Doctor Thomas Light

"Humans and robots living together in harmony and equality. That was my ultimate wish."

- Dr. Light's hand writing

"Sometimes, peace cannot be achieved unless those who spread war are destroyed."

- Dr. Light

Doctor Thomas Light, known as Doctor Thomas Right (トーマス・ライト博士) in Japan, is a character from the Mega Man and Mega Man X series. He is Mega Man's father and creator.

His counterpart from the Mega Man Battle Network series is called Tadashi Hikari, and he is the inventor of the PET and the grandfather of Lan Hikari and Hub Hikari.

Background
In the 20th century, Thomas Light attended the Robot Institute of Technology (ローバート工科大学), where he met Albert W. Wily and became classmates. They got along quite well, but their friendship ended when a committee decided to cancel Wily's Double Gear research in favor of Light's research into robots with independent thought. Light agreed to the decision as the Double Gear puts great strain on the robots that use it and he believed that powerful robots required proper judgment to avoid misusing its abilities. Light laments that his efforts to quench Wily's hotheadedness before it led him astray only ended up fueling the fire, and kept the prototype Double Gear system that Wily broke in anger.

Light and Wily graduated together with their doctorate degrees (PhDs) on electronic enginnering, although Light always received more credit than Wily. Dr. Light won the LIT Manual Design Contest (ＬＩＴマニュアル・デザイン・コンテスト) four times in a row, the golden prize in the World Engineer Award (世界技術者大賞), and the Nobel Prize in Physics. With his pride hurt and tired of being in second place, Wily vanished, and Dr. Light didn't see him again until the events of the first game. At an unknown time, Dr. Light (alongside Dr. Wily in some sources outside of Japan) founded his laboratory to further the development of computing and robotics technology for the benefit of mankind in the coming era. Light became a world-renowned scientist and the leading expert on robotics.

Light built a series of household and civil service robots. Not long after that, he created a humanoid robot with a much more advanced A.I., DLN-000 Proto Man, the first "advanced robot", known as a Robot Master in some sources. However, Proto Man's dangerous imbalance in his energy core and having a strong sense of independence, went A.W.O.L. before his repairs were complete in fear that his personality would change in the process. Yet, in the year 200X (sometime in the first decade of the 21st century), Light would build on the successes and failures of the Proto Man project to build other Robot Masters, like Rock (a lab assistant, also known as Mega), Roll (a housekeeper), and a series of industrial robots.

When Dr. Wily grew jealous of Dr. Light's works receiving credit and his works not (in USA sources he's jealous because Light received all the credit for the team's work), he stole and reprogrammed Light's industrial robots, attempting to take over the world. Rock, having a strong sense of justice, volunteered to be converted into the super robot known as Mega Man.

Mega Man games
After converting Rock into Mega Man, Mega Man fights against Dr. Wily's forces and manages to defeat him. After Wily's first defeat, he tries to conquer the world again several times, and Dr. Light has been developing new inventions to help Mega Man counter Wily. Some of his main creations include Items 1-3, Rush, Eddie, Tango, Auto and upgrades to the Mega Buster.

In most games, Dr. Light only appears in scenes, some of them being brief. Below are all his appearances in the games:


 * Mega Man: In-game, Dr. Light only appears in the ending alongside Roll. In the Rockman Complete Works version, he is also the Navigator from the Navi Mode.
 * Mega Man Powered Up: Dr. Light stays in his laboratory alongside Roll.


 * Mega Man 2: Dr. Light appears to give Items 1-3 to Mega Man.


 * Mega Man 3: Dr. Wily pretends to be sorry for his acts and works together with Dr. Light to build the giant peace keeping robot Gamma. It was Light's lifelong dream to create a giant robot to protect and serve world peace. They also created some Robot Masters together so they could obtain the Energy Elements needed to complete Gamma. When Gamma was near completion, Wily stole it to be used in his plans to conquer the world, but Mega Man manages to destroy Gamma. Dr. Light realizes that the robot who rescued Mega Man in the ending is Proto Man.


 * Mega Man 4: While Dr. Light has no appearances in-game, he improved Mega Man's Mega Buster, allowing Mega Man to fire charged shots, and he created the support robot Eddie.


 * Mega Man 5: Light was captured by Proto Man (Dark Man 4) at the beginning of the game, and was rescued in the ending.


 * Mega Man 6: Dr. Light is absent in-game, but he modified Rush so he can combine with Mega Man, changing him into Power Mega Man or Jet Mega Man. He is the Navigator from the Navi Mode in the Rockman Complete Works version of the game.


 * Mega Man 7: Light appears in the opening stage, in his lab, and in the ending. When Bass was damaged by Shade Man, Mega Man said Dr. Light could repair him. After his repairs, Bass attacked the lab and stole plans that Light created to improve the Rush Adapter. Wily used the plans to create the Super Adapter for Treble.


 * Mega Man 8: Dr. Light asks Mega Man to investigate an outer space object that had fallen on an island, which coincidentally was being used by Wily as a hideout. Wily gets to the crash site first and collects the "Evil Energy" before fleeing the scene. Unable to halt Wily's escape, Mega Man discovers and retrieves a heavily damaged robot from the crater called Duo. Light repairs Duo and studies a small portion of the Evil Energy that was found. After Mega Man defeats four Robot Masters, Duo awakens and destroys the Evil Energy in Light's laboratory, and goes after the Evil Energy in Dr. Wily's possession.


 * Mega Man & Bass: Dr. Light appears in the CD database to say how the collection is going and as one of the database's entries. He also appears in Mega Man's ending.


 * Mega Man 9: Light is charged for the crimes committed by his robots and is sent to jail, but when it was discovered that Wily reprogrammed his robots, he is freed. Dr. Wily also used a Light-like robot to create an incriminating video. In the ending, Dr. Wily uses the fake Dr. Light to trick Mega Man into believing that Light was taken by fake officers and felt ill while in his Wily Castle.


 * Mega Man 10: Dr. Light appears in his laboratory, where he takes care of the ill Roll and works with Wily to find a cure for Roboenza.


 * Mega Man 11: Dr. Light was making a maintenance check up on several robots in his laboratory. After finishing Block Man, only seven robots were left, but Dr. Wily appeared and stole the robots, informing Dr. Light that he would use them as test subjects for his Double Gear system. Knowing this, Dr. Light took the prototype Double Gear system developed by Wily on their university days and installed it on Mega Man so he could stand a chance against this new threat. After the defeat of four bosses, Dr. Light informs that he finished giving Rush a tune-up, enabling Rush Jet, and tells Mega Man about how Wily ended his friendship with him due to the Double Gear system. In the ending, Dr. Light appears in the Gear Fortress and attempts to befriend Wily again, showing what they could achieve if they worked together, showing Mega Man as an example as he was using not only Light's technology, but also Wily's Double Gear system. However, Wily ignores Dr. Light and says that he won't stop until he sees Light and Mega Man kneel before him in utter defeat, and escapes. Saddened, Light notes that they may not be able to work again, and he leaves the fortress with Mega Man and Auto, also retrieving the eight robots stolen by Wily and later repairing them.


 * Mega Man IV and Mega Man V: Dr. Light exchanges P Chips by items in his laboratory.


 * Wily & Right's RockBoard: That's Paradise: Dr. Light is a playable character. His objective is to expand his facilities, making world peace easier to achieve.


 * Mega Man: The Wily Wars: In order to stop Dr. Wily's alterations in time, Mega Man was sent into the past in a time machine hastily crafted by Dr. Light.


 * Mega Man's Soccer: Dr. Light was watching a game of soccer on TV with Rock and Roll. When Dr. Wily's robots attack the field, Light modifies Mega Man so he can face the robots.


 * Mega Man: Battle & Chase: As Dr. Light's super computer was damaged due to a thunder storm, Mega Man decides to enter the Battle & Chase tournament and use the prize money to buy a new computer. In Mega Man's ending, Dr. Light says he repaired his computer, and the money is used to throw a party to commemorate Mega Man's victory.


 * Super Adventure Rockman: Dr. Light immunizes Mega Man, Rush, Beat and the six industrial Robot Masters from the first game from the electromagnetic waves caused by Ra Moon, and watches over Roll while they try to stop Wily.


 * Mega Man: The Power Battle: Dr. Light appears in Mega Man's ending.


 * Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters: Dr. Light appears in the stage select screen and in the endings of Mega Man, Proto Man, and Duo. In Mega Man's ending, he cheers up Mega Man alongside Roll and Auto. In Proto Man's ending, Light is worried with Proto Man and tries to convince him to repair the defect in his energy system, without success. In Duo's ending, Light talks with Duo about a strange alien energy and bids him farewell.


 * Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chousensha: Dr. Light is the shopkeeper in Mega Man's story.


 * Mega Man Rush Marine: Dr. Light appears in his laboratory.


 * Rockman Strategy: Dr. Light serves as support for Mega Man's team in his laboratory, providing equipment and even support troops in exchange for Screws obtained through battles. At the end of the game, Dr. Light repairs the alien robots led by Apollo and Luna, and subsequently instructs them in how to grow plants naturally in order to restore the dying plantlife on their homeworld.

Late years
In the year 20XX (later in the 21st century), Dr. Light began work on Mega Man X (the "X" standing for a factor of unknown potential). X would possess the ability to make his own decisions in life, unlike Rock who was bound by Asimov's "laws of robotics". However, Light knew that he would not live long enough to fully test X's potential, so he had X sealed in a capsule on September 18, 20XX, not to be awakened for thirty years.

In Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, Dr. Light was shown to have been aging and becoming more sickly as he developed X, appearing weak and tired by the time X had been completed. He is presumed to have passed away in the near future after.

Mega Man X series
In 21XX, more than 100 years after X's being sealed away, Dr. Cain found the capsule with X in the ruins of Dr. Light's Laboratory. A holographic image of Dr. Light continued to provide support for X through the use of capsules during the Maverick Wars. This image of Dr. Light is shown to be able to keep up with current events and communicate with others. In Mega Man X5's ending, Light is shown to be able to appear outside the capsule, although it only happened once to repair a fatally injured X. It is unknown if Light can willingly appear outside the capsule or was only able to do so due to the effects of Zero Space.

Other video game appearances

 * Dr. Light, along with Dr. Cossack, is responsible for creating OVER-1, the main protagonist of Rockman ×over. Dr. Light appears in some of the game's Battle Memory.


 * Dr. Light made short appearances in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes in Mega Man's and Roll's victory poses, and in Roll's ending from Marvel vs. Capcom and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. He also appears as a boss in the Expert Course from Adventure Quiz: Capcom World 2.


 * Dr. Light appeared in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, acting as a hologram informer to the heroes in the Avengers Tower. He informs that they must rescue Thanos from Ultron Sigma as they require his knowledge of the Infinity Stones to defeat the merged robots. When the heroes are infected by the Sigma Virus, he informs that they have no choice but to attack and destroy Ultron Sigma before they are controlled by the virus. Dr. Light also appears in the gallery collection mode.

Rockman Battle & Fighters data
おっ？ワ、ワシか？まさか、ここにカーソルがはいるとは…では、かいせつしよう！！ワシはライトはかせ. ロックやロールをつくったのもこのワシ. じんるいのへいわのためにロボットをけんきゅうしている. みんなもへいわをあいしそしてまもっていってほしい.

Translation: Oh? M, me? No way, herein the cursor indicates it... But, I will try to explain!! I'm Doctor Right. I also created Rock and Roll. I have been studying robots for the peace of mankind. I hope everyone keeps loving peace.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
It's me, Dr. Thomas Light. I'm a scientist from Earth who tirelessly worked on the continual evolution of robotics for the benefit of mankind. Although I may no longer physically exist in the present, my will to assist mankind lives on.

In other media
Dr. Light appeared in most media related to the Mega Man and Mega Man X series.

Mega Man (Ruby-Spears)
"And to think, we used to work together."

- Dr Light Dr. Light is one of the main character in Ruby-Spears' Mega Man animated series. Dr. Light has a shorter beard and an English sound to his voice, where the video game Light supposedly does not. A rather humorous difference is that this version of Dr. Light is often prone to bouts of absent-mindedness (such as his delay to notice the barred door in Electric Nightmare), and sometimes unknowingly cracks musical puns.

Dr. Light is the world's most famous living scientist and the creator of Mega Man. He is a brilliant man and has a strong sense of right and wrong. He once worked side by side with Dr. Wily and they created the first humanoid robot together. Shortly after the robot's outburst, Light said the flaw was too dangerous and they should restart their work from the beginning, but Wily stole the blueprints for the prototype and other robots. Dr. Light however was able to build two new robots (Rock and Roll) who would serve as his assistants. In a sense, they are like his children.

Light has made many inventions and contributions to science and robotics, like a time machine, the Brain Bot, a college campus for robots to learn like humans do, and even an anti-curse machine.

Captain N: The Game Master
In Captain N: The Game Master, Dr. Light is named Dr. Wright and he is an old dwarfed man with a big nose, pointed ears and less hair than the original. He is a scientist from Megaland that created Mega Man and other robots, such as Garbage Man, Mega Girl, and Rush.

In addition to the Mega Man centered episodes, he and Mega Girl had a cameo along with previous one shot or recurring characters in "Having a Ball", as well as monitoring Kevin/Captain N's health in "Germ Wars".

Mega Man: Upon a Star
Dr. Light is a video game character that assists Mega Man. In the second episode, he creates a time machine to assist Mega Man, but it is stolen by Dr. Wily.

Mega Man (Dreamwave Productions)
Dr. Light is a robotics genius that created several devices to help the world. He lives in Mega City (formerly Monstropolis) with Mega Man, Roll, Auto and other of his creations, and he sends Mega Man to school under the normal persona of "Rocky Light" to interact with humans and become more like one.

During the series, many of his creations are attacked by robots, and when his laboratory is burned to the ground by Heat Man, he visits "Dr. Wiley Robotics" to ask his former assistant Dr. Wiley to stop sabotaging his municipal inventions, knowing that he is the only person that would know the weaknesses of the technology he developed. Dr. Light was right, and Wily angrily says that they developed the technologies together and he went out on his own so Dr. Light would not steal his ideas. Light doesn't understand why he left and why he is attacking him, and Wiley replies that he never understood him, sending skull-shaped robots to attack Light. Dr. Light uses a device to destroy Wiley's robots and informs that he notified the police. Unwilling to be defeated by Dr. Light, Wiley transforms his building into a gigantic Devil-like robot to attack the city. Mega Man appears and saves Dr. Light, while Proto Man destroys the giant robot.

Mega Man Megamix
In the year 20XX A.D., Dr. Light laid down the foundation for modern robotic sciences, earning himself the title "Father of Modern Robotics." After graduating at the top of his class from the Robot Institute of Technology, Dr. Light overcame countless trials and tribulations before successfully creating his first functional humanoid robot. His strong sense of responsibility is most likely rooted in the fact that he was the first person to produce a "robot with a soul." Having won the LIT Manual Design Contest four years in a row, Dr. Light has also earned many other awards, including the World Engineer Gold Medal, and the Nobel Physics Prize. His hobbies include playing computer games at home. His ultimate wish is a world where humans and robots can live in peace and harmony. Kind and gentle to a fault, Dr. Light has been known to be gullible at times.

Dr. Light is responsible for the development and construction of the Dr. Light Numbers (DLN), which were modified by Dr. Wily to help him in his first attempt at world domination. By Rock's request, Dr. Light modified Rock into Mega Man to stop Dr. Wily, but Light feels guilt about it as it is against his beliefs. Though he is respected as the father of modern robotics, Dr. Light loathes having to use his knowledge and skills to develop combat technology. The World Robot Alliance proceeded with the development of combat robots for the purpose of preserving world peace, but Dr. Light's dire warnings against such activity have been substantiated by recent events.

Mega Man Through the Ages
Dr. Light, alongside Roll, Beat, and Rush, appear at the 1987 banner at the beginning to bid Mega Man good luck as he travels through the area collecting 30th Icons.

Other appearances
Dr. Light is also present in several manga, like Rockman, Rockman 8, Rockman &amp; Forte, Rockman 10 -Extra F-, Rockman 11, Rockman 4Koma Dai Koushin, Rockman Battle &amp; Chase, and Rockman X. He also appears in Novas Aventuras de Megaman, Rockman Kiki Ippatsu, and in card #58 from Rockman X Mega Mission 2.

Dr. Thomas makes a cameo on a poster at the subway area in the 2020 remake for Resident Evil 3, alongside Dr. Wily. The poster was for a symposium that was implied to be planned to occur in Raccoon City where the two doctors would debate whether robots are to surpass humanity as one of the issues for the 21st century. It was planned to occur on October 24-25 of 1998.

Trivia

 * Keiji Inafune based Dr. Light's design off of Santa Claus.  This also ended up referenced by Dr. Eggman during the World's Collide crossover (specifically, Mega Man Issue 26), where he referred to Light as "Santa in a lab coat".


 * Dr. Thomas Light may be named after the inventor Thomas Edison. This can possibly stem from the popular belief that Edison invented the incandescent light bulb.
 * In the Japanese versions, Dr. Light is known as Dr. Right. His symbol is an "R" icon in Japan. He has been known as Dr. Light outside of Japan, however. This is due to the lack of differentiation in the Japanese pronunciation of the L & R sounds.
 * "Dr. Wright," which is Dr. Light's name in the instruction manual for Mega Man and a few other sources, is a Western approximation of "Dr. Right".
 * In the cartoon series Captain N: The Game Master, Dr. Light is called Dr. Wright, which is his name from the first Mega Man instruction manual. In addition to robotics, he also seems to have extensive knowledge of the human body, as evidenced when the N-Team shrunk themselves to diagnose a malady of Kevin Keene. Through communication, Dr. Light behaved like a medical doctor, warning Mega Man and the others to avoid stomach acid.
 * He is one of the few human characters from the classic series to have a Mega Man Battle Network counterpart, Tadashi Hikari (Tadashi meaning right, and Hikari meaning light, both of the spellings of Dr. Light's surname). The others being Dr. Cossack and Dr. Wily.


 * In Mega Man ZX Advent, there is a character named Master Thomas of the Sage Trinity, which is a reference to Dr. Light. Master Thomas, however, is revealed in the Expert Mode ending to be nowhere near as benevolent as his namesake and intends to continue the work of fellow Sage Master Albert, who is named after Dr. Albert W. Wily.
 * Master Thomas' malevolent personality may have been based on Dr. Light's namesake, Thomas Edison. Edison was seen on morally ambiguous grounds due to animal abuse (such as an instance testing his electric-based inventions on an elephant with lethal results) and inventing the electric chair.


 * Dr. Light is a known smoker and is seen with a smoking pipe on some occasions.


 * In the US and European release of Mega Man 8, Dr. Light's voice sounds similar to Elmer Fudd's.


 * The Dr. Light hologram seems to know of Zero, as well as Alia when Zero discovers one of his capsules in Mega Man X5.
 * It is possible that the Light hologram is an AI based on Dr. Light's mind.


 * In the Japanese ROM from the first Mega Man game, Dr. Light had unused sprites in the end of the game, where he can speak.


 * The Dr. Light capsule hologram is wearing a Karate gi and sweatband when it teaches X the Hadouken in Mega Man X. This is to pay homage to Ryu from Capcom's other franchise, Street Fighter.


 * Dr. Light's hobby is playing computer games.


 * In the Japanese version of Mega Man 7, Roll compares the Noise Crush with Dr. Light's singing voice, with Mega Man calling Roll "severe", implying that he is an awful singer.
 * In the original timeline, Dr. Light would not be present upon X's awakening from his capsule. In a separate continuity in Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, Dr. Light serves as an ally and was presented to be alive and well when X awakened.
 * In the NES titles, Dr. Light's beard gives off the appearance of having a metal jaw.
 * According to the relationship chart found in the production notes that come with the complete edition of Rockman 11, Dr. Light is a professor at the Mecha-Chuchets Institute of Robology.
 * Dr. Light is also contracted to O.D.A. Electronics as their roboticist, and O.D.A. Electronics supplies electronic parts to Dr. Light in return.
 * B.B Bomb Company is one of Dr. Light's maintenance clients.
 * He and Dr. Wily both make a cameo at Resident Evil 3: Remake, where both are featured in a poster inside Raccoon City's subway.