Agatha Harkness and Rio relationship explained – how she ‘courted’ Death

❘ Published: 2024-10-31T12:59:41

Agatha Harkness and Rio, aka Death, in Agatha All Along

Disney+

Agatha and Rio’s relationship seems to come to an end in the Agatha All Along finale, but questions remain about their history and how she met Death in the first place.

Agatha All Along’s ending was incredibly emotional: after the final trial, Billy (aka Wiccan) returned to give Agatha enough power to face off against Rio (aka Death, the Original Green Witch).

As she points out, it’s futile: you can’t fight Death, so she sacrifices herself to save Billy with a literal kiss of Death. Agatha falls to the ground, and her body rapidly decomposes and becomes one with the earth as Rio stands above her, silently mourning.

Death wasn’t necessarily a villain; she’s simply inevitable. Nevertheless, despite the impracticalities of their relationship, she felt something for Agatha.

How did Agatha and Death meet?

Agatha kissing Death in Agatha All Along

It’s unclear exactly how, when, and why Agatha met Death, but here’s my theory: they met in 1693 after Agatha murdered her coven when they tried to burn her at the stake.

Think about it: Death does not like being cheated (that’s why she was so hung up on Billy, who “stole a second life”), and Agatha’s fate was sealed when her coven tried to kill her for practicing forbidden witchcraft. She should have died, but when the witches attempted to drain her life force, she stole their energy and killed them all.

This probably caught Death’s attention, but we don’t know how their relationship developed. Whatever happened, they clearly shared intense feelings for each other; in Episode 4, Rio described the woman she once loved as her “scar.”

As the show’s creator Jac Schaeffer explained, there’s “real pain and yearning” underneath their playful dynamic.

Death may have made Agatha immortal

Death was probably impressed with Agatha’s ability to absorb witches’ powers. It’s not that she enjoys people dying (she’s especially gentle with Nicholas Scratch), but it’s her entire purpose, and she may have seen an opportunity with Agatha.

Witches live longer than normal humans in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Agatha’s lifespan goes far beyond any other witch. What if Rio gave her a deal: in exchange for immortality (or a vastly longer life), she drained the life of any witch she came across, piling up lots of bodies that would have evaded Death for decades if Agatha hadn’t intervened?

It may be even simpler than that: if Rio fell in love with Agatha, she could have kept her alive so she could spend more time with her.

However, the penultimate episode included an interesting line. Agatha tells Rio she’s “not allowed” to kill her – why? Is it because any attempt to kill Agatha would allow her to steal Death’s power, killing them both and dooming the balance of the cosmos in the process? Or is it simply because they had a deal? Hopefully, we’ll find out.

Death allowed Agatha’s son to live… temporarily

The Agatha All Along finale opened in 1750, with Agatha running through the woods, pregnant and ready to give birth.

However, it’s heavily implied that her baby has already died in the womb – especially when Death shows up to claim her latest victim. Agatha begs her to let him live and says she’ll “hate her forever” if she takes him away. While definitely against the rules, she gives them an indefinite length of “time” together, allowing Nicholas Scratch to grow up and enjoy his childhood… until he dies.

It’s heartbreakingly understated: Nicky and Agatha go to sleep, and he’s woken up in the middle of the night by Death, who’s standing nearby with a green torch. She doesn’t scare him, she just wants him to follow her because his time is up (she even tells him to give Agatha a kiss goodbye before he leaves).

The next morning, Agatha wakes up, and Nicky is lying beside her dead.

Why did they break up?

Rio, aka Death, holding a knife to Agatha

We still don’t know the full context of why Agatha and Rio’s relationship soured. The death of Agatha’s son definitely played a part, but it also involves the Darkhold.

Jennifer told Billy that Agatha traded her son for the Darkhold (the Book of the Damned, full of black magic spells that often corrupt their user, like Wanda in Doctor Strange 2) – but that isn’t true.

We actually don’t know how Agatha got it (if there isn’t an Agatha All Along Season 2, I expect we’ll find out in another upcoming Marvel project), but whenever she did, it caused a rift between them. Remember, Rio said: “How long has it been, Agatha? Since you acquired the Darkhold, you hid behind all that dark magic.”

Here’s a possibility: the Darkhold gives its user control over the dark arts, including the ability to resurrect someone – which would violate the “natural balance” of life, angering Death. When Agatha got the Darkhold, one could argue that she’d be more powerful than Death herself – and in the comics, she famously does not like that.

What about Death and Thanos?

Lady Death in Agatha All Along and Thanos in the MCU

In the Marvel comics, Death’s most famous relationship is with Thanos, and there may be a parallel with Agatha All Along.

The MCU teased Thanos’ pursuit of Lady Death in The Avengers’ post-credits scene, when one of his servants warned him that challenging them would be to “court Death.”

This was nothing more than a nod to their backstory in the comics, where Death tempted Thanos into terrible things from a young age (killing animals, murdering people, that sort of thing). She rejected his advances… until he killed his mom, an event that made him go mad.

She was a tough woman to please, put it that way. When Death lost a battle against Adam Warlock, Captain Mar-Vell, and the Avengers, she turned her back on him.

So, in a bid to prove his love for her (and his worthiness), he collected the Infinity Stones and wiped out half of the universe. Death wasn’t impressed; with the Infinity Gauntlet, he was arguably the most powerful being in the universe, so she eventually teamed up with her cosmic brethren to defeat him.

This sounds a little like what may have happened with the Darkhold. Death may reject the idea of anyone wielding that level of power, especially if it can allow someone to circumvent the natural order.

Schaeffer addressed Death’s connection to Thanos in an interview before the finale… but prepare to be disappointed. “Thanos is not in my show, so I can’t speak to any Thanos connections. Thanos stans out there, I have no answers for you,” she said.