Great Dragon (Season 1)

The Great Dragon is the creator deity of the Magical Dimension and the source of Bloom's power, the Dragon's Flame.

Overview
The Great Dragon is one of the most powerful creatures to have ever existed. From its fiery breath came the Dragon's Flame, the creating force of the Magic Dimension, and he is therefore a kind of creator god or deity of the Magic Dimension. According to Tecna, the Dragon is an embodiment of Good versus Evil, with the Shadow Phoenix, an ancient being of pure darkness who absorbs energy, being his polar opposite. The Water Stars also contain an opposite force to that of the Dragon's power.

Appearance
The Great Dragon looks like a reptilian creature with a long serpentine body. He has only a pair of forelimbs in the Cinélume dub but in the Nickelodeon Specials and as from Season 5, he is seen with a pair of forelimbs and a pair of hind limbs. He possesses mustache-like tendrils above each nose and eyes and there are horn-like projections on his lover jaw. On each side of its head is a large triangular horn-like frill.

The Great Dragon's color is orange with a yellow aura around it, which gives its body a fiery lava-like look.

Pre-Series
In the beginning, there was nothing. Then, out of the deep darkness, a dazzling light appeared; the Great Dragon.

Then, with his fiery breath, he created a multitude of different worlds and spread life, light, and heat across the universe. Eventually, he became exhausted and chose to lie down and rest in a place called Domino. Bloom adds that Stella told her that Domino is a cold, dark, and unfriendly place, but Faragonda says that it used to be a happy and prosperous place before dark forces attacked Domino and put out the Dragon's Flame once and for all; the Magic Dimension has not been the same since.

Season 1
In "Mission at Cloudtower," after the Trix had stolen the Ring of Solaria, Bloom finds a book explaining its origins. The Winx learn that it is an important and valuable object passed down through generations of Solarian royalty, partly created by a spring of light born of the Sacred Fire created by the Great Dragon, but this does not explain why the Trix are so eager to have it.

After this, Bloom meets with Faragonda in the hopes of uncovering the secrets of this mysterious dragon. Faragonda tells Bloom how the Great Dragon created the Magic Dimension before finally going to rest on Domino.

Season 2
When Darkar tried to gain control of the Ultimate Power, he sent his servants, the Ancestral Witches and Valtor, to claim the Dragon Fire from Domino, therefore causing the planet's destruction. When all the inhabitants of Domino disappeared in the final battle between the Company of Light and the Ancestral Witches, the whole Magic Dimension thought that the Dragon's Flame had been extinguished, until the Trix stole it from Bloom and revealed to her that it was still burning inside her, since she was its Guardian. This was confirmed when Bloom openly used the Dragon's Flame in the final battle against the Trix.

Season 3
It is revealed that when the Great Dragon created the Universe, a small part of its Fire mixed with the Darkness, creating a kind of dark Dragon Fire which the Ancestral Witches found and fashioned into a man they raised as if he were their own son and named him Valtor.

It is possible that the part of Darkness which mixed with the Dragon Fire from which Valtor was created was in fact a small piece of Darkar's darkness, since it was stated that both the Shadow Phoenix and the Great Dragon both were born in the original void before the beginning of Time, which possibly means that they were born together at the same time, since in the first episode of the second season, Professor Wizgiz said, that in the Magic Dimension everything and every magic power has an opposite, also implying that opposite powers are created together.

Magical Abilities
The Great Dragon's power is called the Dragon Flame, which is also the source of Bloom's powers. It is the power from which the whole Magic Dimension and all magic was created and is said to be limitless. It cannot be extinguished except with the Water Stars, which are said to be its magical opposite. The full powers of the Dragon Flame have never been seen in the show.

Trivia

 * The appearance of the Great Dragon is similar to those of Chinese Dragons.
 * In the 4Kids dub, the Great Dragon is female, while in the Cinélume dub, Faragonda refers to the Great Dragon as male.
 * Since the Great Dragon was the life-giver of the Magic Dimension and its opposite, the Shadow Phoenix, was possibly inspired by Morgoth and Sauron from the The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, it is possible the Dragon might have been partially been inspired by the Secret Fire, which is the heavenly power of creation that Morgoth wanted to capture to control all life, from Tolkien's book The Silmarillion. Like Morgoth, Darkar wanted to capture the power of the Great Dragon so he could conquer the whole Magic Dimension.
 * The Great Dragon and the power of the Dragon's Flame were probably inspired from the Phoenix Force of the Marvel Comics which is described as one of the oldest known cosmic entities, representing life that has not yet been born. The Phoenix Force is an immortal, indestructible, and mutable manifestation of the prime universal force of life. Born of the void between states of being, the Phoenix Force is a child of the universe.
 * Another similarity is that Bloom is the vessel of the Dragon's Flame and Jean Grey temporarily served as a vessel for the Phoenix Force and Bloom was turned into Dark Bloom by Darkar just like Jean Grey, as the Phoenix, was turned into the Dark Phoenix by Mastermind and the Hellfire Club.
 * The Great Dragon shares similarities with Primus from the Transformers franchise
 * Primus is an ancient good God of Light who originated at the dawn of the universe
 * Similarly, the Great Dragon is an ancient deity of light and life who originated at the dawn of the universe
 * Primus' twin brother is the God of Chaos, Unicron, who is also his opposite, with Primus representing good and order while Unicron represents evil and chaos, and their continued existence is considered necessary for the existence of the universe.
 * Primus later became the planet Cybertron, the home world of the Transformers, and his name is invoked religiously by both the Autobot and the Decepticon factions of the Transformers.
 * Similarly, the Great Dragon's opposite is the Shadow Phoenix, with the Great Dragon representing light and good while the Shadow Phoenix represents darkness and evil, and Professor Wizgiz implied in Season 2 that their continued existence is necessary for the balance of the universe.
 * The Great Dragon later went to rest on the planet of Domino, and its name is invoked with high respect by both the Fairies and the Witches.
 * The essence of Primus is contained in the Matrix of Leadership, which Unicron seeks to obtain so he can reach his goals.
 * Similarly, the essence of the Great Dragon is the Dragon's Flame, which the Shadow Phoenix seeks so it can reach its goals.
 * The Great Dragon creating the universe was retconned in Season 8. It was replaced with the Sparx.