Purple Dragons

Purple Dragons are a special and rare breed of dragon; a status that was a first major plot device in the Legend of Mystical Heroes series.

"There was once a dragon, long ago, whose raw power was far greater than anyone had ever seen or... could imagine. At first, he mastered fire... which he finds it to be rather strange, since he was not a fire dragon. Then came ice and air... and other abilities none thought possible. A dragon that was capable of such a potential was found to be odd because he was in a different kind of breed than other dragons."
 * —The Chronicler.

Legends & Biography
Purple Dragons are born once every ten generations, and can master all of the elements, as well as other abilities the Dragon sages thought were not possible, including time itself. It is said that the purple dragon is supposed to bring justice, hope, and peace, not just to their own dragon kind, their home, or even life, to the the entire world.

Purple Dragons have the ability to harness the power of all of the elements (Fire, Ice, Earth, Thunder, Air, etc.), while all other dragons are capable of breathing one particular element. This innate power however leaves them vulnerable to the effects of darkness. They can channel the powers of this sinister magic to master it, but if not fully harnessed, they can become controlled by its dark influence which can be triggered if a Purple Dragon is overwhelmed by negative emotions. Evident of this is when Spyro transformed into Dark Spyro when he became devastated by the presumed death of his father, King Warfang. Malefor has also stated that he is eternal, which may be another ability that purple dragons possess, making them immortal.

Role
The destiny of the Purple Dragon is to direct the fate of an era, but according to Malefor, their destiny was to destroy the world. Unlike Malefor, Spyro saved the world instead. It should be noted that while Malefor needed the Destroyer to bring about what he saw was the destiny of the purple dragon by destroying the world, Spyro was capable of undoing the Destroyer's devastation with only his power, which may imply Spyro's view is more correct.

List of Known Purple Dragons

 * Dark Dragon King (possibly/unknown ?)
 * Malefor
 * King Warfang
 * Spyro
 * Sorcerer
 * Alban
 * Blaze
 * Sadiki
 * Claude
 * Azizi
 * Asher