Transformation Magic

Aisha, Stella, and Terra after transforming in "All the Wild Witches"

> You're all fairies. This lesson is for all of you. It's about transformation magic. When I was your headmistress, I shielded you from the harsh truths of the world. I believed that positive emotions were the cornerstone of powerful magic. Rosalind felt the opposite. That strength was only forged in those harsh truths. We were both wrong. To unlock true magic, you must make peace with all your emotions. The reckless joy of the positive and the despair of the negative. There is beauty and power in both.
>
> Farah Dowling to Aisha, Bloom Peters, Flora, Musa, Stella, and Terra Harvey; "Poor Unfortunate Souls"

**Transformation Magic** is a form of fairy magic that occurs when fairies draw power from both positive and negative emotions, allowing them to access magical wings and wielding stronger power than before. For centuries, transformation magic has been believed to be lost, until four fairy students at Alfea College were able to rediscover it in the modern era.

## Overview

Like all fairy magic, transformation magic requires drawing power from emotions. However, what makes transformation magic unique is that it requires a fairy to find a harmonic balance between all their emotions; both positive and negative. Once a fairy accomplishes this, the first time they tap into transformation magic sees them levitating above the ground while their eyes glow with the signature colour of their birth element. The fairy enters a higher state of consciousness as their surroundings fade away and their elemental power starts surrounding their body. The fairy then begins to twirl as their element finally coalesces on their back and transforms into a set of wings. Once the wings have manifested, a fairy will then descend to the ground with stronger magical powers than before.

Accessing transformation magic for the first time leaves a fairy fatigued. However, transforming becomes easier over time and fairies are able to manifest their wings more readily when they need to.

## Background

In the past, transformation magic was more common in the Otherworld. However, as fairy society evolved, the knowledge of transformation magic became lost to time. Fairies either favoured using positive magic to channel their power, or relied on negative emotions to do so.

## *Fate: The Winx Saga*

### Season 1

When Bloom Peters arrived at Alfea College for the first time, Headmistress Farah Dowling explained that transformation magic was lost over time when Bloom expressed disappointment at not seeing wings on the fairy students.

Later in the school year, Bloom freed former Headmistress Rosalind from stasis beneath Alfea, looking for answers about her past. Rosalind took Bloom to the Stone Circle and instructed her to channel more magic than she had ever before. While Bloom was afraid of losing control, Rosalind simply told her to enjoy that feeling of fear to unlock her true power. However, Bloom abruptly stopped channeling her magic due to not having enough trust in Rosalind for being the person who left her in the First World. She then decided to join the other students at Alfea when Stella texted her that the Burned Ones have entered the school.

With knowledge that the Burned Ones were drawn to her specifically, Bloom lured them away from Alfea and into the surrounding forest. Stella and Aisha accompanied her, offering Bloom their support and encouragement to help her use her full power against the approaching Burned Ones. Aisha assuaged Bloom's fear of losing control over her fire magic by surrounding her with a barrier of water from a nearby lake. This provided the catalyst for Bloom to unlock transformation magic for the first time. With her wings manifested, Bloom had enough power to defeat the Burned Ones by ripping their Cinders from their bodies and restoring their original human forms. The act of transforming weakened Bloom temporarily following her confrontation with the Burned Ones.

That same night, Farah told Saul Silva that she was amazed at the fact that Bloom was able to unlock transformation magic after spending a short time with Rosalind. The next day, while in the old cemetery, Rosalind found Farah and told her that Bloom had the power of the Dragon Flame within her, which Farah remarked as being the reason why Bloom was able to transform so easily. Rosalind credited her guidance as also playing a role in this.

### Season 2

News of Bloom being the first fairy to use transformation magic in ages eventually travelled across the Otherworld. She was revered by the alums of Alfea College while present at the alumni banquet.

Bloom was able to deduce that Sebastian Valtor was the Blood Witch orchestrating the recent attacks against fairies in Solaria. She went to his store in Blackbridge to confront him, stumbling upon Sebastian in the midst of using Blood Witch magic to control Andreas. As he showed off all the stolen fairy magic he got from the Scrapers he summoned, Bloom transformed in response. However, when Sebastian mentioned Bloom's birth parents, she powered down.

After Flora was able to release the spirit of Farah Dowling from the Resurrection Plant she and Terra found, Farah spoke to her former students about the secret of transformation magic. She told Bloom, Stella, Aisha, Musa, Terra, and Flora that the key to unlocking transformation magic lied in making peace with all their emotions; both positive and negative.

During the siege on Alfea, Sebastian threatened Sky's life and convinced Bloom to transfer the Dragon Flame to him using a Convergence Crystal. Beatrix tried to intervene, but seeing as Bloom's only concern was to keep Sky alive, she instead struck Sky with lightning to interrupt the transfer of the Dragon Flame. This caused Bloom to stop and rush over to Sky's unconscious body, resulting in the Convergence Crystal falling and shattering to pieces. Sebastian violently flung Beatrix against a wall in retaliation, killing her instantly. Enraged at Sky's unresponsiveness, Bloom tapped into transformation magic to face Sebastian, with Stella, Aisha, and Terra joining her side shortly thereafter. They tried to convince Bloom not to go against Sebastian alone as she started summoning the power of the Dragon Flame. However, the sudden arrival of Grey Owens using Blood Witch magic to revive Sky calmed Bloom down and she powered down to check on him.

Sebastian, however, was not still not prepared to go down without a fight. When Bloom tried transforming again, she found her magic to be depleted from the previous attempt. In response to this, Sebastian callously remarked that Beatrix sacrificed herself in vain and that they were no match for his power. Seeing Beatrix's lifeless body was the catalyst for Stella, Aisha, and Terra to unlock transformation magic and manifest their wings. With their new powers, the three fairies blasted Sebastian with magic. Bloom was able to recover some of her magic from the remnants of the Convergence Crystal, transforming once again and combining her power with that of her friends. Together, the four fairies were able to completely vanquish Sebastian.

In the aftermath of their battle against Sebastian, Stella, Aisha, and Terra decided to rest in the Winx Suite as the transformation magic they had used tired them out.

## Changes from *Winx Club*

In *Winx Club* , transformation  is not lost fairy magic and there are a multitude of fairy forms to transform into once a fairy meets the requirements to earn them. Only fairies  who were raised without knowledge of magic, such as Bloom  and Roxy , struggled to transform for the first time. Subsequent transformations became easier for them to access once they've fully accepted their power.

Due to *Winx Club* being an animated show, transformations have much more lengthy and stylized sequences compared to *Fate: The Winx Saga*. Most notably, *Winx Club* transformations feature fairies gaining new clothing in addition to their wings. *Fate: The Winx Saga* has not included this element in transformations to date.

## Trivia

* Much like transformations in *Winx Club*, *Fate: The Winx Saga* features non-diegetic music that plays during transformation sequences.
	+ For Bloom's first transformation, the song is "A Moment Apart" by Odesza.
	+ For Aisha, Stella, and Terra's first transformation, the song is "Player of Games" by Grimes.
* Rosalind claimed that her tutelage was partly responsible for helping Bloom transform the first time. This was proven to be false when the spirit of Farah Dowling appeared before the fairies of the Winx Suite, stating that her and Rosalind's teaching methods were not the key to unlocking transformation magic.
	+ Most notably, right before Bloom transformed, she told Stella and Aisha their support was what she needed to help access her full potential. It can then be inferred that Bloom unknowingly drew power from the positive emotions of her friends' loyalty, as well as the negative emotions of the fear she had in losing control of her magic, to access transformation magic the first time. This was aided by the fact that she also had the power of the Dragon Flame.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Season 1, Episode 1: *To the Waters and the Wild*
2. ↑ Season 1, Episode 6: *A Fanatic Heart*
3. ↑ Season 2, Episode 3: *Your Newfound Popularity*
4. ↑ Season 2, Episode 4: *An Hour Before the Devil Fell*
5. ↑ Season 2, Episode 6: *Poor Unfortunate Souls*
6. ↑ Season 2, Episode 7: *All the Wild Witches*