darkSpyro

ANB said it needs a crystal with four of the main elements, though we never see if the portal just opens in response or what.

^ That doesn't really relate at all to what we see in the game, though. Cynder opened it with only one crystal. I always figured Malefor was basically letting her in since she is possessed with a part of his spirit. After 1000 or so years being undead, he probably figured some stuff out about Convexity and created his own gateway. It even looks a sort of distorted dark purple, if I'm remembering right.

I thought it was implied that she already put the other three crystals in the portal. Ignitus' floats off when she puts it in there, doesn't it?

The Ancestors had to have thrown Malefor in there somehow. Maybe the lengths Cynder had to go to in order to free him were because his prison cell was in basically the highest security prison in all of existence.

I also like to think that anyone with a spellbook can open that portal, but it takes a Dragon to navigate it without completely losing your way.

As ignites said "convexity acts as an air between our world and the dark realms beyond".

Plot twist:


Put it in a spoiler, just in case, but its more of a joke.

Convexity is a dangerous place and element. Look what happened to Gaul in The eternal night.

I think that was just general darkness that killed Gaul. Convexity was destroyed completely at the end of ANB. At the end of TEN, Spyro is basically possessed by evil (and maybe Malefor, it's kind of unclear). I always liked to think Gaul wasn't talking to Spyro at all in that scene; he was calling Malefor a coward and demanding that the Dark Master finally end him.

Except Gaul always called Spyro 'dragon' or 'purple welping' during their confrontation. You would think that if Gaul think Malefor was possessing Spyro, the Ape would've noticed.

Eh, black dragon with glowing eyes, black dragon with blue eyes,they all look the same when you live in a dark mountain with some green gems as lightning at the most.

This might sound racist out of context now that I think about it. Wow,I forgot about the plot good. Note to self, don't bring up superpowered evil side of characters and bad eyesight on the same sentence.

It's been a few years, but I don't recall Gaul calling Spyro "whelp" or anything other than "coward" after he turned dark. The first half of the battle, Spyro is himself. The second half, he's possessed by evil, and that's where Gaul changes from thinking he's an easy kill to outright calling him a coward. It doesn't seem very logical for Gaul to call this wee little dragon he's never thought of as a threat a coward. But calling his master, a dragon he hates and knows very well, a coward is fitting.