wrightingwrongs | application: balance

	PHOENIX: It's only natural for living creatures to fight to protect their own lives. But what makes us human is that we fight for others.
	APP HMD PALADIN SVEN

Player Name: Sven
Age: 26
Contact:

svensational

Character name: Phoenix Wright
Age: 26
Canon: Ace Attorney
Canon point: Pre-disbarment case, but after the events of Trials and Tribulations, and, additionally, Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Where Layton v AA happens is unclear at best, though evidence and references clearly put it sometime between the events of T&T and the disbarment that preludes the events of Apollo Justice.)
History: Wiki link

Three key adjectives: Dedicated, good-natured, sardonic.

Influential Events:

(Note: influential events will be listed in chronological order but, where applicable, have a Game and Case number referenced, in the format of [Game Number]-[Case Number])

[3-1: Turnabout Memories]: In what is probably one of the first major moments of Phoenix's life after his elementary school days, Phoenix is betrayed by his then-girlfriend, Dahlia Hawthorne, over the course of a trial which revealed that she not only intended to frame him for a murder she committed, but intended him to be the original murder victim. However, neither of these would come to pass due to the actions of one Mia Fey, whose defense would change his career track and push him towards a degree in law - one he had already been considering due to a childhood friend, Miles Edgeworth. Two years later, Phoenix Wright would pass the bar exam and receive his defense attorney's badge, entering the tutelage of his former defender, Mia Fey. Phoenix's respect for Mia and her inspiring of him is most at the fore in this case, as she quite literally saves his life and puts him on a completely different path in life. At the same time, Dahlia's betrayal and plot to murder him would cause a scar over his heart that would never truly fully heal, as he would remark even five years later that the two things he can't stand more than anything are poisoning and betrayal.
[1-2: Turnabout Sisters]: Shortly after the beginning of Phoenix's law career, tragedy would strike in the form of the Mia's murder - a murder that would shock Phoenix to the core and continue to reverberate with him years later. The suspect of this murder would be none other than Mia's younger sister, Maya Fey. As other, more practiced attorneys refused to pick up her case, eventually it fell onto Phoenix's own sense of duty to defend her when no one else would. The trial would be Phoenix's first time flying without his mentor to fully guide him - though she was never far, due to her ability to be channeled by Maya - and would be the first time he faced his former childhood friend, Miles Edgeworth. Twisted into a prosecutor who was determined to get a guilty verdict, Phoenix saw this Edgeworth as a betrayal of the Edgeworth who defended him in elementary school as he desperately fought for Maya's innocence. In the end, Phoenix struck a blow against Edgeworth's record - and in doing so, saved Maya. The two would become fast friends, and remain as close as family for years to come as Phoenix found his footing in a world without Mia. Her death still hangs heavy on Phoenix to this very day, as he, like Maya herself, arrived just too late to save her. In many ways, it could be said Phoenix and Maya became as close as they did through the shared bond of what Mia meant to them. That said, it also started to nurture a strong protective instinct in Phoenix, as Maya's life was now in his hands.
[1-4: Turnabout Goodbyes]: After repeated cases of facing off against his childhood friend-turned-rival, and wondering how he became this way, Phoenix instead has the tables turned on him as Miles Edgeworth is accused of murder. Though Miles continues to tell Phoenix not to bother defending him, Phoenix - as loyal as ever - refuses, and puts himself on the line to defend Edgeworth despite his protests. As a result, Phoenix has to face one of the most fraught battles of his career against Manfred Von Karma, Edgeworth's mentor. A 'perfect prosecutor' whose ability to dominate a courtroom and secure a guilty verdict is unparalleled, Phoenix eventually unravels the web of intrigue (though not without some amount of peril) in his dedication to see Edgeworth free of not just this murder charge, but his own memories. Phoenix shows he'll make good on paying back the long-ago inspiration of Miles defending him in a childhood courtroom. 1-4 showcases Phoenix at one of his highest points - desperately scrambling and fighting the most impossible of odds, even as he complains the whole way through, in his determination to save his friend.
[2-4: Farewell, My Turnabout]:If Turnabout Goodbyes shows Phoenix at one of his highest moments, Farewell, My Turnabout shows him at his absolute lowest. With Maya kidnapped by the mysterious hitman 'Shelly de Killer', Phoenix must fight for an acquittal of Matt Engarde, who he quickly learns is responsible for hiring the assassin to murder his rival actor. Forced into a hopeless situation of either helping a guilty man go free - thus betraying his own ideals - or losing one of the most important people in his life, Phoenix has a mental breakdown. He eventually, in his desperation, ends up turning to near everyone he can for help. Plagued with doubt and despair, it's easy to see Phoenix is entirely in his own head in a depressive spiral for most of the trial - he has repeated panic attacks as he is forced to deal with Shelly de Killer's demands, becoming openly more desperate, frustrated, and full of panic at the circumstances that cause him to defend a guilty man - and at his inability to do anything to protect Maya. The anxiety and panic are hard to watch as he stalls for time until he gets the slimmest opportunity to achieve a 'miracle' - in appealing to de Killer's sense of honor and revealing a blackmail tape, Phoenix forces Matt Engarde to confess so that in his incarceration, he is safe from the vengeful assassin. Even without hope and on the edge of the darkest despair, even deep in his anxiety and trapped within a panic spiral in his own mind - Phoenix tried to find a way to protect both his ideals and Maya. However, he learned that it was only on relying on others - and the faith they put in him - that he pulled out a miraculous victory and kept both intact.
[3-5: Bridge to the Turnabout]: Six years of Phoenix's history comes together in Bridge to the Turnabout, in which he has to face the (quite literal) demons of his own past in addition to the past of the Fey clan and the identity of the mysterious visor-clad vengeance-seeking lawyer known as 'Godot'. Upon arrival to an out-of-the-way temple shrine. The children's book author Elise Deauxnim winds up dead. In his haste to call the police from a nearby phone, Phoenix observes a bridge set ablaze by what is presumably the killer. Knowing that Maya was on the other side in a sealed chamber - and theoretically in life-threatening peril, Phoenix rushed across the burning bridge without hesitation, only for it to give way and send him plummeting into the river below. Showing fearlessness and dedication (not to mention some good luck to not die in the rushing, freezing river), Phoenix rests in the hospital as he once again relies on the connections he's forged - as he tasks Miles Edgeworth to gather evidence in his stead until he recovered enough to return to court.

Over the course of the trial, the truth came out in many layers - a plot by Maya's aunt, Morgan Fey, to kill her, through the vengeful spirit of her now-executed daughter, Dahlia Hawthorne. The mysterious prosecutor, Godot, known formerly as Diego Armando, poisoned by Dahlia eight months prior to Phoenix's murder charge five years ago, knew everything - and killed Elise Deauxnim, who in reality was Misty Fey, long-lost matriarch of the Fey clan, as she channeled Dahlia in an attempt to protect Maya. Godot, for his part, laid the blame of Mia's death at Phoenix's feet - who had helped Dahlia get away and was now acting like he was an inheritor to her legacy. While Phoenix had surely felt guilt about both Mia's death and his involvement with Dahlia, he proved, without help from any counsel, Godot's involvement in Misty Fey's death - and in the process, learns that Iris, a co-conspirator who was helping to protect Godot, was Dahlia's twin, and the woman who Phoenix had truly fell in love with five years ago. In their reunion, Phoenix remarked that 'Dolly' was truly the person he thought she had been this whole time, and managed to, at least in some respects, put his past to rest.

While Phoenix's convictions have been tested time and again, here even Godot, who blamed Phoenix for not being able to save Mia and who had defended Dahlia Hawthorne years ago, was forced Mia's legacy of truth-seeking and justice was carried on through Phoenix's actions. It's here Phoenix shows every inch of determination and character that his usual sarcastic nature hides - his dedicated and fearless loyalty in attempting to save Maya, his quiet caring attitude as he deals with the truth of his past as presented by Iris, and his own unwavering nature as he brings Godot's involvement to light through his own unwavering dedication to justice.
[PL v AA: The Golden Court]: The third trial of Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney sees Phoenix once again having to defend Maya Fey - this time from accusations of witchcraft in the strange town of Labryinthia, for which the punishment is being put into a cage and lowered into a pit of flame. Over the course of the manic trial, he reveals the true culprit was a young woman, Jean, who, despite committing no crime except that of 'witchcraft', was to be put in the pit of fire in Maya's stead for being a witch. This lead one Espella Cantabella, a newfound friend of Maya and Nick's, to confess to allegations that she was the source of all witches within Labryinthia to save Jean. Before Espella could be locked in the cage, Maya herself intervened, forcing Espella out of the cage at the last moment as it locked shut with her inside. Though Nick attempted to stop the guards from lowering the cage into the fire, he was restrained and could only watch as Maya was plunged into the fires below.

While Maya was later confirmed alive and the town of Labryinthia's many, many, many mysteries eventually later exposed, in the immediate chaos and uproar of the trial's end, Phoenix was wracked with grief and despair, claiming he couldn't save her like she saved Espella. "If only I could have done something." An important character-defining moment that reinforced not only how much Maya means to Phoenix, but the regret he feels about being too late to save someone - which is something echoed with Mia's death in the series itself, and his own feelings of ineptitude. He would later lash out at the 'prosecutor' of the trial known as Zacharias Barnham, stopping just short of physical violence as he demanded to know if what occurred at the trial was truly 'justice' - which is to say, even through Phoenix's grief is the indignation and anger of a man seeing injustice play out and affect him so directly. Even knowing she's alive, as the close calls mount, Phoenix feels he needs to do everything he can to keep her safe.

Link to Samples: Phoenix toplevel on the Test Drive (contains multiple threads); Phoenix and Zelda;

Chosen path: Paladin
5 Abilities: Insight, Lay on Hands, Perform Oath, Shield of Faith, Emphatic Duty
Why this path?: Look I know the notable events section was long but go up and read that quote for him again. That's him at the end of Bridge to the Turnabout. Come on.

Put less glib: Phoenix is in his very heart a man who defends others, who puts his faith and trust in people and puts everything he has into helping them, even when the odds are, at best, not all that great. He has a strong sense of justice and despite his seemingly sarcastic temperment, he's a man who returns to defend people in need again and again, relentlessly, even as he puts his own ideals and even in some extreme cases his own well-being on the line. Not to mention he gets referred as 'Sir Blue Knight' throughout the course of Layton vs Ace Attorney. He's a Paladin through and through.

(In addition, the description of the Insight power matches very closely to an ability Phoenix has through use of the Fey Magatama in which he detects 'Psyche-Locks', and, if allowed to be a bit interesting with these abilities, Phoenix would perceive Insight triggering as Psyche-Locks on a given person.)

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