The End of "The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon": A Deus Ex Machina?

 

In this video by YouTuber Canadian Guy Eh, it is explained how Malefor (aka, the Dark Master) should have been the greatest villain of the Spyro franchise (because he certainly was set up to be just that by the previous two games in The Legend of Spyro trilogy. According to Canadian Guy Eh, the third and final game in this rebooted Spyro trilogy, titled Dawn of the Dragon, when Malefor finally makes a physical in-game appearance, it totally misses the mark and kind of disappoints. Why, you ask? Well, first of all, up until his final moments in the trilogy, Malefor kind of succeeds in pretty much every part of his final goal. 

In the first game, The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, Spyro's main mission is to stop Malefor's servant, the black dragon, Cynder, from freeing Malefor's essence from the prison portal of Convexity. Yes, Spyro does manage to defeat Cynder and free her from Malefor's control, but unfortunately, not before she frees the Dark Master's essence from the portal. So, the goal of escaping Convexity? Check. 

In the second installment of the trilogy, The Eternal Night, Spyro ultimately has to stop Malefor's most devoted minion, Gaul the Ape King, from using the power of a celestial eclipse, called the Eternal Night, to free Malefor's soul from the Mountain of Malefor, aka, the Well of Souls. Again, Spyro is able to defeat and annihilate Gaul and his ape army, but fails to prevent Malefor's soul from escaping. Thus, escape from the Well of Souls? Check.

Finally, we come to the third and final installment, Dawn of the Dragon. Malefor has finally made his return to the dragon realms in his physical, living form, and is planning to awaken a planet-annihilating titanic monster known as the Destroyer to bring about the end of the world (and when we say "end of the world," we're talking total planetary annihilation here!). Therefore, Spyro and his adversary-turned-ally, Cynder, must unite and find a way to defeat Malefor and save their world from destruction. However, when Spyro and Cynder finally reach Malefor's lair and have their epic showdown battle to decide the world's fate, they once again fail in their mission to stop the titanic Destroyer from crossing the belt of fire and reaching the volcano to complete the ring of annihilation. And to top it all off, Malefor seems totally overpowered and declares that he is eternal and cannot be defeated. So, awaken the Destroyer to bring about the end of the world and total planetary destruction. Again, check and check!

This is when the story pulls out what can only be described as a deus ex machina. What is that, you ask? Well, first of all, it's Latin for "God from the machine." In storytelling, it's a plot device in which a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly resolved by an unexpected, unlikely occurrence. It is used to quickly untangle a complex plot, save heroes from certain doom, or provide a convenient happy ending. 

You're probably wondering how the game pulls this off. Well, in the final moments of the battle with Malefor, as the world is starting to break apart, the battle takes them down the crater of the volcano and towards the core of the planet. This is where Malefor declares that he is basically unable to be defeated and that Spyro and Cynder's efforts have been in vain. This is when five dragon spirits suddenly appear from out of the planet's core and attack Malefor, pulling him into the core and presumably defeating him once and for all. These dragon spirits are, of course, meant to be the spirits of the ancestors who trained Malefor to begin with. How is this ending classified as a deus ex machina? Well, because, like mentioned before, up until the final moments of the battle, Malefor succeeded in accomplishing pretty much every one of his goals, and can be officially described as an OP villain. (OP means overpowered, by the way.)

Now, do I think the ending of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon was ruined because of this deus ex machina? No, I do not. While I agree that the win for the side of good came out of nowhere and therefore was, indeed, a deus ex machina, I don't think it tarnished this rebooted Spyro story one bit. On the contrary, The Legend of Spyro trilogy is actually my favorite Spyro reboot of all time, because it was the trilogy that pretty much got me deep into the Spyro franchise to begin with. I would even go as far as to say, it was the trilogy that made me fall in love with everyone's favorite purple dragon!

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