Dragons = Light Spirits = Great Faeries

[Bastian]

One of the things I noticed while playing SS was that there were no Great Faeries in this game. We have Great Faeries in OoT, TWW, ALttP, but none in SS?

It then occurred to me that I'd always thought that the Light Spirits were a form of Great Faeries as the Great Faerie theme plays during their scenes, and they all reside in fountains.

So what about the Dragons, then? They share the same names as the Light Spirits. Could it be that the Light Spirits are the spirits of the Dragons, and choose to take various forms as they see fit (see the difference between the Great Faeries in OoT and TWW and ALttP).

 

[Crash]

The Great Fairy differences are due to artstyle of the game. As for the dragons and lightspirits... well there's no real way to tell though it is interesting that they do share a name and that it is possible.