Locke & Key season 3 ending explained: What happens to the keys?

Season 3 of Locke & Key follows the Locke family as they face a new threat to their world using the magic of the keys. The season is now streaming on Netflix.

Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers

Plot summary

2 months have passed since the black door was closed and Dodge was defeated. Nina, Kinsey and Bode are preparing for Duncan’s wedding at Keyhouse while Tyler is off somewhere getting over the loss of Jackie.

Bode and Kinsey have found many other keys with interesting powers like an Animal Key that lets each person turn into a different animal. They are very particular about using the keys and storing them.

Tyler has turned 18 and forgotten all about the magic of the keys and the details of what they’ve been through. His family tries reaching out to him but he ignores them. Instead, he becomes friends with a girl named Carly while building houses in Montana.

Frederick Gideon is roaming the Earth with the Anywhere key in his possession, still trying to understand the world that he’s in and the power of the key that he holds.

Nina comes across a snowglobe and is convinced that it is magic and Bode later finds a key for it. When they use it, they find themselves inside the snowglobe along with two demons who were trapped in there.

The demons escape into the outside world with the Snowglobe key while Bode is left behind. They go and find Gideon and introduce themselves as the Wheeler sisters. He orders them to go back and get the rest of the keys.

They go back to Keyhouse but Kinsey and Nina manage to outsmart them and trap them in the mirror world after getting the Snowglobe key and freeing Bode.

Gideon had used the help of the Wheeler sisters to get the Wellhouse key from Eden’s body and he later uses that one along with the Anywhere key to bring back echoes of two of his former soldiers, Coffey and Bolton.

Tyler returns just in time for the wedding but because he chose to forget the magic, he feels distant towards his family. Bode finds a new key on the day of the wedding that allows people to time travel for short periods but Duncan tells him to mess around with it.

While the wedding is taking place, Gideon and his men search the house for the other keys. Tyler walks into them and manages to scare them off with Kinsey’s help but he forgets the magic that was used soon after.

He suggests going to the police because strange people broke into their house and Kinsey says she’s got it covered. Bode finds the Timeshift key and uses it to go back in time.

He reaches the point where Dodge kidnapped him and took him to the forge and he interrupts the proceedings. Dodge chases after the current Bode and grabs onto him just as he’s returned to the present.

Dodge chases after him once again and after catching him, pushes him through the Ghost door and possesses his body. Dodge begins looking for the keys in Bode’s body and hides her own body under Bode’s bed.

Dodge behaves rudely towards everyone else while he’s undercover and he even meets with Gideon and promises to find the keys for him. Tyler visits the police station and finds out that Kinsey never filed a report about the break-in.

Tyler confronts Kinsey and when she tells him that he decided to forget his memories, he goes back on that decision so she uses the memory key on him and he remembers everything.

Nina finds Dodge’s body and she asks Bode about it, Dodge makes up an excuse and mentions the Timeshift key but Nina has her doubts so she informs Tyler and Kinsey about it. They gradually realize that it’s actually Dodge inside Bode’s body and successfully subdue him.

Kinsey leaves a message for Duncan asking about the Timeshift key and how it works. Gideon and his men lay siege to Keyhouse and block the exits so they aren’t able to push Dodge back through the Ghost door.

Dodge offers to fight on their side and together they manage to hold off Gideon and the Echoes for a while but Gideon eventually gets the upper hand. Duncan sends them a message explaining that when the hourglass connected to the Timeshift key runs out, anything that doesn’t belong to their time just disappears.

Dodge is still in Bode’s body and he’s about to use the Alpa key on Gideon but he disappears just as the sand runs out.

The Locke family escapes while leaving Bode behind as a ghost and Gideon gets his hands on all the keys. Using their collective power, he opens up a portal to his world but realizes that there is still one key missing.

Bode finds Sam’s ghost and Sam helps him learn how to control the sparrows to follow his directions. Tyler and Kinsey return to Keyhouse with Bolton and send Bolton through the ghost door as a ruse.

Bode possesses a sparrow instead and after distracting Gideon, they use the Animal key to get Bode back to his own body. Ellie and Nina also arrive and try to fight back Gideon but he gets a hold of Rufus and threatens to throw him through the portal.

Ellie tells him that she knows where the final key is and promises to take him to it. Ellie says that it’s inside an old classmate’s head, Gordie Shaw. Gideon takes the Mind key along with him and leaves the others inside the Harlequinn Chest.

Bolton is ordered to stay behind with the others but he frees them and reveals himself to be Sam inside Bolton’s body. Tyler, Kinsey, Rufus and Sam go after Gideon while Nina and Bode stay behind to get the keys from the chest.

The story of how the key ended up in Gordie’s head is revealed. He tries to fight off Gideon but Gideon stabs him. He and Ellie go into his head and the others follow in there not long after with Rufus staying outside.

Ellie tries to trap Gideon with Gordie’s hate and fear. She meets up with the others and together they find the Creation key that brings to life any drawing. with Gordie dying from the stab wound, they struggle to get out with the doorway slowly closing.

Locke & Key season 3 ending explained in detail:

Do the others manage to get out of Gordie’s mind?

Sam fights off Gideon while Tyler, Kinsey and Ellie make their way toward the exit. With Gordie dying, his mind begins to alter and they keep running in circles until the exit is lit up for them.

They escape but Gideon follows them out leaving Sam behind to die along with Gordie. Gideon is held back by the police that have arrived as Tyler and Kinsey rush to Keyhouse and Ellie and Rufus go find another safe space.

Does Gideon get back all the keys?

Gideon chases Tyler and Kinsey through town but they manage to lose and get back home in time. They use the Creation key to make an opening in the chest and get the other keys.

They make up a plan to get Gideon through the Wellhouse door and wait for him to arrive. Tyler waits inside the Wellhouse and as soon as Gideon stands in front of the doorway, Bode reveals a bulldozer that tries to push him in.

Gideon overpowers the bulldozer and destroys the Wellhouse completely leaving the Lockes with only the Alpha key to defeat him.

Gideon follows them into the house and takes control of the situation. He tries to force Kinsey into the portal but she stabs him with the Alpha key and together they all push him down the portal.

How do they close the portal?

When Gideon was thrown into the portal, he had two keys with him and Tyler noticed that it closed a little bit as he went down. They realize that to close the portal completely, they have to get rid of all the keys.

Bode doesn’t want to get rid of all the magic even though the others agree so he tells them that he’ll go along with them under one condition.

They use the Timeshift key to meet their father for one last time and spend some quality time with him. They use the Memory key to make sure they remember the magic forever before dumping all the keys and closing the portal for good.

How do the Locke family and their friends move on?

The Savinis release ‘The Splattering 2’ to a great response and Scot shows up for the premiere. Kinsey and he talk about how life has been and Kinsey says that she might consider visiting England on an exchange program so that they can be together.

Bode warms up to Josh and things look promising for him and Nina. Ellie joins back as the coach for the school and is welcomed back with warm arms.

Tyler plans to move back to Montana and work there along with Carly but he promises to visit more often. As they get ready to head back into the house, Bode points out that all he can hear is total silence.

However, just as they shut the doors a few whispers are heard, hinting that there might just be some magic left behind.


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