‘Locke & Key’ Season 3 – Magic Key Guide

Locke and Key final season finally arrived on Netflix on August 10th, 2022. Throughout each season of the show, many of the keys featured in the series also appear in the graphic novel written by Joe Hill, are illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez, and the designs for those on-screen keys were closely based on the books too.

Here’s a guide to all the keys seen in Season 3.

Animal Key

The first key used in Season 3, the Animal Key, as its name implies, allows its users to transform into an animal. It opens what is called the Animal Door, a small door that leads outside from Keyhouse. When the key’s user crawls through the door, they then become an animal. Steel and his team added the ornate Animal Door to the Keyhouse set for Season 3.

Snow Globe Key

Though its existence is hinted at in the graphic novel series, the Snow Globe Key, which features a white snowflake design, is only fully revealed in Season 3 of the TV show. The season opens with Nina discovering a snow globe that’s fallen off a bookshelf in Keyhouse’s winter study. Inside the snow globe, there’s a miniature replica of the home as well as two new demons looking to escape. Later in Episode 1, Bode finds the same Snow Globe key in the freezer. When inserted into the snow globe, the key transforms Keyhouse’s grounds into a winter wonderland. Unfortunately, though, re-locking the snow globe has the effect of potentially trapping people inside the globe itself.

Timeshift Key

In Episode 2, Bode finds the Timeshift Key inside a grandfather clock in Keyhouse.  After plucking it from one of the clock’s hands, he inserts it into the clock door which reveals an hourglass, Roman numeral dials and various complicated gears. Users of the Timeshift Key, which is topped with its own tiny hourglass, can travel back in time and witness past events that took place at Keyhouse by spinning the Roman numerals inside the clock.

Harlequin Key

The Harlequin Key, which is shaped to look like the head of a jester, is introduced thanks to the Timeshift Key. Bode learns of its existence when he travels back and meets his Colonial-era ancestors Benjamin and Miranda Locke. The Harlequin Key was created by Benjamin, and when it’s inserted into a child’s harlequin chest, the chest becomes impenetrable and indestructible, making it a perfect place to hide keys from potential thieves.

Creation Key

The final new key in the series, the Creation Key, which features Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, was forged in 1995 by Rendell Locke. This key is actually a drawing utensil, and any image that is drawn with it comes to life. After years of being hidden away inside Gordie Shaw’s mind, the Creation Key is at last used by Kinsey and Tyler in the series finale.