I didn't read the Locke & Key "...Only Bad" edition YET, but I read the summary on the wikia, since it snatched my interest as soon as I read the description: "an all-new ending… only bad." Ever since I finished the comics I've been hungry for more content about the Locke family after the canon series, so how could I wait to get a copy?
Spoilers under the cut.
Trigger warnings for: death, depression, suicide, mentions of sexual assault, alcoholism below
HOLY MCFUCKING SHIT
And of course, since I'm a slut for canon divergences and AUs, my mind tried to speculate on how the series would diverge from there, how the plot would proceed. I wondered about how Tyler and Kinsey would find the keys and stop Dodge without Bode, but I came to one conclusion in the end:
The plot wouldn't proceed at all. Because when you think about it, Bode is the reason his family survives the first arc of the series. And his death would spell that of his family's.
Tyler
In Issue #4 of "Welcome to Lovecraft", there's a scene where Tyler is stewing in his own guilt and self-loathing over what he believes is his part in his father's death. In the comic, it is strongly implied he's contemplating suicide, and in the audible it's confirmed.
But Bode comes and interrupts him, asking about a knock-knock joke. After Bode leaves, Tyler puts any thoughts of suicide out of his mind, fearing how it would affect Bode.
But now? After seeing his little brother get literally sliced in two by a freak accident? So soon, after his father's death, the death Tyler believes he's responsible for? Not to mention the likelihood of Tyler's guilt-warped mind twisting Bode's death into his own fault too? Not only would there be nothing to stop Tyler from committing suicide, it’d be likely he’d do it much sooner.
Kinsey
In Issue #3 of the first arc, Kinsey was constantly reliving the moment she was hiding with Bode on the roof while Sam was looking for Tyler. Not just while she was breaking down in her room by herself, but she took this everywhere she went. Kinsey responded to her trauma by keeping her head down and staying hidden in social settings. She seems to find a healthy way to deal with it at the end of the issue, but we see that wound reopened after the news of Joe Ridgeway's death comes out in Issue #2 of the "Head Games" arc.
Kinsey is ultimately afraid of losing people, a fear set off by her father dying and reinforced by both Joe Ridgeway dying.
If Kinsey saw her little brother die from simply a freak accident that could happen to anyone at any moment? Literally the same day Kinsey herself said she couldn't stop crying over what happened? She only spiral further and further into her own fears and grief, taking an even heavier toll on her than what we saw in canon. Kinsey wouldn't be able to get to a better state like she did in canon, probably not heeding Ellie's advice or taking Jackie's offer of friendship.
Nina
Through most of the main series of Locke & Key, we see Nina's alcoholism and her mental state get progressively worse, until it escalates to her hitting Kinsey in Issue #6 of "Crown of Shadows". The grief over her husband's death and the trauma of her sexual assault makes an unhealthy combination with the fact that she doesn't talk about her problems with anyone. So, she lets herself stew in her grief and drown her sorrows.
If Bode died when and how he did in "...Only Bad"? With her previous trauma still fresh in her mind? Nina's alcoholism would get a whole lot worse and a lot faster, and even more so after Tyler commits suicide. The resentment and anger between her and Kinsey would very likely get worse and come quicker too, considering they’re both in terrible places mentally and emotionally.
Duncan
Something to note about Duncan is that we never see him properly grieve his brother. He says in Issue #2 of "Welcome to Lovecraft" that keeping himself busy helps. A personal headcanon of mine is that Duncan has this "I don't wanna burden others with my problems" mentality, so he just shuts it in and keeps quiet, which seems consistent with his canon personality.
But it would wear down on him so much harder if Bode died so soon after his brother did, with Tyler following not long after. And Duncan would try to be there for his last two living relatives, trying to be the peacekeeper or the shoulder to cry on, not just for them but in an attempt to ignore his own grief, and that would very much put a lot of strain on him too. I can even picture him starting to resent Kinsey and Nina, wanting to leave but unable to leave them like this and feeling trapped as a result.
Dodge
Bode was Dodge’s ticket out of the Wellhouse in canon. He was young and naive enough to trust a mysterious voice in a well, and could be convinced to get them the Anywhere Key after Sam arrived. Neither Tyler (if he were alive at that point) nor Kinsey would be as receptive to a mysterious voice in a well as Bode would be. So, Dodge had to trust Sam to get them out.
Which would probably go as well as it did when Sam tried to get the Omega and Anywhere Keys from Rendell.
Sam
Sam would come to Keyhouse similar to how he did in canon. He’d demand the Anywhere Key and the Omega Key, and neither Nina, Duncan, nor Kinsey would know what he was talking about. Even if Kinsey, the last living Locke child, found a magic key, she probably wouldn't think much of it. Why would she? It's just some old key. And as in canon, Sam wouldn’t notice the Anywhere Key in Kinsey’s bracelet. None of the Lockes would be able to give Sam what they don't know about, and he would almost certainly kill them all.
In Conclusion:
Tyler would commit suicide over the combined grief and guilt of his father's and brother's deaths. Kinsey's fear and grief would multiply to a debilitating degree with no hope of things getting better. Nina's drinking problem would worsen at a quicker pace. Duncan's grief and stress would wear him down and make him a mess alongside his last surviving family. Sam would kill off the rest of the Locke family and go back to jail or get shot to death. Finally, Dodge would stay trapped in the Wellhouse, and with no living Locke children to come to the house and find keys for them, probably forever.
It really is an “Only Bad” ending.
For everyone.