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Fridge Brilliance

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

There's a minigame which involves a hamster. The hamster speaks throughout the minigame, and also afterward, when he becomes the coin- and hidden puzzle-finding companion. This is a little jarring... until you remember that Luke is the one who is supposed to be interacting with the hamster, and Luke has the ability to communicate with animals. The hamster "talks" because Luke can understand him!
I saw a lot of headscratchers about the hallucinogenic gas in Folsense, and the fact that it apparently made a shared hallucination. But when you think about it, we don't know that. From arriving in Folsense, everything is from the perspective of Professor Layton himself, and while he interacts with other characters, that proves nothing due to the hallucination element. The gas can cause people to hallucinate death and therefore fall into a coma. Making Layton warp any conversations in his head so as to fit his perspective is easy. And neither Luke nor anyone else ever got frantic about Layton acting differently because, from their perspective, he was just giving the reactions they were expecting.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

The spinning stone rings in the title screen? They're a simplified representation of the Infinite Vault of Akbadain, which, unlike the previous two archeological wonders, has nothing to do with the current story's plot... but, along with the other two, has everything to do with the final game.
Layton and Henry are more alike than they ever realized. After Randall's supposed death, Henry continued being his butler, not only looking after what was rightly Randall's in case he ever returned but also doing minor jobs like dusting. He was trapped in the role, and when Randall returned, he probably never did another bit of housework again. While Henry was trapped in the role of a butler, Layton was trapped in the role of a proper British gentleman as a result of the loss of Claire, whose joke about him becoming a gentlemanly university professor resulted in a years-long obsession. Both Henry and Layton became psychologically trapped behind stereotypically British facades as a result of the loss, and only closure could free them.
One of the collection items is the Enigma Coin. Upon gaining the coin Layton and Luke claim how it looks like a fake hint coin. On closer inspection of the coin, it does look like a hint coin, complete with top hat, forestlike colors and the letter "R". The comment in the collection chest says it looks like a hint coin "but what does the R stand for?" This is where the brilliance comes in. Without a second thought, the hat on the coin belongs to Layton, but the colors suggest otherwise. Who else wears a top hat? The Masked Gentleman. Then what does the "R" stand for? Randall.
- That's definitely not enough evidence, though. It could stand for Reinel, or Reinhold, or Rudolph, or any other name that starts with "R".
  - True, but are there any other names that start with "R" within the miracle mask game? Certainly, no one called Rudolph. I see where you're coming from but you're thinking way too outside of the box.
  - Here's why it has the letter R. In the Japanese version of Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, it is revealed that Layton and Descole's father is Bronev Reinel. The Enigma Coin foreshadows the fact that Layton's real name is Leppard Reinel. Foreshadowing at its finest that was unfortunately lost in the localization- it should be a B in the foreign releases.

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

At the end of the game, it turns out that the Azran fell as a result of a Robot War because they developed sapient AI golems and yet refused to treat them as anything but tools. This provides a thematic link with Curious Village, the next game chronologically: Layton proves that modern humans have a better understanding of such things by treating the robotic villagers as people worthy of respect.
Descole's hat flaps and fuzzy cape collar hide his hair from the viewer, especially the silly hair bunches we see when he's masquerading as Sycamore. They also hide the fact that his hair color is very similar to Professor Layton's.
It's interesting how similar Descole and Layton are as adults, given that they were raised in different environments with no contact with the other for decades. They both become archaeologists; they both apparently learned to play the piano at some point, as seen in Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva; they both learned to fence; and they both have interesting headgear that they rarely take off; and they have also both lost a significant other Layton lost Claire and Descole lost his unnamed wife).
In his appearance in Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, Descole's decision to raise Ambrosia by force seems a little bit brutish and ill-thought-out. Why would someone go to all the trouble to uncover the secrets of the Azran only to smash them up? Initially, we would think it's just a way to show Descole is a little bit off his rocker. But come the game, we find out why - Descole never wanted to preserve or recover the Azran's secrets; he only wanted to gain the necessary information to get the power of the legacy and then use that power to destroy all traces of the Azran. In other words, since he was already in Ambrosia with a Humongous Mecha, why not start a bit now?
Aurora is the only human-like golem because she was designed to blend in with humans. Then she could experience modern-day human society first-hand, allowing the Azran Light to gauge the worthiness of human beings.
At the end of the game, everyone watches as the golems are freed, raging devastation on humanity. Bronev takes off his glasses at this moment, symbolizing the beginning of his redemption arc. If you look closely, there was no way to see through the glasses (mostly to hide how similar his eyes are to Sycamore's, but this also implies he can't see through them. By seeing the golems, he stops being blinded by his quest for the Azran legacy.

Layton Mystery Detective Agency

The first three episodes match up fairly well with the first three games of the main series.
- Professor Layton and the Curious Village and episode 1 both feature an elaborate puzzle set up so someone can claim their inheritance.
- Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box and episode 2 have a main character mourning his lost wife, an abandoned town, and the revelation that a lot of what we saw was actually a hallucination.
- Professor Layton and the Unwound Future and episode 3 have scientists working on a secret project underground.

Fridge Horror

General

The losses of Randall in Akbadain and later Claire in the time machine experiment both explain Layton's reluctance to allow Flora near anything remotely dangerous - and his ungentlemanly behaviors in regard to this (such as leaving her at home, sneaking out without her, etc.) Poor Hershel. He's already lost one of his close friends and the love of his life - the idea of also losing his daughter probably terrifies him half to death.
- He also tried to do the same thing to Chelmey, Barton, and even Luke shortly after in Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, because he had experienced first-hand the dark conspiracy behind the time travel experiment when he was beaten by hired men and robbed of all his research on the matter several years ago. So he's generally protective of everyone he cares about, but Flora is the one to whom he exhibits this behavior most consistently.
- The true horror is that Layton loses nearly EVERYONE he cares about. Examples: His brother, his birth parents, (even if he was very young, and probably doesn't remember anything...) Randall, Angela, Dalston, Claire, Emmy, Luke... It's a wonder the Professor doesn't have worse emotional issues than he already does.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

The implications behind the hallucinogenic gas are terrifying if you think about it a little. Under the influence of the gas, which the game states makes people extremely susceptible to suggestion, Anton didn't even notice he had aged fifty years until he attempted to duel Layton and found his strength wane much faster than it should've. What would happen to a person who attempted to live on the local food only? Would they just put down their increasing weakness to some mysterious illness, firmly believing they were eating their fill up until they just collapsed from starvation?

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

Toward the end of the game and again in The Stinger, we learn that Bronev has taken control of the featured ruins of Professor Layton and the Last Specter and Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva. Sure, the kingdom of Ambrosia was abandoned, but what does that mean for the citizens of Misthallery, including young Arianna and Tony?
- Considering the picture you get if you solve all the puzzles in Professor Layton and the Last Specter, which is proven to take place after Professor Layton and the Curious Village by the presence of Flora, they're fine.
- Clark and Brenda Triton show up in Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy as they're currently working on archaeological research in London. No mention is made of anything happening to Misthallery, therefore we can assume Targent simply sent some researchers to scout the Golden Garden (like they did with the wall of Norwell in the past) rather than seizing control of it with their military.
- Seizing control with their military would be impossible to do without starting a war.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Shortly after Layton befriends Luke, Clark suddenly raves about the Professor's knowledge of wine and asks him to select one for dinner. Layton privately considers this odd — his old friend, of all people, should know that he's clueless about wine — but has a look regardless, a wine-themed puzzle ensues, and that seems to be that. Later on, it's revealed that Descole was keeping Clark's kidnapped wife prisoner beneath the wine cellar. It's then that you realize: Clark was trying to clue Layton into the fact that something was amiss in the cellar, and not only Layton but both his companions failed to actually do anything about it. So 1. Clark's desperate last chance to save his wife was ruined because Layton got preoccupied in arranging bottles, and 2. Luke was maybe meters away from his beloved Missing Mom and had no clue about it. Just try to imagine how Clark must have felt throughout that supper!
- But in the end this did end up helping Layton find them: just before the confrontation with Donald/Descole, he sends Emmy to investigate the cellar. Since there were no other clues, this was probably due to Clark's hint.
Jakes might be responsible for Loosha's death since he trapped her in a net out of water. So if Layton had quickly accused Jakes, the police would've apprehended him, they could've released Loosha in time, she could've regained strength after going back to water and survive after breaking the dam's gates. But instead, Layton wastes his time giving an elaborate explanation of Doland's plan.

Fridge Logic

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

In Miracle Mask, Descole-as-Angela says he knows the Professor only played along with him because he needed help on the final puzzle to raise the ruins. Why? Emmy and Luke were both there; Layton just needed another body, not anyone specific.
- Layton didn't know what the final puzzle was until he came across it. Having his highly intelligent archaeologist archnemesis around would certainly be useful in case he needed to figure something out. And he also kept him under control this way. Not to mention, we as players are explained the rules of the final puzzle as soon as it begins, but keep in mind Layton had to figure them out first in-story. It's likely Descole helped with that while Luke and Emmy couldn't have.

Fridge / Professor Layton

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