Memory Key

The Memory Key is one of the Keys created by Duncan Locke.

History

As they approach their eighteenth birthdays, the Keepers of the Keys decide to forge a new key in order to ensure that they will remember the magic even as adults. They get the Whispering Iron from a demon that had emerged from the Black Door at the same time as Dodge but who was unable to find a host. With the others unable to make a key, it falls to Duncan Locke who succeeds in creating the Memory Key based off of instructions from the ghost of Chamberlin. However, once the key is made, Rendell and his friends remove Duncan's memories of the magic. A few years later, Rendell hides the key at Matheson Academy, believing that it should never have been used.^[1][2]

Twenty-five years later, Ellie Whedon alludes to the Memory Key's existence when she tells Tyler and Kinsey that the Keepers had found a way to keep their memories of the magic.^[3]

Months later, after Jackie starts to lose her memories of the magic as she approaches her eighteenth birthday, Tyler becomes desperate to find a solution since he too will turn eighteen in just a few months. With Ellie still missing, Tyler and Kinsey use the Head Key to venture into the mind of the long-catatonic Erin Voss, hoping to find her memory of the Keepers' solution. Instead, the two find Erin trapped inside of her own head and free her.^[4] Erin later tells the Locke children about the creation of the Memory Key by Duncan and how it enables the user to keep their memories of the magic.^[1]

After Tyler returns Duncan's stolen memories to his mind with the Head Key, he experiences adverse side effects in the form of hallucinations and severe mood swings, with the memories failing to properly reintegrate. The Lockes and Erin come to the conclusion that they need to use the Memory Key in order to properly complete the process, but Erin doesn't know where Rendell hid it. After failing to find it in the Keyhouse, Erin uses the Head Key to dig up her long-buried memory of arguing with Rendell before he hid the key, revealing that it's at Matheson Academy somewhere.^[2]

With the help of Logan and Gabe, Tyler searches the school for the key and finally finds it buried in the concrete block that a bench dedicated to the dead Keepers rests upon. Using the Hercules Key, Tyler retrieves the Memory Key and he brings it home where Tyler uses it on Duncan. After a moment of discomfort, Duncan's stolen memories are properly reintegrated by the Memory Key and he is able to remember the magic.^[5]

After finally getting the Memory Key, Tyler uses the Matchstick Key to demonstrate the magic to Jackie and then offers to use the Memory Key on her so that she won't ever have to forget. However, after being told that the magic comes with both good and bad, Jackie chooses to forget.^[6]

When Ellie arrives, still stuck in the form of Dodge, Bode has her take the Memory Key from him as proof that she isn't Dodge.^[7]

Following the defeat of Dodge, Tyler decides to leave the Memory Key with Kinsey, choosing to forget the magic and to live a normal life after all of the heartbreak that it has given him. Later, after using the Head Key to show his mother some happy memories of her life with Rendell, Bode uses the Memory Key on her at Nina's request so that she won't forget the magic again.^[7] It also restores all of Nina's previously forgotten encounters with the magic such as getting trapped by the Mirror Key.^[8]

Months later, after getting drunk at Duncan's wedding, Tyler's memories briefly return and Kinsey suggests that the memories don't have to go away, stating that all he has to do is tell her that it's okay to use the Memory Key. This triggers Tyler's memory of finding the key in the first place, However, Tyler remembers losing Jackie and he refuses, not wanting the traumatic memories to return.^[9]

Tyler changes his mind about leaving and Kinsey reveals that he had made the choice to forget which Tyler is no longer happy with. Kinsey retrieves the Memory Key from the Harlequin Chest and tells Tyler that it can restore all of his lost memories, but she warns Tyler that they're not all happy ones. With Tyler's permission, Kinsey uses the Memory Key on her brother, instantly restoring all of Tyler's memories of the magic and the heartbreak that comes with it that Tyler had been trying to avoid.^[10] When Nina arrives with the news that Bode is acting weird, Kinsey reveals that Tyler's memories have been restored and then tells the surprised Tyler that Nina can remember the magic now because had she used the Memory Key too.^[11]

Before the Lockes toss all of the keys into Frederick Gideon's portal, Nina uses the Memory Key on Kinsey and Bode to ensure that they will always retain their memories of the magic. Nina is also the one who tosses in the Memory Key.^[12]

After Scot Cavendish returns, Kinsey expresses regret that they couldn't keep the Memory Key for Scot and the rest of the Savini Squad who will inevitably lose their memory of the magic, but Scot is content nevertheless.^[12]

Uses

When inserted into an adult's upper breast and turned, it allows that adult to bypass the Riffel Rule, thus allowing them to see and remember the magic of Keyhouse and its Keys.^[5] After it is used, the person whose memory is restored usually has a keyhole-shaped brand on the area where the key was inserted.

Use of the key appears to be physically painful, at least for adults who have already lost their memory of the magic. Both Duncan and Tyler Locke experienced obvious physical pain from its usage on them.^[5][10] Kinsey and Bode on the other hand, who were both still young enough to remember the magic without using the key to protect their memories, showed no signs of discomfort when the Memory Key was used upon them, possibly suggesting that the pain is simply a consequence of the magic being used upon adults.^[12]

Another use for the Memory Key is to properly reintegrate removed memories into a person as the Head Key alone isn't enough to do it, at least not with someone who is an adult getting back their stolen memories of the magic.^[2][5]

When used upon an adult who had known and later forgotten about the magic, the Memory Key restores all of those lost memories instantly.^[10] In the case of an adult who only had encounters with the magic that were subsequently forgotten due to their age, those memories are restored as well when the Memory Key is used on them instead of the key giving them the ability to just remember the magic going forward.^[8]

The Memory Key can be used on a person at any age to protect their memories of the magic, not just when they are about to become adults. As a result, when the person becomes an adult, the key's magic is already protecting their memories from being lost.^[12]

The key may require that someone else use it upon the target as each time that it has been seen in action, another person was using it rather than the person who's memories were about to be affected by the Memory Key's powers.^{[5][7][10][12]}

Door

This key does not have a proper door; it inserts into the upper breast of the adult in question.^[5]

Trivia

• This is the only key that is known to leave a lasting mark on the user, namely a keyhole shaped scar where it is inserted. Typically, when the keys are used on a person, the keyholes simply vanish afterwards without leaving a trace.
• The key's existence is hinted at throughout Season 1 by Rendell and his friends' ability to remember the magic and the scar that they all carry from it.
• The Memory Key is the final key to be used in the series, being used by Nina to ensure that Kinsey and Bode would always remember the magic even after they gave up the keys for good.

References