Sharon Was Not Who You Thought: A Huge Agatha All Along Theory Explained

Contains some general spoilers for "Agatha All Along" up through Episode 4 

It looks like Agatha Harkness' (Kathryn Hahn) journey toward regaining her powers is going to be far more complicated than she anticipated. She already has Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) breathing down her neck for the ultimate battle. The Salem Seven want her. And now she must walk the Witches' Road with her coven of five in the hope of regaining her magical powers.

Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) proves to be the first casualty of these trials when she accidentally drinks poison during Episode 3. She's the only member of the coven to pass away thus far, and it's the first real tragedy this new coven must face down as a team. It's a fearlessly creepy touch for the Disney+ chiller. But might her death be even more deeply symbolic than it is on the surface? Could her name hold a hidden meaning within the operatic, mythology-tinged world of the series? or is it all merely coincidental?   

Sharon Davis started out her journey through the world of witchcraft in "WandaVision." Within the twisted, TV-based world of Wanda Maximoff's (Elizabeth Olsen) Westview, New Jersey, Sharon is known as Mrs. Hart. Her husband, Mr. Hart (Fred Melamed), runs Computational Services Inc. and is Vision's (Paul Bettany) boss in Wanda's reality.

Always cheerful, Mrs. Hart has a green thumb and is well-known for her garden — as well as her nosy ways regarding Wanda's personal life. But her real personality keeps poking through to question Wanda's choice to keep the entire town enthralled to fulfill her selfish desire to have her children in her life and Vision still in her arms. It's Sharon who — awakened by Agatha — begs Wanda to just let everyone die if she won't let them go. Ultimately, the barrier between reality and Wanda's, well, vision, breaks down, and the citizens of Westview are released from their bondage. 

When we see Sharon next, she's generally returned to her life, and her green thumb makes her a big part of Agatha's new plans. Her poisoning wrecks that notion, forcing Agatha to call on Rio. That seems to be it for her character — a simple casualty of the very high stakes surrounding the coven, which they are all now very aware of — but might her name and purpose in the story be bigger than they seem?

Sharon may seem like a tragic human casualty of Agatha's witchy ways, but "Sharon" does sound a whole lot like "Charon" — as in the Greek and Roman figure from the Underworld.

For those who aren't versed in Greek and Roman mythology, Charon is a ferryman whose job it is to carry the souls of the newly dead in and out of the underworld. Driving his boat across the River Styx, he takes said souls to be judged by Hades, God of the Underworld and of Death. Only Hades can decide where every Roman will spend their eternity. He is not often thwarted, but the dead don't always stay dead down in the underworld. Just look at Orpheus and Eurydice.

How does Sharon's alcohol-based death relate to Charon's function in the myth? The fact that it was water-logged definitely makes her seem like a possible Charon figure in this story — their banding together to make an antidote and save one another leads them through the flood to come. Is it possible that Sharon acted as an agent of Death — a quasi-Charon — to spirit Agatha and the rest of the team down the road? 

And where does that theory lead us? To the notion that all of our witches might already be dead thanks to their poisoning, and that the Witch's Road is their afterlife trip into some sort of nightmare hell — or perhaps adjacent to it. After all, Sharon ferried them through waters unknown to a deeper, darker part of the Witch's Road — literally underground, via the vehicle of water. Perhaps, then, her sudden death serves a major purpose in Agatha's narrative arc.  At the very least, Sharon's death has led them across a new Rubicon that they could not have crossed alone. Fans would definitely like to see Agatha Harkness emerge triumphant in this spin-off.

That Rio — a powerful figure of death who threatens to claim Agatha's — immediately springs up out of the earth when they bury Sharon is another strong hint. She pops up from the underground — literally from the underground. It might be a far-fetched twist as of this writing, but it's clear the show's mystery has something truly dark bubbling under its surface. Whether you think "Agatha All Along" is a snoozer or a trippy, campy joy, it's definitely an inventive notion. The show itself will soon reveal what's really going on — and whether Agatha will get her dearest wish.