| Keith Baring | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Gender | Male | |
| Occupation | Police Inspector | |
| Age | 37 in The Boogie Man
38 in The Hanged Man |
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| Status | Alive | |
Keith Baring (キース・ベアリング Kisu Baringu) is the protagonist in The Boogie Man. He is a police inspector, the husband of Helena Baring and the father of Tod Baring.
Appearance[]
Keith is a handsome man with black hair that has bangs hanging on either side and narrow dark-colored eyes.
He wears a businessman suit with an unbuttoned top button and a loose collar and necktie.
Personality[]
Keith has a personality of layers; on the surface, he is blunt, sharp-tongued, cold and not afraid to speak his mind. He is always honest, and hates people who lie, but perpetually determined to help out others. Underneath these characteristics, Keith is not as tough as he leads on - when his son was alive, Keith was always cooped up with work, and now acquires an obsession with protecting other people out of guilt over never spending enough time with Tod afore his passing. He becomes emotionally broken due to Tod's death - shutting out other people that care for him (notably Dick Anderson and his wife, Helena) and never talks about his problems from others which causes strains in their relationships and worry for his well-being. However at the end of the game it implies he opens up his bottled-up feelings to his loved ones and starts the healing process of Tod's death with his wife.
Background[]
Keith not having time to mourn Tod
At first, Keith didn't want to become a detective, but he met Helena Baring while finding a college that he ended up joining the force to win her over. They married after graduating college Helena gave birth to a son named Tod Baring a year later.
Unfortunately one day, Tod was killed in a car accident and Helena had to go to the morgue in order to recognize her son, but she didn't have the heart to see Tod's maimed corpse. Meanwhile, Keith didn't have time to mourn since he was busy at his job as a detective. While Helena later moved on, Keith feels guilty for not having time for Tod when he was alive or even in death. Since then, he focused on his job to protect innocents.
Role[]
The Boogie Man[]
Keith, who works as a police detective, is given one-month vacations by his boss Dick Anderson. He and Helena Baring go to the Livingstone Castle, a touristic attraction belonging to Brendon Dumont. Along the way, they meet other tourists, such as the photographer Lance Kanal, the newlyweds David Hoover and Shirley Webber; also Richard Grundler and his daughter Sophie Grundler. That night, everyone is trapped inside the castle by a creature known as the Boogie man and it's up to Keith, who has to save all the tourists inside the castle.
Keith snapping after failing to save everyone
If Sophie and David die, the Bad End "The Boogie's Fine Tonight" is obtained. Helena dies as well, so Keith kills the Boogie Man. When Lance goes to search for him, he founds Keith cradling Helena's corpse. Dick and the police arrive later and he cries for Helena's death. Keith assures Dick that he won't cry for Helena, since he didn't even cry when Tod Baring died. When going back to his house, he's tormented by the Boogie Man. The monster takes off his mask, only to reveal Keith himself and kills him. Since later endings reveal the Boogie Man was just a man in disguise and Keith's sanity was questionable, it seems that Keith was hallucinating the whole exchange and just committed suicide.
Keith hallucinating Tod
If Sophie dies but David survives, the Bad End "White Room" is obtained. Keith and David talk about the events of The Crooked Man. Since Keith doesn't know about Duke MacGahan and his ghost, the police treated David with suspicion, since they didn't believe about the supernatural forced that lead to David finding Duke's corpse. After a talk about David's problems, the two go for a way to escape from the Boogie Man's trap. Unfortunately, the Boogie Man kills David, Lance and Richard. Also, Helena is nowhere to be found. Back at home, Keith enters Tod's room and hallucinates his dead son. Tod asks his father about his mother's whereabouts. Keith promises Tod that the two would wait for her.
Keith after stabbing Helena
If Sophie survives but David dies, the Bad End "Precious Box" is obtained. Keith and Helena leave the now-widowed Shirley and return home to go through with their divorce. Still, they end up friends, spending a nice night together at their favorite bar. That night, Keith murders Helena, giving a broken speech about how he couldn't protect anyone before heading into the bathroom and killing himself with a gun.
If David and Sophie are saved, but Keith doesn't make certain arrangements through the game, the Bad End “Happy Dream” is obtained. When in his confrontation with the Boogie Man, Keith loses and is killed. David and Shirley take the now widowed Helena to their home, but she commits suicide afterwards.
Keith finally crying for Tod
If Keith does all the requirements and manages to save David and Sophie, he obtains Happy End “Come Rain, Come Shine”. In the confrontation with the Boogie Man, Keith takes off the monster's mask and realizes it's Brendon. While Richard tends Keith's wounds, David holds Brendon and is caught by the police. After everyone is saved and the Boogie is captured, Dick asks Helena about why she wants to divorce Keith. She says she doesn't want to be a burden to him. Dick says that Keith told him the same before and berates them for being too indulgent. Helena finds Keith visiting Tod's grave, shedding the tears he should have when his son died. Afterwards, Keith and Helena go to counseling (on Dick's suggestion) and save their matrimony.
Trivia[]
- While Dick is his boss, Keith considers him an undesired friend who pries too much into his family troubles. This is for the best, since in the Happy End, Dick helps Keith and Helena to go counseling to save their matrimony.
- Even though Dick considers Keith as a best friend and cares for his wellbeing, Keith considers him to be an annoyance and a busybody.
- According to a Twitter post by Uri, Keith doesn't want to meet Paul Martin because he finds him annoying as well. Dick and Paul have many similar traits.
- Keith seems to be close to Richard Grundler, it is mentioned by Sophie in The Hanged Man that Keith becomes Richard's client.
- Keith is voiced by Blue Neonlightshow.
- According to some Twitter posts by Uri, Keith had an average upbringing and he has a younger sister named Jane Baring, who is a fashion designer.
- Uri has stated that Keith is their favorite from all the Strange Men Series protagonists.
- Keith's birthday is on June 11th.