#I’m still just trying to figure out Bronev here

[quibbs126]

You know how Descole described Targent as being like a cult, at least when his parents were abducted?

I know he meant in the fact that they were small but incredibly dedicated, but I wonder just how true that sentiment really is

[dazais-guardian-angel]

☕️+ what things do you wish they did with descole (because I am weak and he’s my fave)

Apologies for the late reply to this; tbh I almost didn’t want to answer it, cause I feel like nothing I’ll say will be something others haven’t already discussed (especially since I just saw you asked someone else this same question), and also I’ve only ever played the prequels once back when they first came out and I haven’t reached them again in my replay yet, so I’m not fresh on everything done with his character and all the Azran/Targent stuff. But nonetheless:

In general, obviously, I wish Desmole’s character “arc” if you can even call it that as it is now + plot twists/identity had been much more fleshed out from the get-go and consistent with who they ultimately made him be, that is, Hershel’s brother and someone who never should have legitimately wanted to hurt him or people close to him. While I think the worst of this really only comes out in Eternal Diva, where he literally tries to swordfight Hershel to death and kill Luke on one occasion cause he goes insane once Hershel out-puzzles him, there really just should have been more nuance to him in the first two entries especially (and in Miracle Mask too of course, but he’s barely in that game so) where he shows some level of frustration and hesitance to go up against Hershel and his crew, even if he still does so because he absolutely has to carry out his revenge plan. Just SIGNS that there’s more to this guy than just a walking one-dimensional mysterious deadly flamboyant badass, beyond just Hershel going “hm he feels familiar”, like no of course that’s not near enough. Even if Desmole’s true identity still wasn’t going to be revealed until Azran Legacy, there still needed to be hints, breaks in his facade/character, hesitation, signs of remorse, even if some of these hints are not outright foreshadowing to a familial relationship/desire for revenge. He could still lose it in Eternal Diva, but just make it seem more desperate and broken, and less kill-crazy. Give him moments of humanization, show that Descole can be kind, such as around Melina or Nina; what I honestly wanted to see was him having interactions around girls other than Aurora where his fatherly nature might show (not that him and Aurora aren’t great, I just wanted more); he had to have spent a lot of time around Melina while making the Detragan, and the potential for their relationship while she was dying is so much. Hershel should have had more moments of familiarity, and thinking about him when he’s not around, trying to figure him out, demanding to know who he is because he feels like he needs to know for some reason he can’t describe, and Descole’s answers/non-answers are extremely telling/bitter/curious/thought-provoking. And Descole should imo have had a scene to himself at the end of every entry pre-Azran Legacy where it’s increasingly obvious this guy has Angst(tm) and some beef with Hershel that seems personal and not just to do with getting in the way of his plots, along with all the earlier hints obviously (iirc he had a final scene at the end of Last Spector but it was nothing more than showing “hey we’re not done with this guy!!”, so that definitely should have had more to it; at the end of Eternal Diva I REALLY wanted to see how he survived his fall, probably with Raymond saving him, cue more ~mysterious reactions to Hershel~ as he thinks on how Hershel cried out his name as he was falling despite the fact that they were enemies, etc; and then the one at the end of Miracle Mask is okay I guess, but I still wanted more to it, more, idk signs of regret or remorse or sadness from him before he goes after Bronev, and not just “grrrrrr finally my revenge is close I’mma take you down all I have is angerrRRRRR” also for him to not look so damn stupid when all Bronev has to do is knee him to take him down, like this is DESCOLE, THE KING OF BADASS, THAT ENDING IS SO PITIFUL; WE DIDN’T NEED THAT FOR A FAKEOUT UNMASKING SCENE THAT LEADS NOWHERE).

tl;dr, Desmole’s story being planned from the very beginning would have made it possible for the writers to foreshadow and develop him properly before you finally see him as Desmond, and make you attached to and interested in him much more than just as a cool badass you kinda wonder the identity of but mostly just enjoy watching be badass and evil. The PL series had never had an overarching villain in the main trilogy aside from Don Paolo, who was more of a comic relief villain who they could afford to not make up his beef with/connection to Hershel until the final game because it was a very insignificant reason in the grand scheme of things, and Don Paolo just..... wasn’t that integral to the plots of that trilogy, he was more of a bonus background villain not meant to be taken seriously or have any true emotional impact. But then you have Descole introduced as the key threat over the majority of the prequel series (you think it’s the Masked Gentleman this time, but no lol, it’s still Descole!!), and needless to say, “actually the protagonist’s long-lost brother trying to get revenge on their corrupt father, both of which are involved in an ancient civilization that ruined all their lives in multiple ways” is a biiiiiiit more important than... “jealous dead girlfriend rival” lol. And so there’s a jarring disconnect between pre-Miracle Mask Descole and post-Miracle Mask Descole, because the Azran aren’t even a thing until Miracle Mask at ALL, and so in Last Spector and Eternal Diva Descole just seems like this mad scientist with a dramatic flair and nothing more, who mayyyyyyyy be searching for eternal life? Since that seems to be the running theme with the golden garden and ambrosia? But even then literally nothing is revealed about him in that game and movie so who knows (and unrelated but it seems like those two places have literally no connection to the Azran aside from an offhanded mention of them in Miracle Mask? idk man); the point I’m taking way too long to make here is that it’s very clear the writers had no endgame plan for him until Miracle Mask at the earliest, and even then I wonder how much of it was completely hashed out (considering the... sort of mess that Azran Legacy is, I almost wonder if most of it was literally not decided on until then). My guess is that Descole was super popular after Last Spector so they decided to bring him back (his final scene in that game could have just been to show that he survived and was still “out there somewhere”, whether or not he came back next entry), but then realized they didn’t have a backstory or identity for him so they had to think up something way too late; I can’t confirm this though of course.

Then you get to Azran Legacy, and honestly, despite how bizarre and weirdly unimportant and filler-ish 90% of this game’s plot feels, I love the inherent idea of Descole finally coming to Hershel as himself. Hershel always shows up and gets in his way? Fine, he’ll come to him. He always sees through his disguises? Fine, he’ll come to him in the best disguise he has: himself. Ask him for his help in a mission his curiosity won’t let him refuse. Because then, of course, even though Desmond is doing this to further and finish his plot, and use them as tools, essentially, there’s the wonderfully painful obvious second reason for why he chooses to do things this way, and that is he wants to spend time with his brother, whether or not he consciously realizes this. This way, Desmond can be himself, he doesn’t have to hide his appearance or (most) intentions and can freely express a lot of his regular personality while still working towards his ultimate goal, but at the exact same time there’s so much he can’t show, that he can’t reveal or let himself do, and this has to be a hundred times harder than when he’s posing as Descole because now he’s friends with Hershel and the others, and a part of him must want so desperately to just stay with them forever as he spends more and more time with them and grows more attached to them, (again, no matter how much he may realize this). But this is where his “arc” continues to fall flat in that aside from one or two hints towards his daughter and having a brother, there is literally no depth in Desmond’s behavior in Azran Legacy pre-Descole/brother reveal, just like in all the entries before it. He should have shown small signs here and there of something being “off” with him, of sadness, of hesitation, of trauma and mental instability; strange things said to Hershel alone that makes him and the player start wondering things, just like with Descole. Everyone immediately goes, upon seeing Desmond for more than five minutes, “oh that’s Descole obviously” (plus Raymond is just... there lol), but it’s not for the right reasons; there’s nothing wrong with a predictable plot twist, but there needs to be some kind of hints towards it to make you emotionally invested in what you realize is coming, because you’re waiting for it and you know it will hurt but you just don’t know when and how it will happen; not that you guess it for no other reason than “well there’s this new character who isn’t an existing friend of Layton’s and everything is suspiciously calm and we’re 90% of the way through this and Descole has yet to show himself; it’s probably him”. For the record, I actually think Miracle Mask does its predictable plot twist a lot better, even if that game still has issues; I see a lot of people complain about how predictable Randall being the masked gentleman is, and it is, but honestly? The flashback plot mechanic in that game is EXTREMELY effective in 1) making it VERY clear who the masked gentleman is very early on, like they’re not trying to hide it in any way, but also 2) punching you in the gut to maximum effect when you get to the end of the flashbacks and pair it with the present-day plot. Like, they could have just told the player in dialogue/infodumps throughout the game who Randall was and what his connection to Hershel, Angela and Henry was, like Desmond does to Hershel near the end of Azran Legacy, but that would have been tedious and boring and the player wouldn’t care near as much, and the game wouldn’t have been long enough. Instead, you see it firsthand, you experience it with Hershel, and although I’m frustrated at how little is done with masked gentleman!Randall and showing connections/hints to who he used to be (look, my exact problems with Descole) and making Hershel more involved with him at the end, which would have been the icing on the angst cake, the entire flashback half of that game honestly left a huge impact on me and I think that’s why I spend so much time talking about/getting emotional about Miracle Mask despite always saying that Diabolical Box is my favorite, because getting to know Randall and see that friendship and see how it ended just makes it all hit so much harder, as flashbacks should do. The writers knew it would be obvious who the masked gentleman is and they leaned into that, it was a very deliberate choice, what the entire game revolved around, because the point wasn’t that it was unpredictable, but that you would feel for that character and it would hurt so much more. And while I don’t necessarily think Azran Legacy needed full-on flashback gameplay segments for Desmond like Miracle Mask had, I think having vague flashbacks every once in a while throughout that game, vague enough to not directly tell you it’s him or naming/showing Hershel/Theodore much but clear enough that you can reasonably guess it is Desmond, would have done a world of difference, along with all the little behavioral/dialogue hints I mentioned. Similar to the diary entries in Diabolical Box, or if anyone’s ever played Super Paper Mario, the flashbacks in that game after every chapter about an unknown person that it becomes increasingly obvious as you play through the game is the main villain. I just.... really, really wish, out of all the prequel entries, Azran Legacy gave Desmond so much more emotional depth and resonance once we finally see him as Desmond instead of Descole, so many more scenes with Hershel, and to a lesser extent the others, so much more development of his character, so much more of an emphasis put on his prior family and how much he’s hurting and caring and yet at the same time refuses to give up his revenge; all of this, no matter how obvious it made his identity as both Descole and as Hershel’s brother. The brother plot twist, too, feels slightly lame and overdone and out of nowhere, but honest to god I wouldn’t fucking care at all if they just foreshadowed it properly and made it so painfully obvious how much Descole/Desmond wants to be with Hershel and this family and how much it kills him to turn on them all again at the end of Azran Legacy even if he still goes through with it, and how much he regrets everything as he lays dying in Hershel’s arms, but we get none of that goddammitLevel5whydoyoudeprivemeofsomuch-

*ahem* apparently I still had a lot to say. i just wanted so much more for him; he’s SUCH a tragic character... the stupid wannabe phantom of the opera bread man still makes me cry, despite everything, because i am trash. Oh yeah and he should have held Aurora in his arms as she died. And Azran Legacy should have ended post-credits with Hershel opening his door with his hat off (to show that this is after Unwound Future), his eyes widening, then it shows the bottom half of the person’s face, just enough to see the bread hair tips, and the slight sad smile, and then cut to black. level-5 just hire the PL fandom to make the Desmond spinoff game pls

[verduresapiens-archive]

Just a little... ‘talk’

Hershel couldn’t help but feel a mote of pride when he watched Randall enter Misthallery. Awe. Admiration. Sure, the immediate outer territory was a little wild-looking, but it was just to help keep people out - once past the barrier, it was meticulously cared-for garden plots wherever Hershel had been able to fit them. It never got old, seeing that amazement, in their faces.

But then he remembered who this was. This was Randall. The bastard himself, second only to Bronev in regards to how much Hershel hated him.

“Wow... Did you do all this yourself, Hersh?” Hershel twitched slightly at the nickname. Ignored it.

“A good portion, yes. Much of it was done with help. I’ve some workers helping me out - some employed, others are volunteers.” He began walking - Randall following behind. There was a bit of small talk - Hershel could tell Randall was a bit nervous. A shame that Hershel didn’t care.

Randall could be nervous all he wanted - it would earn no sympathy from him.

Hershel led Randall to a little area out of the way - a section of garden that initially looked like it was designed for somebody to relax. Which it was, partly. It was also one of several little sequestered areas designed for specifically this - isolating an unseeded person so he could get them alone for just long enough. But first...

“Sorry about this, but I trust you about as much as I do Bronev, so~!” Vines. Surging in from the underbrush and clinging to Randall as he made an attempt to run. Failed. The young man babbled then - desperate to get his once-friend to listen, but Hershel had long since had enough of listening to people he’d been betrayed by. It only took a moment, filled with wildly confused noises and an amount of struggling - bookended with sounds of disgust and demands to know what had just happened. He’d been seeded, not that Hersh was in the mood to explain how all that worked.

“Be quiet.” Randall obeyed. There was a fascinating amount of confusion and distress on his face, and Hershel would have loved to experiment a bit if he didn’t have other, more important plans. “I have questions, and this is the only way I’m willing to ask them, as you don’t have enough willpower to lie to me like this. Understand?” A pause, a delightfully irritated glare, and then Randall nodded.

Good. Not that the man had a choice. He could say no all he wanted, Hershel would just make him change his mind. He would have his answers.

“Alright. Question one; how did you find me, and was Targent involved?” A few moments pause - either fighting the seed’s compulsion, or genuinely trying to figure out the best way to word the response.

“Tangentially. I was contacted by a man named Simon Foster who said he was looking for you. He said he was caught up in a lot of things and had only just recently realized you weren’t safe. Sounded like he was beating himself up over it.” Simon. Descole. It tracked - Simon-slash-Desmond was usually quite busy with his own life until adulthood. Hershel had gotten into trouble as a teenager - Descole wouldn’t have had the means to find out until years later. Until that point he’d likely have assumed Hershel to be living a happy, safe, comfortable life with the Laytons. “Simon had me investigate leads in person while he dug up information from afar. He’s pretty paranoid about Targent finding him, but managed to track when Targent took you to the point where you... left, pretty quickly. After that things got real hard to find. Eventually we determined you’d been to London at least a few times, and... here I am.” Well, that all made sense.

Descole didn’t track him down because the man wouldn’t have had the resources to know his brother was in anything but safe, happy conditions until well into adulthood, at which point everything had been done and over with. No Targent influence here, at least yet. Not in the way Hershel had assumed, at least.

“And Simon isn’t a part of Targent?” Hershel didn’t think he was, but you never knew.

“No. He hates them. Won’t tell me exactly why, but it’s not hard to tell that he does. Gets a specific tone of voice when he talks about them. Real angry. Like you, when I talked to you in your store.” Hershel couldn’t help but huff. Of course he was angry at Randall.

Really, Hershel only had the one question he wanted to ask. How Randall had found him wasn’t nearly as important to him as what had happened in the past. Randall was the only one that could answer that. Well, Bronev could, but Randall was significantly less armed than Bronev was at a given time.

“Did you contact Targent when I was forced to live in the forest?” Randall’s expression changed from irritation to horror. Or at least as much as it could, under the seed’s sway.

“No! I would never do that! They came into town a few days before they they stormed off to find you, maybe a week or two. Poked around the whole damn place for ages until rumors about you started circulating - I overheard them talking, and people at school, well... Gossip about the strangers stomping all over town was popular.” This surprised Hershel, and he took a second to collect himself. Pull it all back into the tight little ball surrounded by anger and rage.

“So what, you heard them talking then sold my location to them? For what, to get me out of your hair? To get Targent out of town?” Hershel hissed, barely holding himself back. Randall’s expression remained horrified, if slightly insulted.

“My family is rich, why the hell would I need to sell my best friend out for more useless cash?!” Randall spat back - probably just as irritated that Hershel was assuming that, as Hershel was at Randall in general. “They came into town badgering people about the Azran, and then when they heard rumors about you they wouldn’t stop badgering people about you! I didn’t know they’d track you down until the day of! I figured I’d get to you faster than them since I knew where you were, not that I’d stroll in to watch you be kidnapped!” Stress, anger, an amount of sadness, it seemed - Randall was clearly feeling several things.

And now Hershel was too. His seeds didn’t lie. Randall, under the persuasion of Hershel’s seeds, still said that no, he hadn’t had any affiliation with Targent whatsoever. No. No, that... No.

“Get out.” Hershel hissed quietly, telling the vines to let the man go. Randall sounded like he wanted to say something, sounded like he was struggling against the seeds in whatever way he could - but Hershel spoke again- “Get out! Get the hell out!” Randall, under the seed’s power still, did as he was told. He darted off in the direction of the entrance, hopefully back to London, hopefully far away from him. Hershel wanted...

Something else. Anything else. Anything that involved Randall staying as far away from him as possible.

[teenytinyapprentice]

(same headcanons anon) honestly i'd die for that kind of long post sdhfbsjhgbjfd but how about the main cast? layton, luke, flora, and emmy (and perhaps others you'd consider as part of the main cast), i'd really love to hear your thoughts!

GhKdjsfhds UH sure I’m not even sure how to go about organizing any of my thoughts so how about I just give you a whole bunch of random thoughts about the puzzle family + co  in jot note form (sorta)  and you can take from it what you will … disclaimer: Im sure some of these contradict canon and I’ll forget I even came up with them/said them in this and contradict myself but also I am just having fun here and don’t care sfdhkjfhskjglgf

Hershel has an unusually small appetite and prefers lighter dishes to anything heavy or too rich

Emmy and Desmond are both pretty artistic. Emmy mostly focuses on her photography but also enjoys drawing while Desmond actually enjoys painting (mostly water colour) although he’d loathe to let anyone but Raymond know about his hobby until he’s much older - Hershel on the other hand can’t draw For SHIT.

Desmond hair turns totally grey pretty much overnight when he hits his mid 60s while Hershel’s hair doesn’t turn white (slowly but surely) until he’s almost 80. It’s a sore spot.

Luke has his picture on walls of restaurants pretty much everywhere he goes from winning those “eat this giant meal and get it for free” competitions - he wins them on accident most of the time and has forgotten about a lot of them

The Puzzle family will spend at least one major holiday in Monte d’Or with Randall, Angela and Henry - it’s always a huge event and they all look forward to it

Emmy reunites with Layton and the rest of the puzzle family shortly after the events in Unwound Future having heard about the attack on London and realizing delaying seeing the Professor again might mean she just /never/ sees him again (considering his preoccupation for danger) - she just misses Luke leaving but does get to meet Flora and is a huge influence on her becoming more independent and standing up to the Professor

Desmond reunites with the Puzzle family partially on accident after Diabolical Box. He sort of planned to drop in on Hershel and give his little brother a heart attack but it ends up being less smooth and more awkward and difficult than expected… he drops in on occasion but doesn’t make a habit of sticking around too long until much later (influenced by rebuilding some kind of fragile relationship with Lucille and Roland)

Alfendi grew up in orphanages - he’s aware of his biological mother but has no relationship with her. He meets Layton and Flora as part of an investigation (no I haven’t put much thought into exactly what) - he and Flora strike up a funny friendship and when Layton hesitates to have Flora really join in on the investigation Alfendi and Flora do a mini-investigation of their own. They both end up proving to be formidable investigators, but mostly really befriend one another… which in turn strongly influences Hershel to ask Alfendi’s permission to foster and eventually adopt him

Flora does learn to cook later in life but excels more in baking - Katrielle helped her often in the kitchen growing up which is why she loves sweets so much

Flora has a growing interest in robotics that really kicks off when Gizmo (the robot dog from Curious Village) first breaks down when she’s home alone and she has to repair him - Desmond specifically encourages this and helps teach her, Hershel signs her up for a robotics camp upon her request realizing how much she enjoys it

Hershel thinks it’s HILARIOUS that Lucy calls Alfendi “Prof” and literally never stops giving him a hard time over it 

Flora and Alfendi learn to fence, Flora is the better of the two of them. Luke takes up karate inspired by Emmy’s fighting style (and is a terrible, terrible fencer. Just plain awful). Katrielle tried a variety of sports growing up (acrobatics, track and field teams, soccer, floor hockey, variety of dance classes etc.) but never really stuck to anything

Alfendi used to smoke but quit after Forbodium and was never able to get back into it

Emmy used to sneak Alfendi and Flora into horror movies against Hershel’s wishes before Flora was old enough to sneak Alfendi in herself

Flora hit a major growth spurt bout a year after UF and towers over Hershel (and most of the family) at 6”0 tall. Alfendi is a bastard and stole her thunder by matching her height by the time he was 15

Hershel and Flora are both autistic

Flora still visits St. Mystere on occasion - more so when Bruno passes to keep an eye on the residents of her hometown. Her and Lady Dahlia have a complicated but still loving relationship

Luke writes a LOT of letters when he first moves to America to keep up with his friends in England (and all over) - this dwindles down over time but he sends monthly letters to Hershel, Flora, Arianna and Crow until he eventually moves back

Alfendi used to dye his hair black as a teenager but had terrible upkeep and lots of roots showing so he grew out of it in a year or so

Alfendi suffers from chronic migraines and pain exacerbated by Forbodium, which is why he really hates leaving the house/office unless absolutely necessary (he also just isn’t a people person) 

The amount of people the Layton’s refer to as their aunt/uncle is confusing as hell. Lots of the Professor’s old friends get aunt/uncle status (for example Uncle Randall, Uncle Henry, Aunt Angela, Uncle Desmond, Aunt Emmy, Uncle Wright, Aunt Maya, Uncle Andrew, etc.) - specifically confusing around Luke who’s referred to as both brother and uncle

Raymond and Alfendi are actually very close

Luke moves back to London to officially work as Layton’s assistant after he graduates high school in America but also travels independently more often

Raymond has been Desmond’s primary caretaker since his pre-teens. He’s the closest thing he has to a father-figure but they’d never call it that, but it certainly a strong familial love and loyalty - and Des did end up adopting Raymond’s last name “Sycamore” and keeps it post canon when he officially hangs up his persona Descole for good

Flora works a variety of odd jobs before she follows through on her passion of robotics and electronic design

Hershel and Alfendi both have terrible fashion sense

Hershel eventually does tell all of his children (and Desmond, Emmy, Randall) about Claire. It doesn’t get much easier to talk about, but he’s always relieved when he says it

Hershel still has some kind of relationship with Dimitri and Clive. It’s… complicated. Real complicated. But present.

Emmy doesn’t have a relationship with Bronev after the events of AL - she does try but ends up needing to cut it off for her own sake

Luke writes stories inspired by his and the Professor’s adventures - but he tries to keep it a secret while he’s writing, too self-conscious to think of letting anyone let alone Layton read them just quite yet

Desmond actually really likes working with children, finds their presence refreshingly honest (even when they’re little shits) - and really only remembers this when he’s surrounded by Layton’s children in the future

Flora calls Hershel “Dad” or “Professor”, Luke alternates between “Professor” “Hershel” (occasionally “Dad”), Alfendi calls him “Father” or “Hershel” (occasionally “Dad” as well) while Katrielle almost exclusively calls him “Papa” 

Hershel actually once genuinely almost forgot his name was Hershel because of how many people in his day to day just call him “Professor” or “Layton” and its a little jarring hearing his first name sometimes 

Flora was homeschooled while Alfendi and Katrielle attended classes at public school - Alfendi and Katrielle were both notorious trouble makers but for very different reasons

All of the Puzzle kids (Luke, Flora, Alfendi and Katrielle) are trans and are like the perfect sliding scale of The Type of Name You Choose For Yourself When You’re Trans from exceedingly normal to obscure

Luke’s full name is Lucas but literally no one calls him that 

Alfendi’s two personalities go by “Al” and “Fendi” (the latter being the post-Forbodium personality) respectively, but will respond to “Alfendi” regardless of who’s fronting 

Hershel, Emmy and Katrielle have lovely singing voices. Alfendi cannot sing at all.

Luke and Flora both learn to drive while Alfendi and Katrielle never do - Luke learns to ride motorcycles but will still scream the whole time if Emmy takes the wheel of ANY vehicle

Luke in all sincerity owns hiking heels and its the worst thing he owns probably

AND OK. thats all I feel like writing right now but sure take that hopefully some of these are at least a bit funny or interesting to read fhdskjghsd

[foxesandcookies]

My Create Original PL Au’s Challenge

Cookie: If there’s one consistent thing I do with stories that I like, it’s making au’s. Fox is never surprised whenever I conjure a new one up, and she’s always joking that she hates it when I do it because she starts to get intrigued. I wondered how creative I could be with making PL au’s, so I decided to make this challenge where I make a bunch of em and just see how original I can be.

Here’s how it’s gonna work: I’m gonna make a list of au ideas and try to be as original as I can AND try to make it appealing to the audience. If anyone sees this, then give me a 1-10 rating on creativity. I will warn you, this is VERY long. Some of them are pretty sad, and I have no regard for spoilers. With that, here we go!(NOTE: I’m not doing this for any credit, I just wanted to test myself.)

1. Goodbye, my guardian angel. In the near end of AL(around the time Descole runs away to the Azran Sanctuary with the key to the Azran and is intercepted by Bronev.), it is revealed that Aurora is not the Azran emissary, but instead, the Azran emissary is supposed to be a human of Azran descent and that she was supposed to protect him/her until the sacrifice was made. By grabbing the Azran key in it’s full completion, she can guarantee that the emissary is none other that Luke Triton, which explains that his ability to talk with animals was a trait once shared by the Azran due to complicated technology. Bronev orders Emmy to take Luke, just as before, but they don’t bring Aurora. Everything comes in full swing just like before, except that despite Emmy’s pleading, Bronev sacrifices Luke(ew, gory) and the golems are revealed. Everyone sacrifices themselves as before, in which Aurora revives them, all but except Luke, who didn’t die because of the lasers. Aurora knows of a different way to revive him, but it will kill her in the process. She’s still willing to do it, Luke wakes up, and the scene where he says goodbye to her is the same, except that she tells him to stop crying, as he should be happy that her true purpose was fulfilled.

2. Hershel Layton’s Father Instead of Layton’s dad being Bronev, his dad is actually the figure known as Jean Descole. Descole never figured out that Hershel was his son until he bumped into Desmond. For backstory, only Hershel’s dad was kidnapped by Targent, but by the orders of Targent’s leader, Bronev. Descole figures out that his wife died, and assumed that his baby boy, Desmond died as well, and became Bronev’s arch nemesis. In reality, Rachel lived for awhile before she got ill; Targent never laid a hand on her. She gives birth to Hershel, but dies during the process. Both babies are distributed by different families. Despite the huge family reunion in AL, Hershel disowns his father, but willingly accepts Desmond as his brother and fellow archaeology enthusiast.

3. Welcome to the Family, Clive When Clive’s parents die during the lab explosion, he is not adopted by Constance Dove, like what happened during the games. Instead, he is adopted by none other than………...Bill Hawks.

4. Brenda Triton becomes Brenda Layton Like the title says, Descole ends up killing Clark during LS, and Hershel gets stuck in a deep depression, feeling like the death of his friend was his fault, and that he made Luke lose his father. Brenda, with no way of making funds for herself, asks for a job from Dean Delmona, who makes her into a substitute teacher. She interacts with Hershel and his trio more often, and she shows a lot of gratitude to him and always does these nice things like clean his office(Because come on, children aren’t supposed to do that) or take over his class when he leaves. He enjoys her company, but he feels awkward. Going into Curious Village, Brenda takes care of Flora while the Professor is busy. When Flora is stranded in DB, Brenda comes to her aid and takes her home. At the end of DB, the Professor feels especially disappointed in himself, thinking that he really is betraying Claire after Antoine receives Sophia’s letter. However, at the end of UF, Hershel learns that Claire and Clark would not have wanted anything different than the both of them being together. After a some time, they both marry and Luke gets a new father and sister.

5. Just a Ghost in Your Head For the entire original trilogy, Luke is actually nothing more than the Professor’s imagination. Luke is meant to be there in order to represent the Professor’s true feelings and to have some company in his sad, painful adventures and mysteries. At the end of UF, the Professor doesn’t actually need Luke anymore, and Luke goes on a boat to “move away to America because of his dad’s job”, just like in the games. In relation to the prequel trilogy, it’s possible that Luke could have died in any three of the games, and that the Professor just conjured him up in his head after that in order to regain some sanity.(EXTRA NOTE: ME and my sis came up with this one after I saw a post about Luke Triton’s character where the person noted how Luke would sometimes express emotions that the Professor felt. I don’t know where it is though, I’m really sorry)

6. Triton Brothers Luke and Clive being brothers. In LS, at first Clive doesn’t pop up too much, but after noticing the comings and goings of his younger brother, crashes the party and eventually joins them. He doesn’t like the idea of Luke being on such “dangerous adventures” but what can ya do? In UF, Dimitri is the one with the giant I’m-gonna-destroy-London-yay scheme.

And there’s the list. Sorry for being wordy, Couldn’t help it. God bless you!

[quibbs126]

So here’s something I’ve been drawing today

*Technically it’s still a WIP, because I don’t know how to do backgrounds. They’re supposed to be sitting in front of their fireplace, but I don’t know how to draw a background for that, at least not from this angle. I tried to find references on Google, but I couldn’t find any with the perspective I wanted, so this is what I’m stuck with. I’ll finish it whenever I figure out how to draw it (if anyone has any tips please share)

So there’s supposed to be story here, though I suppose it’s not so evident from what I drew. Inspired by a short snippet given in a fanfic I once read (I believe the fic was called Professor Sick-a-more), basically the story here is that one winter night, the Bronev family (and by that I mean mostly the boys) went out into the snow. Theodore and Rachel stayed behind to build snowmen, while Hershel and Leon just went out to explore the area now covered in snow. Unfortunately during their escapades, Hershel ends up accidentally slipping and finding himself in the middle of a frozen over pond(/lake? It’s not small, but I don’t think it’s big enough to qualify as a lake), and the ice is cracking under his weight. Leon tries to get him back to land (mostly by guiding him since he’s too heavy to go on the ice himself without it breaking), and Hershel’s getting close and gaining a bit more confidence in his movements, only for him to hit a weak point in the ice and for him to fall through, and the shock of it all leads him to start drowning. Without hesitation, Leon goes to dive in to the water to reach him, and he’s eventually able to reach him and pull themselves out of the water. Leon hurries back with Hershel shivering in his arms, and Rachel goes to call a doctor. Meanwhile, she has Hershel put on warm clothes (his pajamas), wrapped up in blankets and put by the fire. She also makes Leon do the same, since he went in the water too.

The scene here is just Leon and Hershel sitting by the fire, trying to stay warm, while Hershel still shivers from the cold

I imagine Descole/Desmond recounting this story, saying his memory of the events were hazy, but he remembers sitting by the fire, with his father right beside him, and while still cold, he had felt safe

I dunno, I just want nice moments between the Bronevs, particularly Leon and Hershel, given what happens to them later

[quibbs126]

Do you think it would have been better if Bronev had never been revealed to be Layton’s biological father?

If you want to hear my thoughts, they’re under the cut!

Okay see while I think yeah, this backstory makes Bronev more interesting as a character and not just some evil old man, I also feel like because of this, the writers felt they had to bend over backwards to make Bronev sympathetic, and it just didn’t work.

Like yeah, personally I’d want some dimension to his character and reasons for his actions, because while we don’t need him to be good, if he had just stayed “evil old man” he really would not have fit with the other Layton villains, mostly because they all tend to have some level of depth to them. Like yeah sure Bill Hawks doesn’t get redeemable traits and we all agree to hate him, but he also wasn’t the main villain of the game; Dimitri and Clive were, and both of them got depth. So yeah, I don’t see a problem in adding something more to Bronev

Only problem is, I think making him Layton and Descole’s father just makes him that much harder to redeem, given that he’s tried to kill them and has murdered Descole’s family. Like okay, you shouldn’t do that to anyone, but it becomes a whole other level of messed up when they aren’t strangers, they’re your own children

Like maybe it could work if he’s supposed to be like a tragic figure, where he started out with good intentions but over time he grew so obsessed that he can’t even remember why he’s originally doing this and ultimately turns against the very people he once cherished, but only if they don’t try to redeem him; have him be a tragic character without being a redeemable one. Maybe the writers should have just picked a side and stuck with it instead of trying to have their cake and eat it too, if you get what I’m saying

Also his motivation isn’t clearly defined, all we really know is that he liked archaeology and that he intended to see out he and his wife’s “dream”, but it’s pretty clear her dream was likely just seeing their children again, and he just misinterpreted it, which doesn’t really help his motivation, it just makes him seem like a bit of an idiot. Also it doesn’t really justify hurting his own children; if he was unrelated to them it would be a lot easier to accept, he’s just harming strangers 

Here’s a hypothetical tweak where Bronev isn’t the father of Layton and Descole: his motivation could still be about his dead wife (I know, it’s sticking to the formula but just stick with me), perhaps the two were archaeologists who studied the Azran, and their dream (or maybe even originally just Rachel’s) was to find the Azran’s ultimate legacy, but Rachel ended up dying prematurely and so Bronev dedicated the rest of his life to seeing their dream fulfilled because she never could. Sort of like Carl and Ellie from Up, albeit a bit twisted by the end. At some point Targent got involved (or maybe even Bronev created Targent if you want to go that route?) and Bronev became so consumed by his desire to fulfill their dream that he started to get more extreme with his methods, thinking no cost was too great, and he turned into the person we see now. Maybe the release of the golems gives him the realization that all the things he’s done now were for nothing and he gets a wake up call about all the atrocities he’s committed, and he ends up helping the group defeat the golems and goes away with the police to try and atone for his actions in some way

So honestly, it’s not that different from canon, but I feel like having him not be related to Layton could have really changed the way we interpret Bronev

Also side note, but something I’ve noticed is that aside from Anton, basically every villain’s motivation ties back in some way to Layton. Typically not because he’s the cause, but because he’s usually connected to their respective defining events, and I feel like having that not be the case for Bronev could make him stand out a little more

As for Layton’s actual parents in this scenario? I dunno, you could still have them be abducted by Targent, that’s pretty vital to Descole’s motivation, but maybe by canon day they’re long since dead. Mostly because this is late in the game and introducing Layton’s biological parents now as completely new characters who were just…part of Targent or something would feel really rushed and more like a cop out than anything else

And also I think Descole being Layton’s brother is still a fine twist, I don’t think it really impedes either character in any major way (other than Descole trying to off Layton and co a few times, especially in Eternal Diva, but I can also just equate that to weird writing choices or Descole just having fits of insanity or something), it’s just Bronev that makes things a bit iffy, you know?

Anyways, I think I might have gotten a bit carried away there. Bottom line, I feel like maybe it would have worked better if he wasn’t