Gaul

"Long have we waited, long have we suffered! But soon, our master will return, and his coming shall bring forth a new age of power for the Apes, and we shall have our revenge!"

- Gaul the Ape King

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 is depicted as far more competent and dangerous that his bumbling subjects.

About Gaul
Gaul is a huge baboon-like ape around six meters high, clad in purple armour with a horned helmet. His face is 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 vindictive; 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 might 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.

Before The Eternal Night
Several years before the course of A New Beginning, Malefor ordered Gaul to attack the Dragon Temple during the Year of the Dragon, to prevent the birth of the Purple Dragon who could stand against the Dark Master. Gaul led his armies to the temple and had all the eggs destroyed; save from one hidden away from him and his armies by the Fire Guardian Ignitus, and another one that Gaul took away.

Fully aware that a Dragon was needed to set Malefor free, Gaul hatched and raised Cynder; whom he turned into an immensely powerful evil dragoness by exposing her to Malefor's evil energy.

Role in the Game
After Cynder succeeded in opening the Convexity Portal, but was defeated and returned to normal by Spyro, Gaul bases himself on the Mountain of Malefor and takes the matter in hand; preparing the return of his master for the Night of Eternal Darkness.

In The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, after Spyro and a repentant Cynder are abducted by pirates, Gaul attacks the Pirate Arena and forcibly takes Cynder to the Well of Souls; while setting hints for Spyro to find its location and meet him here. He tells an imprisoned Cynder that he will kill her if she does not pledge loyalty to the Dark Master once more; 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
Before the beginning of the final battle, Gaul casts a spell on Spyro with his magical staff, preventing him to use magic and furies. The Ape King 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.

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 does not, 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, which 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 timing, it simply expels Spyro backwards. When he is done attacking with his tornado, Gaul will cause a long-lasting rain of explosive fireballs, (Spyro musts be far away from Gaul to avoid them) 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 King'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 Apes before finishing the game.

Trivia

 * Gaul is named after the Roman province of the same name, which is modern day France, Belgium, and Holland.
 * Gaul's death is rather dark for a spyro game as he literally gets executed and blasted to nothingness.