Malefor, also known as the Dark Master, is the main antagonist of The Legend of Spyro video game trilogy. He is the unseen Bigger Bad of The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, the overarching antagonist in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night and the main antagonist of The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon. He is an unfathomably powerful Purple Dragon and Ruler of Evil who was imprisoned in his hellish realm. Malefor is set free at the end of the second game and very nearly destroys the world, only to be defeated for good by Spyro and Cynder. Malefor is presented as an evil counterpart of some sort to Spyro, and he is without a doubt the most evil villain in the entire Spyro multiverse.
He also has a counterpart in the second Spyro reboot Skylanders and another in its Netflix cartoon adaptation.
Malefor was the first of the Purple Dragon race. Seeing that his mastery of the elements did not stop to only one, the Dragon Elders taught him all of their secrets, but he was never satisfied and would stop at nothing to become all-powerful and omnipotent. Fearing his malevolence, ambition, and limitless potential, the Dragon Elders banished Malefor but it was too late, he had already fallen beyond redemption. Malefor established himself in the mountains and raised an army of Apes.
Malefor then embraced the power of Dark Aether, the dark side of the Purple Dragon's power, and gained full control over it, gaining the title as "the Dark Master". His ultimate goal, which he grew to regard as his destiny, is to destroy the world; perhaps intending to build a new one following his own ideals and rule with an iron fist.
Malefor waged war against the Dragon kind for several years, slaughtering countless people to fulfill his "quest". His evil tore open his own base of operations, the Mountain of Malefor, turning it into the Well of Souls: a chasm to the Underworld where every malevolent dead soul is sent, submitted to his influence. Malefor stole the Spirit Gems, the source of the dragons' life-force and used them against the dragons, but he was ultimately defeated. He was imprisoned in the Well of Souls and his essence was sealed within the Convexity Dimension. However, his armies survived and went into hiding. They could still communicate with him somehow and waited for an opportunity to set him free again.
Malefor never appears in person during the first game of the trilogy, being only mentioned several times under his title "the Dark Master". A statue of him prior to his corruption can be found within the Dragon Temple, but at that point is not revealed that the statue is him. Gaul the Ape King, Cynder and his other servants are following his orders and he most likely devised Cynder's plan of action himself.
Years before the start of the story, Gaul and his Ape army attacked the Dragon Temple during the Year of the Dragon under Malefor's orders. They crushed every dragon egg to prevent the birth of the Purple Dragon wielding the power to defeat the Dark Master. Yet, the Fire Guardian Ignitus sent the purple egg away, where it was found and raised by a family of Dragonflies.
With a dragon being needed to release Malefor, Gaul stole an egg, hatched it and named the baby dragon Cynder, exposing her to Malefor's dark influence and forcing an unnatural and painful growth. She matured to adult size in a few years and became more powerful than most dragons, including the four Elemental Guardians.
In the game, Cynder leads Malefor's armies in a war against the Dragon Realms, defeating the Dragon armies and forcing them underground. She sends her minions to distract the Elemental Guardians, so as to capture them and harness their powers into magic crystals. This being done, Cynder goes to the Convexity Dimension and inserts the magic crystals into the Altar Portal which holds Malefor captive to destroy it. Fortunately, Spyro and his adoptive brother Sparx catch up to Cynder in time and manage to defeat her, reverting her to her normal state and age. As the Portal is about to implode, Spyro succeeds in rescuing Cynder but Malefor's essence is set free and returns to the Mountain of Malefor, calling Spyro in his nightmares.
Malefor plays a larger role in The Eternal Night but once again never appears in person; instead devising Gaul's plan of action. Gaul gathers his armies in the Well of Souls and prepares the Dark Master's return during the Night of Eternal Darkness: a lunar eclipse plunging the entire world in shadows, during which all of the malevolent souls imprisoned in the Well of Souls are free to roam the mountain.
Along the way, Gaul attacks the Pirate Arena ship in which Spyro and Cynder were held captive after leaving the Temple for different reasons, and recaptures Cynder. Gaul brings her to the Well of Souls and offers to welcome her back into his service or be the first to perish by his hand; but she refuses and remains imprisoned.
The Chronicler, an ancient dragon of immense wisdom, calls Spyro and tells him about Malefor's past and explains that the eclipse allows Malefor to become powerful enough to regain his physical form. Against The Chronicler's better judgment, who urges him to remain not to move before the eclipse has passed, Spyro leaves his sanctuary to rescue Cynder, unaware that that's what Malefor wanted, and in doing so confronts Gaul in the Well of Souls.
However, when the Night of Eternal Darkness begins, Spyro gets trapped in the beam of demonic energy caused by the lunar eclipse, getting corrupted and turned into a powerful dark dragon. Dark Spyro kills Gaul in cold blood and returns into the demonic beam, serving as the key to open the Well of Souls and to set Malefor free. It is now revealed that Malefor wanted Spyro at the Well of Souls during the Night of Eternal Darkness because he needed a Purple Dragon to free him, and because the eclipse would corrupt him. By having Spyro and Cynder by his side, Malefor would remove them as a threat and would gain two powerful servants.
Fortunately, Cynder has resisted Malefor's corruption and manages to turn Spyro back to normal, mirroring the end of the last game. As the Mountain collapses, Spyro uses his Time Powers to encase himself, Cynder and Sparx in a crystal to save their lives. Alas, Malefor finally returns, free to rule the world without interruption.
Malefor did not lose time after being freed. He turned all his Ape servants into living skeletons, as he rightfully deemed them too greedy and not faithful enough, and created an army of monsters known as the Grublins. He invaded the Dragon Temple and turned it into his own flying fortress, forcing the Elemental Guardians to flee to the Dragon City of Warfang. He then covered the entire world in darkness, spreading plague and misery all around, causing the world denizens to fear dragons.
Three years have passed when Grublins wake Spyro, Cynder and Sparx from their slumber, putting snake-shaped collars on Spyro and Cynder to bind them; before taking them for sacrifice against a gigantic and powerful Golem of the Deep. They cannot defeat the ancient creature but are rescued by Sparx and the Hunter of Avalar, who bring them to Warfang.
They lead the city's defense, defeating Malefor’s armies and destroying the Golem who tracked them down. Later this night, Malefor contacts the heroes through a dark crystal, gloating that the attack was just meant to keep them busy while he released the legendary Destroyer, going as far as presenting their victory as a twisted "congratulation". The monster has begun to travel around the world, leaving behind a fiery trail called the Ring of Annihilation. Once the Destroyer completes its circle, the apocalypse will begin.
The heroes travel through the underground ruins of Ancient Warfang and try to stop the Destroyer by causing a flood, but to no avail. Next, they manage to shatter the Destroyer's Crystal Core but Malefor merely reactivates it. Spyro and Cynder realize that their only hope is to defeat Malefor himself, but Ignitus sacrifices his life to allow them to escape. In his grief, Spyro gets once again corrupted by Malefor's influence, which left a lasting effect on him. Fortunately, Cynder manages to bring Spyro back to his senses.
Spyro and Cynder enter the Dragon Temple, where the Dark Master greets them and proceeds to break their confidence with but a few sentences. He uses Cynder's doubts to turn her evil again and makes her attack Spyro. He then states to a crushed Spyro that the destiny of Purple Dragons, including him, is to bring about the “great cleansing”, but the young dragon rejects his views. As the Dark Master revels in the situation, Spyro refuses to fight Cynder and manages to turn her back to normal. Enraged, Malefor declares that she will share Spyro's fate. Spyro and Cynder engage a tremendous battle against Malefor, but they are too late as the Destroyer has just completed his journey and the world starts breaking apart. Nevertheless, they continue to fight Malefor, and their battle drags them to the centre of the world. There, the evil dragon declares that he is eternal and engages Spyro and Cynder in a duel of Convexity Breath, but they managed to knock him down.
Malefor recovers, proving his claims of immortality, but the Dragon Elders’ spirits appear before he can resume the fight and seal him away for good into the core of the world. Spyro then uses his power to stop the destruction of the world and restore it, ending the Dark Master's malice once and for all.
And he is reprised by Jim Cummings in the English dub and he will be voiced by Takayuki Sakazume in the Japanese dub.