Do you need spare actions available to play Throne Room?

Question

The rule book explains Throne Room's effect as follows:

You pick another Action card in your hand, play it, and play it again. The second use of the Action card doesn't use up any extra Actions you have.

My question is:

If I played Witch with Throne Room, according to the rules, the second use of Witch doesn't use up another action, doesn't that mean the first use of Witch cost an action?

So in essence, whenever you play Throne Room, wouldn't you need to first play cards that give you additional actions?

Answer 1

Throne Room costs an Action to play; the card you play twice is part of the effect of Throne Room, and neither play of it consumes an Action.

My speculation is that that particular wording was in answer to a complaint encountered during development, something like: "Village gave you two actions, but you just played that Witch two times with Throne Room, so you have no actions left." That's a mistaken understanding of the way Actions work, of course, but everyone was a novice back then.

Other cards that include allowing you to play other Actions as part of the effect include King's Court (from Prosperity), Cultist, and Procession (both from Dark Ages).

Answer 2

None of them cost an action, the only action cost here is playing the Throne Room itself.