Professor Hershel Layton

Professor Hershel Layton is the eponymous protagonist of the Professor Layton series.

Hershel is an archaeology professor at Gressenheller University in London, world renowned for his puzzle-solving skills. He travels with his self-proclaimed apprentice, Luke Triton.

In the Heroes Coalitions fics, Hershel was once a member of the Freedom Heroes.

Appearance
Layton has brown hair, tan skin, and black dotted eyes, like his mother.

As a young child in the Azran Legacy flashbacks, Layton wore no hat, a brown and orange coat, a white shirt, a green tie and brown pants. His shoes are unseen.

In the Miracle Mask flashbacks, when he was 17, Layton wore no hat, a red waistcoat with a white shirt, and a blue tie. He wore dark green pants with brown shoes. His hair was in an afro-like style.

When he was 27, during the Unwound Future flashbacks, Layton wore a red vest and cap with a white shirt. Occasionally, he also wore a black suit jacket. Claire gave him the top hat that he wears today.

During the present time in the Professor Layton series, he wears a top hat, a brown coat over a dark orange shirt, brown pants, and a pair of dark green shoes. Underneath his top hat, he has a somewhat messy hairstyle.

Personality
Layton is an English gentleman. He is incredibly brave, intelligent and athletic, as shown in all the games. He is always calm and is polite to everyone he meets. While he is friendly, he is on the quiet side and is usually reserved in his emotions. Harboring a great love for tea, and an even greater love for puzzles, he is the ideal gentleman. He has strong logical skills, which come into play on a regular basis. He is able to keep his calm, even in the worst situations (as seen in The Last Specter, when he encourages Luke to keep a clear mind after Arianna Barde gets arrested).

However so, he acts completely out of character in Cheerful Mystery. He seems to stay cool and calm, as of his usual nature, but sometimes, when talking to Luke (who is also out of character), he gets angry and fierce, to the other's disbelief.

As well as being brave and heroic, Layton also has a soft side. Most of his mysteries are based on him trying to help people. This is best seen at the end of Unwound Future.

Trivia

 * Layton is 34 in Spectre's call and around 28 (in Emmy's memory), officially 17 (as a student at Stansbury) and around 35 in Miracle Mask, and around 37 in Curious Village, Pandora's Box and Lost Future (if including around 27 years old in the past). He became a professor at 27 years old, so this would make him around the age of 37 in Unwound Future. However, his "official age" in the main trilogy remains unconfirmed.
 * The anime's timeline adds around 23 years to his age, as Katrielle herself is officially 21, and Layton takes her in when she is a baby.
 * In Diabolical Box, Layton's hat leaves his head for a split second, although the top of his head is not visible due to him ducking.
 * His height (including hat) is 5'9"/176 cm, according to official guidebooks.
 * In Diabolical Box, Layton's choice of tea is Belle Classic, since he prefers his tea to be bitter.
 * According to Miracle Mask, he also prefers his tea with milk, and also enjoys Earl Grey and cucumber sandwiches.
 * Unwound Future is, so far, the only game in which the professor takes off his hat. This does not count the flashbacks of Miracle Mask and Azran Legacy where he does not have it.
 * In Unwound Future, when you click on the hat on the crate in Layton's office, Layton responds that "a gentleman always keeps an extra spare".
 * In Eternal Diva, Layton is shown being able to play the piano at a high skill level.
 * For some reason in the English version of Eternal Diva, he is shown to play it only with one hand while the sound is distinctly played with two. This does not appear in the Japanese version.
 * This was most likely a last-minute visual correction to the English dub since the song he's playing is meant to be one hand of a two-handed piece, despite not correcting the sound. In addition, Layton realistically glances up to the sheet music multiple times, which he does not do in the Japanese version.
 * Layton, along with Randall, was a member of the fencing club in his youth. He was the less skilled of the two.
 * Professor Layton, Jean Descole, Anton Herzen, Randall Ascot and Rufus Aldebaran are currently the only characters who are known to be able to sword-fight/fence.
 * Professor Layton also drinks red wine, though he seems to prefer tea.
 * Professor Layton is also capable of riding a horse, as seen in Miracle Mask.
 * In Last Specter, it is mentioned that he dislikes coffee, as it "makes [him] rush to hints"
 * In Miracle Mask, young Hershel claims he is okay with the scent of coffee but prefers the aroma of tea.
 * Professor Layton appears on another game called Inazuma Eleven (another game franchise of LEVEL-5) and appears on a team called the Layton Team, but it is only a brief appearance and his team may not be even challenged. This team includes Professor Layton, Luke, Flora, Don Paolo, Inspector Chelmey and Anton.
 * The Gentleman range in London Life is based around his attire.
 * In Last Specter, it is shown that the officers of Scotland Yard hold Layton in high esteem, as Grosky tells Emmy in a flashback, "Don't let the hat fool you. That is a man of powerful intellect."
 * He is also often called to help with their "tougher cases".
 * In the London Science Museum (in real London) there is an archaeological collection of stones, fossils and shells called the "Layton Collection".
 * Layton's beloved hat was given to him by his sweetheart Claire.
 * Before Layton's top hat, he had a small, red cap.
 * Layton has a son, whose name is Alfendi Layton. He is the protagonist of Layton Brothers: Mystery Room. The two have yet to appear in a game together, and the mother remains unclear.
 * He also has a daughter, Katrielle Layton. She appears in Layton's Mystery Journey, where she solves mysteries in London in search of her father.
 * Flora may also technically count since she "follows" him after Curious Village. However, she is referred to as his "protegee" in her English Unwound Future profile, and Flora still refers to him as "professor," never calling him "papa" like she called her birth father, Baron Reinhold. (This is also the case in the Japanese version, where she never refers to Layton as a "father" or similar. Her last name also remains the same in both versions.) Despite this, she is still often seen with or near Layton.
 * During the final trial in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Layton's sprite animations are very similar to those performed by Miles Edgeworth in the Ace Attorney games, such as shrugging while shaking his head and slamming the desk with one palm. This may be intentional on the developer's part, as Layton was acting the role of a friend turned rival, which is a major part of Edgeworth's character.
 * Layton and his daughter Katrielle appear in Yo-Kai Watch: Wibble Wobble as Yo-Kai, with Layton being a Mysterious Tribe Yo-Kai.


 * "Hershel" may come from the German surname "Herschel", which in turn possibly comes from "hirsch", meaning deer. It was normally given to hunters or those "nimble like a deer", perhaps referencing Layton's hunt for puzzles or his nimble mind. It may have been chosen in reference to John Herschel, an English astronomer who wrote to William Lassell after Neptune's discovery to suggest that he would search for possible moons. Lassell did so and discovered Triton.
 * Layton is a surname derived from various place names in England, possibly coming from "settlement by the watercourse", from Old English "lād" ("watercourse") + "tūn" ("enclosure"). Presumably, it was chosen for its British origin. It could also possibly be a play on "Latin", as a reference to his intellectualism.