Leonard Burton was the former Night Vale Community Radio host.[1]
He has a wife and children but doesn't remember them.[2]
Physical Appearance[]
Cecil describes Leonard as having thick purple lips, a lolling tongue, and comments that he hisses.[1]
Personality[]
Cecil describes Leonard as "super nice" and very encouraging.
Leonard does not like change and says that: "The past is always better than the present, and the future is the worst of all."[3]
He distrusts the sun.[3] He likes Boston Cream Pies and paintings of snakes.[4]
His voice is described as being "high-pitched and grating like sandpaper, just the way radio voices should be".[1]
History[]
Radio Career[]
Leonard was host of NVCR for an uncountable number of years.[3] Cecil comments that he can't remember a time Leonard wasn't host[3] and that he interned under Leonard for "An amount of years that makes me feel cold and panicked when I think about it."[5]
Cecil claims Leonard begins every show with his catchphrase “The sun is actually cold. It’s cold and empty and all is lost. Greetings from Night Vale.”[1] However, in the two episodes hosted by Leonard he only says this in one.[3] In his second hosting he begins the show with: "The opposite of war is not peace. It is tedium. Greetings from Night Vale."[2] It's possible that "Greetings from Night Vale" is Leonard's catchphrase, similar to Cecil's "Welcome to Night Vale" and, like Cecil, he changes his opening line from show to show.
Leonard's sign off catchphrase is: "See ya, Night Vale. See ya."[1][3]
Leonard retires sometime during World War II "in order to spend more time trying to understand what a family is."[3] However, he came out of retirement as a substitute NVCR host while Cecil was away on vacation.[3]
Death[]
Leonard died after being hit by a cargo truck[2][3][4] while attempting to cross the street on Mesa Boulevard, right outside of NVCR.[4][2] Leonard says he was distracted by some angels and didn't notice the truck honking at him.[2] Leonard claims the truck was driven by a man who is not tall and a man who is not short and that the cargo truck was carrying glowing, wooden crates.[2] Cecil claims he was age 77.[4]
In a timeline mistake caused by The General and the Blood Space War, Leonard survives this experience.[2] However, he also claims that Night Vale is empty, he is it's only citizen, Cecil is a vision he has, and the Blood Space War has ended. The General attempts to fix the timeline and restore life to the universe, but this would result in Leonard dying again, which Leonard fights back against.[2]
It's unclear when Leonard died. In an episode aired in 2019, Cecil states that Leonard died 40 years ago, so in 1979.[4] However, Cecil also claims he died during the Clinton administration (1993-2001).[3] The General had a newspaper clipping with his obituary dated November 1983.[2]
Additional Mentions[]
- Episode 100 "Toast" (vocal appearance)
- Episode 170 "To the Family and Friends"
- Episode 173 "The Hundred Year Play"