Spyro Theory: Spyro isn't special, he's just small

[CrowRising]

Video game protagonists tend to be special within their world. Chosen ones destined for greatness, professionals who have a lifetime of experience behind them, that kind of thing. At a glance, one might assume this to be true of Spyro as well. In this trilogy alone he defeats three different major enemies in three different lands, helping and rescuing countless individuals along the way. Spyro seems quite special within his world.

But take a closer look, and that begins to unravel. To start with, the basic plots of two out of the three games involve Spyro being the only one who could do what he did because of his size, and not any other special qualifying attributes. Gnasty's spell missed him because he was so small in Spyro 1, and he was the only dragon small enough to fit through the holes left by the egg thieves in Spyro 3. The one exception to this, Spyro 2, has him embark on his journey through basically random chance. He just so happened to be bored enough to want a vacation to Dragon Shores at the same time the Professor was using his device to reroute a dragon from the portal system into Glimmer. Any other dragon who had the same idea first could have ended up in the same position.

That only covers why he began his journeys though, what of his actual feats? Well, those can be explained by the legendary capabilities of dragons in general. In Spyro 1, although Spyro is the one who has to rescue the other dragons, they largely maintain a mentor-student relationship, treating him like a child and giving him hints in regards to how to progress. It comes off as though the other dragons could largely accomplish the same things, but are taking the opportunity to help Spyro grow. The one exception to this is in Gnasty's world, and that once again boils down to Spyro being too small for his spell to hit.

While there's not a ton of dragon lore in Spyro 2, Ripto himself has a deep hatred and fear of dragons, immediately identifying Spyro as a threat simply because of his being a dragon. A large part of his plan revolves around Avalar being a land devoid of dragons, thwarted only by Spyro's presence.

Spyro 3 has Spyro doing much the same kinds of things as in Spyro 2, but this time with a larger emphasis on the legendary status dragons have within the lore. It is revealed that dragons are magical beings, and their very presence is what powers portals. Although they have been missing for a long time, there are still many legends in regards to the incredible feats of dragons across the various lands within the realm.

As such, there's a pretty solid indication that Spyro isn't special within his world in any way other than that he's a dragon. The larger narrative going on within this trilogy seems to be that dragons in general are incredibly powerful and talented, and the only thing that makes Spyro stand out is his size.

[MaximumEffort]

Yes.
Kinda the point with kid friendly mascot characters

[phillippi2]

Non-special characters are more common than we tend to think. Gordon Freeman, for example. He was just a newly graduated theoretical physicist.

In kids games like Spyro, non-special characters are likely done for simplicity. In adult games like Half-Life, they're done to make the character relatable.

[Not Rawr]

Dont forget hes the only purple dragon. Thats pretty cool or something

[CrowRising]

Originally posted by Not Rawr:

Dont forget hes the only purple dragon. Thats pretty cool or something

He's not the only purple dragon in the original trilogy.

[Not Rawr]

Afaik there was only 1 other purple dragon which they had removed when making the remaster.
I think they regret it.

[CrowRising]

Originally posted by Not Rawr:

Afaik there was only 1 other purple dragon which they had removed when making the remaster.
I think they regret it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h4q2bzYWx0

I think the remake actually has MORE purple dragons.

[Not Rawr]

Damn you're right. Skipping all the dragon cutscenes does not help.