Darkar

Lord Darkar is the main antagonist of Season 2 and is also known as the Prince of Darkness and the Shadow Phoenix. He's also been referred to as Argulus in the 4Kids version. He has only appeared in Season 2, but makes a few cameo appearances in Season 3 and Season 4, and the Season 5 trailer.

Overview
Lord Darkar is the ruler of an underground castle and is an ancient deity of pure darkness since the dawn of time. He is the polar opposite of the Dragon's Flame and almost equally as powerful. While the Great Dragon is a source of light, life and energy, Lord Darkar absorbs it, thus creating an opposite essence of the Dragon Flame and is a source of negative energy, making him do bad deeds.

In the Cinélume version, he is described as being an ancient creature which was born from the original void from before the beginning of the Universe. It is also stated that he was the master of the Ancestral Witches and Valtor, and was the one who initially sent them to seek the Dragon's Flame from Domino, therefore being the cause of its destruction. When the Witches were defeated by the Company of Light, the Lord of the Templar of the Fortress of Light fought Darkar himself, cast him back into the darkness, and sent him into a deep slumber for sixteen years, until he woke up again, possibly caused by the return of Bloom's Dragon's Flame in the Magic Dimension after she used it to defeat the Trix in the first season, since his power is opposite to that of the Dragon's.

The difference between Lord Darkar's power and that of the Water Stars which also oppose the power of the Dragon is that, while Lord Darkar's power absorbs energy and the Dragon's power generates energy and with respect to each other, the former is Evil and the latter is Good, both the Dragon Flame and the Water Stars generate energy, but the energy released by each respectively is of opposing nature and neutral, none being Evil or Good with respect to each other.

Since it has been stated in the series that the Ancestresses were under the orders of Lord Darkar when they destroyed Domino, it also means that Valtor was also serving him at this time. This means that Lord Darkar already had someone with the Dragon Flame serving him, and the only explanation that can be given to his causing the destruction of Domino is that Valtor's Dragon Flame was the Dark part of the flame which was created when a spark from the Dragon's fiery breath had mixed with the Darkness (possibly itself having being created from Lord Darkar's power, since it was stated that both Lord Darkar and the Great dragon were born at the beginning of Time from the Void), and therefore was halfway between the powers of Light and those of Darkness. Darkar needed a power which was the complete opposite to his own power to create a balance between Light and Darkness in order to summon and acquire the Ultimate Power from the Realm of Relix, and the pure Dragon Fire of the Royal Family of Domino was what he needed.

It can also be supposed that Mandragora was also serving Darkar, since she was herself the servant of the Ancestresses who were themselves Darkar's servants. Moreover, from the reactions of members of the Company of Light in the first movie it can be guessed that they had already fought Mandragora when the Company had recently been formed, around the time of the destruction of Domino and hence that she had probably taken part in the destruction of Domino, which was done under Darkar's orders.

Darkar is therefore the ultimate cause of most of the events taking place in the first 3 Seasons and the 2 Movies and, indirectly, the events in Season 4 since the Winx came to after the Wizards attacked Bloom thinking, that she was the last Earth Fairy, having sensed her Fairy energy in Gardenia, where she had been sent when Domino was destroyed.

According to the 4Kids continuity, he was once a man named Argulus seeking the Shadow Fire, and stumbled across Darkar's Fortress (Shadowhaunt), the underground castle. Darkar took control of the Shadow Fire. The Shadow Fire obeyed his will and was his servant.

Appearance
Darkar looks glowing red and wears armor over his seemingly skeletal body. He also has torn, red glowing fabric on the back of him. It is not possible to see his eyes during the show but they occasionally glow like fire with small pupils or they momentarily lightens with a red spark.

Forms

 * Darkar can also transform into a phoenix.
 * Darkar can disguise himself (Nick's version only).

Seasons
In Season 2, Darkar's ambition is to capture the Ultimate Power of the Relix. However, the portal to the Relix realm can only be opened by the four pieces of the Codex, however there is one in each of the schools; Red Fountain, Alfea, Cloud Tower, and in Pixie Village. He holds the pixies hostage to get them to reveal the location of the Pixie Village, but they refused to do so. The princess of Andros, Aisha, despite her best efforts, could not save them. She then got the Winx Club's help when they rescued her. Unfortunately, Darkar also got help from the Trix. He did this by releasing the Trix from The Fortress of Light (Roccaluce) to assist him in his quest and gave them Gloomix power.
 * -|Season 2=

After he obtained two of the four pieces, he made the fake Avalon that he had sent to Alfea to put a shadow virus on Bloom to turn her into Dark Bloom. Darkar then used her as his puppet to get Alfea's piece of the Codex. He obtained the final piece of the Codex when he sent Icy after Livy to get Pixie Village's part of the Codex. Icy succeeded with the help of her sisters, Darcy and Stormy.

He then ordered Avalon's shadow clone to abduct Bloom and when she was in his castle, he cast the Shadow Spell on Bloom again and used her and her Dragon Flame, since he needed a power of Light to counter his power of Darkness, to open the Portal to Relix. But when the Trix confronted him, saying they did all the work, he told them that they had only been his pawns and were now useless to him and sent them to the Dark Void: Oblivion. He almost succeeded in gaining the Ultimate Power of Relix, but as he was absorbing the power, Sky told Bloom that he loved her and the love for him in her heart caused her to use her healing power on herself and the others and broke the Shadow Spell as well as destroying the Power. The Trix, fused into one body, tapping into their Gloomix, took on Darkar, but were knocked out. All six of the Winx members used a Charmix Convergence to defeat Darkar and, according to Faragonda, destroyed him. The Trix (still fused into one body) remained imprisoned in Relix, which was then apparently sealed for good since the Codex and its copy had been used and no other Codex has been shown to exist, till they were sent to the Omega Dimension some weeks later (it is not known how the authorities of the Magic Dimension were able to go to Relix to catch the Trix since the only known pieces of the Codex had all been used). His Castle collapsed after he was destroyed, probably because it was his Evil powers which were maintained in it. It is likely all his shadow monsters were destroyed as well.

It can, however, be questioned whether Lord Darkar is really dead or not since, in Up To Their Old Trix, Professor Wizgiz said that everything needs to have an equal opposite to continue existing and to maintain the balance of the Universe, and that a power's opposite is automatically created along with itself. This means that the Shadow Phoenix and the Great Dragon were born at the same time and that they also need each other to counter each other's powers and maintain the balance of the Universe. It could be that Lord Darkar is still alive, imprisoned in the Relix Dimension, or it could also be that he effectively died, but that his power or his essence still exists, but in a disembodied form, maintaining the balance of the Magic Dimension by countering the power of the Dragon Fire (similar to the Great Dragon: while the Dragon itself no longer exists, its power still exists in the disembodied form of the Dragon Flame which has been passed down through generations of the Royal Family of Domino). If so, his disembodied essence was likely sealed in Oblivion after his death, as Valtor's was when he was destroyed.

He was mentioned in a few episodes. In "The Heart and the Sword" Vanessa tells Bloom when Darkar had placed her under a dark spell and Sky confessed his love for Bloom to save her.
 * -|Season 3=

Later he was then mentioned in "Alfea Under Siege" when Stormy suggests to Valtor about setting up quarters at Darkar's Fortress when he was not satisfied with his hideout in Andros anymore.

He was again mentioned in "Wizard's Anger" when Icy complains to Darcy and Stormy about how they get abused by Darkar and then Valtor.

Specials
Darkar is called the Shadow Phoenix and appears at Alfea disguised as Professor Avalon. He captured Bloom for her to open the Realm of Relix.
 * -|The Shadow Phoenix=

Magical Abilities


Lord Darkar is the polar opposite of the Dragon's Flame, and almost equally as powerful. While the Great Dragon is a source of light, life and energy, Lord Darkar absorbs it, thus creating an opposite essence of the Dragon Flame and is a source of negative energy. He is capable of creating his own army of shadow monsters and even shadow clones of people like he does with Avalon. He also turned Bloom into Dark Bloom by using his dark magic/energy. He can fire powerful dark energy beams and create energy shields, and energy bubbles to confine the pixies.

Darkar also has demonstrated the power to summon, create, control and/or manipulate darkness and/or shadows to his own whim and desire like creating barriers, beams of energy or blasts of power, and the power to transform into a giant phoenix-like creature as well as disguise himself.

In addition to his magic powers, he has long, razor-sharp claws that deal large damage.

Trivia

 * Lord Darkar is the first male villain in the whole Winx Universe.
 * He is also the first main villain to die.
 * In the 4Kids version, the man who tried to control the Shadow Fire and ended up becoming the Shadow Phoenix was named Argulus.
 * Ogron's ability to absorb the Fairies' powers is slightly similar to Darkar's ability to absorb all energy. The Wizards turning Mitzi and her friends in Season 4 is also similar to how Darkar gave the Gloomix to the Trix and how he turned Bloom into Dark Bloom. Ogron's red hair and Darkar's red color also increases this similarity.
 * Lord Darkar is a typical Dark Lord, having the same personality as well as all the attributes of most Dark Lords.
 * Lord Darkar is the most powerful villian in Magic Dimension
 * His appearance is similar to that of Sauron and Morgoth in the The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion books of J.R.R. Tolkien, especially to how Sauron appeared in the The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring movie adaptation, wearing/his body being like a dark armor. Even Darkar's role in Winx Club is somewhat similar to that of Morgoth and of Sauron in the World of Tolkien in the following ways:
 * In the Cinélume Version, Darkar caused the destruction of Domino by sending his servers, the Ancestral Witches there to claim the Dragon Fire, just like Morgoth caused the destruction of the Realms of the Elves and of Men in The Silmarillion, and Sauron caused the Downfall of Númenor in The Silmarillion by corrupting the minds of the people of that Kingdom.
 * Darkar's ability to change his appearance recalls the ability of both Morgoth and Sauron to transform themselves at will.
 * The Gloomix that Darkar gave the Trix also recalls the Rings of Power that Sauron gave to the different peoples of Middle-earth to make them stronger, but to turn them into his slaves as well.
 * Darkar's servers, the Ancestral Witches somewhat resemble the Nazgûl as they appeared in the Lord of the Rings books and films: once powerful and made of flesh and bones like everyone else, but later becoming wraiths (the bodies of the Ancestresses apparently perished during their imprisonment in Obsidian, and were bound to continue existing in a ghost-like appearance).
 * Darkar has similarities of some Disney villains:
 * He is similar to Hades from Hercules. Both have hot-tempers, are ruthless, use other people for their dirty works, make deals with others and are rulers of underground places. (Underworld for Hades, Lord Darkar's Fortress for Darkar).
 * He is also similar to Jafar from Aladdin. Both have a desire to rule the universe, have pets as sidekicks (Iago for Jafar, Kerbog for Darkar), have the ability to transform into snakes (Jafar turned into a snake to battle Aladdin, while Darkar turned into a snake to force the Pixies to tell him the location of their village), and have imprisoned their respective heroines at one point (Princess Jasmine for Jafar, Bloom for Darkar).
 * He is also similar to Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. Both have pets as sidekicks (Diablo and The Goons for Maleficent, and Kerbog and the Shadow Monsters for Darkar), have put their respective heroines under a spell (in Maleficent's case, she put Princess Aurora in a deep sleep by pricking her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel; while in Darkar's case, he put Bloom under a spell by turning her into Dark Bloom), and have transformed into fearsome monsters before they met their demise (in Maleficent's case, she turned into her dragon form and battled Prince Phillip before he threw the Sword of Truth into her heart; while in Darkar's case, he turned into his Phoenix form before Bloom turned back to her normal self and joined her friends to create a Charmix convergence to destroy Darkar).
 * Lord Darkar's methods of acquiring the Ultimate Power from the Relix Realm is very similar to Arkham's methods of aquiring the power of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda from the Demon World in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening.
 * Faragonda called Lord Darkar "The Prince of the Darkness" in the original series. But in the fourth Winx Club special, she only refers to him as "the Shadow Phoenix".
 * In Season 1 Darcy said that the level of dark energy in Riven was equal to that of the "Prince of Darkness". It is however unknown whether the "Prince of Darkness" she was referring to was Lord Darkar or not, maybe it was just a metaphor used by her to describe Riven's character.
 * In the original version, his servant disguised himself as Avalon, while in the Nick special, he himself was disguised as Avalon.
 * Darkar was never seen during season 3 due to his death at the end of season 2. But he is mentioned in a few episodes. First in The Heart and the Sword when Vanessa tells Bloom when he placed her under a dark spell and Sky confessed his love for Bloom to save her, then in Alfea Under Siege when Stormy suggests to Valtor about setting up quarters at Darkar's Fortress when he was not satisfied with his hideout in Andros anymore, and finally in Wizard's Anger when Icy complains to Darcy and Stormy about how they get abused by Darkar and then Valtor. He is also seen in flashbacks to the final battle (mostly his tails as the Shadow Phoenix).
 * A picture of him is also seen at the beginning of Season 4 along with pictures of the other villains, such as the Trix and Valtor.
 * He is the first person to double-cross the Trix.