Keith Baring

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“	I always… wanted to cry like this… I never… forgot about him. Not for a single day… Ever since he died, I was scared. I felt like even the slightest sign of weakness would make it all crumble. I acted like I felt nothing. Like nothing disturbed me. I thought then I… might be able to fool everyone, even myself. It was so stupid… I was broken a long time ago. It was all garbage, but I acted like a champion of justice… It always felt off. Whoever I was working for, I never felt repaid. And when I saw you were safe… and you came up to me… Finally, I felt happy again. Acting strong just made me weak… it was pointless. Tod would never forgive his father staying broken forever. ...Because I promised I’d protect his mom. I’ll take off the blindfold. I’m gonna laugh, even if it’s at a stupid TV show. If I’m pissed, I’ll get mad, and if I’m sad, I’ll cry. First… I guess there’ll have to be counseling. There’s something seriously wrong with my head, seems like. It’s gonna be a busy time. It’s gonna be so busy… I won’t be able to do it alone… Helena. I don’t think I can deal with just being a good loser. …I want a chance. Let me chase after you. Let me get down on my knees. ...You’re the only one I want waiting for me.	„
	~ Keith to Helena

Background

Keith Baring is the protagonist in The Boogie Man. He is a police inspector, the husband of Helena Baring and the father of Tod Baring.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Statistics

Tier: 9-A

Name: Keith Baring

Origin: The Boogie Man

Sex: Male

Age: 38 in Hanged Man

Classification: Human, Detective

Attack Potency: Room level (Can harm Sophie Grundler. Comparable to Brendon Dumont who beheaded a large dog, break down doors, and could knock out David Hoover. Kicked a metal door open could knock down shelves could break through a locked door with an old rusty axe, has access to a pistol, a saw, a sledgehammer, a knife, and a fire axe)

Dimensionality: 3-D

Travel Speed: Superhuman

Combat Speed: Supersonic

Reaction Speed: Supersonic (Could easily avoid a trap that made even David question how could he dodge it, avoided a crossbow, should be comparable to Lance who can block fire from an automatic machine gun for an extended period of time)

Lifting Strength: Peak Human

Striking Strength: Room Class

Durability: Room level (Survived a fall, can take an attack from Brendon’s saw), higher with Iron Plate (Can block all gunfire with his iron plate)

Stamina: Average

Range: Standard Melee Range, Extended Melee Range with weapons like Fire Axe, Kilometers with Handgun

Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Genius Intelligence, Weapon Mastery (A trained cop and detective with over 15 years of experience, who has access to guns), Acrobatics (Able to jump large gaps, could climb up to a window through various jumps), Fire Manipulation (Via lighter), Pain Tolerance (Capable of doing several tasks and getting in a full on fist fight with Brendon Dumont with a bleeding arm), Bulletproof (With the Iron Plate, can multiple shots from a semi automatic)

Standard Equipment: Pistol, Saw, Rusty Axe, Fire Axe, Knife, Sledgehammer

Intelligence: Genius (A skilled detective with over 15 years of experience. Had perfect memory of the exact time he slept and the time Brendon killed a suspect could tell how long ago a victim was killed from the amount of blood and how much it had dried, this was viewed by Lance as Keith “calculating” the victim’s time of depth)

Standard Tactics: Keith will deploy punches or use his weapon if he has access to them, such as firearms.

Weaknesses: Keith is so emotionally fragile to the point that failing to save anyone close to him will cause him to lose himself and kill the ones he loves or kill himself.

Battle Records

Notable Victories:

Notable Losses:

Inconclusive Matches:

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Discussion threads involving Keith Baring