The Witches' Road is a mysterious, mystical dimension within the Multiverse, accessible only to certain magic users and those they summon. It serves as the sacred domain of the Goddess of Witchcraft, an abstract entity, revered as a deity, who served as the wellspring of power for all witches and warlocks who utilized spells and phrases related to the branch of magic known as witchcraft. The dimension also harbors Chaos, a lesser abstract being who aids the Goddess of Witchcraft by enabling magic to defy the physical laws of reality. The Witches' Road is filled with monsters, demons, and other supernatural creatures whose behavior and power levels are tied to the Goddess of Witchcraft’s health.
The true origins of the Witches' Road have long been shrouded in mystery, lost to the annals of time. What is known, however, is that it serves as the sacred domain of the Goddess of Witchcraft. For centuries, practitioners of witchcraft have walked the road in search of deeper self-discovery and a clearer understanding of their magical heritage.
Those who walk the road are granted profound visions, encountering long-lost loved ones, ancient adversaries, and key moments from both their past and future. These experiences are not merely reflections but serve as lessons, guiding each traveler toward a greater understanding of their identity and destiny.
The Witches' Road has an environment very similar to Earth, containing several biomes and similar elements, however, it stands out mainly for being full of pure magical energy and being inhabited by several mystical entities. The Witches' Road is mainly the origin of all magic and the home of several mystical entities, so it is incredibly vast, but it has other functions besides this.
Witches' Underworld is the destination for souls who in life were evil and used magic for selfish and nefarious purposes, it is a hellish realm where souls are constantly tormented by their greatest fears and regrets.
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The Witches' Road does not have a defined hierarchy, much less a society per se.
Different areas of influence exist in the Witches' Road, and some magicians' powers grow or shrink depending on their location within the realm.
The Witches' Road first appeared in 2016's Scarlet Witch #3 by writer James Robinson, artist Steve Dillon, and artist Chris Visions (the first artist to depict the Witches' Road itself). In James Robinson’s Scarlet Witch series, the newly returned Wanda learns that witchcraft itself is broken. Magic is no longer working correctly for the witch community around the globe. To get to the bottom of the mystery, she journeys to the mystical realm known as the Witches’ Road.
The Witches’ Road, which plays a big part in the plot of Agatha All Along, is a relatively recent addition to Marvel Comics lore. This addition to the universe first came in the 2015-2017 Scarlet Witch series, in issue #3, and was created by writer James Robinson and artist Steve Dillon. This series came after a decade-long period of instability for the character of Wanda Maximoff, and the Witches’ Road helped set her on the path to full redemption.
Essential Reading: Scarlet Witch: Witches' Road. Witchcraft is broken-and the Scarlet Witch is on a journey across the globe to fix it.
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Agatha All Along - Cast - The Ballad of the Witches' Road (Cover Version) (From "Agatha All Along")
The Scarlet Witch's Journey on the Road
After stepping away from the Avengers to strike out on her own, Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, realized something was wrong with the nature of witchcraft. Although Wanda's spirit prematurely aged whenever she used her magic, she continued to deal with mystical threats like a demon that sent people into a murderous rage, a Minotaur-possessed Man-Bull, and a curse that affected all of Ireland.
On the Witches' Road, Wanda-who had been plagued by questions about her true biological parents for years-found herself face-to-face with a young version of Natalya Maximoff, the previous Scarlet Witch. Agatha confirmed that this Scarlet Witch was indeed Wanda's mother as Natalya fought off a mystical beast. After Wanda realized she was the latest in a long line of Scarlet Witches, she encountered Dian. Also called the Emerald Warlock, this ancient sorcerer cursed Ireland for his exile millennia ago. In a climactic battle, Wanda lured Dian to a part of the Witches' Road where her power surpassed his, allowing her to defeat him. he declared himself her new archenemy as he faded away.
After briefly leaving the Witches' Road, the Scarlet Witch explored her mother's mystical legacy as she continued investigating what was wrong with magic. At the urging of Natalya's spirit, Wanda and Agatha's ghost vowed to heal magic by walking farther down the Witches' Road than anyone ever had in SCARLET WITCH (2015) #12 by James Robinson and Annapaola Martello. Wanda and Agatha walked through the realm for weeks and encountered more and more signs of damage and decay from whatever was hurting magic.
As she journeys along the Witches' road, Wanda's mission expands to "healing" the power of Witchcraft, which is considered its own special form of magic with its own source of energy and power in the Marvel Universe.
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After fighting through demons shaped by her past, Wanda and Agatha reached the deepest part of the Witches' Road, where they met Natalya once more. With help from Quicksilver, the witches saved the Witchcraft Goddess. Natalya sacrificed her soul to restore the goddess to health and, as a parting gift, used the entity's power to restore the youth of Wanda's spirit, resurrect Agatha, and send them back home.
In the end, Wanda’s final trial is facing her own traumatic past, and all the pain and suffering she caused. Not only to her fellow Avengers, but also the mutant community. She must also confront what others did to her, especially her adopted father, Magneto. Wanda, along with Agatha and her mother, find a way to save the entity Witchcraft by combining into the so-called “Witches’ Trio,” the Mother (Natalya), the Maiden (Wanda) and the Crone (Agatha).
The Scarlet Witch has never walked an easy path. Due to her reality-warping powers, the Scarlet Witch's moments of mental instability became worldwide crises that touched the lives of the X-Men, the Avengers, and the other heroes of the Marvel Universe. So, when Wanda tried to turn the page on her past once and for all, she walked down a new path: the Witches' Road. The Witches' Road is a mysterious mystical dimension that only certain magic users and those summoned by them can enter. The Witches' Road is also the home of Chaos, a lesser abstract being who acts a partner to the Goddess of Witchcraft by helping her magic break the physical rules of reality. The Witches' Road exists outside of space and time, which allowed Wanda Maximoff to meet her long-dead biological mother there in SCARLET WITCH (2015) #3 by James Robinson, Steve Dillon, and Chris Visions.
After briefly leaving the Witches' Road, the Scarlet Witch explored her mother's mystical legacy as she continued investigating what was wrong with magic. Eventually, Wanda's search brought her to Dasha Koralov, her mother's sidekick, and Marya Maximoff, her aunt. Wanda and Agatha eventually embarked on a mission to heal the damage afflicting the magical realm. Guided by Natalya's spirit, encountering signs of corruption. As Wanda used more of her magic, her spirit aged rapidly, symbolizing the toll her powers took on her. They encountered the Aimless Ones, who attempted to distract the trio long enough for another abstract entity, Chaos, to kill the Goddess of Witchcraft. In the final confrontation, Wanda, Agatha, and Natalya found the Goddess of Witchcraft under attack by Chaos. Together, they fought to save the Goddess, with Natalya ultimately sacrificing her soul to restore the entity's health.
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The Witches' Road in Agatha All Along
The basics of the Witches’ Road remain the same in Agatha All Along. It’s another dimension with its own magical rules that govern reality. It’s a realm that only witches and other magically inclined people can access. In the series, most witches think of the road as a myth. Although Agatha has walked the Road before, and knows it’s real. In the MCU, one needs a coven of witches to access the road (although in the past, Agatha was able to do it alone, suggesting something was afoot there).
The finale of Agatha All Along has completed the journey of Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness to reclaim her mystical power by taking a trip down the so-called Witches' Road - a pathway open only to those who practice Witchcraft, and which is fraught with tests and challenges.At least, that's what its claimed to be. Spoilers ahead for Agatha All Along, as we explain the truth.As it turns out, the Ballad of the Witches' Road is a folk song created by Agatha and her son Nicholas Scratch in the 1700s to lure witches into letting Agatha kill them and steal their power. And while it never actually existed before, it was brought into reality by the power of Billy Kaplan/Wiccan's inherited powers from his mother Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.
Meanwhile, in the MCU, the Witches' Road is all a creation of Billy Kaplan, who unknowingly used his matrilineally-inherited reality-altering powers, much like what Wanda did to Westview in WandaVision - right down to cycling through different decades in each trial.That makes the trials very real, and does indeed lead to Sasheer Zamata's Jennifer Kale achieving her heart's desire when she discovers Agatha is the one who bound her and casts an unbinding spell that restores her magic, granting her exit. She's later seen flying off to safety above ground.
Likewise, Billy is able to leave the road when Agatha coaches him through using his power to finally resurrect his brother Tommy in the body of a dying boy, who he still has to find.
Agatha Harkness and the Witches' Road
Around 1756 Agatha Harkness and her young son Nicky Scratch created the song about their travels around the world on the winding roads. They later modified it into the Ballad of the Witches' Road which Nicky sang in taverns to attract attention of the witches whom Agatha then killed. Unintentionally the song spread and inspired the desperate witches to search for the Witches' Road which actually never existed. For efficiency Agatha wanted to kill multiple witches every time, so the legend stated what to access the Witches' Road, a coven of at least four witches including a protection witch to represent the element of fire, a potioneer to represent the element of water, a green witch to represent the element of earth, and a divination witch to represent the element of air must gather and sing the Ballad of the Witches' Road.
Agatha wanted to kill entire coven every time and not leave any witnesses, so she preferred to attract only the most desperate witches who had no other hope, because of it the legend stated that after accessing the Witches' Road, the coven then undergoes trials where the witches must face their fears under the very real threat of death, but those who can finish the Road will find what they want the most or what they are missing. Since the Witches' Road wasn't real, once the coven gathered and performed the Ballad naturally no door to the Road appeared. Agatha then berated the witches and blamed them for being too weak and unworthy to get access to the Road, all in order to provoke them to attack her with magic so she could absorb their powers and kill them.
In 1970s Lorna Wu was said to have mysteriously disappeared on The Road. This turned out to be just a rumor. In 2026 Billy Maximoff learned about the legend and the rumor about Agatha. He wanted to find his brother Tommy, so he "forced" Agatha to help him access the Witches' Road. As Agatha was previously depowered by the Scarlet Witch she wanted to quickly regain her powers. She decided to perform the same trick and kill entire coven, so she played along and agreed to help Billy. They gathered a coven consisting of Lilia Calderu, Jennifer Kale, Alice Wu-Gulliver, and Sharon Davis. The coven performed the Ballad, but this time the door actually appeared and they managed to enter the Witches' Road.
After four trials Sharon, Alice, and Lilia died. In the final trial Jennifer regained her powers and Billy discovered the truth about Tommy, but Agatha hadn't regained her powers and died in the following battle with Death. Billy, however, soon realized that the Road wasn't actually real - he unconsciously created it with magic according to his beliefs and information from the legend.
Trials on the Witches' Road
The Trials are a unique phenomenon of The Road, the Trials are activated once one enters the dimension. The magical trials of The Road are divided into major trials and minor trials:
- Major trials occur in specific locations (usually in the form of houses, huts, etc), are associated with an element of nature and a phase of the moon, are themed after their worst fears and nightmares, last for 30 minutes, and are designed to test their knowledge and skill, as well as character.
- Minor trials occur along The Road and are subtle, character-focused, usually manifesting as problems and obstacles that try to prevent them from continuing, and don't have a defined duration.
If the witch manage to sucessfully complete their trial, their wish is granted and slowly manifest as they walk The Road.
The Road will only cast Trials for mages who perform the ritual, pass through a portal opened by the ritual, or are summoned directly into the dimension by a witch already on The Road. Those who enter through a means other than any of the above will be considered "intruders" and "clandestines", and will therefore not be subject to either major or minor trials.
We suspect like Wanda Maximoff in the comics, Agatha will have to face the misdeeds of her past to regain full power. Will she remain a selfish villain, or will the Witches’ Road teach her to become a better person?
| Trial Type | Location | Focus | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major Trials | Specific locations (houses, huts) | Worst fears and nightmares | 30 minutes | Test knowledge, skill, and character |
| Minor Trials | Along The Road | Character-focused | Undefined | Prevent continuation, subtle obstacles |
2016's Scarlet Witch #3, the first appearance of the Witches' Road. In the comics, the pair were not adversaries as they are in the MCU. Agatha actually tutored Wanda in the use of magic, beyond her own mutant powers. When Wanda embarks on the Witches’ Road, she faces a series of trials over the course of the fifteen-issue series. She learns more about herself, discovering that her superhero name “The Scarlet Witch” is actually a title first used by her birth mother, Natalya Maximoff.
As part of her trials on the Witches’ Road, Wanda comes up against various spirits, creatures, sorcerers, and demons. Although Wanda is on the Witches’ Road for several weeks, time passes far slower on Earth than on the Road. In our world, only hours have passed. She eventually learns that the battles she fought on the Road were caused by the entity called Chaos, who is the source of her own Chaos Magic. Chaos was attacking Witchcraft, itself an entity that is the source of all the witches’ powers.
The 2004 event Avengers Disassembled had the Scarlet Witch lose control of her chaos magic, nearly destroying the Avengers and killing several teammates. This is after she learned her children were merely magical constructs, and not flesh and blood. Afterward, she decimated the mutant race in House of M. She vanished for years, until coming under the control of Doctor Doom.
