Wanda’s Fall Explained: Was the Scarlet Witch a Villain or a Grieving Mother?

Spoiler warning: This article reveals major plot points and the ending of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Wanda Maximoff has lost almost everything: her parents, her brother, Vision, and the peaceful family life she desperately wanted. So when she becomes the main threat in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), one question is hard to ignore: Was Wanda truly evil, or was she a grieving mother who lost control?

The answer is more complicated than choosing one side. Wanda’s pain is real, but so is the terrible damage she causes.

1. Wanda’s Grief Never Truly Disappeared

In WandaVision, Wanda creates a magical reality in Westview where she can live with Vision and their twin boys, Billy and Tommy. But her happiness comes at the cost of controlling the town’s residents.

Eventually, she releases them, accepting that her family cannot remain part of that artificial world. However, saying goodbye doesn’t mean her grief is healed. The final scene shows her studying the Darkhold, a book of dangerous dark magic.

That moment sets the stage for her transformation.

2. The Darkhold Turns Her Pain Into Obsession

The Darkhold doesn’t simply give Wanda more power. It appears to feed on her deepest desires and anger, pushing her toward increasingly destructive choices.

Screenwriter Michael Waldron explained that Wanda had confronted much of her grief in WandaVision, but her anger remained unresolved. The Darkhold exploits that weakness, clouding her judgment.

This doesn’t erase Wanda’s responsibility. It helps explain why the woman who once fought beside the Avengers becomes someone willing to destroy anyone standing in her way.

3. Her Children Become the Center of Everything

Wanda discovers that versions of Billy and Tommy exist in other universes. She wants to reach them and become their mother again.

Her desire is understandable. Many parents would do almost anything to protect their children. But Wanda’s plan requires taking America Chavez’s unique multiverse-traveling power, even though doing so would kill America.

This is where grief becomes dangerous obsession. Wanda stops asking whether her goal is right and focuses only on getting what she wants.

4. Wanda Crosses the Line From Victim to Villain

Wanda attacks Kamar-Taj, kills sorcerers, and hunts America across the multiverse. Later, she brutally defeats the Illuminati on Earth-838.

These scenes are difficult to watch because we understand the pain behind her actions. But understanding someone’s suffering doesn’t make their violence acceptable.

Wanda isn’t simply misunderstood. She knowingly harms innocent people to reach her goal. By this point, she is both a deeply wounded person and the film’s antagonist.

5. Doctor Strange Becomes Her Dark Mirror

Strange also faces temptation throughout the movie. Different versions of him show how pride, fear, and the desire to control outcomes can turn a hero into a threat.

But Strange repeatedly chooses to trust America rather than steal her power. Wanda makes the opposite choice, believing that her suffering justifies almost anything.

Their conflict is about more than magic. It asks whether pain gives someone the right to control other people’s lives. The film’s answer is no.

6. The Moment Wanda Finally Sees Herself

The turning point comes when Wanda reaches the universe where her sons already have a mother. At first, she tries to approach them as the family she believes she deserves.

Instead, the children see her as a terrifying threat. Their fear forces Wanda to face the truth: her pursuit of happiness has made her frightening to the very children she wants to protect.

She finally understands that she cannot force love or motherhood into existence through fear.

7. Was Wanda Redeemed by Her Final Sacrifice?

Wanda destroys Mount Wundagore, apparently destroying the Darkhold’s source and its copies across the multiverse. The mountain collapses around her, and a flash of red light leaves her fate uncertain.

Her final act suggests remorse. She stops the spread of dark magic rather than continuing her pursuit of the children. But one good decision cannot undo every life she took.

The film doesn’t definitively confirm whether Wanda dies, so her fate remains open to interpretation.

So, Was the Scarlet Witch a Villain or a Grieving Mother?

She was both. Wanda’s grief explains her choices, and the Darkhold helps explain her descent. Neither makes her actions harmless or removes her responsibility.

What makes her story tragic is that she begins with a deeply human wish: to be with her children. She becomes a villain when she decides that achieving that wish matters more than anyone else’s life.

Wanda isn’t evil because she loves her family. She falls because her love becomes an obsession she refuses to control.