zavreena

[dsco-kjs]

[probablygayattorneys]

he stayed the same

all of me changed like midnight

(midnight rain, taylor swift)

[tea-of-destiny]

the natural tendency of a layton fan to imagine an au scenario where layton is also running around in some kind of mask

[multiversal-madness]

Thinking about the Bronev family again, I hope this is coherent-

(Cw non graphic mentions of child death, Azran Legacy spoilers ahead)

Leon Bronev, a man who was likely once a good ordinary man gets kidnapped along with his wife, leaving behind their two young children because he’d found something big about the Azran (did that make it his fault? Did he blame himself?). He loses his wife while there (I’m partial to the headcanon that it wasn’t just a normal sickness) and endures who knows what other hells while stuck in that cult for decades, ending up with nothing left but the Azran.

He turns down darker and darker paths going on some twisted version of a sunk cost fallacy (he’s gone this far already, why not go further?) until he either knowingly or unknowingly orders the murder of his granddaughter and daughter in law. Then he does it, he completes his goal, he solves the last puzzle of the Azran only for all of it to have been for nothing. Then he dies for it, but is revived with the rest and thus being unable to pay with his life. He’s arrested, likely too old at this point to hold out any hope of making amends or fixing what he’s done.

Hershel Bronev, still a young child when his parents are stolen from him and he’s left with caring for his younger brother. Then they get news that he’s going to be adopted alone, that he’d have to leave Theodore behind. Instead of that, he gives up this better life and his name, giving it all to his little brother who he wouldn’t see again for decades. He becomes Desmond Sycamore

He grows up devouring his father’s archeology books, to find a way to get some kind of revenge on the ones who stole his family from him. Instead he finds peace, he finds a new family, people who love him and people he loves the same. But it doesn’t last. Targent comes again to steal his family away, this time with his own Father at the head. Desmond Sycamore dies and he becomes Jean Descole.

But despite now loathing Targent, hating his father, he follows in their footsteps. Threatening loved ones, manipulating people, even attempting to kill a child (Luke was only 10 the first time Descole had tried to kill him), all so he could be the one to uncover the Azran. He becomes like his father in more than just appearance, but does he even realise this?

He’s put on many different faces before, but he pulls Desmond from his grave to use as a mask for what should be his final trick. He meets his brother again, but he’s the only one who knows it. Throughout their journey, he almost finds that peace again, but he knows it won’t last, he won’t be tricked again. He goes forth with his plan, revealing himself attempting to claim the sanctuary for himself.

But then he jumps in front of a laser for Luke, sacrificing himself for the boy he’d attempted to kill on more than one occasion (Maybe Desmond Sycamore still existed somewhere inside him…) On what would be his deathbed, he tells his rival of their connection, of them being blood. Then they leave to confront Bronev, he should have died but he couldn’t, not yet. He drags himself to final chamber, dying and being revived with the rest of them before disappearing, leaving loose ends untied. Now Descole has no reason to exist either. Who is he?

Then There’s Theodore Bronev, but that wasn’t his name anymore. He was given his brothers first name, given his new parents’ last name, he was Hershel Layton, he has been for most of his life.

He endures tragedy after tragedy, not even remembering the first, but he doesn’t let that change him. He loses his best friend (loses the rest of the Stansbury gang), his partner (then a month in a coma) and even when he remembers his lost family, he stays a good man, a true gentleman.

I don’t know how to end this, just wish I could add a section on Rachel but we know so little about her ugh

[101flavoursofweird]

Thinking about cycles of revenge in the prequel games again.

The Azran people refused to free the sentient golems, so the golems destroyed their civilisation. A few surviving Azrans imprisoned the golems in ice and set up their legacy knowing the golems could wipe out a future race. If whoever freed the Azran emissary viewed her more as a pawn than a person— enough to pierce her heart— then the legacy would be unleashed.

Leon and Rachel Bronev were taken by Targent and their kids were left behind.

After Rachel’s death, Bronev rose through the ranks of Targent and eventually, tried to bring his eldest son into the fold, like many archaeologists before him. When Desmond refused, his family were killed.

From then on, Descole became so determined to unlock the Azran sites before Targent that he would hurt/kidnap/manipulate other people’s families— even his own brother who stood in his way.

Of course, the people Descole used as pawns also reacted: 

Third Eye Jakes’ control over Misthallery, Oswald Whistler trying to steal others’ lives to revive his daughter, Randall terrorising Monte d’Or and his old friends…

And so on.

The cycle only stops when someone decides to break it. Luke— despite seemingly being shunned by his family and his friends— writes to Professor Layton for help. Melina— despite being given a second chance at life— hopes Professor Layton will stop her father. Angela— despite her losses and her troubled past with Layton— reaches out to him after eighteen years.

Even Desmond, on some level, realises this when he asks his brother to investigate the Azran with him. Sure, he ends up betraying Layton… but look at how well that worked out for him; he lost the Azran key to Targent and then Bronev unleashed the Azran legacy.

Aurora— despite everything the Azran did to she and her fellow golems, despite being kidnapped by Targent, despite the betrayals she faced even from her human friends— begs the light of the Azran to resurrect her friends after they sacrifice themselves.

Even if the prequel series isn’t very connected outside of the Azran sites being mentioned, I like how this cycle is felt throughout. I love how Layton— a contender for the world’s most tragic backstory, who’s suffered so much thanks to the Azran— steps in to stop it. 

[darklight-owl]

Since the Death Note kills people based on their preferred name and it's not exactly clear if Descole is a name or an alias I've been thinking about this a lot. Does Descole view "Jean Descole" as his name or is it just a descriptor of the remains Desmond Sycamore? Does a small, tucked away part of him still believe he is Desmond Sycamore? I don't know I'm leaving it up to the Desgirlies on Tumblr who know him better than I do to answer this.

[alto-tenure]

hey whatever you do don't think about how if des grew his hair out it'd probably look like rachel's

[flwrcrxwnlyon]

Des probably shows Pirandellian character traits: fun analysis (SPOILER AZRAN LEGACY)

First of all, I'm just a student who studied Italian literature as a subject at school, so please take all of this with a grain of salt and feel free to add your considerations. (And I hope that my teacher doesn't have Tumblr because it would be very embarrassing.) Also, maybe there are some regional differences, for reference I'll use the italian version of the game.

We all know that Descole is a broken husk of a man; Desmond Sycamore is dead; stuff like that. But I want to share with you guys a personal point of view about his character while using what I studied and STILL STUDYING for final exams ("maturità")

In order to understand what I am going to say, I need to explain a bit of his theories, which are also used in his novels, especially what we call "la teoria delle maschere."

Before talking about it, we need to essentially explain the concepts of life and form:

Life is a continuous change, a stream, and form is the structure where people try to contain life in order to make it more understandable by putting or letting people put a mask on ourselves (for example, a name, a role, etc.) that covers our true selves, our identity, which, just like life, changes and isn't coherent.

But since life is a continuous change, people are destined to face the fact that their identity isn't something stable. Usually it's a peculiar event or some random stuff, and they have different reactions to it. One of them is trying to escape from the form.

An example of this in Pirandello's books is Mattia Pascal, a man with a miserable life who decided to change his identity in order to escape from it, taking advantage of the fact that everyone he knows believes that he died, but in the end he realised that in his new form he couldn't be free, and he couldn't even go back to the old one since everything changed.

Now you may be wondering: What does that have to do with Descole?

His character is mainly centred on the theme of identity, just like Hershel Layton (but he accepts it) and the whole Azran Legacy game, but I wanted to focus on how he was written and especially how his life revolves around this, personally more than Hersh, and how his reaction is different.

Okay, basically the point is that his life is characterised by huge changes, and escapes from the form as a reaction to the event, which lead him to be stuck in an another form.

FIRST FORM: Hershel Bronev

For Pirandello, our first form is the name that our parents gave us. In the case of the Bronev Brothers, they broke pretty easily, and in Des' case, he gave up his name and his form in order to let his baby brother be adopted by the Laytons. This led Theo with a new form that wasn't his and Hershel "not being him" anymore.

SECOND FORM: Desmond Sycamore.

We don't know much about the period after the adoption of his brother. The only information that we have is that he was probably adopted by a family (the Sycamores), and he presumedly met Raymond at this point in the timeline. 

Desmond Sycamore is the name of his new form, perhaps even given to him by his adoptive parents. He acknowledges his past but presumebly tries to move on, in fact by getting married and creating his own family. But the event of the death of his family is going to change him even more. Killing off this form.

THIRD FORM: Jean Descole.

Now we start with the interesting stuff.

After the death of his wife and his daughter, Descole claimed that Desmond had died, and he, a broken husk of a man, substituted him.

On a more superficial perspective, the reason behind this change of personality could be grief, but to be honest, it doesn't explain why he thinks badly of his past self.

Sure, survivor guilt exists, but I don't think that it's the reason behind it.

I tried to reflect on it a bit more, and one of the explanations that I could give was that, actually, he could feel responsible for anything that happened to his family.

Maybe he wasn't present at the time that the tragedy had happened, maybe he found them already dead. Because of his incapability of defending them, he developed hatred and rage, so as a reaction, he created a new form. One that wasn't a fool and was the exact contrary of who he was and also with the objective to escape from the sense of guilt by separating his present self by the past one.

AZRAN LEGACY: Trying to go back.

Since Des needed help in order to solve the mystery of the azrans and what their legacy was, he presented himself as his past form: Desmond sycamore.

But the truth is that he can't really come back to be him. Just like Mattia Pascal, he changed mentally. He's a different man from before.

We can see that especially during his interactions with Bronev in the Nest, when his rage almost explodes just like Descole's.

But at the same time, it is clear that this whole travel with the layton crew changed him.

Maybe there isn't much evidence, but I personally think that he started to get emotionally close to them, and we can see that with the fact that he saved Luke from the laser.

At the end of Azran Legacy, he can't go back to be Descole anymore because of this and it's unfortunate how Level-5 didn't focus on this thing (just like the other relationships between the characters.)

EXTRAS: Aurora and Des confrontation.

[Image translation: "Now my wife and daughter are gone, and with them, that fool Sycamore."]

In the extras, we have this interesting interaction between Des and Aurora, where basically they talk about Descole.

After Des said that he isn't Desmond anymore, Aurora rebuts him, explaining how he was still capable of loving and hoping for the future, and that he can't really escape from his past, from his memories.

She calls Descole a character, a mask that he used to cope with his pain, and after Des tried to say that "Desmond is gone," Aurora remarks how technically still exists through his actions.

This is evidence of how Des identity changed again and how, as I explained before, even Descole isn't the same as before.

The extras concluded with Descole with a hidden desire to follow Aurora's reflection about resisting and basically moving on. Not forgetting his past.

Conclusion: Who is the true des?

Now there's a discussion in the fandom about who des really is, mainly divided in Desmond or Descole.

While descole is CLEARLY formed after a huge trauma, we also need to consider that Desmond isn't a "true form" either. This is also evidenced in the game.

At least in the italian dialogue, des talks how when he was still in Desmond form, he hoped that he could have lived a normal life with his family (and in the next lines said that he hoped that he would forget about revenge).

But neither Hershel Bronev is his true identity either now. That belongs to his brother now.

So? Who's the true form?

The scared child that hoped for a better life for his brother?

The man that couldn't save his family?

Or the husk blinded by revenge?

Maybe it's all of them, maybe it's no one. After all, we learned that the people's identities aren't stuck. They evolve, and they are complex and contradictory sometimes.

Personally, I don't think there's a true truth. We can just analyse and express our personal thoughts about it, we aren't this character, and there are a lot of points of view on this story, so there's anything concrete, just his events and his narrative of it.

[justkillingthyme]

Kicks feet back and forth. Do you have anything to say about DL!hershel maybe🥹🥹

Giggles and kicks my feet right back. I’ll tell you about his pre-au deaths (Bronev era -> pre LS) bc I finally figured out what I want to do

As always for this au, major talks about death and suicide so pleassse proceed with caution if you’re sensitive to that

His very first death is in the attack on the Bronev family. In the first rendition, Targent goes the fuck you ill kill your family route and poof. Theo wakes up that morning with a bad headache and is totally inconsolable until the early afternoon. At which point the children hide until after Leon and Rachel are gone. They didn’t ever manage to get Theo to tell why he was so upset.

That definitely contributed to his trauma memory loss.

He doesn’t have any deaths until Akbadain, at which point it resets per floor. He dies in the spider pit and multiple times to the mummies. He’s so confused by Being Alive that mostly it doesn’t register as anything other than Oh Fuck This is Happening.

Randall falls etc etc he doesn’t die. It’s half processed by the time that he’s home, and at that point he’s pretty much catatonic. When he ends up talking with his parents about everything (including the dying) they chalk it up to a hallucination or that his memory is faulty due to trauma. RIP Hershel gets gaslit by his well meaning parents.

Fast forward to college, he doesn’t die in the attack, but pretty much immediately afterward is a huge downward spiral culminating in him attempting.

Doesn’t work (via him getting saved), and the second he’s released from the hospital he attempts again. This time he ends up dying, wakes back up in the hospital, and for the next five loops just frantically keeps trying to kill himself until he accepts that he just can’t die.

RIP Hershel you can’t rest in peace

[waffle-sorter]

It just seems like a little much, you know?

Like. In the original trilogy there was Don Paolo, who turned out to be an old university classmate, and Clive, who was just a kid Layton tried to help once.

And then in the prequels, Descole - who, unlike Paolo, has not given previous indication that he has any connection to Layton - turns out to be his biological brother, and says that Bronev is their biological father.

And I find myself asking, why? What does the story gain from making this world-spanning conflict a family affair? It doesn't clarify anybody's motives for anything (at least, anything happening prior to the climax of the sixth game).

I don't see a reason that Descole shouldn't be the alter ego of Sycamore, a rival archaeologist determined to carry out his version of the Bone Wars. It seems like there's no reason Bronev needs to be anything more than what the rest of the game presents him as: the obsessed head of a weird military organization, operating on a mistaken premise.

[probablygayattorneys]

Okay, you know what, actually, full offense to Lucille and Roland Layton for only adopting one of the boys. They’ve already lost their parents, they are the only thing the other has in the world, and you’re going to split them up and then by all accounts not even try to keep them in contact or even make sure he remembers he had a brother? Shame on them.

[gamequoteshowdown]

Quote 1: “You’re mistaken. My name is Hershel Layton. I need no other name.” - Hershel Layton, Professor Layton

Quote 2: "I'll hold on to your glove." - Joker, Persona 5 Royal

Propaganda

Quote 1: (Huge major spoilers for Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy) TL;DR Layton tells his evil biological father that his real family is the one that adopted him Okay so first you need to know that the name Hershel Layton was given at birth was actually Theodore Bronev, and his older brother’s name was Hershel Bronev. Their parents were kidnapped by Targent, a villainous organization, and the Laytons decided to adopt the child named Hershel. Hershel swapped names with Theodore so that his little brother would be the one to get adopted. Fast forward a few decades to the end of Azran Legacy, and Professor Layton finds out within the span of a few hours that the villain Descole is his long-lost brother, and Leon Bronev, the leader of Targent, is their father. Bronev tells Layton that his real name is Theodore Bronev, and Layton responds with this quote because Theodore Bronev is not who he is, Hershel Layton is. Layton also tells Bronev that Roland and Lucille Layton are his parents, not Bronev. It’s such a powerful and significant moment

Quote 2: How dare Atlus take my heart and shatter it into a million pieces with this quote. There's so much tragedy in this line. You've tried to befriend Akechi over and over again and despite his insistence that you are enemies (rivals, even) you've still formed a bond with him. He's still important to you even after he tried to kill you several times. You tell him there's still a chance. That you can go back to the way things were before. That you want to see him again, when all of this is over. It's the closest thing to "I love you" Akechi's heard in years, and it might be the last thing you ever say to him.

@maybeamiles

[pinkpabli]

Despite Azran's Legacy Bronev backstory is a little rushed and farfetched (why did no one call the police when a whole family was kidnapped? Why was it so easy for desmond to tell the Laytons that theo was hershel? Did the adoption centre not double checked?), in retrospect it made sense that Professor Layton's name wasn't actually Hershel.

In Miracle Mask, when the Targent men came looking for him, they came looking for a "Hershel". And they never came back. Now, knowing that Target and Leon are more than able to resolve things with violence and they set Desmond's house and family on fire, I don't think it was only Ronald's doing that they stopped looking for Hershel. I think they realised that he was not the one they were looking for.

If you are the Head of a criminal organisation that revolves around archaeologist artifacts and you just recently lost your wife but you are so consumed by your work that all you think about is how can you better do your job, what would you do? Would you try to lure inside your organisation your youngest son, that was probably 5 years old at the time so too young to remember things about archaeology, or your oldest son, the one that was already very smart and knew more about your job?

Leon was looking for his Hershel Bronev, but he heard that "Hershel" had been adopted. But through his agents he learnt that it was Theodore all along. So that's why he gave up and disappeared.

[101flavoursofweird]

The little nods they give each other in these moments…

PL4: Layton comforts a frightened Luke after they’re attacked by the spectre, asking him to keep a clear mind and remain rational

ED: In another perilous moment with a monstrous machine… Luke bravely insists he can save Melina from falling— after all, he wants to be a true gentleman! Layton agrees to let him go.

HD screenshots from @dearesthershel’s PL4 HD video.

[multiversal-madness]

Professor Layton Au - Golem Layton

An Au where Hershel is an Azran Golem with repressed memories who knows he's not human, but doesn't know what exactly he is.

As someone solves the puzzle to unlock an Azran ruin, the opening door causes power to flood back into the Azran equivalent of 'wires' and on one of these now live exposed wires is a heavily damaged Azran Golem. The current of electricity is enough to wake it, even in its damaged state, and begin its self healing process with what mass it had left, which would result in a much smaller stature until it could rebuild itself up.

What it had experienced before its 'death' had left its scars though, so in order to protect itself from further self destruction, the memories were supressed.

With its memories supressed in the middle of restoration, it had no form to resume aside from a vaguely humanoid shape, which it used to wander the ruins. It wandered until it found the one who opened the ruins, the one who caused it to awake.

A human it'd soon come to know as Leon Bronev, an archeologist that had found the ruins and solved the puzzle to gain entry. With no other form to take, the golem became human in appearance to blend in, approaching the human to ask "Who are you?" giving him a big surprise at the appearance of what seemed to be a child.

Now for some more story and general info under the cut:

Leon, finding a small child in this middle of nowhere ruin with no reasonable way for them to be there (not to mention the child being further in than he had reached in a ruin with one entrance) decided to take them back with him, giving them the name temporary name (that would become semi permanent) Theodore as the child didn't seem to know their own name

He had his suspicions of the child somehow being related to the Azran, but what mattered in that moment was looking after him and making sure he had eaten

Rachel was certainly surprised when Leon came back from his trip with a child, but agreed to take him in and adopt him when no parents/missing children reports were found

Theodore becomes apart of the Bronev family, little things happening that show he's not quite human, but then things proceed as they do in canon. Targent comes to take Leon and Rachel, and 'Hershel' is adopted by the Laytons

Sometime after the Layton's adopting him, Hershel accepts the fact that he isn't human, though he doesn't know what he is and that thought scares him. But Roland and Lucille, who also know at this point, are supportive so he doesn't let it bother him (he tries not to let it bother him at least)

I'll leave the story stuff there, here's some more general info on Hershel's inhuman nature

Hershel is stronger than any human his age, and this strength only grows with time (as he repairs himself more/regains mass)

He doesn't injure easily, but when he does, he bleeds some strange glowing blue liquid (or glowing pink, I haven't decided yet)

His 'heartbeat' is always the same speed, no matter if he's resting, running or even sleeping, it never speeds up or slows down

He doesn't need to breathe, but he can and does because he gets weird looks if he doesn't

Once he's legally old enough to have alcohol, he discovers he can't actually get drunk

When he's an adult (when he fully regains his stature) his skin hardens and can't really get cut anymore, though it can be broken with enough blunt force (and when it breaks, it breaks like terra cotta)

He doesn't truly dream, but sometimes he'll get a 'recurring dream' of fire and smoke, and sometimes he'll see someone beside him, someone he should recognise but doesn't. The 'dream' ends when he reaches into his own chest and the view of fire is suddenly a wall of dirt

He gets strange feelings whenever he's around Azran ruins or technology, both like recognition and a strange fuzzy feeling in his head

I'll leave it there for now, this post was a lot longer than I thought it would end up lol. Anyway, here's a bonus, the background without Hershel and Leon because I ended up liking it more than how I drew them:

[stararise]

it is truly sooo hilariously ironic that leon bronev ABSOLUTELY has a favourite child and it's hershel layton. like he clearly cares for emmy but she is also disposable, and descole is "[layton's] extra baggage" (and also he murdered his wife and daughter). meanwhile it's layton's words that gets bronev to join them in the sanctuary, it's looking at layton in pain that gets him to actively jump into the death beams, it's layton that he apologizes to (in the jp version of AL), AND ONLY HIM despite emmy being RIGHT THERE. and what's even funnier is that while emmy has spent the entire trilogy working for him and trying to fix him, and descole has spent the entire trilogy working against him and trying to get his revenge, layton is literally Just Some Guy Who Happens To Be There. he is the golden child and yet he is UTTERLY CLUELESS to the fact that he's even part of the family. incredible.