Valid Professor Layton Subject of the Day

Name: ‘Clark’... I think of Clarks Shoes but according to this site it’s an English name meaning "scribe, secretary, cleric, scholar, clerk". ‘Triton’ makes me think of King Triton, Ariel’s dad from The Little Mermaid. (He had a long beard, a blue fish tail and he’s a strict parent, hm...) Look at this: “The name Triton is a Latin baby name. In Latin the meaning of the name Triton is: A sea god.” The Triton family live in Misthallery, a town famous for its canals and fog. Also from the same site, I find this relevant: “People with [the name Triton] have a deep inner desire for a stable, loving family or community, and a need to work with others and to be appreciated.”

That’s Mr. Dr. Triton to you! 

Character designer Nagano says he gave him a long beard like Abraham Lincoln. 

Clark’s sprite looks fine in PL4- he’s meant to look shifty and worried- but I still can’t get over his 3D PL6 sprite. Sorry, Clark. 

Our lord and saviour Liam O'Brien voices him- that’s the same guy who voiced Dimitri.

Like Luke, Clark could talk to animals when he was a child. However, in the UK version of PL4, Clark mentions how Toppy (Luke’s ‘little friend’) told him about how Luke was crying in his sleep for Brenda. :( 

During Miracle Mask, Luke also mentions to the rabbit how he might have inherited his animal-speaking-abilities from his father. 

Clark studied at Gressenheller University with Layton and Brenda (and Claire, presumably).

During AL, Clark reminisces about his archaeology student days. He laughs about how foolhardy Hershel was back in the day and how he would go off adventuring. (Huh, where have I heard that before...?) 

I find it funny how Hershel became more adventurous like Randall and now Clark is his more studious friend

Hersh probably broke that oscilloscope when he was poking around for hint coins!

“I learned a lot from him. I learnt that the truly important things in life can’t be found in books or papers.”

Clark is a hard worker. Luke says there’s always stacks of papers in his study.  

He has a phobia of typewriters. All his letters must be handwritten!

Clark was Dr Scharder’s assistant on archaeology exhibitions and they donated the museum's fossils. (Thanks, PL Wiki). He’s donated lots of valuable specimens to museums

Dr Schrader was fond of Clark and so was Dean Delmona, who used to bring in his daughter’s riddles from Clark and Layton to solve

Clark, like Layton, wanted to be an elite archaeologist, but after Evan Barde’s death, he became the mayor of Misthallery.

Layton says Clark is quite the geology expert

Clark says that Evan Barde was the only friend in town with whom he could discuss intellectual matters. (The Black Ravens take offence to that.) The only person Evan Barde would speak to was Clark, according to Beth the maid. The Tritons employed Beth after she was dismissed from Barde manor. 

Clark was planning to look after the Barde kids’ inheritance until they came of age, though he didn’t think Arianna would live that long...

He knows about the folklore of Misthallery. (Makes you wonder how long Clark has lived there..)

After PL4, Clark moved back to London and started working at Gressenheller. 

Some students messed with his department’s machine I can’t remember the name of and ruined its calibrations. Emmy offers to teach them a lesson, but-  Heavens, no! Clark believes the students had good intentions... He’s very strict, you see. (Actually, Clark’s the kind of teacher who would get locked in a closet by his students.)  

He loves caramel slices and his appetite rivals Luke’s, if Brenda’s teasing is any indication

He used to go fishing with Luke quite a lot. 

Brenda likes to visit Clark at work... or is she trying to check out the technology in his department?

We all like to joke about Brenda possibly choosing that rocker jacket for Luke during the AL credit scenes, but Clark’s the one who insists on getting Luke a new jacket since his old one is in tatters

A lot of people have pointed out how, in the anime, older Luke wears a dark blue jacket and a fedora hat. Both can be seen hanging up in Clark’s study during PL4.    

Clark has met Flora

Clark is much taller than Brenda. This is adorably important

(Thanks to @cinnamoncandycanes​ for pointing a lot of this stuff out in their posts!)

WE ARE CELEBRATING DIMITRI TODAY BECAUSE REASONS.

Name: “Dr Ah-len Stahnguuun!”

His real name, Dimitri, according to a random baby site:  ‘From the Greek Dēmētrios (of Demeter), which is from Demeter, the Greek mythological goddess of agriculture and fertility.’ His name sounds like ‘Dementor’, which is a soul-sucking monster from Harry Potter that Dimitri shouldn’t be compared to. Even if he is grey, gaunt and looks like he hasn’t slept for a decade. Dimitri is a million times better than that.   

He’s proud to be a scientist - see his lab coat - and he’s stylish to boot. He has a goatee, a grey scarf, a belt and a fedora hat. (Luke had to get his inspiration from somewhere.) And he wears a red rose because he’s hopelessly in love with Claire. Some good symbolism there.

Dimtri loved Claire. He loved Claire so much, but he admits that love became conflated with his pride to complete the time machine. Still, he dedicated 10 years of his life to working on the time machine mostly to save Claire. 

Remember THIS scene where Dimitri finds Claire’s dead body and starts sobbing? A++ voice acting from Liam O'Brien.

Bill wanted to use Claire as the first test subject for the time machine. Dimitri claimed to vehemently oppose the idea. He didn’t want to risk Claire getting hurt, even though she didn’t return his feelings.

Those are his exact words Claire ‘didn’t return his feelings’. Not ‘I never told Claire my feelings’. So... sounds like Claire turned him down, probably because she was already in love with Hershel. Reminder that Claire makes her own choices and takes responsibility for them like an adult.

Despite this, Dimitri kept working on the time machine and trying to save Claire. Claire begged him to stop, but Dimitri wouldn’t listen, so Claire knew they had to get Hershel involved. In a way, Dimitri brought Claire and Hershel back together.

Dimitri has 3 disguises in Unwound Future. (Beat that, Descole.) For the first one, ‘Dr Stangun’ he literally just stuck on a moustache- it was so obvious even Bill Hawks looked suspicious. Then he didn’t even try to alter his voice with the Future Layton disguise. I’ll admit, his bar tender getup had me fooled. It’s hilarious when he puts on this higher-pitched accent and talks to “‘Ershel”... This is the first and only time the bartender has a voiced line after his identity has been revealed. Why did they even bother? It’s like Liam Obrien just wanted to do this accent lmao     

He owns a bar

Probably hates Doctor Who for all its time travel errors 

He has 4 - FOUR - profiles that you can unlock at the end of the game

He’s one of the only villains to call Professor Layton ‘Hershel’ consistently. Not even Descole, his own brother, did that. Randall, Layton’s high school best friend, did. Makes you wonder if Dimitri wanted to be Hershel’s friend- or at least an ally. He’s constantly trying to win Hershel over to his way of thinking with the time machine.  

He’s well-spoken and polite. He actually talks to Luke a couple of times... Dimitri is like an awkward uncle trying to connect with the kids

On the other hand, Dimitri Allen is savage af. Did you see how he insulted Chelmey and how he gaslit Bill at the time machine presentation? No pun intended

The face he pulls here makes me laugh:

(”So done with your crap, Clive.”)

In his Trivia section of the Layton Fandom Wiki, it says, ‘It is unknown if Dimitri went to prison with Clive after the events of the game.’ But we see Barton has him in chains during the credit pictures, so it’s implied he was arrested? And he did agree to ‘close the book’ on the time machine in the end. That’s not to fault the Layton Wiki creators, they work hard

Dimitri is one of the only characters who doesn’t give our heroes any specific puzzles, aside from the Puzzle Battles, which are awesome. I consider ‘Puzzle Battle’ Dimitri’s theme song. (Yes, I know Clive used it first but Dimitri deserves it more.)

He can teleport, apparently 

He disappeared from the time travel presentation with Bill and that’s never explained? Therefore, he can teleport.

What, you thought Clive was the most diabolical villain? Hahahahahaha. No.

Name: Die... an(d)... make... peace. Her father’s name was a play on kill-an(d)... make peace. Clever.

She believed Alfendi was the one who had connections with Keelan at Scotland Yard, and he murdered Keelan.  

“Do not trust Alfendi Layton!”

Sent Alfendi a note threatening to detonate a bomb at a hospital or a school or Lucy’s home... yikes.  

She finds her father’s murders fascinating 

Keelan was in debt, so it’s possible Diane lived in poverty. Diane makes a comment about her ‘poor drunk father’... boo-hoo. 

Just like Don Paolo and Descole before her, Diane is a master of disguise. More impressive than just putting on a cap or a moustache 

Three and a half years after he dad’s death, she disguised herself as Mariana Etista, married Chico Careta and convinced him to kill Archie O'Logie, all to steal a stone idol. Diane tried to get Careta arrested after she masterminded the whole thing. Oh, and chances are the real Etista is dead, if we go by Diane’s other killings. 

I can’t remember where Chico Careta lived but Diane could probably speak his language well enough to pass as Etista, so there’s that.

She’s 21, a year younger than Lucy. (That means she would’ve been approximately 18 when her father died.)

She threatens to kill Lucy, who wasn’t even with the police at the time of her father’s murder. However, when Lucy solves the Pig Jigsaw murder, she does release her from the room she’s trapped in. 

Actually, she and Lucy share quite a bit in common. Both of them have red eyes and are about the same size. They share some entertaining exchanges, such as their lines about crime fiction. This kind of discussion often occurs between hero and the villain- like Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty. 

When Lucy and Hilda turn up at Forbodium Castle, Hilda finds it strange that none of the other agents are around. Lucy exclaims, “It must be Diane!” You wonder what she means... until we see Diane has put a pig’s mask on someone’s body to reenact an old crime. GEE I WONDER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER AGENTS. 

This 21-year-old slip of a woman took out a gang of mobsters, because they apparently betrayed her father. 

(Ouch.)

Threatened to kill Hilda after Lucy left her. (’So much easier to kill her that way.’)

No chance at redemption for Diane. Justin shot her in the back of the head. If Alfendi had been blamed for her murder, she still would’ve won, even in death. 

Lucy believed that Diane was simply corrupted by her father's killings and death. (Thanks, PL Wiki.) While that might be true, the others don’t seem to think so. Sorry, Diane, no sentiment for you. 

Her name is a Latin form of “Rose”. Google says the rose has a history of symbolising secrecy. In her first (and only) scene in Spectre’s Call, Rosa sees the professor as we’ve never seen him before: sleeping on his sofa, using his coat as a blanket, shoes off, with his hat askew. He even lets out a huge yawn in front of her. 

“Sounds like someone was up researching all night... again.” Rosa’s reaction reveals this is a common occurrence for Layton. 

Her surname, Grimes, could allude to the fact that she’s a cleaner. Also, there’s this: ‘The Anglo-Saxon name Grimes comes from the baptismal name for the son of Grimme.’ This is relevant because... because she treats Layton like her son. 

Rosa was Layton’s mother before Lucille Layton existed. She and Lucille probably meet up and gossip about Layton over tea.    

She delivers Layton’s letters, makes him tea and tidies the professor’s horribly messy office.

“It’s no wonder the other professors are so intimidated by you...” Rosa gives us a bit of exposition conversation. I really like how through her we learn that Layton wasn’t always the perfect, famous gentleman is perceived to be by the original trilogy. He’s regarded as a young upstart. He overworks himself and falls asleep in his office. His organising skills are atrocious. He ignores Rosa’s chatter when he’s concerned by Clark’s letter. He forgets to eat, which worries Rosa.  

She’s makes good tea, as you can see.

She’s the ‘highly meticulous’ cleaning lady in charge of Gressenheller’s university offices. A lot of fans accept her as Layton’s landlady too. (Someone who looks after his house.) Not sure if this is ever stated in canon... but it might as well be canon.

She appeared in London Life, apparently, but as someone living in real-life London I haven’t played that game. 

She helps Emmy sort through Layton’s notes and newspapers. She asks Emmy to take care of the professor. Awwww!

A plump older woman in a Layton game with a speaking part. Do you know how... rare that was before Spectre’s Call? Sure, we have Babbette but she became a punchline when she got stuck in a door. There’s Randall’s mother, Mrs Ascot... who didn’t get a first name. There’s Lucille, of course. We got a couple of plump older ladies during AL, which is great! But Rosa was the first and she gets an awesome voice.

Why wasn’t she in Eternal Diva? Was she even mentioned during Miracle Mask? Why didn’t she appear at the professor’s office during Azran Legacy? She needs to take care of Desmond too.

Named after the Rosetta Stone - ‘a granodiorite stele, found in 1799′. (Go read the Wikipedia article - I’m sure it’s reliable.) Talk about having a punny name. 

Her design is pretty and, aside from Vera in PL2, one of the most risqué for a PL character. Not that it’s radical for her to be wearing low top! But in the Laytonverse half the characters look like they’re from Victorian England so...

Her coat and the boots remind me a bit of Emmy’s outfit. Imagine if she’d became Layton’s assistant instead of Emmy.  

Calls Layton ‘Professor L’. Do other students call him this? Or is it just Rosetta? 

From his conversation with Rosetta, we learn that Layton cancels lectures during his adventures but he holds supplementary lectures so his students don’t miss out. 

Layton says she’s studying the stone relics of Cornwall. Probably these things

She shows an interest in Layton’s mysteries

She make an appearance in London Life? (I’m European so I haven’t actually played the game or seen her.) 

She reminds you that OH YEAH LAYTON’S AN ARCHAEOLOGY PROFESSOR WITH ACTUAL STUDENTS 

She waits around outside Gressenheller’s front gates and strikes this pose when she sees Layton. (Why?)

She enjoys her ‘private sessions’ with Layton

From the credit picture above, we can see Layton brought his kids to their ‘private session’ to kill any the romantic tension 

Luke calls her a man-eater, despite not knowing what the phrase entails

Level 5 put an literal Layton fan girl in their third game 

Her advances towards Layton probably made him even more uncomfortable at this time because of Claire’s reappearance in Future London 

Besides this, her profile says she’s very passionate and she even goes to dig sites on her days off. That takes dedication, at least. 

“It’s Miss Seeker! First name, ‘Attention’!”... Actually, it’s Liza Wight. Liza could be short for Elizabeth or Eliza. It means ‘either oath of God, or God is satisfaction’. Thanks Google 

We’ve had two Queen Elizabeth’s in British history, one of whom is the current and longest reigning monarch. Probably just a coincidence, but Kat calls Liza “Queen Attention Seeker the Thirteenth!”

While Liza certainly enjoys scaring the living daylights out of people, she doesn’t do it out of malice or to fuel her own ego. 

She’s been lonely - feels like she can relate to wandering ghosts in that way...

Her parents died in a airplane accident when she was 18, robbing her of any relatives but granting her the family inheritance. Her only companion was Wooooster the butler.  

Aged 20, she’s the youngest of the Seven Dragons. (There are some... questions on that below the spoiler cut.)

Madame Doublee is her neighbour and they’re in close contact, so Liza isn’t utterly isolated. Double reveals that Liza has always been ‘rather quiet’, but she’s become even more withdrawn since her parents passed away.

Wooooster claims his young mistress is of a ‘solitary disposition’ and doesn’t leave her home very often.  

Rumour has it that her house has been cursed since Mr Wight died.

A young orphan associated with the supernatural - often the subject of gossip - who doesn’t get out much. Where have I heard that before?

Despite this, she specifically requests Kat and Emilianna help. She’s quite humble, asking them to call her Liza. 

Using her incredible craft skills, she transforms the ‘ridiculously large’ Wight Residence into a haunted house.

She invites investigators to her house, only to give them a fright. (This included a shaman and a spiritual medium. (Hey, Wight sounds a lot like Wright...)

One reason she suggests for the “ghost’s” presence is that they might be ‘departed souls with a grudge against her family’. HMMM...

After figuring out Liza’s game, Kat promises she can always call on her. 

However, Liza doesn’t hang up the ghost sheet. She puts on ghostly performances and parties for her Super Naturalist club friends. (Hopefully, Granny Riddleton will even join in.) 

She owns a projector... which she probably uses to watch too many horror movies.

Collects/Makes dolls and puppets. 

More of a night-bird than a day bird.   

Feels comfortable when there’s a chill in the air... or maybe that’s just to conceal her secret cellar. 

She has to spookiest, but sweetest butler in the world. 

Really, she sounds more adorable than terrifying. 

“Boo!”

BEWARE, POWERLESS MORTALS! Below be spoilers for the final case of the game!

(I kid you not, we’re doing this semi-seriously.)

Bill is a boring name (by Professor Layton standards), probably short for William, which means ‘Resolute protector; will.’ Several English kings have been named William. This includes William I, aka, William the Conqueror. Bill’s surname is more interesting due to its parallels to Clive’s name. Hawks are cunning and pray on smaller animals -  they’re top of the food chain. Doves are smaller, innocent and often symbolise peace. (Oh, the irony.) 

He was colleagues/friends with Dimitri.  

They worked in the same lab, researching time travel. Dimitri claimed the two of them poured their ‘hearts and souls into uncovering the secrets of space and time’. 

Bill definitely had an interest in time travel, though more for the money and fame it would bring him.  

He was probably friends with Claire too, because everyone likes Claire, but he wouldn’t admit it. He must have some amount of faith in her as he decided she would be the first test subject. He just... didn’t care if she survived or not. 

Dimitri pointed out the machine was flawed and begged him to postpone the experiment. Bill went ahead with it anyway.  

(Do you think as an ‘excellent scientist’ Claire was remotely aware of this design flaw? She’s not oblivious...) 

Doubtful he fully intended to kill Claire or all those bystanders. He didn’t fully intend for the time machine to blow up. What would be the point in that? He injured himself during the explosion. Sure, he keeps the money, but he still has to sweep the incident under the rug...   

More than likely sent those thugs after Hershel when he started investigating.  

Pocketed a large sum of money from a large corporation by selling the technology behind the machine’s power source.

After recovering from his injuries, he used his fortune to climb the political ladder. Um... How does an apartment-block scientist, with no mentioned political background, go on to become Prime Minister? I feel more inclined to believe the concept of time travel in this game

He so obviously finds Dimitri “Dr Alain Stanguhn” familiar at the time machine presentation? 

The crowd seems to like his speech, suggesting he’s an impressive orator. Adds some credibility to how this guy got into power.  

Has a huge ego 

The Prime Minister of England gets kidnapped and no one even sees it. Why was that never explained? Where did he and Dimitri go?

He has a wife, Caroline. She faints... but I think she’s alive by the end of it. 

Spends the majority of the game sleeping until he’s saved by Layton and Co. (He doesn’t even thank them.) 

“You do know how to drive, don’t you?” How the heck does Layton keep his cool with him in the car -? “What’s this? We’re going back?!”

Claire saves him because she’s a good person and didn’t deserve this. Bill doesn’t recognise her, let alone thank her. 

He blames ‘that criminal’ Clive for everything. He doesn’t take any part in the blame for the cause of Clive’s revenge plan. Chelmey sticks it to him at the end. Emmy doesn’t like him in Spectre’s Call. (I wonder if her uncle knows Bill Hawks...)

Bill Hawks has brought so much hilarity to the fandom, so we can thank him for that alone.

His name means "hope" in Uzbek. 

Doesn’t lose hope when all the adults in Mosinnia (including his mother) fall asleep.

Approaches the scary-looking Targent men for help. 

Says he doesn’t trust grownups but he’s open and friendly to Layton and Co.

(Sure, Umid.)

A ‘brave and caring’ boy.

Loves his mum

Mom friend to everyone in town... including the village elder, Dana. 

Mehri and Temir adore him 

He’s ‘unfamiliar’ with the outside world and he clearly has an accent, but his English speaking skills are amazing? (It would’ve been cool to hear his native language too.) 

He’s the only Egg Hunt exclusive character to get a cutscene with a voiced line! Aside from Old Red

Professor Sycamore reminds him of his father. He reminds Professor Sycamore of his daughter.

“Umy”  

Very knowledgeable about the legends of Mosinnia.

Like puzzles, of course. 

Is he related to Randall Ascot?

Does he ever meet Crow and the other Black Ravens? 

Give this poor boy a break.