Potions witch Jennifer Kale says no one knows for sure what happened to Agatha Harkness’ son, but some speak of a sinister swap. They say the power-hungry Agatha traded her child for the Book of the Damned. Teen thinks “that can’t be true,” but why? This is the most notorious witch on the continent, the same one who manipulated Wanda Maximoff and killed her own coven long ago. If anyone is capable of swapping her son for the Darkhold, it’s Agatha Harkness. And yet, Agatha All Along is suggesting something very different about its infamous magic user. Agatha’s story might be a lot less evil and a lot more tragic than she wants anyone to know.
What Did WandaVision Reveal About Agatha Harkness’ Past?
WandaVision showed a flashback to 1693 when Agatha’s coven tried to kill her. The Salem witches said Agatha betrayed them by stealing “knowledge” above her “age and station.” For the crime of practicing “the darkest of magic,” they sentenced her to death. Agatha All Along‘s premiere revealed a literal death sentence was even more serious than we realized. Rio Vidal said witches are barred from killing their own kind. Agatha must have committed the most serious of sins to earn her sentence.
A defiant Agatha first said she did not break the coven’s rules, but rather that the rules “simply bent” to her power. She then said she couldn’t control “it” and begged for their help. But her own mother ignored her pleas, saying Agatha was incapable of being good.
Agatha avoided her fate by using her incredible gift of absorbing the power of others, killing her coven instead. WandaVision suggested Agatha’s crimes and her awesome powers were all related to her use of the Darkhold. That would explain why her Mother said Agatha could not be good. Those who use the Book of the Damned, even well-intentioned magic users like Wanda and Doctor Strange Variants in Multiverse of Madness, did lose themselves to the book’s evil.
WandaVision‘s flashback to Salem (recreated by Agatha herself) presented Ms. Harkness as the clear villain of the story. She was a dangerous witch in possession of banned dark magic. But Agatha All Along changed what we thought we knew about that scene and what really happened to Agatha.
What Did Rio Vidal Reveal About Agatha Harkness on Agatha All Along?
Aubrey Plaza’s mysterious Rio Vidal has clearly had a long and complicated relationship with Agatha. Rio helped Agatha break free of Wanda’s spell, but then she attacked Agatha and wished her dead. Does she hate Agatha like she said? Or does she still love Agatha as she once had? It’s probably both, and we might already know why.
Rio also said a witch locking Agatha inside her own mind was “not the first time” Agatha’s kin “betrayed” her. If Agatha’s coven betrayed her long ago, that flips her entire trial and near-execution. Agatha might not have been the villain at all, but rather the victim.
The victim of what, though? She didn’t deny the charges. She did practice dark, forbidden magic and was in possession of the Darkhold. Agatha also took magic from others. The question that might explain everything—including both what happened with Agatha and Rio and the real story of what happened to her son—is why did Agatha want the Darkhold in the first place? In the MCU, magic users always want it for one reason.
Why Did Agatha Harkness Want the Darkhold?
Rio didn’t turn on Agatha until after Agatha got the Darkhold. Without knowing anything else about their relationship, that can explain why Rio both hates and loves Agatha. She loved who Agatha was before the Book of the Damned corrupted her. She hates who Agatha became after studying it.
If Rio is telling the truth (and we have no reason to doubt her) about Agatha’s coven betraying her, the stories about Agatha’s son might be completely wrong, too. More importantly, his disappearance could explain everything that has happened to Agatha and whey she became obsessed with attaining power, especially the power of the Scarlet Witch who can create life. Agatha All Along is pointing to a very different story than the one Jennifer knows.
Agatha didn’t trade her son for the Darkhold. She sought the Darkhold to get her son back.
Agatha All Along‘s third episode, which first introduced the tale of an evil trade, also showed the one thing that haunts Agatha. While poisoned she saw a vision of a baby’s bassinet on the floor. As she kneeled down to look inside a single tear ran down her face. When she pulled back the blanket rather than seeing her son she saw the Darkhold itself. The normally arrogant, confident, aloof Agatha recoiled in fear and sadness, her most vulnerable, honest moment on any show yet. This delusion broke her because she is clearly haunted by the loss of her son. That was true in the show’s first sequence, too. While stuck in a faux murder drama TV show as a hard-nosed cop, she still had a room for her son Nicholas.
Did Agatha’s son die or did someone take him from her? Did her coven sacrifice him, which is why she sought power they didn’t want her to have? And did she turn to the Darkhold to get Nicholas back, just as Wanda Maximoff did to find her boys? Multiple Stephen Strange Variants did just that to save their worlds.
Powerful magic users in the MCU have a history of wanting to use the Book of the Damned for totally understandable reasons. If we had only met them for the first time after they’d read that cursed tome we’d think of them purely as villains, not as tragic heroes. What if that’s exactly what Agatha is and we just don’t know it yet?
We might find out when she reaches the end of the Witches’ Road for the second time.
Why Is Agatha Really Walking the Witches’ Road on Agatha All Along?
Wanda took Agatha’s magic. She claims she wants to walk the Witches’ Road for a second time to get it back, but like everything else she says and does, there’s no reason to ever trust her stated motives. As Jennifer told Teen, “Watch your back with Agatha.”
That doesn’t mean Agatha is seeking something evil or selfish at the end of The Road, though. She might be hiding her true intentions because she refuses to be honest and vulnerable with any witches. (Your entire coven betraying you and trying to murder you will do that to a person.) What if she is walking the The Road, which “will give you the thing you want the most,” because the one thing she has wanted all this time, the reason she even wanted the Darkhold, is to get her son Nicholas back? And what if that is why she walked it in the first place even though it means almost certain death? What would be worth risking literally everything? Grief for a lost child certainly makes sense.
Rio, who despite what she said still helped Agatha, might be the only one who knows the actual truth about Agatha and her past. We won’t find out until Agatha Harkness gets to the end of the Road if she walked it to get her chid back.
Only, when she gets there she might learn she learn she already found her son.
Is Teen on Agatha All Along Really Agatha’s Missing Son Nicholas?
The last thing Jennifer told Teen, who has a sigil spell on him that keeps his identity a secret, is that she doubts Agatha would “even recognize her own son if he showed up at her doorstep.” It was an especially noteworthy line considering the show started with Teen showing up on Agatha’s doorstep and her not knowing who he is.
Is that because “he could be something special” as Agatha said. Or is it the other possibility she mentioned and he is “a pest that a cranky witch stashed under a rock?” Why can’t it be both? She’s a cranky witch. Maybe she stashed something special under a rock to keep him safe from dangerous witches she couldn’t trust.
Teen admires Agatha and has been helping her all along the way. The typically uncaring, cold Agatha was also very protective of him during episode three and has trusted him since he showed up. Her concern has been almost motherly at times.
Could Teen ultimately prove to be the missing Nicholas and that’s why she has bonded with him in a way she hasn’t anyone else in a long time? Or, like Agatha on WandaVision, might he prove to be the show’s secret villain who is deceiving her? We’re going to have to walk the Witches’ Road with both to find out. We’re not sure what we’ll learn about either of them when we reach the end, but we won’t be surprised to find that Agatha Harkness has never been the villain she wants us to believe.
