The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon (French: La Légende de Spyro: Naissance d'un dragon) is a 2008 action-adventure video game in the Spyro series. It is the third and final installment in The Legend of Spyro trilogy and the sequel to The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (2007), marking the tenth anniversary of the game series.

Plot

The game's story continues three years after the events of the previous game. Spyro and Cynder, now teenagers, are broken free of their crystalline prison by mysterious enemies known as Grublins. The two are tethered together with green energy chains created by the Dark Master before being carried away, while Sparx is found by Hunter of Avalar, who was watching them from the shadows. Meanwhile, Spyro and Cynder find themselves in a dark, volcano-like area. When they try to leave, they find out they can't as they are chained to the platform they awoke on. After defeating several waves of Grublins and avoiding an earth Golem that attacks them soon after, Spyro and Cynder manage to escape the Catacombs with the help of Hunter, who is with Sparx. After reaching safety in Twilight Falls, Hunter reveals to Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx that the Dark Master, Malefor, had returned to the realm shortly after they disappeared and has covered the land in darkness ever since.

Once they reach the Dragon City of Warfang, Spyro, Cynder and Hunter are separated as the city is under siege by Malefor's forces. After a long and fierce battle that ends in the siege driven back, the Golem returns and uses parts of the city to create an arm to replace the one it lost in the Catacombs. Spyro and Cynder defeat the Golem by destroying the Dark Crystal in its head, allowing Spyro, Cynder, and the Dragon Guardians to finally reunite. The victory is short-lived, as later that night, Malefor sends the citizens of Warfang a message: he has revived the Destroyer, an ancient creature whose purpose is to renew the world by bringing about its destruction. As they will be unable to catch up with the beast if they fly after it, the Fire Dragon Guardian Ignitus (the leader of the Dragon Guardians) hatches a plan to wait for it to circle back and attack before it can complete its circle. Passing underground is the only way to intercept it in time. Cynder and Spyro are able to open the gates to the underground Ruins of Warfang, which leads the attack forces to the canyon where the Destroyer will complete the Ring of Annihilation by destroying a nearby dam. They stall the Destroyer long enough to destroy its Dark Crystal heart. Despite this, the Destroyer manages to complete the Belt of Fire, and Ignitus orders everyone underground as he escorts Spyro and Cynder through the Belt of Fire. To get them to the Burned Lands, which will lead them to Malefor's lair, Ignitus sacrifices himself in the crossing. Overcome with grief, Spyro turns into his dark form and tries to go back and save him (which also threatens to harm Cynder with levitating rocks) but is stopped and comforted by Cynder. Cynder tells Spyro he's not alone and encourages him to continue the journey, as Ignitus wanted them to.

After getting through the Burned Lands and the Floating Islands, Spyro and Cynder arrive at Malefor's lair and confront him. Malefor taunts Spyro by telling him that the destiny of all purple dragons is to bring about the world's destruction, which Spyro denies. During the confrontation, the evil dragon gets rid of the green chain that tethered Spyro and Cynder together throughout their trials, then corrupts Cynder back to his cause; Cynder attacks Spyro, only to break free from Malefor's control when Spyro refuses to fight, stating that Cynder has left him nothing to fight for. Angered by this turn of events, Malefor binds Spyro and Cynder together once again to kill them both before beginning their airborne battle. As Spyro and Cynder fly after Malefor, the Destroyer completes its circle, marking the world's end. The three dragons fall into the volcano The Destroyer had entered, and after fighting with Malefor, Spyro and Cynder plummet into the center of the Earth as they continue their battle. Malefor proclaims that he is eternal, unable to be defeated, but is then sealed away in the world's core by the spirits of the ancestors, and the green chain disappears soon after.

Despite Malefor's defeat, the world is still falling apart, as Spyro and Cynder wonder if this is indeed the end. Ignitus' spirit returns and gives Spyro hope. With the chain that bound them together broken with Malefor's defeat, Spyro tells Cynder to flee while he stops the catastrophe, but she refuses to leave him. As Spyro prepares to unleash a powerful Fury wave, Cynder verbally reveals that she loves him. Spyro's magic rebuilds the world, and the remaining Dragon Guardians, Hunter, Sparx, and the survivors emerge from underground into the setting sun as stars in the sky form into the figure of a dragon.

After the credits, the Chronicler speaks to someone that a new age is beginning, and with each new age, a worthy dragon is chosen to record the triumphs and failures of that era. His time is over, but the time of the new chronicler, Ignitus, has just begun. Before passing his mantle, the Chronicler informs Ignitus that though he has tried his best, he cannot find "any trace of Spyro" in the book that details dragons who have died. As Ignitus becomes the new Chronicler, he wonders where Spyro could be. Meanwhile, as the game closes, a glimpse of Spyro and Cynder can be seen flying together over the Valley of Avalar.

Original Design (2006-2007)

Spyro is a purple-scaled dragon with equally purple eyes, orange-yellow wings with pink membranes, and a yellow underbelly and tail spike. Spyro's snout resembles that of a crocodile's; he has yellow and pink ridges on his back, the first three on his head that are his head crests are tipped in two edges. Light purple spots are dotted along his back to the tip of his tail; his tail spade even contains four segments.

Dawn of the Dragon Design (2008)

In The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, Spyro was given a design overhaul due to the change in game developers from Krome Studios to Étranges Libellules. To take advantage of the next generation consoles of PS3 and X360, he was aged up to a teenager with bigger wingspan[7] and was given slightly larger body porportions resembling that of the Guardian dragons. Despite looking older, he remains the same height as his younger self. His purple scales are brighter (sometimes giving off a slight pink hue depending on the lighting), but the rest of his design is upgraded with a few changes. The first two crests on Spyro's head now lack the edges his previous design had and are completely yellow, a change that is also shared with his back spines. The light purple spots that were on his back are absent, and two small pairs of yellow crests are growing from his scaley chest. Spyro's front half is more muscular built than his back half, and his yellow wings now stem from equally colored circular shoulders. His snout is no longer bumpy like an crocodile's, but instead smoothed out. His tail spade no longer has four lines on it and is now split in three edges.

Original Designs (2006-2007)

Cynder is a black dragon with jade-green eyes, black wings with ruby membranes and one curved blade on each of the wing-carpals, a ruby scaley underbelly, and a lengthy tail that ends with a scythe-like blade. She has six silver-white horns on her head and a matching crest runs down the back of her neck. Unlike other Dragons shown in the series, Cynder has pointed bony protrusions sticking out from the back of her hocks and ankles; as well as behind her elbows and carpal joints on her arms. Her muzzle is narrow and her mouth is beaked but contains teeth. The bottom of Cynder's chin is white before the color merges down with her ruby underbelly. Three symbols are marked on her forehead and under her eyes, with a small diamond-shaped one in between her eyes. These markings, along with her black scales, bladed wing spikes and scythe-like tail, are a result of Malefor's corruption.[5]

In a flashback featured in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, Cynder's original form prior to being tainted by Malefor's dark magic resembles her current appearance. She had regular spikes on her wings, a normal tail spade, but lacked the symbols marked on her body. Her original scale colors that were present before her fated road to darkness are currently unknown.[5]

When in her adult corrupted form in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, Cynder is much larger than usual. Some other attributes of that form are her longer neck, long and lean body, larger wings, and a more pointed, adult-looking face. An additional pair of horns can be seen growing on her cheeks to join in with her existing six horns. Cynder wore a pair of platinum bracelets on her wrists, a platinum choker on her neck, and another pair of bracelets on her long tail. She retains the symbols on her forehead and under her eyes, but has a different symbol marked on her shoulders and back.

Dawn of the Dragon Design (2008)

In The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, Cynder was given a design overhaul due to the change in game developers from Krome Studios to Étranges Libellules. To take advantage of the next generation consoles of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, she was aged up to a teenager with bigger wingspan[8] and larger body proportions that resemble an adult dragon's. Despite appearing older, she remains the same height as her younger self. The symbols on her forehead are smaller, and the ones that were on her shoulders and back while in her corrupted adult form have returned, but are redesigned to fit in the space on her shoulders. Cynder wears a platinum choker on her neck, bracers on her arms, and single bracer on her tail that are similar to the ones she wore while under Malefor's control. Her mouth is still beaked, but it's no longer as small as before. The silver crest on the back of Cynder's head is now separated into pointed spikes, and the sickled blades on her wings now face the outward instead of inward. She is also very lithe, more so than her corrupted larger form.

Due to the game's broken render, outdated engine, and the artistic decisions made by the game director of the console versions of Dawn of the Dragon, Cynder's signature black scales are changed to dark purple to have her stand out more in the game's bloom.[6][9]