- “What I was going to say is that all warriors feel fear, Spyro, but only the most valiant among us can face that fear... and master it. From what I saw of you on Munition's Forge, you are one such warrior.”
- —Terrador, The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning
Terrador is the Earth Guardian dragon who appears in the The Legend of Spyro series. He is the second-in-command of the remaining Dragon Guardians.
Character Development
Terrador was created to have a more robust and muscular design that appeared solid, powerful, less lean and lithe like the other Guardians to reinforce his strong connection to the Earth element. The 'immovable object' of the group, Terrador was inspired by one of the level mesh artists on the Krome Studios development team in 2005. Extensive battle damage was more thoroughly explored and lead artist Jared Pullen liked the notion that Terrador was more of a warrior than anything else. There was an idea to have Terrador in full plate style armour to establish that concept, but due to time constraints, Jared wasn't able to flesh it out.[1]
While most horn arrangements on the Dragons of The Legend of Spyro series were straighter and saber-like, Terrador's horns were made to resemble that of a battering ram, or a territorial mountain ram. The decision to weather his design notably more than the others strengthened the notion that a granite-like resolve was Terrador's to command.[2]
Appearance
Original Design (2006-2007)
In his original design, Terrador is a green dragon with light green spots, brown scaley plates on his shoulders, light brown horns resembling a ram's, and a brown spiked tail end. His wings are also green with his battered membranes being brown along with his back spines. He also has a brown goatie under his chin.
Dawn of the Dragon Design (2008)
In his redesign for The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon by Étranges Libellules, Terrador remains largely the same as his previous design, but lacks the light green spots on his body, the brown back spines on his back (which are only present in his concept art) and his shoulder plates were made smaller. His back is pushed down more than his original design's and his teeth resembles an equine's. His battered wings are strangely healed due to the change in art direction.
Personality
- “A battle-scarred warrior, Terrador is the most militant of the four Guardians. Dedicated and focused on the practical art of battle, he is straightforward and agenda-less. Judges everyone, Spyro included, not by looks, color or species, but by how well they fight. Respects Spyro as a fellow warrior.”
- —The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning website character description
Terrador is a seasoned warrior and the most beligerent of the Dragon Guardians. He is dedicated and focused on the practical art of combat. His solid demeanor and skill of speech makes him perfect for battle command. Not prone to erratic bouts of meaningless talk (Volteer) or prideful boasting (Cyril) or even fiery rage (Ignitus), Terrador is able to keep a level-head in the face of greatest danger. He dislikes cowardice but is wise enough to know when to retreat.
He possesses the heart of a warrior and is the most powerful of all the remaining Dragon Guardians when it comes down to brute strength. He does not judge others by their appearance or reputation, but by their skills in battle, having much admiration for Spyro who proved himself in combat at such a young age. There is an elegant, if brutal, quality in his knowledge and speech, but holds the view that living to fight tomorrow is all one can hope for.[3]
Abilities
Being a master of the Earth element, Terrador can manipulate said element to use for offense and defense. In The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, he generated Earth energy to become a rolling aerial projectible that allows him to barrel through molten rock. In the storyboard proper, this technique has him summon a shell of stone around himself to form a boulder.
Besides using his element, flashbacks show Terrador using his physical prowess as well, mainly his spiked tail end to deliver devastating blows.
Story
History
Terrador participated in the war against the Dark Master's armies. He was assigned to defend Tall Plains during the on-going battle[4], until he and the other remaining Guardians were driven back when many Guardian dragons were killed.[5]
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning
Terrador was one of the Guardians tasked with watching over the dragon eggs at the Dragon Temple, including the egg that contained the next purple dragon Spyro. The Dark Armies soon raided the Temple and overwhelmed Terrador and the other Guardians, allowing the Apes to destroy the other dragon eggs to prevent Spyro’s birth under the Dark Master’s orders. Sometime after their failure, Terrador went on to fight alongside his fellow Guardians with their army of Dragon Knights against the forces of the Dark Master for the islands. When they were beginning to turn the tide in the war, a large, powerful black dragon named Cynder came, easily decimating the dragons and captured Terrador and the Guardians, all except Ignitus. She took Terrador to the burning lands of Munitions Forge, the home of the Manweersmalls and the volcano Boyzitbig, in order to drain the power of his Earth element into a crystal to be used in a ritual to resurrect the Dark Master.
After rescuing Cyril years later, Ignitus sent Spyro to Munitions Forge to rescue Terrador. Along the way, Spyro had to release the local Manweersmalls from their slavery to progress to the area Terrador was kept in and he was also forced to defeat the Conductor and his maniacal train engine Steam to get to him. After its defeat, Terrador was freed from the machine that was draining his power, but before he and Spyro could leave, Cynder burst forth from a lava pit and took the crystal now charged with Terrador's power. Terrador attempted to pursue her but he was quickly dispatched with a single blow from the mighty female. Terrador ordered Spyro to run whilst he went back to the temple for help but Cynder heard him and began to chase after Spyro. It wasn't long until Ignitus arrived was Spyro able to escape, but in the process, the Fire Guardian was captured himself.
With Ignitus gone, Terrador temporarily took over as the leader and explained what Cynder was doing. He then taught Spyro how to correctly use his Earth element, and admiring the will of the warrior within Spyro, sent him to Concurrent Skies where Cynder's fortress was to rescue Ignitus. When Spyro returned with Cynder, now freed from Malefor's control, Terrador apologized with the rest of the Guardians for being unable to protect the dragon eggs on the night of the raid.
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
Terrador was asleep with the rest of the Guardians when Cynder snuck away. When the Dragon Temple was attacked by the Apes once again, he helped defend it, this time driving the Apes away and successfully holding his home, despite the great damage the Temple sustained. He was gathered around the Pool of Visions with the other Guardians when Spyro mentioned the Chronicler and, along with the others, was startled to hear of his existence. With the Guardians unsettled by the reappearance of the Chronicler, who was often linked with tales of doom, and with the visions of the mountain of Malefor that Spyro was having, Terrador was assigned by Ignitus to go to the Shattered Vale to warn the inhabitants of the spread of darkness from the Mountain of Malefor.
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
During the three years since Spyro, Sparx and Cynder's disappearance, Terrador waited with the other Guardians at the dragon city of Warfang. The Earth Guardian didn't make an appearance until Spyro and Cynder successfully prevented Malefor's army from storming the city gates. When the Golem was summoned and began to attack Warfang, Ignitus ordered Terrador to stay with him as they attacked the creature head-on. Terrador would soon attack the Golem whilst Spyro and Cynder were engaging it in battle atop of the High Tower. Utilizing his Earth element, he spunned into a cannonball and smashed through the Golem's chest, bursting out of the other side. When he came back for another pass, the Golem hit Terrador with a blast of fire, rendering the mighty Earth Guardian unconscious.
After the Golem's defeat, Terrador joined Ignitus atop of the High Tower as they reunite with Spyro and Cynder after three long years. He later witnessed Malefor reveal his plan to resurrect the Destroyer and bring about the end of the world. Along with the other Guardians, Terrador ventured through the city's underground to confront the Destroyer and attack it before it completed the Ring of Annihilation and initiated the end of the world. When the attack failed however, Terrador noticed the urgency in Ignitus's voice whhen the Fire Guardian was giving orders to the warriors and soldiers to take shelter in the Underground City, and the Earth Guardian knew that Ignitus was up to something that would risk his life.
Under Ignitus's orders, Terrador flew back to Dragon City to help move the Inhabitants of Warfang underground in the hopes that they would be safe, before Ignitus, Spyro and Cynder flew to the Belt of Fire to confront Malefor. Terrador was later seen emerging along with the other Guardians and the inhabitants after Spyro and Cynder defeated Malefor and prevented the destruction of the world. Terrador looked over the horizon along with everyone else and witnessed the creation of a dragon constellation in the sky, signaling the beginning of a new age.
Relationships
Spyro
Terrador developed a high regard of Spyro immediately after having met him and witnessed his battle on Munitions Forge. He considers Spyro a powerful warrior and eagerly encouraged him to go and rescue Ignitus after admitting that he couldn't join the young dragon.
Ignitus
Out of the three other Dragon Guardians, Ignitus is the one who Terrador gets along better with and have known each other for a long time, to the point of being close allies with each other.[6] When Ignitus was captured by Cynder, Terrador said that he'd give anything to go with Spyro to rescue him, and Ignitus trusted Terrador to take his place before going to the Burned Lands with Spyro and Cynder. The two elder dragons at times have shown their high opinion of each other, and when Ignitus was planning out their next move after the Destroyer crossed the Belt of Fire, Terrador stated that he knew Ignitus long enough to know what he was up to.
Volteer and Cyril
While Terrador seems to be closer to Ignitus than Volteer and Cyril, he still cares and trusts them, and unlike Ignitus he isn't annoyed by their habits, although he thanked Cyril for stopping Volteer from giving another long talk once.
Gallery
- Main article: Terrador/Gallery
Trivia
- It is unknown if Terrador became the new leader of the remaining Dragon Guardians after Ignitus's death.
- His Italian voice was done by Pietro Ubaldi. He has done several other Italian roles throughout The Legend of Spyro series (such as Sniff's, Meadow's and Exhumor's Italian voices).
- His name comes from the Latin word "Terra", meaning earth.
- Terrador does not appear in the Nintendo Gameboy Advance version of The Eternal Night.
- Due to time constraints in development of A New Beginning, Terrador is the only Guardian who has a side and front view character art.[7]
References
- ↑ TLoS DragonGuardian Terrador. (Date Posted - Apr. 4, 2016). DeviantArt.
- ↑ TLoS DragonGuardian Terrdor Elevations. (Date Posted - Apr. 13, 2016). DeviantArt.
- ↑ Spyro's Lair website, Terrador character profile.
- ↑ TLoS StoryScroll EarthGuardian. (Date Posted - Apr. 10, 2016). DeviantArt.
- ↑ The Dragon's Vault Opened Once More. (Date Posted - Mar. 31, 2011). Blogger
- ↑ A new beginning.... (Date Posted - Apr. 14, 2016). DeviantArt
- ↑ TLoS DragonGuardian Terrdor Elevations. (Date Posted - Apr 14, 2016). DeviantArt.
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