A look at Kenny
(Note this is only the first two episodes, I'm working on the last three, but I feel if anyone's been waiting they've been waiting long enough so here's the first half till the second come)
Ah Kenny a character who has the ability to divide a fanbase on their opinions on him. Most either hate him or love him, but non can deny the might of his powerful mustache. In reality though his controversial personality is what makes him a strong character and is what makes him, one of the most loved and hated characters in TWD. So here is my analysis on Kenny.
[B]Note:[/B] I'm making this as unbiased as possible, looking at both perspectives from each decision you chose with him throughout the game. Hope you enjoy.
[B]Entrance Of The Great Stache[/B]
So we first meet Kenny at Hershel's farm, after we were allowed to sleep there for a night, and in the morning we hear the voice and see as the light shines upon the facial that is Kenny's mustache. First impressions of him are pretty good, as he talks about his son even making some remarks calling his son stupid, and then proceeds to go work on his truck. I see this point in the game as still of a tutorial like area so of course we don't see much into Kenny other than his past of being a fisherman, and how they escaped the city, which included driving past and over some people.
Afterwards comes a decision within the game the is considered the first "Big" decision within the game. That is deciding whether to save Duck or Shawn.(On a side note how did the walkers get that close without no one noticing as well. Also did Duck accidentally turn on the tractor because the walkers startled him or did he accidentally run over Shawn then super-speed walkers heard the tractor and came running? Who knows) Anyways so you choose between Shawn or Duck. Of Course no matter what Kenny chooses his son, though what makes him controversial in this spot is that he runs away with duck rather than putting him down. Now this may have been because Kenny wanted to make sure to keep Duck safe and didn't know what to do, or the moment was tense and he didn't know what to do. Either way Shawn dies and is thrown into the barn for Rick and co. to find later.The way I see it is that the situation was getting heavy Kenny didn't know whether to drop his son and help, put that may put his son in danger if more come, and as Lee put it "When you look back on it you think you can do something, but in the heat of it you never can."
As well leaving Shawn leaves a heavy mark on Kenny as he now feels responsible for the rest of the game for Shawn's death. I mean he shows genuine guilt a lot for leaving Shawn. Luckily no matter your choice Kenny still takes you to Macon.
So from this we learn
-Kenny cares a lot for his family
-Kenny is a fisherman
-Kenny shows guilt over his wrongdoings
Not much so far, but that's what you get from a tutorial area, just an introduction of sort.
[B]Macon Bacon[/B]
So off the group goes to Macon. Once they arrive the ruck runs out of gas, and then Kenny calls for some help from a walker. (Now this implies that the apocalypse is still pretty early in as Kenny thought that the zombie was a person, but no it was a zombie) So here comes the horde of undead until Carley saves us then we meet the big man Larry. Off course Larry starts getting angry so Kenny gets angry back, though Kenny truly shows how protective of his family he will get as soon as Larry starts threatening his kid. Afterwards Kenny shows some leadership qualities by taking over the group now that Larry had a heart attack, and Lilly was re-occupied with him, and even with Larry's threats on his son Kenny is still willing the help him by getting his pills.
Afterwards Le does his thing, and depending on what Lee chose to do with Larry depends on how Kenny talks to Lee afterwards, though no matter what he talks to Lee about his guilt over Shawn.
So the episode continues until the pharmacy's alarm starts ringing Kenny tells his family to get out first, but once again takes a leader role. Though no matter what you do, Kenny will always save you after episode one, though he may call you an asshole.
Then afterwards with your talk with him, he gives you his support with Clem.
So what did we learn about Kenny now
- Once again his family is very important to him and he will dislike anything that threatens to hurt them.
- He has leadership qualities which will be shown again next episode.
- He still feels guilt over Shawn
- No matter what at this point Kenny seems to not want Lee to die so he still has some humanity left.
[B]Come On In Episode Two[/B]
So now we are into episode two, Mark misses the bird and then Mr. Parker screams as a bear trap grabs and here we meet up with Kenny again who is just as surprised as Lee. From his dialogue here it seems like he isn't sure if he wants to help, but doesn't object to it so he keeps guard as Lee cuts the leg or leaves Mr. Parker.
So we run back and of course Lilly and Larry are angry about the new people and Kenny of course gets mad at them, the situations are tense, but it clears up with either you siding with Lilly or Kenny, or even staying neutral though if you stay neutral both parties get angry at you and Kenny makes some foreshadowing for the future of the episode, and so now you as Lee.
If you feed both Clem and Duck but not Kenny he says that you took care of the kids which is what areal man does showing that he still thinks kids get the eat first. If you only feed Duck he is still appreciative of what you did for him and his family, and if you don't feed the children he gets pissed off at you.
Now what does this show, it shows that Kenny of course still has a deep love for his family, as well as seeing the children as being important as well.
Also at this point you can talk to Ken and depending on how many times you sided with him last episode depends on what he says to you about taking off in the RV.
So then whoever you saved early in the episode dies and Kenny gets pissed again. This shows that he is semi-annoyed that they couldn't save Mr. Parker/Travis showing that he did actually care for them getting better and that he cared for human life still. So the person comes back to life and tries to eat Katjaa you of course save her and everyone get's angry at Ben because they think they didn't tell them Mr. Parker/Travis were infected, because they weren't, and they learn the big truth in the walking dead that everyone is infected.
Now the Saint Johns come, and after the whole conversation with them if you decline to go Kenny votes to go for the sake of his family once again showing his family nature to him. So then you leave Kenny for awhile and you don't see Ken again until Mark is shot with the arrow.
So Kenny arrive just to see Lee with an arrow shot Mark, first thing he worries for is his family's safety like the family man he is, though after the St. Johns go away we see how willing Kenny is to protect his family when he says something along the lines of "And we'll take this place over if we have too." So for the rest of the duration of that scene time Kenny just shows worries for his family and general worry about the St. John Dairy, so then Lee leaves and we don't see Kenny until we get back and we see him arguing with Lily like normal, then he disappears until you explore the farm.
When you finally see Kenny again he shows a sense of paranoia, and worries about his family's safety, so he asks you to try and open the barn door. Of course Kenny sort of acts like he does in scene prior acting worried about his family, and not too sure about the farm, so finally you open the barn, then go to the house find legless Mark, and all the shiggys happen. We find out we are eating Mark Everyone is in WTF mode then we get knocked unconscious and wake up in a meat locker.
So I will dedicate a few paragraphs for the next decision as it solidifies a lot of things, and shows different things about Kenny's character. So we all know what happens next and you have to decide whether to side with Kenny or try to save Larry. Whether he is alive or dead, is debatable, and it can be argued if what Kenny did was right, but in my general opinion it was necessary, as the risk was light to the moon high, and if we were wrong, then we would all die.
Okay not to go into a debate about that, though, so if you side with Kenny, he is gracious of it, but still shows his main worry is for his family, now the real controvery comes if you try to save Larry, not from him dropping the salt block, but from how he acts like an asshole later.
Now I see a lot of people saying that Kenny hates them for not helping him kill a man, or Kenny is nice until you don't side with him, but I feel that is wrong in the situation. In this situation Kenny knows if Larry turns he will never save his family and therefore they would be stuck with the Saint Johns for who knows how long, and by siding with Lilly, I feel Kenny sees it as you are putting his family at risk, so that is why Kenny shows resentment for a long time afterwards, not because you didn't side with him, but because it's almost like endangering his family. This is further defined when Kenny later if you choose the right dialogue says something like "No I saved my family by doing what needed to be done in the meat locker." So he did have that in mind when killing Larry.
Note: I do believe Kenny acted rashly, but I do understand his motives and his dislike for Lee later if you don't side with him.
So now the episode continues to the end and you find the station wagon, and Kenny takes the stuff in it because once again he knows it can help his family, and if you disagree with him he does show discontent.
So this episode shows a lot of development between Lee and Kenny, and depending on what you choose depends on how much Kenny likes you, though one overarching theme with him in this episode is that he shows a lot of care and worry for his family, and is that really a bad thing, sure some may think it selfish, but it is a lot different when you have a family you are trying to protect.
Comments
Thank you for the analysis on Kenny's behaviour on what makes him a defining character, and for his sudden change in behaviour after the events of Episode 2.
so what I see from what you are saying in your thread is this : in order to defend his family,Kenny will murder somebody else,where did we see that before? oh yeah,Larry in the drugstore !
the difference between the two is this :Larry doesnt trust you.and if you try to save Larry kenny abandons you in ep 3 only because of pure hate.
I don't know..even on my second save where I was with Kenny I still didnt like the man and his actions..his was acting like a dumb a**hole..(sorry all the Kenny fans..)
No That's not what I'm saying what I'm saying that is Kenny is very loyal to his family, and by siding with Lily you are basically taking a catastrophic risk that puts everyone in danger and to Kenny that's about the same as putting a gun to his family's head. Episode 3 I'll get to later but here's how I saw the scene, there are a lot of walkers, and there may be a risk of helping Lee, Kenny thinks about it if you were loyal to him he is loyal to you and helps you, if you didn't side with him, he sees the risk as too high, and doesn't, and waits for you. DO I AGREE WITH THIS? No but I can understand his actions in the situation. I'll go into more clarity on this in my episode 3/4/5 part of this analysis. This part was just so people would have something to see and to show Kenny's Ideals of being a family man.
Also on another note with the Larry situation, but when someone endangers anyone you love it's not easy to like them afterwards which how I feel Kenny felt.
spoiler side with Kenny and drop ben at armory you will have saved kenny's life cause nobody will fall off the terace but one thing we don't know is hat did he live if ben falls of tthe terace
that is a great analysis, one thing for me though is that i never understood him feeling guilty about not saving shawn and i didn't see it as his responsibility at all, and if he had dropped his son to go back and help i would have thought "what are you doing kenny, save your son" i just expect people to protect their family, it's their job.
Awesome analysis, well done!
Thanks for that, I can see different point of view now, from other side. I'll still side with Lilly in the meatlocker, but I can understand him a bit more now, but he is still a asshole. 
Siding with Lilly doesn't put a gun to his family's head,you should side with Lilly and talk to her to see my point.
gambeling with your family's life is well stupid,once you are in a group of survivors that taking care for you and your family,gives you food and shelter there are more things you need to think before going somewhere else HOPING that after 3 months there are still any boats left,like "should I abandon the only shelter I have?" "how it will be on food & water?" all he does is sitting in that sofa and complaining,not even helping with the wall.hell,larry was more useful then him...
episode 3 he DIDNT see the "risk as to high"..he just hates you coz u didnt help him commit a murder because if you side with him suddenly the risk is fine for him to take? lee took a lot of risks for Kenny..saving duck at the farm,saving katjaa fro mtravis/david..protecting fuck at the drugstore and more and if Kenny forgot all of this..well he is just an asshole
EDIT : dropping ben doesnt make Kenny alive,he just dies in a different way
You're missing my point. My first playthrough I did side with Lily, and even though it doesn't literally put a gun to Kenny's family's head, figuratively to him it does, because by siding with Lily you risk everyone in the meat locker, and if Kenny dies he could never save his family. Also Kenny sitting on the couch was just one scene, we hear about his work on the RV and you better thank him for doing so or we would have died to bandits/zombies. As well maybe the boat plan wasn't the smartest, but Kenny was doing it in his family's best interest, or what he though was their best interest.
Also not all those options to save/help Kenny's family is optional and even if you don't Kenny always comes to do what you couldn't. As well in the pharmacy if you don't save Larry Kenny even says "There were a lot of them you took care of yourself didn't you!" If he really wanted you to die out of pure hatred he would have just left and said zombies killed you instead he waits with his gun drawn so that if walkers got close he could shoot them, and as I said before even though you may not see it this way threatening someones family and putting them endanger really can bring out the worst of anyone as it does with Kenny. Yes you may not have seen it as you endangering Kenny's family with Larry, but he did.
Well, Shawn WAS screaming for Kenny to save him. It was possible that, with the help of both Lee AND Kenny, Shawn would be alive. Even if the player chooses to save Duck, as soon as he is out of the reach of the walkers, Lee will be ready to spring into action to help Shawn. Kenny will run away no matter what. I always thought that Kenny's belief that he killed Shawn, or was at the very least responsible for his death, is why he always acted the way he did. Afraid that his family would be the ones to pay the price for his failure, he overreacted in his mission to keep them safe, losing his humanity in the process, and in the end, them as well.
I disagree,Kenny didnt kill larry to protect the group,when was the last time kenny tried to protect someone who isnt katjaa of duck?
decide if larry is dead or not wasnt his decision and should have been at least try to save him just like he wanted lilly to help him if katjaa was in larrys posiiton.
kenny is being useless complaining on the coach for episodes 2 and 3 . and does not offer any help being on watch and ration the food when his leader that did the best she could was compleatly broken due to his actions and propably 1 thing is in her mind "he wants to leave after he killed my father? why didnt he left earlier then,maybe my father was still with me !!"
the RV was another proof for kenny's selfishness,he is fixing it for him and his family ONLY and he is using the card of "you will not come with us" if you dare not to side with him -_-
at the drugstore,standing there like a dumbass with a gun is just the same as run away,he didnt protected lee and left him for dead and you know that,he didnt even thought what it will do to clementine if the closest thing to a father she had got torn apart by bunch of walkers,while he could save him,but he chose not to.
he dont care about the team that gives him shelter.food,water and protection.he event want to live LILLY to get killed by zombies and bandits when they attacked ("screw her,let her stay !")
you maybe sided with Lilly,but you didnt speak with her a lot propably and maybe,because I dont know what your game was,maybe you didnt try see things from her prespective,she is totaly the rick of the macon survivors,she stepped up tp ration the food and being the leader,she knew how much hate she will get for it but she still did because (due to lilly) "I dont have a choice and nobody else wants to"
while kenny just complaining.
Kenny as a good guy, he's a bro, Kenny as a bad guy, he is then supposed to suck my d***. Pardon my French.
Well It's clear your opinion on Kenny is already made up and refuse to see it from the other side, but I'll continue to debate Kenny with you anyways.
I never said Kenny killed Larry for the whole group in fact in my analysis if you read it I said he did it because if Larry turned he wouldn't be able to save his family. As well Kenny should mostly be thinking about his family you know why Because it's his family, have you ever had a family? Also I find it completely ignorant saying that Kenny offers no help whatsoever. It's not like he had a car in episode 1 to help everyone escape from the pharmacy, or saved you ass after Larry left you for dead, or helped cover you with mark to save Mr. Parker, or fix the RV so that way there would be a second plan, or be the only one who wanted to look around the farm to find the St. Johns secrets, or go on food runs with Lee, nope Kenny did nothing but act like a lazy asshole those entire two episodes.
On the RV yes he was doing it because it was for his family as anyone should look out for their family first and foremost like Lee also does at times with Clem, but even so if he didn't we would have all been fucked. As well Kenny only says something like you can't come with use if you don't give two shits about his family in episode 1 by siding with Larry and choosing Shawn completely ignoring his son. Yeah if I was Kenny I wouldn't want Lee on the RV after that either, and in fact if you weren't a total prick to his family in episode one he will even offer for you and Clem to come as well.
And no if Kenny wanted to leave Lee for dead he would have just left he would not just stand there and wait to watch Lee get mutilated he had his gun up so that way if a walker got close from anywhere else he would shoot it hence why when the walker approaches Lee after he topples the fridge Kenny shoots it.
And don't make presumptions that I didn't speak with Lilly, I've both played and watched other people play this game 20+ times. I talked to her and in fact I'll even do an
I'm going to stop this argument with you right here,because in fact I do has a family and kenny's behavior was just sick,I had a save where I sided with kenny and still got a huge amount of dislike towards him,and you juts keep repeating the same points over and over again. i saw things from kenny's prespective at 1 point and thought that he will be ready to kill all of us in order to protect his family and that was before I sided with lilly. have you ever try to tell him about your past when he hates you? he threat to leave you behind on the boat,still doesnt give a shit about clem.
botton line ive seen few people in this forum that actualy understand lilly,to bad that she stay only 3 episodes while kenny is 5
You may think Kenny's behavior is sick, but this analysis was meant to show Kenny's behavior from another perspective, and too some his behavior is justified, and to Kenny his actions were justified, because he had such a love for his family, and like Larry who protected his daughter because she was the only thing he had left, Kenny did the same, because he family is all he has left in the apocalypse.
As well I repeat points yes, but I put additional detail and emphasis on them as well as showing new points, which not to be critical, but you kept repeating all your points as well.
As well I did tell him about my past after not siding with him and here's what he says "Good, but you should know, if we gotta make numbers when we get to the boat this is gonna matter." So I don't get where in there he says I'm going to kick you off the boat he's simply stating that if there is a problem with numbers this may come into affect.
Also you keep saying he doesn't give two fucks about Clem, but what's your evidence other than him not interacting enough with her, which is something you can blame the devs for, because there was a lot of character interactions that didn't happen.
Why he doesn't give two fucks about Clem:
-decides a petty grudge with Lee is reason enough to take the boat and leave both him and Clem to die
-decides to commit suicide via Ben instead of going to save her
Of course, this may vary depending on how much Lee sided with him, but the point is that Kenny is a douche for letting his relationship for Lee get in the way of Clem's well-being at all. Lee himself put it best. "You're gonna let a little girl die, just cause I didn't have your back every damn minute? Maybe you should grow the fuck up!"
Other than the fact that Kenny wasn't going to go yolo and leave with the boat without Lee or clem in fact, if he doesn't go he will even say "I'll prep the boat for when you come back." which Lee replies "Even though I'm bitten." And Kenny says something along the lines of "Yeah"
Also you can kill Larry and still have Kenny give you the bro speech Telltale did it on there stream.
Also implying Kenny even dies. He wasn't staying with Ben because he wanted to abandon Clem. He wanted to do it so Ben would die in peace, and not been torn to pieces, in a chance to redeem himself. In the other scenario he saves Christa so she can continue on. I don't know how either situation is selfish though.
Also if Kenny doesn't give you the bro-speech it's not that he doesn't care for Clem it's just a lot of built up anger coming out, and if you remind him of how Clem is your family he will come putting aside his anger, and in the situation where you just tell Kenny fuck you, it just makes him even angrier
The Ben scenario was the stupidest thing ever because Kenny could've easily shot Ben in two seconds and continued looking for Clem. The fact that he didn't and decides to stay behind tells me he was using Ben as an excuse to commit suicide, deciding killing himself was more important to him than helping Clem.
And "built up anger" doesn't justify not giving a shit about Clem, especially if that anger is based entirely on a petty grudge for that little girl's guardian.
Kenny's not a bad guy, but just the fact that his giving a shit about Clem depends entirely on how much Lee has his back loses points from me.
I will repeat what I said in last comment in case you missed : letting you die at the drugstore could affect clem a lot if the closest thing she had as a father and her protector will get torn apart by walkers while he could save him. I agree 100% with Merak,I chose the "go fuck yourself" option without a second thought,and was happy he died.
In episode 1 , Larry knocked out Lee on purpose and Clem cried " No ! " and Kenny comes back to rescue you . Larry did the same thing and yet I don't see you criticising him aswell .
I did in the first comment that the kenny left for dead was just like larry's.
I dont agree with kenny and dont like him,I know a lot of you guys consider him as a bro and I respect your opinion. Im saying my own prespective in my game