The Keys to the Kingdom

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The Keys to the Kingdom is a fantasy-adventure book series, written by Garth Nix, started in 2003 with plans to span seven books.

The APA award winning Australian covers to Mister Monday, Grim Tuesday, Drowned Wednesday & Sir Thursday. Best designed children's series

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 The House and The Morrow Days
4 The Keys
- 4.1 Key Facts
5 Nothing
6 Nithlings
7 Religious and Literary References
8 Books in the series
9 External links

[edit] Plot

The series' protagonist is a boy, Arthur Penhaligon, who is an asthmatic. The series begins on a Monday and each book moves onto the next day of the week, concluding on Sunday. Each day features beings collectively known as the Trustees, who each govern a portion of the House (the Lower House, the Middle House, the Upper House, the Far Reaches, the Great Maze, the Border Sea and the Incomparable Gardens), which is the epicentre of the Universe.

Arthur lives a relatively normal life as an adopted child in a large but caring family. An asthma attack on Monday that should have killed him brings him to the Lower House where he is declared Heir to the Kingdom by convenience and presented a key shaped like a minute hand of a clock (the "Lesser" Half of the "First Key"). While Arthur is relieved of his asthma, it is only the beginning of a strange and dangerous set of adventures.

As Arthur discovers, the Will of the Architect who created the world was not fulfilled as it should have been. Instead it was broken into seven pieces by the Architect's Trustees, the Morrow Days. The Will was forced to act on its own, and chooses Arthur to be the Heir to the Kingdom. It becomes Arthur's responsibility to recover each of the missing pieces of the Will, defeat each Trustee, who each have been afflicted with one of the seven deadly sins, and claim their domain by taking their respective Key.

Author Garth Nix's approach to the narrative has drawn heavily on Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, with continuous references to archetype and the number 7.

[edit] Characters

Main article: Characters of The Keys to the Kingdom series

[edit] The House and The Morrow Days

The House is the First Creation of the Architect and its purpose is to record and acknowledge the events of the Secondary Realms, essentially making it the epicentre of the Universe. The House is divided into seven parts, each ruled by a respective Trustee. These parts are:

The Lower House - Ruled by Mister Monday (male)
The Far Reaches - Ruled by Grim Tuesday (male)
The Border Sea - Ruled by Drowned Wednesday (female)
The Great Maze - Ruled by Sir Thursday (male)
The Middle House - Ruled by Lady Friday (female)

The Upper House - Ruled by Superior Saturday (female)
The Incomparable Gardens - Ruled by Lord Sunday (male)

[edit] The Keys

The Keys Arthur attempts to claim each give their wielder power over the corresponding realm of the House and the corresponding day in the Secondary Realms.

The First Key can be separated into two Keys, taking the forms of the minute and hour hands of a clock. The Hour Hand is more powerful than the Minute Hand, but the Minute Hand is quicker and can be used more often. Combined they make the First Key and take the form of sword with some resemblance to the clock hands, with a silver and gold blade. It gives dominion over the Lower House and Monday.
The Second Key takes the form of two large silver gauntlets, laced with gold, which were specifically used by Grim Tuesday to form things from Nothing. It gives dominion over the Far Reaches and Tuesday. The gloves can also change to reflect the personality of the person wearing them.
The Third Key takes the form of a trident that is capable of growing and decreasing in size. Drowned Wednesday used it as a fork. The Key is not responsible for her insatiable appetite; instead it is the only thing keeping her from growing larger. The Third Key gives dominion over the Border Sea and Wednesday.
The Fourth Key takes the form of a Marshal's baton, white and glowing green, wrapped in metallic laurel leaves. It can also change into a sword of any kind, for use in combat. Sir Thursday uses it in battle. It gives dominion over the Great Maze and the Glorious Army of the Architect as well as Thursday.
The Fifth Key is held by Lady Friday and gives dominion over the Middle House and Friday.
The Sixth Key is held by Superior Saturday and gives dominion over Saturday. Gives dominion over the Upper House.
The Seventh Key is held by Lord Sunday and gives dominion over Sunday. Gives dominion over the Incomparable Gardens.

[edit] Key Facts

Each Key is the controlling power in its own domain and cannot be overpowered by any other key in its domain. Outside of their domains each key is of equal power to its counterparts, except for the seventh key. Dr. Scamandros implies that the Seventh is able to act as a controlling power outside its own domain, unlike the others.

Each Key, thus far has taken a different physical form. Dame Primus has used each one as part of her attire, although Arthur has not yet granted the Fourth Key to her care. It can be assumed from this diversity that the remaining Keys will not take the form of either swords, gloves, tridents or batons so when gathered together, a single wielder is hypothetically feasible.

The Keys are somewhat capable of physically changing; it seems to reflect their owners personality. The First Key can be split into two Keys, the Second Key can change its glove form, the Third Key can grow and shrink in length and the Fourth Key can become any type of sword, as well as an ivory baton.

A Key will slowly turn a mortal into a Denizen of the House-- an immortal, extra-temporal being-- as a result of using its power.

[edit] Nothing

Nothing is the mythical substance used in The Keys to the Kingdom series of books by Garth Nix. From it the entire Universe formed through a concentration-based process. It appears as oily black smoke and anything can be created from it with the aid of an object of power like Grim Tuesday's gloves, or by a powerful being like the Architect or the Old One. It contains properties of being able to dissolve anything or create anything. When enough Nothing comes together, it can form a Nithling. Nithlings are creatures not created by the Architect, but are self-made from uncontained or uncontrolled Nothing. The Nithlings have this autonomy in common with both the Architect and the Old One, but apparently lack the power and creative impulses demonstrated by those elder beings.

[edit] Nithlings

Nithlings are formed from Nothing. They are feared by most of the House due to their ability to kill even an immortal Denizen with a festering bite. Nithlings take a variety of shapes and are incorporated into every book in some form. They appear to lack higher intelligence, although some types can be used as servants. (Notably the Fetchers, sent to retrieve the key in book one.) Most lower forms of Nithling can be dispatched with silver or salt, though this has little effect on higher or more substantially Made Nithlings. The Piper managed to create vastly superior Nithlings known as New Nithlings.

Nithlings return to Nothing when killed. They are employed by many Denizens and the Morrow Days for menial tasks, especially when someone is needed to venture into the Other Realms. Nithling species usually are named; this implies that they are usually made in regular forms. The Nithlings seen so far in the books are:

Bibliophages (Mister Monday)
Fetchers (Mister Monday)
The Skinless Boy (Grim Tuesday, Drowned Wednesday, Sir Thursday)
The Scoucher (Grim Tuesday)
Feverfew's Cormorants (Drowned Wednesday)
Gore-Drakan (Drowned Wednesday)

Several other Nithlings have been seen throughout the series (especially during Grim Tuesday), but are not named.

[edit] Religious and Literary References

The Keys to the Kingdom appears to contain many examples of religious symbolism and references, particularly in Judeo-Christian tradition. The key example is the affliction of each Morrow Day with one of the seven deadly sins, due to their choice not to obey The Will.

Mister Monday: Sloth.
Grim Tuesday: Greed.
Drowned Wednesday: Gluttony.
Sir Thursday: Wrath.
Lady Friday: Lust.
Superior Saturday: Unknown, possibly Envy.
Lord Sunday: Unknown, probably Pride.

Conversely, each paragraph of The Will embodied appears to hold a virtue. The Will holds one of the four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice) and the Three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity). However, it is also possible that the living forms adopted by the Will are symbols for each of the Seven Deadly Sins, which they must transcend in order to become one with Dame Primus, Steward of the House. Greed is often associated with the Frog; Gluttony with the bear; wrath or lust with the snake, and so on.

Part One - The Frog: Fortitude
Part Two - The Bear: Prudence
Part Three - The Carp: Faith
Part Four - The Snake: Justice
Part Five: Unknown
Part Six: Unknown
Part Seven: Unknown

Other religious references include The Old One, a Prometheus character who held great power but was chained and punished by the Architect, or alternatively seen as a Lucifer character, fallen from grace. There is even a range of literary and mythological reference in the series: Mister Monday's butler is compared to Nestor of The Adventures of Tintin; the Piper is a re-creation of the legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin, who with his music led a population of rats from a city-- later to do the same to the town's children, whose parents had refused to pay him the promised fee. The Mariner from the second book in the series is likely a reference to the mariner found in the ballad The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Both the mariner from the book and the poem had shot a bird, though Garth Nix does not specify what type of bird the mariner in his book had shot.