- "When the bombers came over the horizon, all aircraft were scrambled. Knight 3's F-4 as hit by a bomb before she could get airborne. I didn't see her or her radar operator eject."
- —Keenan reflecting on his first combat experience in his journal
Keenan Obadiah Lotheric, TAC name "Killer", better known as "The Protector of The Round Table" was a pilot in the Belkan Air Force during the Osean Continental War. An immigrant following the start of the Aurelian War, Keenan and his family sought asylum in the country of Belka.
Following the murder of his younger brother, Mitchell Lotheric, he joined the Belkan Air Force, despite his mother demanding he stay. An expert pilot, he is number four in most Knight Squadron formations.
He is the protagonist of Ace Combat: The Belkan Knights.
Biography
Early Life
Keenan was born in the Federal Republic of Aurelia on September 20th, 2000, to Keenan and Sarah Lotheric. He had one younger brother, Mitchell Lotheric. His father, Keenan Lotheric, was an ISAF Peacekeeper during the Second Continental War and was killed in action during Operation Judgement Day. Growing up, He attended St. Vincent High School, where he graduated with straight A's. He was planning on attending university in Erusea when the Aurelian War broke out.
Aurelian War
Keenan's first personal experience with war was a sighting of the aerial fortress Gleipnir during the first days of the Aurelian War. As he was on his way home from a soccer game, he witnessed the Gleipnir shoot down two Aurelian F-16's with a SWBM. After the declaration of war by the Leasath government, Keenan's surviving family (He, his mother and brother) fled to the neutral Osean Federation, and then on to Belka, where his grandparents resided. He joined the Belkan Air Force following his brother's murder.
Osean Continental War
In 2024, the Free Republic of Osea, which had risen from the confusing following the January 22nd assassination of Vincent Harling, declared open war against Belka, Ustio and Aurelia, in an attempt to absorb as much territory as they could.. Belka, having learned from the Belkan and Circum-Pacific Wars, remained neutral during the initial phase of the conflict. Their neutrality, however, ended on March 15, 2024 at 0550 hours, when Osean bombers covertly attacked Valais Air Base, home of the underdog Knight Squadron. As Knight Squadron scrambled in a jumbled order, Knight 3's F-4E was hit by a bomb mid-take off. Miraculously, Keenan had managed to clear the burning wreckage in time, and moved to intercept the bombers, successfully taking down one A-6 Intruder, one F-5 Tiger, and one B-52 before his plane was damaged by a friendly AA missile.
Defense of Area B7R
During the Osean Continental War, Area B7R, had once again become a target of importance for both sides. The Oseans sought the Round Table for its geographical position and natural magnetic field. The Belkans and Ustians, however, needed the area for its natural deposits of minerals and elements required for arms production. Knight Squadron, en-route to Area B7R, had stopped for re-arm and refuel at Sudentor International Airport, which had been partially converted to an airbase, while still accommodating civilian airliners. An Osean sympathizer sabotaged most of Knight Squadron's aircraft, leaving Keenan's intact. Once over the Round Table, Keenan showcased almost superhuman reflexes and capabilities, leading even the most experienced of Osean pilots to speculate that he was the Razgriz personified. His solo defense of Area B7R led him to being heralded as the Protector of The Round Table.
Post War
After the end of the Continental War, Keenan retired and settled in an apartment in the Belkan capital of Dinsmark. There, he began compiling his many journals kept during the war and eventually published them as "Memoirs of A Soldier". The memoir would become a best-seller, while Keenan would make sure to visit the families of the pilots he had shot down, to make peace. This would earn him the nickname "Woeful Ace" by surviving pilots.