When the team at Netflix decided to adapt Nickelodeon’s animated Winx Club for live-action, the show turned out to be surprisingly dark. The bright colors of the animation were gone and themes regarding mental health struggles and a search for identity ran through the first season of Fate: The Winx Saga. While some fans might not have loved the changes made, the series has some pretty powerful depictions of fairies, as well as some truly memorable lines.
There’s plenty of sarcasm and shade, as is expected from a group of teenagers in a drama. There is also, however, some wise words from quite a few of the characters as they experience a steep learning curve during the school year.
Warning: the following contains mild spoilers for Fate: The Winx Saga Season 2.
“I’ll Be More Delicate Next Time I’m Saving You.”
Riven to Musa when she complains about her rescue
Over the course of the two seasons of The Winx Saga, Riven and Musa develop an interesting friendship. Though they’re very different, and take very different approaches to their studies, they find common ground when it comes to their purpose at the school.
Musa and Riven aren’t afraid to be completely themselves around one another, even if that means sniping at one another and venting their frustrations. That includes when Musa complains about not entirely remembering Riven saving her life in the second season. He doesn’t miss a beat, getting a little sarcastic with her before continuing their conversation.
“I Was Half Expecting A School Full Of Tinkerbells Zipping Around.”
Bloom on the surprisingly normal appearance of her new boarding school
When Bloom first arrives at Alfea, she doesn’t know anything about the world of magic presented to her. She expects more Peter Pan than she does Harry Potter. Given how different the live-action series is from the animated Winx Club that inspired it, this line also serves as a memorable note to the audience.
This isn’t a series about cartoon fairies. It’s gritty and grounded in real teenage problems and a search for identity that just happens to be punctuated with a magical story.
“Discomfort Is Where Growth Lies.”
Silva doesn’t pull punches with his students
Silva might not always make the best decisions, and he certainly keeps his fair share of secrets, but he does have the best interests of his students at heart. His students just happen to be training to be fighters, not learning the magic of the fairies.
As a result, he pushes his students to the point that they aren’t always comfortable with their techniques. Riven is often embarrassed when he’s beaten in sparring matches, and Musa doesn’t take kindly to Silva sidelining her because she’s a fairy. Both characters, as Silva points out, grow from the experiences, just as Sky does when Silva puts him in a nearly impossible situation to spy on Bloom.
“Fun Fact: If Everyone Around You Is A Nightmare, It’s Not Them.”
Riven gets blunt with Stella
The audience is told that Riven is a very different person compared to his previous year at school. The Riven the audience does meet is blunt, not afraid of creating a little controversy, and not afraid of Stella like so many others are.
Riven points out to Stella that she isn’t as popular or as perfect as she might think. Stella, stuck in her mother’s way of thinking and most concerned with appearance, has a lot of growing to do. So does Riven, but, unlike Stella, he doesn’t intentionally alienate everyone around him, and this quote demonstrates that he’s more aware of how he’s actually perceived than she is.
“Just ‘Cause Someone Thinks What They Did Was Right, It Doesn’t Mean That It Is.”
Sky understands that even the righteous can be wrong
Sky actually has quite a few words of wisdom in The Winx Saga. He drops this particular gem, and it might as well be the motto of the whole show. Every character thinks they’re doing the right thing, but it almost always backfires.
Beatrix thinks she’s getting justice for her people, Bloom thinks she’s getting the truth about her past, Headmistress Dowling thinks she’s protecting her students, and Sky thinks he’s being the loyal pupil. Even though many of the Winx Saga characters make horrible decisions, they do it because they think they’re the ones in the right. It’s human nature.
“Even The Best Parents Are Doing What They Think Is Best For Us. At Some Point, We Have To Take Over For Ourselves.”
Stella longs to stand up to her mother
It’s right that it’s Stella who has this line about parents since she might have the most contentious relationship with her mother, though it doesn’t seem that way at first. Stella is determined to be the perfect daughter and princess. She follows her mother’s advice about her powers, but the use of negative emotions to fuel her only backfire.
It’s not until Stella steps out of the long shadow cast by her mother that she starts to be true to herself and find her own path. Stella grows stronger once she starts making her own decisions and figuring out what’s best for her on her own terms.
“They’ve Had Order For So Long They Don’t Know What Chaos Feels Like.”
Headmistress Dowling tries hard to shield her students from chaos
Headmistress Dowling’s words prove to be prophetic. Despite how hard she works to teach her students about their abilities, she hasn’t prepared them for the reality of a fight. Instead, she’s sheltered them from the potential chaos of the outside world with her strict rules.
That nearly proves to be the school’s downfall, as none of the students are truly ready to fight the Burned Ones as Alfea is overrun. It takes a few people breaking the rules to save everyone.
“When Bloom… Let Loose The Evil Headmistress?”
Musa, Making Light Of Bloom Releasing Rosalind
When Silva wonders if Musa, Bloom, and the rest of their friends have done the “worst” of their many unsupervised actions in Season 2, Musa is surprised. She wonders if he remembers the events of the last school semester at all. After all, Bloom released Rosalind from stasis the previous year, causing a lot of their new problems.
Musa isn’t afraid to get smart with any of the teachers anymore, ready to speak her mind about what she wants or what she thinks.
“They Don’t Care What You Want To Be In This Place, Only What They Want You To Be.”
Riven knows that it can be hard to be an individual
Riven, despite being painted as the perennial screw-up, makes a good point about the way Alfea is set up. When Musa is interested in learning specialist combat skills, she’s brushed off. Musa just wants something more active than reading emotions to do. But, Riven knows the school works one way, and one way only.
No one appears to be allowed to even think about learning areas outside their inherent skill set. Everyone in Alfea is placed in the confines of the box the teachers think fits them, and it doesn’t make Riven or Musa feel appreciated.
“I’m Done Pulling You From The Edge, Bloom. If You Want To Jump, Jump.”
Aisha has to stop holding Bloom back
Aisha is often the most level-headed of her suitemates—one might even say one of the most intelligent of the Winx Saga group. She works hard to make sure they don’t get in trouble, but especially that Bloom thinks before she acts.
Aisha spends so much of her time looking out for Bloom in the series, however, that it has to be exhausting. Eventually, she stops trying to prevent Bloom from making impulsive decisions. When she tells Bloom she can’t keep pulling her back, Bloom sees it as something of a betrayal, but Aisha understands she has to let Bloom make her own mistakes.
“We Are Not Harmless.”
Terra stands up for herself and everyone else when it counts
When Terra is first introduced in the series, she appears to be gentle and one of the most likable of the Winx Saga despite her tendency to step into awkward situations with her roommates. Her classmates would do well to remember, however, that gentle and likable don’t mean she’s harmless, as she points out in this quote.
Terra has formidable control over her abilities, and she might even have the best control of the students introduced in the first season. People underestimate her because she’d rather spend time with plants than learn about combat, but, as she proves, her knowledge, ability to take charge, and willingness to make a point are unmatched.
“We’re All Broken. There’s A Charm In That Too.”
Sky understands that everyone has baggage
One thing that The Winx Saga doesn’t shy away from is the idea that everyone is struggling. They might all be struggling in different ways—Stella under her mother’s control and Riven with his happiness, for example—but Sky isn’t wrong in his assessment here.
For everything that they see as “broken” about themselves, there’s a desire to understand it and overcome it. When her mother is too much for her, Stella runs away. When being a good person outweighs blind loyalty, Sky tells Bloom the truth about spying on her. Everyone in the series has their own issues to deal with, and most of them find a way to start by the end of the first season.
