(Edited To Adjust My Argument).

Sincerely yours,

Phoenix Wright.

I love this conversation so much.

It's clear in RFTA that Phoenix had an idea of how Edgeworth was supposed to heal after this. Kill the prosecutor in your OR let it help you grow... But Edgeworth did both. He had to kill off his old self before he could truly heal.

Do you think this conversation haunted Phoenix before Edgeworth came back

Miles Edgeworth is not as soft as the fandom likes to portray him <3

His ruthlessness is a constant. Even when he "chose death" it was because he made a decision to not forgive himself.

miles edgeworth, the one who starts off callous and unrelenting, but even while falling into his lowest point, declares that he has always done what he believes is right. the character whose pivotal moment in the plot involves telling the protagonist that it's through their mutual trust that they can find the truth, basically the intellectual cousin of "the power of friendship always wins," and remains an unrelenting person throughout the narrative. this is the one fanon assigned the "tsundere" label to.

franziska von karma, the one who starts off hostile and aggressive against the protagonist, but is later revealed to be doing so out of care and concern for a loved one. the character who constantly yells "baka baka baka!" in the original text, only for that angry front to crumble into a sensitive interior when facing up to her feelings surrounding the brother she cares about. this is the one fanon portrays as put together and upfront.

how did the fandom make such a grave error

Finally did the WrightWorth sketch session with Zeet Studio! (Just in time for Valentine's Day!) This was so fun, I had a huge grin on my face the entire time

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.

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.

That’s it. THAT’S what SOTR should’ve been.

As someone who has spent way too much time thinking about Haymitch, I always suspected that the first sparks of resistance started around the 50th (mostly based on the symbolism of Maysilee being established as the OG owner of the mockingjay pin, really). The Capitol suddenly reaping double the amount of kids? That’s majorly pushing the boundaries of what even the most oppressed districts would accept. People are angry. People are restless.

Then, out of nowhere, comes this kid from the most underprivileged loser district of them all, and he has no qualms about announcing that he doesn’t give a shit about their games. Instead of dying a quiet and swift death like he was supposed to as a D12 tribute, he then proceeds to use his sheer force of will, an outrageous amount of audacity and his own intelligence and wits to crawl his way to the biggest fluke victory ever, ruining their grand quarter quell.

That’s it. That’s enough to inspire resistance, wouldn’t you think?

The force field thing was bad, but not kill your entire family bad. I think the killings would’ve happened in response to rising unrest post 2QQ in district 12 and perhaps even other places - know where your place is, or you’ll end up like Haymitch.

We did not need a contrived plot to blow up the arena. We just didn’t. And the evidence of what she originally intended is still right there in the text. I think so, anyway.

Here’s our girl

Still not very good at digital art but I don’t mind how this one turned out :)

Click for higher res

Wheels slow, the fumes die There’s nobody left, she’s alone and counting

you buried two people that day