has ever met and a really nice guy. Not a subversion, however, because the Gargoyles and Naga still have a valid reason to be absolutely terrified of him.
  • Driven to Madness: Deadlock was driven insane by the Trauma Conga Line she endured due to Malefor's actions.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Sparx keeps complaining he doesn't have a statue at the Dragon Temple quite a bit (though to be fair, even he admits that he pretty much floated next to Spyro's head the whole time). Cynder uses this when they need him to sneak into the Gargoyle's mines to alert Ember to their approach to get him to do it.
  • Dynamic Entry: Drake and his group (minus Demi) first appear by attacking Commander Hades' reinforcements and Drake himself curbstomping Hades in seconds.
  • Easily Forgiven:
    • Subverted. While Cyros is forgiven by the group for her wrongdoings, it's partly due to having been tainted by Venti and Tyrania's evil and and Demi and Sparx both state they don't intend to trust her until she's earned it. Even so she doesn't consider herself worthy of their forgiveness yet. This drives her to make herself into a Dragon Shield for Spyro and Cynder next chapter.
      • Even more subverted in the rewrite of "Endgame". Spyro and Demi don't forgive Cyros and tell her if they want them to, she'll have to earn it.
  • Eat Me: The group kill Empress Tyrania by flying down her throat and blowing up her heart. Tyrania doesn't realize this until it's too late for her to do anything about it.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Drake scaring the crap out of Commander Hades and utterly dominating him, Hades being the sadistic monster who'd just given the heroes a run for their money. He then plants his swords in the ground as a show of peace and reassures the dragoness with him it's alright to come out and the new dragons won't hurt her.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
    • Deadlock truly loves her adopted children Cyros and Pyrus, who act as Morality Pets for her. Cyros in turn has her childhood friend Kage who she, despite what she says, shows compassion and listened to. General Grendel and Commander Gaia are also in love and apparently intend to wed. In the last case, it's subverted as Grendel murders Gaia in coldblood when she is no longer of use to him. He even outright says he didn't truly love her and was only using her.
    • Cyros' compassion towards Kage ultimately snaps her out of her insanity and leads to her Heel Face Turn. Deadlock follows suit the next chapter due to her own love for her daughter.
  • Everybody Lives: Every named character involved in the Final Battle survives, despite several close calls and some Naga dying in the fight with the Hydra. For Cyros and Deadlock, this is a good thing. For General Grendel, not so much.
  • Wicked Weasel: Boss Kaze and his Quirky Miniboss Squad are all weasels. Though Kaze is actually a Youkai called a Kamatachi, which was foreshadowed by his Super Speed.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
    • Boss Kaze and his Weasels are incapable of believe that someone could have compassion for another out of the good of their heart, believing everyone is as selfish as they are. This leads to Kaze's downfall, as he never thought that putting Delilah in danger would motivate Pyrus.
    • It's outright said that General Grendel has become so consumed by his thirst for revenge, forgiveness and mercy are things he's incapable of understanding.
  • Evil Diva: Cyros becomes this once she puts a magic gym in her guitar.
  • Evil Feels Good: Cynder in her Super-Powered Evil Side. Though she has a very good reason she feels like this; because she's been too weak to protect her friends and feels like the new power she's experiencing can save them.
  • Evil Genius: Commander Venti is actually extremely intelligent despite being a sadistic psychopath, able to make Magitek Mecha-Mooks that work perfectly.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: A major theme of the story is how using black magic or absorbing the drained power of an truly evil being has nasty effects on the user. Commander Gaia and Cyros both suffer Sanity Slippage and This Is Your Brain on Evil from using black magic and absorbing the power of Commander Venti and Tyrania respectively. While Cyros' case was reversable, it still left her with a great amount of guilt.
  • Evilly Affable/Affably Evil:
    • Deadlock's electric head is pretty kind and friendly, and overall, Deadlock is a very good mother and a Benevolent Boss. But during other scenes, the electric head's happy dialog becomes pretty creepy when she's talking about murder and revenge.
    • Empress Tyrania is outright Evilly Affable. When considering what she'll do with Spyro and Cynder if she captures them before Deadlock comes to claim them, she decides to torture them. She then states that she hopes their screams are blood curdling because those are her favorite. All in a happy voice that's rather creepy.
    • Boss Kaze is very polite, even if he's holding a sword to your throat. It's not really been show which of these tropes he really is yet though. Then again, he is a Shout-Out to Ratigan after all.
  • Evil Prince: Subverted with Pyrus, who, despite being the son of Deadlock and crown prince of the Naga, is actually a good guy. Played straight with Cryos though.
  • Extra Eyes: Empress Tyrania has four eyes...which is pretty much all we've seen of her so far.
  • Eye Lights Out: The last we really see of Tyrania is the eyes on her shattered head going out. The rest of the Gargoyles die out the same way.
  • Eye Scream:
    • A flashback reveals that Deadlock slashed out Gaul's missing eye in a fit of Unstoppable Rage when he mortally wounded her beloved mate.
    • One of the only places Empress Tyrania can be hurt is her eyes. Ember ultimately blows one out.
  • Fallen Hero:
    • Malefor's backstory is explored, revealing he was the hero of the original war with the Naga and saved the Dragon Realms. But his masters' choice to banish the Naga and show them mercy instead of completely destroying them as he wanted to furthered his decent into evil.
    • Empress Tyrania was once one of the guardians of the Phoenixes, but ultimately betrayed...well just about everyone to get what she wanted.
  • Feed It a Bomb:
    • This is the easity way to kill the Man Eating Plants living in the Forgotten Forest.
    • This is the only way to really hurt Tyrania at all. Though her vitals are too deep for this to land the killing blow.
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: After the Warden's cursed collar is broken, Ember's father Blaze goes on one of these to protect his daughter.
  • Foil:
    • Empress Tyrania to Deadlock. Where Deadlock is an Anti-Villain whose background is tragic and who is a truly good queen for the Naga, Empress Tyrania is a sadistic Complete Monster (confirmed by Word of God) who performed genocide on three different races so she could be seen as a god and is a Bad Boss to the Gargoyles.
    • Boss Kaze to Pyrus. Where Kaze is a self centered theif who will do anything to get what he wants, Pyrus is a selfless prince who gave up everything he had to protect six eggs he didn't even know who their parents were.
  • Forgiveness: Pyrus forgives Cyros after she realized the reason she'd been against him in the first place was a misunderstanding on her part and it nearly cost her everything she cared about. Ember follows suit due to actually being grateful for Cyros getting her kidnapped and the group gradually followed suit.
  • Freudian Excuse:
    • Deadlock has a rather solid one. After being treated like a freak by many other dragons for having three heads and even being abandoned by her own parents for the same reason, she finally had a happy life and a good mate. Then the temple raid happened and she lost everything she cared for in one night. It's hard to blame her for being driven mad from the grief.
    • Subverted with the true Big Bad General Grendel. While his mother was a monster in her own right and was implied to have been an Abusive Parent, no attempt is made to use that as justification for his attempted genocide of the dragons. Delilah (as always) lampshades this:

Delilah: Dude, that's the second craziest justification for genocide I've ever heard!
Sparx: Second?
Delilah: Trust me, villains have some nuts justifications for what they do. But this one is pretty high up there.

  • Friend to All Children: Suprisingly, Cynder has a big soft spot for children. This showed with how quickly she came to care for the egg she adopted and when some Phoenixes let her babysit for them. Heaven help you if you try to harm one though...
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Deadlock was a nursery dragoness 24 years ago. Then the temple raid happened. 24 years later she's the queen of an ancient and powerful race with Psychic Powers and a thirst for revenge.
  • Genre Savvy: Sparx and Delilah, Sparx due to all the adventures he's been with Spyro and Cynder on and Delilah due to being an over 200 years old Dimensional Traveller. This leads to plenty of Lampshade Hanging.
  • Gentle Giant: Drake is the size of Gaul and able to tear a Gargoyle to shreds with his bare hands...and spends his off time being a Good Parents to his Happily Adopted daughter and a wonderful host to any good person he comes across. While a fierce combatant, it shines through he'd much rather live in peace than fight.
  • Glad I Thought of It: Tyrania, when her Dragon suggests she attack the Dragon Realms while Spyro and Cynder aren't there to protect them, says she's glad she thought of it. When said Dragon tries to object, she shoots him a Death Glare and he quickly praises "her" idea.
  • God Save Us From the Queen: Tyrania and Deadlock are rulers, female, and main villains. However, Deadlock somewhat subverts this as while she is a villain, she treats the Naga well and is actually a pretty decent queen. Tyrania plays it straight and is a tyrant.
  • Good Is Not Dumb:
    • Ember truly is kindhearted and trusting, as well as socially naive, but she's also pretty smart at times.
    • Drake. He's The Dreaded to the Gargoyles for good reason, but you wouldn't know it by looking at him outside of battle, where he's kind and very goodmannered, spending much of his time being a good host and father than anything else.
  • Good Parents:
    • Drake for Demi. Half his scenes consist of helping his shy daughter be comfortable and happy.
    • Blaze instantly reverts to this once he finds Ember, even if he'd been a Disappeared Dad (which was in absolutely no way his fault) for 20 years. And as the Warden finds out the hard way, he's a serious Papa Wolf.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Cyros. She's motivated by bitterness over the fact her brother is the favorite and crown prince (though the former is apparently at least partly her fault).
  • Groin Attack: Cyros gives one to poor Pyrus for telling her she'd lose a bet. She then stomps on his groin to get him to promise never to tell her that again.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Deadlock's fire head is very easily angered.
  • Half Truth: Cyros likes these, using them frequently when acting as the Sixth Ranger Traitor in Spyro's group. Most of what she says is technically true.
  • Hammerspace:
    • Claw manages to produce a handful of really long claws from under his gloves to fight with, despite his hands looking completely normal under the gloves.

Pyrus: H-how did those fit in your gloves?

    • Cynder's Shadow element allows her to store items in shadows, normally using the one her wing casts for this perpose.
  • Hannibal Lecture:
    • Cynder and Ember get one from the incarnation of all their worst fears in the form of Dark Cynder. They help each other perform a Shut UP, Hannibal in the end.
    • Spyro gets one two chapters later from a copy of Malefor representing his own worst fears. He replies with a Shut UP, Hannibal in the form of a Kirk Summation.
    • Pyrus gets one from Boss Kaze during their final battle, Kaze telling him that Pyrus is no match against him and that there is no such thing as karma that punishes bad people, only people who punish people. He then points out that Pyrus is pretty much outmatched in every way. Pyrus manages a Shut UP, Hannibal in return.
  • Happily Adopted:
    • Pyrus knows he's not Deadlock's biological child, but is fine with it because he loves her and considers her his mother. Cyros is implied to have once felt this way but their relationship went south.
    • Demi the Earth Dragoness is perfectly happy with the fact that she's adopted by Drake, even though she's aware he's not her biological father and actually an Ape.
  • Happily Married: Spyro and Cynder by this time.
  • Healing Hands: The firebird the group encounters at the end of the forest temple heals all their injuries and even Sparx's poison ivy. When she shows herself later, she's revealed to still have such powers.
  • Heel Face Turn:
    • Drake and his Apes performed this the night of the raid.
    • Cyros in "Endgame" after realizing the reason she was a villain in the first place was simply a misunderstanding on her part and having a My God, What Have I Done? reaction to the fact this nearly cost her everything that mattered to her. What really causes this was Pyrus forgiving her and telling her she'll always be his sister.
    • Thanks to Cyros Taking the Bullet for Spyro and Cynder, Deadlock has her own My God, What Have I Done? moment and then gets called out for it by Pyrus. She repents and changes her ways, the next chapter using her own Heel Face Turn to make the entire Naga army do the same out of loyalty to her.
  • Heel Realization: Drake and his Apes came to this understanding after the temple raid and defected from Malefor's army.
  • Heroic Blue Screen of Death:
    • Cynder goes into one over her and Spyro's kidnapped egg and the fact she killed her mother as Dark Cynder. Made worse by Cyril saying they couldn't risk going after the eggs right in front of her. All this comes dangerously close to letting her Super-Powered Evil Side loose. Cyril, feeling rotten for his actions, helps her get through it.
    • Ember ends up in this after Cyros manipulates them and breaks her heart, as well as reveals to her she'd been hitting on someone whose basically married. However, it's mainly because she blaims herself rather than get upset at Spyro and Cynder over it. It takes a talk with Siria the Phoenix Queen in order to get over it.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Queen Siria sacrifices her life force to bring Blaze back to life, preventing herself from reviving again.
  • Hero of Another Story: Delilah frequently mentions her own adventures, but not in detail, implying this isn't her first time helping with a heroic journey. This is also why she's Genre Savvy. Also, she's apparently a Dimensional Traveller whose had all kinds of adventures in alternate universes.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • It's revealed in the "What You Fear Most" chapter that Ember is insecure that she's good enough to be on the team and that she's not strong compared to her allies, despite her otherwise cheery personality.
    • Cyros used to be like Pyrus, but something happened that changed her into what she is now.
  • Hive Queen: Empress Tyrania is this to the Gargoyles, as they're all rock animated by a piece of her soul. As such, they're all bond to her will and moral values (or lack of them) and killing her takes them with her.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • Kaze's Quirky Miniboss Squad are killed by Blaster's own bomb being thrown back at them, which wouldn't have killed them, if Blaster hadn't been wearing a tons more sticks straped to him which that explosion set off.
    • One of Venti's Metal Warlocks is destroyed when thrown into the same wall of flames it created to stop the group from progressing.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Whe Pyrus has a conversation with Deadlock on her plan and tries to get her to stop, she sends him away to prevent him from reaching her. It's clear she seriously considers what he's saying and even partly agrees with it. But she feels she's come too far to turn back and can't quit when she's so close.
  • Immortality:
    • Delilah has Complete Immortality. She can't die at all, either by age or injury, due to being a spirit. But she can be hurt and she can't phase through "natural" weapons like teeth and claws. Boss Kaze eventually puts a magic stone collar on her that makes her The Ageless, and since only he could remove it and he's dead, she's struck with it, she doesn't mind though.
    • Empress Tyrania seems to be The Ageless, as she's several eons old, but can be killed. It's unknown if the Gargoyles as a species were this type of immortal or if it's unique to Tyrania.
    • Phoenixes have Resurrective Immortality if proper proceedure if their body is criminated in a volcano and exposed to sunlight. Tyrania successfully performed genocide on them by blocking out the sun over the volcano so they couldn't come back to life.
    • General Grendel gains Complete Immortality after merging with the Hydra. As long as the Artifact of Doom powering him isn't removed from his chest, he cannot die and any damage he might sustain is either completely resisted or quickly regenerated. He loses it once the Sun and Moon Jewels are removed, however.
  • In the Blood: Spyro and Cynder are afraid this trope is true when it comes to their Super Powered Evil Sides. They chose not to have children of their own on the Year Of The Dragon out of fear their child would suffer with the darkness Malefor infused with them.
  • Ironic Nursery Tune: Cyros enjoys these, using Nightmare Fuel worthy renditions of "Rock A Bye Baby" and "Three Blind Mice" to lay out her plans.
  • It Runs in The Family: Apparently, Ember gets her inability to tell someone isn't intrested in her not only from her upbringing, but from her mother. Turns out Ember's mother had a one-sided crush for Cyril...
  • It's All About Me:
    • Commander Hades thanks Spyro's group for killing all his men because it'll let him keep all the prize money for himself.
    • Kaze and the Weasels argue this. Though it's a shout out to The Secret To Survival In A Very Nasty World from Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
    • Empress Tyrania is this in a nutshell, but far more so than the others. She carried out multiple genocides just so she could have a race of beings who would worship her as a deity and carry out her every whim.
  • I've Come Too Far...: Deadlock turns Pyrus' plea for her to stop down because she believes she can't turn back any more.
  • Just Following Orders: The Warder attempts this after his cursed collar is destroyed, making it so the slaves are able to hurt him. They don't listen.
  • Kaiju: Empress Tyrania.
  • Karmic Death:
  • Keystone Army: The Gargoyles's keystone is Tyrania herself. Justified as Tyrania created them from her own life force and Tyrania herself wasn't exactly a weak link.
  • Killed Off for Real: Despite being able to come Back from the Dead, Phoenixes can die for real if the proper ritual is not taken and Empress Tyrania was responsible for this happening to a large number of the species. In the end, Siria dies for real by transfering her next revival to Blaze to save his life, but is reunited with her mate in the afterlife.
  • Kirk Summation: Spyro gives one to his own fears manafested into Malefor, deconstructing Malefor's motivation for what he did into one thing; Malefor enjoys killing people. He just used Because Destiny Says So and Spyro's birth as an excuse to murder people for fun. He also makes a logical point that Malefor required the Destroyer to destroy the planet while he pulled it back together with his own power, proving Malefor wrong. It actually works, as the fake Malefor is sent into a Villainous Breakdown fueled Unstoppable Rage from it, allowing Spyro to defeat him.
  • Kitsune: Delilah, a friend that Pyrus meets, is a 5 tailed Kitsune. However, since she doesn't have nine tails, she's not extremely strong.
  • Know Your Vines: After going awhile into the forest temple, Sparx begins getting an unpleasent rash. Ember identifies the plants in the bush he passed through as poison ivy, which she knows because her mother taught her about it (not because Dragons get poison ivy, which they don't, but because eating it is really dangerous).
  • Large Ham: Boss Kaze.
  • The Last of His Kind: Empress Tyrania is the last true Gargoyle. Don't feel sorry for her though, she did this on purpose.
  • Last Villain Stand:
    • Boss Kaze makes his after his entire base is destroyed, along with all his Mooks. He climbs his way back up the mountain and challenges Pyrus and Delilah one last time, going One-Winged Angel and revealing his true form.
    • Subverted with General Grendel. After the Hydra is defeated and he's reverted to normal, he rises from it's remains and charges the exshausted and pretty much defenseless Spyro. Instead of a flashy, climatic Final Battle, Cynder is so ticked off she just slices his sword in half and holds her tail blade to his throat in one quick motion.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: Sparx when the Warden is beating up Ember and he's the only one physically capable of helping her. He steals the Warden's cursed collar without him even knowing it, then "accidentally" drops it in front of Blaze so he can smash it. He then slams the door in the Warden's face when he tries to pull a Villain Exit Stage Left.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Boss Kaze. He's able to move at high speeds, but unlike his Quirky Miniboss Squad, is more than able to take hits and keep going. He even shrugs being gored by Pyrus' horn.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Ignitus reveals that he is Cynder's father when they visit him on White Isle. His explaination for never telling her is that he was too ashamed of himself for doing nothing to rescue her egg.
  • Made Myself Sad: The author states at having done this to himself writing Cyros being turned into a Broken Angel in the author's notes.
  • Magitek: Commander Venti uses the magical properties of the gems that Dragons use and his own intelligence to create this. This includes his Mecha-Mooks and Sinister Surveillance.
  • Mama Bear:
    • Due to her own childhood, Cynder is extremely protective of her adopted egg and is a lot more brutal when fighting to protect it. The Phoenixes who let her babysit her children probably deserve some Genre Savvy points...
      • It's revealed later that she it runs in the family and her mother Nova was much the same.
    • Turns out Deadlock was one as well, both to her own eggs and to the children at the temple. She still is when it comes to her adopted son Pyrus, even if her insanity and thirst for revenge gets in the way.
    • Nina, Spyro's adopted dragonfly mother is described as this, having beaten one of her species' natural predators up to protect her sons. This shows when she confronts Deadlock after being kidnapped, and doesn't backdown at all. Deadlock commends her for this, one Mama Bear to another. The two then have a fairly indepth discussion on this trope.
  • Man-Eating Plant: These lurk around the Forgotten Forest, using yellow flowers to lure prey in.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Deadlock got her name because her three heads were always fighting each other until she gained Psychic Powers to communicate.
    • Empress Tyrania. Sparx lampshades this.
    • Kaze's Quirky Miniboss Squad, Claw, Fang, and Blaster. Guess who uses what as weapons. Once more, this is lampshaded.
  • Mecha-Mooks: Commander Venti utilizes these, which he calls Metal Warriors, that he created via Magitek. This came in handy to General Grendel, who couldn't use Naga outside of Venti and Gaia in his plans.
  • Mega Manning: Cyros follows around after Spyro's group, stealing the powers of their defeated enemies, which was her plan from the beginning. However, while she absorbed Venti's, she's still not sure if she'll absorb Tyrania's, due to being warned Evil Is Not a Toy.
  • Menstrual Menace: Played with. It's dragon mating season and Cynder is a good bit more agressive because of it. Being reptiles and the context of the story, not much more is said than that.
  • Me's a Crowd: Kaze's trumph card is the ability to make two clones of himself. However, while Kaze is a Lightning Bruiser, his clones are Glass Cannons, every bit as strong and fast but can be destroyed in one hit.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: Ignitus teaches Cynder a new set of attacks, even Furies, for her elements. Ember gets infused with Phoenix fire and gains new powers of her own as well, though that was totally accidental.
  • Moment Killer: Sparx has a knack for spoiling romantic moments for Spyro and Cynder.
  • Mook Horror Show: Some Gargoyles get one at the hands of a Super-Powered Evil Side possessed Cynder, who brutally hunts them down and violently slaughters them. Some of them actually try to run away from her. Even Cynder is horrified by what she did when she snaps out of it. This was actually invoked by the writer, Word of God said that he made the scene out like this to make up for how the Super-Powered Evil Side was treated in Dawn Of The Dragon.
  • Morality Chain: Kage, the wizard Naga who helps Cyros, is this for her. He proposes an alternative plan to Cyros' that doesn't require killing Pyrus and tries to stop her from doing something she'll regret. Cyros is actually grateful, as she's not sure she could kill Pyrus, no matter how bitter she is towards him.
  • Morality Pet:
  • Multiple Head Case: Deadlock has three heads, each with a distinct personality and mind. Justified as she's specifically stated to be a case of conjoined triplets.
  • Musical Assassin: Cyros becomes this when she puts a magical gem in her guitar, giving it the ability to cast spells through music.
  • My God, What Have I Done?:
    • Cynder had this in retrospect when Deadlock reveals to her that she killed her own mother. Spyro manages to help her through it though.
    • Drake had this the moment he crushed a single dragon egg and realized what he just did. He does a 180 as a result, defecting from Malefor's army and running off to the Unknown Realms.
    • Ember's reaction to finding out that she was hurting Spyro and Cynder by flirting with Spyro and not realizing they were mates.
    • Cynder gets another one after being turned back from her Super-Powered Evil Side.
    • Cyros gets this in "Endgame" after nearly killing Kage in her Super-Powered Evil Side. She gets hit with this again when she discovers that the reason for her hatred of her brother was simply hearing the wrong part of the conversation and because of it she'd nearly destroyed everything she had.
    • Cyros invokes this on Deadlock by taking her combined Fury attack for Spyro and Cynder. Deadlock breaks down in tears and actually says "By the Ancestors, what have we done?!". It takes a a tongue lashing from Pyrus to make her completely see the error of her ways though, but this was a major reason for her Heel Face Turn.
  • My Greatest Failure: As before, Ignitus has one of these, but in this case, it's the last lingering fragment of his old failure. The one thing he can't forgive himself for is not saving Cynder's egg. He's so guilty over it he didn't tell her he was her father out of shame.
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Drake and his clan are an exception to the ruthless monsters Spyro and Cynder have known all their lives. He's actually glad his race lost the war because he knows how horrible they were to the dragons and deserved what they got.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Empress Tyrania and to a lessor degree, Deadlock. The former is lampshaded by Sparx.

Sparx: And am I the only one who thinks Tyrania is the name of something we probably shouldn't be picking a fight with?

  • Nigh Invulnerability:
  • No Body Left Behind: The Naga burn to ash when killed.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
    • Deadlock delivers one to Spyro and Cynder after her Dragon wears them down for her.
    • Spyro finds himself getting one from an incarnation of all his fears in the shape of Malefor until he manages to pull a Shut UP, Hannibal.
    • The Warden gets one from all of the Gargoyle's slaves once his cursed collar is destroyed. It happens off screen, but when he's seen next, he's got pickaxes sticking out of him and has had the living crap beat out of him.
  • Noodle Incident:
    • Sparx makes mention of a few involving his and Spyro's parents, including Nina going Mama Bear and Flash giving him The Talk. Delilah also makes refrence to her past but doesn't go indepth with them, just pointing out how something that happened just now always happens. Apparently she's seen villains falling to their death as a result of their own actions frequently enough she's come to expect it.
    • "The Cupcakes Incident". Apparently, whatever Delilah witnessed has left her deathly afraid of cupcakes, an alternate universe version of someone she knows, and an unfortunate Pegasus. Those who know of a certain, infamous grimdark fanfic that this is a refrence to will probably understand why.
  • No Social Skills: Ember to some degree. She's got some social skills, but is still naive about a lot of things due to the only interaction she's had with other dragons was her mother. Like being able to tell Spyro and Cynder are mates.
  • Not Quite Dead: Kaze seemingly dies when he lair falls off the mountain it's attached to with him in it, but manages to escape and climb back up.
  • Not So Different: Suprisingly for the Big Bad, Deadlock tries to invoke the good version with Nina and Flash, pointing out that as parents, they're not too different from her in her primary motivation, to avenge the harm done to her children and mate, in an attempt to find someone that could understand how she feels. They agree that if anything happened to their children, they'd probably go berserk, but that she needs to stop the Cycle of Revenge now while she still has a chance. Deadlock honestly wishes she could believe them...
  • Obi-Wan Moment: Siria has one after her Heroic Sacrifice, finding peace in the fact her race has been can live again and she can finally move on to be with her beloved king in the after life. She also thanks the group for avenging her and restoring her people.
  • Off with His Head: Ember blows one of the Metal Warriors' heads off in the first encounter with them. She's reasonably startled when that doesn't do the job.
  • Oh Crap:
    • Hades gets one when he Drake cuts off his escape. Sparx gets one the same scene when he realizes that Drake and his band are Apes, but this turns out to be unfounded.
    • Cyros actually says this after Dark Cynder starts trying to kill her.
    • The Warden when Blaze smashes his collar, breaking his hold on the slaves. He gets a much bigger one when he sees a several ton, furious father dragon charging him in an Unstoppable Rage.

The Warden: Uh oh...

  • One Steve Limit: Word of God stated that Cynder's Dark Form isn't refered to as Dark Cynder because the story already established Dark Cynder is the name of her evil Split Personality and it'd be confusing to call it that when her evil personality hadn't truly emerged.
  • Overdrawn At the Blood Bank: Subverted. Delilah actually quickly tends to Pyrus' wounds in order to avoid him bleeding to death after their fight with Kaze.
  • One-Winged Angel:
    • As part of his Last Villain Stand, Boss Kaze undergoes the Behold My True Form version and assumes his Kamatachi form for the final battle. Complete with Body Horror Transformation Sequence.
    • Cyros turns into Dark Cyros after absorbing Empress Tyrania's power. She turns into an oversized adult dragoness with a massive amount of power. It actually went well for her until she nearly killed Kage and had a My God, What Have I Done? moment that allowed the extra power to be purged.
    • Double Subverted with General Grendel. It seems he turned into the Hydra, but he was actually inside it controlling her, seemingly unchanged when the heroes arrive to confront him. Then he reveals sheds his skin...
  • Orphan's Ordeal: While Spyro is still Happily Adopted, Cynder turns out to have serious issues with the fact she has no idea who her real family is. She wanted to be a good mother for her egg because it and Spyro are the only family she's ever known, thus why she's so protective of it. This is only worsened when she discovers she murdered her mother as Dark Cynder, driving her into a miniture Heroic BSOD until Spyro breaks her out of it. Word of God even lists this as one of the reasons Ignitus was made her father instead of Spyro's, she needed it more. Finding out this fact helps her a great deal, as does her friendship with Ember, who she refers to as like her little sister.
  • Our Gargoyles Rock: Gargoyles in this situation are rock creatures created by the life energy of their queen, Empress Tyrania. They're allies of the Naga and slavers. Well this group is, Tyrania is the only true Gargoyle who was known to be evil, she just killed all the good ones.
  • Papa Wolf:
    • While not as protective as Cynder is, getting between Spyro and his adopted child is not a good idea.
    • Blaze, Ember's father, hasn't seen his daughter in almost 20 years but that did nothing to change how much he cared for her. He attacked the Warden during Ember's fight with him when she's in trouble, knowing he'd be hurt by the curse put on him. Once Sparx helps break the Warden's magic collar, cue Foe-Tossing Charge.
  • Physical God:
    • Empress Tyrania, though she can still be killed, it's just extremely hard to do so.
    • General Grendel after merging with the Hydra. Unlike Tyrania, not only is he extremely powerful, he's also effectively immortal so long as the Sun and Moon Jewels are active.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Demi is nowhere near full grown, but she's capable of doing feets of strength which some adult dragons couldn't do!
  • Please Wake Up: Ember reacts this way to Blaze's death, trying helplessly to get any life to show in him, all the while sobbing her eyes out.
  • Power Tattoo:
    • Cyros and Pyrus both have a tattoo of their opposite element that let's them use it. While Cyros has no problem using hers, Pyrus doesn't. This is apparently a type of Naga magic.
    • Commander Hades has a tattoo like Cyros and it gives him fire power as well.
  • Psychic Powers: Deadlock, as a result of gaining telepathy to get her three heads to work together.
  • Psycho for Hire: Commander Venti. He's a sadistic psychopath who follows his orders because it means he gets to make people's lives a nightmare, and he loves that.
  • Put On the Bus: Blaze, Drake, and the Apes all head back to the Dragon Realms after the defeat of Empress Tyrania, but for good reason. Tyrania killed Blaze, and he doesn't have a third chance at life, so they're afraid to take their loved ones into battle with an enemy who is actively targeting those they care about.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Delilah is actually 200 years old. Siria is actually several eons old, due to her species life cycle.
  • Redemption Earns Life: Drake and his tribe of Apes defected from Malefor's army after having a Heel Realization. Because of this, they escaped the Fate Worse Than Death Malefor inflicted on the other Apes when they were no longer of use to him.
  • Redemption Promotion: The Apes, who were formally incompetent Mooks in the games, are now elite and powerful combatants with expert team work when they're fighting for good. This is lampshaded twice in the chapter with a character pointing out that the Apes are a lot more effective on their side.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Empress Tyrania's glowing red eyes are actually her symbol.
  • Revenge:
    • Deadlock and the Naga's motivation. The Naga for being banished by the Dragons for their crimes centuries ago and Deadlock for laying the blame on Spyro and Cynder for surviving while her children and mate died, as well as Spyro being the cause of the raid in her mind.
    • It's revealed later that Cynder killed her first clutch as Dark Cynder during the war.
  • Revenge by Proxy: The Naga were banished centuries ago after Malefor defeated them. Well, they were too terrified of Malefor to take revenge on him, so they waited for him to die and then chose to take out their vengeance on Spyro instead. Possibly Deadlock as well, as she blames Spyro for the temple raid when he wasn't even born yet.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Cynder in "Captured" after her Super-Powered Evil Side awakens.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: Boss Kaze's trio of Weasels.
  • Scars Are Forever: Spyro and Pyrus both have scars from rather severe wounds they sustained. In Spyro's case, it's on his shoulder where he got deeply stabbed by Cynder when she was in her Super-Powered Evil Side and had the wound reopenned in the fight with Tyrania. In Pyrus' case, it's a deep cut wound on his back from Kaze's Sword Cane. Both were unusually deep wounds and Delilah even pointed out that Pyrus' would scar and didn't have any gems to heal it quickly anyway.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Pyrus and Delilah do this at the same time when one of Kaze's Quirky Miniboss Squad say that Delilah is Pyrus' girlfriend. In this case, they're telling the truth, Delilah has already said she can tell someone else is meant for Pyrus and that she is about 200 years older than he is anyway.
  • She Who Fights Monsters: Deadlock's motivation for revenge is the temple raid and the deaths of her children. Her thrist for vengeance ultimately lead her to commit a second (though less horrific) temple raid and try to do the same to Spyro and Cynder as happened to her.
  • Shout-Out:
    • In her first chapter, Cyros responds to Pyrus calling her cruel by saying "I'm not cruel, just...morally challenged" in a Shout-Out to Belladonna from All Dogs Go to Heaven.
    • Kaze and his Quirky Miniboss Squad are a shout out to the Weasels Mr. Toads Wild Ride. Kaze is also a partial Shout-Out to Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal:
    • Ember and Cynder help each other give one to Dark Cynder who is the incarnation of all their fears.
    • Spyro gives one to the incarnation of his fears in the form of Malefor after realizing everything Malefor used to justify himself was all an excuse to hide the fact he loves to kill people. Bonus points for turning it into a Kirk Summation in the process.
    • Pyrus does this in response to Boss Kaze's Hannibal Lecture. Kaze cites every way he's better than Pyrus, but Pyrus responds by pointing out the one thing Kaze doesn't have, a friend to fight for.
    • Deadlock gets several of these to General Grendel during their confrontation prior to the Final Battle. Perhaps the biggest is convincing the entire Naga army to perform a Heel Face Turn, spitting in the face of his belief his revenge is so important.
  • Single-Stroke Battle: General Grendel vs. Cynder in the penultimate chapter ends this way. Grendel charges to kill a weakened and helpless Spyro, only for Cynder to charge him and slice his sword in half as he attempts to strike, stopping just short of slitting his throat.
  • Sinister Surveillance: Commander Venti is able to do this via Magitek, using crystals to monitor what's going on in Iron Canyon.
  • Sixth Ranger: Demi to the main group. She doesn't really get a chance to do much until "Breakout", where she proves that she's the most physically powerful member of the group. She also remains with them after Tyrania's downfall.
  • Sixth Ranger Traitor: Cyros when she joins the group in order to trick them.
  • Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Deadlock's Dragon General Grendel wears a skull as a helmet, and is the only Naga seen so far to have such a thing.
  • Sleeper Hit: From the writer's perspective. The writer was actually worried the story wouldn't do well, as it was his first attempt at a full length Spyro story. It became his first story to reach triple digit reviews, all positive, and is by far his most popular story to date. Because of this, he's showed intrest in making it into a trilogy.
  • Smug Snake: The Warden, Tyrania's Dragon. At least until the tables turn on him.
  • Spirit Advisor: Ignitus serves this role once again. Queen Siria of the Phoenixes plays this role for Ember.
  • Super Strength: Demi is revealed to have this due to training her physical strength by headbutting trees...until they fell over...
  • Sword Over Head: Cynder cuts Grendel's sword in half and holds her tail blade to his neck, posed to kill him. However, after giving him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, she lets him go and permits the Naga to arrest him, as she knows to him that far worse than her killing him.
  • Sword Plant: Drake plants his swords in the ground, not as a threat or anything, but as a sign he means the group no harm.
  • Sword Cane: Kaze is armed with one.
  • Superhuman Transfusion: Queen Siria uses her own fire to reignite Ember's inner fire when it was burning low (which wouldn't be fatal, but it certainly was unpleasent and dangerious). Due to Ember learning how to use fire in a simular way to Phoenixes, this causes her to gain Phoenix abilities as well. This was pretty much a complete accident, not that Ember minds at all.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side:
    • Spyro and Cynder's Dark Forms. Though like in the games, they don't show up too much, but Word of God has said that them showing up is a sign that all heck is about to break loose. Cynder's shows up as a cliffhanger at the end of "Deception", going on to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge next chapter until Spyro snaps her out of it. Like in Dark Spyro's first appearence in Eternal Night, she's shown as a Person of Mass Destruction who singlehandedly obliterates an entire Gargoyle outpost in a Mook Horror Show rampage in the time it takes Spyro and company to catch up.
    • Dark Spyro appears later when Commander Venti reveals he's kidnapped his parents, causing Spyro to lose it. Going berserk, he destroys everything in his path to get his claws on Venti, eventually beating him half to death and leaving him buried in rubble. Sparx manages to calm him down though.
    • Cyros becomes Dark Cyros when she absorbs Empress Tyrania's magic, simular to Dark Cynder from A New Beginning, being an adult, superpowerful version of the original person. Tyrania's evil pretty much drives her completely insane. Thankfully for her, Ember and Pyrus manage to completely drain the darkness out of her, restoring her body and her sanity.
  • Superpowered Mooks: Commander Venti's Metal Warlocks have magical staffs giving them elemental powers of their own.
  • Super Speed: Kaze has this, able to move lightning fast in the blink of an eye. This was actually foreshadowing the fact he was a Kamatachi.
  • Start of Darkness: Deadlock's was seeing her mate and second clutch of eggs killed the same night, driving her insane.
  • Stop Copying Me: When they reach the border to the Unknown Realms, the group encounters a parrot who mimics Sparx, annoying him to no end. He even tries to trick it into calling itself an idiot, but it doesn't fall for it.
  • Sympathy for the Devil:
  • Team Mom: Cynder, suprisingly. It may have something to do with her motherly instincts awakening due to adopting the black dragon egg.
  • Technical Pacifist: Pyrus. He really doesn't like to fight and the only reasons he does so is to defend himself and others. He is willing to kill in self defense and the defense of others, but he's also somewhat hemophobic and seeing blood makes him sick. In fact, the first time he kills in self defense, he passes out. He even tries to Save the Villain with Boss Kaze, but Kaze ends up causing his own death by trying to kill him, which Delilah had told him would happen.
  • Tagalong Kid: Ember only thinks she's this to Spyro and Cynder, as she's well aware she's the immature rookie of the group and secretly feels like she's just the little kid following the two legendary heroes around. Part of her Character Development is finding out she's much more important to the team than she though she was.
  • Taking You with Me: The Warden attempts this. But Ember is Genre Savvy enough to blast him with her blue fire while he's charging, killing him.
  • Technicolor Fire: Ember gains the ability to breath blue fire after being accidentally granted Phoenix powers. It's much more powerful than her normal fire, as one blast reduced a Warrior Gargoyle to ashes, but it takes a lot of energy to use. This is of course refrencing that blue fire is hotter than red.
  • The Cameo: The dragon in Ember's flashback who gave her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech that resulted in her low self-esteem is Red, the Big Bad of Spyro: A Hero's Tale. Considering the writer has announced this is the first in a trilogy, it's open as to rather this is a special kind of cameo or just a Mythology Gag.
  • Even Heroes Have Heroes: Ember. She's a big fangirl to Spyro and Cynder and gushes over them when she first meets them. She's mor subdued most of the time, but can't help but Squee whenever they do something really cool.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Turns out General Grendel is behind Tyrania's invasion of the Dragon Realms. He is also connected to Boss Kaze kidnapping Pyrus due to seeing the peaceful prince as a roadblock to his plans. In the end, it turns out everything was part of his plan to take genocidal revenge on the Dragons with a civilization destroying Eldritch Abomination. In a twist, the reader finds out after the deaths of Tyrania and Kaze that Grendel is the one pulling the strings, but the characters themselves don't find out until the very end.
  • The Phoenix: The previous inhabitants of Empress Tyrania's kingdom whom she drove into extinction. Siria, their queen, appears as a spirit and acts as Ember's Spirit Advisor and tells her how to revive the Phoenix race by defeating Tyrania.
  • The Power of Friendship: Pyrus uses this as a Shut UP, Hannibal to counter Kaze's Hannibal Lecture, citing that despite everything else, Pyrus has one thing he doesn't, a friend. His desire to save Delilah's life allows him to perform an Ice Fury, something he couldn't before.
  • The Talk: Sparx revealed his father had this with him before he left, but refuses to talk about it with Spyro. Volteer starts to give it to Cynder, but Cyril cuts him off because there are eggs in the room.
  • There Is Another: First Spyro and Cynder discover that Ember survived the raid, thanks to being laid late and taken into the wilderness with her mother. They then find out from Ignitus that there are two more Dragons who survived the raid present in the Unknown Realms. Before they leave, they discover there's another one out there too.
  • The Starscream: Cyros to Deadlock. At least she tries to be this.
  • This Cannot Be!: Tyrania is left in complete disbelief that she'd been outwitted and mortally wounded by Spyro's group.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: Kaze's Quirky Miniboss Squad get this right before the stick of dynamite thrown back at them by Delilah goes off and kills them.
  • Through a Face Full of Fur: Subverted, it's explicitly stated dragons physically can't blush, they just get hot under the scales of their faces instead.
  • Together in Death: Siria is last seen reuniting with her beloved king in the embers created by her death after her Heroic Sacrifice, showing they've finally been reunited in the afterlife.
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • Drake was just a young soldier the night of the raid, pretty much a standard Mook. 24 years later, he's as strong as Gaul was and The Dreaded to the Naga and the Gargoyles.
    • Ember in "Breakout", big time. After getting a power boost from Siria and motivation from protecting her dad, she fights Tyrania's Dragon in a huge battle, alone and more than holds her own. She begins said battle by plowing him through a wall!
    • Sparx of all people has a bit of one too. He steals the Warden's cursed collar and lets Blaze smash it, then slams a door shut on the Warden to cut off his escape.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Invoked by Deadlock. She wants to inflict one of these on Spyro and Cynder as revenge for the one she suffered the night of the temple raid. Thanks to Cyros in "Deception", we see just the kind of effect it had when Cynder has a rant while in her Super-Powered Evil Side that she's tired of not being strong enough to protect the ones she cares about.
  • Triumphant Reprise: Throughout the fic, Cyros had used a song in order to drain power with her guitar for her own selfish ends. In "Endgame", Ember sings the same song to suck the power out of Cyros to save her from the darkness.
  • Two Lines, No Waiting: The story has two main storylines, Spyro's group making their way to Deadlock and Pyrus' journey to try and find them. The story frequently changes focus from Spyro's group to Pyrus' as it progresses. Pyrus' Story Arc even has it's own Big Bad, Boss Kaze. Deadlock's own story could be considered a third storyline, as despite being the Big Bad, her backstory and present character growth are shown seperately.
  • Unstoppable Rage:
    • Deadlock's reaction to her mate being mortally wounded by Gaul.
    • Blaze when the Sparx helps take the curse off of him that'd been preventing him from helping Ember against the Warden. He smashes his way through the door to his cell and an entire mob of Gargoyles to get his claws on the Warden.
  • Use Your Head: As a classic Spyro move, it's only natural it's here. However, special mention goes to Demi, who knocks a thick iron gate off it's hinges by literally using her head as a Battering Ram. Spyro and Cynder are impressed.
  • Villainous Breakdown:
    • Commander Hades has one late into his battle, losing control and becoming a living inferno.
    • The Warden's Smug Snake facade dissolves quite quickly when he faces anything that can actually fight back. After Blaze smashes his cursed collar, he shows his true colors as a Dirty Coward.
    • General Grendel is a Smug Snake most of the time, but once his punishment is given, he loses it, screaming at the top of his lungs that they can't do this to him and that he'd rather be executed than be punished by banishment.
  • Villainous Glutton: Commander Hades. Not only is he money hungry, he eats an entire boar himself while his Mooks fight Spyro's group.
  • Villain Song:
    • Cyros has had two, really short songs. One is a version of "Rock A Bye Baby" detailing her bitterness for her brother and intends to dispose of him. Another of "Three Blind Mice" telling how she intends to use The Heros upcoming confrontation with Empress Tyrania to her own ends.
    • She gets a full length one in the "What Must Be Done" chapter called "Into The Great Unknown" where she tells Pyrus all the horrible things awaiting him in the Unknown Realms if he leaves.
    • In "Deception", she gets "Let Your Secrets Out" which she uses to hypnotise Cynder and Ember and cause their hidden feelings to come to the surface. Demi interupts it though.
    • She gets a short song each time she uses her magic to steal the power from someone. However, it gets a Triumphant Reprise in "Endgame" when Ember sings it to suck the darkness out of Cyros and save her from her Super-Powered Evil Side.
    • She gets another one in "Endgame" called "Welcome To Your Final Show" which is used to magically assault Pyrus and Ember. Noteable as it's her only Villain Song that is actually truly villainous.
  • Villain Exit Stage Left:
  • Villainous Lament: Cyros gets one in "Captured" called "How Things Were Back Then", singing about her Start of Darkness and how she secretly wishes things were back to how they used to be, but feels like that it can never be that way again.
  • Wham! Episode:
    • "Rescue Mission" starts as a pretty simple chapter; enemy captured some cheetahs, group rescues cheetahs. It ends with Drake making his first appearence. Not only is Drake an Ape who is seemingly friendly and leads a small group of like minded apes, one of the dragons that Ignitus told them about appears to be his adopted daughter! The group's staring wide-eyed in ackward silence is a pretty good response.
    • "Deception". Cyros' last line of dialog in the chapter perfectly sums it up; Oh Crap!
  • What Kept You?: Spyro and company break into the Gargoyle mines to rescue Ember, sendings Sparx ahead to let her know they're on the way. Ember had already Took a Level in Badass and was waiting for word they were coming, revealing she could've escaped the cage at anytime thanks to Siria, but wanted to wait for them to be coming just incase her plan failed. When Spyro and Cynder get there, they're greeted to Tyrania's Dragon being blasted through a wall before Ember finishes him off, Sparx and Ember having already freed the slaves themselves.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Sparx of all people calls Cyril out for stating they can't go after the eggs and have to stay to protect the temple, pretty much telling Cynder to her face her child isn't important. Cyril took it to heart.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Delilah is deathly afraid of cupcakes after "The Cupcakes Incident". Though its implied she has very good reason for this fear. Thankfully for her, these don't exist in this universe.
  • Woman Scorned: Ember's mother had a major crush on Cyril. She didn't take rejection well and, apparently, gave Cyril a good beating.
  • World of Cardboard Speech: Pyrus gives one at the end of his fight with Boss Kaze, stating his determination to protect his best friend from Kaze and overcoming his fear of Kaze. This also gives him the Heroic Resolve needed to blow Kaze away with an Ice Fury.
  • Xanatos Gambit:
    • Cyros pulls off one with her Villain Song on Pyrus. It didn't matter how he reacted or if he survived the Unknown Realms, she already planned out how it could benefit her in the end.
    • However, she really shows her skill later when she reveals she worked the final battle with Empress Tyrania into her plans, intending to drain out the power of the loser for herself. It didn't matter who won, she'd profit reguardless. Tyrania was killed, so she drains the power from her corpse.
  • Youkai: Boss Kaze uses this term to refer to Delilah and himself, as he is a Kamatachi. In this context, it's used to refer to any one of various supernatural creatures hailing from the same land.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: General Grendel does this to Commander Gaia after she has given him the final piece of his master plan, stabbing her in the gut right as she was preparing to kiss him. He rubs it in by telling her that he never loved her and was simply manipulating her from the start.
  • You Know Too Much: When General Grendel kills the Naga who brought him the Sun Jewel, he cites this as his reason.
  • Your Worst Nightmare: Deadlock during the "Restless Night" chapter. She makes Cynder experience hearing the voices of all the dragons she killed as Dark Cynder and relive killing her mother (as well as earlier making her relive being turned into Dark Cynder). Spyro is faced with being accused of the temple raid and seeing himself turned into Malefor. Cynder's is especially chilling as she finds blood dripping from her claws and can't get it off. Thankfully, Ignitus found out a way to stop her.

A New Dawn Side Story: Broken Wings

  • A Day in the Limelight: Cyros, one of the main antagonists from "A New Dawn" is the main character after having performed a Heel Face Turn at the climax of the previous fic.
  • The Atoner: Cyros
  • Big Bad: Loki, the Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up Ice Dragon that torments Cyros, has been stated to be the main antagonist of the first part.
  • Cheerful Child: Volt. She's just a newborn and she's already cheerful beyond all reason. Fortunately, Cyros is at a point in her life where a nice bit of cheer is just what the doctor ordered.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Cyros at times.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The first thing that Volt does when she's born is to stare at Cyros and let out a cheerful, happy screech.
  • Fourth Wall Psych: The story starts with Cyros giving an intro monologue to introduce herself in the first person. She then reveals that she's just doing the intro for the story because Delilah asked her to so she could give a copy of it to one of her friends in another dimension. The entire fic is apparently just an account of Cyros' journey Delilah is sending to Twilight Sparkle.
  • Halloween Episode: Sorta. The chapter "Loki's Challenge" mentions Halloween, on Delilah's part, but most of the Halloween antics are a Noodle Incident taking place another universe with Delilah. Spyro was a king, Cynder was Nightmare Moon, Volt was a skunk, Nova was an angel, Delilah was a witch, and Sparx ticked Rarity off so much she stuck him in a princess outfit.
  • Jerkass: Loki.
  • Lighter and Softer: The writer has admitted this one won't get as dark as the previous one.
  • Mind Screw: Volt's Offscreen Teleportation is this In-Universe. Not even Volteer has any idea how she does it.
  • Noodle Incident: Spyro, Cynder, Sparx Nova, and Volt go with Delilah to the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic universe so the kids can enjoy Halloween (well, Nightmare Night). When they return, bits and pieces are dropped, the most fitting for this trope being Sparx having somehow ticked Rarity off enough for her to forceibly dress him up like a princess.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: Volt does this all the time, even when she was only about an hour old at most. Volteer is left speechless by this.
  • Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Cyros when she ends up challenging Loki to a race through the obstacle course that she hasn't even managed to finish and it'd be difficult to beat him at if she could fly. She even thinks as much.

Cyros: I can't believe I just said that! Even if I HAD wings he'd be hard to beat! Just stick your foot in your mouth and stop talking!

  • Overly Long Gag: After Cyros agress to let Volt stay with her, the infant dragon jumps around her happily with gleeful cries for awhile before Cyros stops her by putting her paw on her head... Then continues when she's let go... Twice.
  • Redemption Quest: The center point of the story.
  • Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: Loki. He was an annoying little brat as a kid who always made fun of Deadlock when she was a nursery dragon, and got spanked frequently for it. Now he's a full grown Dragon who bullies Cyros whenever he can, with the implication he's doing it because she's Deadlock's daughter.
  • Shout-Out: When Cyros agrees to let Volt stay with her, Volt starts jumping around her gleefully letting out cries Cyros swears sounds as if she's saying "yesyesyesyes..." over and over again. Also, according to the opening prolog, the fanfic is apparently being written so Delilah can give it to Twilight Sparkle so she can write a friendship letter to Princess Celestia about it.
  • Smelly Skunk: Volt's Halloween costume. No, she doesn't stink, but it's still cute.
  • There Are No Therapists: Averted, Cyros and Deadlock are both mentioned as seeing one named Dr. Galen frequently who is actually doing them good. Delilah actually lampshades this trope when see goes to see him for her phobia of cupcakes that there aren't that many universes were one can find a quality therapist, let alone one who sees mythical creatures.
  • Training from Hell: Some of Cyros' self inflicted training has shades of this.


The Legend Of Spyro: The Falling Darkness

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