Professor Hershel Layton

Professor Hershel Layton, a renowned archaeologist and puzzle-lover at heart, is the main character of the Professor Layton series. His assistant, Luke Triton, is being trained by Layton to become the perfect gentleman, which Layton indeed is, and always helps him solve every single puzzle. Layton's curiosity helps him to always solve the mystery and his open-minded thinking helps him solve all of the puzzles that he finds.

The Famous Top Hat:  Behind the Scenes
Hershel Layton went to college to study archaeology and met a girl named Claire. They both fell in love and after a while, Layton finally mustered the courage to ask her to marry him. Before he did, Claire bought him a very tall top hat, and thought that he looked like a gentleman. She was going to be the test subject of a time-machine, later that day, but the machine exploded, killing Claire. Layton didn't get the chance to ask her hand, and Claire had died.

He swore that he would always wear the top hat out of respect to Claire. He says that she is the one that inspired him to become the perfect gentleman. And always, after that, he never took the hat off, just like he swore he wouldn't.

The Mysterious Truth Behind Layton's Family
Even earlier back in time, Layton and his brother lived at an orphanage, their mother had died, and their father, Bronev, had abandoned them. Layton's real name is Theodore Bronev, Hershel was his older brother's name. Someone wanted to adopt, but only one of the two Bronev children. And so, Hershel gave his name to Theodore, and changed the new Hershel's last name to Layton.

When the two people who wanted to adopt arrived, they didn't know which one was Hershel, so the real Hershel told them that his younger brother was the one they were looking for. The adopters were concerned about the real Hershel, so he said that a family down the street was adopting him. The only thing that he could think to call them was the Fibs, because they were a big fib in the first place. The adopters were fooled and adopted Theodore Bronev, leaving Hershel behind. Later, it is revealed that Descole, Layton's nemisis, is in fact the real Hershel in Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy.

Theodore's, or should I say Hershel's father, is the man who wants to unlock the secrets of the Azran Legacy, and is just called Bronev throughout Layton 6 (the Azran Legacy). Bronev is also an archaeologist. Layton, after discovering that Bronev is his father, he says that he would love to be friends with him, but he could never accept him as a father.