𝙺𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚠𝚍𝚐

"Kenny is a generally likable and caring man, though occasionally appears stubborn, volatile, confrontational and short-tempered. These flaws take over at times which allows him to get carried away, and act before thinking which at times proves reckless.

Kenny is generally characterized by needing a sense of purpose or, more specifically, protecting people, which Lee Everett noticed in "Around Every Corner". Protecting Katjaa and Duck was his singular drive until their deaths, and when that purpose was robbed of him, he sunk into a deep depression until he discovered he focused himself on a new purpose. Getting to Savannah to find a boat helped steady him because he had a chance to get his friends to safety kept him moving until his arrival at the waterfront, where he found that there were no boats. He slipped back into his catatonically depressive state, finding himself whiskey in which he drowned his sorrows. Kenny's spirit was again revived when Lee and Clementine found a boat and the mission of saving Clementine from her abductor motivated him once more.

After either being separated from or outliving all of his friends and family, Kenny seemingly gave up, finding himself the nearest shelter and hiding from the outside world. He was found in a restaurant by Sarita, who gave him another mission in life; protecting her. After Sarita died, Kenny again lost his purpose in life but regained it again with Alvin Jr.'s birth. Not willing to lose his purpose again, he spent all of his time worrying over the security of the baby. He found himself lost and meaningless when he was told that the baby had been lost, driven to live only by the will to destroy that which had taken away his purpose. He would give everything he had to protect the baby, offering up his life if necessary as proven by his insistence that Clementine leave him to save the baby.

Kenny is also known to be very emotionally involved with the events in the story. He is loyal to those who treat him well, but unforgiving to those who don't. He has proven to be a rather tough survivor of the apocalypse being able to handle himself in most situations. Most of the group respects him for this. He also possesses fairly good leadership qualities, having been a captain of a commercial fishing ship.

He is willing to take risks for those he cares about, but is also willing to let those who wrong him suffer for it, shown when he hesitates to come to Lee's aid under the door in "Long Road Ahead" (Determinant) and when he brutally kills Carver for what he did to him and the group in "In Harm's Way".

Additionally, Kenny is often known to be irrational, specifically when it came to Duck being bitten, where he would insist that he "was fine" and that they should just pay attention to the road, being stuck in a strong state of denial until Lee convinces him (either peacefully or violently) that they need to stop and take care of Duck to see that he doesn’t reanimate. This is also hypocritical, because when Larry has a heart attack in the meat locker of the St. John's Dairy Farm, he insists on crushing his head, as he may reanimate as a walker, even though he may not have been dead to begin with.

Devastated for the loss of Katjaa and Duck heavily dwells upon him and thus Kenny enters a state of depression, becoming cynical, and closed off to the people around him which makes others begin to worry about his morality. Though Lee will attempt to help him during these troubling times, he eventually pulls through and regains his compassionate side to aid those that he cares about, especially Lee and Clementine, which he could express that he considered them family, though he still has difficulty trusting people he hadn't known before, evidenced by his hesitance to place any faith in Molly or Vernon.

After his brutal beating at the hands of Carver coupled by the death of Sarita, Kenny becomes incredibly vicious, aggressive, hostile, brutal, and mentally unstable, even towards his fellow group members including Clementine (due to Sarita's death/Infection). As a result, his unstable nature only further intensifies as shown through his behavior with Arvo (at times mercilessly insulting and beating him). Jane will even theorize that Kenny express several traits similar to Carver and that if he continues on his current path he could eventually become like him, to which Clementine can highly disagree with.

Though despite his temperamental side, Kenny has proven to be rather selfless towards the other members of the group as demonstrated as he stated that he would rather have the children eat than him, evidenced in "Starved For Help". He rescued Christa from certain death by jumping into the hole she was stuck in, fully knowing he would be trapped instead of her or tried to save Ben when he became trapped in an alleyway. (Determinant) Kenny selflessly took the blame for stealing the radio in order to protect Clementine (this resulted in Kenny losing his left eye). Additionally, he helped Rebecca with her pregnancy, giving her steps to follow whilst in labor. Furthermore, he desperately begged for Edith to take Clementine and AJ into Wellington in order to ensure their safety, which would mean him being alone again.

Kenny is also strongly against giving up one’s life, even in the post-apocalyptic world. While he forgave his late wife Katjaa for killing herself out of grief due to their dying son, he still lamented that what she did wasn’t right. Kenny believes that one should keep fighting to in order to survive in the apocalypse and not just give up, something he states when Lee’s group encounter a couple who both committed suicide. This determination extends not only to himself, but also the people alongside him and those they have lost along the way, telling Clementine that they owe it to their fallen comrades to find safety and stay alive."