#shadygonda

[rist-ix]

Hey Rist hope you're doing okay! Since by this point I've noticed that we all dislike Shadygonda with passion I've wondered do you think our girlie deserves a redemption?

ohohoHOHOHO MASSIVE misunderstanding here my friend! Shadygonda (imo) is a cunning-petty-powertripping-sweetly-selfserving little BITCH — and I love her SO MUCH!!! I want her to be worse if anything!!!

Let’s talk about her character in canon and in my personal little fanon head bubble for a moment, because I think she's by far the character I’m most curious about when it comes to motivations and goals. Because she's so. So much, all at once, and none of it seems to fit together but somehow it DOES!

Here's an incomplete list of what we know, chronologically:

Faragonda is a part of the Company of Light, alongside Bloom's parents, the blacksmith guy she keeps flirting with, Saladin from Red Fountain and Griffin from Cloudtower. In her brief flashback to their prime, they look all super young, maybe a little older than the Winx are during their school years. Early to mid twenties maybe? Thirties would be pushing it, but could work. We don’t know how their age gap is to Oritel and Marion, but probably not that big.

Griffin started out as Valtor's accomplice, but ended up joining Faragonda and the rest, presumably after having met them a few times in battle and building enough of a relationship with them that she could dare to take that final step

(I wanna emphasize: In Griffin's flashback in s3, she looks back towards her time with Valtor in a way that’s not displayed very literally, but rather plays with symbolism and stage acting a little bit. One of these days I wanna do a full breakdown of that, but for now let’s focus on the very last scene. Griffin, alone and vulnerable, clearly in distress, lands at the gates of Alfea, which open for her immediately. Alfea, not Domino or Red Fountain. The place most heavily tied to Faragonda. This, to me at least, implies that it was Faragonda who offered her a way out and welcomed her with open arms — maybe she's even the one who convinced her to defect in the first place.)

The company of Light continues to fight the ancient coven, Daphne is born and grows up (16-20 years old?), Queen Marion gets pregnant with Bloom. Faragonda is presumably present for all of that, and has a good relationship with all characters involved. (Except maybe for Daphne, we never see them interact. But nothing is stated to the contrary either.) The final battle happens, Oritel and Marion are missing, presumed dead, their children as well. Hagen fucks off into irrelevance. Faragonda, Griffin and Saladin are the only ones who survive and stay in contact.

There's a non-specific time frame in which we don’t know anything about Faragonda, roughly from the Fall of Domino — or maybe a few weeks prior to that, if we assume Valtor's capture happened before the final showdown on Domino — to the day Bloom arrives at Alfea and kicks of the main story. What was Faragonda up to in all those years? Nobody knows.

Current time! Faragonda greets her new students, like every year. Welcomes them to Alfea, like every year. Tells them to, and I quote, “Stay away from the Witches of Cloud Tower”. You know, like every year. We know she does that every year, because this is Stella's second rodeo and she knows the warning by heart already.

Already we have a FASCINATING new question: what happened between Griffin and Faragonda??? She and Saladin are still on good terms, but Griffin's school is EXPLICITLY warned of and constantly uninvited to events, which is straight up hilariously petty. The last we knew of them, they were allies, trusted friends even! What DELICIOUS drama occurred while no one was looking? So many possibilities.

Next thing that happens is she finds out that there's a student under her nose who enrolled under a false identity — and immediately got into mischief. Which, as it turns out, she finds delightful. Bloom gets to stay with Faragonda's personal, explicit permission, and against the wishes of Griselda. Why, you ask? 'Cause she can. Faragonda's a boss ass bitch who don’t need no reason, that’s why. She seems to think it’s funny lol

My memory of s1 is a little blurry, so I might be missing some events. The next thing I can think of is Bloom's escapade in the library, which Faragonda — or maybe the librarian at Faragonda's behest? — gets under control again. Faragonda finds out that Bloom is looking into Daphne. Faragonda, who has first hand knowledge of the fall of Domino, the battle against the ancient coven, and presumably met Daphne IN PERSON on several occasions. Chooses not to share any of that. And instead collects EVERY SINGLE SOURCE on Daphne she can find, and personally REMOVES them from the library Bloom has access to. Why, you ask? WHY THE FUCK NOT, I SAY!

Shit escalates, plot happens, you know the deal. Conflict occurs that could have been avoided entirely, if Bloom had been aware of her origins or followed Daphne's cryptic warnings earlier. Faragonda helps Bloom find out all the plot necessary details, and happily assists her in her journey to regaining her powers. Does she ever mention her reasons for not doing so like, 8 months ago? Does she? No I’m asking, I literally cannot remember if she let out a wise old “You Had to Find Your Own Way”, or perhaps a “You Weren't Ready Yet”. Either way, I don’t remember her sharing her thought process here in any great detail. Why, you ask, and plug your ears as to not get swept away by the shock wave of my booming voice. To which I take a deep, long breath, break several ribs in the process, and holler into the aether: WHY THE FUCK NOT YOU PEASANT!? ARE YOU AFRAID OF FUN? DO YOU HATE HIJINKS AND SHENANIGANS? Do you not like delicious drama or perhaps a good, shocking reveal?? Do your parents even love you?

And it just keeps GOING like this! The doylist explanation is obviously that the writers were making shit up as they went with every new season they got greenlit on, but the in-universe implications are FASCINATING!

When Faragonda is not busy flirting with old colleagues, she is revealing plot-relevant, potentially life-saving secrets — or keeping them from coming out. She is sending the Winx on dangerous missions — or specifically forbidding them from going on dangerous missions! Faragonda is oscillating wildly between maternal overprotectiveness, stone cold commanding tone, wise mentor or strict obstacle on the Winx's path, and she does so with an air of lovable silliness that contrasts wonderfully against Griselda, and an aura of real, threatening power that scares off enemies for the Winx more than once. She doesn’t really feel inconsistent to me, more like she contains multitudes, and her status as someone with both power and knowledge elevates that even further. She becomes a person that is wrapped in layers and layers of different personality traits she seems to pick and choose from in any given situation. She is both incredibly powerful and deeply unserious — the latter only serving to highlight the former. She isn’t really concerned with impressing the people around her, the way Valtor would be for example, but she does get cold and serious when faced with the parent committee trying to expel Bloom, or any other threat her students might be facing.

Her concern for her students, I believe, is one hundred percent genuine. She risks her life for them. She pretty much gets killed in the attempt to lure Valtor away from the main battle at Alfea, where her students are. And after that, she goes RIGHT BACK to fighting him the NEXT time the Winx are facing him alone. No hesitation, no fear, this time she has back up and she kicks his ass.

Which just makes her decisions to distribute knowledge so sparingly all the more baffling! What is WRONG with her? (affectionate)

This is where we enter my personal fanon territority, because canon never does answer those questions. And my theory is, that Faragonda is a fucking control freak.

Girlie LOVES to know more than others. She THRIVES knowing something you don’t! She's like a chipmunk going hee-hee-hoo-hoo as it smugly shovels nuts into its cheeks. I think her changeable demeanor and very flexible persona is a conscious, deliberate choice on her part, cherry picking what she thinks best serves her interests in any given situation. Her lovable goofball energy makes her the fun parent, compared to Griselda's strict parent, which I think both feeds her ego and gives her an in with students who see her as the lesser evil / someone on their side. I think Faragonda has the cunning to be an excellent manipulator, to the point where every single interaction with her becomes a very one-sided chess game, even when there's nothing on the line. Personally, I think that is both the reason why Griffin chose to trust her, and the reason Griffin and her had a falling out. I think she put all her mind and effort into convincing Griffin to leave, to get out while she could, to HELP the Company of Light and find a better life with them. I think she was using all her people skills and mannerisms to earn Griffin's trust and affection, which probably saved Griffin's life in the end. And I think after the war, when there was no more strategies to come up with, no more battles to plan and no more pieces to analyze and move, the very cunning that first drew Griffin to Faragonda became UNBEARABLY irritating. (Personally, I think they fucked nasty and then had an even NASTIER divorce. This place isn’t big enough for TWO morally ambiguous bitches. Faragonda got custody of Saladin it seems lol)

And to get back to that s1 decision: My theory is that she didn’t remove the books about Daphne because she didn’t want Bloom to find out the truth — I think she didn’t want Bloom to find out the truth before SHE HERSELF did.

But why, you ask, and this time I am going to actually answer without causing bodily harm to you or myself. Why does she do all this? What is her goal?

Nothing. Fuck all. Faragonda isn’t manipulating people because she wants power, or because she's secretly evil or anything. Faragonda is probably mainly acting out of habit, because she doesn’t see anything wrong with being the smartest person in the room. If you asked her point blank why she always needs to be the person that knows the most, she would probably say that that’s just her job. She's the headmistress. She's a member of the company of light. She's on out of just three surviving members. It's her job to protect her students, and to do that, she needs to know what the threat is, how to stop it, and who needs to know what in order to accomplish that. If one of her students knows more than her, who knows what decision they would make that she has no way to foresee. They're like, 17. Teenagers are dumbasses. She's the most qualified to call the shots, so call the shots she will.

You could dig into trauma for that if you wanted. Survivors bias. She's the one that lived. Oritel and Marion died; even Daphne, a literal god-like nymph, has died, but she survived, and she got Griffin out as well. If she's the one in control, things work out. If she's the one ensuring that people think what she wants them to think, feel what she wants them to feel, these people live. (All three of Oritel, Marion and Daphne were very independent from her, mind you. They were royals of a sovereign planet, the most powerful realm in existence at the time: Faragonda had no power to give them orders, and was probably more of an advisor in that dynamic. But Griffin, the traitor witch? Saladin, the young mage? They were likely much more within her power to lead and control, and both of them LIVED.)

Add to that that she's navigating a tough political landscape. She has to answer to the parents' board, which consists of like. Every single monarch in the dimension. Leave aside that this lady is probably stressed the fuck out, she has to be very aware of the way her actions, and any events in her school, reflect on her on the global level.

So, to come back to your question. I think Faragonda is a DEEPLY untrustworthy person who likes to cause problems on purpose :3 TM but also genuinely cares. TL;DR:

Thank you so much for your ask, I LOVE getting to talk about these characters. If I were to do any sort of “redemption” for Faragonda, it would have to just be 6 months of straight up therapy and pedagogy training lmao. And maybe a nice, chill vacation.

That being said, I will not stop making fun of her absolutely LUDICROUS, obstructionist nonsense and shadiness lol, I think that’s the best thing about her. In my head, I have like an entire spin off sequel series running on that’s JUST about the company of light and Valtor during their heyday. There is SO much potential in the dynamic between Faragonda, Griffin and Valtor alone, and that’s BEFORE you add in the aloof, too powerful, had-to-grow-up-fast mystery that is Daphne. Rainbow pls text me back I just wanna talk PLEAS—

[winxwannabe]

What are your thoughts on the Enciclomagia book saying Faragonda was a witch then later turned a fairy?

If anyone (anon or otherwise) has scans of this book or knows where to get them please send them my way

[yellowmare]

Jeremy blowing up at Faragonda in season 7 when it's discovered that time traveling rocks were just casually kept at school this whole time because "how many goddamn super powerful items and books does this school have?!"

[fairydragonflame]

Hey, guys, is there any Faragonda haters club? It took me several seasons for the hatred to wake up again 🤔

Faragonda is terribly suspicious. She does not tell the necessary information, hides it and sometimes lies. For some reason, she has such powers as assigning punishment to witches, she can send her students on dangerous tasks in order to find out the enemy, although there is a Council that should deal with such threats 🙄

[bloomvalyria]

Genuinely curious why did you call Faragonda the devil herself

Because she is the winx universe's Albus Dumbledore. I think my biggest issue is that she purposely withholds information from Bloom regarding her past. She doesn't tell Bloom a single thing about it until she decides it matters. For instance, the whole debacle over Faragonda waiting 3 fucking years before telling Bloom that she was actually good friends with her parents and was in the Company of Light with them and was there for the final battle. And only because Baltor was around. I guarantee if he hadn't shown up, she would've continued to keep that information to herself. Because he would've said something before she did. Any time Bloom has asked a question, she avoids answering it. When Bloom accidentally summoned a book regarding the Ancient Witches back in season one, Faragonda immediately told Barbatea to take every single book regarding the Ancient Witches and lock them up in the restricted vault. Now, why would she do that? Personally, I find it very interesting that this generation of fairies is not taught anything about Sparx and that the headmistress is adamant on none of them ever learning anything about it. When Bloom's past is finally revealed to her by the Trix, the other Winx are like "oh what the fuck is that all about?" Why are they not being taught about Sparx? Why are we all acting like it never existed???

I think it's because of Faragonda.

[winxwannabe]

And Your Enemies Closer Chapter 6 (the ✨finale✨) Sneak Peek (#1?)

@minsoyah was the first like at lightning speed, way to go

“No!” Bloom slams her fist on the desk, rocking a stack of papers. She doesn’t care as some of them float to the ground. She doesn’t even care if Griselda hears. “Don’t placate me, tell me the truth. I deserve that.”

Faragonda’s eyebrow twitches, but after a moment she answers. “The Wishing Star’s power is too unpredictable. Unlike Sirenix, there’s no guardian to keep the magic in check. It’s older, more wild.” There’s a pause as Faragonda obviously debates adding two words hanging unspoken in the air. She shakes it off and continues. “Not to mention tracking the star is nearly impossible. The Solarian Astronomy Delegation has tried, yet they’ve only gotten within five light years two thousand years ago. It’s an impossible task.”

Bloom remembers Baltor running calculations with a sundial in the Magic Archive. “I could figure it out. The Winx and I.”

“Possibly,” Faragonda concedes, though her face is still stony. “But Bloom, we both know this Wishing Star business is only a distraction for the matter at hand.”

For the first time since entering her office, Bloom is confused. “The matter at hand. What’s that?”

The confusion seems mutual. “...Well…that is, I sent word. I assumed that’s why you were here. Why you came in guns drawn, as they say.”

“…What word?”

[winxwannabe]

Writing Faragonda shouldn’t be this hard

[rist-ix]

And who's gonna pay for that, Bloom?! Faragonda already blew this years budget on her divorce settlement for Griffin!

[black-rose-writings]

For anyone who can’t read it, the books in Valtors pile are:

(In hand): Top secret

From top to bottom:

Everything Valtor can’t know

How to lie to students, by Faragonda

Secrets & More

There's shenanigans in the discord and I had no choice but to draw

[rist-ix]

Teeny tiny snippet for you, fresh from the mess that is chapter 9:

[winxwannabe]

Hmm let do a hard one. top 5 least favorite (or even hated) characters in winx club

Oooh, I like your style anon.  Let’s ruffle some feathers maybe!  

ALSO: rest assured that if we were doing the franchise overall, this list would be nothing but Fate characters (Musa, Stella, Dane, Dowling, and Bloom in case anyone was curious)!

1) Brafilius.  Dude adds nothing to S7.  He’s so obviously a comic relief character, but it makes no sense because we don’t need a comic relief character in S7.  Kalshara would be a stronger villain if he wasn’t included, and the fairy pets add comic relief on their own.  Besides (spoilers?) giving Kalshara a “believable” reason to “team up” with the Winx in the series finale, he’s not really needed. She should’ve been a #girlboss and done everything herself. Maybe then she wouldn’t have failed so hard.

2) Faragonda, aka #shadygonda.  This fucking fairy Dumbledore I swear.  She knows all this shit about Bloom in S1 and tells her nothing for the sake of protecting her. I get that was like a popular trope in the 00′s, but nowadays I find it annoying as hell.  Also at this point, we’re all in agreement she’s purposely keeping the Winx at Alfea so they can clean up the messes the Company of Light used to deal with, right? She’s using them?  Retire and let the Winx graduate, ffs.

3) Duman. I truly am sorry, Duman fans. I know he’s got a solid following around these parts.  And it’s not that I hate him, but I just felt like he was the background extra in Black Circle.  His main purpose seemed to be the fake-out Nabu death in the latter half of S4, and like nothing else.  The Black Circle comes back in later comic episodes without Duman, and really I feel like nothing’s lost.  Ogron, Gantlos, and Anagan are fine as a trio.

4) Erendor.  Just fuck that guy.  What a tool, am I right?

5) Nex.  My feelings on Nex are complicated, and it’s kind of not fair he’s even on this list. The big reasons I don’t like him have to do with fandom and the behind-the-scenes stuff that was happening at Nickbow when he was introduced, instead of issues with his actual personality and role in the story.  I admit I used to full on hate him, and I have shitty anti-nex memes on my laptop somewhere from like 2015, but my hate-on has simmered to a vague dislike over the years. I didn’t even mind him in S8 that much, but he still just leaves me with a bitter taste.  Truly Nex deserves his own in-depth post/essay, and maybe one day I’ll do that. But for now, just know I’m not his biggest fan.

Send me a top 5 [thing] for the Winx Fandom!

[bloomvalyria]

I meant who do you hate in Winx club?

ah where to begin. i’ll be honest, i don’t hate too many characters in this show. io really don’t. it’s just that the ones i do hate, i hate with a burning furious passion. i’m sure i’ll inevitably leave out a couple characters because trying to go through every single person and creature in the show is extremely time consuming so i’ll just go with the ones that immediately come to mind. i also won’t go super in-depth. i’ll just give a little snippet. we don’t wanna be here all night.

faragonda -- of course she’s here. she’s super shady and clearly has known about the majority of every bad thing that’s ever happened to the winx ever before the things happened. she’s the albus dumbledore of the winx universe and i will stand by that statement until i die. i still need to write out my essay on why she’s the true villain of the entire show. #shadygonda

erendor & samara -- they’re such assholes i had to group them together. i think we can all agree that they never liked bloom but at least tolerated that their son was with her after she helped save diaspro from the wrong righters. but even after the whole season 3 debacle and every other time diaspro has done some absolute horrible shit to sky and bloom they’re just like OH YEAH THAT’S OKAY WE STILL LIKE YOU YES PLEASE KEEP COMING BACK. THEY’RE THOSE IN-LAWS THAT CLING TO THEIR SON’S EX AND TRY TO KEEP THEM FRONT AND CENTER BECAUSE THEY LIKE HER BETTER THAN THEIR SON’S CURRENT GIRLFRIEND. THEY’RE AWFUL.

nex -- i don’t like him man. it has nothing to do with him being aisha’s new beau. i honestly couldn’t care less about that. he has a shit attitude and when i look at him i get angry. i don’t know why. i just do. and he kinda looks like a werewolf mid-transformation in some scenes. i think it’s the sideburns. 

mandragora -- a lot of what she said was really cringey throughout the whole movie and i couldn’t stand it. still can’t. although im pretty sure she outright said “damn” in the movie which is a bold move for a winx movie so props to her.

twinkly -- like ok i understand we have to have a replacement for the pixies every season now for some reason but twinkly was laying it on thick. just bring the actual pixies back mate. granted, i can tolerate twinkly much more than the rest of the characters on this list.

fuckin buddy -- i don’t think this demonic parasite needs an explanation.

tritannus -- he’s just a whiny bitchboy who sucks up sewage to get power. he’s literal trash and that’s all i have to say.

[rist-ix]

fuckin YASSSSS. YEEEEESSSSSSS. FUCK.

Poll Winner #1 - Pyros Arc

Alright, so I've officially closed the poll regarding what you guys would like to see a sneak peek of, and I had 2 overwhelming answers both in the replies and in my dms. So, I decided to do both. I know it's been a while since the last sneak peek for this, but I hope you all enjoy this little snippet of the upcoming Pyros Arc oneshot.

“She said it was possible that if I came here and found the Jewel, I could gain enough power to potentially will myself into earning an Enchantix.”

A burning rage swells in his chest. He sees his face twist into a snarl in the reflection of her eyes. “Did she now?”

He’s always known Faragonda to outsource her dirty work. Arcadia forbid the witch do anything herself. But to send Bloom here knowing the odds …

Turning that old woman into a tree had been too merciful. He should’ve finished the job while he’d had the chance, instead of leaving her to rot. Torn her apart piece by piece until there was nothing left. Until she—

“Yes,” Bloom says, snapping him back into the present. “And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

Baltor chuckles, darkly. He can’t believe how deep her naivete runs. “Well, the probability of that is zero, but you go ahead. Let me know how that turns out for you.” He pauses. “Oh, that’s right. You won’t be able to because you’ll be dead.”

She clenches her fists. “Why would she send me here if she didn’t think I could do it?”

“Because it solves a myriad of her problems!” he snarls. “Do you not remember how eager she was to hear you were leaving after the incident on Eraklyon?”

To his surprise, she doesn’t even flinch at the mention of the Millennium Party. “She wouldn’t do that. Besides, she was the one who warned me how dangerous it would be to come here. I chose to come.”

Apparently, she hasn’t lost as much faith in Faragonda as he’d thought. “As much as you don’t want to hear it, Bloom, you are a liability to Alfea. Every year since you’ve been there you’ve thrown the school’s reputation into jeopardy, and by extension Faragonda’s. Any chance she can get to have you as far away from her school as possible, she will offer it to you.” He scoffs. “And to sweeten the deal, she’s convinced you that you decided to come here without her influence, so if you die her hands are clean.”

She glares up at him, furious yet she does not deny it. With an indignant little huff, she turns back to the spring, folding her arms. He knows how desperately she wants to find a flaw, a way to prove him wrong. But her silence proves the opposite.

He reaches for her hair, and he’s suddenly reminded how long it’s been since he’s touched her. How he’s craved it since her departure. Their connection practically sings as he sifts through the red strands. “If power is what you desire, there are other, less precarious methods at your disposal. You can only achieve so much with transformations as your only avenue. I’ve discovered many other methods in my time that I believe you’d find much more beneficial to your cause. Methods I’d be more than willing to assist you with if –”

He feels it then.

The shift.

The veil of shadows that clouds her from him.

No, not shadows.

Something darker.

[bloomvalyria]

So I just read Broken Pieces and I absolutely adored it!! I love the way you write Bloom! I know your rewriting right now and was wondering how different the rewrite will be to the original?

Oh my god, thank you!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Broken Pieces is my ultimate baby and it warms my heart any time someone says they liked it. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it!

Honestly, the rewrite shouldn’t be too different from the original (at least for Broken Pieces). I’m just sprinkling in some plot points here and there that’ll tie in to the new main storyline for Break In and the eventual third installment. I’m also rewriting it using my current writing style which just doesn’t fit how my writing style was from 2011-2015 when I originally wrote Broken Pieces. I am posting a snippet very soon (probably within the next day or two) that will hopefully be a good example of what I mean.

I’ll reveal some minor things that’ll be revised and/or edited; they’re not really spoilery: There will be a prologue that’s a dream sequence in Omega that reeks of foreshadowing. There will be more Sky and #Shadygonda. More Dark Bloom is also on the way! Looking back at it, I really only used her for plot convenience instead of anything logical and cohesive and I really need to fix that. And the ending is going to be completely redone! We’re going to have a very different ending, but not in the way everyone’s probably thinking.

[bloomvalyria]

spill the faragonda tea please im begging you

ooooh gurl trust me the shadygonda tea will be spilled in full

[bloomvalyria]

How the hell did the Agador Box go from being under the protection of the Magix Museum to suddenly being in Faragonda’s possession without anyone questioning it?? Why wasn’t it immediately returned to the museum??? You know, where it belongs????

There’s a reason it’s not in the possession of one sole person. So that no one can amass an insane amount of power that could destroy the entire universe, like Baltor tried to do. So why is it that once it was taken back from Baltor, Faragonda magically became its owner??