Murray (Sly Cooper)
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Murray the Hippo (also called "The Murray", although more by himself than anyone else,) is a fictional hippo featured in the Sly Cooper video game series for the PlayStation 2. He has no known surname in any of the games, although he is often referred to as "Murray the Hippo" or "Murray Hippo" when full names are listed, a long going tradition in animation by having the characters' species be their last name. He is voiced by Chris Murphy throughout the games.
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[edit] Biography
Murray is a strong, muscular but slightly round hippopotamus who serves as the getaway driver and later team tough guy and fighter for the game's title character. He met both Sly and Bentley when the three of them were growing up in the same orphanage. Murray's driving skill came from his job as a pizza delivery boy, during which he hotwired cars and was eventually fired for dropping too many pizzas.
Murray is quite large and has an enormous appetite. He is depicted as a weakling in the first game, and unbelievably strong in the second game. Murray is by far the strongest of the Cooper trio, and arguably is also the most battle ready of the three. Murray is also known for saying some of the series' most hilarious lines (i.e. "I shall bend that gate like the truth!") and having a peculiarly strong love of his van (the team's getaway vehicle,) having worked on it throughout his life. Murray throughout the games wears a blue t-shirt that looks a bit too small for him, and a light blue scarf to go with his driver motif. In the second game and on Murray dons a rouge colored mask over his head and red fighting gloves over his hands when donning his "The Murray" persona in battle. Murray also appears to wear thick rim glasses...although they could also be goggles or perhaps a strange hybrid of the two. Goggles would certainly go with his driver motif and he shows in Sly 3 that he doesn't really need glasses like Bentley does.
Murray seemed more chubby and laid back in Sly 1 and although still rotund by the second game and on, looked considerably tougher and a bit more muscular. Murray is officially listed as being 18 years old during the first game, and since the second takes place two years after Murray would be 20 by the time of Sly 2 and possibly 21 by the time of the third game.
Although he is generally a very nice guy, Murray has shown that he has quite a bit of repressed anger. Whether this is due to his experiences in the orphanage or something else is never explored in any of the games. This is highlighted during Episode 4 of Sly 2, where the Contessa points this out. This is also evident by his violent outbursts when any of his friends are harmed, and could also be a reason for his decision to leave the team due to feeling responsible for Bentley's injury at the end of Sly 2. Although this is quelled seemingly by Sly 3 due to his time with the aboriginal Guru, Murray still seems quite comfortable with his hot-blooded inner rage when he needs it.
In Episode 2 of Sly 3, before the three thieves enter the lemonade bar, Sly says "Look angry!", and Bentley asks "How do you get angry?" Murray tells Bentley to "Find the match deep inside you, light it, and let it boil your blood and burn your guts!"
[edit] First exploits
Murray first meets Sly and Bentley in the local orphanage named "the happy camper" (name found in the Sly Cooper official comic #1 page 10 note: Sly Comic 1 and 2 are on the official Sly 3 website), seemingly having known Bentley prior to Sly's arrival after his parents' tragic murder. How Murray ended up at the Orphanage is never explained. From here, the three formed an inseparable bond. In Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Murray is portrayed as a reckless, somewhat jumpy race-car driver. While Sly still does most of the work, Murray does still do some field work to aid Sly when needed. Murray drives his beloved van in order to win Sly certain keys needed to progress in the game. At times, Murray also makes a daring run for a key where Sly is charged with his safety sniping enemies who threaten him at a distance. Murray cowers if he comes across these enemies, so it comes to a rather great surprise that in Sly 2: Band of Thieves, he transforms into a fearless, masked professional wrestler like fighter who calls himself "The Murray". Still daring, Murray no longer cowers at the sight of an enemy but rather makes them cower in his wake (this is even a trademark move of his, Guttural Roar)
Unlike Bentley's gradual change in Sly 2, this change in Murray comes out of nowhere and has seemingly been around for a while prior to the game. Its usually assumed that the two years between the first and second game simply changed Murray as he's grown as a character. However, some sources say that Murray's transformation has been caused by hours of watching masked wrestling on TV. Having already done some field work, its not hard to imagine that Murray had eventually discovered that he's got quite a bit of potential in a fight. He has also taken on the habit of referring to himself in the third person. Even with his newfound combat prowess however, he still has a passion for driving. He helps the team greatly with the many uses of his great strength, his driving skill, and his excellent ability in battle. Murray's sheer power saves the team on multiple occasions. Murray takes quite a few psychological blows during the course of the game however. First heavily insulted by Rajan, whom refers to him as a "Fat, Pathetic Weakling". His inner rage is also shown by his love of smashing stuff. He makes several comments in Sly 3 that show this (e.g. "Did you see that boat jump and smash into that thing?! Destruction! Soooooo cool!" and "If the plan gets messed up, always fall back on the golden rule: break stuff.")
Although this doesn't faze Murray much, The Contessa profiles a captured Murray and attempts to culture him as a form of brain washing. Although Murray fights this off eventually and turns the tables, Murray's inner anger is brought to spotlight. The greatest blows to Murray come in the last leg of the game, when Murray's beloved Van must be sacrificed in order to get the team onto Arpeggio's airship. This pales in comparison however to what happens next. At the climax of the game Murray must hold open the final boss's mouth to allow Bentley to perform an important task. The task proves too much for Murray and he gives in, allowing the mouth to chomp severely injuring Bentley and paralyzing him seemingly for life.
[edit] Soul search
A simple character at first, Murray gets a bit of depth to his character after the events of the second game. Although the band of three is successful in their endeavor, Murray becomes increasingly timid of his own actions. As depicted in the one shot DC comic that acts as a prologue to the third game, Murray begins to blame himself for almost everything that goes wrong and starts to show a lack of confidence in himself that Sly had never seen before. After rescuing Bentley from the Hospital he was confined in, Murray reveals to his friends that he feels that he's too much of a burden and danger to the team and leaves, much to their surprise. Although Sly and Bentley are heartbroken by this, Sly later reveals in the third game that he knew deep down that it was something Murray needed to do, presumably in order to get his thoughts straightened out after the heavy psychological blow of the Clockwerk exploits of the second game.
[edit] The Murray Returns!!
In Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, Murray has given up his violent ways and becomes a pacifist under the guidance of a mysterious indigenous Australian shaman known as the Guru. Contending with himself over the guilt he feels for Bentley's paralysis as well as his own anger. Eventually finding peace in himself, Murray is told by the Guru to travel the world on a soul-cleansing journey. He eventually winds up in Venice, Italy where Sly and Bentley find him. The team needs him back for their next big heist, but also because they miss him terribly. Murray is at first reluctant because he wants to continue his journey "until the black water runs clear". Sly and Bentley figure out that this is because the local crime boss, Octavio, has been polluting the waters of Venice for dastardly reasons. When Murray meets Bentley the reunion is rather dramatic as Bentley emotionally pleads to Murray that he doesn't blame him for what happened.
Eventually the team confronts Octavio, but he hurts Bentley in the process by knocking him off his wheelchair. In a rage, Murray casts aside his ceremonial necklace and says "I will floss my teeth with your spine!", and comes to his friend's rescue fists blazing. After defeating the opera mobster, "The Murray" returns for real. Tough as ever, his training under the Guru has also served to better focus him, as well as give him a few impressive abilities he learned, making him even more of a threat than before. Although despite all this, deep down he's still lovable silly old Murray. Murray even manages to salvage the Van that he had thought he lost in Sly 2. When recovering his Van under immense pressure and danger, his perseverance and dedication to his goal inspires the Panda King and becomes one of his deciding factors in finally joining the Cooper gang as a full-fledged member.
Murray is often referred to as the team's "Heart", as he seems the most compassionate. At the end of Sly 3, this seems to be true. When Bentley begins to have doubts about Sly's true loyalty to his friends and the glue that holds the team together starts to fade a bit, it's Murray who quells all doubts, reminding Bentley of their undying brotherhood bond. Dr. M, the third game's ultimate antagonist, also reveals in the end that Murray is far stronger than the strongman predecessors of past Cooper gangs.
[edit] Epilogue
After the events of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, Murray, Bentley ,and the Cooper team at first believe Sly has amnesia due to an injury sustained at the game's climax. When Sly is taken in by his arch rival Carmelita Fox, seemingly without his knowledge, the group goes their separate ways. Murray, however, stays in close contact with Bentley, and the two are still considered close friends. Murray completes his spiritual training with The Guru, and eventually gives into his racing passion and becomes a professional in the stock-van racing circuit, using the team van as his winning ticket. Bentley reports that things are looking very bright for Murray's racing career. It's assumed however, that if Sly were to ever come back and Murray was needed, that The Murray would be there in an instant to help out his best friend.
[edit] Abilities
Like Sly and Bentley, Murray possesses his own abilities. One of his abilities, probably the most important, is his incredible strength and power. And as shown in Sly 3, Murray has a 'ball form' that he learned from the Guru while in the Australian Outback. This allows him to curl up in a pink, glowing ball and roll around and bounce down with hard impact upon anything, including enemies. Another ability that he gained from his training with the Guru is a temporal lock that freezes everything in place for a short amount of time. His most famous ability, the Thunder Flop, was reveled in Sly 2. This technique is a massive belly flop that sends out a shock wave destroying things around Murray. He admits the Thunder Flop is dangerous when he says, "the Thunder Flop knows neither friend nor foe, only destruction".
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