The Keys to the Kingdom is a fantasy-adventure series, written by Garth Nix, started in 2003 with Mister Monday For other meanings see Fantasy (disambiguation) Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three. ... Look up adventure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In a general sense, a series is a related set of things that occur one after the other or are otherwise connected one after the other. ... Garth Nix (born 1963) is an Australian author of young adult fantasy novels. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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 Morrow Days, which govern a portion of the universe (the Lower House, the Middle House, the Upper House, the Border Sea, the Far Reaches, the Incomparable Gardens, and the Great Maze). Young asthmatic girl using an inhaler attached to a spacer. ...

The adventure begins when Arthur is nearly killed by an asthma attack on a Monday cross-country run at school. Leaf and Ed, new kids, run to go get help. In the time it took for them to come back, two men appear in a flash of light and give Arthur a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock ("the Lower Key"). When Arthur grasps the Key, he regains the ability to breathe. It seems that the minute hand is half of a more powerful key. Mister Monday (one of the men who appeared in a flash of light) has the other half, which is shaped like an hour hand ("the Upper Key"). However, the second man, Sneezer, seems to have been possessed by something else (a magical Will that oozes out of Sneezer's nose and gives Arthur a thick pocket notebook.) Mister Monday then takes out the Upper Key, points it at Sneezer, shouts words that sound like thunderclaps, and the two men disappear in a flash of light, much like the way they arrived in.

Arthur ends up in the hospital and is visited by Leaf and Ed. Only Leaf seems to have seen Mister Monday and Sneezer. They talk about what happened for a while. Ed and Leaf (brother and sister) mention that they saw "dog-faced guys" digging up the oval (where Arthur left the Key). Arthur becomes worried, thinking that the dog-faced guys are agents of Mister Monday. Arthur asks them to get the notebook that the Will gave him, half expecting that it won't be there and that the whole episode was a dream. He finds the notebook, however. Arthur thrusts his hand under the pillow when his shot is taken, meeting with the Key, which had somehow gotten there.

A week later, Arthur returns home. When he gets there, he uses the key's power to open the Atlas (the book Will gave him), and learns that the House (a giant, old-fasioned house that he passed when going home) has an an entrance called the Monday Postern. That night, he is visited by the dog faces. He is saved by the ceramic Komodo dragon in which he put the key in. Apperantly, the dog faces cannot enter unless they are invited.

Characters (Mister Monday)

• Arthur Penhaligon: The heir of the House, and an asthmatic.
• Suzy Turquoise Blue: One of the Piper's children and a Sixth Class Ink Filler. She was later promoted by Arthur to a higher position, Monday's Tierce, assistant to Monday's Noon (formerly Monday's Dusk).
• Mister Monday: A handsome denizen who was nearly executed by Arthur. His key takes the shape of a clock hand when both the hour and the minute hand are combined together. He claimed the Lower House. He is afflicted with Sloth, which was later cured by Arthur.
• Monday's Dawn: An attractive woman with a gold tongue and a dress the colour of dawn. She has gold wings.
• Monday's Noon: A servant of Monday. He later became Dusk when Arthur defeated Monday. His striking feature is a silver tongue. He has a posh English voice, silver wings, and a flaming sword.
• Monday's Dusk: Similar to Noon, except that he possesses a black tongue, ebony wings and a black sword. He is loyal to Arthur and the Will, and is allowed to become Monday's Noon for his services.
• First Paragraph of Will (Dame Primus): Dame Primus is the acting Steward of the Lower House for Arthur. She originally took the form of jade colored frog, living in Suzy's throat. As a human, she's an older woman, severe and blunt.
• Old One: Husband of the Architect, he was later imprisoned on a clock by the Architect to suffer eyes being removed for eternity for breaking Original Law. He is similar to Prometheus, who gave fire to humanity and had his liver eaten every day by two birds and also to the Christian Lucifer, who is at first the Chief Archangel (Denizen?) and is cast down by God (the Architect?)
• Fetchers: Dog faced creatures wearing bowler hats, and servants of Mister Monday. They can be defeated with weak magic and salt.

Arthur Penhaligon is the hero of the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. ... Sloth may refer to: a South American mammal, see Sloth. ... This article is about the mythological figure; for other uses, see Prometheus (disambiguation). ...

Characters (Grim Tuesday)

• Grim Tuesday: A tall man without eyebrows. His key takes the shape of flexible silver gloves bound with gold. He is afflicted with Greed. He claimed the Far Reaches.
• Captain Tom Shelvocke: The adopted and the second oldest son of the Architect. The keeper of the records of the indentured workers. He is imprisoned and enslaved by Grim Tuesday. Also known as the Mariner.
• The Architect: The creator of the world, who left her Will to be executed by the Morrow days.
• Soot: A large eyebrow with silver eyes. Used to be Grim Tuesday's eyebrow.
• Grim's Grotesques: The seven servants of Grim Tuesday, they were formerly his Dawn, Noon and Dusk but he used his Key to reshape them to his will.
• Japeth: Used to be a Thesaurus Minimus Second Grade, which explains his large vocabulary. Helps Arthur in the mines of Grim Tuesday. In Drowned Wednesday, he has been given the job of a journalist and has chronicled an exaggerated version of "Lord Arthur"'s adventures.
• Second Paragraph of the Will: Known as 'Claws' to Arthur and Suzy, this part of the Will takes the shape of a sun bear. Could also transform itself into a grizzly.

Look up greed in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Binomial name Ursus (Helarctos) malayanus (Raffles, 1821) The sun bear (Ursus malayanus), is found primarily in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia. ... Grizzly may refer to: The Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), a subspecies of the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos). ...

Characters (Drowned Wednesday)

• Drowned Wednesday (Lady Wednesday): A whale afflicted with Gluttony, originally a beautiful woman. Her key takes the shape of a trident. She claimed the Border Sea. She became a whale when she tried to destroy the Will along with the other Morrow Days and now wishes for Arthur to cure her, offering her key as an incentive. She cannot control her gluttony because her key makes her eat more.
• Wednesday's Dawn: Takes on a human appearance, but can fly and swim. Gave Arthur a peg which lets him need much fewer breaths. Because Wednesday had devoured her Noon and Dusk from her gluttony, Dawn is grateful she was spared, though now nervous that she will be the next to be consumed. She communicates with Wednesday by interpreting the movements of her eye sockets from several miles away. When she swims, she takes the form of a winged shark.
• Leaf: A friend of Arthur's from Earth, introduced initially in Mister Monday. She ends up helping Arthur and Suzy when she is kidnapped by pirates and brought to the realm of the Border Sea with Arthur on Wednesday.
• Feverfew: A malevolent pirate who kidnaps Leaf. He was once mortal, but now lives in the Border Sea controlling a ship of bone, the Shiver.
• Sunscorch: A nautically designed Denizen, he is second mate aboard the Moth, but is promoted to the rank of Wednesday's Noon after helping Arthur.
• Doctor Scamandros: A self-admitted "failed" House Sorcerer, he was the Navigator-Sorcerer aboard the Moth and was promoted to the rank of Wednesday's Dusk after he helped Arthur enter Feverfew's secret harbour. He came to the Border Sea to find his lost term papers, which he now suspects were stolen.
• Third Paragraph of the Will ("The Carp"): This part of the Will takes the shape of a goldfish in a bowl which it was imprisoned in by Feverfew. Its size depends on the amount of faith its followers, escaped slaves of Feverfew, place in it. As such, it encourages the use of faith to bring about good circumstance.
• Lord Sunday: Merely mentioned by the Raised Rats, he is the oldest son of the Old One & the Architect. The following are children of the Architect & Old One: the Piper, Tom Shelvocke (adopted) and Lord Sunday.
• Superior Saturday: Also mentioned, she is a woman. She attacked Lady Wednesday along with the other Morrow days, save Monday due to Sloth.

Whales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. ... Gluttony is the overindulgence of food, drink, or intoxicants to the point of waste. ... Orders Hexanchiformes Squaliformes Pristiophoriformes Squatiniformes Heterodontiformes Orectolobiformes Carcharhiniformes Lamniformes Sharks are a group (superorder Selachimorpha) of fish, with a full cartilaginous skeleton, a streamlined body plan, with normally 5, but up to 7 (depending on species) gill slits along the side of, or beginning slightly behind, the head (in some... This is an article about wild rats; for pet rats, see Fancy rat Species 50 species; see text *Several subfamilies of Muroids include animals called rats. ... A son is a male offspring; a boy, man, or male animal in relation to his parents. ... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ...

Locations within the House

• The Lower House: The Lower House is the domain of Monday, and is incredibly inefficient due to Monday's centuries of Sloth. It is guarded by metal Commissionares and Denizen Commissionare Sergeants, along with the Midnight Visitors under Monday's Dusk. This is where Doorstop Hill, the Front Door of the House, is located, along with the Seven Dials and Monday's Dayroom. There are two known currencies of the Lower House, the Gold Roundel and the Silver Pence.
  • The Front Door: The Front Door is a pair of great wrought-iron doors, with constantly shifting, hypnotic patterns. It is currently guarded by the Lieutenant Keeper of the Door, who has stood at his post for centuries because the Captain Keeper has gone missing. Within is a black void.
  • The Coal Cellar: A deep pit where Denizens that have been punished are sent, to mine and shape coal for delivery to other places within the House. The Old One is also imprisoned here, and escape is nearly impossible.

• The Far Reaches: The Far Reaches are the domains of Tuesday, and are currently in the form of a massive Pit, with a train station at the top and miners at the bottom, who search for useful amounts of Nothing to pay off ever-increasing debts. Much of the Far Reaches have been eaten away by the digging of the Pit. Wings are forbidden here because they attract gobbets of Nothing together, potentially forming Nithlings, or creating massive storms of Nothing. At the moment, the Pit is being filled in by the former Grim Tuesday and the guards of the Far Reaches, the Overseers. Before the breaking of the Will, the Far Reaches had a spring from which Nothing bubbled up, but Grim Tuesday dug for more and more Nothing due to his affliction of Greed. There used to be three types of currency in the Far Reaches, the gold Noble, silver Real, and copper Bile. However, all actual currency was gathered by Grim Tuesday in his greed. The miners were sent to Grim Tuesday as payment for goods that he made.

• The Border Sea: An ocean at the edge of the House, the Border Sea can extend to any body of water in the universe. The domain of Drowned Wednesday, its major landmasses were lost during the transformation of Lady Wednesday into a Leviathan, and many of its native Denizens were forced to become sailors in what has become known as the Border Sea. Anything lost will eventually end up in the Border Sea, and the borders of the Sea have extended into the Void of Nothing and mortal realms. It is not known what type of monetary units are used in the sea. The Raised Rats also live here who pilot steamships. They used to have a submersible as well, before its deterioration by Nothing within Wednesday's stomach. Small numbers of mortal pirates who use Nothing more recklessly then the Denizens live here as well.
  • Port Wednesday: Formerly the ridge of Wedneday's Lookout, this is where elevators to other parts of the House are, and most likely is the safest part of the Border Sea.
  • The Triangle: Resembling a pyramid with the top cut off, the Triangle is where ships can raft together and meet and trade. It rises about one hundred feet into the air. It is all that remains of the original lighthouse of Port Wednesday.
  • The Line of Storms: A vicious constant lightning storm that separates the Border Sea from the Secondary Realms and prevents most mortals from entering. The Nissers were Denizens who used to guard the Line of Storms until they were eaten by Wednesday during the Deluge.

• The Great Maze: The domain of Sir Thursday, it is the great maze is a composition of mountains, explained in the prologue. The associated book is not released yet, but "Allen and Unwin" publications have shown a sneak peak. The only way to get in is via a tunnel, which in turn is guarded by 4 gates. The first one is one inch pure gold. The second one is gilded in silver and the the 3rd gate is gilded with bronze. The fourth and final one is Immaterial, which means that the lustre is blinding, even to mortal eyes. Each one contains a lever, operated by complex machinery below the mountains which goes to a room, hust above the tunnel. It is used as a training ground for Denizens. Nithlings can only move in at specific times.

• The Middle House: Merely mentioned by the Will in its letters to Arthur. Ruled by Lady Friday.

• The Upper House: Merely mentioned by the Will in its letters to Arthur. Ruled by Superior Saturday.

• The Incomparable Gardens: Merely mentioned by the Will in its letters to Arthur. Presumably ruled by Lord Sunday.

Destruction of Leviathan. 1865 engraving by Gustave Doré. This page is about the biblical creature; for other uses, see Leviathan (disambiguation). ...

Books Within the Series

The title of each of the books refers to the name of the (generally malevolent) master of each Day that Arthur must enter.

• Mister Monday (2003)
• Grim Tuesday (2003)
• Drowned Wednesday (2005)
• Sir Thursday (March 1, 2006)
• Lady Friday (Unreleased)
• Superior Saturday (Unreleased)
• Lord Sunday (Unreleased)

2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Grim Tuesday is a fictional novel written by Garth Nix. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Drowned Wednesday is the third book in the The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir Thursday is a fantasy novel by Garth Nix, set to be released in March, 2006. ... Lady Friday is the assumed name for the 5th novel by Garth Nix in his Keys to the Kingdom series. ...

External links

• Series listing at SciFan