The other aspects of the original Hecate sacrificed themselves to the Upside Down Man to take out the Crone aspect of herself; and, now, everyone is happy. I thought the author had just run off on a tangent and just left the Upside down Man theme in the heaps, as had been done in the recent past of Wonder Woman stories (Rucka 2.0 comes to mind); but, suddenly, this issue, he comes back to the forefront to conclude the story, as a way of scripting out The Forces of Light or Heaven as a way of stopping Hecate.

The problem here is that while Hecate is being finished off, The Upside Down Man is going to come back as at least as big of a threat as Hecate, as least as logic should follow, and logically, be around double the power, after having consumed Hecate; and, The Upside Down Man was the source of the rage that created the Crone aspect of Hecate in the first place.

And, now, essentially, might as well pick up at the point where the Hecate threat left off and place The Upside Down Man there with double Hecate's power, at least. And, somehow, this band is supposed to stop him. As I said earlier, they should have joined forces with Hecate to stop the Upside Down Man; they just need a description of Hecate's speculation of him and a strategy, as Hecate just fled from him in fright. Logically speaking, even though Circle is happy now, she should only be a final appetizer piece of Hecate that the Upside Down Man can consume with ease. This has to be, since Hecate apparently created the DC multiverse but, somehow, it's still receiving some protection from the Upside Down Man, for the time being. I think the Supernatural tv show handle this scenario much more logically, as showing the Darkness nearly wounding God mortally as giving signs of reality starting to die or fade away, along with God.

Unless the Mother and the Maiden were actually Circe tricking Wonder Woman into unleashing the Otherkind, I fail to see how this was all orchestrated by Circe as the ending suggests. I could be way off-base but I think she might've planted that in Wonder Woman’s head when she oh-so generously offered to help Diana take control of the witchmark, in which case Wonder Woman effed up big time, the Justice League Dark now have 2 big problems on their hands

@archizooom: I doubt Circe did anything more than make an accurate prediction about how her patron and Diana would act during this time and manipulated things to an end of her liking.

@outside_85: it says at the end that Circe's plan quote "worked out better than she had imagined"...what plan is what I'm wondering

That she went from the 5th Witchmarked to the 'Witchmother' with all of Hecates power added to her own.

@outside_85: No, that’s the outcome, I’m asking what plan did Circe put in place to achieve that

To use Diana and the rest of the JLD to basically assassinate Hecate, while keeping her own backside mostly in the clear in case things went south. It's a case of being a puppeteer so deftly the puppets don't realize they are being played. (though in this last issue she did show her hand when she bluntly told the JLD they didn't have a choice; kill Diana or watch everything else die).

Basically Circe's mindset is based on knowing Diana very well, knowing Hecate, and knowing the puny humans wont have the guts to do what's necessary. So she aids Diana under the guise of it being for her own preservation, giving them just enough courage to think the direct approach will work (Zatanna knew it wouldn't but she followed anyways), setting in motion the meeting between Hecate's older forms and Diana knowing it would weaken the Crone. And because Circe knows Hecate was beyond going back, she knew Diana and the JLD would have to kill her somehow and in doing so would make it possible for Circe to siphon off the power.

Reason why Circe wasn't drained or activated like the other Witchmarked I assume has to do with Circe being the only one of them who knew she was Witchmarked and has likely known it for ages and what it was meant to do, so being a formidable sorceress herself she probably safeguarded herself... like remaining in her place of power where she could stave it off unless Hecate came in person.

"setting in motion the meeting between Hecate's older forms and Diana knowing it would weaken the Crone. And because Circe knows Hecate was beyond going back, she knew Diana and the JLD would have to kill her somehow and in doing so would make it possible for Circe to siphon off the power."

Just to back up some, I'm not understanding where you're getting the idea from that Hecate's powers are being transferred to Circe; Hecate is being fully consumed by the Upside Down Man; Circe is just keeping the left over power from the witchmark; once or if the Upside Down Man has finished with Hecate, he'll then be free to break into this reality and pickup where Crone left off, but only having twice the power of the Crone and placing the Dark team in twice the jeopardy; Circe is just most likely expressing one of those shortsighted villains moments, thinking of only herself, not realizing that, with only a fiftieth of Hecate's original power, she'd only be a final piece of an appetizer for him; the Upside Down Man can now just run rampant; for some reason, they forgot all about Upside Down Man being the original threat and someone that sent even fully powered Hecate away in fright. While Circe is powerful, in either case scenario, she'd be dealt with quickly, either by the Dark team or the Upside Down Man.

That last page basically and this panel.

The way she describes it, the power of Hecate was like a liquid divided between five vessels, once you emptied one vessel there would be more power in the others. So when Hecade died, the power was all transferred into the last vessel: Circe. If you want, you can think of it like the Phoenix 5, knock the bird out of Namor and Scott, Emma, Illyana and Peter all got more powerful.

Huh. Well Diana better still have God-Mode, then (tho her Witchmarked form looked cooler imo)

@outside_85: It’s not even like Circe sic them on Hecate then simply sit back with her fingers crossed hoping they could somehow get rid of her, the Justice League Dark were already set on a collision course with Hecate, plus that would’ve been a total shot in the dark

I still completely fail to see how Circe manipulated things in her favour tbh, unless that spell she put on Wonder Woman was some sort of trojan horse that allowed Circe to sever Hecate’s control over Diana, I mean if you think about it, the spell did give WW a quote unquote "semblance of control" so it seems entirely plausible to me

No, Circe did not just close her eyes and hope for the best, she knew Diana would win... because Diana always wins, and all Circe had to do was nudge her comrades onto the field to make sure of it.

Think of it as playing chess, Circe was just moving the pieces around so the game favored her in the end. She knows the pieces, she knows what they can do and how they do it. She knows Hecate better than anyone, she knows about the Witchmarked, the Witching Hour, about the true nature of magic and the Otherkin, she knows Diana a lot better than most do and she just knows how to manipulate them all.

Edit: with all that said, I dont think Circe planned this ages in advance, because she seemed genuinely surprised Diana was one of the Witchmarked. She might have considered it, but all in all, I think the details of her plans came while she entertained them. Opportunity knocked.

Do you guys think that Circe and the Upside Down Man could lead into an even bigger event? I was under the impression that Scott Snyder said that the witch marked thing would play a role later on.

Thivillains are extremely powerful and dangerous, it would be cool to see Diana and Zatanna leading everyone against them in a huge crossover.

@outside_85: Yes I believe Circe told Zatanna &co to kill Wonder Woman knowing that they wouldn’t have the courage to do it thus leaving only one option ie unleashing the Upside Down Man, that much I think we agree on. But here’s the thing, Circe could not have predicted that Diana’s connection to Hecate would be severed, and without a severed link, the power would’ve been transferred to Wonder Woman instead. Furthermore, Diana “felt the power leaving her, guided as if by an unseen hand” - that sure as hell sounds like Circe severed the link so the power would flow to her. I’m telling you, that spell was a Trojan horse

@archizooom: Actually I think Circe knew they would break the mark on Diana like they did, because thats what people like them would do, they'd try to save their friend by removing the chain holding them. And the knew they'd mess it up because Hecate's mark is that strong and Hecate knew some might try.

True, but that's just another sign that Circe was indeed steering the events from afar.

Do anybody feel that the Witching Hour should tie in with the main JL book? I really like this storyline and would like for it spread across some DC books so we have more to read and look forward to.

@outside_85: Constantine’s hex severed Black Orchid’s and Manitou Dawn’s link to Hecate but not Diana’s which is further evidence that Circe had back-door control over Wonder Woman. I’m assuming she kept Diana linked to Hecate in order to force them to choose between killing Wonder Woman or unleashing the Otherkind, knowing they would choose the latter. And that’s how Circe got rid of Hecate and usurped her power

I would say it had more to do with it being because Hecate was right in front of them. The exorcism, got Dawn and Orchid off the mark, but it killed Diana, though Hecate was keeping her body moving. There is also mention of the 2/5th's of Hecates power only going back to the last active Witchmarked, which means Diana had the power of the four, but Circe (inactive) only had her own 1/5th.

Something along those lines, certainly, though I think Diana remaining upright had more to do with her being Hecate's active puppet than anything Circe did. Circe just had to nudge and remain inactive, and not reveal she was the 5th witchmarked for all of this to work for her.

@outside_85: I don’t think Wonder Woman actually died, I reckon that was just a cliffhanger

@archizooom: It certainly didn't have much of an effect, but I think her dying was real enough.

I don't think the spell was a trojan horse. Circe just bet her cards on the highest probability. First of all, the link was created by Hecate. Even though Circe is Circe, I doubt she can undo that.

Second, I don't think the mother and the maiden were fooling Diana into unleashing the otherkind. That conversation was more important than that. It was a shifting point where mistake was acknowledged that the wall shouldn't have been created. Plus the backstory of Hecate was also told. If Circe was manipulating this then the backstory would be fake and we'd need another one but it wouldn't matter because Hecate is already gone.

Third, Constantine's hex severed Manitou dawn's and Orchid's link but it didn't sever Diana's because I think they seriously messed it up. Witchfire mentions this as well when she says they don't know what they are doing and I don't think Withcfire had any idea of Circe's involvement.

Also, I don't think Circe is as powerful as Hecate. I think most of the power was taken by the upside down man. Even Diana's body was not able to handle the 3/5 of her power, I doubt Circe's body can. And its impossible to even think some one this powerful will be allowed to exist. The terrain itself changed when Diana walked with just 3/5th of that power. What would be interesting to see is, I don't think Circe anticipated that other kind would be drawn into this world and I don't think she is strong enough to fight them. So it'll be interesting to see how it works out: whether she allies with the JLD or with the other kind.

@comicfan_60: You know what, perhaps I am reading way too much into what probably is just a poorly thought-out story. Tynion is Snyder’s pupil after all

Technically Circe has been returned to her Perez incarnation where Circe basically was Hecate in all but name (Hecate was inside of her). I don't think the Upsidedown Man got anything in terms of power, he just killed Hecate and set her power free.

Clarifications on the last Issue for all those that need it

- It was stated that when a watchmarked dies or loses the connection the power is divided up among the remaining watchmarked. Wonder Woman & Circe therefore had 4/5 of Hecate's power because she had that of Manitou, Black Orchid, Witchfire plus the one they already had. It's stated that the power would return to Hecate after the last watchmarked dies.

- Circe didn't foresee events playing out the way they did. She planned to get Hecate's power but not in this way. Her original plan was to convince the JLD that there was no other way to save the multiverse than to kill Diana and in doing so the power would have gone to Circe. However, events ended up in her favour regardless

- In the issue, it states that Hecate's power did not return to her despite her summoning it. That's why she couldn't fight back against the Upside-down Man. Therefore the Upside-down Man didn't get much of anything from consuming Hecate.

Hope that cleared things up

Still, pretty decent considering what we have gotten from DC in recent years. I have stopped reading the comics from big publishers for stories anyways. It is hard to beat creator owned comic books in terms of good stories.

Maybe at the same level as Hecate in Perez era because she was still a greek goddess then. This one though, is off the charts. She is a fundamental force of creation. Thats why I'm still skeptical. But, we shall see as the story progresses.

Does anyone know if this means that there is no way wonder woman still has these Witch Marked Powers or does she still have them but just she and Zatanna do not realise Diana's Witch Marked powers are still there ????

More likely than not, Wonder Woman's witch mark is totally gone, without a trace; it was Hecate specific under certain conditions.

I guess it could come back in the future, would at least make sense.