WMG / Locke & Key

Kinsey will be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder.

She shows a lot of the symptoms of it. Most damning is that even though she can still love and care for people, she can't empathize with their pain or be worried about them. The closest she can get is being angry on their behalf. Nina Locke is about to get another phone call that'll make her very unhappy.

Detective Mutuku is going to have a swordfight with Dodge.

And it will be awesome.

• Confirmed as of Keys to the Kingdom...sort of. Mutuku uses a rolling pin to defend against Dodge's rapier, and actually wins.

Rendell Locke's final confrontation with Dodge took place on stage during The Tempest.

Since it involved the dramatic use of so many keys, the memories of adults could only explain it to themselves by remembering it as part of the production. This also made them not remember that the group was fighting. Judging by Professor Ridegway's flashback, Rendell Locke fought with the Crown of Shadows and used the Anywhere Key somehow. Dodge seems to have made himself larger and more muscular (but not Giant Key-sized) and Rendell looks like he made himself older. Also, Kim Topher may actually be flying.

• Debunked: Clockworks gives a full run down of the final confrontation and cheeky key-abuse going on during the Tempest.

There's a Chekhov's Gun in the flyleaf of the hardcover Crown of Shadows.

The cross-section view of the wellhouse clearly shows a hatch at the back of the cupboard, opening into to a shaft leading down off the bottom of the page. Ten to one says that will get explored at some point.(Question: Is this more accurately described as Chekhov's Gun or as Foreshadowing?)

• Confirmed as both in Clockworks - even somewhat lampshaded by Mark.

The Eldrich Horrors beyond the door live in a dimension beyond time, and can see into the human realm.

This Troper was annoyed at first that apparently Benjamin Locke made keys that included symbols he'd have no familiarity with (A ying yang? DNA?), but then I remembered that apparently the whispering iron, well, whispers. The door demon parasites can see into the human realm and don't have any respect for chronology, so of course they throw random symbols onto the keys that don't make sense for a moderately-educated 18th century blacksmith to know.

The real reason Erin Voss only says "white".

It occurred to this Troper when reading Clockworks #5. Dodge with parasite comments that Rendell will never love Erin because she is not white. While this might at first just seem to be a remark to sow discourse, Erin probably believes this as well. Later on, she only says "white", but not only because her empty head is completely empty and white but because it reminds her of everything she could never have and now can never have.

Tyler Locke will make a soul key.

Counterpart to the head key, it allows access to the soul, and would let them get a demon out of someone.

• Jossed. Tyler makes the Alpha Key, but it's a flawed piece; While it can essentially remove a person from a demon's control, doing so kills the host pretty much immediately. But they at least get to die as themselves.

The reason Dodge's echo first appeared in the Wellhouse.

I keep on wondering why Dodge's echo would be in the Wellhouse, because why would anyone want to bring back the echo of a murderous psychopath? Rendell used it to at least bring back his mom so he could talk to her again. Then I realized maybe Rendell, or someone else, brought back Dodge for the same reason, hoping to bring back the echo of his old self before he was possessed. Obviously, it didn't quite work.

• This was already explained in a flashback issue with Ellie Whedon. Dodge sent a shadow to hide part of his mind in her home, along with the Wellhouse Key, Gender Key, and written instructions to say his name at the Wellhouse. Ellie stumbled upon this little surprise and followed his orders. He appeared, killed her mother, and she ran off and didn't see Dodge again until he tricked Bode into helping him escape the Wellhouse.
  • The echo was summoned in a very specific way. The instruction in Dodge's "Backup jar" said to "Say my secret name", suggesting that names are more than just labels for the Wellhouse. If Ellie had used his real name, is it possible that Luke would have been produced without the parasite?
    • The answer appears to be a 'no' as of the finale, where Tyler brings him back, but he's still infested by the parasite and requires the Alpha Key to be returned to normal. It seems like the Echo Key simply brings back someone as they were immediately before they physically died, by and large, with the exception being Rendell, who appears as a spirit primarily because his ashes were put in the medicine cabinet.

In Clockworks, the reason the boiler isn't working despite multiple plumber inspections is that Bode is desperately trying to communicate in ghost form the only way he knows how.

• His only other chance for letting the others know what's happened is if Rufus comes to visit.

The entire story is an anti-fascist parable.

• Let's go down the list re: Dodge and the Children of Leng, shall we?
  • Claimed (and invariably self-believed) perpetual victimhood. The Nazis believed, and the alt-right believe, that their respective nations were/are in terrible states. Dodge claimed to Rufus that the mental healthcare system is horribly broken and evil and turned out to be completely wrong; Dodge likely believed every damn word he said. We are what we pretend to be.
  • Backstabbing and a small inner circle. Dodge's plan includes whittling down those infected by the Children of Leng until there is a small inner circle. Night of Long Knives, much?
  • 'Debate' techniques. Fascists don't really debate. They don't defend - when they're not on the attack, they just dodge, dodge, dodge.
  • Co-opting of a symbol and completely changing its meaning. Several Native American tribes have vowed to never again use the symbol we now call the swastika. Imagine that happening to an entire letter of the Greek alphabet.