My thoughts on evil Layton
I think we as a society don't talk enough about Hershel Layton's gigantic potential for evil and the paper thin fucking thread he's hanging on by to manage to somehow not be evil.
Part of this, I believe, is that Hershel's much more attuned to other people's emotions than Des?
Not that Des CAN'T feel empathy, he shows thoughout azran legacy that he does, but I'm just saying he's not a people pleaser to the degree that Hershel is. Des can be very selfish without seeing that as wrong.
A lot of his motivations are based in the territory of 'I DESERVE this and I'm not getting it so I will either take it by FORCE, or just tear it down so NO ONE can have it.' And of course he's right about deserving some of them (love, family, kindness, appreciation) but less so about others (power, archeological discoveries, control over any situation).
Whereas Hershel has a lot more of a mindset of 'I have to EARN this (love, affection, , notoriety) and even then I'll downplay everything I've achieved anyway'
[Although side note: he can be just as selfish he's just unaware what he's doing is called being selfish]
I think that mindset often gets in the way of him being evil on other occasions because to become evil in the stereotypical character archetype sense I pose you need four things:
You need to (REALLY) want something
You need to not be able to have it for whatever reason
You need to firmly believe you deserve it regardless
You need to have the means to try and get it regardless
This is because villain motivations usually need the bad guy to show some form of disregard for the consequences of their actions in order to. Do evil shit. People don't do things for no reason. Even if they're bad reasons, they're always reasons.
Now what's interesting is that right after Claire's death is actually the one single moment in the series that Layton is CLOSEST to hitting all four of these and going full villain mode.
1. He (REALLY) wants something. He wants to know the truth about what happened to Claire– and possibly get some justice for her death in the process– more than anything. He loved that woman immensely, we all know this.
2. He isn't able to have it for some reason. He isn't able to have it because Bill Hawks is pulling strings to keep any research from being done or any coverage from surfacing. He even has people BRUTALLY beat Layton, which is basically how to become a villain 101: have some injustice done to you by a government official. That's SUCH an easy way to give your bad guy a reason for wrecking the city.
3. He firmly believes he deserves it regardless. If an injustice is being done, that's all the more reason to do something about it. To bring someone this corrupt and apathetic down before he inflicts any more harm on other people. Almost EVERY villain believes they're the hero of their own story in some way, and a (perceived or real) 'just cause' especially can be a SUUUPER slippery slope to deciding the end would justify the means if you just take drastic measures.
Besides, we already KNOW Layton believes the end justifies the means. I've mentioned it earlier but that's how he tackles 99% of his investigations.
We ALSO know he's very much able to be willing to let a bad person die, because he never planned on going back for Clive until Claire asked him to. He would've turned a blind eye, and that's a Layton where the wound ISN'T fresh.
4. He has the means to try and get it regardless. We all know how smart layton is. We know he has a lot of connections with highly esteemed people, and even then, this man could both:
build a helicopter with random materials he found in a fucking shed while robotic wolves were trying to break in and he was on a time crunch
Make a working GUN from slot machine parts within like 10 minutes or less while BEING SHOT AT with what seemed like REAL BULLETS.
Even without help, he could do so much damage. I can see him making a superweapon with ease ngl
So if he hits all the quota, why didn't he become evil?
Funnily enough, I think it might be the tophat.
The symbol of what Claire asked of him; to try to be a gentleman with the new position he had.
To try to solve problems not with violence, but with grace, thoughtfulness and poise.
Claire was more important to him than revenge, than justice. Than being angry or hurt. It mattered that she wanted him to be kind.
And that's why he became the Professor Layton we know instead.
