Karen Roe

Karen Roe
File:Karen Roe.JPG Moira Kelly as Karen Roe
First appearance	Pilot (episode 1.01)
Created by	Mark Schwahn
Portrayed by	Moira Kelly
In-universe information
Occupation	Cafe owner
Family	Oliver Roe (Father) Cynthia Roe (Mother)
Spouse	Keith Scott (Fiance; deceased) Larry Sawyer (ex-boyfriend) Dan Scott (ex-boyfriend and father of Lucas) Andy Hargrove (ex-boyfriend)
Children	Lucas Scott (Son, with Dan Scott), Lily Scott (Daughter, with Keith Scott)

Karen Roe is a fictional character on the CW (formerly WB) television series One Tree Hill, played by Moira Kelly. Karen is Lucas Scott's mother by her ex-boyfriend and high school sweetheart Dan Scott. She recently gave birth to a daughter, Lily Roe Scott, conceived with Keith Scott, Dan's brother.

You know, Sheri, I came down here wanting to give you the benefit of the doubt, but clearly you’re still the same petty little bitch you were in high school.

— Karen Roe

Biography

Karen Roe became pregnant with Dan Scott’s (Paul Johansson) child when she was 18. After Dan abandoned her to marry Deborah Lee (Barbara Alyn Woods) in order to father his child with her (Nathan Scott), Karen raised their son Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) alone, although Keith, Dan's older brother, took over the role as the father figure. She also started her own business: Karen's Café. She then became an owner/partner with Deborah. a teenage night-club called Tric.(Peyton runs Tric). Karen fired Deborah from Karen's Cafe and then Deb fired Karen from Tric. She was then later forced by Dan to let Karen buy Tric.

Season One

Karen and her son Lucas are very close and she has always been supportive of his dreams. She was the one to push him to play basketball, for instance, when the opportunity (triggered by Keith) came up. However she was always afraid of the past and what Lucas would find out about the past. But she began to grow in confidence and she began to let go of the past and push on and follow her dreams so she went to Italy to take cooking lessons, a dream she had always had. She also grew during season one ever more closer to Keith Scott, She also became good friends with Deb Scott. It seemed certain that Karen and Keith were going to become romantically involved after she kissed him before she went to Italy, but on the night of her return, she found Lucas on the brink of death due to a car crash caused by Keith's drunk driving. This drove the couple apart for a long time as she felt she had trusted Keith with the one person she loved the most and he had let her down. She began seeing Larry Sawyer after they met on a school trip, and this caused Keith to get very jealous. In a moment of desperation Keith proposed to Karen, but she declined. As a result of this Keith decided that there was nothing for him in Tree Hill and he wanted to leave. Unfortunately for Karen, Lucas felt the same. He didn't like the person he was becoming and wanted to make a fresh start, by leaving Tree Hill with Keith. Karen reluctantly let him go at the end of the season, stating that Tree Hill was his home and that there was only "One Tree Hill".

Season Two

In season 2, Karen decided to go to college to obtain a qualification in business, and she fell in love with her 21-year-old business teacher, Andy Hargrove (Kieren Hutchison). Keith fell in love with a woman named Jules. She also opened the Tric Club with Deb Scott and Peyton, which offered parties for the underage after Peyton told her about the idea she had. Dan, however, wouldn't let Karen be happy and managed to get Andy fired and Lucas to move in with him. This led Karen to investigate him, to discover anything she could use to get her son back. She discovered that Dan had hired Jules, although she only found out why when she confronted her about it and this made Jules leave Keith at the altar as she really realised Keith and her love was false and wrong. Keith and Karen throughout the whole season, were never the same as in season one, but when Keith went missing it was obvious how much Karen really cared about him. Andy left the country as Dan was having him deported, and unfortunately he never came back. While Lucas was living with Dan, Brooke needed a place to stay. He offered to take her in.They became close,as his mom became the real mother figure in her life, as Brooke's biological mother didn't seem to care. At the end of the season, Lucas moved back in with her and she was worrying about Andy and Keith.

Season Three

In season 3, after Keith returned, Karen and Keith finally dated and eventually became engaged. Keith also made plans to adopt Lucas. Keith and Karen's happiness was short-lived, however, when just days after getting engaged, Keith was secretly killed by Dan (who blamed the murder on Jimmy Edwards, a Tree Hill High student holding kids hostage in the school). After that, Karen went through a period of shock where she didn't talk to anyone, even her own son. She even blamed Lucas for his death in one episode, when she found out that Lucas had saved Dan in the fire.She said that if he hadn't become a hero and gone back in that school then Keith wouldn't have been killed. But she soon got past her grief when Lucas told her about his HCM, which he had spent months hiding from her. She finally knew that she should have to get back on her feet. During the season three finale, it is revealed that Karen is pregnant with Keith's baby.

Season Four

In season 4, Karen breaks off her partnership with Deb (which had begun in season 1) when she finds out that she took a gun to her Café and is back on pills. Deb, who is the legal owner of Tric, then fires her, although she is eventually forced by Dan to sell Karen the club. Karen and Dan also get closer as he tries to make up for killing his brother by helping her with her pregnancy, but Karen does not know he killed Keith, so their truce is threatened, especially since someone knows what he did. Karen grows close to Dan not knowing that Dan was the one that killed Keith. Lucas finds out that it was Dan that killed Keith and tell Karen which blows up in a world of distraught. Karen has to have an emergency c-section, but Lucas is present. She gives birth to a healthy baby girl, Lily Roe Scott. With Deb by her side, Karen flatlines and the doctors rush in. She eventually recovers and is even able to confront Dan in prison, lamenting that she'll one day have to explain to Lily why her father isn't there: because he was killed by the little brother he loved so much. She and Deb soon continue their friendship. Karen is then left to raise Lily, with Lucas at her side.

Trivia

• Karen's father's name is Oliver Roe.He is a high-profile lawyer. Karen's mother's name is Cynthia Roe who was a stay-at-home mother and somewhat of a drinker. This is probably why Karen is so angered at Deb's drinking and drug problems. Originally Karen's parents were angry at Karen for getting pregnant so young and didn't believe that she could handle running the restaurant and raising a child. It was also said that her parents were embarrassed of their daughter, especially Oliver who was a very well-to-do man. When Lucas was five Oliver's father Eugene (where Lucas gets his middle name) became ill and Oliver and Cynthia went to Dallas, Texas where Eugene and Oliver's mother (also named Karen) lived so that they could help out Eugene. Eugene recovered but Oliver and Cynthia told Karen that they liked it there in Dallas and decided to stay. The two became scarce in Karen and Lucas's life and when Karen inquired them about it Oliver told Karen that since Lucas's birth there had been talk around the town and Oliver's business had gotten worse, he also told Karen that having Lucas was the biggest mistake of her life. Since then Oliver and Cynthia had very little to do in Lucas's life.
• Karen's favorite band is Bon Jovi