The Keys to the Kingdom

Plot

The series' protagonist is an asthmatic 12-year-old boy, Arthur Penhaligon. The series begins on a Monday, with the main events starting a week later on the next Monday. Each book moves onto the next day of the week, over the course of about three weeks in Earth time, concluding on a Sunday. Each day features beings, collectively known as the Trustees, who each govern a portion of the House, which is the center of the Universe. The seven demesnes of the House are, in the order Arthur visits them: the Lower House, the Far Reaches, the Border Sea, the Great Maze, the Middle House, the Upper House, and the Incomparable Gardens.

In the beginning of the first book, Arthur lives a relatively normal life as an adopted child in a large and caring family. An asthma attack on a Monday that should have killed him brings him into contact with Mister Monday, who rules the Lower House. He eventually finds his way to the Lower House himself, where he is to find the cure to a plague brought to his world by dog faced 'Fetchers'. By convenience, he is declared Heir to the Kingdom and given the Lesser Half of the First Key, which is shaped like the minute hand of a clock. Because of this Key's magical properties, Arthur is relieved of his asthma while in contact with the Key or in the House, and proceeds to a strange and dangerous set of adventures.

As Arthur discovers, the Will of the Architect (creator of the House and the "Secondary Realms" that surround it) was not fulfilled as it should have been. Instead, it was broken into seven pieces by the Architect's Trustees, the self-named Morrow Days. The Will was forced to act on its own, and its First Part chooses Arthur to be the Heir to the Kingdom. It thus becomes Arthur's responsibility to recover each of the missing pieces of the Will, defeat each Trustee – each of whom has been afflicted with one of the seven deadly sins - claim their domains by taking each Key, and ultimately fulfill the Will.

After Arthur has taken each of the seven keys, and the will becomes fulfilled, a huge wave of Nothing dissolves the Incomparable Gardens, Lord Sunday's domain, and the first thing the Architect created. This causes the whole of creation to be destroyed with it including all of the secondary realms (including Earth). Arthur regains consciousness in the void of Nothing (as he holds the power of all seven keys, he is unable to be destroyed unless he so wishes), and he meets the Architect, who is revealed to be the Old One and the Will, once split into two parts to govern the house and the secondary realms respectively. When the Architect and the Old One fell out, the Architect chained the Old One eternally. Doing this meant that she could not return to Nothing when she wished, as she had to go as one. The only way to release the Old One was to destroy creation. These terms were laid out in the will.

In the void of Nothing, the Architect explains this and also explains how she has appointed Arthur as the New Architect. When the Architect finally lets Nothing destroy her, Arthur decides what to do as the New Architect. He uses the Compleat Atlas of the House, a magic book which contains all the information of the entire house, to rebuild the house, and the secondary realms exactly as it was a few seconds before its ultimate demise. Unfortunately, as it only "saved" the universe a few seconds before its end, Arthur's mother is gone forever, as she was in the destroyed part of the Incomparable Gardens, and only one tiny part of the house remained, containing only a few people. The Great Architect splits himself into two, one part himself and the other part Arthur, whom he lets go back to Earth.

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.

Characters

The House and The Morrow Days

The House is the second 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. Each is related to one of the seven deadly sins. These parts include the following.

The Keys

The Keys to the Kingdom are seven objects of power given to the Trustees along with command over their demesnes. It is unknown whether, but implied that, control of the Key is that which gives one control over a demesne and its namesake day in the Secondary Realms. The Key will bond to the rightful owner of a Key, and protect him or her from harm, somewhat from pain but not at all from discomfort. A rightful owner of a Key is an Heir, the Trustee to whom it was originally entrusted, or a Steward. Over time, the use of a Key will irreparably turn a mortal into a Denizen, though it is mentioned that after a few centuries, this process may reverse a little. Because the presence of a Denizen in the Secondary Realms is inimical to mortal life, Arthur attempted to use the Keys as little as possible, as he wishes to remain mortal and return to his family; however, he later realizes that without the keys he would not be alive, and used the powers to protect the Lower House and his home town.

The Keys hold sovereign power in their own demesne and their day. All other Keys are of equal power when they are not in their realm. The exception to this is Sunday's Key, which is paramount over the others. They can do much of what is asked of them, such as opening, locking, manipulating, and freezing items. The full powers of the Keys are not known, as of Lady Friday. According to Arthur, the Keys have the ability to kill anything they wish, be it Denizen, mortal, or Nithling. Beings that are none of these, such as the Architect, her consort the Old One, their three sons, and possibly Arthur in later books, may be immune.

Nothing

Nothing is the mythical substance used in the series. From it the entire Universe formed through a concentration-based process. It appears as oily black smoke, or a black liquid, and contains the properties of being able to dissolve (with the exception of Immaterial objects) or create anything. When enough Nothing comes together, it can form a Nithling. Nithlings are creatures not created by the Architect, but 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. Nothing is likely based on Aether. For more information on the various types of Nithling, see below.

Nithlings

Nithlings are entities 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 complex 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.

Nithlings dissolve into 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 Secondary 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:

Note: There is some question on whether all of the above species classify as Nithlings, shown in Mister Monday, when the Atlas says (in reference to creating Fetchers) "...it is not the high treason of treating with the Nithlings, those self-willed things that occasionally emerge from Nothing". This seems to imply that species created by someone are not true Nithlings, as a true Nithling is self-made.

Books in the series

The title of each book refers to the antagonist that Arthur fights in the novel.

Possible film adaptation

In an interview, Garth Nix said that he was willing to sell the rights to studios and directors for an adaptation of the series, if they were "the right person". His reason is that he does not want to sell it to any studio over concerns that the studio would ruin the film. At the 2012 Texas Book Festival, Nix stated that "(I) have no plans for movies but would like to see a card game."