Valtor

Valtor is the main antagonist of the third and eighth seasons of Winx Club.

Appearance
As the unoriginal human, Valtor is revealed to be a very pale and tall man who looks to be physically around his thirties or even early forties with waist-length light brown, almost strawberry blonde hair that has bangs hanging on either side, thin grey eyes with dark purple eyeshadow and notably high cheekbones.

In Season 8, his appearance remains the same but with some minor facial changes.

Humanoid
His attire consists of a long maroon-colored jacket with a lavender inner layer and gold pins over the folded cuffs. Under it, he wears a violet vest over a white ruffled shirt, violet dress pants and grayish-indigo knee-high boots. He also wears dark indigo gloves.

In Season 8, he appears to have a pink diamond on his white ruffled shirt and he does not wear his gloves and his knee-high boots appears to be in maroon-colored as well.

Fawn
He appears as a common fawn, with blue eyes, and antlers that stretch out to the side of his head.

Demon
As a demon in original form, Valtor is a gargoyle-like creature, maroon in color, with a huge, muscular build, large bat-like wings and light blue eyes seemingly without any pupils.

Personality
Valtor is a very demonic and wicked man who places all of his wick in his power and wit, which can naturally make him become defensive should anyone question either quality. Observant, patient and intelligent, Valtor prefers to study his opponents before attacking them; learning their weaknesses until he can find the most exploitable one. These traits, coupled with his tendency to hold grudges that last for decades, make him an incredibly ruthless force to be reckoned with, especially as his grudges only serve as fuel to intensify whatever torment he wishes to inflict upon the target of his grudges. The most notable case of this was Bloom as Valtor sought to destroy her life inside and out before destroying her with his own hands all because Oritel and Marion (Bloom's birth parents) were responsible for his defeat and later imprisonment in the Omega Dimension.

Valtor is a skilled manipulator that can force anyone to do as he needs. In addition to powerful spells, he uses his mind and boundless cunning, as well as charm and the art of deceiving and confusing the opponent.

Despite all these powerful traits, Valtor appears to have somewhat of a fragile ego as, when the Winx continued to disrupt his plans, he grew angrier and more impatient. He does not forgive any insults and cherishes the trophies he has gained.

In Season 8, he is more irritable. He is also a little less active as in Season 8, as he has others do his bidding unlike in Season 3 where he still did a lot on his own, without someone else as he conquered planets and stole their spells, doing it without any help.

Magical Abilities
Since he was formed directly from a corrupted spark of the Dragon's Flame, Valtor's powers were derived from it before his first defeat at the end of Season 3. He can also manipulate the essence of his Dragon Flame to confuse Bloom knowing that, as the current Keeper of the Dragon Flame, she would be able to sense him through that essence. His magic is usually dark blue in color.

After he was revived, Valtor's powers appear to no longer be derived from the Dragon's Flame, as he was unable to capture the Wishing Star because his magic was not compatible with the Dragon's Flame spark which formed the Wishing Star's essence. Due to this he needed the Trix to capture the Wishing Star for him instead since the powers of Fairies and Witches were derived from the Dragon's Flame and therefore were not incompatible with the powers of the Wishing Star. Obscurum also mentioned that Valtor's powers are dark powers, confirming that after he was revived, Valtor's powers were derived from some form of darkness alien to the Magic Dimension and no longer from the Dragon's Flame. Additionally, as a wizard with thousands of years of experience conquering realms and being taught under the Three Ancestresses, Valtor showcases a wide array of spells and abilities ranging from firing bolts of energy and flames to telekinesis and intangibility. A majority of his spells used with his own magic are dark and illusory in nature, which shows that Valtor seems to have a mastery over those two types of magic specifically.

His literal trademark is the Mark of Valtor, which allows him to either place one or many beings under his command, turn them into rampaging monsters or boost their magical abilities so long as they pledge their allegiance to him, also giving them the ability to bestow his mark onto others, if he so chooses. Another notable aspect of his powers is that Valtor can absorb magic held within artifacts like scrolls and books. All throughout Season 3, Valtor goes to various worlds within the Magic Dimension to conquer them and absorb the strongest magic they possess to strengthen himself. He can also reuse each of the spells he absorbs but can only contain so many spells himself before needing to store them elsewhere; leading to his theft of the Agador Box in "Valtor's Box." Additionally, Valtor has to wait a short amount of time whenever he absorbs the magic he steals as doing so makes his own magic temporarily unstable.

One major skill of Valtor's is that, with and without his magic, he is an expert liar and manipulator. In most cases, the lies he tells others (mainly Bloom) prove to be more effective than physical oppression. Using his charm and intellect efficiently and effectively, Valtor has been able to weasel his way out of dire situations, steal objects necessary to his goals like the Agador Box, or coerce others to willingly work for him, which also makes his goal of interdimensional conquest much easier. However, Valtor's deceitful nature can also prove to be his downfall as his constant gaslighting of others makes him untrustworthy. Presumably, this was partly what led to his imprisonment in Omega, as he was sealed there by Oritel and Marion after making them believe he had already killed their young daughters when, in fact, Bloom made it out alive while Daphne was rendered a disembodied spirit by the Ancestresses. This also led to his final defeat and destruction at Bloom's hand, as his initial lie of absorbing her parents within his body upon defeating them to get out of facing the full brunt of the Water Stars and continued gaslighting throughout the course of the season left Bloom completely incapable of trusting him. Even as he told the truth about her parents in a desperate attempt at getting her to side with him, Bloom refused to join his side as she believed this to be another lie, and finally destroyed him.

Lastly, Valtor can also assume the form of a huge demon, which grants him more physical strength and enhanced magic resistance. Though he is able to fly without them, Valtor gains a large pair of wings in this form which he can use to release powerful wind gusts, like he does in the episode "A New Beginning." Even without his demonic form though, Valtor is shown to possess some knowledge of physical combat during his raid on the realm of Ohm in "The Island of Dragons."

Uses of Magic

 * Magic Meltdown
 * Negation Spell
 * Oppositus Power
 * "In the name of Valtor, may you be enwrapped by the eternal darkness!" - This spell gave Aisha/Layla blindness, it was used in "The Sea of Fear."
 * "Cobalt Charge!" - Only named in the Nickelodeon dub, Valtor bestows Stormy with some of his stolen magic, which enables her to create Storm Harpies. Used in "The Black Willow's Tears."
 * "Power of the wind, power of ice, power of darkness, amplify!" - This spell gave the Trix their Amplified Form in "Witches' Revelation."
 * "My dark giants, rise up to the light from the depths of the sea!" - Used to summon the Dark Giants in "Surprise Party on Earth."

Etymology

 * Valtor's name might derived from the German name Walter, which means "ruler of the army," or from Valtorr, a mystical deity with an armored snake-like appearance who appears in the fictional universe published by Marvel Comics.

Inspirations

 * Many similarities can be observed between Valtor and Lord Voldemort of the Harry Potter series. These include:
 * Both Valtor and Voldemort are unusually pale.
 * Valtor's Mark bears resemblance to Voldemort's Dark Mark. In both cases, those who serve them have their marks placed on their bodies with Voldemort's Dark Mark appearing on the arms while Valtor's Mark appears on the neck, but as seen in season 8, the mark can also appear on the hand. Also, whenever either Valtor or Voldemort accomplish something important for their goals, their marks can be seen in the sky.
 * Valtor was involved in the disappearance of Bloom's parents just as Voldemort was responsible for the death of Harry Potter's parents. Though, unlike Voldemort, Valtor was not the direct cause of Oritel and Marion's disappearance and they even remained alive, unlike Harry Potter's parents.
 * Both Valtor and Voldemort disappeared when their nemeses were still babies only to return many years later when their respective enemies had grown up and become teenagers.
 * Valtor and Bloom share a connection through the Dragon Flame much like how Voldemort and Harry share a similar connection through their wands as well as through the piece of Voldemort's soul that was inside Harry.
 * Both Valtor and Voldemort were betrayed by someone who once fought alongside them and now lead a school that teaches dark magic whose inhabitants are mostly not evil. For Valtor, this was Griffin, headmistress of the Cloud Tower School for Witches whereas, for Voldemort, it was Igor Karkaroff, headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute.
 * In the episode "Alfea Under Siege," Valtor destroys the barrier surrounding Alfea in a similar style to how Voldemort destroys the barrier surrounding Hogwarts. Interestingly, this scene was exclusive to the final film, which came out after the series's third season, which could suggest that Valtor might have inspired part of Voldemort's portrayal in the films.
 * The Trix's love for Valtor was similar to Bellatrix Lestrange's love Voldemort, though the Trix later betray Valtor, whereas Bellatrix remains loyal to Voldemort.
 * Valtor's demon form is similar to the look of Chernabog from Disney's Fantasia.
 * Many similarities can be observed between Valtor and Maleficent of the Sleeping Beauty cartoon. These include:
 * Both Valtor and Maleficent are unusually pale.
 * Both Valtor and Maleficent are in two forms the first is a human and the second is a winged monster.
 * Many similarities can be observed between Valtor and Melkor of the Silmarillion books. These include:
 * Both Valtor and Melkor are unusually powerful.
 * Both Valtor and Melkor turned entire beautiful Nations into evil monsters.
 * Both Valtor and Melkor own fire.
 * Many similarities can be observed between Valtor and King Sombra from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. These include:
 * Both Valtor and Sombra were imprisoned in ice many years in the past (though far longer in Sombra's case)
 * Both were introduced and killed in Season 3, are revived in the final season, and are destroyed a second time by the main characters. Also, for their first deaths, rays of light shine from them, and for their second deaths, they graphically disintegrate.
 * Both are intelligent.
 * Both are extremely powerful in terms of magic, and also more of a threat than most of the other villains. (Valtor's rival in this regard is Tritannus, and Sombra's rival is Tirek)

Trivia

 * His name changes to Baltor in the 4Kids dub.
 * The "a" in Valtor's name is pronounced two different ways in the Cinélume version.
 * In the 4Kids dub, Bloom's fairy dust reverses the Ancient Witches' spell on Baltor, and she destroys him by extinguishing his flame with her own dragon fire, as opposed to the other versions, where Bloom simply destroys Valtor with fairy dust.
 * Valtor makes short cameo on the Season 5 trailer along with other series antagonists while Bloom elaborates on the many enemies the Winx have successfully defeated. As the third season's villain, he is the third to appear after Darkar and the Trix.
 * Valtor is the first and only villain so far to share the same power as a Winx girl.
 * Oddly enough, both Ogron and Tritannus have similar facial features to Valtor. Ogron's power to absorb fairy magic and Tritannus' power to absorb toxic waste also share similarities with Valtor's own ability to absorb energy from magical treasures.
 * Both Valtor and Tritannus turned merfolk of Andros into their minions.
 * Both Valtor and Tritannus' conquests started and ended on Andros as well.
 * Valtor is the first antagonist to be involved in all episodes of a season, whether directly or indirectly. The episodes in which he does not feature deal with the consequences of his actions, and how he can subsequently be defeated.
 * Both he and Darkar are tied with having the least appearances in the Winx Club Comic Series compared to any other villain in the series. Valtor is only shown in his debut issue through a series of flashbacks and once as a specter in Stella's nightmare.
 * Thanks to his actions, Valtor is mentioned the most out of all other villains with minimal roles within the comics.
 * As of Season 8, besides the Trix, Valtor is the only villain to return as the main villain of the season and the only male villain to do so. However, if the movies are to be taken into consideration, he is the second after Tritannus.
 * In Season 8, when Valtor frees the Trix from the Limbo, bright symbols can be seen around his magic. These symbols are letters from the Alphabet of the Magi, which was used by real-life practitioners of the occult for inscriptions in talismans in the 17th century.
 * Similar symbols appeared whenever Lord Darkar used his powers. It is unknown if this is a coincidence.
 * If one assumes Season 3 takes place in 2006 (the same year it was originally released), Valtor was frozen since 1989.
 * Valtor and the Trix are the only enemies of the Winx to appear in music videos, in particular the opening for the Winx on Ice. Later, this video is used to cheer on the Winter Olympics and can be viewed on YouTube.