Katjaa (Video Game)

"The right thing is just scary sometimes."

- Katjaa about Lee's decision.

Katjaa, also known as "Kat", is an original character who first appeared in Season 1 of Telltale Games' The Walking Dead. She is from Fort Lauderdale and is the wife of Kenny and mother of Kenny Jr., better known as "Duck". Katjaa is a nurturing woman who isn't afraid to say what is on her mind.

Character
Headstrong and resilient, Katjaa is the very pillar of strength and voice of reason for Kenny when matters arise. Katjaa would put her child, Duck and her husband, Kenny in front of her before anything or anyone. As a mother, housewife, and middle-aged woman in the group, Katjaa was one of the characters within the game whose personality experiences a drastic change due to the events that occur from Episode 1 to Episode 3.

As the game starts out, Katjaa is portrayed as a kind and caring lady, whom due to her experience as a mother, allows Clementine to bond well with her the moment they meet. This is supported by the fact that throughout all episodes, she is often only seen with her family, Clementine, and Lee. When Lee has important matters to attend to, Katjaa adopts the role of a temporary caretaker for Clementine.

A pacifist, Katjaa rarely, if at all, displays aggression or violence throughout the story. Even when Larry threatens to throw her son out onto the streets to the Walkers, Katjaa does not seem to respond to the man with harsh words. As of result of being peaceful, she bears no grudge towards anyone and is assumed to be in good stand with the rest of the members in the group, although her name has not been mentioned by anyone aside from Lee, Lilly and Kenny during any ensuing conversations. In fact, Katjaa is the only adult member in the group who has not uttered a single profanity.

Unlike Kenny who is often worried and paranoid about the safety of his family, Katjaa seems to be more calm, collected, hopeful, and optimistic about the situation. She believes that the zombie apocalypse is only a temporary matter, and expresses hope that things will be taken care of sooner or later. It is this trait of hers that eventually keeps her family together and prevents Kenny from acting out impulsively.

Due to her background in Biology, Katjaa displays a certain amount of knowledge regarding the human anatomy and is thus often sought for help or treatment if anyone in the group suffers from injury, making her the de-facto "doctor" of the group.

By Episode 2, however, Katjaa becomes a blunt person, who while retains her optimism, has become accustomed to the events happening around her and finally acknowledges that the situations may not be as hopeful as she once thought. Her bluntness was displayed when she straightforwardly remarked to Lee that Travis/David Parker would have never survived their wounds, even if she had tried to treat them.

For the remainder of Episode 2, Katjaa's character is not heavily explored until Episode 3, where Kenny and his family becomes one of the highlights of events in the episode. When Duck was bitten by a walker following the raid by a group of bandits at the motel, Katjaa seemingly lost all hope and optimism that she previously had held back in the first two episodes.

Despite that, Katjaa retains her calmness and is determined on finding a cure for Duck, as she had mentioned "from a medical perspective". Gradually though, she comes to accept the fact that there is truly no cure for a bitten survivor and finally decides to put Duck down, along with a persuaded Kenny who was previously in denial of the truth.

Unfortunately, Ben's act of betrayal towards the group that has lead the occurrence of several chain events eventually takes a toll on Katjaa's emotional well being. Overwhelmed with immense grief and sadness, Katjaa commits suicide, unable to handle the death of her son. Whether her suicide was planned or an impulsive moment of madness is left in the dark. The death of herself and her son will go on to affect Kenny's character as well, who sinks in to a deep depression and apathy following the drama.

Among all deaths, the departure of Katjaa seemed to be the most shocking to fellow players, as the resilience that she displayed throughout all episodes seemed to suggest that she was unlikely to succumb to any of the emotionally taxing events due to her strong personality. By Episode 3, however, perhaps the death of Katjaa showed that she was not a woman of resilience and strength, but a woman who struggled to battle with the emotional toll and bottled up her entire feelings out of fear that her emotional weakness will become a burden to the group. Ultimately, the emotional toll eventually gets the better of her and Katjaa succumbed to it.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Before the outbreak, Katjaa worked as a veterinarian and lived with her husband, Kenny, and her son, Duck, in Fort Lauderdale. Katjaa met Kenny when she moved to America from Belgium with her family when she was a teenager. She started working in a vet's office, and received her license a few years later. During the beginning of her training, she regularly practiced on farm animals. She started her veterinarian office and met Kenny when he brought in a sick octopus that needed help. She merrily told an anecdote once of how the Wildlife Rescue Center would regularly bring in injured alligators to be treated before their release back into the wild. She was traveling with her husband and son from Memphis, Tennessee after visiting her sister when the apocalypse started.

"Episode 1: A New Day"
Katjaa is first seen on Hershel's Farm with the rest of her family. She spends time talking with Clementine and gets to know her. Like her husband, she believes the outbreak will be dealt with soon, but is scarred by the horrific things she witnessed driving through Atlanta. When her son, Duck, and Shawn Greene are attacked by walkers she is seen running towards them. Later, along with her family and the rest of the survivors, she ends up in Lee's family's store, the Everett Pharmacy Drugstore.

When the drugstore is attacked by walkers, Katjaa and Duck hide in the office. While in there, a walker almost reaches them but Glenn saves them. Eventually, the group escapes and sets up a base at an abandoned motel, where Katjaa is safe with her family.

"Episode 2: Starved for Help"
Katjaa tries to save David Parker/Travis after one of them is brought back to the motel badly wounded. However, she fails and David/Travis dies. He comes back as a walker and attacks her, but she is saved by Lee. Later, Katjaa is seen at the St. John's Dairy Farm helping and watching their pregnant cow. Around this time, Katjaa will either thank or scorn Lee for his actions on Hershel's Farm. She is later seen at the dinner table eating Mark's legs without realizing. Later, she is held hostage by Brenda St. John. Lee tries to convince Brenda to let her go but she refuses while backing up the stairs. A zombified Mark reaches out, grabs, and kills Brenda, which in turn helps Katjaa escape. She managed to grab the video recorder that was taken from Lee, and hands it on to him later on.

"Episode 3: Long Road Ahead"
Episode 3 is the last episode Katjaa appears in, since she commits suicide halfway through the episode via gunshot after heading into the forest with Duck and Kenny (Determinant) after the incident with a walker while fleeing the motel that resulted in Duck getting bitten. Before her death, Katjaa spends most of the episode tending to Duck in the RV, at the train crash site, and finally when they stop the train to say farewell to Duck. Throughout this time, while Kenny remains in denial for the most part, Katjaa slowly seems to accept her son's fate although this may have been the trigger that ultimately led to her taking her own life. And whatever choice the player makes, Katjaa will still take her own life.

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Katjaa has killed:
 * Herself (Suicide)
 * Possibly numerous counts of zombies.

Killed By
Lee and Kenny hear a gunshot and run into the forest. However, they are too late to save her, and Kenny begins crying over his wife's body with Duck watching the whole thing as he slowly dies. It is revealed that Katjaa, unable to cope with Duck's bite and the eventual death of her son, decided to use the gun to end her own life.
 * Herself (Suicide)
 * Ben Paul (Indirectly Caused)
 * Kenny Jr. (Indirectly Caused)

Non-Canon Deaths
If Lee fails to complete certain tasks, it is possible for Katjaa to be killed. These deaths are considered non-canon and result in a game over. Lee will then re-spawn and be allowed to try again. Below is a pictorial list of when Katjaa can die.

"Episode 3: Long Road Ahead"

Kenny
"Kenny, I love you very much, I love our son more than life itself. But what you are saying...that he may not turn...is foolish."

- Katjaa to Kenny.

Kenny and Katjaa were husband and wife. They had a child together and seemed to love each other very much. They both trusted Lee very much. After Katjaa killed herself and Duck was put out of his misery/left to reanimate, Kenny fell into a deep depression. Over the next few days, he was conflicted with a combination of immense sadness and anger towards his wife for killing herself and Duck dying.

He forgives her in the end, but still acknowledges that what she did was wrong and makes a point to mention that no one should give up so easily to simply avoid pain and tough circumstances. Kenny never stopped loving his wife no matter what though and continuously asks himself if he would still be able to protect her if she were alive and with him in Savannah.

Duck
"He isn't fussy, you know? Most kids are fussy about what they eat. The most trouble I've had was making him use a fork."

- Katjaa to Lee, about Duck.

Katjaa is Duck's mother. They clearly love each other and Katjaa always shows great concern for his well being. Katjaa talks about Duck to Lee and about the years before the outbreak, for example, She claimed to have trouble getting him to use a fork at dinner. Towards Duck's death Katjaa does not seemed phased as she thought Duck would survive. Her son's impending death was what drove her to suicide as she could no longer endure everything that was happening.

Clementine
"That little girl is a puzzle."

- Katjaa to Lee.

Katjaa and Clementine meet on Hershel's farm and quickly become friends in "A new Day", Katjaa shows concern about Clementine's well being on numerous occasions and looks after her fairly often, in "Long Road Ahead", if Lee volunteers to shoot Duck then the reason Katjaa takes Duck into the forest is so that Clementine doesn't have to see it happen.

Carley
"Poor Carley. God, where did yesterday go?"

- Katjaa to Lee about Carley's death.

Carley and Katjaa had little to no interactions in the game. When Carley died, Katjaa expressed sorrow over her death.

Doug
"He had spent some time in Belgium."

- Katjaa to Lee about Doug after his death.

While the two of them had little to no on screen interactions, Katjaa speaks warmly about Doug after his death. She says she "liked him very much" and that he had spent time in Belgium, suggesting they had a friendly relationship.

Lee Everett
"You've always looked at me with kind eyes, I wonder if you could still do that if you knew I was a convicted felon."

- Lee telling Katjaa about his past.

Lee and Katjaa have a friendly relationship because Katjaa takes care of Clementine when Lee is unable to. Lee is the first non-family member to be told about Duck's bite. This shows that Katjaa thinks Lee is a very trustworthy person. When Duck is about to die Katjaa asks Lee to be there for Kenny, if Lee volunteers to shoot Duck then Katjaa is grateful, saying he'd be doing the family a great service. Later, in Episode 5, Kenny reveals that Katjaa always wanted him to be more supportive towards Lee, showing that she also cared much for him.

Shawn Greene
Shawn and Katjaa had little to no interaction, although they seemed to be on good terms with one other.

Ben Paul
Ben and Katjaa had a stable relationship. However, it is assumed by some that Katjaa would've been furious with Ben if she lived long enough to find out that Ben was the one who was giving supplies to the bandits and inadvertently caused her son to get bitten during the Motor Inn attack.

Lilly
These two had little shown interaction, but Lilly most likely saw Katjaa as very valuable due to her medical training. However she displayed a lack of consideration for Katyaa when she decided that Kenny's vote regarding the stealer of the group's supplies would count for both him and Katjaa. Katjaa stayed neutral in her and Kenny's leadership disputes, and Katjaa showed no ill will towards Lilly until Lilly killed Carley/Doug on the road. If Lee left Lilly on the road, Katjaa will say that she would've done the same thing.

Larry
Despite Larry wanting to throw her son out of the pharmacy in Episode 1 in belief that he was bitten, Katjaa and Larry seemed to be on neutral terms and weren't seen interacting much. Larry probably tolerated Katjaa the easiest due to her usefulness and neutrality.

Mark
These two had little interaction, but Katjaa was concerned for Mark when they arrived at the St. John's Dairy Farm and found him with an arrow in his shoulder.

Chuck
"I appreciate your concern."

- Katjaa to Chuck about reassurance about Duck.

These two barely had time to get to know each other before Katjaa's suicide, but she regarded Chuck as kind and caring, due to his concern for Duck. She also appreciated his immediate generosity in giving candy to the kids, including Ben.

Trivia

 * She and Hershel Greene have multiple similarities:
 * Both of them are veterinarians.
 * Both chose to die when they lost their child(ren).
 * It is worth noting that Katjaa's interactions with the rest of the survivors are rather minimal, as she is only close to Lee and Clementine and as well as to her own family, yet isn't criticized or mentioned by the others in a bad light.
 * Aside from Clementine and her family, any conversations with the rest of the survivors will not bother to mention about Katjaa or be mentioned by Katjaa herself.
 * She is generally a neutral or forgiving character, as she was never shown harboring any ill feelings towards anyone, even Larry for that matter when he ordered Duck to be thrown out of the drug store, only referring to the man as "him" when she pleaded for him to stop upsetting the boy.
 * Her death is very uncharacteristic and came as a surprise to many as she has proven to be one of the strongest and kindest members of the group, with very good control over her emotions.
 * She is the only adult who never swore. Chuck can swear if you say certain things to him whilst on the train.
 * Unlike her husband who is deeply affected by the decision makings within the group, Katjaa seems to be less edgy or touchy to minor issues.
 * In fact, she is more concerned about the welfare of the members in the group rather than anything else.
 * Katjaa is one of the people or zombies whose fate or killer cannot be chosen. In Katjaa's case, she commits suicide and cannot be killed in any other way.