6. The Mythology Of Locke & Key
The world of Locke & Key is enormous and lived in. One of the teases at the end of the first book is that you think it's only the beginning of the story, but in truth it is actually very close to the end of things. We begin with the propulsive first collection, Welcome to Lovecraft, which introduces us to the Locke family in the present as they move back to Keyhouse and begin to discover the magical forces at work in our world. The keys begin to manifest and the house itself becomes a place of wonder, discovery, and sometimes horror. After this first collection which sets the stage, we start seeing how expansive Lovecraft really is. In the later books, we see how Hill and Rodriguez have created this world. The story spans generations, and the generation of the Locke kids' father, Rendell, is only the most recent tragedy in their family history. This historyrevealed through the use of new keys being found, of coursereaches back to the American revolution. And with other books in the series we are given little vignettes of the events that happened in Keyhouse before these most recent Lockes moved in. There's so much in play. The keys, demons, a haunted past, and even a group of teens going into a cave two decades ago are merely parts of this rich mythology formed around the place and these characters.