Arpeggio

"Immortality! Immortality is what I seek! The other Klaww Gang members were much too short-sighted, they were satisfied using the Clockwerk Parts to drive their various trivial schemes. But not me, no, I saw them for what they really were – the keys to life eternal!"

- Arpeggio

Arpeggio was the chief inventor and leader of the Klaww Gang, as well as the mastermind behind the events of Sly 2: Band of Thieves. He was a small British parrot who desired to wield the power and immortality of Clockwerk, Sly Cooper's nemesis. To the end he manipulated the Cooper Gang into stealing the Clockwerk parts from his fellow Klaww Gang members for him, with the help of his protégée and assistant, Neyla. He was the main antagonist of "Anatomy for Disaster" until Neyla betrayed and killed him.

He was voiced by.

Background
Arpeggio attended a prestigious boarding school, therefore his background life and parent information remain a mystery. He was at the top of his class intellectually but, due to his tiny wings he was unable to fly and fell behind the other kids in physical standards. Furious at his feeble body, he focused his powerful mind to find a cure. His studies led him to the arts of the Italian Renaissance Masters, whose notes and machinery designs served as a springboard for the sinister young genius.

Eventually, Arpeggio constructed a large blimp fortress which served as his home and base of operations. He also had an army of other parrot individuals equipped with his weapon designs, act as his security forces and servants. Arpeggio's blimp managed to act as a slight substitute for him to be able to be in the air. His small size was also compensated for when he used a mechanical birdcage on wheels to travel. Still, the evil mastermind wanted a way to make up for his feeble body.

At some point, Arpeggio became fixated on the infamous Clockwerk. The ancient bird had kept himself alive for thousands of years with a new, robotic body and immense feelings of jealousy, anger and hate toward the Cooper family. After being defeated by Sly Cooper and his allies, Clockwerk was reduced to a pile of immobile parts before being put on museum display. Arpeggio was determined to use this mechanical frame to give himself a new body. However, his purpose was no longer merely to be able to fly but to become immortal through Clockwerk's mastery of hatred.

At some other point, Arpeggio met the young Neyla, who had an impressive ability of persuasion and manipulation of others. She was said to be his protégée, though the extent of their relationship remains unknown. She agreed to serve as his lieutenant in his endeavors to gain power through Clockwerk. Despite her seemingly unwavering loyalty, Arpeggio was unaware that Neyla was truly only concerned with her personal interests. Their affiliation with each other was kept a dark secret to all but themselves.

Sly 2: Band of Thieves
"Sly: You're going to Paris to unleash a hypnotic light show of hate. That's outlandishly cruel! Arpeggio: Cruel, perhaps, but necessary to give Clockwerk his spark of immortality..."

- After Arpeggio reveals his plan

At some point, the Klaww Gang was assembled with Arpeggio as their chief inventor and leader. His brilliance made him the mastermind behind their illegal spice trading ring, which would be the starting point of his ultimate goal. Arpeggio knew that bringing together the Clockwerk parts would not be as difficult as creating a large amount of hatred. The Clockwerk frame needed hatred in order to be fueled to immortality. Arpeggio concluded that spice consumption would make one angry and they could then be hypnotized into a state of hatred. The negative energies would bring forth Clockwerk's immortality which Arpeggio desired more than anything.

Each individual member of the gang contributed a significant factor to Arpeggio's plot. Dimitri Lousteau was the owner of a nightclub in Paris which he used to widely distribute spices in his food and drink. The spices were grown by Rajan in India. The Contessa used her hypnotist expertise to be used on Arpeggio's blimp which would transmit flashing lights to hypnotize those in Paris that had consumed the spices. Jean Bison used his Iron Horse trains to distribute spice across North America and managed to collect the energies of the Northern lights to use as waves in this mesmerizing process. Ultimately, Arpeggio would use his blimp to create a hypnotic light show to hypnotize the citizens of Paris into extreme hatred and would then harness this energy to power Clockwerk.

Despite their contributions, none of the other the Klaww Gang members were aware of Arpeggio's intent to become immortal. Arpeggio used the Klaww Gang to orchestrate a break-in at the Cairo Museum of Natural History and steal the Clockwerk parts. Each member was given some of Clockwerk's pieces, which they used in their own trivial schemes, while Arpeggio held onto the Clockwerk brain. He prepared for the next portion of his plan alongside Neyla, whom the rest of the Klaww Gang saw as a police officer; who had gone undercover within INTERPOL as a constable and partner to Carmelita Fox.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Arpeggio and Neyla devised a way to get the other parts back from the rest of the gang. In "A Shadow from the Past," Sly Cooper and his close friends Bentley and Murray, broke into the same museum in the hope of stealing and destroying Clockwerk's pieces. They were confronted by Carmelita and Neyla. Carmelita revealed that the parts had already been stolen, believing Sly had the motive. Neyla pointed out that the crime scene made it look more like a Klaww Gang operation. This tip got Sly interested in the gang, as it became his only lead on the missing Clockwerk parts.

With Sly on the scent, Arpeggio waited while he defeated the other members and collected the parts for him. All the while, Neyla assisted Sly and his gang, though she truly just wanted to go after the parts herself. Arpeggio was first seen by the Cooper Gang in "A Starry Eyed Encounter," attending a ball at Rajan's palace along with the rest of the Klaww Gang (except the imprisoned Dimitri). He was photographed in a reconnaissance photo and Bentley described him as a specialist in exotic technology.

Neyla later revealed her true colors to the Cooper Gang and was allowed to put them in jail along with Carmelita by Arpeggio who was overjoyed to finally be able to pursue the parts alone. Neyla also frames Carmelita as an accomplice of the Cooper Gang, who would learn too much of the Klaww Gang's spice operation. Neyla then betrayed INTERPOL even after being promoted to Captain due to her actions in apprehending the Contessa at the end of "A Tangled Web." Sly and his gang managed to escape out of the Contessa's prison and continued gathering the parts.

In "He Who Tames the Iron Horse," while inside Jean Bison's cabin in Nunavut Bay, Canada, Sly overheard a telephone conversation between him and Arpeggio, the latter being heard on the speaker. When Bison inquired about Arpeggio's scheduled arrival to pick up the northern light battery, the latter assured him that his blimp would arrive by the end of the week. Bison then tried to convince the parrot to sell him the Clockwerk brain, but Arpeggio pointed out that Bison already had more parts than anyone else. It was at this point that Arpeggio's scheme to take over Paris was revealed as he was sure that once the battery was onboard nothing would stand in their way.

Around the end of "Menace from the North, eh!," Bison discovered the Cooper Gang's hideout at his lumber camp after they have cheated him in his Lumberjack Games. He held them prisoner inside a sealed-up room while he and his men raided their hideout. Upon discovering their accumulated Clockwerk parts, he sold every one of them to Arpeggio, including the Clockwerk talons, which at that point the gang was trying to acquire from him. With Arpeggio's blimp enroute to pick up a northern light batter from Bison, Sly and his gang escaped imprisonment, defeated Bison, and rushed out to stow away on Arpeggio's blimp. They were lifted into the air when the blimp picked up the battery with Arpeggio unaware that the gang had emptied it of its electric charge to hide themselves inside.

In "Anatomy for Disaster," the gang devised a plan to get inside Arpeggio's blimp headquarters and stop Clockwerk from being reassembled. Time was short, however. The blimp was on its way to Paris where Arpeggio's plans would come together, though the Cooper Gang was unaware of this. Inside the Blimp HQ, Sly took reconnaissance photos and found that Clockwerk's body had already been reconstructed. A pair of spinning magnetic inducers circling the Blimp HQ's walls were holding the parts together. At the front of the HQ, Sly discovered that Arpeggio and Neyla were aboard waiting to power up the newly assembled Clockwerk Frame. Bentley told him to reverse the polarity of the magnetic inducers hoping that the result would pull Clockwerk apart. This, however, had the opposite effect. The parts fell from their wires holding them up but became locked together instead of breaking apart.

Arpeggio and Neyla were alerted by the shocking boom which also destroyed the equipment and desk in Arpeggio's office (killing his four guards who were on patrol, if Sly had not defeated any of them at the time). They came out to see what had happened and Arpeggio was greatly pleased to discover that Clockwerk was locked together. He and Neyla went down to the lower platform where Clockwerk's body lay in wait. Sly revealed himself much to Neyla's dismay. However, rather than being angered with Sly's appearance, Arpeggio was grateful for his inadvertent contribution to his plans. Sly expressed to Arpeggio his disappointment in the parrot's plan to gather the Clockwerk parts for the sole purpose of gaining flight like other birds; Arpeggio explained that flight was not the primary reason for assembling Clockwerk. He illustrated how everything had played out to his and Neyla's exact specifications and how he was getting ready to fuse with Clockwerk to become a new, immortal bird as the Paris light show caused immense hatred among the city's population. Sly described Arpeggio's forced hatred on the Paris citizens as "outlandishly cruel," but Arpeggio was unconcerned with all but his success and eternal life. He told Neyla to keep Sly covered as he approached Clockwerk but at that instant she betrayed him. Using her whip, Neyla knocked over Arpeggio's birdcage, leaving him helpless on the floor. She then leaped in front of him and knelt down to her former master, taunting him. Neyla had been manipulating Arpeggio all along to get Clockwerk for herself.

Neyla called Arpeggio stupid for not believing she would double-cross him just as she did everyone else. She then turned to Clockwerk and jumped inside his open mouth. The body then slowly rose, its eyes glowing. Arpeggio was distraught at Neyla's betrayal, saying that she was his protégée not the next candidate for his immortality. He demanded that she exit the Clockwerk Frame, trying to conjure some threat. Before he could finish speaking, Arpeggio was crushed by Clockwerk's Beak killing him. His feathers scattered, his wheel-cage was shattered and his monocle rolled to a stop at Sly's feet. Neyla then proclaimed herself to be "Clock-La," and flew through the Blimp HQ's large front window. However, the maniacal monstrosity was eventually defeated by the Cooper Gang and Arpeggio's plans never came to fruition.

Physical appearance
Arpeggio was a tiny parrot with a yellow beak and green feathers. He had blue hair and eyes, and wore a red cap, a monocle, a dark gray vest over a white shirt with a red bowtie, and a flowing red and gold robe-like cape. The mechanical birdcage on wheels that he traveled in was operated by turning metal cranks and a directional flap on its back. It had light curtains around it, a perch hung from a wire inside that Arpeggio sat in and Arpeggio's insignia on a gold tile above him. In his in-game model, he has a small mustache.

Personality
Arpeggio was very self-conscious of himself being unable to fly due to his small and frail body and it pushed him to do anything to gain a new one. This lead him to study Clockwerk and seek the parts to his body, although it later became about immortality that he sought, not just a new body. His methods to achieve his goal included betraying the other Klaww Gang members and driving the city of Paris into a state of hatred.

Abilities
He lacked the ability to fly, though made up for this with his intelligence.

Appearances

 * Sly 2: Band of Thieves
 * 2. "A Starry Eyed Encounter"
 * 3. "The Predator Awakes" (mentioned)
 * 5. "A Tangled Web" (mentioned)
 * 6. "He Who Tames the Iron Horse" (heard)
 * 7. "Menace from the North, eh!" (cutscene)
 * 8. "Anatomy for Disaster"

Trivia

 * Arpeggio was named after the musical term "arpeggio," which means "a broken chord." This may be a reference to his feeble size and inability to fly, which would make him "broken." It could also foreshadow his death.
 * His in-game model depicts him with a mustache, but he lacks one in some of the cutscenes and official artwork.
 * Arpeggio apparently liked opera as he was always seen departing London opera houses.
 * Another person in the Sly Cooper series who liked opera is Octavio, who was an opera singer. His name was also based off a musical term, Octave.
 * The voice actor of Arpeggio, Sam A. Mowry, voices the main antagonist of Sucker Punch's first game of the inFAMOUS franchise, Kessler.
 * He is one of three villains named after music, the others being Miss Decibel and Octavio.
 * Arpeggio and his massive airship could possibly be a reference to the Jules Verne novel and 1961 film Master of the World, as it too featured a massive airship. The airship was called "Albatross" and similarly spread terror throughout the world. In comparison, Arpeggio planned to utilize his blimp to unleash a hypnotic light show that would place Paris in a violent state.
 * Arpeggio shares several similarities to the previous game's final boss Clockwerk
 * Both were avian individuals
 * Both were highly skilled in terms of machinery
 * Both were the leaders of their respective criminal groups
 * Both were the only ones to technically die.

Behind the scenes
Sam Mowry found it to be very odd that he was voicing Arpeggio given their size differences.