Featured in collections
344 Favourites77 Comments6K Views
Ice; the bitter heart of Winter's chill, but there is beauty here... Dressed in a strong blue colour key, the ice elemental class abilities offered a cooler solution when powers of fire would not suffice. Being a solid element, ice brought contrast and served as an impressive utility weapon in Spyro's arsenal. Largely offensive but also defensive, this elemental ability could dispatch foes at long range on attack, or freeze them solid to make the quick getaway, adding the option to encapsulate enemies in snow and use them as projectile weapons against their own ranks. In this regard elemental ice was unique... certainly it was one of the more interactive breath weapons among the primary elements and this made for some memorable game moments. Its Winter theme underpins the very nature of Cyril himself and suggested creative ways in which we could have Spyro use this class of ability to interesting effect.
The concept art seen here is an indication of the final outcome, and not entirely consistent with the finished ice effect in the games. Images like this one served as a quick datum point to reflect stated design specifications and get a gauge on how to balance all the elemental breaths against eachother in terms of both colour and form before investing heavily in effects development. We went back and forth getting these abilities right, and many tweaks were made long after the concept art had been delivered - for the breath weapons were the key gameplay mechanics of the game and needed to be well conceived, contrasting and beautiful.
In TLoS lore Ice is a weapon of great contrasts and a tool of many uses. For the mightiest of Ice dragons it can slow the advance of an approaching army, or provide drinking water to a thirsty village. To harness it's abilities a dragon must first learn to understand the nature of water and embrace a steely resolve deep within themselves... for only then can a frozen solid be produced. Moisture is drawn in from the air and (in dire emergencies) from the dragon's own body. In combat it is plausible that a master of Ice could suppliment his or her defences by magically sheathing parts of their body in magically projected pack ice, or when on the offensive adorn themselves with impressive protrusions of needle sharp ice. It is the tool of the true survivalist.
The concept art seen here is an indication of the final outcome, and not entirely consistent with the finished ice effect in the games. Images like this one served as a quick datum point to reflect stated design specifications and get a gauge on how to balance all the elemental breaths against eachother in terms of both colour and form before investing heavily in effects development. We went back and forth getting these abilities right, and many tweaks were made long after the concept art had been delivered - for the breath weapons were the key gameplay mechanics of the game and needed to be well conceived, contrasting and beautiful.
In TLoS lore Ice is a weapon of great contrasts and a tool of many uses. For the mightiest of Ice dragons it can slow the advance of an approaching army, or provide drinking water to a thirsty village. To harness it's abilities a dragon must first learn to understand the nature of water and embrace a steely resolve deep within themselves... for only then can a frozen solid be produced. Moisture is drawn in from the air and (in dire emergencies) from the dragon's own body. In combat it is plausible that a master of Ice could suppliment his or her defences by magically sheathing parts of their body in magically projected pack ice, or when on the offensive adorn themselves with impressive protrusions of needle sharp ice. It is the tool of the true survivalist.
IMAGE DETAILS
Image size
2280x1540px 3.61 MB
Published:
© 2016 - 2021 That-Spyro-Guy
Comments77
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In

Ah ice, such a magnificent element, thank you very much so for this elemental lore, I have been in need of some guidance in my progression to create a world of mine, is it all right if I reflect back upon these for help?
This has definitely been an enlightening find.
Your art is stupendous by the way!

This has definitely been an enlightening find.
Your art is stupendous by the way!

How cold can an ice dragon actually freeze its surroundings? always curious about that, like....can they cause self harm? body temperature for example.
Ice can be such a powerful element in such a large scale, as our own planet as shown (the last ice age and the like) is there a limit to how cold an ice dragons abilities can become?
Ice can be such a powerful element in such a large scale, as our own planet as shown (the last ice age and the like) is there a limit to how cold an ice dragons abilities can become?

Wow! This looks really beautiful!
Ice is actually my favorite ability of all time and I made my own OC dragon Crystal an Ice Dragon myself.
supersmashcynderlum.deviantart…
I love how beautiful the Ice element is especially in A New Beginning and I didn't know Ice can be used to give drinkable water to thirsty villages, That is so cool! ^^ Say, I heard that Spyro was originally going to use the water ability in A New beginning instead of Ice. If Water was used instead in A New Beginning, would Ice have been a secondary Element/attack to water or would it have never been used at all?




Hmm, you know, I theorised at one point in time that the dragon attacks were fueled not by an internal organ providing a stockpile of fire or electricity or something like that, but by magic inside the dragon's body that itself got the material for the attacks from the surrounding area...I'd been wondering how an Earth Dragon could manipulate their element without...well, violently puking up earth (which I know has been drawn in comic form by somebody!), and I noticed that all the Earth elements Spyro used in ANB and TEN appeared to be wind-related or using a green energy to manipulate rocks, so I concluded that an Earth Dragon's ability was to use "use a Green Energy that can be used as an attack on its own, or to influence Earth - and possibly also plants - around it; either channelling it through the ground, or using it to bind bits of Earth together into a boulder." What you're saying now about the Fire and Ice elements seems to be confirming my theory, which is awesome!

Very astute observations AMCAlmaron
Yes all elemental ability is derived from magical essences found within the natural world, be they the tangible things like ice and stone, or more nebulous forces like fire and electricity. Ignitus alludes to this connection at the close of DotD, stating that a dragon's spirit can 'bind itself with nature'. It's that connection with the mana of the natural world and it's elemental forces that allows dragons to manipulate their repective elements. They tap into power using focused technique and channel it. So glad you're enjoying!

Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In