Agatha's Magical Gateway Explained

In WandaVision episode 7, Agatha Harkness lures Wanda into her basement that doubles as a magical gateway, which could be important to the MCU's multiverse. Walking down a vine-laden stone corridor, Wanda discovers a large circular room decorated with arcane bric-a-brac, as well as a few notable items on which the camera focuses on for a few moments. This appears to be the seat of Agatha's power, and the many stone archways leading out of the room make it appear to be a central hub, offering access to a number of different locations - or dimensions.

In addition to being a disorienting situation for Wanda to find herself in, Agatha's magical gateway chamber also suggests a reason for the frequent changes the residents of Westview experience. This central location in Westview could well be a nexus, a multiverse hub that allows all possible realities to meet. Such locations are places of considerable power, which would also help explain the raw energy that courses through the Westview hex. With Agatha apparently in control of the nexus, she also states via song that she was behind a number of the previously inexplicable events that have occurred in Westview.

Agatha's magical gateway itself is of particular interest, however, because it represents the single greatest tonal shift within an episode of WandaVision inside Westview. Wherever Agatha's basement lair is, it doesn't appear to be following the rules of the sitcom genre that has defined Westview, and Wanda herself doesn't appear to be exerting any control over Agatha whatsoever. With rumors and suggestions floating that Agatha has a link to Mephisto, the devil character of Marvel Comics, this is increasingly ominous - especially given the décor of Agatha's dungeon-like basement.

Agatha's Magical Gateway Design & Devil Teases

The aesthetic of the hallway leading into Agatha's main chamber - and the chamber itself - are far from the lighthearted and aggressively suburban feel Westview has had. Given WandaVision's aspect ratio changes when Wanda enters the room, it's safe to say the room exists outside of the Hex, or is at least not tethered to it. Furthermore, the dark stone hallway that leads to the chamber is unlit, with small amounts of natural light spilling in from Agatha's basement walkout and from ceiling grates in the main chamber. This marks one of the few times that characters are dimly lit in Westview, which usually takes extraordinary pains to make sure that faces, even in scenes that are set at night or indoors, are in stylistic sitcom fashion. Not incidentally, the sitcom signal of WandaVision playing on TV outside of the hex cuts off for this episode.

Within the chamber, etchings on the walls suggest a devilish or infernal patron that many theorists have posited to be Mephisto, or one of the other demonic entities that plague Marvel Comics heroes, such as Nightmare. As was evidenced by the Ancient One's pact in Doctor Strange, such entities are known to imbue sorcerers with power that cannot be granted by simply studying, and they can serve as a shortcut to more power. Given that the Hex hasn't only controlled those within it but also wiped Westview from the memories of those outside of it, such power may be required. While no individual sigil or demonic relief has been positively identified, their presence in the gateway isn't a good sign.

Agatha's Magic Book

One of the notable objects in Agatha's gateway is a magical book on her desk, marked with a strange sigil that isn't reflected anywhere else in chamber. Any item that is illuminated in a dark scene will naturally be a point of focus, and the book has a strange red energy around it. More importantly, the sigil upon it resembles the mark of Dormammu but isn't the same one, further suggesting that this chamber allows access to other planes and dimensions. The symbol appears to look like two old-fashioned keys meeting in the middle, a possible hint to it having to do with the multiverse, and how the book allows Agatha to traverse it - if that's indeed what WandaVision is hinting at.

Although there have been suggestions that the book is the Necronomicon or the Darkhold, both of which have belonged to Agatha Harkness in the comics, Agatha's origin story has changed from the source material, and the Darkhold has already appeared in Agents of SHIELD with a very different cover (though that series is considered to be MCU-adjacent). Whatever the exact nature of the book is, it seems likely to be related to the nature of the room itself, which is larger than the basement footprint of Agatha's house would reasonably allow, further suggesting that the room may exist outside of the normal reality of Westview.

Non-Human Skulls And Curios

Agatha's magical gateway has one other illuminated shelf, a glass cabinet containing what appear to be a series of skulls and other bone artifacts, glowing with an eerie red light. While the camera never properly focuses on the cabinet, some of the skulls are roughly the shape of human skulls, but with distinctly non-human features. These could be animal or alien skulls (although one, notably, has no eye holes), but with MCU's Phase 4 focusing on the multiverse, human-adjacent but non-human skulls take on an entirely new meaning. Given the surrounding circumstances, the glow is likely to be magical, but the red glow is not the color of Agatha's magical power.

Through another one of the archways, the camera captures a glimpse of what seems to be a reflective portal highlighted with a purple coloring similar to that of Agatha's magic. With as many magical mirrors as there are in Marvel Comics, identifying this object is difficult at best, but as the mirror dimension is another major plot point in Doctor Strange, this could be one of the nexus intersections dealing with this alternate dimension. It's certainly magical - but what it does or even is, is speculative.

Between the foreboding aesthetic, the drastic difference between the gateway room and the rest of Westview, and the in-broadcast commercial "Nexus" reference, it's clear the corridor to Agatha's secret chamber - and the gateway chamber itself - have more to them than initially meets the eye. With upcoming projects promising to explore the Marvel multiverse, the imagery in this chamber may grow further in importance, and WandaVision's final episodes will likely offer more information as to what Agatha does down there.

Next: WandaVision: Every MCU Easter Egg In Episode 7