Clockwerk

"Revenge is the prime ingredient in the fountain of youth. I've kept myself alive for hundreds of years with a steady diet of jealousy and hate, awaiting the day when I would finally eclipse your family's thieving reputation."

- Clockwerk

Clockwerk (stylized as CL O CKW e ЯK) was the main antagonist of Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus as well as the franchise. He was a ambient robot-like Eurasian eagle-owl that was the leader of the Fiendish Five and nemesis of the Cooper Clan. He was consumed by jealousy for the Cooper Clan's reputation as thieves and hated them to such a degree that he replaced his mortal body with soulless machinery just to keep up with them through time. He was presumably destroyed by Sly Cooper, though his legacy continues to haunt the Cooper Gang to the present day.

He was voiced by the late.

Background
While his exact origin is completely unknown, it is certain that Clockwerk has lived for thousands of years, having replaced his real body with machinery, which was fueled by his hatred and envy of the Cooper Clan. For almost all of his life, Clockwerk hunted the Coopers, who were always one step ahead of him. Very few Coopers knew about Clockwerk; other than Sly and his father Conner, Henriette Cooper was the only Cooper known to have interacted with him. The few that knew of his existence wrote how his parts worked in the Thievius Raccoonus. Around Sly's birth, Clockwerk founded the Fiendish Five and led them in an attack on the currently living Coopers. He was responsible for the murder of Conner and his wife, and the theft of the Thievius Raccoonus, which contained all the family's thieving secrets. Following this, he took off with a section of the Thievius Raccoonus and the rest of the Fiendish Five returned to their own endeavors with the pages of the Coopers' legacy in their possession.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
"Enough, Sly Cooper! It ends here. I'll finish you like I finished your father. Then the Cooper line will be erased and the only master thief will be Clockwerk!"

- Clockwerk to Sly Cooper during their final battle

At the time Sly gathered his own gang and began to target the members of the Fiendish Five, Clockwerk was a mysterious, aggressive and widely unknown member who was referred to only as the "last" member of the Fiendish Five by Bentley and Sly. He never convened with his cohorts; instead, he provided them with high tech hardware, including two hovercrafts commandeered by Sly, which Bentley identified as having a notably unique alloy that only originates from the Krakarov Volcano in Russia, where Clockwerk set up his base of operations.

After Sly began reviewing the pages he gathered from the Thievius Raccoonus, he started noticing an silhouetted bird in the background of pictures featuring his ancestors and connected them with the vague reports on the appearance of Clockwerk. Curious about what this could mean, Sly and his gang headed to the Krakarov Volcano to confront the fifth member of the Fiendish Five.

Based in the volcano, Clockwerk had built a giant death ray and tried to destroy the Cooper Gang with it as they tried to enter his headquarters. Sly, Bentley and Murray were able to pass through unharmed from the deadly weapon, due to Sly's use of a roof-mounted machine gun, and continued through the facility despite Clockwerk also sending swarms of robo-falcons and fire slugs after them.

Devising another trap, Clockwerk had already captured Carmelita Fox and used her as bait to lure Sly into his gas chamber, where he planned to finish him off with poison. It was at this time that Clockwerk revealed himself through a televised screen and mocked the Cooper Clan for letting their emotions get the better of them since it has always been their downfall. However, Bentley hacked into Clockwerk's security system and managed to release both Sly and Carmelita from the gas chamber. Sly and Carmelita made a temporary truce and plotted to take down Clockwerk together, with Sly planning to use Carmelita's jetpack to battle him from the sky. In their advance, they destroyed Clockwerk's death ray, and Sly retrieved the jetpack and used it as he finally confronted Clockwerk face to face.

The two exchanged a few words, and Sly learned of Clockwerk's past; replacing his entire body to outlive and annihilate the Cooper Clan in an attempt to eclipse their legendary thieving reputation. They engaged in an aerial battle, with Sly receiving support from Carmelita. Eventually, the pair defeated him and Clockwerk plummeted into the molten lava of the volcano. He then rose again, albeit damaged, and desired to finish off the raccoon. Sly questioned how Clockwerk could have been negligent of the fact that Conner Cooper had a son and wondered why he did not kill him after he murdered his family, to which Clockwerk revealed he left the young Sly alive to prove a point: without the Thievius Raccoonus, the Cooper line was nothing. However, Sly pointed out the flaw in his statement, saying that the Thievius Raccoonus did not make a great Cooper, but that a great Cooper made the Thievius Raccoonus. Clockwerk refused to acknowledge his chatter, determined to kill Sly like he had killed his father and claim the title as master thief solely for himself.

After engaging in one last battle, Sly shot Clockwerk down a second time, forcing him to plummet once again into the volcano lava. Because he refused to be destroyed, Clockwerk began activating his self-repair system to rejuvenate his heavily damaged form. While attempting this last-ditch effort, Sly traversed over to the archaic bird and destroyed his head. As Sly did so, however, Clockwerk attempted to torment his rival one last time and openly declared he was superior, and that Sly would never be rid of him before finally being put out of commission. The battered and destroyed parts floated in the lava and were left to rot when the gang departed. However, one of the eyes lit up with pure hate, showing that the evil owl was not yet finished for good.

Sly 2: Band of Thieves
"Now he's back. In pieces, sure, but the threat is real. Does the Klaww Gang even realize what they've stolen?"

- Sly Cooper on Clockwerk's status

The Clockwerk parts were recovered by INTERPOL following the battle and, after two years, were put on display in a museum in Cairo, Egypt. This museum began the "Clockwerk Restoration Project" in an attempt to put the bird back together. Sly and the gang, realizing the threat of such actions, decided to steal the parts to prevent a possible revival of Clockwerk.

However, a criminal organization known as the Klaww Gang stole the body parts and split them between each member to use for their own purposes before Sly and the gang could steal the parts themselves. The gang managed to take back most of the parts from the various Klaww Gang members during their travels; however, right when they had the chance to collect Clockwerk's talons, they were obliterated and imprisoned in the sawmill by Klaww Gang member Jean Bison. Bison and his men raided the Cooper Gang's safehouse and sold all of the Clockwerk parts (including the uncollected talons) to his associate Arpeggio.

Clockwerk's robotic body was eventually reassembled on Arpeggio's flying air fortress. Neyla, who had previously been an ally of Sly but then betrayed him, was in fact conspiring with Arpeggio and had been helping him gather the parts. Arpeggio was knowledgeable of Clockwerk and his secret of immortality through his consumption of hatred; he desired to become one with the ancient frame and be reborn with eternal life. However, before Arpeggio could merge with the parts, Neyla betrayed him as well and merged herself with Clockwerk's frame instead, dubbing herself as "Clock-La."

Sly witnessed this and, along with Bentley and Murray, tried to weaken her so they could finally finish off what remained of Clockwerk. Teaming up with Carmelita yet again to defeat the robotic bird, Sly battled Clock-La using a door-mounted machine gun on Carmelita's helicopter. After sustaining a large amount of damage, Clock-La destroyed the blimp and captured both Murray and Bentley, leading Sly on a dangerous chase through the skies over Paris. Sly landed on Clock-La's back and succeeded in damaging her and forcing her to land, which also released Bentley and Murray from her grip. During this skirmish, the revelation of Clockwerk's true source of power, the Hate Chip, was discovered and the gang came up with a plan to destroy it. With Murray's help, Bentley was able to enter the open beak of Clockwerk and remove the chip. But before he could exit, the beak suddenly snapped down on Bentley, crushing his legs. Murray picked up the paralyzed turtle and, with the Hate Chip in hand, the three left the area as Clock-La exploded.



To their surprise, despite the explosion, the parts were still in perfect condition, as an effect of the Hate Chip still being fueled by Clockwerk's never-ending hatred for the Cooper Clan. Carmelita, having just arrived on the ground, stomped on the Hate Chip, causing the parts to immediately disintegrate and killing both Neyla and Clockwerk, ending his reign of terror on the Cooper Clan once and for all.

Legacy
"COOPER! You will never be rid of me! Clockwerk is superior!"

- Clockwerk's final words

Unfortunately, the damage the beak had done to Bentley confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and acted as a reminder of Clockwerk's last words in the first game. Though Bentley claims to have moved past what the villainous owl had done to him, he is still sometimes haunted by the fact that he would never be able to walk again.

After defeating Penelope in "Of Mice and Mechs," however, Bentley seems to have finally conquered this tragedy, as the ending cinematic showed a dream sequence of him defeating both Clockwerk and the Black Knight.

In the present day, Sly finds Clockwerk's eye, which was not destroyed along with him, revealing that Clockwerk still exists and is not gone for good.

Physical appearance
Clockwerk was a giant ambient-robot eagle owl made entirely of metal. He has large yellow eyes. The inside of his mouth is the same color as his eyes are. He also has three large talons on each foot, and a large brow that was constantly pulled down in anger. When he was attacking, Clockwerk either had plasma shooters on his feet and back, or electric ring shooters on his head and the tips of his elbows.

In his organic form, Clockwerk was covered in light brown feathers. He had bright red eyes and three white talons on each foot. The inside of his mouth was colored in dark red.

Clockwerk was speaking English, Japanese and Russian.

Personality
"Is it inappropriate to refer to him as a monster? No, not at all. What kind of person stays alive for hundreds of years with the express intention of wiping out a rival's family line?"

- Sly Cooper musing about Clockwerk

Clockwerk was obsessed with proving himself superior to the Cooper Clan. He can be identified as a psychopath, being able to endure thousands of years of waiting before planning to finish off the Cooper name with Sly. He openly mocked the Cooper family whenever he had the chance. He was able to create advanced technology and numerous plans on how to eradicate the elusive Sly Cooper while he invaded his lair in Russia.

This gave his boasts some merit but also led to developing a superiority complex, stating that his robotic form was perfect for granting him immortality just to keep up with the Coopers through history. Overall, Clockwerk was an evil, bitter and obsessed character who desired nothing more than the eradication of his nemesis, Sly Cooper and his ancestors, at whatever cost, even his own body. This, however, proved to be his downfall.

Abilities
"Perfection has no age..."

- Clockwerk to Sly

Clockwerk's biological body was at some point replaced with robotic parts, and a highly advanced piece of technology called the Hate Chip imbued his new body with the ability to never rust or decay and could even repair it after taking incredible damage. This allowed him to survive beyond his intended life span as a mortal being. Clockwerk's body was equipped with a multitude of weapons, including missiles, laser emitters, launchers that could fire electrified rings, and an energy weapon within the eyes (although this and the missiles might have been an addition made by Arpeggio as they're only used by Clock-La). In addition, Clockwerk was extremely resilient to damage, as simple weapons like Carmelita's shock pistol and jetpack missiles were individually ineffective against him. In addition, Clockwerk's body could survive being heavily damaged and submerged in molten lava; this could be contributed by the Hate Chip and Clockwerk's self-repairing body. He also had spare engines in case his wings were too damaged to allow flight. In the event that all but his head was disabled, it could detach and fly using small jets.

In part for his ability to survive with a combination of his hatred and mechanical improvements, Clockwerk was remarkably intelligent. He constructed a lair in the Krakarov Volcano and developed multiple weapons and vehicles for the Fiendish Five to use for their own personal schemes. These included hover vehicles and his death ray, as well as a gas chamber which was used to incapacitate Sly. He was able to think accordingly and execute cunning plans, assaulting and slaughtering Conner Cooper and being able to lure Sly into his gas chamber by manipulating his feelings for Carmelita. He also created a legion of mechanical birds, similar to him, and hordes of lava monsters to do his bidding.

Two years later, Clockwerk's body was fully repaired by Arpeggio so that each individual member of the Klaww Gang could use their share of the Clockwerk parts for their own purposes. Each individual part had also served its own purpose in Clockwerk's design as a Cooper hunter. They included a heart that acted as a tireless pump, eyes with powerful entrancing qualities, and talons capable of slicing through steel. All of the parts assembled would create Clockwerk's frame and were the basis for helping him live through time and would later help spark his partial rebirth as Clock-La. With the destruction of the Hate Chip, Clockwerk's body, and therefore Clockwerk himself, was permanently destroyed.

Parts
The known Clockwerk parts that were used by the Klaww Gang: