Pepper

Spoiler Alert!!!This Article Contains Spoilers from the Upcoming Installment!!

**Pepper** or **Pepper Hollowtree (Formerly Pepper Tallcrag)** - is a young male giant panda.

After Ghost exiles him from the Prosperhill, he meets Leaf and Dasher and convinces them to recruit him into their group after claiming to be the third triplet. After reuniting with the Darkpool Pandas (Who have renamed themselves Hollowtree), Goji arrives soon after and upon recognizing Pepper as her cub, Leaf and Dasher realize that they’ve been tricked. However, Leaf forgives Pepper for his deception and allows him and his mother to join the Hollowtree Group. Pepper rejoins the Prosperhill Group alongside his mother the following month.

## Description

Pepper has the typical black and white markings of his species. Despite being close in age to Ghost, Pepper is said to be much smaller than him. His upper grip pad is chewed off.
## Personality

Pepper is a pathological liar. However he isn't as skilled a manipulator as Dusk.
When Ghost was assigned to look after Pepper and integrate him, he found Pepper's stories about his past and alleged siblings, suspicious and unconvincing. For example whenever Pepper mentioned his supposed siblings, he never referred to them by name and always referred to them in a unit. For example, he always referred to his "littermates" as "my siblings". Pepper never said anything like "[Sibling A] did this" nor did he say "[Sibling B] said that".
When Pepper convinced Leaf that he was her brother, Dasher wasn’t entirely convinced that Pepper was related to Leaf nor was as he noticed that Pepper’s claims regarding Rain’s whereabouts contradicted each other while finding Pepper’s claim that he could remember things from when he was a baby too good to be true.
Pepper is occasionally shown to lack common sense. As shown when Dusk demands Pepper to reveal the identities of his so-called siblings, he simply acknowledge them as pandas as if he expected that to satisfy him and didn't seem to be fully aware how much danger he was in when Dusk attacked him even though he left major injuries.
Despite his flaws, Pepper isn’t truly an evil panda, but rather a socially inept individual who struggles to understand that lying is wrong and doesn’t fully understand why he himself likes to lie. When Goji informed Leaf and Dasher that Pepper is her own son rather than a triplet, Pepper expresses remorse for misleading Leaf and Dasher and wishes to make amends with the pair.
When Leaf and Rain travel through the White Spine, they run into Pepper who warns the pair about Dusk and subsequently leads the latter away from the sisters. When Ghost was accused of Pebble's murder, Pepper was the only panda who believed Ghost when the latter denied being at fault.
## History

### *Pre-Series*

> Pepper was born to Goji Tallcrag a year before the events of the series. The moment Pepper began to talk, Goji noticed that her son already displayed symptoms of a pathological liar.
> One month before the events of the series, unknown circumstances separated Pepper from his mother.
>
>

### *River of Secrets*

Pepper arrives at the Prosperhill and introduces himself to Sunset and Ghost. Pepper claims to be a triplet who got separated from his family. After Sunset welcomes Pepper into the Prosperhill community, he reveals his suspicions regarding Pepper to Ghost and assigns the latter to keep and eye on Pepper. As Ghost spends time with Pepper, he finds that the latter is indeed hiding something as whenever Ghosts asks Pepper about his alleged littermates, the latter doesn't give Ghost much detail about his past. Ghost mentally notes that Pepper's discussion of his past is incredibly vague and never mentions his siblings by name or apart. When Sunset arrives to integrate Pepper, he demands the latter to be more open about his so-called littermates. Once again Pepper's answers are vague and unsatisfying. Instead of giving a more detailed answer, Pepper tells Ghost and Sunset that his "siblings" are both pandas and the names he gives them aren't convincing either.
After Sunset and Pepper leave, Shiver arrives and criticizes Ghost for intimidating Pepper alongside Sunset. Ghost tells Shiver that he and Sunset want to make sure Pepper didn't have any sinister plans against the bamboo kingdom. Shiver however remains unconvinced as she realizes that Sunset isn't as friendly as he makes himself out to be. Shiver reveals that she overheard Sunset slander Ghost by telling Ginseng and another panda that Ghost "is bloodthirsty, but too stupid to pose a threat". Ghost is stricken with disbelief, as Sunset was not only friendly towards him but taught him how to be a panda. Shiver warns that Sunset is only pretending to be Ghost's friend in order to manipulate the latter. Ghost however concludes that Shiver is only jealous that he'd found a place to belong. Shiver states that isn't the case but makes no further attempt to sway Ghost after he stubbornly refuses to believe her. Shiver tells Ghost that she's returning to the White Spine and suggests that Ghost should return to the mountains once he realizes Sunset's true colors. When Sunset becomes fed up with Pepper's fibs, Ghost witnesses the Dragon Speaker confront Pepper. Pepper doesn't seem intimidated by Sunset and suggests that Sunset is the liar much to the latter's rage. Sunset then attacks Pepper much to Ghost horror. After Sunset orders Ghost to finish Pepper off, Ghost realizes that not only is Sunset a liar but he was at fault for Plum's death. However, Ghost pretends to follow Sunset's orders to maintain the latter's trust. When Ghost finds Pepper, the latter confesses that he doesn't have siblings, Ghost responds that he doesn't care if Pepper is a triplet or not, but insists that he leave the Prosperhill and never return. When Ghost returns to the Prosperhill, he finds that the other pandas have concluded that he harmed and possibly killed Pepper. When Ghost returns to Sunset, he lies that he killed Pepper. Pepper bit off his grip pad, planning to lie to the real triplets that he is their other triplet. Back in the Northern Forest, Pepper comes across Leaf and Dasher and successfully lies that he is Leaf's brother. Convinced that Pepper is telling the truth, Leaf and Dasher allow Pepper to join their group before heading to the Prosperhill to collect Rain.
### *Journey to the Dragon Mountain*

Pepper leads Leaf and Dasher away from the Prosperhill under the pretext that Rain had left on her own accord. Leaf believes Pepper but when the latter’s lies begin contradicting each other Dasher becomes suspicious of Pepper.
A few days into their journey, the group stumbles upon a dead forest. As Pepper leads Leaf and Dasher into forest, the group is subsequently ambushed by Brawnshank’s scouts who recognize Pepper before making their departure. This causes Dasher to become even more suspicious of Pepper. When Dasher tells Leaf about his suspicions, Leaf accuses Dasher of being paranoid though she does agree that Pepper’s behavior is unusual. The group makes their way back to the Northern Forest where they reunited with the Darkpool Pandas (Currently Dubbed Hollowtree) and the red pandas. Leaf introduces Pepper as her “brother” and together they participate in a feast. During the feast, an unnamed female panda stumbles upon the feast. There the she-bear recognizes Pepper as her son, Leaf concludes that the female panda is her own mother, Orchid Risingtree based on the lies Pepper told her. When Leaf addresses Pepper’s mother as Orchid, the latter realizes that Leaf had been tricked. Pepper’s mother introduces herself as Goji and informs that she and Pepper got separated a month earlier. Realizing that she’d been lied to Leaf informs the Hollowtrees and the red pandas that Pepper is not her brother but a pathological lair. In response the Hollowtree Pandas and Red Pandas demand Pepper’s banishment. However Goji and Leaf oppose this idea not be they condone Pepper’s actions but because it’s not entirely Pepper’s fault that he’s a liar.
### *The Dark Sun*

Pepper rejoins the Prosperhill with Goji in tow.
Pepper builds his nest on top of Blossom and Ginseng's much to the chagrin of the pair. Pepper claims that he didn't think Blossom nor Ginseng would mind, showing his inability to break his habit of lying. Ghost informs Pepper that it's not polite to ransack other pandas' nests. Blossom then shoves Pepper out of the nest and Goji demands that Blossom leave her child alone.

Later Pepper informs Leaf that a Pallas Cat and her litter need her help.