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Normally, dragons can only breathe one element in The Legend of Spyro series. The color of a dragon's scales seems to reflect that dragon's element. This is most prominent in Ignitus and the other Guardians.
While the most common way of using an element is to exhale it from the dragon's mouth, if trained properly, a Dragon can use their elements in any way they can imagine and release them from other parts of their bodies, allowing them to do "elemental melee" attacks such as comet dash.
Purple Dragons, being a rare species, can breath all of the elements including their signature element, Aether. Cynder is also an exception because she was exposed to Malefor's dark influence, giving her unique breath attacks such as Poison, Wind, Shadow, and Fear.
Elements
Fire
Spyro using fire breath.
In A New Beginning, Fire breath was the first element Spyro acquired when he used it to save Sparx from some apes. His Fire element was awakened from the trauma of Sparx being threatened by the Apes. He later learned to harness his Fire abilities under the teachings of Ignitus. In the aftermath of A New Beginning, Spyro lost his Fire breath along with all his other powers after using Light Aether to fight Cynder, and had to re-learn them from the Chronicler, in The Eternal Night, also learning the move Comet Dash.
Ice
In A New Beginning, Spyro's Ice breath was awakened in Tall Plains from the trauma of Kane being in mortal danger of falling to his death. He first used it to freeze a river to save Kane's life. He later trained his ability with Cyril. The Chronicler helped Spyro regain his ice after losing it in The Eternal Night.
Electricity
Electricity element is one of the four main elements in the entire series and was the second element, that Spyro learned. In The Legend of Spyro, Spyro learned this ability while traveling through Dante's Freezer from the trauma of being hit by enemy electricty while Trolls attacked him, and later learned to harness the Electricity Element with Volteer. The Chronicler helps Spyro regain his Electricity Breath in The Eternal Night. Dawn of the Dragon includes this powerful element. It is used to unlock hidden ways to get out from the Catacombs. Electricity has been one of the most powerful element in The Legend of Spyro series. Like Fire, Electricity is the most common element to kill enemies. It is useful to kill and control big enemies, paralyzing their movements to give them a huge stunning power of electricity.
Wind
In Dawn of the Dragon, Wind is one of the elements Cynder can use. The element of Wind has been mentioned as one of the many abilities Malefor learned in his youth.
In A New Beginning, some of the earth attacks involve Wind, meaning that wind and earth may be interconnected. Cynder's Wind breath seems to be a parallel to Spyro's Ice breath. Cynder's Wind breath can be used to blow in the mouths of big blow horns, the breath is first needed in the Catacombs.
Earth
This breath once existed only in The Legend of Spyro series, where Spyro learned it in Munitions Forge. Spyro awakened his Earth Element from the trauma of being trapped under a large bell. Like the other elements, Spyro trained his earth breath with Terrador, lost it briefly in The Eternal Night, and regained it from the Chronicler. Unlike the other Elements, Earth Breath isn't literally breathing earth. Earth breath is actually different in each game it appears in. In A New Beginning, it comes out of Spyro's mouth as a green energy that damages enemies. In The Eternal Night, it comes out as an "Earth Flail" that Spyro swings around to damage enemies. In Dawn of the Dragon, it encases Spyro inside of a boulder that can be rolled around to damage enemies, while the secondary earth attack is a sort of rock that shoots out of Spyro's mouth.
Aether
The most powerful element, this breath only exists in The Legend of Spyro trilogy. It is the Purple Dragon's signature element and can shift between Light and Dark Aether. Aether first appeared in A New Beginning, when Cynder's attack inadvertively awakened Spyro's Aether, with the trauma of Cynder threatening his life. Spyro used the Aether's light counterpart to free Cynder from the Dark Master's control. However using Aether caused Spyro to lose all other elemental powers temporarily and become so weak that he could "barely lift his head."
In The Eternal Night, Spyro became Dark Spyro, and the dark influence tapped into the power of dark Aether, which he used to defeat Gaul in the Well of Souls. The force of the Aether Fury was enough to cause the entire Mountain of Malefor to collapse. In Dawn of the Dragon, Spyro and Cynder can breathe Aether temporarily after using a Fury. It can also be unlocked permanently by wearing a certain armor set. Aether is referred to as "Fury Breath" in this game.
Poison
Poison is one of the three dark elements Cynder was given by Malefor through his corruption. It does not occur naturally in Dragons. Poison breath comes out as a thick, green poison that can be used to kill certain plants. It seems to be a parallel to Spyro's fire breath.
Shadow
Malefor gave Cynder this element through his dark influence. It does not occur naturally in Dragons. This element causes Cynder to turn into a shadow for a short time, making her able to get under certain doors and attack enemies without risk of being harmed. The secondary attack of this element is a more literal "shadow breath." Shadow breath seems to be a parallel to Spyro's earth breath. It can affect enemies by making them turn against each other and attack one another until the Shadow Breath wears off.
Fear
Malefor lent Cynder this element using dark magic. Fear is one of the abilites that doesn't occur naturally in Dragons. The element comes out of Cynder's mouth as a red soundwave with a noise like a bat's screech. This attack scares enemies into blocking without attacking for a short time. It can also be used to solve certain puzzles. Fear breath seems to be a parallel to Spyro's electricity breath.
Trivia
- According to lead concept artist Jared Pullen, an entity of light granted the Dragons the natural elements of Fire, Earth, Electricity, Ice, Wind and Water. A different darker entity created sinister elements that consists of Poison, Shadow and Fear.[1]
- Dragons obtain their elements when faced with emotional traumas or threatening events. This is repeatedly seen in A New Beginning, as Spyro was exposed to trauma when he unlocked his different elemental breaths.[2]
References
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