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Description
Fire, Ice, Earth, Electricity... Aether; the power of each can be attained and mastered by the Purple Dragon of Legend. In the coming pieces of art from TLoS I'll explain (as best I can!) the principles behind each elemental ability class, building as we go to that most enigmatic and legendary ability class that is by far the most powerful, and perhaps most misunderstood; Aether. We have to eat our greens so to speak before we come to that rare delicacy, so bear with me if you can. The Elemental Power-up device you see here went through a few variations before settling on this, but it was always built upon a solid circular layout. In TLoS the circle is a strongly established and widely used shape convention, especially in Dragon architecture, (note doors and archways) and for me and the art team it was important to continue this theme going forward to best showcase all the breath/elemental abilities.

No one ability of the four primaries is technically 'more powerful' than another, nor is one more important than the next, and since a circle has no end, one was perfect for what was needed. To readily identify elements from eachother quickly, a strong, contrasting colour key was needed, in addition to the sigils and glyphs now widely known. Here one can see the four elements co-existing on the device wheel, centered about a core of light, a resevoir of power that was to represent Spyro... the embodiment of yet another power, one not of terrestrial orgins...

From the outset, although many were not aware, the sigil pertaining to Spyro's Aether ability class (and it's dark counterpart) was prevalent throughout ANB and TEN. The hard 'double edged' spiral glyph that surrounds the rim of the device repeatedly was intended to be to Dragon lore what the 'Yin and Yang' symbol is to Chinese Taoism. Because I am fond of naming things (everything), this sigil I dubbed 'The Aethercrest' for my own entertainment towards the end of ANB, and stands representative of Spyro and the 'Purple Dragon' itself; a prophetic symbol, both light and dark halves depicted, that speaks of the balance needed to truly master the Aether ability...

Using the Elemental Power-up device here, Spyro could draw from his inner reserves (powered by the numerous Spirit Gems he'd collected) and transfer energy to bolster his primary elemental abilities. Each ability class has three main aspects that dragons can improve and master, those being: a primary expression (for close quarters use), a secondary expression (usually of longer range), and a 'Fury' (the ultimate expression of that elemental class.) An interesting note: at one stage I'd hoped to make the device the feature of an actual location set deep within the Swamp. The idea was that therein this huge metallic disk was to be discovered by Spyro, tangled and overgrown, but time did not allow for it.

Description
Fire, Ice, Earth, Electricity... Aether; the power of each can be attained and mastered by the Purple Dragon of Legend. In the coming pieces of art from TLoS I'll explain (as best I can!) the principles behind each elemental ability class, building as we go to that most enigmatic and legendary ability class that is by far the most powerful, and perhaps most misunderstood; Aether. We have to eat our greens so to speak before we come to that rare delicacy, so bear with me if you can. The Elemental Power-up device you see here went through a few variations before settling on this, but it was always built upon a solid circular layout. In TLoS the circle is a strongly established and widely used shape convention, especially in Dragon architecture, (note doors and archways) and for me and the art team it was important to continue this theme going forward to best showcase all the breath/elemental abilities.

No one ability of the four primaries is technically 'more powerful' than another, nor is one more important than the next, and since a circle has no end, one was perfect for what was needed. To readily identify elements from eachother quickly, a strong, contrasting colour key was needed, in addition to the sigils and glyphs now widely known. Here one can see the four elements co-existing on the device wheel, centered about a core of light, a resevoir of power that was to represent Spyro... the embodiment of yet another power, one not of terrestrial orgins...

From the outset, although many were not aware, the sigil pertaining to Spyro's Aether ability class (and it's dark counterpart) was prevalent throughout ANB and TEN. The hard 'double edged' spiral glyph that surrounds the rim of the device repeatedly was intended to be to Dragon lore what the 'Yin and Yang' symbol is to Chinese Taoism. Because I am fond of naming things (everything), this sigil I dubbed 'The Aethercrest' for my own entertainment towards the end of ANB, and stands representative of Spyro and the 'Purple Dragon' itself; a prophetic symbol, both light and dark halves depicted, that speaks of the balance needed to truly master the Aether ability...

Using the Elemental Power-up device here, Spyro could draw from his inner reserves (powered by the numerous Spirit Gems he'd collected) and transfer energy to bolster his primary elemental abilities. Each ability class has three main aspects that dragons can improve and master, those being: a primary expression (for close quarters use), a secondary expression (usually of longer range), and a 'Fury' (the ultimate expression of that elemental class.) An interesting note: at one stage I'd hoped to make the device the feature of an actual location set deep within the Swamp. The idea was that therein this huge metallic disk was to be discovered by Spyro, tangled and overgrown, but time did not allow for it.