Issue 104: The Mirror of the Sea

The Mirror of the Sea is the one-hundred and fourth issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
Sea monsters have been spotted by fisherman in the seas of Italy. This prompts Earth's Ocean Gate Guardian, Phylla to alert the Winx of the possible threat. As it turns out the sea monsters, Charybdis and Scylla, are lovers and were once humans who had been cursed by a jealous witch, Circe. The Winx set out to help them return to normal starting with locating the Mirror of the Sea, which is held onto by the witch herself. Taking the mirror means awakening Circe who proceeds to turn the Winx into sea monsters for disrupting her slumber.

Plot
In the seas of Italy, a storm is raging in and the fishermen are in a panic - a large sea monster appears. Earth's ocean gate guardian, Phylla leads her fellow selkies to help the fishermen. She directs the selkies to keep the sea monster at bay as she teleports the fishermen and their boat to safety.

The next day, Phylla and the selkies alert the Winx of the danger brewing in the seas. Phylla informs the girls that the fishermen believe the sea monsters to be Scylla and Charybdis, mythological monsters of Greek legends who terrorized sailors. Stella mistakens the names to be fashion designers when Bloom corrects her. She then complains about saving two large "sardines" when the sun is covered by none other than the monster who had scared the fishermen.

The monster displays its fearsome size then it proceeds to dive into the waters, generating a large whirlpool, sucking in the Winx's Odysea Explorer. The Winx then transform into their Harmonix forms and dive into the waters to chase after the sea monster. Before swimming further, Aisha makes sure the Odysea does not sink.

The girls locate the sea monster; Tecna restrains it with her globotronic wall but the monster escapes. Bloom tries to attack it but her hand is grabbed by another, smaller sea monster. Phylla yells at it to release Bloom and it does so without making a fuss. The girls notice that the sea monsters mean no harm, and so, Musa decides to use her flute to understand them.

She relates the monsters' stories to the girls: the two sea monsters' names' are Scylla and Charybdis. They were once people, lovers in fact; they lived in a small village along the coast and their wedding day was approaching. A witch named Circe was also in love with Charybdis whom he had rejected. Circe's response to the rejection was not good - she casts a spell on the two of them which transformed them to the monsters they are today, and they have since lived in exile in the ocean.

Bloom asks Musa why Charybdis attacked the fishermen; Musa explains that he did not mean to but due his large size, he generates large vortexes. In conclusion, they are not evil at all but their appearances do frighten the fishermen. The Winx decide to help them and Musa tells them that they would appreciate it. However, in order to break the spell, the mirror used to cast the spell is needed.

Scylla and Charybdis shows them the location of the mirror which is on their home island. The Winx arrive at the island and only see a lighthouse. Since it was centuries ago, the location of Circe's home is uncertain. Phylla warns the girls of an evil presence, and informs them that this lighthouse is actually built atop of ancient ruins; Stella concludes that the ancient ruins is possibly Circe's home.

The Winx enter the lighthouse to search for the mirror. Inside, the lighthouse gives off a spooky and negative feeling. Tecna's detector locates a presence in the cellar, they enter with Stella using her light magic to brighten the room. The girls find a statue and what appears to be holding a mirror. Tecna senses something wrong in the statue. Aisha checks the mirror and it is the one they are looking for; she takes it but this awakens Circe from her sleep.

Flora, Musa, Tecna and Aisha battle the witch but they are no match for her; she easily takes care of them. With four down, Circe looks for the other two: Bloom and Stella. They are outside, up on the lighthouse and ready to remove the spell that was placed on Scylla and Charybdis who arrive just in time. Bloom holds up the mirror and Stella energizes the mirror with light, stripping the spell from the two lovers and transforming Circe into a sea creature...

With the spell removed, the two lovers embrace each other and thank the Winx. Bloom wonders where Circe had gone and Stella picks up Circe, the hermit crab and taunts her about being harmless. That is until she pinches Stella's fingers with her claws which leads the others to laugh.

Spells Used

 * "Reverse the rotation of the vortex!!" - Used by Aisha to return the Odysea Explorer to the surface of the ocean.
 * Globitronic Wall - Used by Tecna to capture Charybdis only for the sea serpent to break out of it.
 * Blade of the Dragon - Almost used by Bloom to attack Charybdis only to be stopped by Scylla.
 * Harmony Flute - Used by Musa to learn about the sea monsters.
 * Green Growth - Used by Flora to protect her and Musa from Circe's attack, but it fails.
 * "Through the power of light, the mirror of the sea reflects what really is in your hearts!!!" - Used by Stella with the Mirror of the Sea to remove the spell on Charybdis and Scylla, and turn Circe into a hermit crab.

Mistakes
None.

Debuts

 * Sea Monsters
 * Scylla
 * Charybdis
 * Circe
 * Harmonix

Major Characters

 * Winx Club
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Flora
 * Musa
 * Tecna
 * Aisha
 * Selkies
 * Serena
 * Illiris
 * Desiryee
 * Lemmy
 * Sonna
 * Lithia
 * Phylla

Minor Characters

 * Enemies
 * Circe
 * Humans
 * Scylla
 * Charybdis

Trivia

 * This is the first appearance of Harmonix in the comics.
 * The events in this issue are inspired by the Greek mythological poem, The Odyssey
 * Circe is inspired by the Goddess of Magic or sorceress nymph Circe from Greek Mythology, who was the daughter of the Sun God Helios and the Goddess of Magic Hecate.
 * Circe would transform those who offended her into animals and the legend most famously associated to her is part of the Greek mythological poem, The Odyssey, where the Odysseus lands on her island and she invites members of his ship's crew to a feast before turning them into pigs. With the help of the God Hermes and the Goddess Athena, Odysseus resisted Circe's magic and forced her to turn back his ship's crew into humans. When Odysseus left Circe's island, she advised him how to return to his home.
 * Charybdis gets his name from Charybdis, from Greek Mythology, who was a daughter of the Sea God Poseidon and the Earth Goddess Gaia. As punishment for supporting her father in a war against him, the King of the Gods, Poseidon's brother and Charybdis's uncle, Zeus, chained her to the bottom of the ocean and cursed her so she would become a monster with an uncontrollable thirst, which caused her to create large whirlpools when she drank sea water to quench her thirst.
 * Scylla was inspired by Scylla from Greek Mythology, a Naiad (a nymph of freshwater). The Sea God Glaucus loved Scylla, but the Sorceress Goddess Circe loved Glaucus and was jealous of Scylla, and transformed Scylla into a horrible monster out of jealousy. Scylla's monster form had four eyes, six snaky heads, twelve tentacle-like legs, a cat's tail, and six dog heads on her waist which would each eat a crew member from each ship which passed near her.
 * Charybdis and Scylla were believed to be both very dangerous for ships who passed too close to them, and to be located on opposite sides of the same sea channel which was so narrow that sailors would be caught by one of them when they tried to avoid the other.
 * The story of Charybdis's and Scylla's channel is the origin of the proverb "Between Scylla and Charybdis", which refers to a situation where one has to choose the lesser between two evils or where one gets caught in a dangerous situation while trying to avoid a similarly dangerous situation.
 * According to The Odyssey, after leaving the island of Circe, Odysseus had to pass through the channel of Scylla and Charybdis and he chose to avoid Charybdis and pass near Scylla since Scylla was less dangerous.
 * Phylla's name is spelt "Philla".