Webcomic / Pure Light

From bottom left to right, Burner Phoenixwing, Electroy Thunderfang, Validor Starwing, Snowfly Starwing, Tori "TJ" Jewelhorn

I am who I am

Pure Light is a The Legend of Spyro fan comic written and illustrated by Xannador, later taken over by Dragonoficeandfire, and currently drawn by Ruscsi.

The story is set a some decades after the end of Dawn of the Dragon, and the world has gone to hell. One year after Malefor's defeat at the hands of Spyro and Cynder, Spyro turned mad. Grievously wounding Cynder, and resurrecting Malefor, he went about creating an endless army of dark dragons, simple pawns existing only to serve the will of their dark masters, and conquered the shattered remains of the world. Now, only Warfang remains. Protected under a massive forcefield, the City of Dragons have become the last haven from the hellish, darker infested wasteland beyond its walls. Despite General Cynder's heroic efforts in hunting down the Dark Masters, however, hope is in short supply, and the Dark Masters need only sit by and wait for the city to tear itself apart from the inside. Meanwhile, a small group of young dragons have found friendship against all odds...

As mentioned earlier, the comic was originally created by Xannador (now inactive, art gallery removed) (now inactive Tumblr). Unfortunately, she decided to leave the project behind to pursue personal interests due to fandom drama. It was then taken over by one of the fandom's biggest contributors, DragonOfIceAndFire. However, he called it quits after just a few pages. The comic is currently in the hands of RusCSI (Pure Light Tumblr), however they have currently placed the webcomic on indefinite hiatus as of April 1st, 2023.

The comic in its entirety could be read on Smackjeeves before the site went offline. New updates from chapter 3 page 29 can be read on RusCSI's deviantart. The whole comic is currently hosted on a dedicated website here.

A number of fan comics to the fan comic have been made, and most can be found on the Pure Light fan club on deviantart.

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Pure Light contains examples of the following tropes

• Absurdly Cool City:
  • Warfang, City of Dragons. Originally built by the moles, the buildings are suitably massive to fit the draconic proportions. The territory ruled over by the city also includes massive farmfields and forests, a giant dam, and the massive castle of the royal family.
  • The Capital of the Southern Wyvern Kingdom was built on a gargantuan floating rock.
• The Ace: Burner is one of the best fire dragons in generations, and far outclasses his friends, and even Dorkus, the Guardian Apprentice. Unfortunately, since he's third class, his only prospect for the future is becoming a Freedom Flyer.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Ember's got this in spades, going from a slightly stalker-ish romantic interest for Spyro to a cruel and self-obsessed dictator. This is later subverted when it's revealed that she's intentionally playing this characterization up to give the people someone to rally against.
  • Moneybags wasn't exactly a saint to begin with, but in Pure Light he's exploiting the lower class workers.
• A God Am I: Spyro, in chapter 5, refers to himself and Malefor as gods.
• Alien Blood: Darkers have yellow blood.
• All According to Plan: Chapter 5 reveals that the Clash at Bloody Dawn ended not because the dark army was beaten back, but beacuse the Dark Masters called them back. The intent was to draw out the newborn Purple Dragon, but when he refused to make an appearance they had to retreat to avoid accidentally killing him.
• All There in the Manual: The wiki contains a lot of info you wouldn't get from just reading the comic, such as character ages, a timeline, and family trees.
• All Your Powers Combined: Purple Dragons, of course, can breathe every element that they set their minds to learning, and can even learn elements that are inaccessible to other dragons, like Time, Gravity, and Convexity. Cynder can also breathe more elements than a normal dragon, though she is still limited to poison, wind, fear, shadow, and convexity.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Darkers exist only to kill and obey the Dark Masters. This is later subverted when it turns out that they are a sapient species, but subjected to corruption by the Masters.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Eirei is this to his son Korya in the side comic Encounter.
• Ambiguously Evil: There is something about Casi Silverscale, as he doesn't appear in any of the Chronicler's books, he clearly lied about his species since Longs don't exist, has powers he shouldn't be able to, and spies on the Chronicler through the golem's eyes. That said, whether he is evil or not is yet to be determined, especially when he stops Hunter from killing Vale, since that could easily go either way.
• An Arm and a Leg: Averted with Vale, who was born without a leg, but Electroy loses his leg to Korfeo later.
• And I Must Scream: Possibly the fate of Cursed-type darkers' victims. It's unknown if the victims retain consciousness, but they are returned to normal if the darker is killed, unless the statue is damaged.
• An Ice Person: Vale's element is ice, though he's not particularly powerful with it. He later loses it entirely.
• Anger Born of Worry: Burner in a nutshell. Most of the time when he chews out his friends it's because they were acting careless or going into situations that would hurt them, which he is a lot more cautious about because he doesn't have the safety net of being an upper or middle class citizen.
• Art Evolution: As a result of being drawn by three artists. The latter two have kept their style pretty consistent (which, in Dragon's case, might be because he only did a couple pages), but during Xannador's run, she changed the style occasionally, generally to find a method to make it faster. The first and half of the second chapters are drawn digitally, while the rest is traditional.
• Artificial Limbs: Validor's left hind leg is a Magitek mechanical prosthetic below his knee. He controls it using enchanted diamonds that connect directly to his mind, which allows him to move it even when it isn't attached to the rest of his body. Electroy later receives a similar prosthetic foot, and Burner a prosthetic tail end, after the originals are cut off by darkers.
• Asshole Victim:
  • You'd be hard pressed to find someone who shed a tear over Doucheicus when he died in the Bloody Dawn, as he was overall a powerhungry jerk who had a big hand in making Warfang as corrupt as it is.
  • Xavier Blooddiamond, former Crystal Guardian. He pushed his old apprentice, Rykos, to the point of death, some say so that his son, Semias, could take over. He was killed by Semias when he snapped due to the stress he was put through.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Golems are generally pretty big, the one that attacked Warfang in chapter 3 was considered small. Cataclysm, who attacked during Bloody Dawn, was at least twice the height of the Warfang wall.
• Badass Decay: Malefor, in-universe. He's still one of the most powerful beings in existence, only remotely challenged by Spyro and king Warfang, but the amount of power in his body is so large that it's debilitating.
• Badass Normal: Assuming dragons are disqualified by virtue of being dragons, we still have Hunter, who's blind in one eye, might be going deaf, and can still pull off no-look kills.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: The Chronicler explains that purple dragons are balance keepers, maintaining balance between light and dark. Vale was born in a time of great darkness, so he was born to light dragons to counterbalance it, and the Chronicler theorizes that his elemental affinity is reverting back to Pure Light, the progenitor element of light dragons.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: Spyro was once the hero who gave everything to save the world from Malefor, succeeding despite overwhelming odds. Then he went mad and became more or less Malefor the Second, trying to destroy the world he worked so hard to save.
• Benevolent Precursors: The mythical Empire of Light hasn't been around for over one and a half millennia, but they're depicted as a wise, benevolent culture that modern characters hope will return to save them. Subverted, as the empire never actually existed.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Spyro and Malefor, the Dark Masters, are leaders of the dark armies that threaten the world and the source of the Darkers' corruption.
• Big Damn Reunion: The kids are finally reunited in The Isle, Snowfly and Electroy immediately jumping in for a hug, and Burner apologizes for how he acted when they first learned he is a purple dragon. While TJ is still a bit awkward around him, Vale breaks into tears of happiness that they came for him, when he had thought he was all alone.
  Burner: It's... been a long couple days.
  Snowfly: But we're all together now!
• Big Good: General Cynder is the most powerful force of good in the setting, powerful enough to even rival the Dark Masters and fiercely dedicated to bringing them down.
• Bizarro Elements: The official elemental tree contains all the basics you expect (Wind, Earth, Fire, Water), as well as some more specific but still common sub-elements (Blue Fire, Electricity, Ice, Metal, Mist, Sound, Nature, Lava, Crystal, Shadow, Poison). And then things get weird.
  • Solar Flare is an immensely powerful element on the fire branch only known to be used by the royal family of Warfang.
  • Laser, a sub-branch of Solar Flare with only one known practicioner, Doucheicus. Apparently turns the dragon into a living Plasma Cannon.
  • Tornado, which is distinct from Wind because it's about manipulating winds into funnels, rather than breathing blasts of wind.
  • Nitrogen, which can be used for anything from fertilizer to nitric acid or extremely cold liquid nitrogen.
  • Hypnosis, which is literally the power of hypnosis as an element.
  • Bubbles. They're explosive.
  • Blood, functioning either as Bloody Murder or as People Puppets.
  • Healing. Healing magic, but as an element.
  • Mud, water mixed with earth.
  • Earthquake, the violent movements of the Earth as an element.
  • Stone and Sand, which are distinct from Earth because of composition.
  • The dark side of the elemental tree also has dark counterparts of the regular elements, which work as usual but cause extra harm to dragons.
  • Poison is also its own elements.
  • Then there are the neutral elements, Time, Convexity, and Gravity, all of which are immensely powerful and can only be used by purple dragons (and Casi).
• Blow You Away: TJ's element is Wind, giving her the ability to generate strong wind with her wings.
• Body Horror:
  • Quite a bit. Rykos Gemtail's death is... graphic.
  • The Reveal that Darkers are actually similar to dragons in their natural state but the corruption can turn them into monsters means that a lot of the darkers we've seen so far are examples of this. Medusa is a relatively benign example, having mutated so she can walk on two legs. Poisonbeak is a bit more extreme, having turned almost serpent-like and much larger than a normal dragon. Then there are ones like Scolopendra who don't even resemble dragons anymore.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: It's strongly implied, though not yet proven, that the purple dragons turn evil not of their own volition (in Spyro's case, his fall happened literally overnight), but because something is influencing them.
• Breaking the Fellowship: At the end of Facing Reality, Vale is revealed as a purple dragon, causing the others to run away in terror. Then he is kidnapped by darkers, and taken out of Warfang.
• Breath Weapon: Naturally, since they're dragons. Though don't ask how the hell Earthquake-breath would work.
• Cain and Abel:
  • Sparx is still alive and more heroic than ever, though there is little he can actually do against the armies of darkers, or his corrupted brother, the dark master Spyro.
  • Poisonbeak and Wanda. The former was corrupted and turned into a horrific monster, while Wanda still remains a heroic dark dragon.
• Casanova Wannabe: Flame considers himself a lady's man and hits on every woman within reach, including Cynder once. He has also never had a girlfriend.
• Celestial Body: Downplayed since it's only part of their body, but the Starwing clan of dragons are characterized by a pattern on their wings that resemble a starry night sky. Validor and Snowfly are both Starwings through their mother, Aurora.
• CliffHanger: The current last page of the comic ends with Cynder catching Vale with the intent of killing him, only for Spyro to emerge from the clouds behind them.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Most dragons, with a few exceptions, have scale colors related to their element. This is no guarantee for darkers, though.
• Connected All Along: Turns out that Wanda has been working with the Chronicler, and he calls on her to help Validor understand the balance between light and dark.
• The Corruption:
  • Something happens to purple dragons as they grow older, driving them cruel, tyrannical, and insane. For Malefor it happened gradually over a long period, and for Spyro almost instantly. No one knows what or how, but the Dark Masters act almost nothing like the dragons they used to be.
  • At the onset of the third dark war, a corruption swept through the Dark Dragons, starting as mere irritability and aggression, and affecting the most powerful first, before evolving to violent madness. The corruption apparently takes the form of a terrible headache, violent spasms, and a voice in their heads, and afflict everyone, though at different rates. It can only be staved off with light crystals, which only a few were able to get their hands on. It cannot be reversed either, as trying to apply light crystals to already corrupted darkers is fatal.
• Cowardly Lion: Electroy is a bit of a coward who always suggests running and staying out of serious danger as the best course of action, but he is still a powerful guardian apprentice, and when worst comes to worst he stands by his friends. After Burner tells him and TJ to run while he holds off the darkers, Electroy, after giving himself a peptalk, goes back to save his friend, even continuing to fight when Korfeo cuts off his leg.
• Crapsack World: Ho boy, is it ever. The last bastion of civilization is held out within the city of Warfang, protected by a wall and a forcefield. The citizens are heavily segregated into classes, with third class being considered sub-dragon. Though it's gotten slightly better with the death of Doucheicus, the police, military and royal guard are still very much corrupt. The city's kind, gentle ruler is too old to rule, and his heir presumptive and regent regularly abuses her power. For how bad it is inside the walls, however, it's nothing compared to outside it. The shattered remnants of the world are slowly drifting further and further apart, making navigation close to impossible. The most powerful beings in existence are actively hastening the process. Everything is infested with darkers, creatures that quite literally only exist to kill.
• Creating Life: Purple Dragons can create massive constructs called Golems.
  • Creating Life Is Bad: The Dark Masters create Golems for the express purpose of destruction, generally in (futile) attempts to break Warfang.
  • Creating Life Is Awesome: The Shopkeeper believed that there is nothing inherently bad in the creation of Golems, the Dark Masters just use them for bad purposes. He even teaches Vale how to create one.
• Dark Is Evil: The villains trying to destroy the world are called the Dark Masters, their minions are called Darkers or Dark Dragons, overall everything evil in the setting is associated with darkness.
• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • Cynder was corrupted by Malefor's evil at a yougn age, turning her into something like a darker/dragon hybrid with some traits of purple dragons. Despite this, she is the Big Good of the setting.
  • Half-darkers can be heroic, even if their element is one that is usually exclusive to Darkers.
  • Uncorrupted Dark Dragons are actually kind and heroic, welcome strangers to stay with them and be safe, and see Darkness as a natural counterpart to Light.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Vale has good memories of his father, Kyron, and a flashback shows them stargazing together. He and Snowfly (who was too young to remember him) often send him letters.
• Declaration of Protection: Wanda tells Vale that, even if he is the world's last hope, she will kill him if he does anything to harm her people.
• Demonic Possession: Sparx believes that whatever is wearing his brother's face is not really him.
• Domed Hometown: Warfang and its surrounding territories are protected by a massive forcefield, large enough to cover the city itself, vast farmlands, forests, a portion of the ocean, and even some mountains.
• Draconic Abomination: The Dark Masters. Their power seems to grow exponentially with no limit. The amount of power in Malefor's body is enough to debilitate him, and will sooner or later grow large enough to kill him, and he'll take the world with him.
• Driving Question: From the getgo, the main question of the series is What is causing the purple dragons to go mad? There is obviously something strange about how Spyro went insane and turned against everything he had done so much to save with absolutely no warning or explanation, but mind control, hypnosis, and possession have all been ruled out as unlikely (mind control and hypnosis wouldn't be able to affect him for 20 years without him developing a resistance, and possession would necessitate someone getting close enough, and Spyro was surrounded by friends when it happened). Vale is desperate to find out for obvious reasons, and Cynder is likewise curious.
• Dwindling Party: On the villain's side, refreshingly enough. There are four significant Alpha Darkers, Medusa, Poisonbeak, Korfeo, and Chimero. By "The Isle", Chimero has been killed by Spyro, and Korfeo was grilled by Electroy.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • TJ's original design had feathered wings. It was later decided that these were only for dragons of the Pure Light element. The earlier pages also had a lot more references to other Spyro fan comics.
  • Xannador has stated that she is bad with names, and thus gives her characters silly names to remember them easier. When Dragon took over, he changed the most obvious ones, such as Doucheicus to Incendicus and Dorkus to Pyreus. This was changed back after RusCSI took over.
• Elemental Fusion: A number of elements exist as crosses between different progenitor elements. Electricity is a merger of Fire and Air, Mist and Bubbles are distinct products of Air and Water, Nature, Healing and Mud arise from Earth and Water, and Lava is between Earth and Fire. Crosses within the Dark elemental family include Smoke, between Air and Fire, and Dark Nature, between Earth and Water.
• Elite Mooks: Alpha and Beta darkers are the leaders among their kin. Since Asskicking Leads to Leadership in this world, they are also the most powerful.
• Emissary from the Divine: The Shopkeeper was given his current form from a restless soul Vale knew in life, to act as a messenger giving Vale nudges in the right direction on the Chronicler's behalf
• Establishing Character Moment: The first time we see Electroy and Burner, the former is bragging about playing a prank on the Guardians, while Burner is admonishing him for being immature. This handily establishes Electroy as an jokester with high enough social standing to be able to prank the Guardians themselves, and Burner as a grumpy Team Dad.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep":
  • The Shopkeeper's identity is thus far unknown, although he seems to have known Validor from before. He's gotten multiple nicknames in-series, usually "Old fart", but both the creators and the fans refer to him as just the Shopkeeper.
  • The Chronicler is only called that in the comic, though readers know his name is Ignitus.
• Everyone Is Related: The official family trees make some unexpected connections.
  • Validor's uncle on his father side is Xavier Blooddiamond, the former Crystal Guardian, and his cousin is Xavier's apprentice and son, Semias. His grandmother is Curati Crystalclaw, the Healing guardian.
  • Burner is Cynder's nephew by way of her brother, Blazer.
  • Electroy is Volteer's grandson.
  • TJ is related to Isky Blackpaw, a current Freedom Flyer, her father Heastah, a former Freedom Flyer, and Orhasso Blueribbon, the wind and tornado guardian.
  • The royal family tree reveals that Ignitus and Doucheicus are King Warfang's grandchildren, and that Spyro is Ignitus' son and Dorkus' cousin.
• Evil Chancellor: Princess Regent Ember whispers in the King's ear and rules in his stead, doing everything to hold onto power.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The entire comic up until the latest page takes place over about four or five days.
• Eye Scream: Terrador was blinded at some point.
• Fallen Hero: Spyro, the one-time savior of the world, is now seeking to destroy it after succumbing to darkness years before the story's start. Malefor was once a lot like him, though his fall was more subtle and took longer.
• False Flag Operation: Of a kind. Just as Vale is talking down the Freedom Flyers from killing him and offering to work with them to discover what is causing purple dragons to go mad , a legion of darkers emerge from the woods behind him, led by Spyro himself, making it seem that Vale was in league with the Dark Masters the whole time.
• Famous Ancestor: Electroy is Volteer's grandson. Goes a bit into Inadequate Inheritor.
• Fantastic Racism: Dragons generally have it better in Warfang than other species, though there are exceptions (such as Burner, who's a lower class dragon). Half-darkers are executed if their parentage is known, no matter if they lean more toward their dragon or darker half.
• Fantastic Slurs: "Digger" for third class citizens, as a reference to how most of them work in the Warfang mines. The rewrite changes it to "Rat."
• Feathered Dragons:
  • Depictions of the ancient Light dragons show them with birdlike wings and feathered tail fans.
  • Early chapters of the comic show wind dragons with birdlike wings and crests of feathers down their necks and on their cheeks. This is changed later in the comic's run, where they're depicted with regular wings and scaly ridges.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Vale spent a lot of his childhood in the lab of his father's friend, doctor Takanobu, a mechanical and magical genius who designed both his prosthetic and the Warfang shield. As a result, he has a lot of technological knowhow and an appreciation for machines, though he's not realy an inventor himself. When he gets a chance to look at prosthetics of a design he's never seen before, he is on cloud nine picking through it, and agast at Burner for only caring about how they fare in combat.
• Gallows Humor: As soon as they are reunited, Burner and Electroy waste no time in making puns and jokes about their new prosthetics, Electroy remarking that they would've been a matched set if TJ was less careful. Vale is appropriately disturbed.
• Golem: Golems are artificial constructs created by purple dragons, who can imbue inanimate matter with life by projecting their will and belief into it. The desires used to focus this will determine the nature of the golem; the Dark Masters, who desire domination and destruction, create golems whose nature is to ravage and destroy, which has resulted in all golems being viewed as dark and evil things by the survivors of civilization.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: Darkers are generally in a darker shade than most dragons, or have colors less comfortable to the eye. Purple is considered heinous for obvious reasons.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: The corrupted dark dragons are marked by their glowing yellow eyes.
• The Good King: King Julius Warfang, the old king of Warfang, is as far as we're told a good and sensible ruler who will even fight on the front lines to protect his people. Sadly, he is old and sick, and his regent, Ember, is anything but.
• Gravity Master: Gravity is an element normally accessible only to purple dragons. The lung Casi can also control it, and uses it to move objects, throw enemies about, and fly despite his lack of wings. The fact that this should not be possible for a non-purple dragon is what clues the Chronicler in that Casi isn't what he seems.
• Great Offscreen War: Great off-screen battle, anyhow. The Battle of Bloody Dawn, which occurred five years before the comic's time, marked the largest army gathered by the Dark Masters and the largest loss of life in Warfang's modern history.
• Half-Breed Discrimination: Half-Darkers, even ones that take more after their dragon half, are universally persecuted and killed in Warfang, and the only chance they have for survival is if their darker heritage is unknown. The first half-darker executed was six years old.
• Hate Sink: Doucheicus is... a douche. He is a deeply sexist dragon supremacist, an abusive father who murdered his mate, a serial adulterer even when his mate was alive, a powerhungry political schemer who backstabbed his way to the top and threw his soldiers into bloodbaths, and he raped darkers. The one good thing he did was fighting Spyro during Bloody Dawn, which killed him.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Bubbles was once considered a useless power in-universe. However, the Bubble element can be both explosive and poisonous. Same with Nitrogen. It starts out harmless, but as the dragon gets better it can become acidic and, at Guardian levels, a dragon can even breathe liquid or explosive nitrogen.
• Hidden Backup Princess:
  • Ember is a deconstructed example. Her parents were the grandchildren of king Warfang, but she grew up unaware of her royal blood, so when she was suddenly called on to become regent, she had no idea how to do the job and quickly fell to corruption and greed.
  • Nova Warfang, second daughter of Julius Warfang's daughter, and heir apparent to the Warfang throne. She survived the assassins that killed her family as just an egg, and is the only breather of the Solar Flare element aside from her grandfather. She's too young to take the throne, and Ember makes sure to keep her away from it, but she has joined the Freedom Flyers instead, and is a kind and compassionate dragonness.
  • Doucheicus believed his mother was this, as she carried a striking resemblance to the missing daughter of the royal family, but never knew for sure, and he was the only one in the family who cared about finding out. For what its worth, he is the only known dragon of the Laser element, which is a branch of the royal family's Solar Flare element, and he is listed on the royal family tree. Either way, it matters little since he is dead and his son doesn't seem to know about the connection.
  • Spyro, being Ignitus' son, is also technically of royal blood, not that it matters since no one would be mad enough to make a dark master the king of Warfang.
• I Ate WHAT?!: Electroy's Establishing Character Moment has him brag that he put worms in the dinner of the Guardians, and later mimics their faces when they realized.
• I Know What You Fear: Chimero, a darker of the Hypnosis element, can read a dragon's mind to discover their fears and create an illusion of it. During the break-in, he taunts Burner with all his sorrows and insecurities, and tells him he will eat his brothers, and later shows Hunter a vision of his countrymen, dead and asking him why he left them.
• Immune to Fate: Casi Silverscale does not appear in any of the Chronicler's books, which are supposed to recount the lives and fates of all dragons.
• In-Series Nickname: A few. Tori Jewelhorn is called TJ by her friends, since her parents won't let her police.
• Insufferable Genius: TJ establishes herself as one pretty fast. When the quartet overhears a couple royal guards vandalizing the shopkeeper's store and dismissing the Golden Era as mere myth, she can't help herself but jump in to lecture them about the historical basis of the golden era. Her friends immediately facepalm and ask why she's like this.
• Interservice Rivalry: Between the army, under General Cynder, and the police during Doucheicus' reign as captain. While this rivalry ceased when Eirei Darkwing became police captain, the current army clashes with the Royal Guard under princess Ember.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Burner, as a result of being a lower class dragon with functionall no future prospects, is an aggressive and standoffish jerk, but it's mostly Anger Born of Worry and he truly cares about his friends.
• Just Friends: Flame and Ember, despite being best friends who grew up together, have never had any sort of romantic relationship. Likewise, Cynder and Spyro were not mates.
• Kissing Cousins: Very downplayed. Ember and Spyro are second cousins, but had no idea at the time Ember had a crush on him (and still don't). Either way, Ember is long over her crush.
• Klingon Promotion: Cynder became general of the army by defeating the previous general, Doucheicus, in battle.
• Last Bastion: Warfang is the only known area still densely populated by non-dragons. There do exist some survivors beyond its walls, but they decrease in number every day.
• The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: Well, the little shop that isn't there anymore, at least. The Shopkeeper's store disappears when the heroes turn their back on it (causing TJ to have a minor breakdown).
• The Magic Touch: The dark dragon Medusa can turn living beings into golden statues with a touch and with her breath.
• Magitek: Vale's leg uses enchanted gems to move and connected to his mind.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Burner remarks in chapter 6 that they survived a fight with darkers with minimum scratches.
  Tori: Losing limbs is what you call "minimum scratches"?
  Burner: Some big scratches.
• Meaningful Name: Burner and Electroy. Burner is a powerful fire-breather, while Electroy's element is electricity.
• Meaningful Rename: Malefor was apparently named something else before he became evil, possibly Aloren though there are no one left who remembers him from back then.
• Mooks: Weaker darkers. The standard mooks used by Malefor in Dawn of the Dragon still exist, but they have largely been replaced by Darkers, who are more loyal, require no sustenance, and have no survival instinct.
• Multinational Team: The Freedom Flyers oppose the usual strict racial hierarchy of Warfang by taking members from any species. Just on team Alpha under Cynder's command, there are three dragons, a long, a winged unicorn, a cheetah, some kind of anthropomorphic flying lizard, a griffin, and Baboush who may be a dragon. In the past there was also a wyvern.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
  • If Dark Dragons wasn't enough, the majority of them have such cozy names as Medusa Poisonbeak, Korfeo, Abbadon, Night Terror and Asphyxia.
  • The golem that lead the siege at Bloody Dawn was named Cataclysm.
• Natural Elements: Dragon elements are separated into Light Elements, which originate from the progenitor element Pure Light, and Dark Elements, descendent from Pure Darkness. Each of the main four elements is divided into branches of minor elements, which range from fairly straightforward to rather strange:
  • On the light end of the spectrum, there Wind, Tornado, Sound, Hypnosis and Nitrogen from Air, Ice and Blood on the Water branch, Earthquake, Metal, Stone, Sand and Crystal from Earth, and Blue Fire, Solar Flare and Laser from Fire.
  • From the dark end of the spectrum, there Shadow, Dark Fire and Night Fire from the Fire branch, Dark Wind and Fear from the Air branch, and Dark Ice, Dark Water and Poison from the Water branch.
  • A number of elements also exist as crosses between branches, such as Electricity between Fire and Air, Mist and Bubbles from Air and Water, Nature, Healing and Mud from Earth and Water, and Lava between Earth and Fire on the light side, and Smoke from Air and Fire and Dark Nature between Earth and Water on the dark end.
  • Not associated with any of the sides, there are also Time, Gravity and Convexity.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Warfang Break-in? All that death and suffering? All the fault of Vale, Burner and TJ.
• No Cure for Evil: Notable aversion. Darkers can heal using dark crystals, and the Dark Masters can master any element, including Healing. Spyro was able to heal a lethally injured Vale from a distance without even knowing where he was.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Spyro and Malefor haven't been seen since Bloody Dawn, five years before the comic.
• Not So Above It All: TJ is usually very calm and collected, sticking to her role as The Heart and Voice of Reason. However, when something inexplicable happens, such as a a building disappearing, she completely breaks down.
• Ominous Fog: The meeting between the Freedom Flyers and the main characters and Wanda takes place in a misty plain by a forest, fitting with the tense atmosphere as neither party can clearly see the other.
• Omnicidal Maniac: The Dark Masters want to destroy the world. Darkers are also this, possessing no instinct beyond "kill anything that moves."
• Orcus on His Throne: The Dark Masters generally appear little on the battlefield themselves, Spyro making his last appearance at Bloody Dawn when Vale was very young. Malefor is even worse, as his condition means he can hardly move at all, with his only appearance showing him encased in some kind of crystal.
• Our Angels Are Different: Depends on wether you want to call them angels (they're basically angels). Light Dragons were a legendary civilization of dragons said to have feathered wings, be always good, and have (more) magical powers.
• Our Dragons Are Different:
  • Dragons in Pure Light, like the dragons in the franchise they're based on, are separated into different elements that can be considered subspecies. They're also fully sapient, can speak fantasy English, use tools, and have a functioning society. Related species include wingless, serpentine lung (like Casi Silverscale) and wyverns.
  • Darkers, or Dark Dragons, are generally roughly draconic, but can in theory look like anything under the sun. They also have elements, but darker variations. They feel no pain, have no survival instinct, doesn't require sustenance, and desire nothing but to serve their dark masters by killing anything that moves. Some of them are intelligent enough to have small side interests, but they never act against their masters' wishes.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: Two kinds of giants are mentioned:
  • Gustave was a giant mentioned in Hunter's backstory. Very little is known about him, but he was apparently large enough to keep a Roc as a pet, and so massive that no darker, not even Poisonbeak or Korfeo, could do any notable damage to him. He was petrified by Medusa.
  • Sky Titans are mythical creatures from the golden era, although since the golden era never existed, they might have been just a myth. The Shopkeeper has the tooth of one, which is bigger than an adult dragon.
• Outside-Context Problem: According to the Chronicler, there has been no record of any being named Casi Silverscale in the present or past, and his species, long dragons, don't exist. What's more, Casi wielding gravity as his element should be impossible without being a purple dragon. His name even disappears from the books when the Chronicler tries to write it, and the book bursts into flames.
• Pet the Dog: When Cynder was about to be executed by angry civilians during the Battle at Bloody Dawn, she was rather unexpectedly saved by Princess Ember of all people, who staved off the mob and got her to safety.
• Playing with Fire: Fire is one of the main branches on both the Light and Dark halves of the elemental tree, and branches off into several related elements, where the most similar are Blue Fire and its dark counterpart Night Fire. Notably, Burner is a fire dragon.
• Power Incontinence: Purple dragons are channels for so much elemental power that they cannot fully bear the strain of it all. Over time, they become increasingly more physically unstable as their bodies begin to give in to the strain.
• The Power of the Sun: Solar Flare is an extremely rare element on the fire branch, only used by the royal family.
• Promoted to Parent: Burner has been raising his three younger brothers alone ever since their parents died in Bloody Dawn, which informs a lot of his Anger Born of Worry and Team Dad attitude.
• Psychic Link: Siblings in the Pure Light universe have an innate connection, known as Sanguinem Connexa (Blood Connection). Burner and Vale can always tell roughly where their respective siblings are, and in the event of one's death the other sibling will always known and may even suffer serious trauma. After the Warfang Break-In, TJ, Electroy, and Burner use Snowfly's connection to Vale to track him down in the wilderness.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Wanda, the effective leader of the dark dragon enclave, will do anything to defend her people, but is also willing to listen out Vale and even put herself at risk if he presents a good enough argument, though she draws the line at endangering her people
• Redeeming Replacement: The current police chief, Eirei Blackwing, is a sensible By-the-Book Cop who does more paperwork than arrests and is trying to weed out corruption in the police. The previous chief, Doucheicus, was one of the most despicably corrupt characters in the entire setting.
• Regent for Life: Ember is regent for the infirm King Warfang, and is doing her best to keep it secret that the king does have a closer heir. That said, Ember is in the line of royal succession, and would take the throne when Warfang dies, she's just one step behind Nova Warfang, who's the actual Heir Presumptive.
• Right Hand Versus Left Hand: There is deep rivalry between the army, under general Cynder, and the royal guard, under princess Ember, made worse by Cynder and Ember's mutual loathing.
• Royal Blood: The royal family of Warfang are the only dragons of the Solar Flare element, an extremely powerful branch of the Fire element. Currently its only practicioners are king Warfang himself, and his granddaughter Nova (Warfang's great-granddaughter Ember is just a regular fire dragon). Warfang's mastery of the element is such that he can even defeat Spyro by strength alone.
• Royal Brat: Ember wasn't raised royal, but she very much is one, having never learned that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, and as a result becoming corrupt and powerhungry fast after taking the throne.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Warfang is too old to do much now, but he was at his height, and even in his old age he defended the city during Bloody Dawn, blasting Spyro out of the city. Ember, surprisingly considering what a Royal Brat she is, also played a part in Bloody Dawn, saving Cynder's life from an angry mob.
• Sand Worm:
  • The golem used by the dark army during its attack on Warfang is a huge, rocky-skinned worm with a reptilian head that can swiftly burrow through soil and rock.
  • Vale's golem eventually grows into a giant serpent made of boulders with white crystals growing out of it.
• Secret-Keeper: Bandit is the only one who knows that Ember's tyranny is an act, having figured it out on his own some time ago.
• Seeing Through Another's Eyes: Implied. When the Chronicler is researching Casi Silverscale, he notices Vale's golem watching him with blue glowing eyes, and it cuts to Casi's eyes growing a very similar colour.
• Seen It All: The Freedom Flyers are so used to Darkers that even a breach in the Warfang shield isn't all that interesting.
  Cynder: sigh. Vacation's delayed.
  Flame, Hunter, Adelee, Isky, Carlos: Again?!
• Shattered World: As the comic takes place in the future of Dawn of the Dragon, the world is made up of a system of floating continents left over from Malefor's barely failed attempt at destroying it back when it was still a solid planet.
• Shock and Awe: Lightning is on the elemental tree, sitting between Air and Fire. It's Electroy's element.
• Talking to the Dead: The second chapter starts with Validor and Snowfly writing a letter to their late father, Kyron, before sending it by burning it and breathing the ashes into the air.
• Team Dad: Burner is generally pretty rude and demanding, but he cares deeply about his friends and acts like that to keep them out of trouble.
• Til Murder Do Us Part: Doucheicus killed his made, Arianna, as soon as she gave him an heir, taking her outside to watch the sunrise and leaving her for the darkers to kill. She expected it, but still loved him. This comic shows their last moments together.
• Time Master: Time is one of the neutral elements exclusive to purple dragons. Vale uses it during the warfang break-in to save his friends from Poisonbeak, and the Chronicler explains that it is meant as a last resort and cannot be controlled normally, though Spyro can control it fairly well, as he used it during Bloody Dawn.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Spyro has gone from extraordinarily powerful to near divine in power. Malefor less so, since he's now debilitated by the amount of power inside him.
  • Cynder has managed to keep up with Spyro through all these years.
• Torches and Pitchforks: At Bloody Dawn, a crowd of civilians hauled an injured Cynder to the temple to execute her for her decision to have their families fight in the hopeless battle. She was saved by Ember, who staved off the mob and brought her to safety.
• Tragic Keepsake: Ember has a painting of her with Cynder, Flame, and Spyro hidden in her castle, and looks at it when reminiscing upon happier days.
• True Companions: Validor, TJ, Electroy, and Burner are best friends, despite coming from vastly different social classes. The only thing that causes their relationship to crack a bit is Vale being revealed as a purple dragon, but even then they soon get over it and resolve to go after and save him because he is their friend and they love him. They are also joined by Snowfly, Validor's sister, in End of the Tunnel.
• Ultimate Job Security: The now non-canon character Drace managed to be the Laser Guardian Apprentice despite being a half-darker with an attitude problem, simply because there were no other dragons of the laser element available other than the Guardian.
• Underground City: The uncorrupted Dark Dragons on the Isle live in one.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Electroy is implied to be this. He refuses to actually train as a Guardian, but when he was put in a good position, he was able to kill Korfeo, an alpha darker, with a single breath.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: As a child and teen, Ember was exceptionally kind and compassionate. Then she became Warfang's regent functionally overnight, with no training or preparation for such a role, and was corrupted by the power. That's what she wants you to believe at least, as she's actually the same she's always been, but wants the people to have someone to rally against lest they turn upon each other.
• Vicious Cycle: As Vale points out to the Freedom Flyers, when Malefor was imprisoned, Spyro was born to replace him, and when Malefor was seemingly defeated for good, Spyro went insane and became just as bad. If one purple dragon is gone, someone else will replace him, and the only way to stop this cycle is to figure out what is causing them to go insane in the first place, since destroying the world is not their original purpose.
• Villainous Valour: Despite being the absolute worst, Doucheicus did challenge Spyro in single combat during Bloody Dawn, even putting up a good fight before the Dark Master killed him.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Convexity, Solar Flare, and Laser elements can all create these, and their only known users are king Warfang, Nova Warfang, Doucheicus, Spyro, Malefor, and Cynder. Cynder demonstrates it in chapter 6 by blasting a convexity beam strong enough to punch clean through the island she's on.
• We Used to Be Friends: Ember, Cynder, Flame, and Spyro were good friends in the time between the second dark war and Spyro's corruption. By now, Ember is a tyrant, Spyro is a madman, and Cynder and Flame are the only ones on speaking terms.
• Winged Unicorn: Adelee, one of the members of Cynder's aerial squad, is a winged unicorn.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: No one knows what causes purple dragons to go mad, but power is certainly a possibility. Vale worries that it is, which is why he has never trained his element beyond the absolute basics.
• Would Hurt a Child: Once he's revealed, Cynder is uncomfortable with the idea of killing Vale because he is a child, but Hunter and Flame think they have no choice.
• You Have Failed Me: Spyro crushes Chimero to death with one paw when making it clear that the alpha's overeager attack on Warfang nearly cost them the third purple dragon.
• You Remind Me of X: Nina tells Vale that he reminds her of his son. Vale, being a bit self-loathing at the moment, remarks that her son was probably not a monstrous purple dragon, not knowing that Nina's son is Spyro himself.
• Zero-Approval Gambit: Ember is pretending to be a cruel and tyrannical regent so that the people of Warfang will have someone to unite against rather than turn on each other.

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