Kieran (Pokémon)

Kieran is the deuteragonist/main antagonist of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. He is a friend to Florian/Juliana/Player trainer and a student of Blueberry Academy. 
== Appearance ==
He is a short young boy with yellow eyes and black hair with violet underlights. He wears a yellow headband, collared blue shirt with a red tie, white and blue jacket a yellow backpack, a red glove, white shorts, one white and one blue, matching blue socks and red and white shoes. He is usually seen with his eyes being half-closed and mole on his neck. According to the French version of the game, he is 14 years old.
In the Indigo Disk DLC, he has his hair tied up by his yellow headband, mostly showing its violet underlights, with only a hair lock that hangs down. His jacket is now unzipped, showing he wears a sleeveless red and blue shirt with the BBL's white symbol on it and he now wears his yellow backpack around his waist instead.
== Personality ==
Initially, he appears to be shy, timid, yet sweet boy, often seen behind his elder sister, Carmine. However, as the story progresses, he becomes more rebellious and distant after learning that Carmine and his grandfather has been keeping secrets about the truth of Ogerpon and the Loyal Three, as well as Player Trainer lying to him about it. This causes Kieran to believe the reason why people mistreat him and have done so in the past is because of his own weaknesses. He becomes more obsessive in capturing and befriending Ogerpon that he eventually snaps when Ogerpon wanted to be with the Player Trainer. 
At the end of The Teal Mask story, he vows to beat the Player Trainer with a sinister smile. In the start The Indigo Disk story, Kieran has a huge change in his personality, being more serious, constantly annoyed, and determined, as Carmine says that he's training nonstop day and night just so he can become stronger and finally best the player, going as far as skipping sleep, causing black circles to appear around his eyes. It is implied he wants to do this because of his insecurity about his own weakness and his fears that people will continue to take advantage of him if he continues to be weak.
== Biography ==
=== Pokémon Scarlet and Violet ===
==== The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Part 1: The Teal Mask ====
Kieran is a student of Blueberry Academy native to Kitakami. He and Carmine are chosen to accompany the incoming students from Naranja AcademyS/Uva AcademyV on a cultural tour of the area. Kieran is paired up with the player character and accompanies them around Kitakami as they search for three signposts that tell the story of how the Loyal Three laid down their lives to protect the land from the evil Ogerpon. During this time, Kieran admits that he actually admires Ogerpon for her strength and independence.
At the end of the first day in Kitakami, the player, Carmine, and Kieran attend the Festival of Masks. The player and Carmine have a chance encounter with Ogerpon, who flees and drops her Teal Mask. Carmine decides to keep this incident from Kieran, fearing that the knowledge he missed a chance to meet his idol would break his heart. The next day, the player and Carmine learn from the siblings' grandfather that the "Loyal" Three were actually a group of bandits who attacked Ogerpon's Trainer and stole three masks made for her by the siblings' distant ancestor; Ogerpon slew the Lousy Three, but the villagers believed she was attacking them and came to fear her. Unbeknownst to them, Kieran overhears their conversation and concludes that they are excluding him out of contempt. While the player and Carmine search for materials to repair the Teal Mask, Kieran steals the mask, accuses them of treating him like an outcast, and demands the player defeat him in a battle to reclaim the mask.
After the player defeats Kieran, he punches the shrine in frustration and then surrenders the mask as agreed. However, the Loyal Three unexpectedly come back to life and are given food and Ogerpon's stolen masks by the ignorant villagers. While the player, Carmine, and Ogerpon pursue and defeat the Loyal Three, Kieran convinces the villagers that the old legend was a fraud and that Ogerpon was innocent all along. With Ogerpon's reputation rehabilitated, the group returns to Ogerpon's mountain home, where Ogerpon chooses the player to be her Trainer. However, a jealous Kieran demands a final battle with the player for the right to take Ogerpon, irrespective of Ogerpon's wishes. The player defeats Kieran, who watches them catch Ogerpon before fleeing home, locking himself in his room, and refusing to come out or see the player off.
After the end of the tour, Kieran and Carmine are to return early to Blueberry due to an unexpected development in the Great Crater of Paldea. Kieran, now consumed by his resentment towards the player and obsession with strength, vows to become even stronger and ominously declares, "Just you wait" to the player while tying up his hair.
==== The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Part 2: The Indigo Disk ====
Upon returning to Blueberry Academy, Kieran becomes fixated on Pokémon battling, going so far as to rise in the ranks of the school's unofficial League to become Champion. However, Carmine and the BB League's Elite Four, Drayton, Lacey, Crispin, and Amarys become concerned when he begins using his new authority to bully other students out of the club. Despite Lacey's insistence to keep this as a 'League matter' and have Drayton deal with Kieran himself, Carmine secretly lobbies to have the player brought over to the school under the auspices of wanting to show off her home turf to get them to snap some sense into her brother. Upon discovering the player's arrival at the school, Kieran, against Lacey and Amarys' objections, has the player entered into the BB League at a high stage so he can prove that he is superior to them. However, despite the amount of training he's done, the player's skill as an official League Champion proves too much for Kieran to overcome and he is defeated, causing most of the club to abandon him.
Now humiliated in front of the school, Kieran scrambles to come up with a way to get back at the player. When Briar informs them and Carmine that she's recently gotten permission from Geeta to search Area Zero for a mysterious Pokémon called Terapagos, Kieran sees this as the perfect opportunity and signs up, reasoning that catching and utilizing a Pokémon even the player doesn't know about will give him the edge needed to defeat them. However, upon reaching the furthest point in Area Zero's lowest depth, Terapagos shows more interest in the player than Kieran, and attempts to walk over to them. Kieran, refusing to let the player get another legendary he desired, uses a Master Ball he received during his time as BB League Champion to effectively steal it from them. Kieran demands a battle with the player, but they are still able to defeat him. Kieran, under a glory-blinded Briar's instructions, terastallizes Terapagos and demands it battle the player again. This proves ruinous, however, as Terapagos, mad that Kieran was disrespecting it, turns on him and destroys the Master Ball he caught it with.
Terapagos then attacks Kieran, but the player sends out Koraidon/Miraidon to protect him. The player and Carmine are forced to battle Terapagos, though Carmine quickly loses, with Terapagos absorbing away any Terastal energy used by the player to Terastallize their Pokémon. Following Carmine's repeated urging, Kieran finally teams up with the player, allowing them to overpower and catch Terapagos.
Kieran resigns from the BB League and requesting that he and the player start over as friends. The player agrees, and they return to Blueberry Academy. Kieran also decides to take a small break from Blueberry Academy and go back to Kitakami along with Carmine.
=== The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero's epilogue: Mochi Mayhem ===
Kieran sent a letter to the Player about how he and his sister are back in Mossui Town in Kitakami for a while, and invited them and their three friends to visit. He was first seen at his house in Mossui, where he meets Arven, Penny, Nemona. After meeting the gang, Nemona challenged Kieran to a Pokémon battle, which he agreed to. He then lost off-screen, and was feeling upset by it. But the rest of gang cheered him up, and he felt better. But then, Carmine showed up, and started flapping her arms and said “mochi, mochi”. So, Kieran, the player, and the others took her back to the house.
Kieran said she started acting like that yesterday, stating how it might have been a curse. But the others shrugged it off and went back to the care center. Arven was looking at the tv and said he wanted to change the channel, but Kieran said the Caretaker hid the remote, so the rest of the gang looked around for it. After the player found it in the bush, Nemona was gone, so Kieran and the player looked around for her.
While outside, they noticed two residents outside, and decided to talk to them. But the residents started flapping their arms and yelling “mochi, mochi”, as a purple mist surrounded them. Kieran and the Player were forced into a double battle, and won. After winning, the player noticed Nemona, and went to Kitakami Hall. When they got there, they encountered Kieran’s grandma and Grandpa. While there, Kieran’s grandma gave his grandpa some mochi, and he became mind controlled. They both began flapping their arms and yelling “mochi, mochi” and challenged Kieran and the Player to a doubles battle. After they won, the player got a call from Arven, and went back to Mossui.
After arriving back in Mossui, Arven and Penny were okay, with Penny remarking about how she saw a weird Pokémon. Suddenly, the pink decoration from the beginning of the game returns, and was revealed to be a Pokémon named Pecharunt. Pecharunt shot out mochi, and it landed in Arven and Penny’s mouths, but the player dodged it, and it hit Kieran in the head. After eating the mochi, Arven and Penny became brainwashed, flapping their arms and saying “Mochi, Mochi!”. Pecharunt used Arven and Penny as shields, and the player and Kieran were forced to fight them. After they won, Kieran noticed Pecharunt attempting to flee and chased it to the Loyalty Plaza.
After the Player got there, they found Nemona, who was also brainwashed, flapping her arms around, and saying “mochi, mochi”. She then challenged the player to a Pokémon battle. Also, the whole town of Mossui showed up, all Brainwashed.
Kieran held off the town as the player defeated Nemona, and caught Pecharunt.
After catching Pecharunt, the townsfolk went back to normal, including Carmine, Arven, Penny, and Nemona.
With the Pecharunt incident dealt with, the player, Nemona, Penny, and Arven all spent the rest of their mini-vacation at Kitakami with Carmine and Kieran, during which Nemona battled the siblings at least a dozen times each. Before leaving, the Paldean students bid farewell to Carmine and Kieran, who were planning on returning to Blueberry Academy.
== Pokémon ==
* Current team:
** Dipplin -> Hydrapple
** Dragonite
** Politoad
** Porygon-Z
** Incineroar
** Grimmsnarl
* In rotation:
** Sentret -> Furret
** Cramorant
** Yanma -> Yanmega
** Poliwhirl -> Poliwrath
** Gligar -> Gliscor
** Shiftry
** Probopass
== Trivia ==
* Kieran shares similarities with Hop and Hau, where he's a Rival/Friend character who frequently challenges the player to battles and his inability to defeat the player and jealousy of their achievements plays a major role in his character arc where he grow increasingly frustrated with his constant defeats and pressures himself to become stronger to keep up with the player, until his involvement in solving a conflict regarding the Legendary Pokémon of interest in the region gives him a boost in confidence and helps him make amends with the player.
** Unlike Hop and Hau however, who found an outlet to process their frustrations and get proper closures to their rivalry with the player, Kieran doubles down on his frustrations, combined with the fact that he feels betrayed by the player for lying to him, and deliberately treating him like an outsider. 
** Kieran becomes the main antagonist in The Indigo Disk. Though he reforms in the ending of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero.
* Kieran is implied to might be responsible for the Loyal Three's resurrection, as a purple mist is briefly seen in his fist when he punched the trio's shrine and grave.
** The other possibility is that Kieran was poisoned by Pecharunt at the festival, meaning that Kieran's extreme behavior and resurrection of the Loyal Three were all caused by Pecharunt's powerful poison. Keiran's close proximity to Pecharunt's location and sudden very abrupt change in attitude further suggests at this being the case.
** This theory was disproven in The Indigo Disk when Kieran's actions as were all of his own accord and his anger towards the player was due to his own personal issues rather than any outsider influence. Furthermore, he would ironically be the only character other than the player not to be possessed by Pecharunt in the epilogue.
* It's heavily implied that the BB Elite Four member Amarys has a crush on Kieran, given that she remarks her heart always starts beating faster and she starts feeling nervous when he's near. When the player claims that they met Kieran by "pairing up" in the League Room, Amarys will briefly blush out of envy before realising they meant it in terms of a group project.
* As revealed in his concept art, Kieran's headband can contract, allowing him to use it as a hairtie after the events of The Teal Mask.
== External Link ==
* 
* Kieran on Bulbapedia
== Navigation ==
Category:Male
Category:Pokémon Heroes
Category:Video Game Heroes
Category:Truth-Seekers
Category:Siblings
Category:Teenagers
Category:Jerks
Category:Tragic
Category:Scapegoat
Category:Rivals
Category:Honorable
Category:Honest
Category:Karma Houdini
Category:Insecure
Category:Betrayed
Category:Neutral Good
Category:Localized Protection
Category:Thieves
Category:Science Fantasy Heroes
Category:Adventurers
Category:Nihilistic
Category:Stalkers
Category:Mentally Ill
Category:Summoners
Category:Good Vs. Good
Category:Animal Kindness
Category:Redeemed Villains
Category:Antagonists
Category:Fighters
Category:Nemesis
Category:Leaders
Category:Obsessed