[Ace Attorney] The Chosen Ones

This meta post, written to relax and collect my thoughts, is not going to be really of any use to anyone. It is deeply personal and fully contestable. It is also true, however, that I have to explain the same thing all over again every time a friend plays the trilogy.

There are reasons why the Ace Attorney “sequels” will never be more to me than elaborate Capcom-approved fanfiction, and thus, having to go over them every time, I decided it’d be convenient to keep here the small pocket of meta I’m going to transcribe, for future reference. Disclaimer: I am not biased against the post-T&T works itself or their characters. It’s just, they are in a completely different series to me. Nothing more. 

When Dual Destinies was announced, there was one detail that rubbed me the wrong way more than anything else. It was the reference to the so-called Dark Age of the Law, and the epic events that would lead to its destruction (or so we were told). You’ll be surprised to know that the basic idea behind it mostly matches my own answers to the question “what next?”

So, if it does, why should I be angry about it?

It’s not because of the idea itself, but because of its timing. In my opinion, to have this theme surface openly at the theoretically fifth episode is yet another sign, as far as the trilogy is concerned, of complete lack of understanding and insight. It’s almost stealing, or recycling if you will. Why?

Because it was there all along. Because, as it is heavily implied, the “dark age of the law” began way before the events of the trilogy, and Ace Attorney tells the story of how Phoenix helped ending it. 

Beware of spoilers for the whole AA trilogy, which is the one part of the series I personally consider canon.

The distinct impression I have had since I first played this game is that Phoenix, like the other characters we control from time to time, isn’t just anybody. He is not a rookie lawyer out of many identical rookie lawyers. Of course, you might say, he is the protagonist! But my claim goes farther than that. As the story progresses and the new cases follow, we come to realize thatthe characters are distinguished by experiences and beliefs which aren’t exactly commonplace, and their motives are strong enough to push them to endeavors not many would be able and/or willing to accomplish.

They are, speaking very simply, characters marked by the fate of the chosen ones. They are outliers, the rare exceptions to a system that works otherwise. In different ways, their actions stand out against a norm we don’t see pictured in the game  – out of hundreds of people with the same job, they are the ones whose choices end up influencing the events en masse.

I will go into detail as this post progresses, but that is the general idea by which my point stands. The chosen ones concept is relevant, as no one but single-minded and determined people can bring about major changes in a corrupt system.

Because, by all means, the legal system Mia and Phoenix enter as young lawyers is corrupted to the marrow. Characters like Manfred von Karma and, if you consider RftA, Damon Gant are the ones to reign over it.

It is often specified in the first game that von Karma and his pupil, the Demon Prosecutor, are ready to go any length to achieve a guilty verdict. How is it even possible for alleged evidence forgers, although of this influence, to be in business and working full swing? How could it be, if not because the State and the police are a corrupted mess?

We also come to know Marvin Grossberg, along with his hypocritical attitude in front of truly difficult, game-changing cases. Just looking at him, we can guess what the average lawyer is like, all the while realizing how differently Phoenix and Mia act from the likes of him.

Although the theme is never addressed directly in the series, we have enough data to figure the whole situation out. It isn’t a happy situation.

Now, consider this. Although widespread and very, very hard to eradicate, legal systems of this sort cannot survive long if honest and outspoken people enter it and proceed with all their might. Several of the attorneys we meet, as I will explain later, are lawyers of this kind – they are ready to sacrifice a lot, and sometimes their lives, to get justice in the true sense of the word. Which, in fact, we will reflect upon soon.

Even if he never appears directly in the original series, the first of the long row that is relevant to our story is Gregory Edgeworth. Having found a way to bring von Karma’s reign of faked evidence and false verdicts to an end, he is firmly set on doing it. But a series of fatal circumstances expose him to danger, and his resolve costs him his life.

While being the culminating event of this dark age of the law, DL-6 also sets in motion its downfall. By bringing about devastation, it gives radically different fates to the people involved. So it happens that, way beyond the grasp of von Karma’s influence, the tragedy and its aftermath themselves change several lives forever, forcing new strength, new values and new life purposes upon a number of characters.

I have no doubts that, had she not – so to say – similarly died en route, Mia Fey would have been the first attorney to travel the long road towards reform. Her work ethics, the mold for Phoenix’s future inspiration, were supported by expertise, care and a rare brand of cunning. Her only mistake, also due to a huge stroke of bad luck, was getting involved in something bigger than her before she could foresee its consequences.

To further support my claim that the characters we meet in Ace Attorney are gifted with rare integrity and moral clarity, let me direct your attention on how fast the death toll is increasing. In a corrupt setting, people like these are inconvenient. Luckily, by now I am almost certain Phoenix is immortal.

A victim of her own quest for truth, Mia leaves behind a young, inexperienced apprentice, fresh off the bar and full of idealism. Yet, at the start of his own career, Phoenix is already armed with a treasure he shares with both Mia and attorney Edgeworth: the true meaning of justice.

Despite its cruel rendition of crime, Ace Attorney is an idealistic work in itself. Ruthless as it may be in portraying the viciousness of greed, power and corruption, or in shattering, in due time, Phoenix’s unwavering trust in his clients, this game firmly conveys the message that the path of virtue is the hard way, but the rewarding way as well. 

What we meet, playing in Phoenix’s role, is a world where defense and prosecution never help each other, because they fight to win. A sentence, far from being recognized as an act of great impact on people’s fates, is more of a prize that adds to the attorney’s personal reputation. The reason why Phoenix is so important is that, thanks to Mia’s and – indirectly – mr. Edgeworth’s heredity, the idea he has of his job is much closer to the actual consequences trials have on human lives. He is among the first lawyers of this kind to enter the scene, and the first who succeeds at putting his policy into practice.

While his attitude and his ideas will mature in the course of the series, Phoenix’s idea of justice is, very simply, giving help to the helpless. To someone of his kind-hearted and idealistic nature, the idea becomes even more important than it already is. Justice meansbalancing the arrogance of the powerful by rising in defense of those who are abandoned to themselves. The lesson Miles taught him as a child, made stronger by Mia’s essential intervention in a time of fatal danger, is to Phoenix of such value and impact that he eventually chooses to pursue it throughout his life.

At this point, adult Miles re-enters the story with a significant role, never to leave it again. However, he is not only crucial because of his relevance in the plot: his character growth has an enormous symbolic value, directly related to both the dark age of the lawand Phoenix’s idealism. Said value keeps growing as time goes by.

The first episode of Phoenix’s character development, that is his definition as the “right” defense attorney with the “right” ideas (no pun intended), comes full circle when he, in his words, returns the favor. He eventually saves the very person who taught him how important it is to defend people. But, as we will come to know in the following games, the effect of this rescue goes way deeper than they can tell. Fifteen years later, the true closure of DL-6 has effects even more significant than the event itself. It will change both deeply as people, and their personal changes will have repercussions on the legal world as a whole.

Speaking in terms of plot, we mostly see Phoenix’s actions. Still, it can be safely said that Miles is the one whose story has the more potential to change the ineffective legal system. Because, in fact, he was dragged out of his fatal role. He was a cog in the machinery of corruption, just about to be consumed by a fate chosen for him. But Phoenix’s intervention, with the new chance at life and redemption it brings along, turns him into one of the most – if not the most – powerful adversary to the unfair legal system. 

The true cause and greatest symbolic agents of this change, besides Miles’ own good and fair nature, are von Karma’s own manipulations. What the game tells us is that, the end, his weapons fatally turned against him. It was von Karma’s influence to form a brilliant, untiring prosecutor, and it was his cruel insistence to sharpen his intellect like a diamond edge. The same qualities he had turned towards personal gain are eventually claimed by Miles as his own, put to service of the same ideal of justice von Karma had so deeply disrespected.

It is clear enough that Miles’ personal path is a decisive factor in the crumbling of the dark age of the law – just as Phoenix’s is, when his unearthly idealism is softened by a rough learning experience, and his trust put to better use. In the end, Phoenix’s and Miles’ own experiences of growth are as deeply intertwined as the teachings of the plot lean on them. It is not by chance that Shu Takumi made them debate the issue of trust in the very same case. The trust between them is mirror to that they put in their clients, more and more wisely as time goes by.

It is just as evident that, if their isolated experiences are both essential, their influence on one another and the results of their interaction are even more important to the legal world. Because, once the prosecution’s side has a reliable and disinterested representative, the whole balance of the two parties changes. In a way that comes natural to them, and simply by facing each other in court, Phoenix and Miles begin challenging the whole structure of the legal world as they know it.

Despite it being the idea of other people, and even close spectators, the words rivalry, battleand such quickly grow meaningless for them. By surviving such levels of injustice, Phoenix and Miles have a much deeper understanding than most people of what justice means. It is only natural for them to start operating as two halves of a whole, in the name of common goal: the truth.

If nothing else is adamant enough about it, the Fey family strife at the end of the series is the clearest parallel of all. It shows the damage and the ultimate meaninglessness of corruption, and how essential human values and honesty are, as opposed to it.

And that, friends, is what Ace Attorney is all about, to me at least. The understanding that joining forces and helping one another is the final meaning of both justice and life. Leaving aside pettiness, false roles and personal interest to form an alliance, in the name of human values, is the noblest goal mankind can pursue.

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. But who do you fight for? How hard must you fight…? That’s the true measure of what human life is worth.

These words are the reason why, in my opinion, no sequels were ever necessary. No more explanations were needed. To have Phoenix and his loved ones work towards this goal has always been the direction Ace Attorney was meant to head to. In other words, what I expected from Phoenix and the others was to destroy the Defense vs. Prosecution system, in favor of a more fruitful and less adversarial collaboration.

Which would, obviously, mean no game/very different game mechanics. But it was fine. Although just begun, their story was over, and they deserved to continue their lives in happiness beyond the series. Not without hard work, strife, accomplishments. But the ultimate meaning of their future was set. 

Looking at the final episode of the trilogy, we see Miles manipulating a trial way beyond legal boundaries, in the name of the truth. It doesn’t just mean he is very rich (and he is). It means he is unbelievably influential – no doubt, once again, partially because of von Karma’s legacy. With such power in his hands, I can hardly imagine he wouldn’t steer the legal system towards the direction that his and Phoenix’s experience proved to be so effective – when honest people are involved, that is.

It wouldn’t have been an easy change to pull off, at all. It would also have meant relying on people’s integrity way more than it was safe. But it is with time and example that things change for the better – it could have worked, and I couldn’t have asked for more than leaving the series at that. 

And the problem I have with the sequels is that all these things, which made Ace Attorney great and emotional by being delicately and masterfully implied, were reused for lack of ideas. They were made more evident, but less cared for – used in a messy and yet predictable way, with a lot more plot holes.

I am generalizing a lot, but I can’t shake off the impression that the new AA games are telling the same story over and over again. People becoming lawyers to save others. Enormous suffering. Corrupted characters, banally thrown in and poorly constructed. Last, but not least, special powers.

I get that it’s gameplay, and I don’t want to take anything away from Apollo and Athena, whom I happen to like, too. I also remember the Magatama very well, and I think this new gameplay gimmick was still believable, given the influence of Kurain over the plot. However, too many special powers – as in items, technology etc – are too much for a series in which the true power has always lain within human resources, and in such a meaningful way to boot. 

In their value of people, first and foremost, lies the value of the chosen ones.

I don’t want to insist much on that, especially because it is a matter of personal taste. Still, hopefully, this post will have given a clear explanation of what I love in the Ace Attorney trilogy, and what I see as its only possible future. Thank you for your patience, if you got here. I gladly accept discussion, but please, don’t get angry at me, nor try to convince me I should better consider the new games. I am not changing my mind on that.

Have a lovely day, and spread the Ace Attorney love further.

~ altairattorney

The most important aspects of any story are “Where does it begin?” and “Where should I bring it to an end?” So where should I bring it to an end…? I believe this is that point. However, there is no “end” to the world of Ace Attorney. Phoenix, Maya, Mia, Edgeworth, and Gumshoe… I believe that even now, they’re fighting the good fight and enjoying their laughter-filled lives with one another.

— Shu Takumi