The Dark Gems are sinister gemstones that only appeared in Spyro: A Hero's Tail. They represent part of the evil side by negatively affecting the game. Potent little balls of wickedness, the Dark Gems suck out the light and goodness from the world, contorting Dragon Realms into a putrid, scary den just right for Red's domination.

AppearanceEdit

The Dark Gems resemble purple gems that sprout from the ground, with small bolts of electricity spurting from them. They are always surrounded by a dark patch of ground with some tentacles coming out from the ground, purple goo substance, and a sinister atmosphere around it. These features are also the result of the environment's life being sucked out by the dark gems. They are larger versions of Dark Shards, but instead of just giving you some collectable gems (which are used to buy items at Moneybags' store).

StoryEdit

Once planted, the Dark Gems drain the life of the surrounding area, simply removing some enviornmental hazards or blockages caused by the life-draining power of the gems, and help you move on to previously unreachable areas.

The only way that the Dark Gems can be destroyed is by doing a Horn Dive, which you learn by talking to the first Dragon Elder, Tomas, in the Dragon Village. The Dark Gems are very important to the game, since it is necessary to destroy all 10 dark gems in each world to fight the boss for that world and advance to the next one. In this process, you can destroy a total of 40 dark gems in the game.