[vocasilver]

I JUST NOTICED SOMETHING
I’ve always wondered how the hell Layton knew so much about Clive just by looking at the Scotland Yard files.
And then I realized
“A famous London newspaper“ most likely refers to the Times, which Layton is often seen reading; it’s likely that he’s reading every single article every day.
At some point Clive worked at the Times as a reporter, meaning that his name was probably printed down at least once, in whatever context, as someone working there.
Ok this alone wouldn’t make sense at all since Layton didn’t even know what his name was.
Well, let’s talk about Lady Dove.
She must have been incredibly wealthy. And judging by the people, it was probably a big thing that there was literally only one heir for all that money, and I bet they mentioned his name at least once in the newspapers, of course only his new name though, probably not even a photo, bc who wants to be interviewed after his mother died
So how the friggedy frig did he connect this?
First; he must have had at least a little suspicion.
He didn’t know Dimitri too well obviously (since a fake moustache was enough to hide his identity) but it’s pretty damn clear that he didn’t have reasons to set this fake Layton shit up, that there was no way he could have gathered enough money to even put together the fake time machine from the opening scene, and that things around this mafia just didnt add up. He knew there was someone else behind this; if you consider that Bill Hawks couldn’t do shit for Dimitri’s plan to build a working time machine, personal hatred aside.
I don’t know where it started, or from which point on he worked his way to the solution, but yeah.
The files probably just contained a list of victims, and he probably looked at them in the first place because he suspected someone seeking revenge for what happened, since there was no damn reason to kidnap Bill Hawks this way if not for personal reasons.
In the unwound future, it says that ten people died, and that only one house next to the lab building was damaged. Knowing that this one was the house of Clive’s parents, we can assume that next to Claire, and Clive’s parents, the other seven victims were lab workers/unfortunally in the building.
That means: He could see exactly who Clive parents were, since they probably had the same last name and were, judging by the fact that no other family was affected, the only people who he could possibly belong to.
Now knowing that he had a possible culprit (Clive didn’t change that much lets be real), he went through scenarios how one could have done such a thing. This person would have had to have the power to set this up. And so he came to the conclusion that this person had to own a SHIT TON of money.
He then probably remembered the death of Constance Dove and how it was a big thing that she gave everything to just her adopted son.
Adopted son
Incredible amount of money
Around 18 when she died
We know Layton’s memory, so it’s possible that he actually remembered seeing Clive’s name in the Times after Constance Dove died and then seeing his name again as someone working there; he probably found it unusual to take a part time job if you’re as wealthy as the heir of Lady Dove.
So he could easily draw the line: The boy’s name was Clive. His parents died in the fire caused by the explosion, and his age matched. He was adopted by Constance Dove, who died five years later, leaving only him as the heir of her money, making him really rich (and without people who would mind if he disappeared into the void). He, for some reason, also worked at the Times at some point, which doesn’t make that much sense.
He had his culprit: He had a personal reason to hate hawks, he had the recources to resarch who was responsible for the death of his parents and enough money to set up fake London, and he went through enough shit to consider this a good way of bringing his point across.
And: He concluded this at the time he realized the underground London was a hoax.
You may wonder how he came to the point where he could safely assume that London was a fake. Here are just a few reasons stated casually as a side note during the first half of the game:
1. It’s always hot and even at the waterside, the air feels heavy; also indicated by how the plants at the Thames look a little like from a swamp. The clima is tropic and there is no wind.
2. The sky is always foggy, concealing what’s underneath.
3. They both feel dizzy after traveling between the “times“; the quick change of air pressure is causing them to react like this.
4. The many empty areas and areas still in construction. It doesn’t make sense to build new things in the middle of a nearly deserted area.
5. The media is also controlled by the mafia. A man states that the Times wouldn’t write about anything relevant anymore.
6. People having no clue about where they are and why they are here after being hired as construction workers
7. The damn tower of the clock shop IS AS HIGH AS THE CEILING
All of these made it highly plausible that the mastermind was hiding in close proximity to guide them through this, leaving only one more possible culprit: Future Luke, who could of course not be who he claimed to be.
A few more reasons that probably added to the Professor’s suspicion about him:
-He didn’t recognize Flora at first
-He told the Professor that the Casino was run by the mafia, and the guy at the entrance would only let people with a casino membership pass. Why would Future Luke have a casino membership at the mafia casino, and why meet Layton there?
-To have them be attacked by the mafia of course. Clive hired Bostro and Bostro was the one initiating the attack (and slapping him across the room which is suddenly 1000% more funny to me (“just attack us and when I backtalk, just hit me“ “are you sure“ “yes just smack me across the room“)). This was supposed to make Layton trust “future Luke“ by being attacked in an enviroment where Clive could easily help and appear trustworthy (never wondered where he got the coins from? This is a casino! These things equal money! They dont just stand around in buckets)
-Clive actually dropped out his roll often enough (in the pagoda for example when talking to the two mafia guys that look like chelmey and barton).
-Clive was actually refered to as “young master“ by accident which is of course not suspicious at all

Yeah so here is the longest analysis I’ve ever written :))):