Selkie (Winx Club)

The Selkies are small mermaid-like magical creatures that appear in Season 5 of Winx club.

Overview
The Gate Keepers are the Selkies that guard the portals connecting the Ocean of Andros to the oceans of all the worlds and realms of the entire Magic Dimension. They are known as the underwater pixies. They have the ability to open or close the portals that link the Ocean of Andros to the oceans of another world or planet, and there is one gatekeeper for each world with the special symbols on their foreheads.

The Guardian Selkies guard the Pillars of the Infinite Ocean, like the Pillar of Light, the Pillar of Balance and the Pillar of Control. They use golden weapons and do not have symbols on their foreheads. Along with the gate keepers (selkies that have ability to open ocean gates) and guardian selkies (selkies that guard the pillars in the Infinite Ocean), there are still many normal selkies with unknown power. They are seen using weapons like the guardian selkies and the symbols on their foreheads are like the ones on tritons' foreheads.

There are often many round creatures looking like baby fish that accompany them which turn onto brightly colored fish on coming in contact with magic or other fish. They are called bollabies.

Selkie village
The Selkies of Earth live in a village found in the sea near Gardenia. It is very probable that the Selkies from other realms also have similar Selkie villages. The only Selkies who seem not to live in the Selkie villages are the Guardian Selkies who guard the Pillars of the Infinite Ocean, who live in the Infinite Ocean, near the Pillars, and the Selkies who guard the Ocean Gates, who live near the Ocean Gate they guard on the side of planet where it opens.

Similarity with Pixies
The Selkies are somewhat similar to the Pixies, as members of both species often have the responsibility to guard powerful magical objects and important places. They both also have their own different, but similar looking, villages found in Magix.

History
The Selkies were first seen in The Spill during the crowning of Nereus, when Lemmy was holding the crown that King Neptune would place on Nereus's head. After an oil spill occurred on Earth near Gardenia, oil from the spill traveled through the sea and reached the underwater portal linking the ocean of Earth to that of Andros. Phylla alerted by a triton guarding vain and sealed the Earth portal after crossing it into Andros with the triton guard.

There she and Lemmy saw Tritannus being mutated into a monster after absorbing the pollution and breaking free from the prison of Andros along with the Trix. With the help of the Trix and of the triton guards that he turned into monsters loyal to him, Tritannus stole the powers of the two gatekeepers. He then vowed to hunt down every Selkies and to steal all their powers, so that he would be able to enter the Infinite Ocean and from there conquer the whole Magic Dimension.

Six of eight known Selkies bonded with the Winx Club. Eventually Tritannus absorbed the powers of all the Selkies that guard an ocean portal, granting him access to the Infinite Ocean.

Selkies are also present in the Infinite Ocean, where there are Guardian Selkies who protect the Pillar of Light.

Physical appearances
The Selkies of the Oceans are miniature wingless mermaids with brightly colored skin. They wear hats that are brightly colored like them and which have decorations and a kind of veil on the back. Only Gate keepers of all realms and Guardian Selkies of the Pillars have veil in their hat. Normal selkies have normal hair strands. Male selkies have their torso uncovered by scales. They are colored like the respective planets which they guard.

Ordinary Selkies have some similarities with the keepers:
 * The Selkies of Earth mostly have yellow and orange hats with ribbons on it.
 * The Selkies of Magix mostly have purple hats and hairs with butterfly decorations on it.
 * The Selkies of Andros mostly have blue hats with pearls on it.
 * The Selkies of Solaria mostly have yellow and gold hats with stars on it.
 * The Selkies of Melody mostly have red and magenta hats with corals on it.
 * The Selkies of Zenith mostly have lime and purple hats with lines on it.
 * The Selkies of Domino mostly have cyan hats with horn-like decorations on it.

Known selkies

 * Lemmy (Andros) - Bonded to Aisha.
 * Phylla (Earth)
 * Illiris (Solaria) - Bonded to Stella.
 * Sonna (Melody) - Bonded to Musa.
 * Lithia (Zenith) - Bonded to Tecna.
 * Nissa (Magix)
 * Daisyree (Linphea) - Bonded to Flora.
 * Serena (Domino) - Bonded to Bloom.

Trivia

 * In Scottish/Irish and Faroese folklore, the Selkies are described as seal-men and seal-women, they live as seals underwater but have the ability to shed their skins to become human in land.
 * The Selkies are rumored to be the underwater equivalents of the Pixies.
 * The Selkies bear a certain resemblance to the Pixies and, due to their mermaid-like appearance and their small size, look like the Undines living in the Black Mud Swamp from Season 1.
 * A Selkie can detect whenever a fairy is nearby.
 * A Selkie guarding a planet's ocean gate knows her way around the ocean which she guards.
 * It is unknown whether a fairy can bond only with any Selkie from her home world or whether she can bond only with the Selkie that guards the ocean gate of her home world.
 * When a fairy bonds with a Selkie from her respective home world, that also helps the Selkie to restore her power if it was taken from her and it also breaks spells/curses placed on people whom they bond with.
 * The Gate Keepers use the symbols on their foreheads as keys to open/close ocean gates and fight.
 * Apparently, the Selkie's symbol resemble their bonded fairy's power, except for Nissa and Phylla.
 * The normal selkies and Guardian Selkies use weapons to attack instead of the symbols on their foreheads.
 * When the Winx bond with the Selkies one of the other Winx will say "They're bonding".
 * The Selkies can also use convergence.
 * Like the pixies, the selkies have their villages. Interestingly, unlike the pixies all live in only one village, the selkies from different realms live in different villages.
 * All Selkies of all realms unite to fight Tritannus during "Battle for the Infinite Ocean."
 * "Selkies" were first rumored to be known as Piscies.
 * Coincidentally, the word Piscies derived from the word "Pisces", which is the name for a zodiac, symbolized by two fishes.
 * The Selkies are named after the mythical creature of the same name.
 * In the planning stage, the Selkies have more similarities with the Pixies, with fish-like features, but were later changed.