The twist ending to ‘Agatha All Along’, explained

Agatha All Along concluded with a dramatic two-part finale just before Halloween, and the ending cemented Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha as one of the MCU’s greatest villains.

It goes without saying, but spoilers ahead to the final of Agatha All Along.

The Witch Road is an urban legend

The big plot twist in the finale is that Witches Road is a complete fabrication of Agatha, inadvertently manifested into reality by Billy (Joe Locke).

This puts a surprisingly sinister spin on the series, revealing that Agatha planned to assassinate her new coven from the beginning, and was simply playing along as the way revealed itself.

This explains why Agatha is so anxious and unhappy during the trials, despite claiming to have walked the road before, and why she became so furious with Billy when the road seemed to be a closed circle with no end.

Agatha always seems to have a backup plan, schemes within schemes; even her apparent self-sacrifice to save Billy was done in the knowledge that she would return as a ghost.

All the dead witches were murdered

The revelation that the road was a ruse all along also paints the many deaths that occurred during the adventure in a more horrific light – all were senseless, essentially chalked up to several of Agatha’s murders.

Alice (Ali Ahn) died young, not realizing that she was being cheated. Worse, Agatha didn’t hold back from leeching Alice’s powers, despite being able to do so later with Billy.

Lilia (Patti LuPone) willingly sacrificed herself to save the Covenant, despite the futility of it all.

In retrospect, the death of “Mrs. Hart” (Debra Jo Rupp) is arguably the most tragic story in the MCU — she’s a well-meaning suburbanite who gets caught by Wanda’s mind-bending spell, then falls victim to Agatha’s trap and dies for a reason she never quite understood, as Agatha never cared to learn her name.

This is not surprising, as we learn that over the years Agatha has come to disregard human life and care only for her own son. Rather refreshingly for a protagonist, Agatha is a real villain, one who makes Loki look like a saint.

During an extended flashback, Agatha is painted as a serial killer in a relationship with Death (Aubrey Plaza), who uses her magical powers to kill an extraordinary number of women over the centuries.

Agatha’s only redeeming quality is her love for her son, Nicholas Scratch, whom she tries to protect from Death’s embrace.

Why did Agatha kill all these witches?

This is left somewhat ambiguous, but it is implied that Agatha is buying time for Nick by slaughtering covens of witches as a sacrifice to Death.

Agatha and Death also seem to have a deal where Agatha gives bodies and Death extends her life. When we first see Plaza’s Death (first introduced as Rio), Agatha tells her, “You can’t kill me, it’s not allowed.”

In the finale, Death also gives another clue about their arrangement, telling Agatha, “Nobody in history has gotten special treatment like you.”

After Nick inevitably dies, Agatha doubles down on her murderous ways, using the song she once shared with her son to trick witches into her plan. Agatha seems to embrace nihilism after Nick’s death and simply wants more power and a longer lifespan.

In a bittersweet twist, this imbues Agatha with a deep fear of meeting her son in the afterlife—she’s ashamed to face him after all she’s done.

Agatha is certainly one of the most interesting characters in the MCU, having destroyed her relationship with her own son due to her literal death wish.

Funnily enough, in the comics it is Thanos who lusts after Death, and the infamous Infinity Gauntlet “snap” is motivated by his desire to impress her.

Who is Nicholas Scratch’s father?

While many fans speculated that Mephisto (the Devil of the Marvel Universe) was Nick’s father, the boy appears to have no father.

Agatha is a lesbian who says she created her son “from scratch”, so it seems likely that she conjured him herself, like Wanda did with her twins. However, Death could be considered Nick’s second mother, and she could have had a hand in his conception.

Being Death’s child would also explain why Nick had to be stillborn and why Death treats him kindly even when she takes him away.

Will there be a second season of ‘Agatha All Along’?

Agatha was a spin-off of WandaVisionand it seems that the story will continue in upcoming MCU series Vision Questwhich will see Paul Bettany return as Vision.

Agatha All Along ends with the titular witch agreeing to redeem herself as Billy’s spirit guide and help the teenager find his lost twin brother.

Billy, whose superhero name is “Wiccan,” has already displayed extraordinary powers, twice escaping Death and conjuring the Witch’s Way without even trying.

As Agatha said, the boy takes after his mother; time will tell if he uses his powers for the greater good or will end up losing control like Wanda did.

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