Hugo Wagner

Hugo Wagner is a character in Shadow of Memories.

Description[]

Hugo is a young boy who lives in the 1580s and is the youngest child of the Wagner family. However, he finds himself dragged into a dark place due to the plans of an evil mastermind.

Biography[]

*SPOILER WARNING: Plot and Ending details follow!*

Early Life[]

Presumably born around the late 1560s or early 1570s, it is unknown what Hugo's life was like prior to 1580. However, it is known that eventually his mother became very sick, which worried him, and led to his father spending all his time in his lab, which began creating what would be the boy's resentment towards his father.

The 1580s[]

In 1580, his sister Margarete returned home with a new friend named Eike Kusch, who wore strange clothing that Hugo has never seen before. By accident, Hugo found the Digipad and in a joking manner guessed its ability to travel through time. Seeing Eike's reaction to the guess, Hugo was shocked to learn that he was right and was fascinated by the object. However, before he could do anything Eike left.

Eventually, Helena passed away and the upset Hugo kept a lock of her hair. Meanwhile, his father buried himself in his work and rarely spoke to either Hugo or Margarete. In 1582, after starting school, Hugo returns home to find that Eike had returned. He also overhears Eike's conversation with Margarete about time travel and the future, which leads him to learn one of two things: that removing someone from the past could change the future, or that Eike suspects Margarete of being his ancestress. Regardless, Hugo promises not to tell anyone the truth about Eike.

At some point within the next four years, Hugo comes up with the idea to use alchemy to resurrect his mother. He does so, using the lock of hair to make it possible, but fails. When his father finds him in his lab and scolds him, Hugo leaves thinking he failed. In truth, he had succeeded in bringing Helena's consciousness back, causing her to become a very powerful spirit. However, he never learned that he had succeeded at any point in the 1580s.

In 1584, Eike again returned, but this time bringing doom with him. Eike gave Hugo's father the Philosophers Stone, and during a time when Hugo and his sister were out, unleashed the creature inside the stone. The creature than unleashed his power on Wagner, either banishing him to somewhere else or making him younger with constant amnesia. Regardless, Wolfgang Wagner was not there when Hugo returned.

Original Fate[]

Hugo and his sister then returned home only to find nothing. Upset, the two continued on with their lives, thought the general information about his life is unknown. What is known is that he blamed Eike for his father's disappearance after finding his father's notes and spent all of his life to create a time machine of his own, which he eventually succeeds in doing. After doing so, he travels back to 1584 as an old man to try and change his history.

Alternate Timeline[]

Arriving after his sister had left briefly, the elder Hugo informed his younger self of what he knew, before giving him his time machine. It is unknown what happened to the older Hugo after this point, but it is likely that after his younger self left his time the older Hugo vanished from history, as it became impossible for him to exist. Meanwhile, the younger Hugo went to 2001 and stabbed a slightly younger Eike, setting off a series of events that revolve around Hugo trying to kill Eike and then Eike preventing his death, a fact Hugo wasn't aware of. This led to the events Hugo was trying to prevent in the first place, thus setting up a time loop.

Further details on Hugo's involvement in later parts of the story can be found at our Chapters & Endings Section.

A New Fate[]

In an alternate timeline created through all the other timelines, Eike Kusch retains all his memories of the previous timelines as well as his memories as Hugo's father. This enables Eike to cheat fate by preventing the release of Homunculus through two means. In one timeline, Eike simply causes Homunculus to come into contact with the stone, erasing the stone from history and leaving Hugo's father with no way to create the elixir of life. However, in a different timeline Eike gives the Philosopher's Stone to Wolfgang Wagner and shows him to to use a chip of it to save Helena. As a result, Hugo's mother is saved from death and the family's fate is averted. Regardless of how it happened, Hugo still has no reason to hunt Eike because Eike Kusch never existed without Homunculus cursing Wolfgang Wagner to suffer from eternal youth. This means that Hugo lived out the rest of his life in his time and presumably had children, because in modern times a boy that greatly resembles Hugo accidentally kicks a ball at a man that greatly resembles Eike, suggesting that both are descended from the Wagner family. Also, judging from the image of him in the final scene, it is possible that he became an alchemist like his father, which is likely considering that regardless of how it happened, there would have been no reason for Wolfgang to go missing or even become so obsessed with the stone.

Personality[]

Hugo is a very emotional young man, and one who finds it hard to let go of a grudge. It is possible, but unconfirmed, that he suffers from some kind of mental illness or personality disorder, something that obviously couldn't be diagnosed in his time. This is supported by how quickly Hugo's emotional state can change from calm and friendly to angry and violent, and back again. However at his best, he possesses a lot of empathy and love for his family, even towards his emotionally distant father. At his worse however, he is incredibly ruthless and manipulative, perfectly willing to hurt innocence including his own sister to get what he wants. He is also very intelligent as he not only figures out immediately that Eike is a time traveler but also how time travelling works and even builds his own time machine, unfortunately he's also very naive as he had no idea Homunculus was behind the series of unfortunate events and instead blamed Eike. As previously stated, emotions often get the best of him.

Appearance[]

Hugo is a fairly average young boy with blond hair and green eyes. While in the 1580s, he wore clothing fitting of that era. When in 2001, he wore a white shirt and green trousers to fit in.

Abilities[]

While young, Hugo is centuries ahead of his time and without a doubt possesses an exceptional mind. For instance, while he intended for her to be truly resurrected, Hugo's skill in alchemy did bring his mother's soul back to the world of the living. Also, despite being in the 21st century for what can be assumed to only be a few days, he quickly mastered modern technology and figured out how to find all the information he needed to blackmail Eckart. His older self also seems to be exceptionally skilled, due to inventing a working time machine despite the limitations of his era.