Dodge

> "*Don't think I'm funny? Feel like I'm caring? Kind? I guess it's subjective, so…*"
> ― Dodge regarding her own character
>
>

**Dodge**, also known by Bode Locke's alias of the **Well Lady**, and her alternate persona **Gabe**, is one of the protagonists in the TV series *Locke & Key* and the main antagonist in the first season and and the tritagonist/central antagonist of its second season, confirmed to reappear in an unknown capacity in the third season. Introduced in an antagonistic role, she becomes an antihero as her character develops throughout the series. She is an extremely powerful, hegemonic, and meriocratic demoness and the alleged owner of over a dozen magical keys. Her ultimate plan is to guide the rest of her race to coexist with humans, as she is a fusion of both, and believes the two species can revitalize society together. Despite their different views on whether magic should be used to revolutionize untold societies or remain within the confines of one's own affairs, she formerly had a close bond with Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode Locke, although all three relationships were destroyed because of the childrens' immature antics. Additionally, Kinsey breaks up with her upon discovering she is an inter-dimensional member of the same sex, and at the end of the second season Tyler forcibly rips her from her host body after her egalitarian plans lead to him accidentally murdering his own girlfriend, leaving her to learn from the past and bide her time until the third season.

## Why She Rocks

1. There are hundreds of reasons she is awesome, but I'll narrow it down. For one, she's one of the most iconic Netflix characters ever created, on par with Lucifer.
2. Griffin Gluck and Felix Mallard performed well, and Laysla De Oliveira's performance was as breathtaking as it was subversive. If it weren't for Griffin, her fanbase certainly wouldn't be as big.
3. Her backstory, while vague, makes her extremely sympathetic. She somehow became the owner of a series of magical keys forged by the Lockes ad found her way into a realm of pandomonium, which she taught herself and her new family how to consume the chaos instead of letting it consume them. When the Black Door was opened, she finally found a new body in the form of Lucas Caravaggio and now she intends to connect with the latest generation of Lockes while she gets her keys back, convinced that demons and humans can learn to live together, much like Magneto's genuine view of mutants in the *X-Men Cinematic Universe*, and Unalaq's *superficial* view of spirits in *The Legend of Korra*.
4. She's shown to be selfless and willing to risk her own life to protect those she cares about, shown when she risked her life to save Kinsey from drowning, killed Sam before he could shoot Tyler or Nina, fought Frederick to save Meatworld, and kept Eden around even though she was frequently a nuisance to her, keeping her demonic status safe and disciplining her in an extremely badass way for eating Karl's face and reminding her there's no reason to just want misery and destruction for their own sakes.
5. Unlike most girls in her vein of cinematic storytelling that are Mary Sue with minimal personality, she is actually lovable and shows to have a great sense of humor, even calling out Duncan Locke once for denying this.
6. She's almost impossibly charismatic and one of the only *Locke & Key* characters who knows how to smile consistently, along with Eden and Scot.
7. Her martial prowess is no joke. She easily overpowered half of her assailants in her run to retake the Omega Key, all in spite of not having a body for centuries, and not having the physiology of an echo yet. She masterfully incapacitated a dozen demons Duncan Locke sent after her, all in a matter of moments.
8. She is virtually invincible and can manifest into paintings. Don't judge children who believe in Santa Claus, when there are grown men who believe Azula can defeat her in a physical contest.
9. She has flaws which make her relatable to audiences and it serves as one of the factors that prevented her from being a Mary Sue.
10. She knows Meatworld is full of morons but she still prioritizes saving it for the greater good over obtaining power for herself. Her haters can sit alone with this as long as they need to.
11. To say she is lovely is an extreme understatement. She is exceptionally, uncannily, and dare I say unprecedentedly attractive and beautiful, even when she poses as Gabe, although Gabe is nowhere near to her original level.
12. She is in love with Kinsey Locke, and while she could definitely do much, much better than her, what they used to have was special. Kinsey's love must not have been true, or she wouldn't just leave her like that and directly go back to Scot that quickly. If she had truly loved her in return, she would have been more conflicted. Tragically, Dodge risked and lost everything for her, and she betrayed him without even a slight of doubt. Which is foreshadowed when the Savinis discuss the antagonist in *The Splattering*, citing that he is misunderstood, enraged at how man persecutes his brethren, and brought down because he loved a girl he could never be with romantically.
13. She is a valiant heroine, battling evil on numerous fronts to save her magical property and her extra-dimensional race, and even then she won't let them hurt other races because she is so awesome. Beat that.

## Trivia

* Dodge has numerous similarities with Magneto. Although she has been compared repeatedly to Frederick Gideon, it should be noted that Lucas never sought dominion over anyone and would be content with a normal life while his demoness believes that uniting misunderstood demons and prejudiced humans as one civilization gives her quest for power purpose (making her comparable to Magneto's plans for his fellow mutants and their own human oppressors) whereas both Gideon and his demon see power as an end in itself that needs no further purpose (making him comparable to Apocalypse).
	+ Both have made it their life goal to unite their race (demonic entities and mutated entities) with humans and keep getting childishly mislabelled as evil as a direct result. They are both provoked into this because of the horrific and consistently homicidal treatment their people are wantonly subjected to by the human race.
	+ Both have an irritating yet attractive blonde-haired female crony (Raven Darkholme and Eden Hawkins) who they frequently butt heads with, despite being the ones who gave them a sense of worth in the first place.
	+ Both have similar strengths even outside of their highly similar morality and charisma, arguably including excellent fashion sense and unforgettable theme music.
	+ Both have a strong homosexual infatuation with an objectively unattractive weakling (Kinsey Locke and Charles Xavier), who both reject them due to sanctimonious dogma and nothing more. Both of them bond over nearly drowning in the name of recklessly pursuing an obsession (although in Dodge's case, she saved Kinsey from drowning while studying the source of the magical keys, and in Magneto's case, he himself was saved from drowning by Professor X while studying the submarine in which his mortal enemy was situated, meaning Dodge was the rescuer but Magneto was the rescuee).
	+ Both receive alarmingly similar fates: being dishonorably stabbed from behind while they are preoccupied choking the main character (Kinsey and Logan, respectively) as a righteous show of force, by means of the only weapon that can undo the power of a demon (Alpha Key) and mutant (dart with a so-called mutant cure), losing their respective power as a result with their respective fates ultimately unknown.
	+ Both received acclaim for their cinematic portrayals with formal critics often considering Laysla De Oliveira and Ian McKellen glowing highlights of their respective franchises. Furthermore, this did not prevent either of them from being replaced by the studio with two far younger and more mediocre actors (Griffin Gluck and Michael Fassbender), who proceeded to portray them for 90 percent of their screentime in *The Premiere* and *Days of Future Past*, respectively. De Oliveira and McKellen weren't even in *The Head and the Heart* and *First Class*, and there are other likewise unfortunate scenarios.
	+ Both do not have nearly as much screentime (even as Gluck and Fassbender) as the audience likely remembers; they just made huge impressions in the few minutes they were seen. Bode Locke and Peter Maximoff have been subject to similar mainstream sentiment.

## External Links

* Dodge on Wikipedia
* Dodge on Locke & Key Wiki
* Dodge on Hero Wiki