List of Ace Attorney characters

Template:VG-in-universe This is a list of fictional characters from the Ace Attorney series of video games by Capcom.

Defense attorneys

Phoenix Wright

Phoenix Wright / Ryuichi Naruhodo (成歩堂 龍一, Naruhodō Ryūichi)

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Ace Attorney and protagonist of the first three games. In his childhood, he befriended Larry Butz and Miles Edgeworth. The series begins after Phoenix receives his defense attorney badge. While studying to become a defense lawyer, he was defended by Mia Fey and subsequently worked at her Fey and Co. Law office. He inherited the office and renamed it Wright and Co. after Mia Fey was murdered in the second case of the first Ace Attorney game.

Wright first decided to become a defense attorney in his school days when he was falsely accused of stealing his classmate Miles Edgeworth's lunch money, and the class held a mock trial. In that moment when he felt alone, he decided that he wanted to become a defense attorney to help people like himself who had nobody to defend or believe them. He also wanted to become a defense attorney to meet again with his childhood friend, Miles Edgeworth, who became a prosecutor and mysteriously moved away; losing all contact with Wright.

Wright is known in the courtroom for wildly guessing at the real truth and the ability to "turnabout" the court to his favor. He also adopted a daughter in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, known as Trucy Wright in the English version and Minuki Naruhodo (成歩堂 みぬき, Naruhodō Minuki), who is a professional magician. Due to the loss of his badge, he converted the Wright & Co. Law Offices into the Wright Talent Agency. Shortly after Apollo Justice joins his firm in the fourth Ace Attorney game, he changes the name to the Wright "Anything" Agency.

The fourth Ace Attorney game, Apollo Justice, is set seven years after a case in which Wright is incriminated for falsifying evidence and loses his defense attorney's badge.

In the English version of the game, his closest friends - with the exception of Mia Fey and Miles Edgeworth - call him "Nick" (short for "Phoenix"). He has also been nicknamed "Feenie" by a previous girlfriend.

Marvin Grossberg

Marvin Grossberg / Soranosuke Hoshikage (星影 宇宙ノ介, Hoshikage Soranosuke)

Grossberg is a defense attorney who is in charge of the Grossberg Criminal Defense law firm. He is a very famous and well-known lawyer. Mia Fey once worked under him. He makes his first appearance in the second case of the first Ace Attorney game as a man who turns down the offer to defend Maya Fey, charged with murder. The reason is because businessman Redd White has blackmailed him due to his role in the DL-6 case, which was resolved in case four of the first Ace Attorney game.

Apollo Justice

Apollo Justice / Housuke Odoroki (王泥喜 法介, Odoroki Hōsuke)

The new defense attorney protagonist for the fourth Ace Attorney, Justice gets his start defending Phoenix Wright in the courtroom. He is 22 years old. He later joins Phoenix's Wright "Anything" Offices, and becomes the defense attorney replacement, as Wright lost his badge seven years prior to the beginning of the fourth Ace Attorney. He has a special bracelet which he uses to read subtle changes in body language and expose lies from witnesses. Apollo's family includes his half-sister Trucy and his mother, Borginian singer Lamiroir (also known as Thalassa Gramarye).

Kristoph Gavin

Kristoph Gavin / Kirihito Garyu (牙琉 霧人, Garyū Kirihito)

Kristoph is Klavier's older brother, Justice's boss and Wright's acquaintance for many years. He runs his own attorney firm, called the Gavin Law Offices, which Justice studies under before joining Wright's office. He accompanies Justice to the courtroom for the first case in Apollo Justice and advises him. However, it is found out in the end of the case that he was the one who murdered the victim, and he is taken away.

Prosecutors

Miles Edgeworth

Miles Edgeworth / Reiji Mitsurugi (御剣 怜侍, Mitsurugi Reiji)

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Serving as Wright's rival, he became a prosecutor at the age of 20 and appears in the first three games of the Ace Attorney series. His father Gregory was a famous defense attorney. As a child, Edgeworth aspired to become a defense attorney. However, for reasons explained in the "Turnabout Goodbyes" case of the first Ace Attorney game, he becomes a prosecutor instead. He witnessed a case where he believed the alleged killer got off free instead of being imprisoned.

Manfred von Karma was his mentor. Through him, Edgeworth learned how to use dirty tricks to rig the court in his favor and became known as the "demon prosecutor" who always gets his "guilty" verdict. Mia Fey came close to defeating him in his (and her) first case, but the trial ended inconclusively when the defendant committed suicide. After that, Edgeworth won every trial he took part in, until Phoenix beat him in the second case of the original game. After "Rise from the Ashes", he vanishes from the prosecutor's office leaving only an enigmatic note. When he returns in the fourth case of Justice For All, he has changed dramatically, viewing defense attorneys as partners in uncovering the truth rather than as enemies.

During "Bridge to the Turnabout", the fifth case in Trials and Tribulations, Phoenix Wright is hospitalized, and Edgeworth takes over for him as defense attorney for the initial investigation and for the first day of the trial.

Edgeworth will fill the role of the main protagonist in Gyakuten Kenji, an upcoming spin-off to the main Ace Attorney series.

Manfred von Karma

Manfred von Karma / Go Karuma (狩魔 豪, Karuma Gō)

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Prosecutor Manfred von Karma is a ruthless prosecutor who is known for having a perfect record of getting all guilty sentences. He makes his only appearance in Case 4 of the first Ace Attorney game. Edgeworth says that von Karma is the twenty times as ruthless as he is and prepares everything meticulously. Von Karma has only been punished once, when Gregory Edgeworth incriminated him for falsifying evidence (von Karma still got a guilty verdict), and lost his final case to Phoenix Wright. After Case 4, he went on trial for the murder of Gregory Edgeworth and was found Guilty and sentenced to death.

Franziska von Karma

Franziska von Karma / Mei Karuma (狩魔 冥, Karuma Mei)

The daughter of Manfred von Karma. Franziska became a prosecutor at the age of 13, and was undefeated in court in Germany. After her adopted brother, Edgeworth, disappeared at the end of the first Ace Attorney game, she arrives in America to defeat Wright in court (in the Japanese version, she studied law in America and came to Japan). She is the prosecutor for two trials in Justice for All and replaces Godot for the first day of the fifth trial in Trials and Tribulations. Her trademark item is a whip, which she uses very frequently, to punish Wright, Gumshoe, the witness, and even the Judge.

Winston Payne

Winston Payne / Takefumi Auchi (亜内 武文, Auchi Takefumi)

Payne is a prosecutor. He makes his first appearance as the prosecutor opposite Phoenix Wright in the first case of the first Ace Attorney game. He serves as the first prosecutor the player goes against in all four games. He is known as the "Rookie Killer", and tests rookie defense lawyers in court. He is an elder man who, after his defeat by a young Mia Fey, loses his notable presence after Mia's sound defeat of him causes him to rip out his own hair in confusion. By the time of the fourth Ace Attorney game, he has regained his hair which he now flamboyantly grows out and dyes.

Godot

Godot (ゴドー, Godō)

Godot is a prosecutor who wears an electronic visor. Promotional material described him as a mysterious man whose name and identity are unknown. He makes his first appearance in Trials and Tribulations and serves as the main prosecutor of the game. He regularly drinks exactly seventeen cups of coffee during court sessions, as well as expressing his keen taste for it, and stating various proverbs relating to coffee. His real name is revealed to be Diego Armando in the English version and Soryu Kaminogi (神乃木 荘龍, Kaminogi Sōryū) in the Japanese version; and was a friend and coworker of Mia Fey when she worked at Marvin Grossberg's law firm. During his time there, he became her love interest.

Klavier Gavin

Klavier Gavin / Kyouya Garyu (牙琉 響也, Garyū Kyōya)

This prosecutor is the rival of Apollo Justice in Apollo Justice, the fourth Ace Attorney game. Unlike his predecessors, he is honest and friendly toward the defense from the very beginning. In addition to his prosecution work, he is the vocalist for a popular rock band "Gavinners", a band composed of Gavin and fellow legal personnel. Daryan Crescend, second guitarist for the Gavinners, has described Klavier as a "perfectionist", as he tends to be obsessive over slight details. They have a number of hit records at the time of the fourth game. He has an older brother named Kristoph.

Fey family

Mia Fey

Mia Fey / Chihiro Ayasato (綾里 千尋, Ayasato Chihiro)

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Eldest daughter of Misty Fey, Mia became a defense attorney to find out what happened to her mother after the DL6 incident. She initially worked at Marvin Grossberg's office alongside Diego Armando, and subsequently opened her own practice. In the first Phoenix Wright, she serves as Phoenix's boss for the first case, but is murdered shortly thereafter in the second case. However, her spirit can be summoned by either Maya or Pearl Fey when Wright needs help. Trials and Tribulations features two "flashback" cases in which the player plays as Mia in her first and second murder cases at Grossberg's law firm.

Maya Fey

Maya Fey / Mayoi Ayasato (綾里 真宵, Ayasato Mayoi)

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Younger daughter of Misty Fey, she is a medium-in-training. As her mother, Misty Fey, died during the last case of Trials and Tribulations, she is the current Master of Kurain village. After Wright defends her from charges of murdering her sister Mia in Case two of the first Ace Attorney game, she stays on with Phoenix to assist in investigation and proceedings of his cases. She returns in both Justice for All and Trials and Tribulations as Phoenix's assistant. In case two of Justice for All, she is accused of murder once again, and she is called as the final witness in the final case of Trials and Tribulations.

Pearl Fey

Pearl Fey / Harumi Ayasato (綾里 春美, Ayasato Harumi)

Pearl is Morgan's youngest daughter, and Maya's cousin. She is referred to as 'Pearly' by Maya and 'Pearls' by Phoenix. Morgan shelters her from the real world, and she knows little outside of Kurain village. Morgan says that she is more talented than Maya in spirit channeling. However, in the final case of Justice for All, Pearl notes that 'something strong' had called Mia's spirite away - Maya. She introduces Wright to the concept of Psyche-Locks and believes Maya and Wright are involved in a romantic relationship.

Other Feys

Ami Fey / Kyōko Ayasato (綾里 供子, Ayasato Kyōko)

Ami Fey was the first medium in the Fey family and created the Kurain channeling technique. Her soul is believed to be contained in an urn at Fey Manor in Kurain Village.

Misty Fey / Maiko Ayasato (綾里 舞子, Ayasato Maiko)

Misty Fey is the mother of Mia and Maya Fey, and was the former Master of Kurain Village. She was involved in the DL-6 incident, where the police requested that she channel a spirit to solve a case, but in the end, her work was disqualified and exposed and she disappeared as a result. Misty's involvement was leaked to the papers by Redd White, and because the verdict did not match her spiritual reading, she and her powers were considered fraudulent by the public. She disappeared afterwards. She returns in the fifth case of Trial and Tribulations as Elise Deauxnim, a children's book author.

Morgan Fey / Kimiko Ayasato (綾里 キミ子, Ayasato Kimiko)

Morgan is Misty Fey's sister, and due to the rites of Kurain Village, is the head of the Fey branch family. As per tradition, the branch family's role is to protect the main family from harm. However, she plots to kill the heirs of the main family to instill her daughter Pearl as the Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique since Morgan's own spiritual power is very weak. She plays a significant role in case two of Justice for All and case five of Trials and Tribulations.

Dahlia Hawthorne / Chinami Miyanagi (美柳 ちなみ, Miyanagi Chinami)

Dahlia is the daughter of Morgan Fey, and is the identical twin of Iris. When Dahlia and Iris were children, their father divorced Morgan, and remarried under the Hawthorne name. She is a witness to cases one, four, and five of Trials and Tribulations. In the first case, she is found guitly of murdering her ex-boyfriend Doug Swallow.

Iris / Ayame (あやめ)

Iris is the daughter of Morgan Fey, and is the identical twin of Dahlia Hawthorne. She appears as a training nun and the defendant in case five of Trials and Tribulations. Six years prior to the game, her sister Dahlia wanted a necklace back that she had given Wright. Iris pretended to be Dahlia but failed to gain the necklace back.

Recurring characters

Dick Gumshoe

Dick Gumshoe / Keisuke Itonokogiri (糸鋸 圭介, Itonokogiri Keisuke)

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A police detective from the homicide division who appears in the first three Ace Attorney games as the main detective, and in the fourth case of the fourth game during a flashback trial. He is often the head detective overseeing the case in cases that Phoenix Wright is involved in, and provides evidence and his opinion both during the investigation phase and while on the witness stand during the trial phases. During trials, he is usually the first witness called to the stand, giving an overview of the crime and presenting evidence that the police has gathered. He is referred to in the Japanese version as Itonoko-keiji (イトノコ刑事, "Detective Itonoko").

He constantly finds himself in dire financial straits due to his unconventional style of detective work and the trouble that it puts him in with his superiors, and has an always-present bandage over his left cheek.

Gumshoe will be acting as Edgeworth's partner and secondary protagonist in Gyakuten Kenji (see above).

Ema Skye

Ema Skye / Akane Houzuki (宝月 茜, Hōzuki Akane)

Ema is a high school junior and Wright's assistant during the case five ("Rise from the Ashes") of the first Ace Attorney game. She is the younger sister of Chief Prosecutor Lana Skye and has hopes of becoming a scientific investigator. She advocates a scientific approach to investigations, and searches for blood stains and fingerprints, which utilizes the touchscreen and microphone features of the Nintendo DS. She also appears in Apollo Justice, the fourth game of the series, replacing Gumshoe's role as a detective. Although she still exhibits enthusiasm for forensics, she is a slightly more irritable person as she hates having to do more menial detective work as well.

Judge

The Judge / Saibanchou (裁判長, Saibanchō)

The presiding judge during the majority of the Ace Attorney franchise. He rules on objections, examines the evidence, and calls on witnesses to take the stand. If the player makes a mistake, he will penalize him or her, and when the life bar or all the marks are gone, he issues a "guilty" verdict and a game over for the player. He has a brother, who is also a judge and presides over two cases in Trials and Tribulations.

Others

Larry Butz / Masashi Yahari (矢張 政志, Yahari Masashi)

Larry is a recurring character in the first and third games. He has been friends with Wright since childhood, and Wright gets his start defending Butz on the charge of murdering Butz's old girlfriend in the first case of the first Ace Attorney game. During school, Phoenix was accused of stealing lunch money, but was defended when Larry and Miles Edgeworth stood up for him. Incidentally, it was Larry Butz who stole Edgeworth's money, which he surprisingly repays years later. He also is called to the stand in the fourth case of the same game and in the fifth case of Trials and Tribulations. He holds various odd jobs throughout the series and is smitten for women who are mostly models and eventually leave him. As he has a knack for getting into trouble, his friends have come up with the phrase 'When something smells, its usually the Butz'.

Maggey Byrde /Mako Suzuki (須々木 マコ, Suzuki Mako)

Maggey Byrde is a police officer who appears in two cases. Her first appearance is in the first case of Justice for All, where she was tried for murdering her boyfriend, Dustin Prince. After that, she retired as a police officer and went to work for a French restaurant known as Trés Bien, and stands trial in the third case of Trials and Tribulations, the third game.

Wendy Oldbag / Kaoru Ooba (大場 カオル, Ōba Kaoru)

Wendy is a security guard in the first three Ace Attorney games. Her employing company changes in each installment, but her occupation largely stays the same. She has an affinity for younger men, usually in show business, while also being infatuated with Edgeworth. She serves as witness in several trials, and as an individual to extract information from, often near the scene of the crime.

Lotta Hart / Natsumi Oosawagi (大沢木ナツミ, Oosawagi Natsumi)

Hart is a photographer that appears in both the first and second games. She has an interest in unusual sightings such as the lake monster 'Gourdy' and paranormal occurrences. In the localization, she has a heavy Southern accent. Her photographs are crucial evidence for three cases and she is called as a witness to the murder in two of them.