Ancestral Witches

The Ancestral Witches (alternatively known as the Ancestresses or the Three Ancient Witches) are a trio of three witches of antiquity. They represent the epitome of absolute Evil. They caused the massive destruction of Domino while attempting to acquire the Dragon Flame. They killed Daphne during the attack on Domino when she saved Bloom from their wrath. In the French novel adaptation of the movie, their names are stated to be Belladone (or Belladona), Lysliss, and Tharma, and their birthplace is said to be the Realm of Obsidian.

Background
Valtor mentions them as being the "mothers of all witches" in the third season. It is unknown what is the exact meaning of this title since the Trix are the only witches known to have claimed descent from them. However, the only ones the Ancestresses mentioned as being related to them is Valtor, whom they called their "son" when they forced him to assume his original, demon form. All the other witches to have mentioned the Ancestresses in the series usually called them as "their (the Trix's) ancestors". It is possible that the Ancestresses were in fact the first beings to have started using witchcraft and were the very first witches (which could explain their name, the Ancestral Witches), and initiators of witchcraft, therefore making them the mothers of witchcraft. A proof of this was when Bloom goes to Domino in the first season, her crown tells her that the Ancestral Witches were the first creatures of Evil (Lord Darkar cannot be said to be a creature of Evil as, even if he was born at the beginning of Time, it was stated in the series that he is Evil personified). This makes them in a sense the mothers of all witches, since they thus become the ones who first began using the magic which all witches use. As stated by the series, usually the person decides which way to choose, that of fairy magic or that of witchcraft (the case of Mirta, in the Rai version). By choosing to become witches they adopt the magic possibly begun by the Ancestresses.

Season 1
They are mentioned in the first season as being the ancestors of the Trix who were trying to find the power of the Dragon Fire so as to continue the objective and avenge of the Ancestresses. Faragonda and Griffin also mention that they took part, along with Saladin in defeating these witches.

Winx Club: Revenge of the Trix
Coming Soon

Season 2
They are again mentioned by Faragonda in the second season of the French Version as being under the orders of Lord Darkar when they attacked Domino.

Season 3
In the third season it is revealed that they were the ones who created Valtor after they found a piece of the Dragon Flame which had mingled with the Darkness, and brought him up as their own son. Later, when he was old enough, they sent him to conquer all the dimensions in their name. Faragonda tells Bloom that her father, Oritel, and her mother, Mariam, had formed the Company of Light in order to fight the Ancestresses, and that both her parents had disappeared on the day of the final battle between the Company of Light and the witches, as also stated by Hagen in the first movie, Secrets of the Lost Kingdom. Later in the season, when Valtor claims to have absorbed Mariam and Oritel in his body, Faragonda tries to contact them, she says to Bloom that part of the essence of the three witches is still present in the Crypt of Cloud Tower, and that they can be contacted from there. Towards the season finale, they try to use Valtor as a medium to get their revenge for having been imprisoned in Obsidian (then mentioned as limbo) because they were themselves unable to influence the outer world, while still having influence on Valtor since he was their son. They told him that it was his punishment for having wasted his powers in his thirst for revenge, that the Dragon Flame was claiming him, and that he had to return to it, much to his protests, as he claimed that they were the ones who created him from the Flame and that he would remain Valtor for ever. They then turned him into his original demon-like form in such a way that he would never be able to return to his man-like appearance and ordered him to cross the Inter-dimensional Portal of Andros to destroy the Magic Dimension. However, they are not successful as Bloom finds and defeats Valtor just before he goes on to obey his mothers' orders. Before being defeated for good, he tries to convince Bloom to join forces with him against the Ancestresses as a means of regaining her parents and that Oritel and Mariam disappeared because of them, to which Bloom does not heed, knowing that he is in fact lying.

The Secret of the Lost Kingdom
In the movie, the Ancestresses act as the main villains. They are shown as being the prisoners of the Obsidian Circle, where they continually have to bear the presence of Oritel's sword. After Bloom talks with Daphne in her dream, her hope lights up again, causing the piece of the Dragon Flame in the sword also to ignite up. The heat of the Flame becomes so unbearable to them that they send their servant, Mandragora, to find out where the Dragon Flame is. Mandragora then finds out, and informs the witches that Bloom is alive. The witches apparently thought that the Bloom was dead since they did not see Daphne sending Bloom to Earth in the flashbacks of the first season, and were unable to force Daphne to reveal anything about her sister (which is why they ended by killing her). Valtor may also have lied that he had killed Mariam and Oritel's little daughter in an attempt to weaken them by devastating them, as no reason has been given why they used and exhausted all their remaining forces to defeat Valtor and seal him in the Omega Dimension during the last battle with the Company of Light when they thought that their daughters were dead. When the Winx finally enter the Realm of Obsidian, Bloom sees the scene when the Company of Light almost defeated the Ancestresses, and how one of them grabbed Oritel, and how Mariam entered Oritel's sword, before they disappeared in the Obsidian Circle. The witches tell the Winx how they enjoyed torturing the inhabitants of Domino who were also imprisoned in the Obsidian Dimension, and try to convince Bloom to destroy Oritel's sword. They almost succeeded after they showed Bloom a vision of Mandragora at Gardenia, ready to kill her adoptive parents, Mike and Vanessa, at least till the point where Mike was shown playing with a small Fairy cat. Bloom then told the witches that Mike is allergic to cats, and that their plan had failed, before starting to attack them, almost exhausting her magic powers, the darkness of the Realm of Obsidian absorbing her energy. At that moment, Daphne came to Bloom's help but, even together, both their powers were weakened by the Darkness around them, and the witches became more powerful when Mandragora arrived to help her mistresses. In the climax of the movie, the witches possessed Mandragora and tried to kill Bloom and Daphne, had it not been for Sky who, now being the new king of Eraklyon, used Oritel's sword to pierce Mandragora's body (plus the witches' spirits) as Bloom used all of her Dragon Fire's power to destroy the evil beings. The witches were defeated, Mandragora was killed, and the Realm of Obsidian itself was destroyed, freeing all the inhabitants of Domino, the Specialists, and the Winx. However, at the end of the movie, the witches were shown together with Icy, Darcy and Stormy, the Trix, their heirs, meaning that the ancestors and descendants have now allied against the Winx.

Magic Adventure
They do not appear at all in the fourth season, but they act as the main villains again, together with the Trix, in the second movie. They send the Trix to steal a magical compass which indicates its user where what it wishes the most lies and, using it, they find the Tree of Life at the Pixie Village. Using a powerful spell, the Trix cause the Tree's evil part (it is made up of two halves, one with Positive energy flowing in it, and the other having Negative energy in it) to take over the whole of it, causing all the Postive energy in the Universe to disappear, and leaving only Negative energy. Later, when the Ancestresses discover that there still remained a leaf representing Positive energy in the Tree, preventing them from obtaining the Ultimate Power they were seeking, they send the Trix on Eraklyon to take something from Erendor. It is later revealed by Sky that when his father was young, he had allied with the Company of Light to fight against the three Ancient Witches, but they threatened him of destroying his kingdom if ever he helped Oritel. Erendor ended by betraying Oritel and made a deal with the witches in which he engaged himself not to help Domino, in exchange of which the witches gave him a magical hourglass which would protect his kingdom from evil. Later, when he regretted his actions, he went to Havram, a city on Eraklyon which has been haunted by wandering Shadows and where nothing, including technology, works properly like in the rest of the Universe. He ended by breaking the hourglass, which instead caused a sapling of the Tree of Life containing energy from the Positive part of Tree of Life to grow on it. Under the orders of the Ancestresses, the Trix attack Erendor in trying to find out where is the gift the Ancestresses gave him. Despite Oritel's efforts to help his friend when he goes to Eraklyon, the witches capture Erendor and fly away. Meanwhile the three ancient witches try to harm the Winx by causing the clouds to attack the flying boat they are using to go to Havram. The Winx manage however to arrive to the haunted city, but find the Trix, with Icy using Erendor as hostage, and the Ancestresses there and have to battle them without any magic, being powerless, but they receive aid from Oritel. Bloom and Sky, who were separated from the rest of the group, manage to find the magical sapling which can restore the balance of the Magic Dimension, but they are attacked by Icy, under Belladona's orders, who ends up by hitting the sapling when she was trying to attack Bloom, causing one of the Ancestresses to get angry. All the Good Magic was in that sapling after the witches made the Tree's Negative part take over the whole of it, and it was released when Icy destroyed the sapling while trying to attack Bloom, returning their powers to the Fairies. Bloom and Sky meet with the rest of the group and, able to use their Believix powers again, the Winx fight the Trix, who prove to be too weak to face them. The Ancestral Witches decide to take over the bodies of the Trix (partly as a punishment for having restored the Positive energy of the Magic Dimension and hence ruined their plan), who attempt to flee, in vain. Having become extremely powerful, the Ancestress-possessed Trix become too strong for the combined forces of the Winx, the Specialists, Oritel and Erendor, and Bloom herself is difficultly able to face the possessed Icy and, in an attempt to protect her from another attack of Icy, Erendor is severely wounded. However, Oritel manages to temporarily distract the witches by attacking them and, using a Believix convergence, the Winx summon the essence of the dragon flame, which extracts the Ancestresses from the Trix and destroys them once and for all, ironically, since they end up by being destroyed by the power which they had once seeked the most.

Appearance
In the Second Movie, the Ancestral Witches appear like spirits even in the flashbacks when Sky tells Bloom about the deal his father made with the witches. It is unknown why they appear like that.