Desmond Sycamore

"You're feeling brave, but only because you haven't lost anything yet."

— Desmond Sycamore, Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

Desmond Sycamore
Game Role	Major Character Antagonist
Appearances	Azran Legacy
English VA	Unconfirmed
Japanese VA	Atsuro Watabe
Biography
Occupation	Scientist Archaeologist Inventor
Alias	Jean Descole Hershel Bronev* Professor Stickyfloor* Professor Sillyscore* Professor Sandyshore* Professor Seamacaw* Professor Singapore* Pigtails* Professor Pigtails* Professor Snoozysnore*
Description
Gender	Male
Species	Human
Hair Color	Brown
Eye Color	Brown
Known Relationships
Father	Leon Bronev*
Mother	Rachel Bronev*
Siblings	Hershel Layton
Partner	Unnamed Wife*
Children	Unnamed Daughter*
Family	Alfendi Layton* Katrielle Layton*
Others	Raymond* Harald* Luke Triton* Flora Reinhold*
In other languages
日本語	フォスター・サーハイマン Fosutā Sāhaiman
Deutsch	Professor Desmond Locklair
Español	Profesor Desmond Sycamor
Français	Professeur Desmond Sycamore
Italiano	Professor Desmond Sycamore
Nederlands	Professor Desmond Sycamore

Desmond Sycamore is a major character in Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy.

Biography

Appearance

Desmond Sycamore wears a black/brown suit with a white shirt and red tie. He also wears red browline glasses, which are only for show. He has curly brown hair and brown eyes.

Personality

Desmond is a gentlemanly and intellectual man. He tends to treat people kindly and rarely gets angry, though he does exhibit annoyance at several points in the story, particularly when people get his name wrong. His usual personality changes radically with Targent or when he fights for some Azran secret. When this happens, he gets angry, upset, and outspoken, much unlike his usual demeanor. It is implied that he has gone through much turmoil in the past because of Targent's actions. He also claims to have a "saint's patience", though it is probably more accurately labeled as "good at holding his anger in".

Plot

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Pre-game life

Young Descole (left) with Hershel Layton

Was born under the name Hershel Bronev to Leon and Rachel Bronev. He lived his early life in a small town with his little brother, Theodore. His father Leon was a passionate archaeologist who investigated the Azran civilization, and after plenty of studying became aware of their legacy. This eventually led to Targent, a criminal organization (by then, almost a cult) interested in the Azran civilization, to break into their house and kidnap both Leon and his wife, leaving Hershel and his brother as orphans.

The children eventually found Roland and Lucille Layton, who wished to adopt. Unfortunately, they could only adopt one child, which they wanted to be Hershel. However, since they didn't know who Hershel was, the actual Hershel (Desmond) gave his name to his younger brother Theodore (Layton) as he wanted him to be happy, not to mention Theodore was too young to be left alone, causing him to be adopted in his stead.

Sycamore becomes Jean Descole

The young Descole eventually started to focus on studying the Azran civilization tirelessly in the hopes of beating Targent in finding their legacy, so he could have his revenge on the two reasons why he lost his family: Targent and the Azran. It can be speculated that a while later, another family was found to adopt Descole, and they adopted the remaining child, giving him the name Desmond Sycamore.

Desmond spent most of his life under this name, and eventually got married and had a daughter, having a normal life with them, becoming famous for researching the Azran. Sycamore probably met also around this time his butler Raymond, who would be faithful with him during his entire life. However, when he thought he was happy and could move on from his past and live for more than just revenge, both his wife and daughter died due to unspecified reasons, likely due to Targent. This was most likely the moment when he created his Jean Descole disguise. However, as this is unconfirmed by the game or the producers, it is only conjecture at the moment.

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

Layton meets Professor Sycamore

Professor Sycamore sends a letter to Professor Layton, reporting the finding of a living mummy and asking for help. Professor Layton, Luke, and Emmy travel to Froenborg in the Bostonius, Sycamore's aircraft, piloted by Raymond. When they reach Froenborg, they meet with Sycamore in the cave, and manage to liberate the "mummy" from the ice wall. However, before they can take her, Targent appears and kidnaps the girl, whose name is supposedly Aurora.

During the chase

An aerial chase begins aboard the Bostonius to rescue Aurora. After a lengthy battle with aerial drones deployed by Targent, Professor Layton and Luke infiltrate the Targent airship and eventually manage to locate Aurora, but during the flight, they fall in a forest near the village of Kodh. The three were separated in the fall, as Aurora struggled free of Layton's grasp of her as they were descending from the airship via rope. After searching for Aurora all over town, they located her on the lake, and she manages to make ruins appear that were hidden in the lake. When they enter into the ruins, Aurora speaks for the first time and tells them that they have to find the five aura stones to discover the Azran secret.

Before starting a journey around the world to find the five stones, Professor Layton and company return to London to prepare for the trip. During their stay, they must solve a case of theft at the museum. After researching and visiting the commissariat, Professors Layton and Sycamore, with the help of Grosky, manage to discover the culprit of the theft, Leonard Bloom, and also show that he is a member of Targent who was set as a mole in Scotland Yard.

In Hoogland

During their journey around the world, they visited several villages in different areas. In each of them, they had to solve some kind of enigma to get one of the stones. Sycamore does not show any suspicious behavior during the trip, but in Mosinnia mentions his wife and daughter, who died long ago. Along their travels, they met with soldiers sent by Targent to find the stones.

Sycamore shows his intentions

After getting the five stones, they realize that one of them is false, which leads them to travel to the base of Targent, the Nest. Once there, they realize that Bronev, Targent head, wants to talk to them, so they went to his office at the top of a tower. Bronev asks Professor Layton to join Targent and even he makes a blackmail with a threat to his parents, but Desmond Sycamore manages to convince Layton that it was a trap. After ignoring the request of Bronev and winning against him in a coin game set by Bronev, Layton and Sycamore acquire the last egg, which joins together with the remaining four to form a key. At this point, Sycamore betrays the group, and reveals his true intentions as he sheds the persona of Desmond and shows his colors. Trying to avoid further delay, Descole quickly flees the premises. Professor Layton confronts him and they trade blows, Layton wielding a pipe and Descole a blade, but Descole escapes with the help of Raymond and goes to Froenborg to discover the Azran Legacy, key in hand. For the remainder of the game, Descole is present, the Desmond Sycamore persona not appearing again.

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Spoilers end here

Media

Main article: Gallery:Desmond Sycamore

Desmond Sycamore 8 bit art.

Trivia

• As shown in their flashbacks together, and his official profile, he is seemingly slightly older in age than Layton is; also, he was still considered a child in these flashbacks, yet was fluently conversing by the time.
• Throughout his life, he has had three names: Hershel Bronev (during part of his childhood), Desmond Sycamore (his real name after becoming an orphan) and Jean Descole (the name of his alter ego, created by him for vengeance purposes.)
• Desmond is shown to be able to fly the Bostonius alongside Raymond, taking control when necessary.
• In the Japanese version of Azran Legacy, Desmond Sycamore holds the title of doctor, rather than professor.
• In Eternal Diva, it is shown that he can play the piano.
• Like Don Paolo from the previous games, Desmond is also a master of disguise as shown in both Last Specter and Miracle Mask. Like Paolo he also helps out Layton in the final game of each trilogy (however Paolo only briefly helps Layton whereas Desmond helps out the full game.)
• Also in Last Specter, it is revealed that he has terrible handwriting.
• Descole, Professor Layton, Anthony Herzen and Randall Ascot are currently the only characters who are known to be able to sword-fight/fence with skill.
• In Azran Legacy, when the group is in Phong Gi, he tells dull jokes to the chief, yet is shocked when he does not receive laughter in response. This could point to him lacking a common sense of humor.
• During the events in Mossinia, it is stated that Desmond seems close to Emmy. This is most likely foreshadowing the fact that they become enemies later in the game when Emmy defects to Targent.
• According to the guidebook, Desmond's glasses are purely aesthetic.

Profiles

Azran Legacy

An academic who is widely considered the authority on the Azran civilization. His demeanor is usually gentle, but his temper flairs at the mention of Targent. Despite his appearance, he is actually older than Layton, and sometimes speaks of a lost wife and child.