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Youth

Malefor looked different than most dragons, being purple and having an odd number of horns on his head; "Five-horn Five-head" he was ridiculed as by other Dragonlings. This and not knowing who his parents were caused young Malefor distress and he struggled emotionally.

At a young age, he showed promising talent, and he caught the eye of clergymen from Warfang. Eager to learn, and hoping to gain respect from his peers, he said farewell to his mother, and went to study with the Elemental Guardians.

Time in Warfang

In the unfamiliarity of the city, and without his mother, he felt lonelier and more out of place than ever. Soon Malefor became acquainted with an Earth Dragon named Telluric, a scholar studying Dragon society, and the two became fast friends.

It was here in Warfang where Malefor was taught in the elements, and under the watch of the Guardians, he gained control first of Fire. This surprised many, including Telluric, who considered it odd, mainly because he had heard—according to the clergy—that young Malefor was not a Fire dragon.

When he continued in his training, mastering Ice, Wind, and even Electricity, the Guardians knew that he was the Purple Dragon mentioned in the Prophecies, for he had done the impossible: mastery over multiple elemental abilities.

He was the most admired being in all Warfang, with creatures coming from far regions to worship him at the Temple throne. But he sorely missed his mother, and popularity did not fill the hole in his heart.

Downfall

After heading back to the country and trying to reunite with his mother, Malefor learned she had passed away. Telluric soon witnessed Malefor, in an outbreak of grief, scream out an element he had never before seen.

As Malefor’s good friend, he supported him, but grew nervous after seeing him in such a state, and expressed his concern to the Guardians. He had described the state he saw the young dragon in, it being unlike anything he had ever seen or read about. They, however, believed that Malefor was the hope of their kind, destined to bring a new age for the dragons, and so, heedless to Telluric’s worries, taught Malefor all they had known.

After his masters had given every bit of knowledge, Malefor continued to learn on his own. However, the dragons which had once shown him praise now grew fearful of him. His growing arrogance was his way of convincing himself of his own worth, and being the fear of Warfang took its toll. Telluric tried to alleviate Malefor’s pain, but in his depression, he became an irascible maniac, and in fear of the possible consequences of Malefor’s rash behavior, he was banished from the city.

Banishment and Corruption

Because of this, Malefor grew to hate his own species, paying back the once-kind citizens of Warfang for what he saw as treason by burning down their homes. When Malefor learned of Telluric’s earlier words to the Guardians, he believed his friend to be treacherous, and in a heated debate took his life.

After his banishment, and now alone, Malefor exposed his heart to Darkness and was corrupted. His hatred grew, and he built an army of Apes, and any others who would join him. He taught them to mechanically sap the energy out of Spirit Gems, the sacred crystals which contain the essence of souls.

After he had gained a seemingly unending number of warriors, Malefor built a large fortress for himself on a mountain, and declared war on the Dragons.

Inventions

Utilizing Dark Gems, he created many strange devices and weapons; he was able to manufacture great cannons capable of killing dragon soldiers in a single hit. The grisly machines were termed “Draconekric Cannons”, and cost the defenders thousands of lives.

Another of Malefor’s inventions were green collars which used magic to bind the victims to any number of instruments of torture, in essence chaining the wearer to any corresponding base with which it became inseparable. He had created the collars out of the Twin Verdant Serpents, which originally had been built, according to instructions from the Ancients, as Holy phylacteries to keep one’s soul from corruption.

Perhaps the most sinister of Malefor’s innovations, he originated the Spell of Possession, which turned the victim, a juvenile, into the holding body of another’s soul, effectively turning them into a demented puppet.

Death and Planned Resurrection

Knowing the Prophecies foretold a Purple Dragon being born every ten generations, Malefor had to ensure that his reign wasn’t overtaken, and made plans to destroy all Dragon eggs in due time.

However, Malefor soon died by the weight of his hate, his malice crushing the mountain he had chosen for his fortress, and re-opening the Well of Souls, an entrance to the Stygian Orcus. His body was trapped in the mountain, and his soul in the Stygian Orcus. Malefor's body was found in the cave-in by an Ape search team lead by Gaul; the body was preserved via Health Crystals and placed into a crypt in the walls of the Fortress, where it was frozen.

To prevent Malefor from possibly escaping during the Night of Eternal Darkness, a Clone Portal was set up in Convexity, with the Stygian Orcus boundary chosen as a base. The Clone Portal was immediately locked. This blocked all interactions at that particular entrance, and prevented anyone from entering it through Convexity.

However, if one could have unlocked the Clone Portal, Malefor would have possibly been able to escape during the Night of Eternal Darkness. Knowing this, Gaul—the Ape King—made sure his soldiers spared a single egg on the night of the Raid, for only a Dragon could unlock the Convexus Portal.

Using Malefor’s Spell of Possession, Gaul turned the stolen hatchling into a ferocious monster, controlled by none other than his Master. Although Malefor was weak, his spirit was at times able to possess the Dragonling, she who—in her forced adolescence—took the lives of many, under his influence.

When not controlled by Malefor, Cynder relentlessly searched for a way to obtain freedom from her curse, eventually draining the spirits of the remaining Elemental Guardians in order to ignorantly free Malefor, who she believed could release her.

Resurrection and Second Reign

In the days preceding the Eternal Night, Gaul took the body of Malefor out of the crypt to thaw. On the Night of Eternal Darkness, just weeks after Cynder succeeded in opening the Convexus Portal, Spyro accidentally caused Malefor’s spirit to escape permanently from the Stygian Orcus, willed by the Ancient of Days. Over the next three years, Malefor regained his strength and lured many more creatures to Darkness, punishing the Apes for their disloyalty and recruiting others, whom he corrupted into Grublins.

Having misinterpreted the Prophecy of the Purple Dragon, Malefor believed he was destined to destroy the world, and so rose the mighty Golems from the depths of the earth to end all life. According to Prophecy, a Purple Dragon was to be made a living sacrifice, and not wanting to sacrifice himself, he had his Grublins locate Spyro, and chain him with the snake collar to the floor of the Catacombae talpae, where the Alpha Golem was waiting.

In Warfang, after Spyro, Sparx, Cynder, and Hunter escaped the Catacombs, Malefor projected his face on a large Crystal to tell of the Destroyer and the world’s coming destruction in a torrent of flame.

Eventually Spyro and Cynder confronted Malefor, who welcomed them as guests, releasing them of the green collars and explaining his version of the Prophecy. He informed Cynder and Spyro of their roles in his own resurrection, his taunting causing them both more confusion. After this—just as the Chronicler told Spyro—Cynder succumbed to Malefor’s Darkness again.

Cynder—under Malefor’s control—ruthlessly beat Spyro, who refused to fight back. When he answered as to why, Cynder was able to break free of Malefor’s possession over her. This enraged Malefor, who immediately restrained the dragons with the collars again, and proceeded to attack them with the intent to kill.

When Malefor was left unscarred after Spyro and Cynder’s battle with him, the spirits of five Dragons appeared and dragged him away, in an attempt to save Spyro and Cynder’s lives, and to save Malefor’s soul from the Darkness. By attacking Malefor, they were trying to separate him from the Darkness, but in the process he ended up trapped.