Murray

Murray, the brawn, is the tritagonist of the Sly Cooper series. He is a male hippopotamus with pink skin and brown eyes. He is best friends with Sly Cooper and Bentley, and is a member of the Cooper Gang. He has a great love for his van, which he drives when the gang needs a quick getaway.

Murray first appeared in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus at the age of 18. His current age is unknown, as he was 20 in Sly 2: Band of Thieves and 21 in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, but an unknown amount of time passed between that and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. His demeanor changed drastically between the first and second games, going from a timid getaway driver to someone much more fearless, often throwing himself into dangerous situations just for the thrill of it.

He was voiced by in all of his appearances.

Background
Murray was orphaned at a young age and raised at the Happy Camper Orphanage, where he met Sly and Bentley. At some point during his youth, Murray learned how to drive by hot-wiring cars. He later got a job as a pizza delivery boy but was fired after dropping too many pizzas.

During their time at the orphanage, the trio made a plan to steal cookies from the headmistress Mrs. Puffin. In the middle of the night, Sly snuck into Puffin's office to grab the cookie jar while Murray, with his tricycle, stood by as a getaway driver. The "heist" was cut short when the night janitor entered Puffin's office. Promising to keep Sly from getting caught, Murray pedaled his tricycle away at full speed. However, the tricycle had no brakes, and they crashed. Murray apologized but cheered up after seeing that Sly had managed to dump the cookies into his hat at the last second.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
After coming of age, Murray accompanied Sly and Bentley around the world to defeat the Fiendish Five, who had killed Sly's father and stolen the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. Though he mainly acted as the team's getaway driver, Murray also made several ventures into the field to help Sly retrieve treasure keys. After defeating Clockwerk, Sly acknowledged Murray for his bravery in getting out into the field with him, and remarked that he had more heart than anyone he had ever known.

The Adventures of Sly Cooper #1
After restoring the Thievius Raccoonus to its former glory, the Cooper Gang planned to steal the valuable Venus de Whalo statue from Dimitri Lousteau and his fiancée Beverly D'Oinkeau. Arriving in Monaco, Murray and Bentley waited outside while Sly entered Dimitri's mansion to steal the statue. After Sly was caught however, the gang was forced to launch plan B: disguising themselves as security guards, the trio lured D'Oinkeau and Carmelita Fox—who D'Oinkeau had invited—away from the statue to steal it. Although the theft was a success, Bentley mentioned that the team had to wait for their scheduled boat to arrive. Sly left to distract Carmelita while Murray and Bentley waited, and 45 minutes later the gang narrowly escaped with the Venus de Whalo .

Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Two years after defeating Clockwerk, the Cooper Gang learned that the Clockwerk parts were being held on display at the Museum of Natural History in Cairo. Murray went with the rest of the gang in an attempt to steal the parts so that Clockwerk would never have a chance to be resurrected. However, by the time the gang made it to the museum, the parts had already been stolen the night before. Following their only lead on the missing Clockwerk parts, a comment from Carmelita's new partner, Constable Neyla, the Cooper Gang decided to track down the members of the Klaww Gang and steal the parts that each of them possessed. Along the way, Murray and the rest of the gang came to trust Neyla, who made it known that she was deliberately helping the Cooper Gang. Murray helped the gang steal the Clockwerk tail feathers from Dimitri and the Clockwerk wings from Rajan. When Rajan went into hiding following the theft of the wings out of fear, the Cooper Gang found out that Rajan retreated to his spice temple, where he was housing the Clockwerk heart.

After retrieving the half of the Clockwerk heart that was helping the production of the Klaww Gang's spice, the Cooper Gang set to work on stealing the other half of the heart that Rajan was carrying at all times. After luring Rajan out of hiding, Neyla appeared and helped Sly reach Rajan under the pretense that she was helping the gang steal the heart. However, Neyla abandoned Sly, which resulted in Rajan knocking a confused Sly unconscious and into a drained pit. Murray, who saw Sly fall into the pit, jumped down to rescue him. However, Rajan followed suit and electrified the pit's walls.

With nowhere left for Murray to go, he declared that he would make Rajan fear the Cooper Gang again, Rajan countered by telling Murray that all he saw was a "fat, pathetic weakling." Taking offense to being called weak (while owning up to his frame and relative lack of intelligence), an enraged Murray fought Rajan, eventually knocking him unconscious and stealing his half of the Clockwerk heart. When Neyla showed up again, Murray asked for Neyla to help him and Sly out of the pit. Neyla instead signaled for Carmelita and the Contessa to arrive, and revealed that she had been planning the capture of the Cooper Gang along with the Klaww Gang, effectively betraying the Cooper Gang. After Neyla also unexpectedly framed Carmelita for aiding the Cooper Gang, Murray, Sly, and Carmelita were arrested and taken away by the Contessa.

Murray and Sly were taken to the Contessa's prison to receive hypnotherapy. Naturally, Murray resisted, so the Contessa laced his food with spice to increase his hypnotic suggestibility. As it turned out, the Contessa was a secret member of the Klaww Gang and had been using her hypnotherapy skills to brainwash criminals into revealing where they stashed their loot. After a while, a miserable Murray was wandering around the common area when he heard Sly's voice in the vent of the area's back wall. Happy to see that Sly escaped with Bentley's help, Murray told Sly about the spice he was being forced to eat and that he needed to get out of the prison as soon as possible. Sly told Murray that Bentley's plan required Murray to be in solitary confinement, where it would be easier to free him.

Trusting his friends, Murray got himself thrown into solitary confinement, but that resulted in the Contessa using hypno-boxes to enhance the effects of the spice Murray had been consuming. By the time Sly and Bentley arrived to rescue Murray, Murray's mind was so lost in the spice's effects that their best course of action was to amplify the power of the hypno-boxes so that Murray would destroy the hypno-boxes in a fit of rage. Back to his senses, Murray thanked his friends for freeing him before revealing that he managed to keep the half of the Clockwerk heart he stole from Rajan away from the Contessa. The Contessa made her rounds at that moment, and that resulted in the Cooper Gang chasing the Contessa out of the prison. Following the recent turn of events, the Cooper Gang took an extended break before resuming their hunt for the Clockwerk parts.

The gang then tracked the Contessa to her castle. After defeating her and stealing the Clockwerk eyes in her possession, they traveled to Canada and stole the Clockwerk lungs and stomach from Jean Bison, who retreated to his lumber camp in response. Further pursuing Bison in order to steal the Clockwerk talons, their mission took a turn for the worse when Bison knocked out the Cooper Gang, found their hideout, and sold all the Clockwerk parts they found to Arpeggio, the Klaww Gang's leader. After defeating Bison, the Cooper Gang used the northern lights battery Bison had been preparing for Arpeggio to stow away onto Arpeggio's blimp and steal the Clockwerk parts back, along with any parts Arpeggio had. Murray's beloved van had to be left behind, which left Murray in tears as he watched the van drift off on an ice floe into the horizon.

Despite the loss, it did not hinder Murray's ability to work in sync with Sly and Bentley as they worked to stop Arpeggio. While planning their heist, the Cooper Gang found out that Neyla had been working for Arpeggio the entire time. After Arpeggio revealed his master plan to Sly to become one with Clockwerk and achieve immortality, Neyla betrayed Arpeggio and entered Clockwerk's recently reassembled body herself, dubbing herself Clock-La as she killed Arpeggio and took off into the sky. Murray helped the Cooper Gang weaken the blimp's power so that Clock-La's power would be siphoned. After receiving a radio transmission from Carmelita, who was still on the run from Interpol due to Neyla's framing, the Cooper Gang and Carmelita came to a temporary truce to destroy Clock-La. They succeeded, but at a terrible price. At the end of the mission, Murray held open Clock-La's mouth to allow Bentley to remove Clock-La's Hate Chip. Unfortunately, right after Bentley got the chip off Clock-La, her beak unexpectedly closed on Bentley. Shocked, Murray freed Bentley from the beak, only to find out that Bentley was now crippled.

A few moments after Clock-La, and by extension Clockwerk, was destroyed, Carmelita announced the end of their truce and prepared to place the gang under arrest. Sly bargained to let Murray and Bentley walk while only arresting him, and Carmelita agreed. Murray and Bentley left their gear behind as they walked away in pain and tears. Free of all accusations, Carmelita was given a promotion and she and Sly were en route to the prison where Sly was going to be booked. However, Murray and Bentley's gear being left behind turned out to be a ruse, and the two managed to take out the helicopter pilot bringing Sly to the prison while setting the helicopter to fly in circles. Upon realizing this, Sly used the opportunity to escape the helicopter via parachute before meeting up with Murray and Bentley. Bentley was eventually sent to the hospital. In spite of the ruse, Murray's emotional wounds were deeper than it seemed, which later caused him to make a tearful decision.

The Adventures of Sly Cooper #2
After visiting his father's former teammate in prison, Sly learned of the existence of the Cooper Vault. A map revealing the location of the vault was hidden in an Italian museum, so Murray and Sly attempted to retrieve it. They were forced to retreat upon tripping the alarm, but Sly was able to steal the map after it was recovered from the museum by Carmelita. Realizing that Bentley was necessary for their continued success, the duo snuck into the hospital where Bentley was recovering from his injuries. Murray caused a ruckus while entering, which resulted in a group of security guards confronting him and Sly. He fended off the guards while Sly escaped with Bentley.

A few days later, Sly and Bentley were preparing to head out for Kaine Island, the location of the Cooper Vault, when Murray arrived and announced his departure from the Cooper Gang. Taking responsibility for both the team's recent blunders and Bentley's paraplegia, Murray deemed himself a liability to his friends. As he left, Murray declared that he needed to find his "spiritual center."

Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
In a search for spiritual guidance, Murray became a student of a pacifistic Dreamtime shaman known as the Guru of the Stone. Under the Guru's tutelage, Murray was sent around the world on a soul-cleansing journey. He eventually wound up in Venice, where local crime boss Octavio had polluted the water with tar in an attempt to attract an audience for his opera performances. Sly and Bentley located Murray and attempted to re-recruit him, not only for the job on Kaine Island but also because they missed him. Murray was reluctant to rejoin because he wanted to continue his journey "until the black water runs pure," so Sly and Bentley agreed to help Murray complete his mission by thwarting Octavio's plans. When Murray met Bentley, Bentley emotionally expressed to Murray that he did not blame him for what happened to him. Eventually the team confronted Octavio, but he hurt Bentley in the process by knocking him off his wheelchair. In a rage, Murray cast aside his pacifist ways to come to his friend's rescue and defeat Octavio. After fleeing the scene, Murray decided to rejoin the team.

Weeks passed, and Murray had reintegrated with the Cooper Gang. However, he was still left with doubt about rejoining the team without his guru's blessing, so Sly and Bentley agreed to travel with him to Australia to speak with his teacher. Upon arriving at the Guru's home in Yuendumu, the Gang learned that opal miners had encroached upon the land and imprisoned the Guru. Murray traveled through one of the mining caves to reach the Guru's prison stockade. He told his teacher that he wanted to rejoin his friends and even asked the Guru to come along with them. The Guru agreed to do so on the condition that they help him drive the miners out and destroy the Mask of Dark Earth. After doing so, the Guru joined the Cooper Gang for the job on Kaine Island.

Some time later, the Cooper Gang traveled to Holland to participate in ACES, a dogfighting competition hosted by the Black Baron. The baron's mechanic Penelope had agreed to join the team if they won the competition. Murray constructed a biplane for Sly and helped him sabotage the planes of their competitors in order to gain an advantage. However, Team Cooper found their own plane under attack when Team Muggshot assaulted their hangar as vengeance for defeating him in Mesa City. With Penelope's help, Murray and Bentley were able to fend off Muggshot and his crew. Team Cooper advanced to the final round of the competition, where Sly exposed the Black Baron as Penelope in disguise. With her cover blown, Penelope abandoned the Black Baron persona and joined the Cooper Gang as their RC specialist.

The Cooper Gang then traveled to China in order to recruit the Panda King, a former Fiendish Five member, as their demolitions expert. There, Murray encountered his van frozen in a block of ice. He attempted to recover it but was attacked by General Tsao's guards. Despite the mortal danger, Murray refused to abandon his van as he did in Canada. Witnessing Murray's resolve, the Panda King defended him from afar using a mounted turret. The team later helped the Panda King rescue his daughter from a forced marriage with Tsao. In return, the Panda King agreed to join their team.

A few weeks later, Dimitri Lousteau, who had helped Sly during the ACES competition, requested the Cooper Gang's help in recovering the scuba diving gear of his grandfather, Reme. Murray and the rest of the team traveled with Dimitri to Blood Bath Bay in order to gather information on the location of the treasure. Despite a few run-ins with the infamous pirate captain LeFwee, the Gang successfully retrieved the gear, and Dimitri joined them as their frogman for the Cooper Vault heist.

Now a team of seven, the Cooper Gang traveled to Kaine Island to open the Cooper Vault. Murray and his allies helped Sly navigate the heavily guarded fortress of Dr. M. However, the alarms were raised and Dr. M launched a counterattack that resulted in Sly being severely injured. While he recovered, the rest of the team cleared the way for another attempt at the vault. Bentley and Murray accompanied Sly into the vault and stood guard while Sly ventured further inside. During this time, Bentley expressed his doubts about Sly's loyalty and whether or not Sly viewed him and Murray simply as sidekicks. Murray quelled such doubts, reminding Bentley of the trio's brotherly bond. Just then, Dr. M appeared with the intention of confronting Sly inside the vault. Despite putting up a fight, Murray and Bentley were unable to stop Dr. M.

The subsequent battle between Sly and Dr. M caused the Cooper Vault to cave-in. In the aftermath, the team searched across the island for Sly without success, finding only his cane, backpack and a stash of treasure from the vault. They departed the island and waited for Sly to reappear. As weeks passed without any sign of their leader, the Cooper Gang disbanded and each member went their separate ways: Murray completed his Dreamtime training with the Guru and later entered the stock-van racing circuit, using the Cooper Van as his winning ticket.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Murray's time in the racing circuit was cut short, as sponsors were reluctant to fund him due to his high insurance premiums. As a result he switched to demolition derby, where he became an undefeated champion. An undisclosed amount of time later, Murray was approached by Bentley. Bentley explained that the Thievius Raccoonus ' s contents were disappearing due to someone meddling with the past. At the Gang's old Paris hideout, Murray reunited with Sly, who had begun a romantic relationship with Carmelita after the events on Kaine Island. Bentley unveiled the invention that he and Penelope, who had gone missing some time before, had been working on: a time machine. The time machine required an item from the desired time period to work, so the Gang made plans to infiltrate a local museum and steal a Feudal-era samurai dagger. With the samurai dagger in hand, they activate the time machine and travel to Feudal Japan.

In Japan, the team learns that Rioichi Cooper, one of Sly's ancestors, had been imprisoned by a time-traveling dictator named El Jefe. Sly rescued Rioichi, and the Gang's first order of business was to get Rioichi's restaurant back on its feet. To help with this, Murray ventured into caves with Bentley to gather fish for the restaurant. Later, Murray disguised himself as Madame Geisha, one of El Jefe's confidants, in an attempt to gather information. However, a mishap resulted in Murray having to use the disguise on a group of guards, who quickly became infatuated with the disguised hippo. Despite this, Murray was able to meet with El Jefe and steal the blueprints to his fortress. Armed with this knowledge, the Gang invaded the palace and confront El Jefe.

After defeating El Jefe, the Cooper Gang time-traveled to Cotton Mouth Bluff, where "Tennessee Kid" Cooper had been framed for robbery and imprisoned by the corrupt Sheriff Toothpick. Sly located Tennessee and freed him, and the team helped him retrieve his cane from one of Toothpick's warehouses. The team also encountered and rescued Carmelita Fox, though Murray's van was stolen by Toothpick in the process. Back at the hideout, Carmelita explained how she had been sent back in time by Cyrille Le Paradox, the owner of of the Parisian museum, while investigating him for illicit art trading. After hearing the story, the Gang realize that Le Paradox is the one responsible for the Thievius Raccoonus ' s disappearance. Murray was anxious about the status of his van, and the team soon learned that it was being used by Toothpick to supercharge his train. The train was scheduled to carry all of the gold stolen by Toothpick—the gold that Tennessee had been framed for stealing—out of Cotton Mouth Bluff. Once onboard, the Cooper Van was retrieved and used to haul the stolen gold onto. After moving all of the gold from the train and onto the van, Sly confronted Toothpick and defeated him. Just then, the van suddenly drove off the edge of a cliff. Bentley quickly grabbed Murray's aboriginal necklace and threw it into the time machine, saving their lives.

The necklace transported the team to Gungathal Valley, 10000 B.C. The resulting crash landing severely damaged the time machine and scattered its parts throughout the area. While venturing out for reconnaissance, Sly met and rescued his prehistoric ancestor, Bob, from one of Le Paradox's lackeys named Grizz. Sly and Bob returned to the hideout, and Bentley tasked Murray with helping get Bob back into physical shape so that he could help them repair the time machine. To this end, Murray set up a series of training exercises designed to improve Bob's strength, coordination and reflexes. Afterward, Bentley located the time machine's "temporal sprocket" atop a steep mountain. Murray volunteered to retrieve the component but found himself unable to scale the mountain. To Murray's chagrin, Bentley called in Bob to complete the job instead.

After Bob returned the sprocket, Bentley requested Murray's help in reclaiming the time machine's "gravity encabulator." Still upset and discouraged from the previous job, Murray reluctantly agreed. He successfully retrieved the part, and Bentley congratulated him on a job well done. During the final assault on Grizz's fortress, Murray was separated from the rest of the team. This resulted in a lone confrontation with Grizz. Facing Murray, Grizz revealed his true love of figure skating and quickly fashioned a pair of makeshift skates. Despite his proficiency on the ice, Grizz was defeated by Murray. Having seen the rest of his team witness his victory, Murray regained confidence in his abilities.

Using Grizz's crown, the team traveled to Medieval England and rescued Sir Galleth Cooper from the Black Knight, another one of Le Paradox's cohorts. The team then helped Galleth retrieve his cane and thwart the Black Knight's operations; Murray's role in doing so involved destroying the local tavern so that the Black Knight's mech wolves would have no where to refuel. Some time later, Bentley learned that the Black Knight was actually Penelope in disguise. The revelation left Bentley in shock, forcing the rest of the team to form a plan without him. When the time came to confront Penelope, Murray donned scuba gear and positioned himself in the moat surrounding the Black Knight's castle. There, he planted and detonated explosives which brought the drawbridge down. The Cooper Gang stormed the castle, but Sly was separated from the rest of them and forced to fight Penelope alone. However, Bentley came to his aid and finished her off.

The team then traveled to Ancient Arabia, the time period of Salim al-Kupar. They located Salim and helped him free his former teammates who were being forced to forge documents that would give Le Paradox a royal lineage in the present. After saving them, they attempted to stop Le Paradox from returning to the present-day. However, they were barred from doing so by Le Paradox's lover, Miss Decibel. Though they were able to defeat Decibel in battle, they were too late to stop Le Paradox, who kidnapped Carmelita and returned to the present day with the forged documents.

The Cooper Gang returned to present-day Paris. While Sly snuck onto Le Paradox's blimp to save Carmelita, Murray and Bentley returned to the past to enlist the help of the Coopers they had met previously. With their help, Murray and Bentley reached Sly and Carmelita, who had both been taken prisoner by Le Paradox. The resulting chaos damaged Le Paradox's time machine, resulting in a tear in space-time. As the blimp was torn apart, Sly confronted Le Paradox alone while Murray and the others fled. In the aftermath of the battle, Le Paradox was located and arrested. Sly, however, was nowhere to be found. Even as days turned into weeks, the Cooper Gang continued to search for him to no avail. Murray began competing in pro-wrestling, wanting to stay in top shape for the moment that Sly was located.

Physical appearance
Murray is a round pink hippopotamus with brown eyes and is depicted as having a muscular upper body and a large stomach. He wears a blue-green T-shirt and a light blue scarf. He is barefoot in Sly 1. From Sly 2 on, Murray dons a maroon wrestling mask, fighting gloves and a large belt. He also wears a pair of driving goggles and black shoes with white laces. Under his apprenticeship to the Guru, he wears Dreamtime make-up and replaces his scarf with a short yellow cape.

In Thieves in Time, Murray's belt buckle changes from being a normal frame-style belt buckle, to one with a large wrestling plate on the front, adorned with the Cooper gang's logo. His shoes go from being black with white laces to white with red stripes. He also has a vertical yellow stripe going down the middle of the back half of the mask.

Personality
Initially portrayed as a coward, Murray gradually developed confidence over the course of Sly 1. By the time Sly 2 takes place, he had began going out into the field regularly as the gang's muscle. He also took on the habit of referring to himself in the third person as "The Murray." Even with his newfound combat prowess however, he still had a passion for driving. He helped the team greatly with the many uses of his strength, driving skill and excellent ability in battle. He was much bolder in Sly 2, but witnessing Bentley get crippled and his eventual soul search gave him compassion and control over his rage to a point where he could call upon it when need be.

Despite his incredible strength and his bold personality, Murray has also displayed a softer side to him. In some instances, he has shown a pacifistic nature despite usually mowing down enemies gleefully. This was seen when he was initially hesitant about resorting to violence to kidnap General Clawfoot on the grounds that he seemed like a defenseless old man; Murray only went through with it when Bentley explained that Murray couldn't physically harm Clawfoot. Murray also has a tendency to take things that do not go as planned harder than everyone else. He is often the first person to cry in these situations, best shown when Neyla betrayed the Cooper Gang, when the team lost the Cooper Van, and when Bentley became crippled. He also felt inadequate to the team for most of the gang's time in Gungathal Valley when he tried to climb an icy wall, only for Bob Cooper to be called in to do it; while climbing icy walls was Bob's specialty, Murray felt outdone because he was the one that trained Bob to get back into shape in the first place.

Murray is also extremely determined and loyal, as he helped mend Bentley's fear of Sly not being his friend, and refuses to give up on his friends at any cost. During the retrieval of his van, despite being told that it was far too dangerous, he refused to give up as the memories of his time with the gang in there was far too precious to him. His determination in this instance emotionally moved the Panda King, who noted that Murray showed extreme compassion and heart.

Abilities
Murray's characteristic strength makes him the muscle of the Cooper Gang. This, paired with his large size, makes him a formidable opponent. Most of Murray's abilities center around the use of his fists or body; these include the Thunder Flop and Fists of Flame, among others. Because of his size, Murray is unable to stealthily pickpocket enemies, so he must resort to picking them up and ruffling their clothes to find loot.

Under the tutelage of the Guru, Murray learned the Aboriginal Ball Form, which enables him to curl up into a ball and use his bulk offensively against enemies or objects. Another ability that he obtained from his Dreamtime training was a Temporal Lock that freezes time for a short duration. As the team's getaway driver, Murray is a capable albeit reckless driver. He is also a mechanic, taking care of his van and building Team Cooper's biplane for the ACES Competition. Despite his large appearance, he is also proficient in some artistics, like coloring, drawing and creative dancing.