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| This article is about the character within the Skylanders Academy continuity. You may be looking for the Skylander canon to the main storyline. |
- “Knock-knock. Who's there? The unexpected? I've been expecting you!”
- —Cynder, Return to Cynder
Cynder is a Skylander cadet in Season 2 of Skylanders Academy. She is a violet dragon who hails from a line of evil dragon overlords, but she desires to become a Skylander. Her father is the evil Dragon King Malefor.
Background
Personality
Cynder is much more energetic than her ingame counterpart, with her body language immediately expressing her happier state of mind through acrobatics and a neck flexibility that can barely keep up with her excitement when meeting her idols, Team Spyro. Despite her evil family history, she desires to become a force for good by becoming a Skylander and not follow in her father's footsteps. This however made her have internal conflicts on whether her destiny was to be good or evil. After her meeting with Spyro and joining Skylanders Academy, Cynder becomes more confident in her abilities and the choices she makes.
She is somewhat of a pacifist, not wanting to hurt anyone, not even sheep and evil doers. However she will use force when necessary as she was willing to attack her father Malefor in an attempt to save Spyro. After enrolling in the Academy, Cynder has grown comfortable in the company of others, showing a spunky side at times and isn't afraid to speak her mind.
Biography
- For reasons unknown, Cynder's official biography does not reflect her actual story in the show. Please refer to the Story section.
Think Spyro is the only purple-skinned, wisecracking, devil-may-care dragon in the Skylands? Well, actually he is. But there’s also Cynder, an ambitious, violet-scaled dragon who arrived at the Academy with a mysterious past that she refuses to talk about. Maybe it has something to do with how preternaturally talented she is in the dark arts, with awesome—and sinister—powers like her spectral lightning and shadow dash. Or how she’s always taking those weekend trips down to the Underworld. Until the Skylanders can get to the bottom of what’s really driving Cynder, she’s content to be the brooding ying to Spyro’s carefree yang, adding a much-needed edge to the Skylanders' fight for good.
Abilities
Cynder can fly and fire blue lightning, and unlike Spyro or other users of projectiles, it can cause recoil. She can also use the Shadow Dash, turning into an intangible dark cloud to pass through objects and move much quicker. Like most dragons, her powers makes her emotionally strained depending on her emotions.
In Season 3, it is revealed that Cynder has a latent psychic ability that allows her to see the best route to anywhere in the Skylands. She can put up psychic blocks to prevent others from locating her, and also dispel magic her father places on others.
Story
History
Cynder is the daughter of the evil dragon king Malefor, who attempted to groom her to become his sucessor in ruling the Cadaverous Crypts with cruelty. In spite of her father not wanting Cynder to associate with non-evil beings, she had heard of the heroic exploits of the Skylanders, particularly Team Spyro, wanting to become a hero herself. Eventually, she ran away from home without her father's knowledge to become a Skylander.
Season 2
In Return to Cynder, Cynder came to Skylanders Academy as a new potential cadet and she eagerly became acquainted with Team Spyro. The violet dragon was placed under Spyro's tutelage to train for her Academy admissions test and he taught her how to utilize her powers she never knew she had. During a fight between a group of Greebles and Team Spyro, Spyro's strong insistence of good guys always being good and bad guys always being bad made Cynder suffer a meltdown, striking both friend and foe with her Spectral Lightning. During her emotional state, Cynder revealed to Spyro that she is the daughter of the evil dragon king Malefor, which makes her born from evil, but she believed she would be different if she became a Skylander. Because of Spyro's good and bad philosophy, Cynder became convinced that she can never be good, and she fled after unleashing another unstable electrical attack on all within range.
Back in the underworld, Cynder began half-heartedly practicing her evil laughter in preparation to living up to her father's expectations. Spyro soon arrived with his Skylander team to bring Cynder back while trying to convince her that he was wrong about his words on being good and bad. Suddenly Malefor appeared, having been looking for Cynder and attacked the Skylanders when he spotted them. As Spyro was being pummeled by Malefor, he told Cynder that being born bad doesn't make her evil, and meeting her made Spyro realize she has the power to choose to be good with every choice she makes.
When Malefor was about to kill Spyro, Cynder saved her mentor by deflecting her father's firebreath with her Spectral Lightning, resulting in a big explosion. The violet dragon then stood up to her father about wanting to be a Skylander and not wanting follow in his footsteps. As Cynder fled with Team Spyro, Malefor disowned Cynder, declaring her as an enemy. Back at Skylanders Academy, Cynder passed her admissions test, thanking Spyro for his help before being guided to cadet housing.
In Split Decision, Cynder was one of the Skylander cadets who were brainwashed by Hex's dark magic when her friend Skull broke their familiar bond, inadvertantly allowing dark forces to take control of Hex. They were later freed when Skull reversed the spell and Hex undid the evil brainwashing. In the same episode, it is revealed Cynder has started hanging out with Roller Brawl and Hex in afterschool Undead club meetings.
When Team Spyro and Master Eon were quarantined, Cynder, Hex, Skull, Food Fight and Roller Brawl were assembled by Hugo in One Flu Over the Skylander's Nest as an experienced Skylander cadet group called the "B Team". However, Hugo used his leadership opportunity to "protect" the Skylands from the surrounding sheep, leaving the group confused until they eventually left him to his own devices offscreen.
Cynder with the other cadets and Cy
In Belly of the Beast, Cynder and the other cadets were paired with senior advisors from Team Spyro, with Cynder immediately choosing Spyro as her advisor. Cy soon came in with urgent news of Fire Viper holding King Pen hostage at Arctic Isle. Team Spyro and the cadets were tasked with rescuing the penguin Sensei. During the mission, the plan went awry, ending with Team Spyro, Cy, and the cadets being eaten alive by Fire Viper. While Team Spyro went to search for a way out inside the villain's digestive tract, the fustrated cadets along with Cynder began to blame Cy for the situation they were in, but were reprimanded for their behavior by Bad Breath.
When Team Spyro returned, Cynder and the cadets expressed to their senior advisors their jealousy of Cy's easy ascension to Skylander status. Spyro shared his experience of earning his Skylander status by proving himself, and along with Stealth Elf, encouraged the cadets to give Cy and Bad Breath a chance to prove themslves. After escaping from Fire Viper's stomach, the cadets worked together with Bad Breath and Cy to defeat the villain.
In Sheep(ball) Dreams, Cynder was part of the Sheep Herders team of Skylander cadets coached by Eruptor. When Dreamcatcher suffered a case of amnesia, the cadets expressed distrust towards the oblivious villain in fear of getting their dreams invaded. However Cynder became willing to give Dreamcatcher a second chance in becoming part of the team, since the violet dragon knew what it felt to prove that she wasn't evil. She then spoke on behalf of the other cadets and apologized for their behavior. With the teenager's guidance, the Sheep Herders took the league by storm, but before they could win first place, the Doom Raiders returned for Dreamcatcher and reverted her amnesia while they fought Team Spyro, and she left with nothing but disgust at her own selfless actions.
Cynder confronting her father to save Spyro
While in the training grounds of Skylanders Academy with the other cadets in Touch of Evil, Cynder witnessed a broadcast of her father Malefor holding Spyro hostage. The dragon king demanded Cynder's return to him in exchange for Spyro's safety. Wanting to save her friend, Cynder accompanied Master Eon and Team Spyro to the underworld after hatching a plan. The violet dragon arrived alone to confront her father, declaring that she only came for Spyro. During their conversation, Cynder revealed that the Skylanders showed her more about true friendship than Malefor ever could before launching an electrical attack on her father followed by a surprise assault by Team Spyro and Master Eon. Malefor collapsed after the attack and seemingly pleaded repentance to Cynder, which made his daughter feel concerned for her father and wanted the Skylanders to stop their attack. Despite Eon's warnings of brilliant acting running in her family, Cynder refused to let the Skylanders harm Malefor further, which allowed her father the chance to capture his daughter and take her away to the depths of the underworld.
Season 3
Cynder spent months trapped in the underworld while under the watch of Malefor. She gradually grew weak, but was able to maintain a psychic block to prevent anyone from locating her to protect them from her father's wrath.
She was eventually rescued by Team Spyro in Raiders of the Lost Arkus, Part 1 and used her psychic ability to pinpoint the location of the Lost Island of Arkus. She then accompanied the Skylanders, Master Eon and Kaossandra to Arkus to help stop Strykore from reaching the Iron Fist of Arkus. In Part 2, Cynder remained on Captain Flynn's ship while Team Spyro, Crash Bandicoot and Coco Bandicoot battled Kaos and his Conquertron to protect the Core of Light. After the battle, she and the other Skylanders were devastated at the loss of Master Eon but their spirits were lifted when Kaossandra announced that she would become the new Headmistress of Skylanders Academy in Eon's stead.
Cynder was last seen playing Sheep Ball with Team Spyro and the other cadets back at the Academy, before staring up to the sky at Spyro's farewell message to his friends: "Skylanders Forever!".
Relationships
Spyro
Cynder became fast friends with Spyro, who learned from her that being born bad doesn't make anyone evil by default. She looks up to Spyro as a mentor and a close friend, and was willing to return and face her father Malefor to save Spyro.
Malefor
Cynder has an uneasy relationship with her father Malefor, who wants her to follow in his footsteps to evil. In Return of Cynder, she gets angry at the thought of Malefor scolding her, and it is mentioned in Split Decision that she wasn't given enough love back home. However despite being on different sides, Cynder still cares for her father.
Undead Club
Cynder hangs out with fellow Undead Skylander cadets, Hex and Roller Brawl, at their afterschool Undead Club meetings.
Cy
Like the other cadets, Cynder felt jealous of Cy for not going through Skylander training like they have and becoming a Skylander without graduating. After the events of Belly of the Beast, the cadets grew to accept Cy as a true Skylander.
Dreamcatcher
Though Cynder followed the other cadets in mistrusting the amnesiac villain at first, she realized that they shared much in having a dark past, and was the first to reach out to Dreamcatcher so the Sheep Ball team would work together. However, the villain's present personality and memories were eventually restored, and the floating head no longer cared for any of her former teammates.
Gallery
- Main article: Cynder (Skylanders Academy)/Gallery
Trivia
- Unlike in the Skylander games, Cynder has a longer neck, teeth, wider collar, and a white-colored reversed Brand of the Undead. She is one of the few characters with major design changes, along with Snap Shot and King Pen.
- Cynder's Brand and wingtips glow white before she uses her electric breath. This is possibly a reference to her Series 3 figure, which has a glowing Brand and wing symbols.
The Cynderz App
- Strangely, Cynder's official backstory is entirely inaccurate to her Season 2 arc. She only leaves to Cadaverous Crypts once willingly, develops her powers through arduous training, and gets over her brooding once Spyro apologizes for his outburst.
- Since being a cadet in Skylanders Academy, Cynder has been getting straight A's.
- Before the events of Touch of Evil, Cynder got the lead role in the Skylanders Academy's Spring Musical.
- This is later supported by the fact that brilliant acting runs in Cynder's family.
- In Raiders of the Lost Arkus, Part 1, it is revealed she had made an app that Pop Fizz uses to bypass traffic called "Cynderz".