#key theory

[henrysglock]

Lock Him Up And Throw Away The Key

There's something to be said for the wording (words in the words show as usual):

Virginia: Promise me you'll lock him up and throw away the key. Brenner: Understood. Virginia: The Principal’s girl, Patricia Newby.

Patty is equated, here, to the key that could free “Henry” from being locked up. She's literally thrown away in the scene with Brenner, and she was the last thing keeping Henry from falling to the Shadow. She was quite literally a key/the thing keeping him free.

This kind of wording often comes up in relation to the supernatural plot (and I'm sure there are more I can't remember off the top of my head). Joyce loses her keys in ST1 when Will goes missing. Mike speculates that closing the gate would kill Will in ST2, implying that Will is the key that needs to be thrown away in order for the gate to close/the Mindflayer to be locked up. Will is equated to keys. The Russian machine is the "Key", and it holds a gate open, and it takes two keys to close it/lock it. Joyce turns both those keys, equating her specifically to keys. Vecna needed someone (El) to “open the door”, equating El to the Russian “Key”. El is also heavily paralleled to Patty, and they have a number of duplicate lines between the two of them (I have a post drafted about that, it's in the works). El is, then, a key. Scott Clarke, in the pitch, is described as the key to solving the mystery of Montauk, and Alexei, one of the designers of the Russian "Key" is described as a "Russian Scott Clarke". Scott also has the key to the AV room in ST1, which he gives to Mike...which ends in El contacting Will in the void.

Something shrimpresting to me is that the key thing seems to come in sets of three. Two keys, two man rule, two man crew, sure. However. There’s always a secret third guy.

In TFS, Patty's accident took three despite the wings requiring a two-man crew. It took "Henry" unlocking one side, Brenner unlocking the other…and Virginia selling Patty out at all. Patty wouldn’t have had an accident if it wasn’t for Virginia. Virginia’s the secret third guy here.

It took three to close the gate in season 2: Mike in the tunnels, El at the gate, and Joyce to take Will out of the equation as that key. El and Will are the two focal points/the two "keys". Mike, despite the fact that he's not supposed to be there, is integral. He's the secret third guy.

In season 3, Murray, Hop, and Joyce argue about whether the Key is a two or three person job. It ends up requiring all three of them, despite there only being two keys. At above-ground Stargate, it took Mike's planning, El's powers, and Joyce's keys to take down the fleshflayer. Joyce wasn’t meant to be there, but she was integral to completing the mission. Joyce is the secret third guy this time.

In season 4, it took three to knock Vecna down, even if they weren't totally successful: El in the Mind Lair, Nancy in the UD, and Murray with the blowtorch in Russia. El was the late addition, she's the secret third guy. ST4 failed because Nancy's plan was rushed/full of pitfalls, and El's mental/emotional strength wasn't bolstered during the piggyback. Dustin makes specific references to needing both Mike irt the UD and Will irt the Mind Lair, and he was right. Mike's the planner/strategizer; They needed him in Hawkins. Mike would have been in Hawkins, were it not for the vacation. Will has the connection to One/the Mindflayer; it should have been him there with El, rather than Mike (hell, Will is the one who drove the monologue. There's a reason why Hopper said "Getting to Mike, that's the key" irt making mileven break up...). It failed because the keys were in the wrong places.

Will and El are said to be main characters next season…our two keys. Will is a key multiple times on a mental basis, and El is a key in relation to powers...Which means there's and integral secret third guy. And the guy? That’s Mike, baby!

This becomes interesting when we consider Will’s on-film Henry parallels, El’s Patty parallels, Mike’s Scott parallels…plus the boy "Henry" attacked in Nevada and the little black haired boy who sits next to Henry in the “Henry is 7” birthday video. Secret third guy.

It also becomes interesting when we consider this weird “three outcomes, two timelines” deal. Secret third guy.

All this to say...A Henry, Patty, Scott trio as compared to the Will, El, Mike trio irt Edward/Vecna. Come home to me <3

(Also, an aside: In the video, even Brenner sounds taken aback by Virginia's lack of care towards "Henry". He interrupts her to reassure her they'll take good care of him, and she comes in with the "I don't care about that, just make sure I never have to see him again" steel chair. Goddamn.)

[egophiliac]

still ruminating over Lost In the Book With Spooky Skeletons Part 1, so here's a selection of some of my favorite little bits! (...some more loosely paraphrased than others) (I just feel like Idia has no room to criticize in general, okay)

anyway, I'm sure we're just going to have a fun time celebrating Halloween and nothing bad is going to happen whatsoever! :)

[state-of-franklin]

Hey hello everybody we missed something from Dad beat Dad

After he says “wretch” his ears and hair get fluffier/more frazzled

His coat becomes longer and more cut up

Dude his body behavior got me fucked UPPPP this man is RUINED by his deal and cannot cope

[perplexingly]

Henry is so funny in KCD1, that brawl with Hans really solidified in his mind that he's above law

[stagefoureddiediaz]

I SCREAM FOREVER MORE

EDDIE IN YELLOW’S AND WERING THE BUCK WATCH!!!!!!

ALL I DO IS WIN

[albino-parakeet]

Of course he would have a picture of Bumpy with his car keys.

[freyjas-musings]

Everytime I see posts and discourse around "are you still confident about Gwynriel? " I am baffled, why would there be a change?

The source material hasn't changed, why would my inference from it?

[swan2swan]

I had an epiphany about ships today.

[aimhollow445]

Fun little fan theory here: what if Nox was actually a prince.

I just think it would fit with Chase being the "heroine" and the fairytale heroines ending up with princes so much. Also he does look kinda regal in key form, and a lot of times the villain is some sort of royalty trying to gain more power. Just thought it was a fun idea to share :D

[auroraboringaliceinwonderland]

GUYS WAIT!!!!

I’ve seen people theorize that one rose-looking key from Silver’s dream to be Chase, and it gave me the idea…

What if wishes… turn you into a key….

It’s a big classic in fairytales for a good thing - like a wish - to come with a price, so it’s a possibility right??

What if Nox made a wish, got turned into a key, and now he’s trying to make another one to turn himself back? And what if that has consequences too, such as undoing his last wish; turning someone else (close to him; like Chase) into a key; or something else?? Something worse?? (What if it doesn’t work at all and he’s only allowed to make one wish????).

I think another possibility may be that Chase and that key ‘go together’, so they’re a tad matching. ‘Cause, sure he’s got silver and she’s the main character and so is he, but what if he has a different role that would suit him better? Silver just happened to be the first he came across.

I have so many questions and theories about this

[pumpkins4all]

(spoiler s1 finale of Cinderella boy)

Theory: What if Nox’s plan for becoming human is to steal the wish and use it to take Chase’s place in the real world? Like how the key-users do in every storybook. And because of the wish magic, no one would be able to tell that Chase was replaced.

That’s why Nox tried to kick Chase out in the beginning - both because Chase didn’t seem up to the task and because he was a complete innocent in this, unlike whoever was planned to be the key-user. Especially now, that Nox has fallen in love with Chase… he doesn’t want to steal his life.

[inc0mple]

wouldn't it be so totally crazy silly if buddy were a storybook character that entered the real world through the mirror portal shown at dreams by night. wouldn't that be goofy.

[i-am-all-eyes]

copia crashing out and changing all the socials to his face

his stupid little jacket confused me so much

[deviousdrtruffles]

Don’t really know how, but what if this is foreshadowing for Silver in the actual comic? I know we have doubted Silver in the past but I don’t think we were actually confirmed that she was really innocent. (If she was plz tell me) Plus, we never actually saw what was on the letter she wrote for Violet just before the season finale.

[the-starlight-mistress]

Thinking about the “buddy is a key” theory from Cinderella boy.

Usually the old but not aging character x the super young barely legal character really bothers me. It seems like barely concealed fetish and usually normalizes bad dynamics and toxic situations.

However it hasn’t bugged me so far with stargoth and I’ve been trying to figure out why.

Here’s what I think it comes down to.

For me the big issue with a much older character and a much younger character is the older character has the ability to use their experience in the world to manipulate the younger one. Even accidentally. The older one may know more sexually, socially, or emotionally and can use that against the younger person whether they mean to or not.

For example: this is the reason that vampire romances can be really hit or miss. It’s often the vampire using their knowledge and skills in the human world to control the human because the human is too young and impulsive to know better. Even if the vampire looks like they’re 20 they will still act and think like someone who has had 5 times the experience of a 20 year old.

But if buddy is a key, then he doesn’t have this sort of upper hand since he doesn’t have experience as a human. Not only is his only time being human relegated to story books (notoriously non realistic) but most likely he’s been in key form for most of his existence (given the fact that silver mentions often not knowing how much time has passed since she was allowed to be in not key form) which significantly lessens his years of consciousness (I think. please correct me if I’m wrong).

So even if he is technically some random number in the 100s years of age, he’s still got the mind and behavior of a young man, as we have seen throughout the comic.

Idk if I’m explaining it well but to me it’s a bit similar to those anime girls who look, talk, and act like children but are 120 or whatever. people try to justify sexualizing them because “well they’re 120 so they’re legal” but outsiders know that that’s a child even if the age supposedly makes them technically older. Same with buddy. He may be whatever age but he just doesn’t have the life experience to justify saying that he’s emotionally that much older than chase.

Anyway idk if any of this makes sense. It’s mostly just me rambling my thoughts. And I thought maybe it could help some of the people who would walk away from the fandom if it’s confirmed that buddy is indeed a key.

[miyamiwu]

Link Click Traffic Light Theory: An Introduction

Although I’ve been calling it “Traffic Light Theory,” it’s not so much a theory as it is a framework for analyzing the show. Besides, the t’s in “Traffic Light Theory” sound so balanced, it’s catchy.

Anyways, what exactly is Traffic Light Theory?

To put it simply, it’s a way of analyzing Link Click by looking at colors and directions, which have been unusually prominent in the Yingdu Chapter, especially around Vein and Xia Fei.

Bloody Storm: Green as people go Down, Red as people go Up

Rent a Shell title card: Red and Green text, breaking as Yellow light shines over it

Link Click Yingdu: Green arrow on the inside in the OP (left), but Red arrow inside in YE1 (right)

Link Click Yingdu Episode 3: Green exit elevator going Down

Map of Dreams PAIN MV official art: In front of the same elevator above, Xia Fei wears a Green cape while the collar of his shirt points Down. Vein is in his usual Red while pointing a finger Up.

Xia Fei is always positioned Below looking Up, while Vein is always Above looking Down:

Traffic lights everywhere:

Why are colors and directions important, you ask? Well, for one, the main colors used (Red, Green, and Yellow) have meanings in traffic light language, and traffic lights are very much associated with directions—and in Chinese, time is viewed in a vertical manner (Up, Down).

I have written several metas using the traffic light framework to elaborate on this, and you can find my key posts in this masterlist or under the #traffic light theory tag.

But to summarize, here’s what the colors mean:

Blue = water. stasis. trials in life.

Traffic light colors (red, green, and yellow) = altogether, they signify the flow of time.

Green = go Down and meet your Future

Red = go Up and stay in the Past

Yellow = a liminal state. Opportunity.

Red, Green, and Yellow are also different colors of luck. The three are all lucky colors in China, but especially Red. Green is more commonly associated with Luck in the West.

And speaking of West-East associations, VeiFei’s designs pretty much showcase that dichotomy. Even in the Map of Dreams MV, Xia Fei is a typical Western fantasy-style prince, while Vein, in spite of the setting, retains his ancient Chinese vibes:

(translations on the image are by qhqfeihuo on Twitter)

Vein is also very much associated with luck (he wears so many lucky charms, and his Yingdu character profile mentions his luck in games).

So, apart from the colors representing Direction and Time, they also represent some aspect of Luck—which I am yet to talk about in any of my posts.

“Luck”, I believe, will be a very important factor in season 3. And I will talk about it in my next post in this series: “Yellow is Key: Whoever Gets Xia Fei Wins”