Sir Tongara de Pepperouchau III

Sir Tongara de Pepperouchau III, or Pepper for short, is a clockwork tin soldier and the main character of the Clockwork Knight series.

Appearance
Pepper is a thin knight adorned in golden armor. His face features bulbous red cheeks, a mustache consisting of two black crescents, and most peculiarly a long, hexagonal prism-like nose (the distinguished mark of his family, according to him). His armor is fairly standard, with a helmet, breastplate with several faulds, gauntlets, greaves and sabatons that sport cowboy-like spurs. His helmet has a visor, crest, and a white spike (which sometimes is not seen due to the art of Pepper being on white backgrounds, namely the cover of the first Clockwork Knight game). Naturally, being a clockwork toy, screws are present on Pepper's joints, and his back sports a large windup key.

History
Sir Tongara de Pepperouchau III is one of the many toys that live inside the house of children Betsy and Kevin. He and the other toys are usually lifeless, but spring to life each night through the song of Princess Chelsea, the doll that lives inside the clock who comes out every night at midnight. He is currently owned by Kevin, and comes into Betsy's room each night upon being awakened to hang out with his fellow toys.

Pepper is a kindhearted and brave, albeit somewhat inept knight. Always eager to serve his beloved princess, he harbors a massive crush on her, and desperately wants to marry her. However, Pepper's rashness often leads him to make embarrassing blunders that crush his chances of receiving Chelsea's love; this is especially apparent when he competes with his suave rival Ginger, who is also after the girl's heart. Despite these shortcomings, he possesses a determined spirit and is a master swordsman, which makes him a force to be reckoned with. Pepper is good friends with his valet Prunchau and his donkey Barobaro, and greatly admires his grandfather Garluch who told him stories of his adventures in his youth.

One night during a routine awakening, the lights suddenly go out, and Chelsea is kidnapped by an unknown evil stranger. If she doesn't return, the toys will never hear her song again, and thus will never come alive again. The toys nominate both Pepper and Ginger to journey forth to save her, but no sooner had they left than the toys fall under the evil stranger's spell and become evil minions committed to preventing the princess' rescue.

Throughout both Clockwork Knight and Clockwork Knight 2, Pepper traverses through eight rooms in the house, defeating the brainwashed toys who are after him and slaying the guardians of each room. In his quest, he is accompanied by his friends, who show up before levels (only in Japanese versions) to give advice to the golden warrior. In Clockwork Knight 2, Pepper rides his trusted steed Barobaro in the second stages of the Kid's Room and Bathroom areas. Clockwork Knight ends with him finding Chelsea in the Study Room, and after beating Crazy T.V., he finds her safe but unable to wake up. She is suddenly swooped away by the evil stranger's henchmen yet again come Clockwork Knight 2, and Pepper and his friends must work their way through four more rooms to save her.

After making it to the top of the treacherous Clock Tower, Pepper finds Chelsea, still asleep from the spell put on her in the end of Clockwork Knight. As he attempts to rescue her, he is met with a terrifying mechanical dragon who grabs Chelsea with its tail, and engages in battle with the knight on top of a swinging wooden board. Pepper manages to to finish the beast off, and rushes to check on Chelsea (almost falling off with her before being rescued by Ginger). The two look at Chelsea with worry, as she is still slumbering, until they hear a rattling sound coming from the dragon's remains. To Pepper's surprise, it was his respected grandfather Garluch, who got lost in the Clock Tower and was turned into Garluch the Dragon after falling prey to a dark power. He reveals that Chelsea is Ginger's sister, and that only his golden key can undo the sleeping spell. Ginger winds the princess up, and she awakens much to the golden knight's joy. In the Hard Mode ending to Clockwork Knight 2, Pepper and Chelsea get married and have a celebration with the rest of Toyland.

Trivia

 * Pepper appears in Segagaga as one of Tarō Sega's allies and joins the fight against Dogma at the end of the game.
 * Pepper appears in the Sega Freaks Card Collection as Card #80.
 * Pepper's first name, Tongara, is derived from the word togarashi (Japanesse for "chili pepper"), and Pepperouchau is based on the spice pepper.
 * According to a 1995 developer interview with Noriyoshi Oba, Tongara states that he is "26...more or less!", making him the only Clockwork Knight character with a known age.