Locke and Key: Difference between revisions

This is a complex, highly interwoven horror drama, complete with complicated and powerful relationships between the many characters, and quite an acceptable amount of Nightmare Fuel. It's been revealed that there are a large number of magical keys involved, only a few of which have been found - one that turns you into a ghost, one that changes your sex from male to female and vice-versa, one that can open a door to anywhere in the world, one that can open your head and let you take out memories and character traits - or even put things in, and many, many more. It's called Key House for a reason.

 

 

A perfect example of [[Better Than It Sounds]], it's hard to sum up the series in a few words. Like Neil Gaiman's ''[[Sandman]]'' and J.K.Rowling's [[Harry Potter|You-Know-What]], [[Joe Hill]] uses a number of [[Chekhov's Gun|Chekhov's Guns]] in the storytelling, so better pay attention when you read.

 

 

* [[Academy of Adventure]]: The Lovecraft Academy, attended by Tyler, Kinsey and Bode, was the same school at which their father and his group of friends discovered the magic keys.

* [[Adults Are Useless]]: Interesting variation: like in ''[[Peter Pan]]'', adults will forget about magic as they grow up; hence why Rendell Locke doesn't remember about the keys.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: The author's [http://joehillfiction.com/ website and blog] provided background information on the magical keys during the release of the ''Welcome To Lovecraft'' TPB book. Guide To Known Keys also provides bits of backstory.

** The first issue of ''Keys to the Kingdom'' has scenes from Bode's POV done in an homage to [[Calvin and Hobbes]], while a later issue has a few scenes from Rufus's POV done in the style of an old war comic.

* [[Angst]]: Most notably in the third volume's final chapter.

* [[Badass Biker]]: "Jordan Gates is a psycho rich bitch who's been thrown out of like eight schools. Been in the crazy house, too."

* [[Batman Gambit]]: {{spoiler|Dodge manipulating Sam Lesser.}} Later at the end of ''Keys to the Kingdom'' {{spoiler|Sam then attempts to out-gambit Dodge and [[Killed Off for Real|fails]].}}

* [[Casual Danger Dialogue]]: Tyler, by now having gotten used to scary shit, is perfectly calm when he's been captured by a bunch of Living Shadows and hung upside-down from the ceiling.

* [[Cat Scare]]: The begining of ''Crown Of Shadows'' #3 is somewhere between this and [[Scare Chord]]; though this being a comic there's no music to accompany the scene.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Many, many of them, making it a case of Chekhov's '''[[Chekhov's Armory|ARMORY]].'''

** {{spoiler|The mirror and Scissors Bode gives Dodge.}}

* [[Foreshadowing]]: "I can't wait to climb down from here and get large on you, bitch."

** In the first issue of ''Keys to the Kingdom,'' Bode briefly pretends that his head has been utterly emptied of all contents by the Head Key and he is unable to move, think, or care for himself. {{spoiler|The second issue features a woman who actually had that done to her}}.

* [[Good Bad Girl]]: Jordan has downloaded her ethics paper from the internet, but she's not going to turn it in because "If you cheat in an ethics class there's really no hope for you."

* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]: Even though the series has no qualms about showing violence, there is one easy-to-miss moment that was intentionally done discreetly: In the first issue, during the murder of Rendell Locke, there is a panel showing Al Grubb {{spoiler|in Nina's bedroom - he's holding up his unbuttoned pants and Nina herself is nowhere to be seen. There are clear signs of a struggle that took place on the bed, including streaks of blood on the wall next to it. When next we see Nina, her clothes are severely torn, and there are four long parallel wounds in her hand as though someone grabbed her violently, scratching her hand with his fingernails in the process. This is clearer if you read the script book for the issue, and we see some definite hints that Nina Locke was raped off-panel}}.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Kinsey and Jackie. Scot and Jamal.

* [["Hey You!" Haymaker]]: Administered to Tyler by one of the shadow creatures.

* [[Hope Spot]]: At the end of "Clockworks #6", {{spoiler|It's implied that the fish hook on Tyler's hat is made from Whispering Iron, and could theoretically be used to create one final key. Whether they can use that knowledge to stop Dodge before he opens the Black Door remains to be seen...}}

* [[Hot Amazon]]: Jordan Gates again. She [[Your Mileage May Vary|may or may not]] be moving into [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] territory.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: In the first issue, Tyler looks down in the water and imagines his reflection with outfits appropriate to the other vacation destinations he wants to go to. Later, he looks into the water and sees himself covered in blood, as he was after beating Sam Lesser.

* [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot]]

* [[Kudzu Plot]]

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Sam Lesser gets ''several'' moments in the first volume, most of them involving killing innocent people at random.

* [[Puppeteer Parasite]]: {{spoiler|A whole dimension of them await behind the Black Door.}}

* [[Puppy Dog Eyes]]: Bode. It doesn't work on Tyler, though apparently it 'usually' does.

* [[Revealing Hug]]: {{spoiler|Dodge in Bode's body}} at the end of ''Keys to the Kingdom.''

* [[Rhetorical Request Blunder]]: See the page quote.

* [[Sequel Hook]]: {{spoiler|Dodge's escape and Bode finding the Head Key, and the [[Reveal]] about the Toy soldiers. Arguably, Kinsey removing her fears may also count as this}}.

* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: {{spoiler|Sam's ultimate fate at the end of ''Keys to the Kingdom'' make his story an example of this.}}

[[Category:Hugo Award]]

[[Category:Locke And Key]]