Li Ping

Li Ping, also known as The Serpent, is a member of the Council, the owner of the casino Hydra, a hair stylist, stalker, expert hand-to-hand combatant, and martial artist. He tends to mess with the minds of his biological family and their friends. He was born in 1992 to Sue and Alfred Ping while they lived in Korea, and is the biological older brother of Lee Ping. He is voiced by Karl Ang.

Personality

The Serpent is a man of great mystery. He is almost always seen in a mysterious fashion, and acts the part. Though he talks the second least amount out of all of the Council members in season 3 (with only the Leader having talked less than him) the times he did talk shows that he is quite unique and mysterious. In season 4 more of his personality was shown and his character began to develop.

Corndog Day Afternoon — "The Serpent" spying on Lee and his family

His mannerisms and voice also gives him a suave demeanor, there are instances where this demeanor breaks apart completely and he reveals a much more complex individual. According to Holger, the Serpent has no love and has only known a life of sadness (Splitting Hairs).

There are instances where he can withhold information for his own benefit, showing that he is not a devoted follower to the council, or at least has his own agenda to follow, which once again only furthers his mysteriousness. He may have some concern for Lee, or at least Lee's activities. As when Finnwich hid the book in the episode "Follow that Finnwich", the Serpent saw Lee recover the book. But he chose not to reveal that information to his boss, Cassandra.

The Serpent has also shown that he holds great pride in his martial arts skills taunting Lee by saying that "Even half-blind I am still 10 times the warrior that you are." So it can be concluded that he sees Lee as a rival for unknown reasons. Possibly hinting at a complex at Lee for knowing the family that he never did. However this pride sometimes leans towards arrogance to the point that he even revealed his identity right after he had gotten a strand of Lee's hair. This and a DNA test he preformed at the end of "Splitting Hairs" seems to imply that his interest in Lee may be more self-beneficial.

He is a very good gamer, and enjoys such things very much. There is a bit of a sadistic side to him, when he teased Biffy, Holger, and Cam about being eaten by a snake, and scaring them to play fifty-two pickup. Further demonstrating his sadism was when he enjoyed tormenting Lee in a game of cat and mouse beneath his casino.

He is also an expert manipulator, and seems to have a penchant for convoluted plots. He has shown to be quite the lady's man when the need arises as well. He offered Jenny Jenkins a ride to school, just to initiate an outbreak of head lice and acquire a strand of Lee's hair so he can preform DNA tests on the hair. However when something unexpected comes along the Serpent shows a side to him that tends to panic when a random factor throws his plots off course showing that despite his pride and arrogance he is not above recognizing a dangerous situation when one arises.

History

The baby who would one day become known as "The Serpent" was born in 1992 to Sue and Alfred Ping in Korea. At least two pictures of his infancy were taken before, at the behest of His Eminence, the young baby Li was abducted by Cassandra who was then put in charge of training him to be the council's personal enforcer. On his first mission he earned the nickname "The Serpent". Early on in his work he got his hands on an ancient medallion that has a Tatzelwurm-representing Red-and Blue Yin-Yang design. Though this part of his early life is clear, there are still unknown points in time in what he did, either taking over or opening up his own Casino; getting a pet Snake who he then trained; and discovering his true origins from His Eminence after which he began to conspire against Cassandra for robbing him of his family.

Season 2

During Victoria's demonstration of her brainwashing research the Serpent was present and watching the demonstration unaffected by the Prank Song's effects. When his brother stopped the plot of the vice principal he moved to capture her and take her away with the other council members to Coral Grove.

Season 3

When the Blue Cyborg Tatzelwurms began to malfunction the Serpent moved to defeat them all with ease, while jokingly making a coin-flip statement in the process. He retreated when the replicated key exploded covering the council's escape.

Season 4

In season 4 he started to become a much more recurring antagonist.

Abilities

When first shown in the Dance part 2, he grabbed and detailed Vice Principle Victoria with just one hand. This instance also showed immunity to the prank song and thus shows he can't be brainwashed.

The Serpent tends to take on an enforcer role in the council. He has shown to be able of great physical and superhuman feats, capable of taking down five blue Tazelwurms without much difficulty, and fend off several more while he and the rest of the council escape. ("All That Taz"). He has shown to have reflexes and agility as well as precision that outmatch Biffy Goldstein. ("The Hydra"). He has also shown considerably high jumping skills ("Splitting Hairs") and agility and speed to match. He can also drive a motorcycle.

As the owner of the Hydra Casino, he has absolute authority over the operation that it entails, regardless of anything that anyone else can do about it, and even if it breaks the law, ("The Hydra"), as seen when he ordered three minors into his personal office to gamble despite it being illegal.

He is an expert in several types of games and is very good at them.

His duties within the Council are not simply limited to enforcement however, and his jack-of-all trades skill set make him a valued asset, even earning the respect of Cassandra McAdams, something that she has not shown to give to the other members, (at least not the unnamed woman and her brother). However from the beginning he was been working behind her back at the behest of the council's true leader and even though she eventually found out, he still kept it hidden for a considerable amount of time before being discovered. The fact that the council leader himself has a good deal of faith in his abilities speaks but volumes of what the serpent is capable of.

He seems to be a good stylist, as he styled Mrs. Ping's hair, as well as a stalker and cameraman, keeping tabs on Lee's family without their knowledge for weeks, and it was not until Lee spied it through his camera that he discovered this ("Splitting Hairs").

In addition, he is an expert at covert and espionage. He disguised himself as a nurse to check for lice, and the fact that he could do that seems to suggest at least some medical knowledge in regards to the scalp on his part ("Splitting Hairs").

The Serpent is a very good planner, manipulator and thinker, performing convoluted and effective plans all for a grand and larger scheme of his and the council's. He caused an outbreak of lice just to get a sample of Lee's DNA (Splitting Hairs). When his plans start to fall apart he can improvise as well, blending into a crowd, and jumping into an air vent for example.

He has a pet snake named Priscilla that he has trained to do extremely difficult tasks.

Weaknesses

The Serpent is reasonably over confident in his abilities and often underestimates his opponents. Additionally, he is severely allergic to fish, swelling quite severely whenever fish or fish products are applied on his skin. Apparently these rashes are short-lived however. He shares the Fish allergy with Alfred Ping. This and other similarities suggest a relationship between the two but Lee doesn't have fish allergies.

Gallery

Relationships

Lee Ping: They are biological brothers, but The Serpent hates Lee possibly for getting the tattoo over his birthmark that Alfred Ping gave Lee instead of him. This jealousy extends to the point that he is not above ambushing Lee underground or tormenting Lee's friends who try to help him (Lee). He has even attacked his brother on more than one occasion, but still seems to have a certain amount of concern for him, allowing him to keep the book while lying to his superiors about it despite the risk, and later when he was ready to reveal his betrayal he rescued Lee's friends. Lee showed concern over his defeat at Casandra's hands.
Alfred Ping: In Mummy Ping and the Snake Man of Evil, Alfred is revealed to be the Serpent's biological father.
Sue Ping: Serpent's biological mother's clone.
Cassandra McAdams: She is the Serpent's boss as she is head of the Council. While she does show some respect for him, it is only for his usefulness to her. Likewise, the Serpent may see Cassandra as a means to his own ends as well. In Band of Heroes, in a fight between her and the Serpent, they reveal that Cassandra raised him after he was taken from his real family. She even taught him how to fight, but only used him to make him into a personal assassin for her means. Cassandra did not know he was Lee's brother.
Priscilla: The only person (though a snake) that he shows any kind of true affection for.
Jenny Jerkins: The Serpent stole her bike and befriended Jenny in order to get the book about the Pyramid by orders of the Council. After which he left her stranded in the woods. In Mummy Ping and the Snake Man of Evil, he mockingly tells a patient he mistakes for Mr. Ping that "there is a girl that I like, but I don't know if she likes me."
Carl Brocher/His Eminence: Revealed the Serpent's identity to him. He may or may not have had the Serpent separated from his family to begin with, but he did arrange for Cassandra to be in charge of his care. The Serpent becomes his co-conspirator to get revenge on Cassandra. When he is captured His Eminence orders Cassandra to release him.

Trivia

When he played the games with Biffy, Cam, and Holger, he told them (or rather implied that) if they lost they would be food to his pet snake. This is impossible, for a snake of that size to eat a humans of the size of Holger, Biffy or Cam (mainly Biffy), meaning that he was probably just messing with them.
He bears a strong resemblance to Lee Ping; similar body structure and physical structure. He also bears a resemblance to his grandfather Lo Ping making him the closest member of his family to resemble him.
The Serpent has a blue strand of hair that contrasts Lee's red part. This is a recurring colouration sense the start of the series, most notably in the Tatzelwurms, the back of the mysterious book (The Red and Blue Tatzelwurms in the shape of the Ying-Yang symbol) and the pyramid's colour scheme switching from red to blue. As of yet it is unknown if this has anything to do with a larger plot, but this is rather symbolic and likewise empathizes the connection between the brothers, yet being on opposite sides, one being the council's enforcer trying to conceal their actions and the other investigating and reveal them.
It appears that Lee, The Serpent and Alfred are based off of the Korean Deities Sobyeol, Daebyeol, and their father, Cheonjiwang. Sobyeol had a competition with his elder brother Daebyeol to see who would rule the mortal world and nether worlds respectively. Sobyeol became the ruler of the mortal world
The Serpent in the house
Cutting hair and talking on the phone
The Serpent and Jenny
The Serpent on a picnic
Negotiating for his release
which reflects Lee Ping living a normal life until the prank, while Daebyeol ruled the netherworld befitting the Serpent's role as an assassin.
The cloned Mrs. Ping (Sue Ping) referred to The Serpent as 'hot' in episode, Fight or Flight.
In the episode 'The Hydra' when Biffy, Cam and Holger get intimidated by his snake, he tells them not to mind 'him'(the snake), but later says to Cam 'I've noticed 'she' really likes you'.
In Enter the Serpent, he calls his snake "Priscilla".
He makes an appearance in the season 3 trailer towards the end as Lee walks into the school.
He is allergic to fish.
At the end of the episode Splitting Hairs he gets a strand of Lee Pings hair and says "he knows and that he finally found Lee" which must mean he has been searching for Lee Ping for a while for reasons unknown. In Serpent Strike, The Serpent calls Lee "a half-rate copy of me", suggesting that Lee is The Serpents clone. Then in Mummy Ping And The Snake Man Of Evil he calls Lee "Bro", speculating that the Serpent might likely be Lee's older brother.
In Mummy Ping And The Snake Man Of Evil, it was revealed that he is 5 years older than Lee, because he was born in 1992.
He is on Lee's side as of Band Of Heroes. Because he was actually working undercover for Cassandra, a fight issued between them revealing that it was Cassandra that trained him to be on her side all along so because the Serpent betrayed her she had him sent off to Coral Grove.
Charles Johnston, co-creator of the show, confirmed on Twitter that his first name was Li