- “A purple dragon named Spyro. Amazing. Of course, there were unsubstantiated rumors of a purple dragon countless generations ago, but most consider it hearsay, gossip, legend. It's hard to believe, difficult to fathom, amazing to comprehend...er...um...”
- —Volteer
Volteer is a yellow dragon who appears in The Legend of Spyro series. He is the Electricity Guardian Dragon.
Character Development
Volteer was designed by lead concept artist Jared Pullen. The Electricity Guardian was originally a deep blue colour, with a purple secondary tone to his chest and armoured spine regions, but that caused him to become too close to Cyril's main colour scheme. Once the Electricity element was established in yellow, the skin colour of choice for Volteer became apparent.[2]
Appearance
In his original design by Krome Studios, Volteer is a yellow-scaled dragon with light yellow stripes on his body that resemble lightning bolts. He has yellow eyes, a blue scaley underbelly, a blue pair of wings with yellow battered membranes, and blue horns. He has blue spines on his back, blue claws, a tail spike, and three blue crests on his shoulders, one on each of his elbows and ankles.
In his Dawn of the Dragon redesign by Étranges Libellules, Volteer remains largely the same in overall appearance, but has a more muscular build, but doesn't have the lightning-shaped stripes on his body his previous design had.
Personality
Quickwitted and fleet of foot, this lightning dragon says more than necessary and simply explodes onto any subject that sparks his interest. He is the most intellectual of the Dragon Guardians, though he and Cyril don't get along very well. Well-versed in lore and legend of the dragons of old, he is only too happy to add to any tale - as a wyrm of words, his spectacular speech will sizzle your sound sensors and burst your brain cells, and according to Sparx in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, his stories "will put anyone to sleep". Volteer may very well have swallowed a Thesaurus with all that he can fit into a sentence! Nevertheless, he is a friend and fellow to all, though none can keep that electric tongue of his from constantly wagging.
Abilities
Being the most excitable of the four, Volteer is best suited for battles in the air allowing him to whip, whirl, flash, and fry enemies that may whizz by.
Story
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning
In the past, Volteer along with other Electric elemental Dragons used the fortress of Concurrent Skies as a private study, from which to best observe and unlock the mysteries of electricity.[1] Volteer would later participate in the war against the Dark Master's armies, until he and the other remaining Guardians were driven back when many Guardian dragons were lost.[3]
Volteer using his electrical powers to zap his foes during the battle against Malefor's forces.
Volteer was one of the four Guardians who guarded the dragon eggs inside the Dragon Temple. When the Temple was under attack by the Dark Master's army, he warned Ignitus of the coming battle and fought alongside Cyril and Terrador to defend the Temple, while Ignitus worked to save the egg that contained Spyro. When Ignitus returned, Volteer and the other Guardians had been overruned by the dark forces, and all the other eggs have been smashed. Afterwards, Volteer fought alongside the Dragon Army to fight against the forces of the Dark Master, led by a large, powerful black dragon named Cynder. Cynder managed to defeat all of the Dragons and capture the Guardians, all except Ignitus. Cynder took Volteer to Dante's Freezer where she drained his elemental power into a crystal and held him prisoner for years.
Spyro eventually rescued Volteer from Dante's Freezer and returned to the Temple where the Electric Guardian trained Spyro the art of Electricity. Afterwards, Volteer told Spyro and Ignitus what happened during his capture and Ignitus sent Spyro to look for the other Guardians.
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
When the Temple was under attack by Gaul's army, Volteer and the others fought back and drove them out. After the invasion, Volteer couldn't believe, as well as the other Guardians, that the Chronicler existed and sent visions to Spyro. Ignitus afterwards, sent Volteer with Cyril to go to the mainlands to learn what news they could.
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
During the three years that Spyro and Cynder went missing, Volteer along with the other Guardians and dragons were at war against Malefor himself after his resurrection. Despite their best efforts, they could not hold the Dragon Temple and it fell into Malefor's control, who tore it from the ground and raised it above the volcano that formed as a symbol of his power. Volteer and the other Guardians moved to the Dragon city of Warfang where they waited for Spyro, Sparx, and Cynder's return. When the Golem attacked, Volteer took part in distracting it, along with the other dragons, and helped Spyro, Cynder and Sparx by breaking down a door behind three enemies, letting them out of that area.
After the Golem was defeated, Volteer watched with the other Guardians as Malefor revealed his plan and resurrected the Destroyer. Along with the other Guardians, Volteer 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, the Electric Guardian helped move the inhabitants of Warfang underground in the hopes that they would be safe, not emerging until Spyro and Cynder defeated Malefor and prevented the destruction of the world. He looked over the horizon along with everyone else and witnessed the creation of a dragon constellation in the sky, signalling the beginning of a new age.
Gallery
Trivia
- In the Italian version of The Legend of Spyro Trilogy, he is known as Volter. (The second 'e' is taken away to make it pronounced a bit more Italian).
- In Russia, he is known as: Вольтира (Volʹtira).
- In Spanish is known as "Calambres" (Cramps).
- Even though he was still voiced by Corey Burton, Volteer sounds more tired in his single line of dialogue in Dawn of the Dragon.
- Volteer was originally going to have more than one dialogue in Dawn of the Dragon in numerous comedic scenes along with Sparx, Cyril, etc. that the developers had planned and in some cases even recorded, but they didn't have the resources or time to animate them.[4]
- According to Jared Pullen, in response to Cynder's return to the Dragon Temple, the Guardians were intended to be in a debate over Cynder's return to Dragonkind. While Cyril opposed the decision, and Ignitus and Terrador strongly supported it, Volteer endlessly debated the pros and cons of Cynder's return until Cyril finally grew tired of all the assumptions and relented.[5]
- His Japanese name is translated to Korean as 보루테에루 (Boluteelu).
- After the battle with the Destroyer, both Volteer and Cyril strangely don't appear again in the same cutscene halfway through nor were given orders by Ignitus regarding the incoming world crisis like Terrador did. They did however appear in the game's epilogue and the post-credits scene.
- In A New Beginning and The Eternal Night, Volteer has holes in his wings, but in Dawn of the Dragon's art style, he doesn't.
- For unexplained reasons, Volteer isn't present in the GBA version of The Eternal Night.
References
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