This article contains spoilers for Locke & Key season 3.Locke & Key season 3 introduced four powerful new keys, and every one of them is uniquely puzzling and dangerous. Inspired by the dark comic book stories of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, Locke & Key has proved itself one of Netflix's best comic book adaptations. The series tells the story of a family who return to their ancestral home, only to learn they have inherited the position of Keepers of the Keys.
These magical keys are actually the spirits of demonic beings from another dimension, trapped in demon iron that can be forged into keys. The one who forges the key can imbue it with any power they wish, making them tremendously powerful. Unfortunately, the magic contained within these keys is dangerous and complex, derived from a realm of pure evil, meaning the Keepers of the Keys struggle to prevent them from being used for evil. It doesn't help that magic can only be remembered by children, with people losing all their memories of magic as they reach adulthood. Over the course of three seasons, the Lockes have discovered many keys in their home, the Keyhouse.
Locke & Key season 3 brings the story of the keys to an end. This time around, the Lockes only discover four new keys, each of which possesses remarkable abilities. Some of them prove useful, while others become difficult obstacles. Here's a breakdown of every new key in Locke & Key season 3.
The Snow Globe Key
The Snow Globe Key is introduced in Locke & Key season 3, episode 1. It syncs the Keyhouse with a replica contained within a snow globe, allowing people to enter into the globe and have fun there. At first, this seems to be one of the more benign keys, good for a bit of snowtime fun and nothing more; in reality, though, it's a dangerous trap. It's possible to become trapped in the snow globe, and indeed Bodie almost freezes to death there. Like all the keys in Locke & Key, a single mistake with the magic can prove fatal. Worse still, the original Keepers of the Keys seem to have used the Snow Globe Key as a prison for two beings (probably demons), Sisters Ada and Dorothy, who break out and attempt to wreak havoc in the Keyhouse. Nina manages to trap them again using the Mirror Key.
The Harlequin Key
The next new key to be discovered is the Harlequin Key. This can be used to turn a magical trunk into an impenetrable container, and the Lockes wisely decide the Harlequin Box is the best place to store all the other keys. Unfortunately, Locke & Key season 3 sees Gideon figure out how to use the Harlequin Key to his own advantage, locking the keys in there and pocketing it. The end of Locke & Key season 3 sees Bodie and Nina desperately try to open the Harlequin Box, figuring it was created before a lot of modern technology. Magic proves stronger than science, however, and even the best equipment the two can find is unable to break it open. The only answer to magic, it seems, is more magic.
The Timeshift Key
The Timeshift Key is one of the more complex, in that it can only be used alongside a grandfather clock that contains magical mechanisms. Using the Timeshift Key, a person can time travel back to the past; they can even set how long they will spend there. The Timeshift Key's powers are a tantalizing temptation for the stars of Locke & Key, particularly Bodie, who misses his dad. Yet again it turns out there's a sting to this magic, because anyone touching a time traveler at the moment the time runs out is transported forward with them. Bodie accidentally brings back Dodge, the Lockes' greatest enemy, who was defeated in Locke & Key season 2, and she possesses his body.
The Timeshift Key has a built-in failsafe for this eventuality, a timer meaning anything brought from the past can only exist for so long before it blinks out of existence. To the horror of the Lockes, when time runs out, Bodie's body disappears. Bodie's spirit is able to figure out another workaround, thankfully.
Temporal mechanics are tricky to handle well (even the MCU's time travel doesn't make sense). In the case of Locke & Key, the use of the Timeshift Key appears to create a branched reality that can only be maintained for so long before it is destroyed. This means the Timeshift Key cannot be used to create paradoxes by changing the past, nor can it permanently bring a person to the present to cheat death. Its power lies in the experiences of the time travelers, and it is a cruel irony that — without the Memory Key — these experiences too would be forgotten.
The Creation Key
Locke & Key season 3 saves the best key till last. The Creation Key is the most powerful of all, in that it is limited only by the imagination of its bearer. It is more like a pen than a key, and anything drawn by someone who holds the Creation Key will become real. The Creation Key is the MacGuffin of the third and final Locke & Key season, sought after by Gideon simply to complete the set but in reality just what the Lockes need to defeat him. The Lockes come within a hair's breadth of banishing Gideon through the Well House using the Creation Key, but they underestimate his strength, and he is able to break free and destroy the Well House.
The dramatic end of Locke & Key season 3 sees the Lockes discover the true power of the Creation Key. It can be used to circumvent the magic of the other keys, with Kinsey drawing a new opening on the Harlequin Box so the Alpha Key can be retrieved to kill Gideon. It's something of a shame that Locke & Key season 3 wraps up the story because it would be fascinating to see how the Creation Key could be used when interacting with the magic of some of the other keys.