Thievius Raccoonus

Anyone who read it learned to be especially sneaky. That's why we specialize in stealing from criminals. After all, there's no honor, no challenge, no fun in stealing from ordinary people. You rip off a master criminal, and you know you're a master thief.
― Sly describing the Thievius Raccoonus

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The Thievius Raccoonus as it appears in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves.

The Thievius Raccoonus is an ancient tome that acts as both a handbook describing many of the skills of the Cooper Clan, and an ancient record of events, such as heists, that involved or affected the members of the Clan. It has been handed down from parent to child throughout the centuries. The current holder of the Thievius Raccoonus is Bentley, as Sly Cooper is trapped in Egypt sometime in the past.

History

Slytunkhamen Cooper began writing the Thievius Raccoonus sometime before 1300 B.C., filling it with stories of his exploits stealing from corrupt pharaohs and greedy noblemen, as well as the instructions of how to use his ability of invisibility. He eventually handed the book down to his son, Slytunkhamen the second, who also filled the book with his own adventures, though it is unknown whether or not he recorded or even created any abilities.

As time went on and the book was passed down, many other Coopers filled the book with their knowledge, eventually making it what it is now.

Theft and Reclamation

The night Sly Cooper was meant to inherit the book from his father, five strangers came to their home, killed his parents, and stole the book, dividing its pages among themselves. The mastermind of the theft, Clockwerk, allowed Sly to live to prove to the world that without the book, the Coopers were nothing.

After 10 years, Sly Cooper, with help from his friends, tracked down the criminals and recovered the Thievius Raccoonus, piece by piece, eventually defeating Clockwerk and freeing his family of a menace that was as old, if not older, than the Coopers themselves. Afterwards, Sly began recording his own adventures in the great book.

New Adventures

After Sly left the life of a thief behind to strike up a relationship with his law-women love-interest, Inspector Carmelita Fox, Bentley began to take care of the book, becoming the first non-Cooper in known history to write in the Thievius Raccoonus. As Bentley and his girlfriend, Penelope, worked on a time machine, the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus began to disappear, beginning the events of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. This forced Sly to join back up with the gang, forgoing his simple life as partner and boyfriend of Carmelita.

The gang headed back in time, leaving the book in the care of Dimitri Lousteau in the present, eventually completely preventing the effacement of its contents. The Thievius Raccoonus is currently in the care of Bentley, who is still decoding all that it has to offer as Sly is trapped in Ancient Egypt.

List of known techniques in the Thievius Raccoonus

• Dive - An ability that allows a Cooper to roll forward while spinning their cane. Can also be done in mid-air to slam to ground.
• Roll - An ability that allows a Cooper to curl into a ball, and roll along the ground at incredible speeds. Can also be electrified to damage any enemies.
• Slow - An ability that allows a Cooper to slow down time while on the ground or in the air, increasing response time.
• Coin Magnetism - An ability that allows a Cooper to pick up coins and other pickups from farther away than before.
• Ninja Spire Jump - An ability that allows a Cooper to balance on any small point without falling.
• Mine - An ability that allows a Cooper to throw their hat down, then detonate it with a lethal explosion.
• Fast - An ability that allows a Cooper to speed up time when on long stake-outs.
• Water Safety - An ability that allows a Cooper to take no damage from falling into otherwise lethal water.
• Decoy - An ability that allows a Cooper to throw out a decoy of his or herself to confuse guards into attacking it.
• Rail Walk and Slide - An ability that allows a Cooper to walk or slide on rails.
• Computer Hacking - An ability that allows a Cooper to hack into computer security systems and obtain delicate information.
• Invisibility - An ability that allows a Cooper to turn invisible if an enemy does not already know that they are there.
• Defy Gravity - An ability that allows a Cooper to take no damage from an otherwise lethal fall.
• Stun - An ability that allows a Cooper to freeze all guards in the vicinity for a short amount of time.
• Disguises, Deception, and Charm - Abilities that allow a Cooper to hide in plain sight with disguises, as well as be able to get information, or simply get past someone, without drawing much attention to themselves.
• Crawl - An ability that allows a Cooper to sneak under tables or through vents, completely avoiding detection.

Other Contents

As previously mentioned, the Thievius Raccoonus contains details on almost everything relating to the Cooper Clan.

• Vehicle Enhancements by Otto van Cooper
• Diagrams of what appear to be measurements for Sly's cane
• An image of a Cooper bringing a cane down to strike
• The proper arc for attacking with a cane
• A picture of a lock, possibly a diagram on how to pick them
• Several pictures of thief masks
• The icons for Sly, Bentley and Murray
• Pictures of Sly's most distinguished ancestors, all of which have Clockwerk flying in the background
• Biographies of the members of the Fiendish Five.
• Check-marks for mission objectives, only seen in Sly 2

List of techniques not in the Thievius Raccoonus

Several members of the Cooper Clan developed techniques that were not included in the book. In addition, adventures of Cooper's existing before Slytunkhamen the first were not recorded.

A partial list of other techniques is as follows:

• Various members of the Cooper Clan
  • Stealth Slam/Silent Obliteration - An ability that allows a Cooper to take down an enemy with one quick motion if they have not already been detected.
  • Charge Attack - An ability that allows a Cooper to charge up their cane and use it to attack with a variety of different moves ranging from spinning to leaping in the air and slamming their cane down.
  • Combo Attack - An ability that allows a Cooper to attack with a much stronger hit while in combat.
  • Hook Launch - An ability that allows a Cooper to latch onto Wall Hooks with their cane, then pull pack and launch themselves high in the air.
• Rioichi Cooper
  • Leaping Dragon Technique - An ability that allowed Rioichi to leap great distances from a small point.
• Sir Galleth Cooper
  • Catapult Crash Technique - An ability that allowed Sir Galleth to break through barriers while doing a hook launch.
  • Shield Dash - An ability that allows Sir Galleth to produce a shield that can be used to ram into enemies, causing heavy damage.
• Salim Al-Kupar
  • Cobra Climb Technique - An ability that allowed Salim to rapidly climb ropes and poles. Often used to avoid breaking chains or cobra's that rapidly climb the pole after him.
• "Tennessee Kid" Cooper
  • Crackshot Technique - An ability that allows Tennessee to target multiple objects or enemies and fire at them all with pinpoint accuracy.
• Sly's Father
  • Laser Slide - An ability that allows Sly's Father, and eventually Sly, to jump onto and slide along certain lasers. Sly was able to figure it out while exploring his father's section of the Cooper Vault.

Physical Description

The Thievius Raccoonus is a leather-bound book with gold corners and a gold lock on the right side. On the front cover is the Cooper symbol, book-ended by the "T" and "S" of the word "Thievius" which lies below in gold, and "Raccoonus" below that in blue. It has visible aging, as there are circles of red rot in some places. It also has a blue ribbon bookmark.

Trivia

• The manuals included with the original PlayStation 2 trilogy are designed to look like the "Thievius Raccoonus", aging more and more with each release.
• There is no mention made of Clockwerk, though he is clearly visible in all of the ancestor's pictures. It is possible that the section of the book that Clockwerk stole contained information on him, as it was never recovered in-game.
• In Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, if a character other than Sly is hovered over in the Safe House, Sly may pull out the Thievius Raccoonus and start to read it.
• The Thievius Raccoonus makes appearances in another series by Sucker Punch Productions, inFAMOUS.
  • In the mission 'Torn' of inFAMOUS 2, Zeke Dunbar, Cole's best friend, can be seen reading the Thievius Raccoonus in a cutscene.
  • In inFAMOUS Second Son at least four different versions of the Thievius Raccoonus appear in Abigail "Fetch" Walker's "assassin's den." Each one look different, and they are all labeled as "collections", such as collection 5, 6, and 8. There is one more copy, but the collection number cannot be read as it is hidden under collection 5.
• Even though the art and renders of Sucker Punch for the Thievius Raccoonus show it having a blue bookmark, art released by Sanzaru shows it with a red one.
  • In addition to this, the text on the cover has changed several times in the series' history.

Gallery

Sir Raleigh of The Fiendish Five stealing the Cooper legacy

Sly Cooper the day he was to inherit the Thievius Raccoonus

A young Sly reading the Thievius Raccoonus

Thievius Raccoonus

Sly holding the recovered Thievius Raccoonus

Thievius Raccoonus in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

Zeke Dunbar holding the The Thievius Raccoonus

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