Lots of Pokémon fans have already finished the Scarlet and Violet DLC The Teal Mask, and many of them have strong feelings about a certain major character in the story.
Two important characters introduced in The Teal Mask are Carmine and her younger brother Kieran. Initially, Carmine comes off as obnoxious and Kieran is rather shy. But by the end of the story, Carmine mellows out, while Kieran grows more and more jealous of the player’s friendship with the Legendary Ogerpon. It gets to the point where Kieran begins lashing out at the player and his sister.
While some players feel bad for seemingly stealing Ogerpon away from Kieran, other players dislike his arc and who he became by the end of it. In fact, this young angsty teen has stirred up a lot of conversation in the Pokémon community.
A handful of Sept. 16 Reddit threads don’t appreciate Kieran at all. One thread criticizes him for gushing over Ogerpon and expecting the Legendary Pokémon to just bond with him without putting in any effort. Another calls him out for overreacting after the player and his sister kept a huge secret from him about Ogerpon, with him acting like he’s entitled to the Legendary.
There are also some players who just want to rub their friendship with Ogerpon in Kieran’s face. After taking a selfie with a sleeping Ogerpon, one player joked, “Gonna send this to Kieran.” Meanwhile, another player gathered four Ogerpon with different masks, saying, “I just hope Kieran doesn’t find out.”
Other players appreciate the Kieran debate, saying Game Freak did its job in creating a character with depth that is worth talking about. “This kind of polarization is the mark of a good character arc,” a player commented.
Regardless of how you feel about Kieran, it seems we might be seeing him again in Part II of the DLC based on how things ended for him in The Teal Mask. And next time, he might fully be a villain.
