Finally Did The WrightWorth Sketch Session With Zeet Studio! (Just In Time For Valentine's Day!) This

I agree with everything you said, Azalea! Also here's the exact quote from Farewell My Turnabout:

(You really let me down…) When you disappeared, I felt… betrayed. The reason I decided to become a lawyer to begin with… Was because I believed in the things you said to me, all those years ago… And you… You betrayed your own words. That's why… one year ago, I made up my mind. I decided that the Miles Edgeworth I knew had died… …At least, that's what I told myself.

This line from Phoenix is so so interesting and akdjfdjhskjfdgjh I want to sink my teeth into it. One day, I will write a longer analysis on this but...

No matter if Phoenix truly thought Miles was dead or not, I think this quote makes it clear that Phoenix decided that Miles was dead to him. Phoenix couldn't handle the abandonment, the fear that after everything he did people would still inevitably leave him. So he turned to resentment and killed off "the Miles Edgeworth I knew". Because if Miles had always been the "Demon Prosecutor" obsessed with guilty verdicts (which is what Phoenix keeps accusing him of in 2-4), then Phoenix could dismiss his belief in Miles. Phoenix could dismiss all his efforts and desire to save Miles.

So Phoenix wouldn't have to deal with the pain of believing in and being attached to someone so much... only for them to leave him... again (coughs in Dahlia/Iris).

HOT TAKE: Phoenix should have known Edgeworth was still alive during the “chooses death” era. Gumshoe probably would have told him if he had asked, he was just too busy overreacting.

Lmao hello there you :P I know who you are. You probably are expecting this but I'm sorry to say:

Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly disagree

Yes, it's true, they didn't find Edgeworth's body, but when someone learns about a note that says the person "chooses death" I think it's difficult to say that thinking they're dead is overreacting lol. Edgeworth was gone, he was gone for an entire year, which is a long time for someone to be missing; usually at that point, if the person doesn't turn up, there's a good chance they are dead - and there was the suicide note on top of things. It's not an unreasonable thing to think, and Phoenix was grieving the best he could, so I also don't think it's very fair to expect him to be perfectly rational in those circumstances. Besides, he seems to still be struggling to accept it by the events of JFA, which honestly tracks with the fact he never got closure.

Besides... there are lines in the game implying that Phoenix did think Edgeworth was alive (something like "you were dead to me" if I recall correctly), and that he resented him for leaving, not dying. Personally I think his behaviour screams of repressed grief and denial, but the alternative interpretation is there.

When I think about Larry in AA3 I wonder if the writer suddenly decided they didn't like him that much and decided to make it known in the game to the point where it bleeds to the characters (both Phoenix, especially him! and Edgeworth seem to see him as the 'annoying ass friend') and himself by flanderizing him or if this was an genuine decision to see how a person's life can go downhill over time and tried to make it funny.

Honestly I think it's the former (writers decided they didn't like Larry anymore), because I don't necessarily think Larry's life is going downhill. He found his talent in art with a mentor and he's attempting to become a better person... only for his mentor to then die. If it were anyone else this would spark some sort of meaningful character arc... but it doesn't. The game just turns Larry into more of a laughing stock. I don't get it, truly. They drop so much information about his trauma but it's treated like a joke. Phoenix and Miles don't even act like they care about him as a friend anymore... just why??

Also I do believe writers' attitudes towards characters often bleed into the writing and then bleed into fan perception.

“some people don’t deserve redemption” redemption isn’t something that’s deserved, it’s something someone does. it’s making the choice to change the way you live your life, to be better, to do good things instead of bad things and try to make up for the bad things. and everyone can and should do that, at any time, no matter what they’ve done. we can’t change the past, but we can choose what kind of person to be now and in the future. we have the responsibility to do so. it is so completely not about “deserving.”

Prosecutor’s office AA1 vs AA6

you buried two people that day

His Trust...

Phoenix is the one good at performing and Miles is the authentic one, right? It doesn’t fit them 100% of course, but I cannot see it the other way around.

Phoenix is an “insufferable emotionalist”, yes, and his emotional reactions are very genuine. But when he’s expressing emotions it’s almost always about other people; saving other people, believing in other people. When it comes to his personal issues, he is a closed book. He never says a word about Miles’s disappearance or Dahlia’s betrayal to anyone. Phoenix might not have multiple masks but he’s the one who took this piece of advice from Mia to heart: “for a lawyer, the worst of times are when you have to force your biggest smiles”. That’s his performance: the defender, the savior.

Phoenix is so driven by his attachments to other people that it feels like he doesn’t have an identity outside of it. He became a lawyer for Miles, twice. He pretty much only takes cases because Maya drags him to or one of his friends is the defendant. He doesn't function well when he's alone. You can't tell me he has a stable sense of self.

Miles suppresses his emotions, yes, and in the first game has a crisis over who he was as a prosecutor. But he doesn't perform. He holds himself to personal standards of perfection and doesn't care as much what other people think of him. And he's always authentic in his morals. He always tries to do what he thinks is the right thing, even during his "Demon Prosecutor" days. He thought getting every defendant a "guilty" verdict was the only way to get justice. It's the truth that makes him change his ways. It's pursuing the truth that becomes his main motivation. And isn't that the definition of authenticity?

Miles also 100% does see through Phoenix: "We aren't some sort of heroes. We're only human, you and I". Miles sees past Phoenix's performance. I think he might be the only person to ever address it.

Phoenix Wright is not the excruciatingly authentic and bright sunshine. He is the mirrorball who only shines so brightly because he reflects everyone else’s light.

But it's mutual. They see through each other. And that is probably my favorite part of wrightworth.

I'm gonna ride the wave here and talk about Rise from the Ashes and why, even though I think it's a good retcon and doesn't involve any contradiction either factual or thematic, I believe it is still undeniably a retcon.

The crux of the matter, I think, is the definition of retcon. Here's what Merriam-Webster has to say about it:

the act, practice, or result of changing an existing fictional narrative by introducing new information in a later work that recontextualizes previously established events, characters, etc.

It has to change the narrative, not the events of the story themselves. It has to recontextualise the events in question. And I'd argue the case does those exact two things by establishing that Miles Edgeworth not only never willfully forged evidence, but was morally against it in the first place, even though the contrary had been implied in the four first cases of the game.

Here's how Miles Edgeworth is introduced in Turnabout Sisters, in the first conversation we have about him with Gumshoe. There are two dialogue options, one where you can say that yes, you do know him, or one where you say that no, you don't.

Here's what Phoenix has to say about Edgeworth if you pick "I know him":

I know him. He's a feared prosecutor. He doesn't feel pain, he doesn't feel remorse. He won't stop until he gets his "guilty" verdict.

And here's what he has to say if you pick "I don't know him:"

(Of course I know him... I was just playing dumb. He's a cold, heartless machine who'll do anything to get a "guilty" verdict! There are rumors of back-alley deals and forged evidence...)

The words "forged evidence" appear only in one of the two options. They're only rumours; there's nothing established. However this is the first discussion of his character; this is the first impression we get of him. The idea we are supposed to get from him is someone ruthless and without scruples, who "hates crime with an abnormal passion."

Later on there is of course the case of the updated autopsy report. The new report is entirely legitimate and treated as such. However it is presented by the narrative as an underhanded trick, with Phoenix exclaiming against it, and further establishes Edgeworth's lack of limits in his prosecuting ethics set up by the conversation with Gumshoe - confirming our bias. We're still talking about narrative intent here, not merely the facts of the story. The updated autopsy report is not an instance of Edgeworth forging evidence, however it showcases his ruthlessness, which by extension serves to corroborate the rumours Phoenix was talking about with Gumshoe - making you believe Edgeworth would indeed tamper with proof without showing him doing so. Edgeworth coaching the witness's testimony and withholding the wiretap has the same effect.

Right before the second trial day, we get to talk with Edgeworth himself, who has come to warn us that even though he knows Phoenix, Phoenix shouldn't expect any mercy from him. Here's what he has to say:

Edgeworth: [...] whatever Mr. White says today, it will be the "absolute truth." No matter how you try to attack his testimony... If I raise an objection, I have it on good faith that the judge will listen to me. Phoenix: (What, does White have the judge in his pocket, too!?) So... you're saying I'm going to be guilty. End of story? Edgeworth: ... I will do anything to get my verdict, Mr. Wright. Anything. Maya: Why... Why!? How can you torment an innocent person like this!? Edgeworth: "Innocent"...? How can we know that? The guilty will always lie, to avoid being found out. There's no way to tell who is guilty and who is innocent! All that I can hope to do is get every defendant declared "guilty"! So I make that my policy.

There is also the climax of the case, where Edgeworth tries to request the trial to be extended one more day:

Edgeworth: Ergo! I would like to request one more day before Phoenix Wright is granted his freedom. I need time to make one more inquiry into this matter. Judge: Hmm...! Phoenix: (Another inquiry...!? This isn't going to be another one of those "updated autopsy reports"! This guy just makes up evidence as he pleases! This is bad...!)

This heightens the stakes and creates tension as Phoenix puts his foot down and requires for the trial to come to an end on that day - and it does thanks to Mia's intervention. Once more Edgeworth forging evidence isn't shown, but is implied in a way that we are meant to take as fact.

So that is the image we have of Edgeworth by the end of case 1-2, our first confrontation with him. Someone ruthless, someone who will do "anything" to get his guilty verdict - even if that involves shady dealings (such as, but not limited to, tampering with evidence). Someone without limits.

Then 1-3 happens, where in the course of the trial Edgeworth realises Will Powers is innocent and helps us corner Dee Vasquez into confessing to being the true killer, therefore throwing his trial and helping us win against him. This is a big deal. This is a cornerstone of the arc of game 1, of Edgeworth's redemption arc. After that we get the infamous "unnecessary feelings" scene, where Edgeworth confirms it: he was shaken by the events of this trial and his first loss in the previous one. This is something new for him.

And afterwards of course is 1-4, where we get to the bottom of Edgeworth's vitriolic hatred for criminals and discover his backstory. We get to meet his mentor von Karma, "twenty times as ruthless as him," and witness him pull all the stops to prevent us winning and making our life really difficult. Interestingly he, too, skirts the line of forging evidence, but that fact pales in comparison to everything he does do: orchestrating a murder and framing Edgeworth for it, destroying the letter that incriminated him, hiding the evidence of DL-6 so that Phoenix cannot have access to anything to solve the case.

(On a side note: von Karma using "faulty evidence" against Gregory Edgeworth is actually an established fact, and I think the way AAI-2 retconned that to introduce Blaise was quite clever, but maybe I'll make a similar post about Manfred after the AAI Collection comes out in September)

So that's Edgeworth's arc, where he is confronted to a world where getting a "guilty verdict" isn't always the morally correct choice to make, and where his worldview is entirely deconstructed to allow him a redemption arc. His return in 2-4 continues that arc with his new motto of the "truth" being the most important thing (implying that hadn't always been at the centre of his considerations).

Now compares this with what he says in 1-5.

Edgeworth: Of course not! I didn't touch the evidence. Yes, I will do anything in my power to win a trial. However... I do have a code, and I follow it faithfully.

This is the first time we hear of Edgeworth having a moral code. This is the first time we hear of Edgeworth having limits to what he allows himself to do to earn his guilty verdicts. Up until now all we heard was "anything," as well as justifications as to why defendants deserve and need to be punished - "anything," by essence, implies not having limits.

It's not a contradiction. But it's a recontextualisation, and therefore a retcon.

I'm not going to give quotes or we'll be here the whole day, but we all know what 1-5 then does; SL-9, the Joe Darke killings, Gant's involvement.

By giving the rumours of forged evidence about Edgeworth a tangible starting point, the case reframes them, from something that he was previously implied to do routinely to a single event, one that was orchestrated behind his back and that he had no bearing on or even any idea it was happening. By establishing that Edgeworth does follow a moral code, his image of fearless prosecutor is deconstructed even further; where in 1-4 we were given a reason for his actions, now we are actually being told his actions weren't as severe as hearsay (and Phoenix's bias) led us to believe.

The case also introduces the idea of "working with the defence" and the search of the truth to Edgeworth, which plants the seed for his eventual return in 2-4 and deepens his character arc a little more.

Thematically, I personally think 1-5 inserts itself very well into the larger narrative. It plays with both themes and facts established by game 1 and teases themes and facts that will come in the next games (2-4, all of game 4). However it does recontextualise Edgeworth's arc by establishing he never willfully forged evidence, contrarily to what was previously implied, and giving him a retroactive caveat to his policy of "anything to achieve his guilty verdict" that hadn't existed before. Therefore, it is a retcon, albeit one that works, in my opinion, well within the larger arc of the games and with Edgeworth's character.

One core trait of Phoenix Wright as a character that I rarely see discussed is how utterly evasive he is about his private affairs. It sticks out the most in AA4 when we see Phoenix from the outside, but "Phoenix won't tell anyone anything important unless he absolutely has to (and even then, he probably won't)" is by no means a new development for him.

From AA1 onwards, we see Phoenix dodge people's questions about his personal life time and time again. In part, this is by narrative necessity - Phoenix knows more than the player is meant to know in order to achieve the optimal tension curve. But AA takes his narrative shortcut and turns it into a real character beat.

Phoenix Wright is the most cagey fucker on the planet.

At the end of 1-1 Mia asks him how he came to befriend Larry and Phoenix dodges the question with a vague promise to tell her later - this also means that in all of his time working with Mia, he's never actually disclosed his full motivation for becoming a lawyer to her.

In 1-2, Maya asks him how he knows Edgeworth and he dodges, because of course he does. The same song and dance repeats at the end of 1-3. And despite Maya's repeated prodding by 1-4, Phoenix still has not told her a thing about his past. That's from October until December that Maya is left going ??? and her questions go nowhere.

Then, between AA1 and AA2, Edgeworth is presumed dead by suicide. Does Phoenix tell Maya about this? Absolutely not. He does not tell her in letters nor is he clear about it when they see each other again in person, months later.

What Maya gets once it's inevitable to talk is a vague 'he's gone' and no elaboration other than the request to not speak about him again.

This is Phoenix's default coping mechanism.

In AA3, there are numerous instances where he mentions forgetting Dahlia, not speaking her name again, etc. Edgeworth is 100% getting the 'person who hurt me too deeply to think about' treatment here.

But to not even tell Maya a vague overview on the matter, when Maya knew him too? Rough. And it just keeps going.

It's six months between telling Maya that Edgeworth is 'gone' in 2-2 and her finding out that 'gone' seemingly means' dead' in 2-3.

Maya complains about it, too. This isn't a matter of 'she never asked again', it's a matter of 'Phoenix is dodging all questions'. Gumshoe has to intervene in order for Maya to finally find out.

And finally in 3-5, does he tell anybody why he's going to Hazakura temple and why he seems interested in Iris? Absolutely not!

At this point we get Edgeworth openly acknowledging that Phoenix keeps his emotional cards extremely closely to the chest. When he states that he wants confirmation on whether or not he has met Iris before, this exchange happens:

Even as Edgeworth directly calls him out on being evasive and never actually speaking to people, all Phoenix can do is acknowledge that this is how he is by apologizing - but he won't change his ways.

AA4 Phoenix is really just a natural evolution of Trilogy Phoenix - Trilogy Phoenix is already evasive, already hates telling people about his struggles or accepting help... It's really no wonder that he'd isolate himself instead of reaching out once he gets disbarred.

This. Is absolutely perfect. “This isn’t a fairy tale, Wright” !!! I feel like people are forgetting something about narumitsu most of the time. Edgeworth dismantling Phoenix’s misbeliefs and savior complex in 2-4. It’s equally as important and Phoenix dismantling Edgeworth’s misbeliefs and guilt in 1-4. You cannot just have Phoenix saving Edgeworth all the time.

savior complex