Katjaa (Video Game)

"The right thing is just scary sometimes."

- Katjaa about Lee's decision.

Katjaa is an original character appearing in The Walking Dead Video Game. She is from Fort Lauderdale and is the wife of Kenny and mother of Kenny Jr., Katjaa is also a blunt character who is not 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. 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 met. 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 caretake for Clementine.

A pacifist, Katjaa rarely, if not at all, displays aggression or violence throughout the story. Even when Larry threatens to throw her son out, Katjaa does not seem to respond to the man with harsh words. As of result of being pacific, 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 and Kenny during any ensuing conversations. In fact, Katjaa is the only adult member in the group who has not uttered a single word of swearing.

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 the 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 seeked 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 seems. Her bluntness was displayed when she straightforwardly remarked to Lee that Travis/David would have never survived their wounds, even if she 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 in the motel, Katjaa has 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 a with persuaded Kenny who was previously in denial of the truth.

Unfortunately, Ben's act of betrayal towards the group that has lead the occurence of several chain events eventually takes a toll on Katjaa's emotional well being. Overwhelmed with immense grief and sadness, Katjaa decides to commit suicide, unable to handle the death of her son. 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 guarantee the fact that she is unlikely to succumb to any emotionally taxing events due to her strong personality. By Episode 3 however, perhaps the death of Katjaa showed not a woman of resilience and strength, but a woman who struggled to battle with the emtional 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 herself and Katjaa succumbs 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 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 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 set up a base at an abandoned motel, where Katjaa is safe with her family.

Episode 2: Starved for Help
Katjaa tries to save David/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 ether thank or scorn Lee for his actions on Hershel's Farm. She is later seen at the dinner table eating Mark's legs without knowing. 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 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 to him later on.

Episode 3: Long Road Ahead
Episode 3 is the last episode Katjaa will appear in, since she commits suicide halfway through the episode via gunshot after heading into the forest with Kenny and Duck 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.

Death
Lee (and Kenny, depending on the player's decision) hear(s) a gunshot and runs into the forest. However, is 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 (Indirectly Caused)

Trivia

 * She and Hershel Greene have multiple similarities; both of them are veteranarians and both chose to die when they lost their child(ren).
 * She appears to frequently look after Clementine whenever Lee Everett is unavailable to.
 * 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.
 * 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.