User Profile

Name: Phoenix Wright
Age: 25
Series: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Mun's Journal: chocobodork

Back in the day, when Phoenix was in elementary school, one of his classmates’ lunch money went missing. He had been inside at the time the money had been stolen, since he felt too ill to join them at recess. The class held a trial, and he was on the verge of finding him guilty without evidence, when one of Phoenix’s classmates intervened. This classmate was Miles Edgeworth, the boy whose money had been stolen. Another classmate, Larry Butz, helped in proving Phoenix innocent.

This incident made the three boys friends. Edgeworth told his two companions that he wanted to be a defense attorney, like his father. The boys were able to spend less than a year together: Edgeworth transferred schools at the end of the year.

Several years later, Phoenix went to college to become a Shakespearian actor.* While at college he dated a girl named Chinami** who gave him a crystal pendant, supposedly as a symbol of their love. Chinami’s ex-boyfriend confronted Phoenix and was soon found dead, leaving Phoenix as the most likely suspect. Mia Fey, who would later become Phoenix’s mentor, defended him in the case. The pendant turned out to be a piece of evidence in a former case which Chinami had given Phoenix to keep from being a suspect. Chinami had tried to retrieve the pendant from him, but had not been able to. She had tried to poison him, and, when that had not worked, had framed him for murder. For her crimes, Chinami was given the death penalty.

While still at college, Phoenix heard about a 20-year-old “Demon Prosecutor” who would do anything to win a case. When Phoenix found out that this ruthless prosecutor was none other than his old school yard chum Miles Edgeworth, he tried to contact him. His attempts at contact were ignored. His interest in the law now strengthened, Phoenix decided to become a defense attorney in hopes of finding his long lost friend.

Mia Fey, who had at one time defended Phoenix in court, took the aspiring lawyer as her protégé. For his first case, Phoenix found himself defending his old friend Larry Butz in a murder trial. Butz was accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend Cindy Stone, who had been found dead in her apartment shortly after returning from a trip to Europe. With a little help from his mentor, Phoenix was able to win his case and get his friend acquitted.

Not too long after her protégé’s first case, Mia Fey was killed in her office. The suspect was none other than her younger sister, Maya Fey. When the attorney Maya had hoped would defend her declined, Phoenix decided to take the case. As things turned out, the prosecutor was Miles Edgeworth. The friendship the boys had shared years before was gone: now they were strictly rivals.

At times the case seemed hopeless. Maya did her best to support Phoenix, even using her family’s unique ability to channel the dead to contact Mia. Phoenix was once again able to triumph in the courtroom.

Phoenix’s next case was yet another murder trial. He found himself defending a television actor who was accused of murdering his on-screen enemy. Phoenix and Maya, who was now his assistant, found out the truth behind the murder and had Phoenix’s client acquitted.

A short amount of time passed without Phoenix taking a new case. Then one evening while watching the news at the office, Phoenix saw that his rival was in deep trouble: Miles Edgeworth had been accused of murder. Phoenix and Maya rushed to the detention center to try to get the full story from the accused man himself. Edgeworth was largely unwilling to volunteer information, and refused Phoenix’s offer to help him. Having been refused, Phoenix decided to take matters into his own hands and went to the scene of the crime to investigate.

After some snooping, Phoenix was able to find out where the victim worked: Grossberg Law Offices. When he had been defending Maya, Phoenix had met Grossberg himself. Grossberg was now willing to talk to Phoenix about the victim, Robert Hammond, who had been the defense attorney in the DL-6 case. Edgeworth’s father, Gregory Edgeworth, had been the victim in that case. Maya’s mother, Misty Fey, had also been involved in the DL-6 case. With a picture of Misty Fey in hand, Maya and Phoenix returned to the detention center.

After seeing the photo of Misty, Edgeworth grudgingly accepted Phoenix as his lawyer. The prosecutor in this case turned out to be none other than the man who had raised and mentored Edgeworth after his father’s death, Manfred von Karma. Von Karma was a feared prosecutor, having never lost a case in his career. Phoenix, in the end, was not only able to bring down this King of Prosecutors, but was able to find him guilty of the murder of Gregory Edgeworth.

In Phoenix’s next case, he would once again face Edgeworth in court. Maya, however, would no longer be his assistant. Maya had returned to her home, Kurain Village, to continue training to become a spirit medium. Ema Skye, this cases’ suspect’s sister, would be his scientifically savvy assistant instead. The two prove to be a great team, and get Ema’s sister acquitted.

During Phoenix’s next case, he loses his memory but wins his case anyway. There isn’t much plot development here, so I won’t go into detail.

Phoenix’s next case (The last one I’ll be discussing here, actually. Yay! The end is in sight!) would find him once again defending Maya. Maya is accused of murdering a client during a channeling. Phoenix knew Maya could never murder, not even while her body is inhabited by a spirit, so he decided to defend her. Edgeworth, however, was not the prosecutor. Edgeworth was now considered dead; a note had been found in his handwriting proclaiming that “Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth chooses death.” Phoenix was rather broken up over the death of his rival and friend (from his point of view, at least) and refused to talk about him. Seeing as Edgeworth could not possibly prosecute being “dead”, Franziska von Karma stepped in to fill his shoes. Franziska was the daughter of Manfred von Karma, who we have already met, and was an undefeated prodigy.

Until she met Phoenix, of course.

Phoenix one his case and Maya was acquitted. Duh. Sometime after this case, Phoenix enters Avoria.

Personality-wise, Phoenix is an all around good guy. He tends to see the best in people, and is always ready to help his friends. He refuses to give up on anyone, even when they give up on themselves. He also has a bit of a sarcastic side, which he tends to only show in his constant stream of internal commentary. Though he is a bit of a bumbler when first in court, he has developed into a great up-and-coming attorney who always believes in his client. Not that he gets paid well. He has a bit of a problem paying his bills, what with not getting paid for some of his cases and constantly having to feed Maya, who seems to be able to down an unknown amount of burgers.

*I don’t believe this is actually confirmed in any of the games, but it has been proposed by the game’s director. Another school of thought is that he was studying to become a manga artist. I prefer the Shakespearian actor theory, so it’s what I go by. If this bit of not-quite-canon info isn’t allowed, please tell me and I’ll adjust the info accordingly.

**Chinami is her name in the original Japanese release. I’ll change this to her English name once GS3 is released, since I’m not using any of the other Japanese names. That is, if I remember. ^^;

forthedefense is a character journal for avoria_academy

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