Karen Daniels

"I'm sorry that I lied to you. And... and weirdly in some ways you're a nice guy... better than the creeps I normally date."

- Karen Daniels to Niko Bellic. Karen Daniels is a recurring character in the Grand Theft Auto series. She is an undercover government agent who works for United Liberty Paper. Before her true identity is revealed, she becomes Niko's girlfriend under the alias Michelle. By 2013, she became the lead interrogator for the IAA.

She is a supporting protagonist in Grand Theft Auto IV, a minor protagonist in Grand Theft Auto V, and a main character in Grand Theft Auto Online.

Background
Very little is known about Karen's background because of her status as an undercover agent. She claims to have been raised in the Midwest and was apparently coerced by the United Liberty Paper Company into becoming an agent for them, so she may have past criminal connections herself. This notion is made more likely to be true by a statement made by the United Liberty Paper Contact, who said that in exchange for working for them, they would 'give her her life back', suggesting that she had something to hide, possibly a criminal past. Even though her job requires her to deceive those around her and keep a certain level of emotional detachment, she appeared to genuinely care about Niko, and seemed remorseful for betraying him, further suggesting she was coerced into her job.

Grand Theft Auto IV
Niko's first encounter with Karen is during the mission "Three's a Crowd" where Niko has to pick her and Mallorie up from the subway station and take them back to Karen's apartment in Rotterdam Hill. During the car ride, Mallorie suggests that she and Niko go out. Karen tells Niko that he's "the kind of guy she wants to get to know." After this encounter, the mission "First Date" will unlock. After the first date, Niko can take her on a number of dates there after until the mission "The Snow Storm" is completed, where she will confess to Niko that she has been watching him and working for the government. After revealing her identity, she confiscates Elizabeta's cocaine, and naturally, she and Niko break up.

Despite her intentions, it appears as though Karen genuinely fell for Niko during their time together. This is due to the fact that she is sometimes surprised, upset and genuinely happy when talking to Niko, and after a fair amount of dates, Niko doesn't have to ask to be invited inside. She is also visibly hurt when she is forced to betray him, and upset when Niko calls her a "f**king b*tch." After this, she is seen outside the United Liberty Paper building in Algonquin smoking a cigarette. She apologizes to Niko for lying to him and says that he is a "nice guy" who is "better than the creeps [she] normally date[s]", indicating that she took a liking to Niko even though she was only supposed to spy on him. After she takes Niko to the United Liberty Paper Contact's office, she is never seen again for the rest of the game.

Grand Theft Auto Online
After five years, it is revealed that Karen is now a high-ranked IAA agent. She appears during The Humane Labs Raid first set-up mission, where players are tasked to meet up with Karen in order to receive access codes to the facility. Karen asks if the online protagonists were involved with The Fleeca Job and warns them what they're getting into now is a "whole different ball game". After receiving confirmation from the IAA that the crew is legitimate, she prepares to hand the code to the crew leader, but when she puts down the briefcase containing the access code, an FIB team ambushes the meeting and kills her bodyguard. Karen immediately runs off while the crew starts killing FIB agents.

She is later seen at the end of the heist finale, where she talks about how the IAA can get anyone to do their dirty work by paying them. She then hands one of the crew members a Grenade to destroy the evidence and then leaves the area.

Grand Theft Auto V
She is seen in the mission Three's Company, where she tortures a captive by attacking both his hands with a flashlight and then threatens to sodomise him with it. However before she can carry out her threat, Michael De Santa interrupts the torture session, by smashing through the office window as part of an FIB rescue operation. Michael and Franklin Clinton start opening fire on the agents, but Karen manages to escape unharmed and calls for back-up. Nevertheless, Michael gets away with the Azerbaijani prisoner and she is not seen again for the rest of the main storyline.

Trivia

 * She is possibly based on the character Nina Myers from the TV series 24.
 * Her favorite radio station is Vladivostok FM.
 * Between Karen's appearances, her eye color changes from brown to blue in Grand Theft Auto V, possibly due to contacts.