Warning: This article contains spoilers for Agatha All Along Episode 1After 3 years WandaVision Opens the MCU’s TV division, spin-off Agatha all along returned to Westview and brought more secrets. The first two episodes set the scene for Kathryn Hahn’s returning Marvel villain, exploring not only the fallout from Scarlet Witch’s spell cast in WandaVisionending, but also forcing her to face demons from her own past.
The most immediately compelling of the demons is Aubrey Plaza’s Rio Vidal, a formidable green witch who announces herself and their shared history in Agatha all along Episode 1 by trying to kill Agatha. Despite Agatha’s loss of power, Ryo is unable to follow through, as it is revealed that she cannot kill her. It’s a fleeting moment, but one that can be confusing, as Rio is enthusiastic about Agatha dying. So why can’t the new Marvel magic user kill Agatha? The tips are all there…
Aubrey Plaza’s Marvel character can’t kill Agatha because of a witches’ code
When the Scarlet Witch’s spell breaks and Agatha is freed, Rio Vidal reveals her intention: revenge. She goes as far as trying to stab Agatha with a dagger, before it is revealed that she is actually not allowed to kill Agatha when they speak. This could suggest that Rio is under orders to bring Agatha alive, or to leave her to a grimmer fate at the hands of the Salem Seven, but It is actually a reflection of a witches’ code of conduct that was first hinted at WandaVision.
In Scarlet Witch’s own show, Agatha is put on trial in Salem for practicing forbidden dark magic, which she claims was accidental. Her mother and her coven condemn Agatha to be executed, but she kills them all first, taking their powers away from them. critical, WandaVisions flashback establishes that All witches have to abide by a set of rules, including not using dark magic above their station.
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So, despite Ryo’s desire to kill Agatha, she is apparently unable to. This could be because Agatha did not face a trial by fellow witches, as she did in Salem, so Rio going through the trial herself would be a violation. It is not that magic prevents witches killing each other, since Agatha herself disapproved of that.
Does Marvel Comics have witch rules?
The concept of a rule for witches is not something that comes from Marvel comics. Witches tend to work independently in covens governed by geography, rather than following a broad unifying order. The goddesses of witchcraft exist in Marvel lore, but witchcraft itself is not so much a religion that would prescribe commandments.
Why does Aubrey Plaza’s Marvel character want to kill Agatha?
Agatha and Rio Vidal have history. The marketing for Agatha all along has weighed in on the suggestion that they had a romantic relationship sometime before Agatha’s time at Westview, with Plaza promising a dynamic “Which has all the colors of the rainbow“In a nod to LGBTQ symbolism. Her burning desire for revenge clearly means that dynamic has shifted dramatically, as murder is not usually a comfortable partner of love.
Agatha all along‘s first two episodes all-but-confirm that the pair are romantically involved. The black heart in Lilia Calderu’s list of Agatha all alongThe new witches refer to Rio, a well-known green witch, whom Agatha consciously avoids recruiting because of their shared past. Rio wanting to kill Agatha could easily be put down to an extreme lover’s quarrel, or some unknown story involving how Agatha came to possess the Darkhold or her killing her mother and the other witches.
The latter seems likely, as Rio is aware of the impending arrival of the Salem Seven in Westview and presumably why Agatha is their target. This theory is supported by Rio appearing in Agatha’s warmed perception of Westview as an FBI agent investigating Scarlet Witch’s death. The idea of ​​her interest in a crime could be the suppressed psyche of Agatha that manifests a hint of truth: Rio’s “job” is to keep rules, which is also why she won’t break them.
As a green witch, Ryo would not be tied to the Darkhold, so her association with the Seven, who appear to be agents of whoever Agatha stole the Darkhold from, doesn’t make sense. Green witches are traditionally tied to the earth and the elements. It feels like there is more to be revealed about why Ryo is out to kill AgathaPerhaps connected to the Salem dead.
At the same time, her mission is clearly personal, but the fact that she can’t break the no-cool rule despite her personal vendetta suggests that she has orders. It also suggests that she’s not actually an agent of an as-yet-unrevealed dark force: villains don’t tend to care about rules, after all, even in Agatha all alongs distorted view of morality.