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working-dreamer · 1 year

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The Person Within: An Analysis Of Professor Layton's Hidden Character Development

Spoilers for practically all of the Layton games!

Hershel Layton as a character is sometimes criticized outside of the fandom for having no personality other than his gentlemanly nature and taking the concept of enjoying puzzles to the extreme.

While I think this criticism shows a blatant misunderstanding to his character, I do think from a different angle that perspective makes Professor Layton more interesting.

Think about it. Most of his personality is taken from the tragedy of those around him. Randall was the one who was originally obsessed with archaeology and puzzles. Claire was the one who originally perceived Hershel as a gentleman (thus giving him the idea.) We don’t really see Layton take these aspects of his personality onto himself until tragedy strikes and these people are taken away from his life.

In the case of Randall's death, Hershel blamed himself for surviving and moved out of town because of his self-loathing and guilt. And when Claire disappeared Layton paused his studies for an unknown amount of time trying to find out what happened until he was beaten into a coma by a group of people associated with her death.

And yet instead of grieving like you’d normally expect from a person who lost his best friend and girlfriend, he internalized their interests and aspects of their personalities into himself. He wears their passions and dreams as his own to remember them. In a way, he’s always reminding himself that he couldn’t save them.

However one might wonder how Layton really feels about those things outside of his previous losses. Does Layton even enjoy archeology and puzzles? Or is it something he has grown to accept in his life simply because he is living out Randall’s dream? Does he feel like he has a choice in the matter?

I can easily imagine Layton having doubts deep within himself: Randall didn’t get to live and it’s my fault. His dreams should live on. I don’t deserve anything else.

Same with Claire. She saw him as a gentleman but he certainly didn’t feel like one after her disappearance if his memory of events is to be taken seriously. How long did it take for him to turn into the perfect gentleman? Especially if it's just a painful reminder of her loss?

It’s probably after waking up from his coma that he starts to really embrace the idea that he has to be the perfect gentleman because he knows he can never get her back. So all he can do is embrace what she thought of him before she died. So with all of this in mind is Layton’s gentlemanly persona genuine to who he is as a person? Or is it just a persona created in order to keep her memory alive?

Layton has kept the shadows of his lost loved ones close to his heart for years and probably would have always done so had he never gotten any closure. However, when Randall turned out to be alive Layton now has the opportunity to let go of that guilt. Claire came back in the future momentarily and Layton got to say goodbye. He no longer needs to keep their personal traits as his own.

So why does he still embody Randall's passion for archeology and puzzles and Claire's perspective that he's the perfect gentleman?

I think it's because Layton doesn't know who he is without these borrowed parts of his personality. Without those aspects that he adopted into himself… who is Hershel Layton? Deep down he is someone who has silently mourned his loved ones and repressed those emotions. And yet most of his life has been embodying said grief. It makes me wonder if Layton would ever look deep within himself and realize that he doesn’t have anything to claim as his own. His entire personality revolves around past guilt and trauma from people he loved and lost.

Shoot even his name isn’t his own! Hershel Layton was actually the name belonging to his brother and in a moment of sacrifice switched names so our Layton could be adopted. So our Layton loses the only family member he has left without even knowing who that is for the majority of his life!

So we have a man who feels guilt and remorse for the deaths of his best friend and his girlfriend so he doesn’t allow himself to develop his own interests and personality because he doesn’t feel like he deserves to be his own person. It's even implied that he believed for a time that he didn't deserve to be the one who survived the events that killed his best friend and girlfriend. And then adding to the fact that he never knew his real family so he most likely felt a different kind of loss by not knowing where he came from. All and all we find a man that feels alone and tries to make it right by embodying the traits of those he cared about.

We don’t get to see Layton develop his thoughts on all of this but we do see an interesting development later on. I’d like to think that Layton slowly began to heal after his adventures thanks to adopting Katrielle in the anime.

This is because, for the first time in Layton’s life, he had a family to look after. Someone who doesn't need a mystery-solving archeologist or a perfect gentleman detective. Someone who doesn't need the grand "Professor Layton." This little girl just needs someone to be her father and, while he tries his best, he doesn't really know how to do that.

Sure he had a familial relationship with Luke and Flora, but he never called himself their father. I don’t think he allowed himself that privilege because of all the self-loathing he had been dealing with before. When he adopts Kat it feels like it’s the first time we see Layton truly allowing himself to be a father figure. And yet he is still uncertain about if he should be the one in this role.

Layton feels like his adopted daughter should know where she came from (something he didn’t get to have) before he can start thinking of himself as a father. He’s scared that if he gets attached then it'll hurt worse when she eventually returns to her own family should she decide that is her wish. But if he finds her family first then he doesn’t have the go through that heartache. He wants to find them first so she can make an informed decision.

And he says this with the logic that he always had as “Professor Layton” with that calm and collected smile. Notice that he says "I want to solve this puzzle so that we can become a true family." He doesn't say "so that we will become a true family." It’s almost as if he is going to let Kat decide if she wants to stay with him or go back to her real parents and that choice will be up to her. However, it's somewhat implied that he already thinks that she would naturally choose her real parents if she had the opportunity.

Despite his wishes to be her father, he still seems to be internally preparing himself to say goodbye (hence why he disappeared for so long in the first place.) He just doesn’t want to get too close to another person only to lose them and suffer alone again.

It makes sense why he is distancing himself, but he’ll still solve the mystery. It's what “Professor Layton” would do and he’ll have to accept whatever happens once Kat learns the truth. He doubts that she would still see him as her dad if she could be with her real parents. He doesn't even know himself outside of the role of "Professor Layton" so how can he be a true father to her? She'll go away with her real family eventually anyway. Why would anyone choose him?

And yet when he sees her again Layton is surprised when she immediately cries out for him. She still calls him papa. She wants him to be her papa.

In a public display of overwhelming emotion, we see Layton openly weep for the first time. He is so overcome by these emotions and for once doesn't repress them. He's just so happy to see his daughter again (to truly call Kat his daughter again) and allows himself to fully express those feelings for perhaps the first time in decades.

If Layton from the original game trilogy saw himself like this he would have been mortified by this “un-gentlemanly” behavior. His mindset back then was that a gentleman never cries because he has trouble coming to terms with his emotions. He even chastised Luke in Unwound Future because “a gentleman never makes a scene in public.”

However, he was never a gentleman for himself. It was always for holding onto the guilt of losing his loved ones while trying to honor their memories at the same time. But he doesn’t have to hold himself to those impossible standards anymore. He no longer blames himself for their deaths, he found closure, and now he has found himself in a family who chooses to love him not because of those attributes “Professor Layton” embodied, but because she loves him for the person hidden under that persona. And that is enough for Layton to openly weep as he embraces his child.

I believe Kat's words here helped Layton more than she'll ever know.

So who is Hershel Layton if he’s not a gentleman or a fan of archeology?

The solution to that puzzle is really quite simple.

He is a caring person. And that’s all he ever needs to be.

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101flavoursofweird · 7 months

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The thing I love about Kat and Ernest’s relationship

Kat grew up not just in the shadow of her father, but her older sister (the Golden Apple, Professor Layton’s protege), her older brother (who became a police inspector), her uncle Luke (Layton’s apprentice), Emmy (Number One Assistant) and Desmond (Azran-expert Professor Sycamore), etc. etc…

Basically Kat comes from a family of clever, cool, sophisticated, capable characters, and it would be so easy for her, as the youngest child, to feel overshadowed. (Not that her family would purposely make Kat feel like that! But it’s probably inevitable when your father is THE Professor Layton!)

It’s possible little Kat appeared in the papers alongside her father— if the Professor was even taking on new cases at that point… but any fame Kat did have would be in connection to her father. Then, Layton and Luke disappear when Kat is ten. Would the public even remember the name of Professor Layton’s youngest child? (How many archaeologists can you remember by name? Not fictional ones. Can you remember the names of their children?)

By the time Kat opens her detective agency, at he age of 21, no one (outside of her family and close friends) seems to know who she is. You’d think people working at Scotland Yard would know Kat— her older brother works there— but the average police office like Inspector Hastings doesn’t recognise Kat when she first turns up at his office. (As seen in Ernest’s flashback!) In fact, Hastings seems to resent her!

When Madame Gretchin Doublée requests the assistance of a ‘Layton’, she expects the Professor himself to arrive at her house— but instead, she gets his young parvenu daughter.

We see a similar incident in the first episode of the anime, when Simon Light turns up at the Layton Detective Agency, insisting he wants Professor Layton’s help… much to Kat’s irritation.

It’s safe to say that before she opened her detective agency, Kat was just a nondescript girl in the eyes of the general public.

Sherl is Kat’s first ‘client’ when she opens her detective agency, but before that… Kat helped a young man accused of theft at Gressenheller.

Ernest is a complete stranger to Kat. When they first meet, the only obvious connection the two share is their association to Gressenheller. Ernest mentions that he often encounters bad luck (which, I suppose Kat could relate to with her family) but other than that, Ernest doesn’t recognise Kat or her last name. He claims he chose to attend Gressenheller because his favourite professor (Dr. Ohm) taught classes there— and I believe that. I don’t believe Ernest masterminded a whole plan where he would bump into Hershel Layton’s daughter and she would expose the dragons for him. (Though, this is a cool take and I’d love to read something like that!) Maybe Ernest started developing his plans to bring down the Seven Dragons— keeping his intentions hidden from Kat— when Kat was taking on cases from the Dragons… but his first meeting with Kat was complete coincidence.

The day they met, Kat’s sole pure intention wasn’t to help Ernest out of the goodness of her heart. She was on her way to the university anyway, so she let Ernest accompany her. She may have solved the case partly to boost her own reputation and to stick it to Hastings… but she was still kind was kind to Ernest and, in the end, she cleared his name. No wonder she left such an impression on him!

After that, Ernest decides to drop everything and dedicate himself to the girl who saved him. He pronounces himself Miss Layton’s assistant and seeks her out at her detective agency. Yes, Ernest can be a little obsessive and Kat tells Sherl she doesn’t need an assistant, but actually… she really could use an assistant. Ernest makes her tea. He solves puzzles with her. He reminds her to pay rent. He carries her bags for her. He compliments her outfits. He’s indulges Kat’s wild theories. He’s like her personal cheerleader.

Kat— the overlooked, youngest Layton— LOVES this. She loves having someone to hype her up. She loves how someone (outside of her family) finally recognises her worth. She loves having a friend, who would do anything for her.

Yes, she would be hurt by Ernest’s deception, but she forgives him. When Ernest tries to resign as her assistant and leave her forever, did he really believe Kat would let him go, after the losses she had experienced in the past? (Her father, Luke, Alfendi in hospital…)

Nope.

#professor layton #katrielle layton #ernest greeves #Layton’s mystery journey #Lmj #character analysis #I guess?#Katnest #I guess???#This still works if they’re platonic

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