Belladonna, Liliss and Tharma, better known as the Ancestral Witches or also simply The Ancestresses and The Ancient Witches are major antagonists of the Winx Club series, as well as the main antagonists of the movies The Secret of the Lost Kingdom and Magical Adventure.
They are a trio of powerful and dangerous witches from the firsts of the Magical Dimension.
In the original Italian version; Belladonna was voiced by Monica Migliori, Liliss by Pasquale Anselmo and Tharma by Cinzia Villari. In the Nickelodeon version, Belladonna was voiced by Grey DeLisle who voiced Vicky from The Fairly OddParents, Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Liliss by Laraine Newman who voiced the Wicked Witch of the West in Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, and Tharma by Candi Milo who voiced Madame Mousey in An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster.
Personality[]
The Ancestral Witches have no heart and are purely evil and cruel at heart. One thing they really love to do is torment their enemies to death, they also do it with their allies, seeing them only as pawns that they use for their plans.
They only care about each other and seem to have no emotions for anyone, not even their own relatives, like The Trix who considered them more like descendants only as servants, although the Trix behaved like them and had great respect for them as their mistresses. Or like with Valtor who simply used him as a slave and puppet for their plans, even though they had created him and still considered him as a son.
However, their actions may be due to the fact that they were the first evil creatures in the entire Magical Dimesnion and therefore cannot feel love for anyone. Although it is implied that they only served Lord Darkar so they could betray him as soon as they obtained the Dragon Flame for themselves.
Powers and Abilities[]
Since they were the first users of the dark arts and being born in the Obsidian dimension, they are the most powerful witches in the entire Magic Dimension. They are able to curse powerful energies like Sirenix, petrify beings, create strong spells, and possess people (due to their spiritual body). The Ancestral Witches may know some basic, first-level spells that all witches can use, such as telekinesis, transmuting objects, and fixing minor messes. Like all witches, they can fly.
Belladonna has the power to control ice and snow and is able to hurl volleys of icy needles or daggers, snowstorms and much more at the enemy. She can literally freeze people and objects into frozen statues, or bind them within a prism of ice. This lei ability can also be used on fairy wings. She can manipulate snow, cold winds, and create blizzards. She is also capable of shaping ice into different layers to defend herself.
Liliss has the power to control black magic, optical illusion, hypnosis, and darkness in general. Her mental abilities are so advanced that she could hypnotize entire crowds of people or magical creatures if she only wanted to. She has a certain control over darkness and shadows and this makes her capable of making a room completely dark in an instant. Her powers allow her to duplicate herself, change her appearance or transform into a person without the use of special potions or magic formulas. She also possesses a certain level of telekinesis and astral projection, and is also capable of teleporting from one place to another instantly.
Tharma has the power to create storms, tornadoes, very strong gusts of wind and lightning. She can manipulate or create storms and electricity to a certain extent.
Biography[]
Pre-Series[]
From the beginning of the birth of the Magical Dimesnion, Belladonna, Liliss and Tharma were born as the first witches to come from the dimension of Obsidiam as the mothers of all the witches and servants of the Shadow Phoenix who had tasked them with seeking and bring them the Dragon Flame, the most powerful form of energy to obtain the ultimate power called “Relix”. How and when they were born is unknown and it is unknown whether it was the Phoenix, as she was evil personified.
Valtora and young Griffin with the Ancestral Witches.
Some time, before they attacked and destroyed Domino, the Ancestral Witches found a spark of the Dragon Flame that had mixed with the darkness and so they took it and created a form of a boy who they named Valtor and trained him to become the most powerful sorcerer in the Magical Dimension and then together with him continued to search for the Dragon Flame.
The Ancestral Witches then attempted to conquer the Magical Dimension and to stop them the Company of Light was formed, a group of powerful warriors, witches, fairies and wizards led by King Oritel and Queen Marion of Domino.
At a certain point, however, Valtor betrayed the Ancestral Witches and allied himself with a young Griffin, future principal of Cloud Tower, to fight them and conquer all the kingdoms of the Magical Dimesion. However, Griffin realized her mistake in time, so she escaped from Valtor by betraying him and joining the Company of Light and Faragonda and Saladin, and the blacksmith Agen also joined her.
The search for the Dragon Flame somehow led the Ancestral Witches to the Infinite Ocean where they faced two nymphs: Daphne, daughter of Oritel and Marion and older sister of Bloom, and her friend Politea, who fought against them for protect the Infinite Ocean, since Daphne had acquired the Sirenix power to defend all those she loves. However, the Ancestral Witches reattacked Daphne, this time with the help of Politea who betrayed Daphne and the four of them placed a curse on the Sirenix and Daphne.
Eventually, the Ancestral Witches discovered that the Dragon Flame was on the planet of Domino, contained by an infant who was already chosen as the future guardian, Bloom, princess of Domino, Daphne's younger sister and daughter of Oritel and Marion. Before attacking Domino, the Witches discovered that Oritel had made a secret pact with Erendor, king of the kingdom of Eraklyon: that the rulers would help each other to defend Domino. So, Witches, cornered Eredor and made him watch as they destroyed Havram’s city of Eraklyon to show them how powerful they were and threatened him with destroying all the rest of his kingdom if he didn't betray Oritel, while he and the rest of the Fellowship of the Light were away. So obliged and heartbroken Erendor accepted. Before leaving, the Ancestral Witches gave him an hourglass containing part of the pollen from the Tree of Life to protect the planet of Erendor from Domino's destruction and promised him that he would only be a spectator.
Belladonna, Liliss and Tharma then proceeded, together with Valtor, who helped them one last time, to attack and destroy the planet Domino. They attacked the palace to obtain the Dragon Flame, even if it meant killing the little newborn Bloom that was part of her. Daphne, however, managed to save her little sister, to prevent the power of the Dragon Fire from falling into the wrong hands by sending her little sister to Earth, a dimension so distant and forgotten that the Witches would not be able to sense the Fire's presence there. . When Daphne used Sirenix to defend herself from the witches, it turned against her, causing her to become a discarnate from Lake Magix and with the Witches killing her in part, they also transformed Politea into a sea monster.
Ultimately, Valtor lied to the rulers that he was the one who killed both Bloom and Daphne, and the rulers, believing that both of their daughters were dead, froze Valtor in a block of ice and imprisoned him in the Omega Dimension. At the same time, Oritel and Marion along with the rest of the Company of Light, managed to defeat the Ancenstral Witches, driving them back to the Obsidiam Dimension. However, the Witches managed to drag Ortiel with them, and Marion, refusing to abandon her husband, used a spell to encase herself in the sword that Agen had crafted for Oritel and so the rest of the inhabitants of Domino were sucked into Obsidian and remained petrified while a wave of dark energy emitted from the Obsidian portal froze the entire planet Domino, leaving no trace of life on its surface.
Season 1[]
In "Mission at Cloudtower", the Ancestral Witches make their debut depicted and described in a flashback which Faragonda tells Bloom as the dark forces that attacked and destroyed Domino.
In "Bloom's Dark Secret", they appear in a fake vision that the Trix create to scare Bloom.
In "The Dragon's Flame", the Trix who attack a completely exhausted Bloom, sadistically reveal to her that they are the descendants of the Ancestral Witches who realized what the most powerful source of power in the universe, the Dragon Flame, was and who sought to take it to take over the Magical Dimesion, but that Daphne managed to send Bloom to Earth to prevent the Witches from taking over the power and they then killed Daphne in revenge for having foiled their plans. The Trix also reveal that they have resumed their footsteps because they were now old and the Trix on the other hand are young and more powerful.
Season 3[]
In "The Company of the Light", it is revealed that they created Valtor from the spark of the Dragon Flame that had mixed with the Darkness of the void and that when he was old enough, they sent him to conquer all the realms of the Magical Dimension to They. Faragonda also reveals to Bloom that on the same day of the battle, her parents, Oritel and Marion, disappeared during the final battle between the Ancestral Witches and the Company of Light.
In "The Witches' Revelation", they are first seen in Bloom's nightmare, with them and Valtor haunting her. Bloom who is now in a state of paranoia, having nightmares etc... thinks of summoning the spirits of the Ancestral Witches to get them to tell her the truth about where her parents are, since Valtor says that during the final battle he locked them up inside himself and she he doesn't know whether to believe them. They are briefly seen again while the Winx and Faragonda try to recall them.
Faragonda tells Bloom that she can contact them in the place where their essence still lies, the crypt of Cloud Tower. After Bloom summons their spirits, for some unknown reason the spirits reveal to Bloom that Valtor lied to her and that her parents are not locked inside him, but are in a faraway place that can only be reached with magic. Bloom enthusiastic but dissatisfied asks for more information, wanting to save her real parents at all costs, but the Witches vanish without giving her an answer.
In "A New Beginning", the Ancestral Witches appear in a strange limbo, where Valtor is lost as he has been disoriented and defeated by the Winx. They are angry at him for wasting the magical knowledge they had given him by using it for his revenge instead of carrying out his orders to destroy the universe. They tell them that the Dragon Flame was claiming him and that he had to return to it, much to his protest as he claimed that they created him from the flame but he protests angrily as he is Valtor and will remain so forever.
The Witches mock him and force him to resume his demon form to never resume his human appearance and thus force him to cross the interdimensional portal of Andros to destroy the Magical Dimesnion. However, this attempt fails when Bloom finds and finally destroys Valtor before he can obey their orders, but not before he tries to convince her to ally with him to defeat the Ancestors to get her real parents back, since their parents disappeared because of them, which thankfully Bloom doesn't listen to since he knows he's lying again.
The Secret of the Lost Kingdom[]
In this film, it is revealed that the Ancestors are prisoners in the Obsidian dimension, where they are continually tormented by the presence of Oritel's sword, as they cannot even touch it to destroy it and erase Domino's presence from the Magical Dimension forever. After Bloom talks to Daphne in his dream and sees a scene of the Ancestral Witches capturing his parents, he regains hope so that the piece of Dragon Flame in the sword ignites.
The heat of the sword's flame becomes truly unbearable for the Ancestors who can no longer bear it. So they send their servant, Mandragora, to seek out that last energy of the Dragon Flame to extinguish it forever by transferring their power to her. Mandragora on the planet Domino takes control of Riven. Later, Mandragora attacks Alfea, where she discovers that Bloom is the cause of her strength, but fails to kill her because Faragonda sends her back to Obsidiam, but informs her masters about her.
When the Winx enter Obsidian's prison, Bloom sees a scene where the Company of Light pushes the Ancestors back into the Obsidian dimension by defeating them, but they manage to drag Oritel with them and Marion imprisons herself in the sword to be with him.
The Ancestors then appear as spirits after Bloom sees his father petrified, and reveal how they enjoyed torturing him and all the residents of Domino, who were also petrified. They try to attack the Winx by taking control of the statues' bodies and them, but then the Winx, except Musa who remained outside and Bloom who seems to be immune, weaken and faint. The Ancestors then try to convince Bloom to destroy the sword, and when she refuses, they show Gardenia a vision of Mandrake about to kill her adoptive parents, Mike and Vanessa. However, Bloom realizes that the vision is not real, as Mike is seen playing with Bloom's kitten and he is allergic to cats. Thus, Bloom regains hope and attacks her, only for his powers to soon begin to weaken as well.
Sky comes to his aid, however, and would like to draw the sword, much to the amusement of the Ancestrors, although Bloom begs him to do so since it has been said that the sword must be drawn by an uncrowned king and Sky is apparently still a prince, but he extracts it anyway, but loses consciousness. Bloom suddenly remembers Daphne's mask that Daphne had given her in a dream and wears it so that Daphne's spirit is incarnated in Bloom's body. Although shocked to see Daphne, as they thought they had killed her forever, the Ancestrors attack the two sisters and when they begin to weaken, they recall Mandragora who tries to destroy the Specialists (who managed to survive thanks to Musa and Riven, who is no longer under the control of Mandragora). Mandragora takes Bloom from behind and the Witches incarnate inside his body.
Just when Bloom and Daphne are about to be destroyed, Sky, who has recovered, impales Mandragora with Oritel's sword, repelling the Witches from her body. In fact, Sky had recently become king of Eraklyon. Finally, Bloom together with Daphne, combining their powers, destroy Mandragora and destroy Obsidian. Thus, saving the Winx and the Specialists and finally bringing Domino back to how she once was, freeing all its inhabitants from petrification, including Oritel and Marion, she comes out of the sword and Bloom is finally reunited with her real family.
However, unbeknownst to everyone, the Ancestral Witches are free with the destruction of Obsidian and team up with the Trix to make the Winx pay.
Magical Adventure[]
The Ancestral Witches send the Trix to search for a magical compass that allows anyone to find what they desire most, so that they can find the Tree of Life to erase all positive magic so that they can return powerful and with powers, because I'm currently running out of that. So does Pixie Hollow.
The Trix succeed and after attacking Pixie Hollow out of spite, they manage to drain the Tree of Life, causing all the positive energy in the universe to disappear and leaving only the negative energy (even if Darcy is a little uncertain at regard). The Ancestors thus sit on the thrones that have formed on the tree, proclaiming themselves sovereign of Magix. However, they discover that the Tree of Life contains a leaf that signals positive magic and, failing to destroy it, they understand that it is because of Erendor, Sky's father, who still possesses the power. So, they send the Trix to Eraklyon, to recover that power.
During the journey Sky reveals that when his father was young, he had allied himself with the Company of Light to fight against the three ancient witches, but they forced him not to help Oritel, otherwise they would have destroyed his kingdom. Erendor accepted with a broken heart, in exchange the witches gave him the Ancient Hourglass, containing the positive magic of the Tree of Life, which would protect his kingdom from evil.
He often returned to Havram, a city of Eraklyon that has been infested by wandering shadows and where nothing, including technology, functions properly after the ancestral witches destroyed it to threaten him, as if he wanted to make up for what had happened. He finally broke the hourglass, which caused a sapling of the Tree of Life to grow containing the energy of the positive part of the Tree of Life.
Under the orders of the Witches, the Trix attack Erendor and try to force him to tell them where the hourglass is, he resists all the tortures and although Oritel wants to help him, Erendor tells them to go and help the Winx and the Specialists in Havram, with the Trix and the Ancestors following them with Erendor still held hostage. There the powerless Winx are forced to fight the powerless Trix.
Bloom and Sky who have separated from the group, find the tree, but are attacked by Icy and Belladonna, while Lisiss and Tharma together with Darcy and Stormy attack the rest of the group. Icy, despite Belladonna trying to warn her, mindlessly hits the tree while she tries to destroy Bloom. In doing so, she releases all the positive magic that was left and the Winx regain their powers and everyone gathers where the tree was.
The furious Trix attack the Winx who feel in great shape with their powers back and the Winx prevail. With their plans foiled, the furious Ancestral Witches decide to take control of the bodies of the Trix to destroy the Winx personally. At the beginning they are the ones who gain the upper hand, with Erendor almost dying by sacrificing himself.
All six Winx gather together to unite their powers and so, although the Witches continue to attack them in vain, the Winx evoke the essence of the Dragon Flame, which hits the Ancestors, extracts them from the bodies of the Trix and thus the Ancestrals Witches are destroyed once and for all.
Season 5[]
In "Return to Alfea", Bloom asks Daphne where the Sirenix Book is, to which Daphne replies that using the Sirenix is dangerous. Daphne explains to her that when the Ancestral Witches attacked Domino, she had acquired Sirenix and was ready to fight them, but the Ancestral Witches had previously cast an evil spell on Sirenix which, when used by Daphne, caused it to turn against her and transform her into a spirit without a body.
In "Test of Courage," Oritel mentions the Ancestral Witches when he tells the Trix that they are nothing compared to their ancestors.
In "Faraway Reflections", Bloom watches a flashback where the Ancestral Witches appear fighting Daphne and her friend Polite while defending the Infinite Ocean, but when the Witches attack again they cast a spell on both Daphne and Politea, cursing the Sirenix power.
Other Medias[]
Comics[]
Bloom finds a fake book where the ancient witches come out of it and tell her that she is a witch. When Bloom returns home to Gardenia, the Trix attack him to steal his power. Before they steal her power, Icy reveals to Bloom that the ancient witches destroyed Domino.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Ancestral Witches were probably inspired by evil witches from folklore and fairy tales:
- The Wicked Fairy Godmother, also known by the name of Carabossa a figure in fairy tales. She is the witch who puts a curse on the princess and makes her fall into her hundred-year sleep in the Sleeping Beauty tale. She is depicted as an old, ugly and bad humpbacked woman.
- The Ancestral Witches all look like typical folklore and fairy tale witches who are old humpbacked women with crooked noses and hands with sharp, pointy nails.
- Another source of inspiration for Ancestral Witches might have been the 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).
- Another inspiration for them may be Koume and Kotake from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. They are similar in a few ways:
- In the flashbacks of Magical Adventure, when Sky tells Bloom about the deal his father made with the witches, the Ancestral Witches appear like spirits even then. It is unknown why they appear like that as they still had their bodies at this time, and the Witches themselves told Bloom in Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom that their bodies had perished during their captivity in Obsidian after the destruction of Domino.
- Another difference is that in the animated series Belladonna's spirit is blue, Liliss's spirit is purple and Tharma's spirit is dark red, in the first movie the Witches' spirits have a blue/purple color while in the second movie they have a reddish color.
- The Ancestral Witches are linked to each villain from Season 1 to the first movie and are directly or indirectly the source of the problem in each of them, except in Season 2, where their master is the main villain - Lord Darkar.
- Ironically, had the witches not destroyed Domino, Earth and the Earth Fairies would not have been saved from the Wizards of the Black Circle, as Bloom would not have been sent to Earth, and the Wizards would not have attacked her in the fourth season, causing Faragonda to send the Winx to Earth to save the Earth Fairies.
- It is also interesting to note that the witches destroyed Domino more or less at the same time that the wizards were capturing the Earth Fairies, including Morgana, with the exception of Roxy (the last Earth Fairy), and that both Marion's and Morgana's respective kingdoms were both destroyed and both queens were imprisoned into another realm at about the same time.
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 Villains
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