Cynder the Dragon

Cynder is a black dragon who appeared in The Legend of Spyro series. Originally a servant of the Dark Master Malefor, she was the main antagonist in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning until she was defeated and freed by Spyro. She now seeks to find her own destiny, evolving into a heroine and becoming Spyro's primary love interest in the process.

Background

Cynder originated from the same clutch of other various dragon eggs that Spyro was in during the Year of the Dragon, making her and Spyro the same age. On the night the Dark Armies raided the Dragon Temple, the Ape King Gaul kidnapped Cynder's egg, choosing her to be the dragon who would free the Dark Master Malefor from his prison in Convexity. Cynder grew up in the company of Gaul and his servants, until it became the time when she was corrupted by Malefor's dark powers, which transformed her into a monstrous and horrific, adult dragon brainwashed to do the Dark Master's bidding.

Personality

While within the same clutch of dragon eggs as Spyro, Cynder was stolen by Malefor's dark forces and born under his influence. Malefor's powerful magic transformed Cynder into a lithe, monstrous dragon who was the classic femme fatale; unstable, alternately calm, but explosive; caring about nothing but the return of her master. Her might and fury was enough to strike fear into the bravest of warriors; a powerful force of nature capable of tearing through her enemies and incapacitated them with ease. After she was freed from Malefor's control, Cynder felt guilty about all of the things she had done while under his corruption.

In the promotional shorts based on The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, Cynder displays a more lighthearted and friendlier side, wanting to help Spyro regain his elemental powers in the temple dojo. In the game itself, she harbors intense guilt over being Malefor's puppet, believing she doesn't belong at the Dragon Temple after all she had done. When she was met with the possibility of Malefor taking her back for being a "faithful servant" or kill her when he returns, Cynder showed no intention on returning to Malefor's side and was willing to help fight against her former master, putting her at odds with her former dark ally, Gaul the Ape King. She was shown to be bold and cunning during her interactions with Spyro in the midst of danger, planning ruses with her purple companion to distract their surrounding enemies while secretly planning out their next move. In addition, Cynder displayed a sense of loyalty, refusing to leave without Spyro, even when she was in danger of being entombed along with him and Sparx inside the Well of Souls.

In Dawn of the Dragon, a different take on Cynder's personality is displayed. In the game, she is intelligent, witty, resourceful, brave, spirited, determined, independent, and isn't afraid to speak her mind. Despite her damsel-in-distress role in the previous two games, Cynder is portrayed as far from passive and doesn't enjoy such roles of frail and weak heroines. For instance, when Spyro was instructing Cynder to follow his lead, she immediately responded in an indignant tone, "Why should you lead?". Although she was soft-spoken in the previous game, Cynder was given a irritable temperament, mostly acting snappy at Spyro over the course of their journey, before her tone towards him softened after Ignitus's death.

Cynder's time as Malefor's puppet traumatized her deeply that she quickly becomes upset whenever anyone mentions her dark past or the possibility of her still being evil and returning to Malefor's side; something that happens quite often. Cynder strongly dislikes being chained in any form (physical or psychologically) as seen by her desire to find her destiny and frequent irritation over the green snake collars keeping her tethered to Spyro. Cynder shows strong determination to help others and prove that she isn't the monster she once was. Her feelings are so strong that she wants to do all she can to keep those she cares about safe, and becomes brave enough to show Spyro hints about her romantic feelings before fully revealing them at the end of the third game.

Trivia

• Jared Pullen estimates Cynder was around 12 years old before the events of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, sharing the same age as Spyro and Sparx.
• Both the introduction cutscenes of The Eternal Night and Dawn of the Dragon has echoing quotes from Cynder and Spyro that retells the story climax of the corresponding previous titles.
• In A New Beginning, Cynder was shown using a dark fire element called Shadow Fire, although this ability never appeared after the game. Her Shadow elemental ability in Dawn of the Dragon, Shadow Fire, shares the same name as her dark fire attack in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning.
• In Dawn of the Dragon, the sudden appearance of Cynder's platinum jewelry was unexplained and is considered a story plothole, as she wasn't wearing the jewelry before she, Spyro, and Sparx were frozen in time at the end of The Eternal Night. One of the producers of The Legend of Spyro trilogy, Michael Graham, revealed that Cynder wears the jewelry as a way of facing her fear of becoming Malefor's servant again. There was originally going to be a cutscene for Dawn of the Dragoninvolving her actually putting the jewelry on, but there was no time in creating and adding the scene in because of the game's budget and rushed production. "Cynder has been through quite a bit. When she was first redeemed, I think her initial reaction was to cast aside everything that reminded her of the past." Michael Graham responded, "She was effectively in denial. But over time, she has begun to come to terms with who she is. Wearing the jewelry that she wore while under Malefor's influence is a subtle way for her to learn to face her fears. Now why does she have them on when she is freed from the crystal? Well it wouldn't make sense to waste a lot of time in a cut scene that shows her putting them back on, so we'll have to consider them to be "magic".
• Cynder's black scales, markings, and sinister powers were a result of Malefor's corruption. It is implied by Jared Pullen that her true element was Wind before she was taken and corrupted.
• According to Jared Pullen, in response to Cynder's return to the Dragon Temple, the Guardians were intended to be in a debate over Cynder's stay at the Temple. "Cyril was the most vocal against the decision, and Ignitus strongly supported Cynder's re-inclusion, as he felt he had failed Cynder on levels the other Guardians could not imagine. His guilt, coupled with his understanding of failure prompted him to reach out to Cynder in this way. Terrador seconded the notion, trusting in Ignitus' judgement and out of respect for his close ally. Volteer endlessly debated the pros and cons of Cynder's return until Cyril finally grew tired of all the conjecture and relented!" However due to time restraints, this scene was scrapped.
• Throughout Dawn of the Dragon, Cynder was the only one who was greatly irritated that she was chained to Spyro, and wanted to get the snake collars off as soon as possible.
• Lead concept artist of A New Beginning and The Eternal Night, Jared Pullen, revealed that Spyro and Cynder weren't originally going to fall in love with each other. But since the fans wanted to see them together, the team obliged and made the pairing canon to the story at the last minute.
• In Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, there is a dragonfly named Cinder.
• Cynder is one of two roles in The Legend of Spyro series to be constantly recast (the other being Sparx). She is voiced by Cree Summer in A New Beginning, Mae Whitman in The Eternal Night, and Christina Ricci in Dawn of the Dragon.
• While Cynder was a black dragon in previous installments, her scales were suddenly made dark purple in the console versions of Dawn of the Dragon when compared to Spyro in the game. This color change notably clashes with the lore surrounding Purple Dragons in the series, who are born once every ten generations. Despite the obvious sudden color change, the characters (mostly notably the Hermit) still call Cynder "the black dragon". It is later revealed by one of the concept artists of Dawn of the Dragon that Cynder's final design which depicts her incorrect scale color was chosen by the Étranges Libellules game director of the project for reasons currently unknown. She is however, black in the cutscenes of the Nintendo DS version of Dawn of the Dragon and the entirety of the mobile phone version. While the faint purple tints appears mostly in previous few concept art of Cynder due to lighting, she was still made black in the final versions of A New Beginning and The Eternal Night developed by Krome Studios.
• Taking both the original and The Legend of Spyro series into consideration, Cynder is one of the only other playable dragons who does not have the same elements as Spyro.
• Cynder was originally going to breathe green fire. As soon as it was apparent that the Earth element (and its corresponding Guardian Terrador) were to take on the green color, Krome Studios dropped the idea of green fire for Cynder.
• Cynder is the only female character who has really proven to Spyro that she is in love with him in Dawn of the Dragon. At the same time, she is the only female character in any game of any continuity that Spyro developed feelings for.
• In the first four pre-rendered cutscenes in The Eternal Night, Cynder is missing her wing blades.
• In A New Beginning, Cynder's wings are shown to have a few holes (possibly from the battles she had won), but her wings didn't have any holes in most cutscenes, likely from the pre-rendered cutscenes using models differing from those in the game.
• Cynder is the only Legend character to have a different role in each game; in A New Beginning, she was the antagonist, in The Eternal Night she was a deuteragonist, and in Dawn of the Dragon, she was a protagonist. It should be noted that, like her role, she has a different physical look for each game; as she appears shorter after A New Beginning.
• Cynder's corrupted form has two bracers on her tail, while her normal teenage form in Dawn of the Dragon only has one. This is because in her adult form, her tail is long enough to allow enough space for more than two bracers.
• Spyro and Cynder's whereabouts at the end of The Legend of Spyro trilogy is intentionally left ambiguous. Although they are seen flying over the Valley of Avalar, whether they are alive or dead is left up to the speculations of the fanbase.
• Given the situations, Cynder may have been cast as the damsel in distress: first being under the control of Malefor and almost sucked into the Convexity vortex in A New Beginning, then being kidnapped and held hostage by Gaul in The Eternal Night.
• Cynder is one of only two known female characters in the entire Legend of Spyroseries, the other being Nina. She is also the only female dragon, of the eight dragon characters seen in the series.
• In the cutscenes and gameplay of A New Beginning and The Eternal Night developed by Krome Studios, the bottom of Cynder's chin appears to be red colored, however, in the actual gameplay and in Dawn of the Dragon, her chin is black.
• In promotional material for A New Beginning, Cynder's artwork has glowing white eyes, which doesn't happen ingame. Oddly, in Jared Pullen's original version of the artwork, her green eyes are accurately depicted.

Voice Actresses

• Japanese :
• English : Cree Summer (The Legend of Spyro A New Beginning), Mae Whitman (The Legend of Spyro The Eternal Night), Christina Ricci (The Legend of Spyro Dawn of the Dragon)