'Agatha All Along': A New Theory May Give Agatha Common Ground With The Scarlet Witch

WARNING: SPOILERS for Agatha All Along, eps 1-4.

After the Teen frees her from Wanda Maximoff's spell in the opening episode of Agatha All Along, the now powerless Agatha Harkness understandably expresses a clear dislike for the supposedly late Scarlet Witch, even spitting on the vandalised foundation of Wanda and Vision's house.

However, as the new series continues, a new theory is emerging to suggest that the two witches actually have a surprising amount in common.

Vicious rumours?

Agatha and Teen initially struggle to recruit members for the coven they need to open the Witches' Road, mostly because Agatha, as it turns out, is not a widely liked figure in the witch community. She is known to be selfish, and according to divination witch Lilia Calderu, it is largely due to Agatha's bad behaviour that witches in general have ended up with a bad reputation for things like eating children and other horrible acts.

In episode three, Jen pulls the Teen aside to warn him about Agatha, informing him of a rumour among witches that Agatha had sacrificed her own son, Nicholas Scratch, to obtain the Darkhold.

This reveal resulted in a theory that Agatha may have been intending to use Teen in a similar sacrifice at the end of the road.

Death takes a son.. His Mother wants him back

However, for many, Agatha's genuine distress at Teen's injury following the trial in episode four has put to bed any thoughts of her planning to sacrifice him. So, as in the days of WandaVision's first airing, when fan thoughts and theories were constantly twisting and changing in response to new information episode by episode, a new theory has risen to take its place. This new theory was sparked by the story Rio tells around the campfire.

"A long time ago, I loved someone. And I had to do something I did not want to do, even though it was my job.. and it hurt them. She is my scar."

Though relatively scarce on details, the story, along with more explicit hints toward Agatha and Rio's past intimate relationship, has given rise to the theory that Rio Vidal is actually the MCU's physical manifestation of Death. The 'She' in Rio's story is Agatha Harkness, and the thing Rio/Death did not want to do was take Agatha's son.

As a consequence, rather than sacrificing her son for the Darkhold, some fans now theorise that Agatha sought the Darkhold in the hope of restoring her lost son. Unfortunately, as is the nature of the Darkhold, the evil book's influence warped and corrupted Agatha until she became the kind of person her fellow Witches believed could sacrifice her own child, and Agatha was too far gone to bother correcting them.

Common Goal, Common Ground

If the above theory does prove true, it provides Agatha with a similar piece of backstory to her one-time enemy Wanda Maximoff. It would mean that Agatha originally wanted the Darkhold for the same purpose for which Wanda tries to use it in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: regaining their lost sons. In both cases, their initial intentions were warped and twisted by the Darkhold's corruption. The above could also explain Agatha's interest peing peaked by the possibility of Wanda 'fixing dead' in WandaVision, and her eagerness to steal the Scarlet Witch's powers, believing she could use them to bring back her son.

What does this mean for Agatha in Agatha All Along? Well, in Multiverse of Madness, Wanda breaks free of the Darkhold's influence after she inadvertently frightens multiversal variants of her sons, Tommy and Billy. She subsequently destroys the Darkhold across every universe, keeping anyone else from being corrupted by it's dark influence.

Wanda's destruction of the Darkhold has also potentially released Agatha from whatever influence it held over her. This would explain her slow softening towards the rest of her coven, and particularly her increasingly close, protective relationship with the Teen.

While she is unlikely to ever entirely lose her edge, Agatha may be remembering who she was before the Darkhold, what she actually wanted from it in the first place, and may even, potentially, end up re-evaluating what she wants from the Witches' Road. Even if Teen, as Rio hinted in the closing moments of episode four, is not Agatha's son, or even if, as equally rumoured, he is the reincarnation of Billy Maximoff, and therefore the son of someone she views as an enemy, it might not matter.

There's every chance that Agatha may choose to embrace and protect him anyway, possibly morphing into a Teacher and Mentor of younger magic users as she often is in Marvel Comics. Agatha, like Wanda, could be saved by making a choice to do the right thing.

We'll all have to keep watching to find out.