Ren

**Ren** is a character in Doki Doki Literature Club, one of the six members of the Literature Club, a former Art Club member, and the male love interest for the Protagonist.

## Appearance

Ren has hip-length strawberry blue hair that gradients into a crimson red. Like the other characters, he has two prominent strands of hair beside his bangs, and his eyes are a dark, almost blood, red. He is the tallest member of the Literature Club, standing at 5'9.

He wears the standard male uniform consisting of a warm grey blazer fully buttoned, a brown sweater vest, a white shirt fully buttoned, a red tie, dark blue slacks, white socks, white uwabaki slippers with blue tips, and a lilac-colored note book-shaped bag attachment on his right hip.

When outside of school, he wears a lilac t-shirt that says "Star Queen" in bold black letters on the front, a white suit jacket with gold buttons, black jeans, lilac sneakers with black laces, and a silver necklace with a dog tag on it.

At the time of his death, he is seen wearing a black silk pajama shirt that is unbuttoned showing his chest and abs, black silk pajama pants, black boxer shorts, his dog tag necklace, and he is barefoot.

## Personality

Ren is intially portrayed as a Dandere, expressing a shy and and quiet disposition. He is very talented at drawing, so much so he was a member of the Art Club for his second year of high school before changing to the Literature Club for at first unknown reasons. Over the course of the story, he becomes more open and confident with the other members, especially the protagonist. Ren is also shown to be very serious when writing his poetry. The protagonist seems to at first view him as a "heartthrob", due to how handsome he is. He is revealed to be an anime and manga fan like Natsuki and the protagonist, which helps him open up even more.

However, it is revealed that he is a homosexual when he is found out to being constantly abused by his step-father. It is also revealed why he left the Art Club in the first place, due to a girl coming onto him and Ren outbursting that he saw boys more attractive than her. Monika notes that Ren sees the Literature Club as his "safe haven". He is a fan of the series "Cutie Healer", a "fluffy boy x boy" series and constantly creates fanart for it. He is hoping to one day become a mangaka and, as seen in his room, has drafts and storyboards for it under the title "Blue Prism Heart".

If the player chooses to help Ren for the festival during Act 1, he comes over to the protagonist's house to help with posters. The protagonist also gets Ren to open up about his family situation. It is found out that his father was a soldier who fought in a war and died when Ren was nine. His mother married his step-father when he turned sixteen. After he confessed to his mother about being attracted to boys, she wholeheartedly supported him but his stepfather slapped him when he heard this. Since then, he would go to the convenience store to buy as much food and drink as possible and shut himself in his room whenever his stepfather was home. Ren begins to cry as he opens up to the protagonist, with the MC hugging him. He blushes and claims, "You don't need to do this... Thank you...". After Ren calms down, he asks if the MC wants him to cook dinner for him. After they eat, they meet up in front of the protagonist's house, and Ren hugs him again, thanking him for helping him open up. Ren puts his face close to MC's, about to kiss him, but they are both interrupted by Sayori, and he says that he'll see them both at the festival tomorrow and leaves shortly afterward.

The next day during the festival, the protagonist finds Ren loitering outside the Art Club door. MC asks what he is doing and Ren says that he apologized to the girl he yelled at and gave her one of his "Cutie Healer" fanarts as a friendly gift, and again says thanks for helping him the other day. When the protagonist reads Sayori's poem, Ren asks if he is alright. After Sayori's death, Act 1 ends and Act 2 begins.

During Act 2, if the protagonist writes a poem for Ren, the protagonist will watch Ren draw and, during the middle of the session, he will fall asleep. The protagonist will try to rouse him and he notices a bottle peeking out of Ren's bag marked "Sleeping Pills". Monika will find them, wake up Ren, and ask if he is okay, to when Ren doesn't respond, Monika will give him a chocolate chunk cookie for him to eat. Monika then tells the player that Ren is suffering from narcolepsy, which is why he has the sleeping pills.

Act 2 displays a more abused Ren, as shown when some students beat him for his homosexuality and love for Cutie Healer. He doesn't have a lot of places that are safe for him, so when he does have one, he prefers it to be relaxing.

If Ren is written another poem, Ren will ask the protagonist to come over to his house after school, wanting to show him his "latest work". The protagonist comes over and Ren, in his pajamas, shows him his drafts for his upcoming work "Blue Prism Heart", a story about a struggling author falling in love with a male angel. He then shows his poem to the protagonist titled "You're My Lullaby". When he confesses his love for the protagonist, he will either kiss him or look away with a pained smile (depending on the player's choice). On the day of the festival, he will go to school without him, assuming he was still asleep. There he will read a poem written by Ren named "Memory of Nobody" which shows how much he self-deppricated himself. This will cause the protagonist to panic and go to Ren's house, where he will be found dead on the floor after having overdosed on sleeping pills. The protagonist will hold Ren in his arms saying, "Good night... My sweet prince...". This would mark the end of Act 2.

After Monika restores each member's file, at the start of Act 5, Ren will again be present on the game. Sayori, Natsuki and Yuri will also be present. It is worth noting that Act 1 and 2 establishes that Ren shuts himself in his room because of his abuse and narcolepsy, which is why he is sometimes late for school. Act 5, however, establishes that he has been waking up on time lately and his step-father went to rehab. This implies that his mental state has recovered to some degree.

## Preferred Words

### Act 1

* Angel, Amazing, Awesome, Aura, Anime, Animal, Adventure, Afterimage, Author
* Beauty, Blue, Bliss, Blanket, Bunny, Bubbles, Breathe
* Calm, Charm, Childhood, Cheer, Color, Comfort, Cry, Candy, Chocolate, Cute, Cat, Captive, Crimson, Cage, Cutie, Cosplay
* Dance, Daydream, Dazzle, Doki-Doki, Desire, Destiny, Determination, Dream, Deer, Dog
* Embrace, Excitement, Email, Electricity, Essence, Eternity
* Family, Firelfies, Fireworks, Flower, Forgive, Friends, Fun, Fantasy, Fluffy
* Gemstone, Games, Giggle
* Heavensent, Heart, Happiness, Holiday, Hope, Heartbeat, Hop, Headphones, Healer, Horse
* Imagination, Infinite, Intellectual, Iris
* Joy, Journey, Jump, Jewel
* Kawaii, Kiss, Kitty
* Love, Lust, Laugh, Loud, Lucky, Lipstick, Lollipop
* Marriage, Memories, Music, Marshmallow, Melody, Milk, Mouse, Manga
* Nightgown, Nature, Night, Novel
* Ocean
* Pleasure, Portrait, Philosophy, Party, Passion, Peaceful, Play, Prayer, Precious, Promise, Parfait, Pink, Prism, Playground, Puppy, Pure
* Question
* Ribbon, Raindrops, Rainbow, Raincloud, Romance, Rose
* Secretive, Sensation, Starscape, Sing, Smile, Sparkle, Special, Sunset, Sweet, Shopping, Skipping, Spinning, Strawberry, Sugar, Summer
* Twirl, Time, Together, Treasure
* Universe, Unrequited
* Valentine, Vanilla, Vacation, Vibrant, Vitality, Vivacious, Vivid
* Whirlwind, Wonderful, Warm, Waterfall, Whisper, Whistle

### Act 2

These words are added to Ren's word list during Act 2

* Alone, Agnoizing, Anxiety, Atone
* Broken
* Dark, Death, Defeat, Depression, Despair
* Empty
* Fear
* Grief, Graveyard
* Hopeless, Hurt, Hatred
* Misery, Misfortune, Melancholy
* Pain
* Scars, Shame
* Tears, Tragedy

## Trivia

* On the first day of the game, Ren is shown drawing a female fallen angel who is wrapped in chains, which possibly foreshadowed Sayori's death later in Act 1. However, in Act 2, the drawing is changed to a male angel who is sleeping peacefully, which possibly foreshadowed Ren's overdose on sleeping pills in Act 2.

* It is implied that Ren has an abusive step-father, ranging from emotional abuse in Act 1 to extreme physical abuse in Act 2:
	+ Ren says that he feels more safe at the Literature Club rather than at his home and is visibly worried about fading into the background if more people were to join the club, even asking Monika to let him know in advance if a new member joins.
	+ Ren implies that her father finds yaoi sinful and fears what would happen if he caught him reading it.
	+ The step-father wants him home no later than a specific time.
	+ Monika's alterations to Ren's negative traits in Act 2 intensify his step-father's abusiveness, evident by Ren's bolded "**My step-dad would probably beat the shit out of me if he saw me doing this**" comment during the drawing session and Monika's "guess" that Ren's step-father does not give him money or lunch as he departs to school, resulting in his constant daydreaming and thin stature.
		- Related, Ren passes out in the Literature Club room, prompting Monika to give him a chocolate chunk cookie, saying it happens often enough to have Monika keep one in her bag in case it happens again.
	+ Ren's insecurity being the fuel to his Dandere archetype and small attempts at affection as he looks for approval and jeers from others without being laughed or mocked at, a common symptom for victims of child abuse.
	+ Another circumstantial point, but if the player writes poems for Ren in Act 2 the day before and the day of the festival planning, then his interaction between Yuri and Natsuki changes on the day of the festival planning and takes a darker turn: Natsuki apologizes for being so aggressive the day before and leaving the club, and Yuri responds that "Nobody cares. Why don't you go look for coins under the vending machines or something?" Natsuki is shocked and angry at first and tries to speak, but instead she runs out of the club room crying, with Ren glaring at Yuri and going after Natsuki to comfort her. Despite this, the rest of the events for that day proceed as usual, and Ren will still give the player his poem. The jab by Yuri though further alludes to the possible fact that Ren's step-father also doesn't give him lunch money and thus encourages the concept that Ren's step-father is abusive.
	+ Theoretical at best, but by connecting the symptoms of insecurity from real-world abuse victims and how such relationships tend to begin, Ren being pressured to go home for dinner after saving his appetite, feeling insecure about his body size, his narcolepsy diagnosis, and he sometimes on about how he can overcome such a flaw with minor acts of feat, the step-father is likely critical of his stagnate growth and wants him to eat all provided meals so his efforts are worth the fortune that Ren does not become more dependent on him and become a greater drain on his resources, time, and energy.
* Ren's version of "Okay, Everyone!" involves a violin and viola duet, representing his quiet nature.
* His poems are usually the most "random" of the group
* In the series *Cutie Healer*, Ren's favorite character is a boy named Hayato, who he claims to be the main character.
	+ He even shows him a cosplay outfit that he has in his room. It is known as the "wedding outfit" that Hayato wears when he marries Prince Rei.
* When the game proceeds to Act 3, Ren's sprite in the main menu will be replaced with an amalgamation of all the other characters present (Yuri, Natsuki, and Monika) instead.
* In Act 5 he becomes the vice-president but doesn't become self aware like Sayori does.
* He is the only one who doesn't wear hair accessories.
* His pose in the main menu screen shows him holding an electronic drawing pad in front of his mouth and nose, showing only his eyes.
	+ This hints to his Dandere character archetype.
* He was born on December 12.
	+ His zodiac sign is Sagittarius.
* Ren's favorite color is "Blood Red" because he once said that it represented courage.
	+ The color also seems to represent sexuality and heat.
* Ren's favorite holiday is Christmas.
* If the player accepts Ren's confession, a CG will show Ren kissing the protagonist passionately, showing his pupils have turned into hearts and will look lustful. The screen slowly fades to black as the dialogue starts to turn into flirting.
	+ It is implied that the protagonist and Ren had sexual intercourse the night before his suicide.