Is the Witches' Road real?: Agatha All Along's biggest twist, explained

To say that Marvel Television's Agatha All Along has been knocking it out of the park would be a huge understatement. The series premiered on Disney Plus in September and it has had the comic book and superhero worlds in the palm of its hands ever since, with its whimsical approach, comedic presentation, and light horror elements all making it the perfect spooky season treat.

But it's also part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it has been delivering to such a level that it's one of the most worthy titles within the Multiverse Saga thus far, offering up unexpected twists, eyebrow-raising trials with life-or-death stakes, and reveals that - though some predicted - come about in the most unanticipated of ways.

That much was true in the fifth episode of the series when it was revealed that Teen, the sweet innocent boy that Agatha Harkness herself was beginning to grow quite fond of, was actually Billy Maximoff / Wiccan, the son of the Scarlet Witch. Agatha's history with Wanda Maximoff is well-documented, as it was Wanda's own show WandaVision that officially introduced the power-hungry witch to the MCU.

However, it continued to play a role in the series, particularly in the double-episode season finale when the show's biggest twist took place. Be warned, there are Major SPOILERS ahead.

Inside Agatha All Along's Witches' Road twist

The penultimate episode of Agatha All Along saw Jennifer Kale, Agatha Harkness, and Billy Maximoff escape the Witches' Road. It then led to a showdown where Agatha and Billy teamed up to take on Rio Vidal, a.k.a. Death. In the end, the ancient witch sacrificed herself to protect Billy, dying in her own back garden. With that, the trials of the Witches' Road were over. Or at least that's what it seemed like at first.

Upon returning home, Billy saw a number of items in his room that were reminiscent of things he encountered on the Witches' Road: Leaves just like the leaves on the road, a poster of Lorna Wu's version of The Ballad of the Witches' Road, shoes just like the ones his coven took off at the beginning of the journey on the Road, and a poster of The Wizard of Oz just the like Oz-themed trial they encountered on The Road.

Billy then recalled how Agatha was almost surprised that The Road existed, how he questioned whether she had ever walked it before, and how Agatha told him that she didn't think he had it in him, with a wink. And in that moment, all of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place: The Witches' Road was not real. Billy had created it.

Upon being confronted by Agatha's ghost, he learned that it was never real because The Witches' Road was a myth. How do we know that? Well, the finale of the series gave us an insight into how it all came to be. The Ballad of the Witches' Road was a song that Agatha and her son, Nicholas Scratch, would sing together and it spread throughout the land. After her son's death, she became vengeful and that kickstarted her journey to become the infamous Agatha Harkness we all know now.

Agatha knew that The Road was Billy's Hex

Through the centuries, Agatha would assemble covens and have them sing the Ballad with her and, whenever the gate didn't open (because there was no gate), she would coax them all into attacking her (much like she tried to do to Lilia, Jen, and Alice in the second episode). It was part of her deal with Rio / Death, as she would provide her with more bodies / souls to take throughout the centuries.

However, that all changed when she met Billy. As fond as she began to grow of Teen, she had no intention of taking him on the Road simply because it didn't exist. Instead, she planned on using all of the witches she recruited to attack her and absorb their power (which is why she didn't want him to be present for the performance of the song). But that's not what happened. The door did appear, and the gang did travel the Road.

It turns out that Teen / Billy literally manifested the Witches' Road into existence. Much like his mother, Wanda Maximoff, created the fictionalized sitcom-like version of Westview, he created the Witches' Road from his mind. He envisioned it, he wanted it, he needed it. And somehow, it worked. This was his version of the Hex. That's how powerful his mind is.

What's really incredible about this is that, even though the Road isn't real, Billy made it real. Those who perished during the trials actually perished, those who succeeded and made it to the end got their prizes. And, as hard as it is to believe, it all happened. The door was real, the Road was real, and the trials were real. But they also didn't exist before Billy's magic took effect, and they didn't exist after he sealed it off either.

The realization that he was responsible for the deaths of Sharon Davis (a.k.a. Mrs. Hart), Alice Wu-Gulliver, and Lilia Calderu will weigh on Billy for the rest of his life. Like the Scarlet Witch herself, he's a complex character who, even though he managed to find a place for Tommy and get the beginnings of the answers he was looking for, now has the deaths of people that he loved on his conscience.

All magic comes with a price, and this was his.