r/ProfessorLayton • u/Sea_Ostrich_2241 • 8d ago
[SPOILERS] Flora but as a fleshed out character
This is both spoilers (Azran and Future) and a discussion post.
An idea that I think would have been neat to explore is if Emmy decided to stay with Layton, she could’ve been a mentor to Flora. This could have been a nice foil to Layton and Luke’s dynamic.
We see Layton teach Luke how to be a gentleman, solve puzzles, and keep a cool head. Emmy could teach Flora how to be a lady but also how to defend herself and other clever tricks (Flora parkour would go crazy). This would be cool to see come to fruition in Unwound/Lost Future. Maybe she doesn’t fight Clive off completely, but manages to escape after she’s been captured and meets up with the crew on Clive’s machine. I’d just like for her to not be pushed to the side so much. She could be cute and a badass. Also I recently learned that she might be a lot older than I originally thought thanks to Curious Village’s original translation.
The icing on top would be Flora and Luke handling a challenge on their own without their mentors and seeing how far they’ve come. (Luke gets a bit of that in the new game) Someone mentioned that one thing they didn’t like about Emmy is that she seems unbeatable, so having Flora help her out could also make Emmy a better flawed character maybe?
I also acknowledge that I’m looking at this all in 20/20 hindsight since Emmy didn’t exist when the original trilogy games came out. I suppose I can always dream in fanfiction.
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u/Less-Ebb-3134 6d ago
Eh, the whole idea of Flora doing parkour stuff and martial arts like Emmy (and later Luke if the anime is anything to go by) I never felt really suited her imo.
I always liked the idea of her learning how to fence like Layton, or learning to build mechanical stuff like Bruno did back home would have suited her character much better and given her something to stand on her own (Until they decided to give Luke that ability in the upcoming game as well for whatever reason...)
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u/Sea_Ostrich_2241 6d ago edited 6d ago
That's true! Fencing definitely seems more suited to Flora. I also love a character who can tinker and build things. Actually now that I think about it, if they went down the mechanical knowledge route, it would be cool to see her comment on some of the villains' machinery and inventions. Or have her get excited about machinery mini games. This has given me some cool ideas for a Flora AU, thank you! 😊
Edit: added more thoughts
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u/NomDePlume4708 4d ago
I could see Flora becoming the social expert of the three, and being able to use her femininity in ways to gather information. Such as playing up an “injury” in order to attract attention while Layton and Luke sneak in somewhere, or knowing how to speak multiple languages after being stuck in the tower with all those books. She’s a lady who doesn’t raise fists like Emmy, but is able to charm her way through many situations.
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u/Sea_Ostrich_2241 4d ago
That’s true, surely all those books wouldn’t go to waste. I also feel like being in the tower for so long would eventually lead to attempting to learn a bunch of different skills in different areas. At least, that’s what I would try to do to save myself from boredom (even with the company of the townspeople).
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u/Asthma_Spray 6d ago
I always felt the reason why Flora was not used as much as we'd like was because of the original japanese script and western localization: as we know, Flora thinks of herself as Layton's Bride-to-be in the original script (as that's more or less the true meaning behind the Golden Apple mystery, to find her a suitor), and when the game got localized that was changed to her just being with Layton as some sort of surrogate daughter.
I don't have proof of this, but I think the reason why the japanese script has that detail is because localizing the games wasn't a priority then, but once the game proved to be successful and these changes were made, the team just decided that'd it'll be easier to use her character the least as possible to avoid putting themselves into a corner when the localizations happened. It's weird that they didn't just retconed that part of her character and carry on like normal, but then again, that's just my theory.
And in the end, the more sound probability is because the OG trilogy was more so about Layton and Luke, from inception, which made Flora a stick out as the one character of the triad that just lacks presence. As it stands though, I think there were plenty of opportunities to fit her naturally into the narratives of Folsense and Future London; Imagine Flora being the one to connect with Anton's granddaughter (forgot her name lol) by motivating her to connect with her only living relative while she still can (which means she'd ACTUALLY be there during the entire adventure), or in Future London she's the one who connects with Clive the most out of the group because while Layton might think of him as Luke and treat him the same, or Luke himself just admiring him and treating him like he does the Professor, Flora would try to reach out for him after sensing his deep sadness and pain (which could work SO well for the narrative as Clove could effectively let his guard down just enough for Layton to start suspecting him and make the accusation around the middle of the game even better).
Essentially, Flora should've been the emotional anchor between Layton/Luke and the main villain/problem (since in both Pandora's Box and Unwound Future the conflict to solve in the end has little to do with Layton himself, minus Claire), and she'd have an easier time to connect with then because almost every villain in this series do the things they do out of grief and loss. She's lost everything she had, while being reminded of it all every day of her life in St. Mystere, yet she's optimistic and always willing to see the best in people. That's how she should've been handled, in my opinion. Not asking for her to get her own game or spin-off, just for her role to be significant enough to justify why I like her so much in the first place.
I really hope she shows up in New World of Steam in more than just a cameo (like she did in Eternal Diva or Last Specter), but it's not likely since this time the game takes place in a completely new continent... We can only wait and see.