Fairy

Overview
Fairies are magical creatures that live in the Magic Dimension. Throughout the Winx Club series, many kinds of Fairies have been seen. These include normal Fairies, like the Winx girls and other Alfea students, as well as other magical beings such as Arcadia, the Ethereal Fairies, and the Rustic Fairies.The Winx are highest level fairies aside from Daphne in existance.

All Fairies are mostly humanoid in appearance, with the normal Fairies looking exacly like humans, but with wings when transformed, while Arcadia and the Ethereal Fairies have a less human features and look more like purely magical beings. The Rustic Fairies have goats' legs, fur instead of clothing and hair shaped like horns. The source of the powers of all types of Fairies is from their positive feelings and from light, which makes them very similar to the Elves magically. Opposing them magically are Witches, who also fight evil but using their dark magic, and this reflects itself in the colorful and sparkling clothes that normal Fairies like the Winx wear in Fairy mode.

Most Fairies are known to have used their powers for good purposes and protect the Magic Dimension from the forces of evil, and have collaborated with other magical beings like Elves, Witches and Wizards to fight evil, one example being the Company of Light. However some Fairies are known to have allied themselves with the evil forces for their own selfish motives, such as Countess Cassandra, Chimera and Princess Diaspro who allied themelves with Valtor in Season 3. Other Fairies, while they did not really switch to the dark side or ally themselves with the forces of evil, have however been on the bad side and done bad things. The Vengeance of the Earth Fairies from Season 4 is such an example, where the Earth Fairies, after being freed from Tir Nan Og, decided to seek revenge not only from the Wizards of the Black Circle who trapped them, but also from the human world for forgetting them and they even attacked the Winx who protected the humans. One of them, Nebula, went so far as to overthrow Morgana, the Fairy Queen of Tir Nan Og, and proclaim herself as new Queen of the Earth Fairies and, after defeating the Wizards for good, wanted to conquer the human world and rule it, being ready to destroy anyone who would come in her way. Nebula and the Earth Fairies however repented and returned to the good side. Some Alfea Fairy students have also been known to be mean.

The Fairies, Witches and humans form the main part of the society of the Magic Dimension, the proportion of each varying across realms, with other magical beings such as the Elves, Leprechauns Ogres, Wizards and other magical beings also being present in some realms, and it seems that the Fairies tend to be the main members of the societies of most realms of the Magic Dimension.

Origin and History of Fairies
Arcadia was described in Season 3 as the first Fairy to have ever flied in the skies of the Magic Dimension. However it is unknown whether she is in fact the ancestor of all Fairies existing or not and it is most probable that she is only the first being to ever have Fairy powers, and does not have family relations to the other Fairies. The Ethereal Fairies have also been mentioned in Season 4 as extremely powerful Fairies from the beginning of Time but, since they described themselves as being made of pure energy, it is extremely unlikely that they are related to either normal Fairies or Arcadia.

Since both Arcadia and the Ethereal Fairies are said to have been existing since the beginning of Time, most probably they were born when the Great Dragon created the Magic Dimension, Arcadia being the first one to come into existance.

Other ancient and powerful fairies mentioned in the series are the nine Nymphs of Magix who, after the disappearance of the Great Dragon, ruled the fate of the Magic Dimension and were the previous Keepers of the Dragon Flame before the destruction of the Realm of Domino, after which the Dragon's Flame was lost for 16 years.

Earth was also protected by Fairies in the past, but then the Wizards of the Black Circle found a way to resist to the Fairies' magic and absorb it and began the Great Fairy Hunt which lasted for centuries, till the Winx freed all of them in Season 4.

Arcadia
Arcadia is the first fairy to have ever existed. She seems to be very powerful, and the power or the tests of the Crystal Labyrinth may have been set up using Aurora's power since she can also undo the effects of the Labyrinth. Arcadia is powerful enough to guard the Water Stars, which are the opposite of the Dragon Flame. Since she has been living since the beginning of the magic dimension, she is assumed to be immortal.

Ethereal Fairies
The Ethereal Fairies are magical creatures made up of pure magical energy and who are timeless, meaning that they are immortal. They appear to be extremely powerful, and to have the ability to see the future. They are also the guardians of many powers, such as the Gifts of Destiny.

Rustic Fairies
The Rustic Fairies, although they are not all-powerful fairies, are different from other fairies because they are also part goat /horse. Their magical powers have not been seen yet.

Normal Fairies
In magical strength, Fairies are as powerful as Witches and their relative strengths depends on how much the fairy or witch has been trained. For example, the Trix originally seemed much stronger that the Winx, but this may have been because the Trix were senior students at Cloud Tower while the Winx were freshman students (except Stella, who, however, was not very interested in studying and was held back) and because the Trix, being descendants of the Ancestresses, were more powerful than the other witches (which was shown when the Trix took over Cloud Tower and led the Army of Darkness to attack the magic dimension in Season 1). However the Fairy of the Dragon Flame, who is the Keeper of the power of the Great Dragon who created the Magic Dimension, is the most powerful being in the whole Magical Universe.

Even though they are magical opposites, Fairies can converge their magic with Witches, which shows that there is a magical link between them that enables witches to combine their negative energies and dark powers with the positive energies and powers of light of fairies, as seen in Season 1 episode 24.

Just like witches have powers specific to them, fairies also have specific powers but due to the Fairies' powers being based on good magic, the source of their powers are often things with positive aspects or which can be useful, like Water, Nature, Music and Technology for Aisha, Flora, Musa and Tecna.

Just like the Witches who attend Cloud Tower, Fairies must attend school to become full-fledged Fairies and master all their powers.To do so fairies attend the Alfea School for Fairies in the Dimension of Magix. There the Fairies are taught and trained to develop, increase and converge their powers and to use their powers responsibly so as to help preserve the Magic Dimension and fight against evil, and both Fairies and Witches make efforts to become more powerful to help protect the Magic Dimension from evil, by using good magic for Fairies and by using dark magic for Witches.

Unlike Witches, who are known to work for their selfish and personal means, though this is mostly a cliché, Fairies mostly work to help others, even though some of them have been so selfish that they allied themselves with evil, like Cassandra, Chimera and Diaspro who became Valtor's allies in Season 3.

The Fairies' powers are however vulnerable to some dark powers, such as those of Darkar, who had the ability to absorb all energy to make him more stronger, since he was the absolute opposite of the Great Dragon, whose power was to release energy. The Wizards of the Black Circle also developed a powerful spell enclosed in their Black Circle that allowed them to resist to the Fairies' magic and to steal their powers by plucking their wings. This spell was used by them to capture all the Earth Fairies and would allow them, once they had captured all the Fairies of Earth and stolen all their powers, to become the masters of the Earth Dimension. Only the Believix powers of the Winx, the power of the White Circle and the positive energy released when the Earth Fairies were freed was able to weaken the Black Circle.

From Season 4 it was also revealed that the powers of the Fairies are bonded to their wings, since it was by plucking their wings that the Wizards of the Black Circle stole the powers of the Earth Fairies.



Fairy Forms
Even if Fairies are magical creatures, their abilities are limited in civilian form and they have to transform themselves into fairy mode, where they can use their powers with greater ease and are able to use their magic for more attacks and spells, and they also gain wings which allow them to fly, as well as sparkling clothes.

As the powers of fairies grow, they also gain different transformations called Fairy Levels, which each gives them new abilities. The first one, the standard Fairy Level, also known as Winx level, enables the Fairies to use their power more easily than in civilian mode. Charmix gained by Fairies by overcoming their personal difficulties and boosts their powers. Enchantix is gained when Fairies save someone from their own realm and gives the Fairies many new powers, such as the use of Fairy Dust and Miniaturization. A fairy studies for three years at Alfea, one for each transformation and, once Fairies earns their Enchantix and graduate, they become Guardian Fairies whose duty is to protect the magic Dimension from the forces of evil and all the other threats it faces.

After Enchantix there is an infinite number of new transformations, called Higher Fairy Levels, which can be earned in specific situations, and which gives Fairies new powers which make them even more powerful and allows them to help people better than Enchantix Fairies can, such as Believix, which is obtained by making people believe in magic and which gives the Fairy the ability to reach the heart of people and to make them have positive feelings. Other transformations, such as Lovix, Sophix and Sirenix are gained from a power source.

Major Fairies
In Season 4, the Major Fairies of Earth were introduced. They are the Supreme Guardians of Nature and they are each bonded to a power source which itself derives all its energy from nature. These power sources themselves contain all the essence of what the Major Fairy bonded to them stands for, such as the Sacred Flower of Diana, which is the very heart of nature, and the Blizzard of Aurora, which has the power to freeze the whole Universe. They are in fact so powerful that the Believix powers of the Winx, who are already the Guardian Fairies of the Magic Dimension, were not enough and they had to use the Gifts of Destiny to fight the power of these Fairies.

Nymphs of Magix
The Nymphs of Magix were nine all-poweful Fairies who ruled the fate of the Magic Dimension after the disappearance of the Great Dragon. They are supposed to be the most powerful being of the whole Magic Dimension, even more powerful than Arcadia or the Ethereal Fairies. However, since they are normal fairies, they are also mortal.



Pixies
As part of their journey to become full fleged Fairies, every Fairy must bond with a Pixie. The Pixies help the Fairies with their own powers as well as with their daily life and their personality sucn that the Fairy and the Pixie are complementary. Some Fairies may bond with a Pixie having a personality alike to theirs, such as Tecna and Digit, while others may bond with a Pixie who is their personality is complete opposite, like Musa and Tune. Other bondings are not specifically based on personality, but instead on what is in the heart of the Fairy, such as Lockette, the Pixie of Keys and Portals, who is bonded to Bloom who has many secrets surrounding her that need to be unlocked, and Amore, the Pixie of Love, bonded to Stella who may seem to be superficial, but whose greatest dream is to bring back the love that used to be between her parents. Piff helps Aisha with the many nightmares that are in her life, and Chatta helps Flora, who is very shy, to have more courage.

Selkies


As part of their journey to become accomplished fairies, some fairies may bond with a Selkie. However, this is not always the case, as Krystal will possibly never bond with a selkie as there is only one known selkie in Linphea and in order to bond with a selkie she must gain Sirenix, which is a rare and ancient power. The same applies to other fairies from the Winx's home realm. The Selkies help the fairies with their own powers as well as in the underwater world. Some fairies may bond with a selkie having a personality alike to theirs, such as Musa and Sonna, or Flora and Desiryee, while the others may bond with a selkie who their personality is complete opposite, like Aisha and Lemmy. Other bondings are not specifically based on personality, but instead on what is in the heart of the fairy or the home realm of that fairy. The selkies are underwater equivalents of the pixies.

Different Species?
Two Fairies, Faragonda and Mirta, once used to be Witches. This implies that young girls can still choose into becoming either a Fairy or a Witch depending on their personalities.

Since Bloom and Roxy discovered their powers when they were 16 years-old and usually Fairies and Witches join Alfea and Cloud Tower at this age, and Mirta turned into a Fairy from a Witch around this age, it is possible that the powers of Witches' and Fairies' power start appearing around this age.

Therefore someone can still choose between becoming a Fairy or a Witch so long as they have not become full-fledged Fairies or Witches, or till their powers do not become fully associated with Darkness or Light.

It is thus supposed that children choose to become Witches or Fairies, or that a Witch can become a Fairy and vice-versa, as it has been mentioned on the Official Winx Club Site after the Season 2 revamp that Miss Faragonda used to be a Witch before becoming a Fairy, and it is also seen when Mirta who was a Witch in Season 1 became a Fairy after transferring to Alfea, her Fairy transformation being shown in Season 3. Therefore Witches and Fairies are not two different species, but people of the same species who chose to use different types of magic.

Problems between Witches and Fairies
Witches and Fairies tend to have opposed natures and this causes rivalry and may lead to tensions between them, like in the ninth episode of Season 1, where many witches joined the Trix to attack Musa and later fight the Specialists and the rest of the Winx girls.

At the beginning of Season 1, in the third episode, the Witches were so angry that they had not been invited to the party at Alfea that they decided to crash the party and Miss Griffin complains that the Cloud Tower students are never invited to the parties at Alfea and Red Fountain.

However, by the end of the season the tensions seem to have decreased between the Cloud Tower students and the Alfea students because of the Witches stay at Alfea when the Trix took control of Cloud Tower and because they all fought together against the Trix. In the 8th episode of Season 2 the Witches are even invited to the inauguration of the new Red Fountain building and later in the season Mirta explains to the Winx that most Witches do not like Fairies because they think that Fairies live easy lives at Alfea while they have to do efforts.

The temporary stay of the Winx at Cloud Tower clears more misunderstandings between Witches and Fairies, and both Fairies and Witches start having better opinions of each other. By the end of the Season the Witches are even invited to the party at Alfea. In Season 3, when Valtor takes control of Cloud Tower and sends the Witches to attack Alfea after turning them into his slaves, Flora is shocked on seeing the Witches attacking, saying that she thought the Alfea Fairies and the Cloud Tower Witches were now friends.

In the second movie, however, when the Witches crash the beginning of year ceremony by putting a spell on the food so that whoever eats it becomes a toad, Miss Faragonda complains that the Cloud Tower Witches had also made pranks like bombarding Alfea with drops of storm and stuffing the cakes with roaches and snakes during the party the two previous years (i.e. in the years The Secret of the Lost Kingdom and Season 4 took place), and Miss Griffin answers that Faragonda herself insists on having that party every year, but Fairies and Witches just do not mix. This means that even if the Witches are now friends with the Fairies they still like to cause mischief by playing pranks on the Fairies, this also means there is some friendly rivalry between them.

A perfect example of Witch-Fairy friendship is the friendship between Miss Griffin and Miss Faragonda as even if they can sometimes be rivals, they are also very good friends. The friendship between Mirta and Lucy, especially after Season 2, is also similar, as Lucy ends by accepting Mirta as now being a Fairy and Mirta accepts and respects Lucy's decision to become an accomplished Witch and both decide to remain good friends despite their differences, though it still remains a friendship full of rivalry.

Male Fairies
Most of the fairies seen in the series are female fairies, but in the first and second movies male Fairies were seen on Domino. It is unknown where do they do for their education, as male fairies were never seen at Alfea. Their magical abilities and whether these are similar to those of female fairies are unknown. It is assumed that they also go through the same fairy levels as the female fairies: standard fairy level, Charmix and Enchantix, but with more masculine outfits. Since the only male fairies ever seen were on Domino, it could be that male fairies are only found on Domino, though it seems unlikely.