The first Spyro game was intended to have other kinds of friendly characters besides Dragons, as well as Challenges, but these were cut for time.
Elements that were cut from the original Spyro game were implemented into future games in the series.Gnasty Gnorc was created magically by a different character.
It is casually mentioned that every other Gnorc featured in the game was create by Gnasty Gnorc when he transmuted the dragon’s treasure horde into them (sense why they drop gems when you kill them). By that logic, Gnasty Gnorc is just as likely to have been created by somebody.With that said, he could have been created by an offscreen villain, or by a good person by accident, or maybe even an established character like Red or the Sorceress. Even if he wasn't created by anyone, he might have been spawned by a random magical hiccup that he eventually learned to replicate to create his army.
At the very least, it might explain why he seems to literally hack up the gems when he's defeated.
The dragon at the back of the booklet is an older Spyro.
On the very last page of the original manual, is a picture of a large purple dragon, wearing a gold medal, and seemingly giving a lecture to an unseen audience. It doesn't seem unreasonable to think that might be an image of future Spyro, recounting his adventures to the next generation.
