Gaul

Gaul the Ape King is a major antagonist in The Legend of Spyro trilogy and the Final Boss of the second installment The Eternal Night. He is Malefor's second-in-command and the king of his armies of Ape Monsters. He led the attack on the Dragon Temple, before kidnapping and raising Cynder, whom he turned into an highly powerful evil dragoness, by using Malefor's evil energy. After Cynder succeeded in opening the Convexity portal, but was defeated and returned to normal by Spyro, Gaul took the matter in hand and prepared the return of his master for the Night of Eternal Darkness.

Role in the Game
Gaul is a huge baboon-like ape around six meters high, clad in a purple armour with a horned helmet. His face his covered in scars and his right eye is replaced by an emerald, evidencing his fierce warrior's past. Gaul is hateful, violent, greedy, power-hungry and vindicative; he wants revenge for his people against the Dragon kind and he is fiercely devoted to the Dark Master, probably hoping to rule the new world that Malefor would create, alongside his master. However Malefor sacrifices him without remorse, (likely planning to replace him with a corrupted Spyro) when he outlives his usefulness at the end of the second game. Yet he may be aware of it, as he seems satisfied when Spyro gets corrupted by darkness and he later exhorts Spyro to finish him off.

In The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, Gaul bases himself on the Mountain of Malefor and sets some hints for Spyro to find its location and to meet him here. He kidnapps Cynder to lure Spyro and tries to turn her evil again, but she only pretends to obey him. At the end of the game, he fights Spyro to the death during the Night of Eternal Darkness, until Spyro enters the pillar of demonic light generated by the eclipse and turns momentarily evil, killing the Ape King and freeing Malefor in the process. Cynder manages to revert Spyro back to normal and the young dragon uses his power over Time to protect himself, Cynder and Sparx from the collapse of the Mountain.

Playstation 2 and Nintendo Wii
As a boss, Gaul is slow but highly powerful. His strongest attacks can kill Spyro with a single hit, while the others can kill Spyro with two hits, so be very cautious. Before the beginning of the final battle, Gaul casts a spell on Spyro with his magical staff, preventing him to use magic and furies.

First, Gaul will attack with two huge scimitars. At close range, he delivers either powerful blows or a flurry of devastating slashes. Gaul can also use his scimitars to hurl a green fireball, which must be dodged with a jump ahead. He teleports often and repeatedly jumps to stab the ground with his blades, creating a huge, green shockwave. Spyro must always be as far away from him as possible, and dodge the shockwaves with a double jump. The fifth jumping stab is the strongest and can kill Spyro in one hit. After this, Gaul will stop for a short while, and Spyro must freeze time and attack his belly until time restarts. Most of the time, Gaul teleports out of reach but if he doesn't, his counterattack will be fearsome so be prepared. If Spyro destroys all the green fires disposed all around the throne room, Gaul's power will decrease significantly and his attacks will no longer be a one-hit-kill, though they remain very strong.

When Gaul is defeated, he falls on the room below the throne room, losing his scimitars, his magical staff and his helmet, and Spyro gets corrupted by Malefor's evil energy.

At close range, Gaul delivers swifts, fast blows with his gauntlets, that can kill Spyro in three hits. Gaul can still teleport, and he most often surrounds himself with a huge tornado and charges across the room. This attack can vacuum Spyro next to Gaul, (who will deal crippling damage with his gauntlets) but with the right timming, it simply expels Spyro backwards. When he is done attacking with his tornado, Gaul will cause a long-lasting rain of exposive fireballs, (Spyro musts be far away from Gaul to avoid it.) then fire three green rays from his emerald-eye, one after another. (Spyro must dodge it with double jumps.) This is the only moment when Gaul can be harmed. Spyro must attack him with his breath, as no other attack will work.

When Gaul is defeated for the second time, the only thing left is to unleash a final fury to finish him off and to watch the ending.

Nintendo DS
Gaul combines his two scimitars to make a double-edged spear which he uses to deliver powerful blows or throws in the room like a boomerang. His attacks won't hit Spyro if he remains on the right side next to Gaul. After 3 "boomerang" attacks, many green ghosts will appear and began to circle around the centre of the room. Spyro must stay as close as possible to Gaul at first, while remaining out of the Ape's reach, and then head towards the center. Then, Spyro must attack Gaul with an elemental fury, the best one being Ice, and repeat this course of action until the end of the game.

Game Boy Advance
Gaul attacks by jumping, by punching Spyro and by landing a powerful ground smash, which must be dodged as it deals big damage. The best way to deal with Gaul is to attack him with melee strikes at close range, then get away from him and restart. Gaul's attacks deal more damage as the battle progress so beware. After a while, Gaul will start to channel purple energy into his arm and replenish his life bar. After another while, Gaul will start to jump more and more and will now be able to fire a big, purple, pulsating energy ball, which Spyro can destroy with his Fire breath. If Spyro cannot destroy the energy ball, he must avoid it by jumping. Spyro must attack Gaul reapeatedly without letting him make a move, or else things can get tricky. When Spyro turns evil, his health gets restored and his attack power increases, which make the final part of the fight rather easy. Once Gaul is dead, Dark Spyro will have to defeat many Ape Monsters before finishing the game.