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Lowel Tyron 
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| | | Note: Tyron has been known by many names. Originally, in the very first presentation PDF of Code Lyoko Evolution, he was called Alan Meyer. But after this PDF was leaked onto the Internet, his name was changed a first time. He was then called Ikonov (a name he kept in the official episode summaries of the series). This name was however already copyrighted for use in another fictional universe. So the name changed one last time and became Tyron. | | |
 | "They have been married for 4 years. Your mother authorised Mr. Tyron to be your legal guardian. You'll go to Switzerland to see her."
#26 The Final Mission |
Appearing very late in the story, Tyron is a new element in the mysterious past of Franz Hopper, Aelita's father. During this new conflict against XANA, to the heroes, he is the new villain... And for the first time, a villain that isn't XANA... Wow, that's new! However, is it really that simple?
We now know that Tyron doesn't know anything about XANA living in his supercomputer (episode 16 “Confusion”). That's why, when he upgrades it, XANA can't properly activate towers anymore, which leads the AI to turn against the scientist...temporarily.
Taking this into account, Tyron is actually more of a victim. All of a sudden there are unknown virtual avatars from who-knows-where stealing who-knows-what from his machine. Evidently Tyron isn't a saint either, however, his defensive reaction to the heroes' arrival in the Cortex is justified.
The fact that the heroes are confronted by a human enemy for the first time...and the sort of triangle in the war between him, the Lyoko Warriors and XANA makes this new virtual war very interesting and original.
In the end, many mysteries still surround Tyron. | | |
| |  | "He may be a computer genius, but he has no idea!"
"Genius? A sicko, yeah. Let me go back there, I'll teach him better."
#16 Confusion |  |
Although Tyron is only protecting his world from the heroes, he's no angel.
He is immediately presented to us in a negative light: a selfish traitor. Indeed, during his first appearance in the video of his argument with Franz Hopper, we learn that Tyron used to work with professor Hopper. He didn't follow Franz's instructions and betrayed him by stealing his blueprints. According to Hopper, his acolyte wanted to use them for his own personal means (episode 07 “Countdown”).
After Hopper leaves the video frame, Tyron's hostile nature is immediately revealed: with a nasty look on his face, he calls Hopper naïve. And since years later we find Tyron has built an supercomputer that is almost identical to Hopper's we can say that he did indeed make use of the blueprints for himself.
We learn more about Tyron during his video-conference confrontation with the heroes (episode 16 “Confusion”). The professor happens to be a very arrogant and conceited man. He doesn't like people forgetting his title “professor”, thinks he's a master of anything to do with virtual worlds...and moreover, he refuses to admit that, as the heroes say, an evil artificial intelligence has infected his supercomputer without his knowing.
We also see his condescending side when he calls Hopper a small man who lacks ambition.
However, Tyron's nature is even more perverted. He doesn't hesitate to threaten the heroes' lives, even though he knows perfectly well that they're just teenagers. The first time, he tries to definitively virtualise Yumi and Aelita using his Ninjas (episode 16). The second time, he shuts his supercomputer down when the Lyoko Warriors are still on the Cortex, forcing them to flee, knowing that they will be virtualised forever in the Digital Sea if they don't escape in time (episode 26 “The Final Mission”). And let's not forget about their capture and imprisonment in the time loop (episode 24 “Time Warp”).
He also doesn't hesitate to use illegal force on Yumi by ordering his driver to hold her to try and extract information.
In the end, the best adjective for describing Tyron could be “determined”. Betraying Hopper, eradicating the heroes, virtualising his personnel as “Ninjas” on the virtual world; nothing stops him from getting what he wants.
He is even a manipulator, as he tries to blackmail Aelita: if the girl doesn't call off the plan to destroy the Cortex, he promises her that she'll never see her mother again. When we know that it's about his wife and stepdaughter, this clearly shows his lack of humanity.
Even if his behaviour is...radical, Tyron has some good qualities after all.
His genius doesn't match Hopper's, but he's not far behind. Tyron managed to build a supercomputer similar to Hopper's. His ability to manipulate space-time proves that it has more or less the same calibre as the heroes' one. He also created the Cortex, a virtual world that's probably as complex as Lyoko. Finally, although he doesn't have any scanners, he developed an alternate virtualisation process which allows people to appear as Ninjas on the Cortex by wearing a special suit.
He's a brilliant researcher in quantum physics. We don't know his true objectives, nor what motivates him. He's also a diligent worker as we always see him hard at work in his laboratory, looking for a way to defend the Cortex from the Lyoko Warriors. In a very small amount of time, he managed to upgrade his virtual world several times, as Jeremy remarks (episodes 16 “Confusion” and 26 “Ultimate Mission”).
In a nutshell, we can say that Tyron is as great a villain as XANA who follows his own objectives. | | |
| | "I'm the one in complete control. Tyron fears no one. Not even some video game stored in my Supercomputer. Shall I prove it to you?"
#16 Confusion |  |
Tyron isn't passive on the virtual world. Quite the contrary: his role is similar to Jeremy's. He's the operator of his own interests. He however lacks some elements from the start. Jeremy just happened to find the Supercomputer, with the scanner and virtualisation process all ready, while Tyron used his for research. He had no need to go there “physically”.
When the heroes begin to arrive, Tyron detects them. He creates a plan of action in record timing. Using a bodysuit, he can send people to the Cortex in the form of Ninjas. You can find some information on this process on the Ninjas page.
Tyron gave his Ninjas many abilities: a ray that virtualises people definitively, invisibility, the ability to merge with the walls or background, and the ability to survive in the Network. You'll also find all this information on the Ninjas page.
Even if he's often there to supervise the Ninjas, they cope perfectly well performing their only mission on their own: kicking the Lyoko Warriors out of the Cortex Core.
Like Jeremy does for Lyoko, Tyron looks over his virtual world, particularly the Dome, where the interface lies. Jeremy, however, beats him in this field as he is tricked several times by the young genius (episodes 18 “Resolve” and 20 “Espionage”).
Tyron's objective is to localise the heroes. For that, he sets a trap into which the heroes easily fall (episode 14 “Stowaways”). He hides some fake data in the interface, and the Lyoko Warriors blindly steal it during a mission. Taking advantage of the Skid's return to Lyoko, Tyron sends a Ninja to hide a transmitter in Sector 5. This beacon allows Tyron to determine a more and more precise geographical zone in which the heroes reside. The transmitter is also very well-defended, as each time the heroes try to destroy it, it releases a very powerful virtual shockwave. Unfortunately for Tyron, the heroes find a way to get rid of it in time.
But Tyron doesn't give up. He soon learns how to activate the Towers in the Cortex (episode 24 “Time Warp”). He uses a Tower to trap the heroes in a temporal loop which makes them live a moment from that very morning over and over again...and which indicates the position of the factory once more! Jeremy manages to stop Tyron's plan just in time.
These many examples prove that Tyron is a real expert on virtual worlds. Even though Jeremy has more experience with them, the man managed to trick and trap the boy several times, even if the genius boy always got back on his feet in the end.
It's also very surprising that, with such skills, Tyron never knew about XANA's existence, even after the attack the artificial intelligence launched on the Core in episode 16 “Confusion”. | | |
| | | "Hopper, you lacked the vision."
#07 Countdown |
We only know little bits of Tyron's story, and some of it could be lies.
Lowel Tyron was an associate of professor Hopper. He betrayed the latter's trust by stealing blueprints, apparently those of the Supercomputer. Therefore, Hopper fired him from his team.
What happens next is somewhat surprising, as the two men vanished. We know that Hopper virtualised himself and Aelita on Lyoko, and he never came back. Tyron disappeared on the 25th of June 2003, not reappearing again for a whole decade.
When he returns, his situation has changed drastically. He used Hopper's plans to build his own supercomputer. From there, he created his own virtual world: the Cortex.
Professionally, things seem to be going well for Tyron, as he is the boss of a big consortium that includes his supercomputer complex, as well as a particle physics research centre. He seems to have a large number personnel under his belt (Graven, a chauffeur, the people who turned the supercomputer off, the people who virtualise as Ninjas...).
We don't know if his professional activities are limited to research on quantum physics (if so, why did he officially disappear?) or if he performs some more secretive actions.
And finally, when it comes to sentiment, things are rather ironic as he apparently married Anthea 4 years prior...his former boss's wife. For 10 years, it seems that Tyron's life was quite calm.
2013 will be the year of disruptive events.
Without his knowing, XANA, a powerful artificial intelligence, takes refuge in his supercomputer. The Lyoko Warriors come after XANA and begin to investigate the Cortex.
From Tyron's point of view, the only event he notices is regular intrusions on his machine. So, through different means, he tries to get rid of these virtual avatars that keep delving into his interface. He creates Ninjas to push them back. He tries to find out where they come from or to eliminate them by setting multiple traps...but his opponents always seem to find a way out at the very last minute.
Tyron suddenly receives a message from them. They organise a video-conference in the Cortex, during which two virtual avatars try to explain to him that his machine has been infected by a dangerous program which could threaten all of humanity...hence their trying to destroy his supercomputer.
Tyron thinks it's all a trick and laughs at them, ceasing negotiations (episode 16 “Confusion”).
One day, one of the virtual avatars, a young girl with pink hair, contacts his wife. She introduces herself as Aelita, daughter of Franz and Anthea. Tyron furiously cuts the connection after overhearing their conversation (episode 20 “Espionage”).
But fate smiles on the professor. Some time later, his research centre is contacted by a teenager who mysteriously obtained their telephone number and said she was interested in quantum physics. Tyron thinks he has found one of the teenagers who are invading the Cortex. However, after questioning her, he realises that she has never touched a supercomputer in her whole life. Tyron makes one last attempt, showing the girl (amnesic Laura) a representation of the Lyoko Warriors' avatars, asking her if she knows them. Laura answers that they look like “caricatures of Jeremy Belpois' group” (episode 24 “Time Warp”).
Tyron knows enough. With this name, he finds his way to Kadic. He knows his foes are about to infect his machine with a virus and he wants to stop them. He also knows that one of the teenagers is his wife's daughter. He makes the woman record a video message, asking Aelita to go live with them in Switzerland. He then takes her medallion and goes to Kadic. He meets principal Delmas and asks to see Aelita. He then reveals to the girl that he is her stepfather. He gives her Anthea's medallion and video message. Then, alone with her once again, he blackmails her: if she ever wants to see her mother again, she must call off the virus.
Surprisingly, Aelita refuses and escapes. Tyron fails to get her back tells his staff to turn off his machine just in time, before his enemies' virus can activate.
He then goes back to Switzerland...without having said the last word. | | |
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