that he had somehow gained the ability to glimpse events in his future. The narrator of the story then states that he expects to meet Randolph soon, in one of his own dreams, "in a certain dream-city we both used to haunt", reigning there as a new king, where the narrator may look at Randolph's key, whose symbols he hopes will tell him the mysteries of the cosmos. Connections "The Silver Key" alludes to other Lovecraft stories that feature Randolph Carter, allowing the reader to place these stories in chronological order: first The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, then "The Statement of Randolph Carter", followed by "The Unnamable". "The Silver Key" and "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" are set at the end of this sequence. An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia compares "The Silver Key" to Lovecraft's early story "The Tomb", whose narrator, Jervas Dudley, also "discovers in his attic a physical key that allows him to unlock the secrets of the past." Inspiration "The Silver Key" is thought to have been inspired in part by Lovecraft's visit to Foster, Rhode Island, where his maternal ancestors lived. The character Benijah Corey from the story seems to combine the names of Emma Corey Phillips, one of Lovecraft's relatives, and Benejah Place, a farmer who lived across the street from the home where Lovecraft stayed. Carter's search for meaning through a succession of philosophical and aesthetic approaches may have been inspired by J. K. Huysmans' A rebours (1884), whose main character undertakes a similar progression. Reaction Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright rejected "The Silver Key" when Lovecraft submitted it in mid-1927. The next year, however, Wright asked to see the story again and accepted it. He later told Lovecraft that the story was "violently disliked" by readers. Influence The Silver Key was used as an artifact that caused people to see waking dreams of Lovecraft's creatures in a fourth-season episode of the mystery series Warehouse 13. NeuroCreativa is creating a Lovecraftian video game titled The Silver Key. In Jonathan L. Howard's novel Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute, the Silver Key is an artifact that allows physical access to Dreamlands for people who wouldn't be able to get in the normal way, such as scientifically-minded Cabal. In Wild Arms 2, the demon summoner Caina uses a large magical key as a weapon, which is named Randolph the Magic Key. Other Media The Silver