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We need your help, Star Fox! Andross has declared war! He's invaded the Lylat System and is trying to take over Corneria! Our army alone can't do the job! Hurry Star Fox!
97 Pepper

General Pepper, is the commander-in-chief of all Cornerian millitary forces stationed throughout Corneria's territories located in the Lylat System. A former associate of Andross, it was General Pepper who was responsible for the disgraced science officer's banishment and he has extensively worked had to protect Corneria and the entire Lylat System from the evil mad scientist's scheme. It was thanks to General Pepper having called for emergency aid from the Star Fox mercenaries-for-hire that the Cornerian Military were able to repel and defeat the Venomian invasion of Lylat. Following this successful retaliation, General Pepper praised efforts of the Star Fox Team, even going as far as personally offering Fox McCloud an official commission in the end of the war against Andross's Empire, but Fox politely refused it, insiting that they prefer to do things their own way. General Pepper continued to serve the Cornerian federation and protect the planet in later years by overseeing the successful prevention of Sauria's destruction and make a commanding stance against the Aparoid Invasion, but after Pepper had a close encounter with the Aparoid kind, he had to leave command of the military to the research director Beltino Toad. Even after the defeat of the Aparoids, Pepper grew progressively ill and was confined to his sickbed, and requested that his old comrade and friend Peppy Hare should take up his role of general during the attack of the Anglars.

General Pepper typically appears in all Star Fox games, with only a small cameo in "Command", as well as comics and a major role in the "Star Fox Zero " promotional anime, as a supporting protagonist. He also appears as a background character in all Super Smash Bros. games, starting with "Melee".

Biography[]

Pepper served in the Cornerian army with James and Peppy, acting as their commanding officer and friend before the later two moved on to become founders of the Star Fox team. General Pepper had also been good colleagues with the Cornerian Army's chief science officer Dr. Andross before his ambitions turned his morals into evil and his regard for public safety diminished, due to his scientific areas of expertise of bio-engineering and space warps having no interest to Cornerian peace. Becoming like oil and water, their differences began to start infighting between them and he ordered the research to be terminated but Andross ignored Pepper's orders and unleashed a secret weapon after conducting dangerous experiments which nearly reduced the Cornerian planet to a wasteland. Infuriated, General Pepper successfully placed Andross under arrest and tried him for high treason before having the maniacal former chief scientist finally banished to his new homeworld, Venom.

Five years after the ordeal, General Pepper received disturbing reports from Corneria's observation station of recently discovered, strange bioweaponry activity coming from Venom. He hired the Star Fox team for the first time, then comprising of founder James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar. He sent the Star Fox team on a special recon mission to investigate the situation on Venom. But the mission was a disaster when only Peppy returned home, which struck Pepper with guilt over sending James to his doom, leading to his decision to take his old friend's son's career into his own hands.

General Pepper partook a major role in the war between Corneria and Venom. His forces were so overwhelmed by the Androssian Army, he had to make an emergency defensive strategy assigned specifically the Star Fox Team to do the job. Before every mission, the team would need to report to him and he would brief them about the area and it's dangers, give information on the current situation, or just review his progress. When Andross and his evil empire were defeated, Pepper gratefully offered to make the Star Fox Team part of the Cornerian Army, but Fox refused due to their preference of the mercenaries for hire lifestyle. General Pepper also paid the bill for Star Fox's total kills of Venomian units and hostile enemies; Pepper read that the total amount due was over sp$70,000 and let out an astounded, “What?!”

During the Plight of Sauria, General Pepper, presumably having been informed by the Star Fox team of what was happening on Sauria, explained to the team about the ongoing crisis on the planet, and also told them that the fee for the mission was also approved, and that the payment would be forwarded to the team upon completion. Pepper thought it was better for Fox to explore the primitive Dinosaur Planet without using as much technology that he usually does, including his Blaster. General Pepper could help Fox examine his collectable items, Tricky's sidekick commands and Staff Upgrades via the menu. Selecting him will give off a salute siren. Upon the completion of the mission, he was debriefed by the Star Fox Team as well as the EarthWalker royal family about the events of the mission, and noted his surprise that Andross, who by that point was destroyed on Venom, was responsible for the events of Sauria's plight. Expressing hope that this time, they've seen the last of the tyrant, he then forwarded the fee, to the Star Fox team's delight.

General Pepper also played a major role during the Aparoid Invasion of the Lylat System. This time, the Cornerian Defence Force was much more prepared and was able to stand their ground against Andross's remaining fleets led by his nephew Andrew Oikonny. As per the starting orders of General Pepper, the newly outfitted Star Fox Team arrived as soon as Andrew's secret stealth squadron was starting to have the upper hand, but Pepper was relived that Fox and company arrived on time to prevent disaster. After the team's first encounter with the unknown aliens on Fortuna, General Pepper reports that the situation has gone beyond Fortuna, as the entire Lylat System was in pearl from the invading Aparoids. After he sent the research director Beltino Toad to brief the team on all the details, Pepper instructed the team to investigate a worrying distress signal originating from the Katina Outpost, because there was no response and Aparoids were suspected to have been involved. Once the Core Memory was recovered from Pigma Dengar, Star Fox managed to get back in touch with General Pepper to send the Core Memory to the Cornerian research facilities. General Pepper then informed the Great Fox crew that the time had come to orchestrate a retaliation on the Aparoid Homeworld, since as long as the Queen existed the Aparoids would continue to multiply, but Star Fox were temporarily distracted by distress signals coming from Sauria again.

Later, immediately after the Star Fox team returned from combating the Aparoids on Sauria, General Pepper conveyed to them grim news of an Aparoid assault on the Cornerian capital city which left much of the Cornerian defense force in ruins. Pepper instructed Fox about a communications disruption from EMP devices that meant partway into his briefing, Pepper was interrupted and his transmission suddenly cut short. Fearing the worst, Fox set out to cleanse the city of the invading forces, only to discover that General Pepper himself had been infected by the Aparoids. Though his body and his personal flagship were transformed into an augmented flying battle mech and no longer under his own control, Pepper retained his self-awareness and urged Fox to shoot him down so that he may die in battle and keep his honor. Fox, riding on the wing of a Wolfen piloted by Wolf O'Donnell, reluctantly engaged Pepper's ship using the Plasma Cannon and was able to bring it down after a fierce battle; but with a hopeful chance of damaging just the machinery. As Pepper plummeted towards the ground, Peppy suddenly appeared out of the sky in an Arwing and wedged his cockpit "nose" underneath the rogue flagship, breaking its fall and saving the General's life. Pepper was then taken into medical care and the command of Cornerian forces had apparently passed over to Beltino Toad.

Pepper remained inactive for the rest of the invasion, but he was imitated by the Aparoid Queen for attempted deception against Star Fox. It was originally effective, but they managed to ignore the imitation. After the Aparoid Homeworld was destroyed, Fox remained positive that Pepper would be alright after the Aparoid race was vanquished.

After the Aparoid Queen was destroyed with the rest of her kind and the events of the invasion were over, Pepper suffered an illness, possibly because of the Aparoids. By Fox's account, Pepper was so ill, that he was crippled. Therefore, he had to be confined to his sickbed and was unable to take part in repelling the unforeseen attack from the Anglar Empire. He had also requested that his rank as Commander in Chief of the Cornerian Army was given to his army comrade Peppy. Before the Star Fox team recovered Andross's terraforming device, Krystal told her views of the terraforming device and of Pepper and Andross's conflict between them which led to the Lylat Wars. Krystal states that at that time, Andross was Corneria's chief science officer and was also a close colleague of General Pepper, but they were "like oil and water" and that their infighting was a precursor to war. However, Krystal had undergone a vicious, mean personality streak from the trauma of being thrown off the team so her words may have only been made to antagonise Fox.

Trivia[]

  • His name is a reference to the album and song "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles. His military uniform resembles that worn by the band in the cover of the record. In the Nintendo Power comics, there are references when Pepper was "just a Sergeant".
  • In "Assault", it is unknown how General Pepper and his flagship got infected by the Aparoids, as when the Star Fox team loses contact with General Pepper prior to the Corneria Campaign during the Aparoid Invasion, shortly after General Pepper says “Please, Fox, I'm already...”, his last visible action is him looking around. Given his comment before, as well as his next appearance, this may imply that General Pepper became an Aparoid at that moment. The most likely explanation is that Pepper was ambushed during his transmission to Star Fox about Corneria's condition and possibly injured by the creatures.
  • In concept artwork for General Pepper's appearance in "Assault", one of the artwork stills has him wearing sunglasses, a reference to his original appearance in "Star Fox" for the Super NES.
    • The turncoat Captain Shears appeared to have been based on the Cornerian commander who was set to appear in "Star Fox 2", but when the game was eventually released in 2017, the officer was confirmed to be General Pepper himself, but Captain Shears has a green colour scheme for his uniform while Pepper's 2017 design is a red/blue one.
  • General Pepper's plea to Team Star Fox in Star Fox 64 is the longest quote in the game, (apart from the Lylat history narration, yet there is no character to represent the narrator).
  • In the Kirby Anime, Pepper makes a cameo appearance as a Dog General action figure in Episode 12 on a store shelf in Gengu's toy shop. It even has his standard saluting pose.
  • In the Mission File Printout, Pepper signs his name "Z. Z. Pepper," implying his first and middle name begin with Z. In the same vein as Sergeant Pepper, these initials may be a reference to the classic rock band ZZ Top, who have a penchant for sunglasses.
  • The famous screenshot of General Pepper pointing at and admonishing Andross when exiling him (as well as Andross looking incensed as he glares back without turning to face him) may have had some basis from The Simpsons, as the episode The Way We Were in the beginning had a clip from the McBain movie where the Police Chief angrily pointing at the titular character while firing him as well as McBain angrily glaring without turning just before punching the latter out of the window in a manner that resembled the screenshot.

Names in Other Languages[]

Language Name
Japanese (ジェネラル・ペパー, Jeneraru Pepā / ペパー将軍, Pepā Shōgun)

References[]

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