Erin Voss

This article is about Erin Voss from the Netflix adaptation. You may be looking for Erin Voss from the graphic novels.

Erin Voss
Biographical information
Status	Deceased
Gender	Female
Cause of death	Strangling
Killed by	Dodge
Appearance
Played by	Joy Tanner Nicole James (young)
Episode Count	6
First seen	Ray of F*ing Sunshine
Last seen	The Maze

Erin Voss is a recurring character in Netflix's Locke & Key. The former girlfriend of Rendell Locke and one of the Keepers of the Keys, she was accidentally trapped inside her own head for twenty-three years. Upon being freed by the Locke children, Erin acts as their guide in understanding the magical keys in order to prevent Dodge from using them. Despite her attempt to stop Dodge herself, Erin is ultimately murdered by Dodge.

Biography

The Keepers of the Keys

As a teenager, Erin is a part of the Keepers of the Keys, a group of friends that enjoys using the magical keys from the Keyhouse. She also dates Rendell Locke. However, things go bad after the group opens the Black Door and a demon, Dodge, possesses Lucas, killing both Kim and Jeff before being stopped by Rendell. In the aftermath, the Keepers throw the bodies of their friends off of the cliff, come up with a story to cover up their deaths and split up the keys between themselves, making a pact to always protect them. Erin ends up taking the Head Key when the keys are split up. Rendell later decides to hide the Omega Key inside of his own head and takes Erin with him as he does it.

Unwilling to forget when they turn eighteen, the Keepers have Rendell's little brother Duncan create the Memory Key for them which allows the group to continue to remember the magic past their eighteenth birthdays. However, with Duncan having witnessed the events surrounding the deaths of Kim, Jeff and Lucas, the group then uses the Head Key to remove his memories and hides them in a tree.

At some point after this, Erin and Rendell break up, possibly because Rendell is leaving for college where he ends up falling love with Nina. Erin sees Rendell one last time when he comes home following his first year at college, something that Nina was unaware of. During this time, the two argue about the Memory Key which Rendell believes needs to be hidden as they should never have retained their memories of the magic. Rendell departs using the Anywhere Key to hide the Memory Key and Erin later hides the memory deep within her own mind.

Trapped Inside of Her Own Head

Two years after the deaths of her friends, Erin sits in the otherwise vacant Keyhouse using the Head Key to go into her own head for an unknown reason. The housekeeper, Candice Whedon finds Erin and is unable to awaken her, confused at Erin's state and the door that has appeared leading into Erin's mind. When Candice tries to shake Erin awake, she inadvertently dislodges the Head Key from Erin, accidentally trapping Erin inside of her own mind. As a result, Erin is left in a catatonic state for the next twenty-three years.

In an effort to find the Omega Key, Dodge visits Erin in the hopes that Rendell had shared the secret of where he had hidden it with her. Despite being catatonic, Erin visibly reacts with fear at the sight of the Head Key and Dodge's taunts. When Dodge inserts the Head Key, a second Erin doesn't appear, much to Dodge's surprise. With Erin's mind taking on the form of Matheson Academy, Dodge searches through her memories until she finds one that reveals that Rendell had hidden the Omega Key inside of his own head. Erin's consciousness, taking on the form of her younger self, confronts Dodge who is amused to discover that Erin is not brain-dead after all, but rather stuck inside of her own head. Dodge taunts Erin that she now knows where the Omega Key is hidden and leaves Erin's head, taking the Head Key and leaving her trapped as Erin desperately bangs on the door and begs to be let out.

Moments after Dodge's departure using the Anywhere Key, Rendell's daughter Kinsey arrives having read Erin's name in the seaside cave and having recalled Javi's story about a woman who went into Keyhouse and went insane. Kinsey introduces herself to Erin and tries to get her help, but Erin initially remains unresponsive. To Kinsey's surprise, Erin awakens from her catatonia somewhat, her mind having apparently been brought closer to the surface by Dodge's visit into her head. Erin manages to call out Dodge's name and gestures for Kinsey to bring her the picture of the Keepers. Erin manages to identify Lucas as Dodge to Kinsey. Erin subsequently relapses back into complete catatonia.

Months later, trying to find out how the Keepers of the Keys remembered past their eighteenth birthdays, Tyler and Kinsey enter into Erin's head again using the Head Key. The shifting landscape briefly traps them before Tyler and Kinsey are confronted by Erin's consciousness who demands that they get Dodge to leave her alone. The two reassure Erin that Dodge is gone for good and are surprised that she is unaware that twenty-three years have passed and that's she trapped in her own head. Tyler and Kinsey lead Erin out of her head where she's shocked to find her body in the hospital and how old she now is. Erin removes the Head Key from her head and finally awakens from her catatonic state.

Restoring Duncan's Memories

After being released from the hospital, Erin moves into Keyhouse, planning to stay with the Lockes until her trust comes through and she can get a place of her own. Duncan only vageuly remembers Erin who asks the Lockes to give her all of the keys, explaining that even with Dodge gone, the keys are too dangerous due to their addictive power. Later, when the power of the Small World Key causes chaos due to a spider invading the house, Erin helps to deal with the situation, but Duncan loses his memory of it moments later and becomes hostile towards her. Erin finally explains that the Keepers of the Keys had had Duncan make the Memory Key so that they could remember after turning eighteen and then proceeded to remove his memories of the magic. Guilt-ridden over removing Duncan's memories, Erin decides to use the Head Key to return them. Tyler and Kinsey agree and Tyler puts Duncan's memories back while Erin and Kinsey distract him.

However, the return of Duncan's memories does not go smoothly and he begins experiencing hallucinations and mood swings. The Lockes and Erin realize that their best bet for helping Duncan is to locate the Memory Key and Erin helps in the search without success. While they consider removing the memories again, Erin suggests one last possible solution for finding the Memory Key: retrieve Erin's long-buried memory of her argument with Rendell before he hid the key. Using the Head Key while Tyler watches over her, Erin retrieves the memory from her head which reveals that Rendell had hidden the key at Matheson Academy.

Erin remains at the Keyhouse while Tyler searches the school for the key and successfully finds it. With Duncan's condition only getting worse, Erin and Tyler convince Duncan to allow them to use the Memory Key on him. The Memory Key causes Duncan's issues to vanish and his memories to successfully reintegrate themselves with his mind.

Death

Moments after the successful restoration of Duncan's memories, Kinsey returns home with the news that Eden Hawkins is a demon and that Gabe is actually Dodge, while Bode reports that there were two Dodge's on the night of the Crown of Shadows attack. The group is horrified to realize that they had trapped Ellie Whedon behind the Black Door instead of Dodge and Erin refuses Duncan's attempt to convince her to find a new life now that she's free, stating that she won't leave until Dodge is gone for good.

Later, Erin confronts Eden and Dodge, in the form of Gabe, in a maze. After failing to terminate her with the Chain Key, Erin attempts to reach Lucas, convinced that he is still inside of Dodge without success. Dodge strangles Erin so hard that her neck breaks, killing her. Dodge then uses the Plant Key to have Erin's body consumed by vines as Duncan tries desperately to save her without success. As Erin's body is consumed, Duncan breaks down in tears. Despite this, she ultimately got exactly what she wanted posthumously, as Dodge was murdered and the Lockes got rid of all the keys.

Trivia

• While trapped inside of her head in Ray of F*ing Sunshine and The Head and the Heart, Erin's consciousness takes on the form of her younger self at the age she was at when she got trapped inside of her own head. In Past is Prologue, her mind takes on the form of Erin at her current age.

Appearances

Season One

• The Keepers of the Keys
• Ray of F*ing Sunshine

Season Two

• The Head and the Heart
• Small World
• Forget Me Not
• Past is Prologue
• The Maze