Trix (Group)

The Trix are a trio of witches who act as the main antagonists of the Winx Club series. The group is made up of three direct descendants of the Ancestral Witches, the most powerful and evil witches to have ever existed. They focus on what they are best at: acting maliciously and joining forces with the darkest villains the Magic Dimension has to offer.

Overview
The Trix were initially presented as a trio of senior witches attending the Cloud Tower School for Witches, where they were idolized and feared by both their classmates and even some professors. The three witches reveled in having such a high reputation within Cloud Tower as they could practically make their classmates into their own minions and their high marks made them untouchable to their professors with the exception of the school's headmistress, Griffin.

At first, the Trix sought after a magic ring under the ownership of Princess Stella of Solaria, often using the tricks learned from their classes in their attempts to get it and, later, to torture the Winx Club for being constant thorns in their sides. After finding out that Stella's magic ring was not the source of this "great power" they were after, the Trix soon set their sights on Bloom after learning that she was the one in possession of it. Upon stealing this power—the Dragon's Flame—the Trix were revealed to be the descendants of The Ancestresses: the mothers of all witches and the ones responsible for the downfall of Domino, Bloom's true homeworld. Believing it to be their destiny, the Trix abused the Dragon's Flame to plunge Magix into a war as they conquered and destroyed everything in the realm with the exception of Alfea, which they had planned to save for last. Unfortunately for them, the Trix were defeated by the Winx after Bloom regained her lost powers, and were thrown into exile at the Fortress of Light.

Their failed conquest for Magix leads them to constantly try to regain the power they once held and use it to take over the entirety of the Magic Dimension. In later years, the three witches would ally themselves with greater forces of evil if it meant that they could achieve total domination of the Dimension; evil forces like Lord Darkar, Valtor, and Tritannus. As they strengthened their own dark powers, the Trix would go back to employing minions to fight under them. Many would start off unwillingly but would later work under the Trix without hesitation after they make the false promise of sharing the power they plan to gain during their various conquests with these new minions. The most notable case of this would be when the Trix take over Cloud Tower a second time in Season 6.

Etymology

 * The group's name originates from the suffix -trix which is the feminine form of the suffix -tor. Both are often placed at the end of verbs or nouns to create agent nouns in Latin, with -trix most notably being used as a suffix for the words praecantrix, praecantatrix and incantatrix; all of which mean witch in Latin.
 * The name also originates from the prefix tri-, which is used to symbolize groups of three, hence why the Trix are a trio.
 * Trix could be a pun on the word tricks as well.

Inspirations

 * A possible inspiration for the Trix themselves might have been the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter series, who was as cruel, pitiless and sadistic as the Trix and was fanatically devoted to Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents, similarly to how the Trix worked for and wanted the approval of Valtor, who had a role to play in the disappearance of Bloom's parents. In the Harry Potter movie adaptations, Bellatrix appears to wear similar Gothic-styled clothes as the Trix. However since the movie where Bellatrix first appeared was filmed many years after the first season was aired, it is unknown if the appearance of the Trix had any influence on her appearance in the films or not.
 * A possible inspiration for Icy might be Bellatrix's nephew Draco Malfoy. Both Icy and Draco have sharp and pointed features and very pale hair and are, respectively, Bloom's and Harry's nemeses in school.
 * The concept of a trio of witches or deities associated with witchcraft or doom appears multiple times in mythology and fiction.
 * In Greek Mythology, the Goddess of Witchcraft, Hecate, was represented as a triple goddess.
 * In Celtic Mythology:
 * The Midnight Washerwomen are a trio of old women who go to the water's edge at midnight to wash shrouds for those about to die or to wash the bloodstained clothing of those about to die.
 * The Irish Goddess of War and Fate, Morrigan, who foretells doom, death or victory in battle, is also often described as a trio of three sisters. Like the Midnight Washerwomen, she is also portrayed as washing the bloodstained clothes of those destined to die.
 * In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, the Three Witches, also known as the Weird Sisters, represent evil, chaos, darkness and conflict, and they lead the play's titular main character Macbeth to his demise.
 * The main characters of the popular show Charmed consist of a trio of witch sisters, known as the Charmed Ones.
 * In the show Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the trio of witches known as the Weird Sisters act as antagonists towards the main character Sabrina Spellman for most of the first season, much like how the Trix act towards Bloom while they were still students in Season 1.
 * One of the Weird Sisters, Dorcas, is played by Abigail Cowen, the same actress who portrays Bloom in Fate: The Winx Saga.

Trivia

 * According to Iginio Straffi, the series creator, the Trix are triplets, sharing their birthday on May 5th.
 * This is later retconned in the Season 8 episode "Dyamond on Ice," where it was stated that Icy was the princess of the realm of Dyamond and has a younger sister named Sapphire completely unrelated by blood to Darcy and Stormy.
 * Since their debut in the pilot episode, the Trix are the longest-staying villains in the series as they have currently been featured in every one of the eight seasons that have already aired, as well as all three movies.
 * Though they are not physically present in Season 4, the Trix are still featured in a portrait within a section of Alfea's Hall of Enchantments reserved for the Magic Dimension's greatest threats.
 * Taking the comics into account, the Trix have been physically present in every season except for the eighth season.
 * In Magical Adventure, the Trix's appearances were slightly altered. Icy and Darcy's eye makeup only covered their eyes and not part of their cheeks. Only Stormy's remained the same.
 * In Season 3, the Trix were easily overpowered by the Winx Club due to their Enchantix, even when they were bestowed their Amplified Form by Valtor. However, in both Magical Adventure and Season 5, the Trix were more or less able to equal the Winx in battle until either their ancestors or Tritannus interfered.
 * Despite having Dark Sirenix for most of the fifth season, the Trix appear in their original witch forms in the Season 6 episode "The Legendarium" before willing themselves into their Dark Witch forms.
 * For most of Season 6, the Trix prove to be more powerful than the Winx, even with their Bloomix in some instances. They maintain this strength upon their return in Season 7 in both their Dark Witch and Shape-Shifting Witch forms, but it is never explained why or how the Trix were able to become stronger than the Winx in the first place.
 * In the Nickelodeon Winx Club game, Bloomix Battle, the Trix were released alongside all the Winx.
 * In the episode "Acheron," Icy proclaims that no one double-crosses the Trix, which is ironic since they have already been double-crossed by Darkar, Tritannus, Politea and Selina.
 * Coincidentally, majority of the English dubs shares the same voice actress for both a Trix and a Winx member.
 * In the 4Kids dub, Caren Manuel voices Stella and Darcy while Lisa Ortiz voices Musa and Icy.
 * In the Cinélume dub, both Sarah McCullough and Anik Matern voice Musa and Stormy.
 * In the Dubbing Brothers dub, Becca Ordonez-Zagorin voices Stella and Darcy in the third movie.
 * In the comics, each sister has a spell with "power of" in its name followed by their respective power source.