Fate: The Winx Saga's Changelings Explained (Myths & Powers)
Fate: Winx Saga takes some inspiration from unexpected traditional folklore in changing certain characters to actually be changelings.
Fate: The Winx Saga's new take on Winx Club reimagines lead character Bloom as a changeling, who is swapped at birth with a human child. Netflix's new take on the cartoon features a darker, more mature tone in contrast to its original cartoon, Winx Club. Naturally, changes have been made to the story and its characters with a particular shift to the main character Bloom. Her origin in the comics sees her sent to Earth by her sister and discovered by a human firefighter who adopts her. In the live-action show, she is a changeling; a fairy that was swapped with a human baby during birth without the parents being made aware. There are other changes from the Winx Club that distinguish the new show from the old cartoon, but the most notable has to be in regards to changelings.
In the Fate: The Winx Saga, fairies are born with a specialized affinity with one of either earth, water, air, fire, or mind. As a fire fairy, Bloom is able to conjure and control flame and even sprout fire wings — a transformation thought to be forever lost. Each of her friends represents another type of elemental magic. Musa's power is linked to the mind and her powers are always active, allowing her to directly connect to the deepest levels of emotions. Stella is a light fairy so she has photokinesis and can turn invisible, while Beatrix is an air fairy who can manipulate the temperature, sound, speed, and velocity of air, which also grants her electrokinesis and the ability to move others with electricity. Aisha is a water fairy who possesses hydrokinesis and power over the molecules in organisms and Terra completes the group as the earth fairy with chlorokinesis that allows her to control plants and vines. Each brings something different to their connection as a group, but Bloom stands out.
Fate: The Winx Saga's Biggest Changes From The Nickelodeon Cartoon
In Winx Saga protagonist Bloom’s case, she is a changeling given to human parents after she was kidnapped by witches and separated from her birth parents. Being a changeling is considered a taboo and something fairies hadn't done for hundreds of years. During her time at the fairy school Alfea in Solaria, she trains to learn more about her powers and how to best control them. By learning about fairy magic through Bloom's journey, audiences discover the rules of the fairy world as she does, as well as learning what makes her special as an individual apart from the others. That manifests in her being a changeling, the reimaging of a mythological creature predominantly from Irish folklore. Otherwise known as an "oaf", a changeling was, controversially, a means to explain a child born with medical special needs. Thankfully, Fate: The Winx Saga avoids that line of thinking and instead makes Bloom a changeling because of her unique powers.
In European lore, there are many stories that pertain to human children being stolen by fairies, with a changeling left in their place. There are various reasons given for the fairies doing so; to have a human slave, out of some misplaced and curious affection, or in darker tales due to a hatred for humans. Various plays and folk tales have also told of changelings that appear weak, have odd features, and that may seem advanced in their thinking - with this often being used to explain various congenital conditions during the Medieval era, due to a lack of scientific understanding. Fate: The Winx Saga turns the mythology on its head, revealing that Bloom possesses an incredible power - the power of the Dragon Flame - which makes her a powerful weapon in the wrong hands. She was sent to the human world to protect her and hide her, allowing her to grow up in secret.
The new Netflix series uses the idea of a changeling purely as a fairy infant exchanged with a human, in order to make Bloom feel like she doesn't belong in either world. Being a changeling doesn't make her more powerful, but does limit her abilities by ensuring she has no idea how to control them. She is, effectively, protected by ignorance. The series has leaned into the Harry Potter-like isolation trope for the lead character, using the twist nature of her past to add drama, though in the case of Fate: Winx Saga, being a changeling is a benefit as it allows Bloom to understand both the human and fairy world. And since Bloom’s journey in Fate: The Winx Saga has only just begun, there are bound to be more secrets about changelings and Bloom's origins that will definitely be revealed. Most intriguingly, German folklore suggests changelings are the infants of the devil, which would fit with Bloom's fire powers if the show is looking for an added huge twist in a subsequent series.