Locke and Key/Characters

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The Locke Family

Rendell Locke

The father of the Locke family, Rendell is killed by Sam Lesser (under the orders of Dodge) at the very beginning of the series.

• Back from the Dead Defied. After the Mending Key fixes her broken dishes, Nina tries to use it on his ashes. It doesn't work.
• Cool Teacher
• Death by Origin Story
• Identical Father: As an adult he just has Tyler's chin, but when we see his teen self he's pretty much just Tyler with a different haircut. Arguably this is a smart choice, as much of Tyler's arc is filling in his father's shoes.
• Posthumous Character
• The Reveal: Opening the Black Door was his idea.

Nina Locke

The mother of the Locke family. Has been hitting the bottle ever since her husband died and she was raped on the same day.

• The Alcoholic
• Broken Bird
• Drowning My Sorrows: Constantly. As of the end of Keys to the Kingdom, she's trying to quit, though.
• Muggle
• Rape as Drama
• Weirdness Censor: Like nearly all adults, she has one that keeps her from recognizing the effects of the keys. However, when she has too much to drink, she recognizes and tries experimenting with one key.

Tyler Locke

The oldest of the Locke children, Tyler does his best to be the man of the house, but is still haunted by Sam Lesser's words.

• The Atoner: That quote at the top of the main page? It still torments him constantly.
• Book Dumb: Though he is pretty fast at thinking on his feet, and manages to piece together that Dodge and the Dark Lady are one and the same.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy: Especially obvious when he gives an irrefutable and logical explanation as to why Kinsey can't be trusted with secrets.
• Gentle Giant: The Giant-ness seems to be something he inherited from his father, who is also built like a truck. Runs in the Family, perhaps. Eventually the giant part became literal, but he wasn't too gentle.
• Heroes Want Redheads
• Hypocrite: In a minor way. He constantly gets on the others to be more careful about using the keys and keeping secrets, but he's barely any better about it for most of the first 4 volumes.
• Idiot Ball: Sure, go ahead and tell everyone about the magical key that can unlock people's minds... I'm sure nothing bad's going to come out of that one. Lampshaded by Kinsey.
• Instant Expert: Subverted hard. Turns out simply absorbing the contents of a textbook doesn't help much in actually understanding it enough to write a paper on the subject.
• Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Gets a pair of glasses that, according to Kinsey, make him look smart. He comments they do serve a purpose, as they help with his reading.

Kinsey Locke

The second youngest of the Locke children. Tired of being sad and afraid, Kinsey used the Head Key to totally remove her sense of fear and sadness.

• Anime Hair
• Badass Boast: Her various "I'm not afraid to ___" statements, but especially "I'm not afraid to kill you".
• Blessed with Suck: Completely removing your fears and sadness turns out to have some negative effects on your social life.
• Broken Bird: Averted, but she strayed very close to it early on.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Scot, Jackie and Jamal after they all almost drown together.
• Important Haircut: Changing her haircut from a conventional style to a short cut with a braid and green stripe marks when she starts bouncing back from her father's death.
• Took a Level in Badass: After removing her fears, although it led to some unforeseen consequences.
• Plucky Girl: Actually enforced. She doesn't get scared or sad because she literally can't.

Bode Locke

The youngest of the Locke family. Has a knack for finding keys. Or maybe they're finding him?

• Cheerful Child
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Curious as a Monkey
• Deliberately Cute Child
• Grand Theft Me: Has been kicked out of his body, which has been inhabited by Dodge, and turned into a ghost no one can see.
• Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: What his teacher thinks of his art. Of course, she didn't know everything there was true.
• One of Us: He's a Calvin and Hobbes fan.

Duncan Locke

Rendell's brother, Duncan helps to take care of the Lockes with their father gone.

• Invisible to Gaydar: Though it's implied he might not always be; he suggests they go to a club (as opposed to a bar) that is known to play Cher (though this may be because he correctly thought the club might be safer).
• Tap on the Head: Gets knocked out pretty easily. A beer bottle is one thing, but a plastic gas can?
• The Reveal: It was actually his fault that Dodge got possessed.

Antagonists

Lucas "Dodge" Caravaggio, aka Zack Wells

The main villain of the story, Dodge seeks to open the Black Door. He almost did it in 1988, and doesn't intend to fail this time.

• Attractive Bent Gender
• Back from the Dead: Sort of. He is actually a living echo of his former self. As one point his corpse can be seen at the bottom of the Drowning Cave.
• Big Bad
• Big Bad Friend
• Bishounen
• Demonic Possession: Has a ...*thing* lodged in his soul (if some lines in Clockworks #1 are to be taken seriously, it may be one of the Thousand Young) that guides his actions, although it's unclear just how much control it has; comments by Dodge about "moving the meat" indicate that the parasite is in full control, or possibly switches back and forth, only taking full control when necessary. Comments by Sam Lesser, however, indicate that the parasite may have completely taken over and simply retains Dodge's memories and personality, ala a Joss Whedon vampire.
• Devil in Plain Sight
• Faux Affably Evil: Knowns how to say all the right things, but there is an absolutely vicious, ruthless bastard hiding underneath it.
• Fish Out of Temporal Water: Continually wowed and confused by modern technology, since the last computer he owned was a Commodore 64. All things considered he adapts fairly well, and thinks that modern technology kicks the crap out of what he was used to in the 80s.
• Gender Bender: Oh, Gender Key.
• Hellish Pupils: Sometimes. They may indicate when the parasite is in full control; notice that when Dodge sports them, he tend to be a lot more vicious and violent than usual.
• Humanoid Abomination
• Jabba Table Manners: Displays some shortly after getting possessed.
• The Lancer: Was this to Rendell before the demon possessed him.
• Manipulative Bastard: Even when he isn't using the Head Key!
• Mind Rape: Knowing that they can't do anything about the demon and not wanting to kill their friend, Rendell's circle instead use the Head Key to rob him of all his memories of the last three years; the demon is still there but doesn't know about the keys or the Black Door. Ellie explicitly compares this to rape.
• Neck Snap: He seems fond of it.
• Sealed Evil in a Can
• Shout-Out: Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl? Trapped in a well? Actually male? Sounds familiar...
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Without the Puppeteer Parasite, was actually a pretty cool guy.
• Weaksauce Weakness: If he passes through the door to the wellhouse...Poof.
• Weapon of Choice: Fond of stabby things, and uses both knives and a sharpened rapier to deadly effect.
• Would Hurt a Child: Enthusiastically.

Sam Lesser

A mentally unbalanced classmate of Tyler's, Sam was used by Dodge to kill Rendell Locke.

• Abusive Parents
• Back from the Dead: For about a minute before Kinsey re-kills him.
• Broken Bad
• Chainsaw Good: Forms an astral chainsaw at one point.
• The Dog Bites Back: Attempted and failed.
• The Dragon: To Dodge in Welcome to Lovecraft.
• Empty Shell: According to Dodge, this is what allowed him to contact Sam; an echo's voice can reach anywhere hollow, like caves, wells and Sam's soul.
• Gonk
• Extreme Melee Revenge: Gets one when Tyler bashes his face in with a brick (he gets better) and one in Dodge's body when Kinsey beats him to death with an ice skate (he doesn't).
• The Sociopath
• Teens Are Monsters

Al Grubb

A friend of Sam's, Al helps him murder Rendell.

• An Axe to Grind
• Bald of Evil
• Hoist by His Own Petard: "Now where'd I leave my hatchet?"
• Teens Are Monsters: Unlike Sam, he's neither crazy or being strung along by an evil spirit. He probably just tagged along for the chance to rape Nina.

Others

Brian Rogan

Duncan's boyfriend.

• Bury Your Gays: Toyed with. At the end of Head Games when he's run over, but is later revealed to be in a coma, which he eventually wakes up from to deliver important plot-relevant information.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Hotblooded Sideburns
• Nobody Over 50 Is Gay: Averted. We don't know his exact age but he's no spring chicken.
• Invisible to Gaydar
• Manly Gay: Though he's a bit on the portly side.

Detective Mutuku

A local police detective who helps out the Lockes. Seems to have a bit of a thing for Nina.

• Badass: A couple of wounds from a rapier (including a swipe that just missed the eyes and then getting impaled) would slow down most people, but Mutuku barely pauses before going into ass kicking mode.
• Chekhov's Gun: Played with. He mentions to Nina at one point that his mother enrolled him in fencing classes because she had a dream that one day he would need to defend himself with a sword. However, when Dodge attacks him with a rapier, Mutuku just starts knocking him around with a rolling pin while lecturing him about how this isn't a fencing match.
  • And of course, knowing how to defend against someone who is using a sword certainly came in handy.
• Determinator
• Dual-Wielding: Kitchen knife AND rolling pin.
• Great Detective: Or at least a competent and damned dogged one.
• Improvised Weapon

Ellie Whedon

The track coach at the Locke's high school. Was one of Dodge's original circle back in 1988, and the one who started the whole mess over again.

• Abusive Parents: Her mother is a major one.
• Accidental Murder: Accidentally destroys the echo of Rendell's mother when she pushes her out of the wellhouse trying to defend Dodge.
• Break the Cutie: Her experiences as a teen, and the breaking just continued due to her mother as an adult.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
• Lovable Jock: As a student.
• Self-Made Orphan: Attempted. In a flashback she comes very close to pushing her mother off a cliff after she put a cigarette out on Rufus' neck, but can't go through with it. Dodge had no such hesitation, however.
• Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: Her relationship with Dodge was commented on a few times as this.

Rufus Whedon

Ellie Whedon's son. Has some sort of mental disability.

• Ambiguous Disorder
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Disability Immunity: His condition makes him immune to the Head Key.
• Disability Superpower: It also makes him able to talk to ghosts. Of course, writing about mentally handicapped people with extrasensory power might run in Joe Hill's family...
• Third Person Person: Most of the time he expresses himself through his action figures, referring to himself as "the kid. He does seem to know that it's pretend, though.
• Urine Trouble: Still wets the bed.

Jackie Veda

Kinsey's best friend, although Kinsey's social problems due to her head tampering may have driven her off.

• Ambiguously Brown: Could possibly be Indian, given that Veda is an Indian name, and the mural in her home (we see it when Kinsey picks her up to go running with her new hairdo) depicts a woman in traditional Indian garb (presumably her mother) sitting with a man and a young child (her father and her).
• All Love Is Unrequited: She loves Scot who loves Kinsey and oh...
• Only Sane Man: Generally comes off as the most level headed of the group.

Jamal Saturday

One of Kinsey's friends.

• Awesome McCoolname
• Black Best Friend: Subverted, this is one of his major complaints with Scot, who is otherwise his best friend.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Disappeared Dad: His dad died in Afghanistan.

Scot Kavanaugh

One of Kinsey's friends.

• British Accents: Or at least, British slang. Jury's out on whether he's actually British or just uses their slang because he thinks it's cool.
• Cool Loser
• Cool Shades
• Hopeless Suitor
• Punk

Parsons

An obnoxious orderly at the local booby-hatch, Dodge uses him to find Erin Voss.

• Death by Racism
• Fat Bastard
• Foreshadowing: Of the ironic variety. In one scene, he and a co-worker discuss who would win; Freddy Kreuger or Leatherface. Parsons insists that strength and weight are the only things that matter in a fight, and he's make quick work of any skinny guy with knives. Dodge later shows up with knives and dispatches him effortlessly.
• Jerkass
• Orderlies Are Creeps
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness

Erin Voss

Formerly one of Dodge's circle, she is now a mental patient after Dodge completely emptied out her mind with the Head Key while searching for the whereabouts of the Omega Key. Used to be in love with Rendell.

• All Love Is Unrequited
• Empty Shell
• Fate Worse Than Death
• Locked Into Strangeness:The trauma of having her head emptied out turned her hair white.

Joe Ridgeway

Drama teacher at the high school, Joe was the director for the school's legendary production of The Tempest starring Dodge's circle in 1988. He recognizes Dodge when he sees him again, which doesn't work out too well for him.

• Cool Old Guy
• Full-Frontal Assault: He dies leaping out of the bathtub hitting Dodge with a rocks glass while quoting Shakespeare. Not a bad way to go.
• Killed Mid-Sentence
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: He smokes a pipe, of course he's a good guy.