In Netflix's series of Locke and Key, there are 24 keys revealed in total, although there are other types of keys in the comics not seen in the show. Each key has a unique design and magical abilities, and many viewers may have their favorites. Each key must also be discovered and has its own weird and wonderful hiding places, with the discovery of keys part of what makes the show so magical.
The keys can make life easier, but their morality is debatable. In the words of Rumpelstiltskin from the magical fantasy series Once Upon A Time, magic always has a price. These words ring true in Locke and Key, with using each key having consequences not necessarily obvious at first. Despite their dangers, there is an undeniable lure for the keys felt by characters within the show and viewers themselves in this remarkable show. This article contains spoilers across all 3 series of Locke and Key.
20 The Anywhere Key
The Anywhere Key is the first keys viewers see in Locke And Key revealed in the season 1 pilot, and it takes the user to anywhere they want to travel to, providing they have seen a door there previously. Bode finds the intricate golden key inside Kinsey's bracelet gifted to her by Rendell Locke and first uses it to open a door from Keyhouse to the local ice cream parlor.
Dodge tricks Bode into giving her the Anywhere Key and uses it to escape the well house, although it's a handy key for many characters across all series.
19 The Mirror Key
The Mirror Key is the 2nd key Bode finds in season 1, episode 1, who discovers it inside a sink. The key features an optical illusion design with two faces and a mirror. Dodge tricks Bode into using the key, claiming that it lets the user see people who have passed away, but it unlocks a mirrored prison inside a mirror that lures victims inside.
Nina is tricked by her mirror self and becomes trapped inside, with Tyler coming to her rescue. In the season 3 pilot, Nina and Kinsey use the Mirror Key to trap both dangerous Wheeler sisters.
18 The Head Key
The Head Key unsurprisingly features a head-shaped design, and it gives the user the ability to step inside their head, opening a small lock in the back of a person's neck. Across the series, viewers get to see inside many characters' minds and how they are all different, reflecting individual personalities and interests. Gordie Shaw's mind, for instance, is designed like a movie theater, in a touching scene that deals with death as his life's moments play out in his mind.
In season 1, episode 3, Kinsey uses the Head Key to take the fear emotion out of her head, causing her to make some bold hairstyle changes and drastic choices in later episodes.
17 The Angel Key And The Hercules Key
The Angel Key and the Hercules Key are both used as attack and defensive weapons by the Lockes. The Hercules Key slots into the Hercules belt giving the user magnified strength. In season 2, viewers see Bode lift a sofa by himself while wearing the belt and in season 3, Kinsey uses the belt to defend against the attacking Wheeler sisters when they escape from the Snow Globe.
The Angel Key fits inside a harness that enables the wearer to fly with a beautiful set of white angel wings.
16 The Snow Globe Key
The Snow Globe Key is a beautiful key with a snowflake design on the handle that fits into the magical snow globe containing a miniature version of Keyhouse. When activated, the globe functions similarly to the Small World Key as it changes the environment of the real Keyhouse, as if it were inside the globe and snowing.
In season 3, episode 1, Bode and Nina's curiosity about the globe has dire consequences when they accidentally release the demonic Wheeler sisters from it, and Bode becomes trapped inside.
15 The Echo Key
In season 1, viewers learn that Dodge is an echo brought back from death by the circular-designed Echo Key. The key works in the well house by calling out the name of the person who the user wants to return, like when Eden resurrects Captain Gideon in echo form in the season 2 finale.
In season 3, episode 2, Gideon explains to his newly created echoes, Bolton and Coffrey, that it's not possible to kill an echo by normal means, and they feel no pain or suffering. However, it is possible to destroy echoes using the demon-killing alpha key or by forcing them to cross the threshold in the well house.
14 The Ghost Key
The Ghost Key has a skull on the handle and unlocks a mysterious ghost doorway. When anyone passes through the ghost door, their spirit leaves their body, and they become a ghost. Across all series, viewers see characters who deliberately become ghosts and those who are tricked or trapped into becoming ghosts, so it's a key not to be taken lightly.
When users become ghosts, although they are no longer visible to humans in reality, they can freeze objects to try to communicate with them, as Sam and Bode both do when they become trapped as ghosts.
13 The Plant Key
The Plant Key has a pretty, jeweled, petal-shaped handle and gives the user control over any plant. In season 1, the Lockes use the Plant Key to uncover Duncan's hidden memories. However, many villains in the series use it for foul play.
In episode 6 of season 2, things take a nasty turn in one of the saddest deaths of the series when Gabe kills Erin and uses the plant key to summon vines that drag her body down into the maze. In series 3, Gideon uses the Plant Key to block all exits in Keyhouse except for the front door, so they must face him.
12 The Music Box Key
The Music Box Key opens an unusual music box containing a spinning, broken ballerina. When Kinsey, Tyler, and Bode first discover the key in season 1, they aren't sure what it does until they realize the person who unlocks the box can use the key to control others when speaking their name.
The discovery of the Music Box Key leads to one of the funniest scenes in the series when Kinsey uses the key to control and embarrass Eden in the school dining hall. Gabe also gets Eden to use the key to get Scot in trouble in season 2.
11 The Identity Key
The Identity Key changes a person's identity and works when inserted into a small keyhole that opens in the user's jaw. Dodge, as the main antagonist of series 1 and 2, frequently uses the key to change and conceal his identity to trick the Lockes. In season 1, Dodge explains to Ellie that the key only works when transforming into an imaginary person.
The Identity Key gives viewers many dramatic reveals and plot twists throughout the series, and Dodge uses it in a brilliantly conniving way on many occasions.
10 The Mending Key And Harlequin Key
The Mending Key and the Harlequin Key open different devices that the Lockes use to safely store and hide the keys. The Mending Key fixes any broken object when placed inside the Mending Cabinet. The Harlequin Key unlocks the Harlequin Chest and features a joker symbol on the handle.
In series 3, episode 2, Bode sees the Harlequin chest for the first time when he travels back in time using the Time Shift Key and meets Benjamin Locke. Benjamin demonstrates the chest's indestructible powers when the Harlequin Key is inserted, which Bode later finds inside a joker card back in the future.
9 The Shadow Key And Matchstick Key
The Shadow Key and the Matchstick Key are two of the most destructive keys in the series. The Matchstick Key lights any object on fire, and Sam escapes from prison using this key in a fiery inferno. The Shadow Key is more sinister as when paired with the Shadow Crown, it summons sinister, shadow monsters that are defeated with light.
In Season 2, Dodge uses the Shadow Key and Crown as a weapon against the Lockes. Bode ingeniously attaches the Matchstick Key to his glow sword to set a shadow monster ablaze and destroy it.
8 The Omega Key
The sole purpose of the Omega Key is to open the black door located deep inside the sea caves, and it features an omega symbol on the handle. The Lockes find the Omega Key hidden inside the urn containing Rendell's ashes, and in season 1, Dodge persistently tries to locate the Omega Key.
In season 1, Kinsey becomes so focused on opening the black door that she and her friends almost drown in the sea caves, exemplifying the lure of the keys and her own lack of fear, having removed the emotion from her head.
7 The Small World Key
The Small World Key is a fun key discovered by Bode in series 2. It's a tiny key with a house on the handle that opens up a miniature, doll-size version of Keyhouse that affects what happens in the real version when active.
Jamie is entrusted with the key for most of series 2, although it's unclear how aware she is of the amount of power she wields in possessing it. Using the key leads to some fun moments in season 2, such as when Bode accidentally crushes his bed and Jamie gifts him a gummy bear which turns into a giant one for Bode to nibble away at.
6 The Memory Key
In Locke and Key, viewers see many characters struggle with magical memory loss as magic is forgotten by adults. In season 2, Tyler realizes that Jackie is slowly losing her ability to remember magic as ages closer to 18. This prompts the Lockes to seek a way to remember, and Tyler discovers the memory key buried underneath a bench, using the Hercules Key to retrieve it.
However, unlike Duncan, Jackie refuses to use the Memory Key, which restores memories of magic. It is sad to slowly see her loss of memories, such as when Tyler takes her to Bath in England using the Anywhere Key, and her eventual tragic ending.
5 The Alpha Key And Demon Key
The Alpha Key and The Demon Key are opposite keys and are both created by characters in the series. The Demon Key features a demonic face and is created by Dodge in season 2 in a secret forge in the wood to make more demons as part of his villainous endgame.
Tyler creates an antidote key in the form of the Alpha Key, but unfortunately, things don't go to plan when he tests the key on Jackie, who is possessed by a demon. The Alpha Key kills both Jackie and the demon in one of the series' saddest moments.
4 The Time Shift Key
In season 3, episode 2, on the day of Duncan and Brian's wedding, Bode finds a mysterious key with an egg timer on the handle hidden in one of the grandfather clock's hands. He later discovers that the key rewinds time, and he uses it to travel back in time to meet Benjamin Locke.
The Time Shift Key has disastrous consequences when Bode uses it to accidentally bring Dodge back. The key also features in the series finale, when the Lockes use it to visit their dad, Rendell Locke.
3 The Creation Key
The Creation Key is the last key that the Lockes discover in series 3, hidden under a piano key inside the mind of Gordie Shaw. It is one of the coolest keys in the series as it has the power to bring any drawing to life.
In series 3, viewers see the original Keepers of the Keys use the Creation Key to bring the creature Caliban to life. Kinsey uses her drawing skills to create a door and a motorcycle, which she and Tyler use to escape Gideon.
2 The Chain Key
The Chain Key is one of the most self-explanatory keys as it unlocks a chain that ensnares and traps its victims using a chain and lock mechanism. It is a standout key in terms of appearance as it looks like a series of chain links.
The Lockes use the Chain Key to trap Dodge and Gideon as it is a powerful weapon against demons. However, at times, they are caught in the chain themselves, showing how this key can be both a help and a hindrance.
1 The Animal Key
The Animal Key is another key revealed in series 3, and it enables users to turn into animals. However, viewers don't get to see how the Lockes find it, as in the series 3 pilot, they already possess it where we see Bode and Kenzie as a cat and bird leaping through a cat flap and emerging in human form.
In episode 3, season 6, Bode cleverly uses the powers of the Animal Key to change himself back from a bird, and into his own body. Although not seen in action much, it's one of the most magical keys in the series that might make some viewers think of the transfiguration or animagus abilities in the Harry Potter franchise.
Locke and Key is streaming now on Netflix.