Before the federal government tried to teach Australian students how to spot violent extremism, Karen was just an unknown environmental activist.
Now she's semi-famous on social media and her plight, which includes being discarded by her mainstream friends and her eventual disillusion with activism, is being widely discussed.
But probably not in the way the government had hoped.
Social media users were quick to mock the government pamphlet - Preventing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation in Australia - for implying environmental activism could lead to violent extremism.
The booklet, published by the Attorney-General's Department, aims to teach kids how to understand signs of radicalisation and violent extremism and how to stop extreme acts from occurring.
The Australian Greens want the pamphlets binned.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the booklet was tainted with former prime minister Tony Abbott's politics of fear and called on his replacement, Malcolm Turnbull, to shred and recycle it.
"To imply that exercising a legitimate democratic right and calling for environmental protection is a gateway to violent extremism is breathtaking," he said.
The fictitious Karen starts off as a loving daughter lured into the alternative music scene and left-wing activism as a university student.
Her troubles with the law begin when she drops out of studies to live in a forest camp before she becomes disillusioned with in-group fighting and makes the "painful transition" out of radical activism.
According to the pamphlet, radicalisation is when a person's beliefs move from being relatively conventional to radical and they want a drastic change to society.
But the booklet admits: "This is not necessarily a bad thing and does not mean these people will become violent."
Greens senator Nick McKim said it's unacceptable to demonise environmentalists or people who listen to alternative music.
He later tweeted: "Karen sounds just the kind of student I'd take on for work experience", while the hashtag #savekaren began trending on Friday.
In Perth, protesters opposing the West Australian government's now-abandoned shark cull were furious their image was used in the booklet.
The photo shows hundreds of people at Cottesloe Beach holding signs with sentiments such as "protect sharks from mindless predators".
Other case studies in the booklet include Erin, an extreme right-winger who hates Muslims, and Jay, a member of a terrorist group who went to jail.
Once Karen got a "mainstream environmentalist" job, she went back to university, got back in contact with her family and made new friends.
Social media users won't have to save Karen after all.
