Characters / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Conflict of Interest

Beware of spoilers, as per Handling Spoilers policies none of the tropes in this page will be hidden by spoiler tags. It is highly recommended to not read this page at all unless you have played and finished the fangame. Read this page at your risk.

Returning Characters

Note: Only put tropes relating to what the characters do or what happens to them in this game.

Phoenix Wright

The man himself, Phoenix Wright is back in the courtroom!

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• Adaptational Jerkass: He's a bit more aggressive and snarky than in the main games.
• Badass Normal: He's a mere defense lawyer who plays a vital role in toppling the most ruthless criminal organisation in the city, using wits and determination alone.
• Blue Is Heroic: As always, he wears blue and seeks to bring justice to criminals and protect the innocent.
• Brain Bleach: Phoenix asks for some after hearing out all the gory details from Sarah.
• Butt-Monkey: He doesn't get much respect from prosecutors, detectives, or witnesses.
• Deadpan Snarker: It's Phoenix Wright, after all.
• Friendly Rivalry: With Watters. Even though it's a bit one-sided (as Watters is the only one of them who genuinely dislikes Wright,) the two of them still find some time to crack jokes at the other's expense while admitting they find them rather funny. They're also willing to help one another on cases, despite the two of them being on shaky terms.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: He tries not to swear in front of older Pearl.
• Heroic BSoD: Turnabout Consequences was not kind to him by the end of it.
• Humble Hero: He's confused and concerned about why he has a fanclub dedicated to him. While he's flattered, he doesn't feel that he's worthy of such an honor.
• Mistaken for Gay: In a reference to the massive amount of Ho Yay him and Edgeworth have, Obidiah straight out asks Phoenix if him and Edgeworth are romantically involved. Phoenix is taken back by this question and denies it, wondering who would pair him with Edgeworth.
• Not So Above It All: Him and Watters pause an investigation to make jokes about the other's occupation.
• Troll: Responds to Sarah's flirting by revealing he has a daughter, something that momentarily shuts Sarah up. Fortunately for Phoenix, Sarah was just pretending to be into him in order to uphold a facade.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gets one after revealing Watter's incompetence to the court and accusing him of being a murderer. Watters does not take this well and calls Phoenix Wright out for this betrayal.
• Working with the Ex: He decides to defend Iris, his ex-girlfriend in the fourth chapter. Even if their relationship ended rather poorly seven years ago, it's clear the two of them stil have some feelings for each other.

Maya Fey

Phoenix's old assistant and current master of the Kurain Channelling Technique.

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• Didn't See That Coming: She was shocked and horrified that Pearl of all people was the one who shot her. When she realises why, she instantly forgives her and feels nothing but sympathy for Pearl's struggles.
• Older and Wiser: She's far more competent when it comes to fulfilling her duties as the master of Kurain and is generally a bit more helpful.
• Older Than They Look: The game makes reuse of her sprites from the original Phoenix Wright trilogy. She even lampshades this fact in the credit sequence of Case 1:
  Maya: Hey, have you ever noticed this...? I'm over ten years older than Trucy, but we look almost the same age. I'm not complaining... Youthful looks definitely have their advantages.
• Put on a Bus: Due to being the victim of attempted assassination in Turnabout Consequences. After she stabilizes and recovers from her coma, she leaves for Kurain to focus on being the Master, resulting in her absence in Turnabout Into the Unknown's first two days.
• Terrible Artist: She worked very hard with Trucy on fliers for the Fey Clan Reunion. The results were... debatable.

Trucy Wright

Phoenix's adopted daughter and magician extraordinaire. Occasionally assists him with cases.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: Since Apollo's not around to be her unwilling magic assistant, her sweet side is always on display, with her playful teasing and occasional petulance never given a chance to emerge.
• Ascended Extra: She's present for all of the game, but she heads her own personal investigation in Case 5.
• Demoted to Extra: During cases 2, 3 and 4.
• Happily Adopted: Like in canon, Phoenix Wright is her beloved second daddy. She's even willing to go on a dangerous investigation to help him solve a case.
• Kid Sidekick: In the first and fifth case.
• Promoted to Playable: In the fifth case.

The Judge

The lovable judge is back and is more-or-less the same as always.

• Deadpan Snarker: He likes to make cracks at Phoenix's expense whenever he screws up.
• Took a Level in Badass: Surprisingly, he's the one to put pressure on Togamera, forcing him to cooperate with the court otherwise he'll personally see that Togamera is reported to the FBI.

Pearl Fey

^{Click here}to see older Pearl.

Maya's younger cousin and Phoenix's old friend. She seems to have went missing.

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• Adaptational Villainy: Canon Pearl never shot her cousin in a psychotic episode. To be fair, she's not the only Fey member who has become more evil, as this version of the clan is involved in organised crime, something even Morgan and Dahlia never did.
• Affably Evil: She might have tried to Murder Maya but damn if she isn't one of the friendliest characters to Phoenix. She also feels awful about what she has done and accepts her punishment if Phoenix reveals her as the culprit.
• Anti-Villain: Pearl doesn't want anything wrong happening to Maya because of her. Sadly, she considers herself to be a danger, and now that she is old enough to understand what transpired during her youth, she ends up deeply disturbed, as she feels she is unable to escape the destiny her mother set up for her.
• Attempted Suicide: Phoenix discovers, to his horror, that Pearl tried to take her own life during his investigations.
• Beware the Nice Ones: She turns out to be the one who shot Maya in Turnabout Consequences.
• Bittersweet Ending: She has two depending on the ending.
  • In the "good" ending, she is imprisoned, but the circumstances are brought to light and Obadiah promises to be lenient on her. Phoenix and Maya forgive her and decide that they'll be by her side when she's released and she'll also be given the psychological help she desperately needs. The bitter part is that she'll likely never fully recover and always blame herself for shooting Maya and setting the events of the game into motion due to her careless actions.
  • In the "bad" ending, she's a free woman and will have an easier time getting her life back on track, and is given the chance to redeem herself and start a new chapter of her life in a chance encounter with Apollo. Due to her guilt and self hatred, it's left ambiguous if she'll take up the offer or not.
• Break the Cutie: Morgan's influence did not go away with age and Pearl is deeply disturbed even a decade later.
• Chekhov M.I.A.: Her kidnapping is a very important part of the fourth case's story.
• Despair Event Horizon: Crosses it after her attempts to keep Maya safe from herself fail. She first faked her kidnapping, and later she also tries to kill herself. By the end of the trial she is actively urging Phoenix to convict her.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Despite the fourth chapter being chock full of mobsters and civilians with a Hair-Trigger Temper, the demure and friendly teenage girl turns out to be the one who shot Maya, something none of the characters (apart from Williamson) saw coming.
• Face–Heel Turn: She is the culprit of Turnabout Consequences.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Takes Maya's place during most of Turnabout Consequences.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: The entire time, she encourages you to do the right thing and prove the true culprit's guilt. Once she is on the witness stand, she never outright denies anything, but cannot bring herself to confess. It falls on Phoenix to prove her motive.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She deeply regrets what she did to Maya if she’s exposed.
• Older and Wiser: She doesn't slap Phoenix so often anymore and generally seems to be more mature. However, while she does seem to have matured, she does have some SEVERE mental issues.
• Red Herring: Anything having to do with her being kidnapped.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Being a victim of abuse to the extent that Pearl was wouldn't go away without intense therapy, which Pearl didn't get. It's a wonder she's still able to function somewhat normally after what she went through.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her wanting to disappear and protect Maya caused most of the damage of case 4.
• Villainous Breakdown: Only if you choose to reveal that she's case 4's culprit; the breakdown won't occur if you choose to cover for her instead. Phoenix asks Pearl if he's right about everything that happened in the case, and Pearl lets out a tearful Big "YES!" while standing upright, clutching her head, and screaming, and then her Magatama shatters into pieces.
• Walking Spoiler: Talking about her spoils the twist that she's alive and well. And that's not even the half of it.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Her motivation for shooting Maya, and the lengths she went to try and prevent it, are so tragic that, once revealed, even Obadiah, who at the point was firmly intent on prosecuting her with absolutely no mercy, reverses his position and promises that she'll get the lightest sentence the state can afford to and ensuring that she gets the therapy she needs to work past her issues.

Cody Hackins

A witness from one of Phoenix's previous cases, now back as a teenager.

• Amateur Sleuth: He’s been expressing an interest in solving crimes, seeing as he has a fingerprinting kit at his house.
• Asshole Victim: Averted. While he did hack into an Ace Fanclub account, Phoenix still doesn't think he deserved to die and considers his killer a monster for murdering a teenager.
• Character Tic: He still takes out his sword when he’s agitated.
• Collector of the Strange: Implied. He even has a fingerprinting kit in his house, for some reason.
• Curiosity Killed the Cast: He was bored, so he decided to hack Stranger2Love. And it DOES actually kill him in the end.
• Death by Adaptation: He is found dead in the police department records room during Turnabout on the Web.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Hacking someone's account is wrong, but Cody did not deserve to die for it.
• Fanboy: Subverted. He may be a fan of Sir Gallante, but he does acknowledge that he’s a murderer.
• He Knows Too Much: His hacking of Stranger2Love costs him his life.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He went from worshipping the steel samurai to vigilante serial killers. It's certainly an alarming teenage phase.
• Older and Wiser: He doesn't hero worship as much as he did in the first game and he's also more knowledgable about the legal system. This makes sense, as he was seven in his first appearance.
• Playful Hacker: He hacked an AF account for fun. Ended up killing him.
• Punny Name/Meaningful Name: His name is a play on "code hacking", which had little to do, if anything at all with his actions in the original trilogy. However, in this game, he shows some hacking skills.
• Sacrificial Lion: His death shows that Phoenix Wright is up against a far more dangerous foe than he could have possibly imagine, as even in the canon games, only one person has ever deliberately murdered a minor.
• Same Clothes, Different Year: At 17 years old, he still wears the same kinds of clothes he wore as a little boy.
• Teen Genius: He's 17 and already a gifted hacker with a keen logical mind. Sadly, this gets him killed.

Dick Gumshoe

A detective that has crossed paths with Phoenix many times, although he's not in charge of most of Phoenix's cases this time.

• Butt-Monkey: Gets whacked on the head with a gun less than five minutes into the second case. He also gets a lot of flak for his awful testimony in the first chapter's trial.
• Demoted to Extra: He's not the main detective of this game and besides some cameos there and there, his role in the main plot is rather small.
• Easy Amnesia: He got struck in the head by some mysterious object (it turned out to be a gun) and lost memories about his actions from that morning.
• Hard Head: Well, maybe not hard enough, since the blow knocked him out cold and caused an amnesia, but he survived thanks to his thick skull.
  Gumshoe: The doctors told me that being hit by something from that height would normally kill you!
• Super Hero Origin: Conversed with Phoenix and Maya. He wonders if he's been hit by a meteorite and gained some weird alien superpowers from it. It could've been also a Shout-Out to Ghost Trick.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: He leaves the story when things become bleaker, so that his lovable persona doesn't clash with the mood.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: In The Rogue Turnabout. It’s justified though, and he does get better at the end of the case.

Franziska Von Karma

An international, whip-happy prosecutor that Phoenix faced off against before.

• Back for the Finale: Although she does make a cameo in the previous case.
• Older and Wiser: She's still the same Franziska, but nonetheless, she is older, wiser, and willing to find the perfect truth.

Kristoph Gavin

Apollo's old mentor. He is the defence attorney in charge of the MN-6 trial.

• The Ace: Loathesome bastard he may be, he is an excellent defense attorney. He's able to win a trial against Obidiah Williamson, a man with several decades more experience than him.
• Amoral Attorney: He lies his ass off to frame an innocent man in order to protect an infamous mobster. He has absolutely no remorse about this.
• Accuse the Witness: He used this technique against Williamson in the flashback MN-6 trial in Turnabout into the Unknown. Except this time, the witness (Salim Kushari) was innocent.
• The Bad Guy Wins: He wins his case due to his corrupt and ruthless methods, with it being impossible to beat him in court. Obidiah is forced to witness his case falling apart due to Gavin being a far more formidable foe than he anticipated. Even if the verdict is overturned several years later, Gavin still won the case the first time, which is all that mattered to him.
• Evil Genius: Like Manfred Von Karma, his evilness does nothing to detract from the fact that he is a brilliant lawyer. Unfortunately, he lends his support to the worst people possible and cares more about self gratification than seeking justice, making him as dangerous as he is unscrupulous.
• Failure Is the Only Option: He can't be defeated by Obidiah, with running out of health during his final testimony being necessary to progress the story.
• Faux Affably Evil: He presents himself as a polite and dilligent man to Williamson when in actuality, he's barely masking his condescending and dismissive words behind a veneer of cordinality.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Well, he is Kristoph Gavin. You can see his glasses up close at the start of his cross examinations, making him look even more sinister.
• Greater-Scope Villain: His underhanded methods allow Francisco Mendirez to get away with his crimes, inadvertedly setting the whole story in motion.
• Hate Sink: He's as slimy and cruel as he was in Apollo Justice. His abuse of the legal system and Williamson is meant to incite disgust and anger from the audience.
• Karma Houdini: At least in this game. He doesn't get in any trouble for having an innocent man convicted and forging evidence.

The Judge's Brother

The Judge's vaguely-Canadian brother shows up as the Judge in the MN-6 trial.

• You Monster!: Although he admits that it appears Mendirez is innocent in Luciano's death, he makes it quite clear that he doesn't approve of Mendirez' criminal lifestyle, even if he can't convict him for that.

Lotta Hart

An old friend of Wright's and a photographer. The defendant of the first case.

• Horrible Judge of Character: She gave the photos proving Kylie's mob connections to Timmons, believing that he had no idea about it, when in fact, Timmons was Kylie's link to the Rivales family.
• In Another Man's Shoes: In A Turnabout Is Worth a Thousand Words she learns how it is to be wrongfully accused.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Her photos managed to expose Washington, after all.

Iris

Phoenix's ex-girlfriend and the defendant of the fourth case.

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• Flat Character: Once again, she's hardly given any focus, and is forgotten about by everyone rather quickly.
• Miscarriage of Justice: If Phoenix does not prove Pearl's motive, Iris is taken away for retrials and possibly a guilty verdict.

Bikini

A branch member of the Fey family, with no one exactly sure HOW she's related to them...

• Demoted to Extra: She does't get a lot of screentime during the game, compared to T&T.
• Running Gag: Her biological relationship with the Fey Family. It gets to the point where even the former master isn’t sure.

Guy Eldoon

Formerly a noodle vendor, Eldoon is back as a doctor like he used to be... although he still runs a noodle business on the side.

• Dressed to Heal: Averted, he wears more sensible and realistic scrubs.
• Shipper on Deck: Is this to Apollo and Trucy. Phoenix is understandably disgusted.

Winston Payne

A veteran prosecutor who's as wimpy and lacks as much presence as ever.

• Oh, Crap!: After seeing that Phoenix is a praticing attorney again.
• Running Gag: Phoenix still can't remember who he is.
• "You!" Exclamation: His reaction to Wright being the defense attorney.

Apollo Justice

Phoenix's subordinate and another lawyer at the Wright Anything Agency.

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• Demoted to Extra: To the point where he only narrowly avoids being The Ghost. (He appears on screen a grand total of once during the game, and then only as a far-away sprite.)
• Fanboy: Of Phoenix Wright. He's even an active member in the AF forum.
• Oh, Crap!: He has this when Phoenix Wright recognises him when the two are chatting on the AF forum, as this means Phoenix can give Apollo his chores when he returns to the agency. He's not happy, to say the least.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: He gives one to Pearl Fey when the two encounter in the bad ending.

Dahlia Hawthorne

An evil spirit and Iris' deceased twin sister. Phoenix suspects that she was channeled during the fourth case.

• The Ghost: Literally! Considering she's, y'know, dead.
• Red Herring: So much that her entire mention is just a ploy for Phoenix to buy more time.

Shelly De Killer

A famous Professional Killer that Phoenix has had run-ins with before.

• Red Herring: He isn't involved in Case 5 at all.
• The Ghost: For good reason, he's not even in the country. In fact, he's not a part of this fangame at all.
• Walking Spoiler: Not for the reasons you think. The real spoiler is his total lack of presence.

Debuted in A Turnabout Is Worth a Thousand Words

Kylie Washington

A famous pop singer, who isn't very good in writing her own music, so she started copying notes form other artists. They threatened to sue and Kylie asked the mafia for help.

• Accidental Murder: A downplayed and unsympathetic example. Her killing Timmons wasn’t planned, as the intro shows us. While she probably intended to harm him, it was in a fit of rage and involved her impulsively and violently lashing out at him without considering what she was doing. Due to her selfishness and inability to admit to her crimes, it's unlikely that this will reduce her sentence in any way.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She's far more bitter and amoral than she originally appears.
• Blank White Eyes: When she gets angry.
• Custom Uniform of Sexy: Her outfit consists of trousers and a tank top, exposing her belly button. This makes sense for a pop star who has to be able to move around freely on stage.
• Evil vs. Evil: It's debatable if she or Timmons were worse, but both of them worked with the mafia for their own selfish means.
• Faux Affably Evil: She starts off as incredibly friendly, offering to sign people's autographs and accepting song requests from the court. This goes out the window when Phoenix sees through her facade.
• Idol Singer: Her occupation. While she can sing, she can't write her own music.
• It's All About Me: Of course. She’s a famous popstar after all. And the first case murderer.
• Meaningful Name/Shout-Out: Her name is a reference to Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana.
  • Some players have also pointed to Kylie Minogue.
  • Her mafia connections are a reference to Frank Sinatra.
• Ms. Fanservice: A reasonably attractive woman who wears what is basically half way between a bra and a tank top, Washington fits this trope well.
• Plagiarism in Fiction: She copied the songs of more famous artists, changed the lyrics, and claimed it as her own work.
• Properly Paranoid: She became suspicious after she saw Timmons talking with Lotta. Her intuition didn't fail her.
• Revealing Injury: In court she wears a glove on her left hand, which turns out to hide the injuries she sustained when she assaulted Timmons with Lotta's camera.
• Starter Villain: Chronologically the first killer Phoenix takes down in the game.
• Villainous Breakdown: She bursts into tears, sobbing very loudly.
• Villain with Good Publicity: She's beloved by the court due to her singing skills and charisma. She uses this to try and make herself look innocent. They turn against her when it's revealed she's a plagiarist and Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who hides her wrath behind a sweet exterior.
• Warm-Up Boss: She's the first main witness and culprit, who serves to give players a rehash of Ace Attorney's mechanics. She's not particuarly difficult to beat and serves mainly to ease players in to the much more complicated and well hidden proceeding antagonists.

Victor Timmons

Manager of Kylie Washington and also a member of the Rivales Family.

• Asshole Victim: He worked for the Mob, ensuring that everybody would drop the charges against Washington. When Lotta Hart started snooping around, he planned to let Kylie take the fall and make himself out of this situation. One of the cases where this fact doesn't make his killer any more sympathetic, as Kylie wouldn't have had to kill him if she wasn't dealing with the Mob.
• Dirty Coward: Turned against Washington when he was at risk of being arrested.
• Evil vs. Evil: He's an amoral mobster but it's not like Washington was much better than he was.
• Expy: He looks like Pal Meraktis from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, but less Gonky.
• He Knows Too Much: He was going to out Kylie for plagiarism (and by extension her Mob connections), and she couldn't have that.
• It's All About Me: He was willing to sell out his boss to save his own skin.
• Punny Name: "Victim". Because he's, you know, the victim of the case.
• Unfortunate Names: “VICtor TIMmons”. Even the Judge himself lampshades this:
  That name sounds very... unfortunate.

Debuted in The Rogue Turnabout

Obadiah Williamson

A veteran prosecutor who has been investigating the Sir Gallante killings for the past three years. He despises defense attorneys for some reason, and also appears to hold a grudge against Phoenix Wright.

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• Already Done for You: He clearly already figured out Pearl is the culprit in Case 4.
• Amoral Attorney: Averted. He doesn’t use any illegal means in court and despises all those who do otherwise. However, he came dangerously close to this territory in Turnabout Consequences when he risked a conviction of an innocent person to see if Wright can pass his Secret Test of Character. And in one of the routes in Turnabout into the Unknown he finally crosses the threshold and presents in court a forged piece of evidence. However, if Williamson doesn't reveal his trump card, he will show it to Phoenix at the end of the trial and as a result, reveal himself to be the biggest hypocrite ever. It's because of this that Obadiah finally decides to quit his job due to feeling like he's shamed the role of a prosecutor, thinking of going as far as to present false evidence just to convict Mendirez due to a grudge.
• Anti-Hero: Despite being on the side of good, he's not a particuarly good or nice person. He seeks the truth above all else, but is willing to put people through unimaginable anguish to force them to prove themselves to him. He's overly antagonistic and borders on cruel at times, not having much care for the feelings of those he faces in court. He'll even break the law (or at least consider it in the good ending) to try and incriminate Mendirez, which would have (and can, depending on the ending) played right into the mob enforcer's hands.
• Badass Normal: At least for the Ace Attorney standards. Compared to all those prosecution prodigies, he's actually a guy you could've met with in real life.
  Phoenix: That can't be right. There's no way I would be facing a normal human being.
• Berserk Button: Tampering with evidence, intentionally giving false testimony, disturbing the proceedings in any way. Naturally, Puremadness turns out to be the bane of Obidiah's existence, as she gleefully presses all these buttons when summoned to court.
• Big "NO!": His reaction to PureMadness’ “joke”.
  I CAN’T BEEEELIIIIIIEEEEVVVEE THIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSS!!!
• Blue Is Heroic: Despite all his many, many shortcomings, he is a hero with a smiliar taste in colors to Jimmy and Phoenix Wright.
• Break the Haughty: Facing off against Kristoph Gavin really brought him down a notch and then some.
  • The game is also this to him. His Only Friend is murdered and Phoenix Wright is disgusted with him for forcing him to turn against Pearl just so he could gloat about how Phoenix let emotion cloud his judgement and was unwilling to accept that she was the shooter until the very end. He's forced to go off on his own to find Jimmy's killer, and ends up realising that he's gone off the deep end due to indulging in the flaws he tried to blame Phoenix for having. Knowing that his actions almost let the real killer get away and that he'll never be able to repair the bridges he burned, he quits the legal world for good as a broken and bitter man with little hope of ever finding peace or redemption. Even Phoenix, who was furious with him, has some pity, realising that Obidiah was human like everyone else and unable to live up to his ideals.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Averted. He doesn’t exhibit strange quirks like Wright’s other opponents did.
• Cool Old Guy: An extremely capable lawyer who is well into his fifties.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of a more realistic kind of lawyer in an ace attorney game. His insistence of being as logical and impartial as possible leads to him ignoring crucial details that give insight into the mindset of witnesses and suspects, seeing them as irrelevant due to their emotional nature. He is also cold and harsh to others, driving away people and causing him to be disliked by others. He's also an example of how even the most stoic of people aren't immune to emotional and irrational reactions, as he inadvertedly complicates things in a misguided attempt to bring Jimmy's killer to justice. In the end, he admits to Phoenix that he's ill equipped to deal with the legal world, due to his methods being so different than everyone elses.
• Expy: To Godot. They're both skilled and stoic prosecutors who use logic and psychology to pursue their suspects while being fond of subjecting rival attorneys to a Secret Test of Character. They're also both massive hypocrites, with their undoings coming from their refusal to acknowledge that they suffer from the same shortcomings they project onto others, with their personal crusade to get justice making things worse for everyone. They both redeem themselves by accepting their fates, with Godot being imprisoned for manslaughter and Obidiah disbarring himself and retiring from the legal world permanantly.
• Fatal Flaw: His Lack of Empathy and refusal to accept help from others. He drives others away due to his attitude and forces others to endure traumatic experiences to prove themselves to him, uncaring of their emotional investment in the people he turns them against. Even when he has an assistant he never considers something could happen to them, having no backup plan when they're killed. His ruthlessness makes him a pariah amongst the other lawyers and forces him to go off on his own to solve cases, falling further into despair and obsession, with the only people that could help him escape his self-made prison having been driven away long ago.
• Framing the Guilty Party: Like Adrian Andrews, he tampers with evidence to try and incriminate Mendirez, but only succeeds in getting himself in hot water and making himself come across as untrustworthy. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero indeed.
• Good Is Not Nice: Well, good is stretching it and not nice is an understatement, but his methods of finding the truth and helping others realise it are usually reserved for the villains.
• Graceful Loser: Unlike other prosecutors Phoenix has dealt with, he does not care when he loses.
• Heel Realization:
  • Shows some shades of this after Phoenix points out that he could’ve ended the case with letting PureMadness go to jail.
  • Obadiah can undergo another heel realization in case 4, although it's related to a massive spoiler, and it depends on a player choice: if the player chooses to prove Pearl's motive instead of covering for her, Obadiah realizes that Phoenix is a man of integrity and the best damn attorney Obadiah's ever met, so he was wrong to jump to conclusions about Phoenix, and he admits aloud that he treated Phoenix poorly because of those conclusions.
  • He gets another one in the final case. Realising he went too far in pursuing Mendirez for Jimmy's death. This time, he quits his job over it.
• Hypocrite: He criticizes others for letting emotions and relationships cloud their judgement and forces them to confront their biases in psychologically intense ways. He himself lets emotions cloud his judgement and almost derails a case due to hastily incriminating a suspect instead of following his own creed and letting the evidence speak for itself.
• It's Personal: He really goes all out in trying to find Jimmy's killer, sadly failing due to being blinded by his hatred and obsession, making the case far more difficult for himself and everyone around him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He’s a jerk towards Phoenix, make no mistake. However, he really does care about finding the truth. Also, if the player makes a certain choice in case 4, he actually apologizes for his Jerkass behavior, realizing that he was wrong to jump to conclusions about Phoenix's integrity and to treat Phoenix poorly because of them.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He's completely correct that Phoenix Wright uses bluffs and luck to coast by his cases, as Wright would be disbarred in a heartbeat in the real world for that type of behavior. He also tends to have good reasons for suspecting people, though he often misses the more complex reasons for their actions.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: After he finds out one of Case 5's victims was Jimmy, he decides It's Personal and becomes hell bent on taking Mendirez down, regardless of ethics. He even prepares a piece of forged evidence. How far he ultimately goes depends on which "path" of the case you're playing.
• Lack of Empathy: He doesn't consider how his actions cause distress to others, seeing it as necessary to shed emotional baggage in order to solve a case. This is due to him being unwilling to accept that not everyone is as stoic, cynical, and distant as him and therefore willing to see the best in others, no matter how illogical their reasons may be. This turns out to be a Fatal Flaw of his as his life really falls apart once it's revealed that even he can't live up to his own ideals.
• Leitmotif: "Castle" from Castlevania: Judgment.
• Morality Pet: Jimmy, the one person he has a healthy relationship with. When Jimmy is killed, Obadiah's sanity does a nosedive due to his determination to get justice no matter what.
• My Greatest Failure: He blames himself for failing to convict Mendirez and save Kushari from being wrongfully imprisoned. He also has a lot of self hatred due to being unable to stop Jimmy from being murdered.
• My God, What Have I Done?: If it's revealed that he was considering (or fired due to) presenting forged evidence, he'll realise that he's become the very thing he's fought against, a corrupt and fanatical lawyer so disenfranchised with the legal system that he'll bend it to fit his will. Due to this, he permanantly retires from the legal world, believing himself to be Beyond Redemption for his actions. He'll apologise for everything he's put Phoenix through and admit that despite disagreeing with his methods, he always stayed true to his ideals.
• Mysterious Past: Even the police doesn’t know much about him. The only person that seems to know about it is Jimmy, Williamson’s ex-partner.
• Not So Above It All: Despite his belief that he's not burdened by the knee-jerk reactions and wishful thinking others suffer from, the game quickly shows this isn't the case. He's as fragile and irrational as anyone else, he just does a much better job at hiding it.
• Not So Stoic: When dealing with unpredictable witnesses. He's also this in the game, being full of self-loathing and anger, feeling helpless and insecure as he watches his cases (and eventually his life) fall apart. He's far more emotional than he wants others to believe, which ends up being his downfall.
• Oh, Crap!: He has this when he realises that Kristoph Gavin is going to succeed in framing an innocent man for murder.
• Only Friend: Jimmy is this to him. He's distraught when Jimmy is murdered and ends up going off the deep end to try and bring his killer to justice.
• Only Sane Man: He tends to be a voice of reason and a firm believer in logic over emotion, trying to keep court proceedings focused on evidence rather than theatrics. This ends up being a deteriment to everyone including himself, as it's ill suited for the cases he prosecutes, where understanding the emotional motivations is required to piece the puzzle together.
• Promoted to Playable: During the flashback trial.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue, serious one to Jimmy’s red and carefree.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Framing Mendirez comes back to bite him in the ass due to almost allowing Luciano to go free, though he's completely right that Phoenix's client was a key figure in the recent string of murders, even if he incorrectly believed him to be Luciano.
• Secret Test of Character: He saw Turnabout Consequences as a long one for Phoenix; whether or not he passed is up to the ending you pick. If Phoenix chooses to prove a certain person's motive, this counts as "passing" the test, while if Phoenix covers for that certain person, it counts as "failing" the test.
• The Stoic: Most of the time. He makes an effort not to get emotionally invested in cases, letting logic and evidence speak for itself. He's far less animated than Phoenix and other prosecutors, resembling a traditional lawyer more than an Ace Attorney one.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Togamera in the third case. This quickly falls apart when it's revealed what exactly Togamera has done.
• This Cannot Be!: Puremadness screwing up his entire strategy by spitting in the face of everything he stands for really causes him a lot of distress, as his Big "NO!" demonstrates.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He is a lot more confrontational in Turnabout Consequences than usual. This may have been part of his test.
• Took a Level in Kindness: And at the same time, he does seem to respect Phoenix a bit more. If you make a certain choice in case 4, he takes another level in kindness and actually apologizes for having treated Phoenix poorly, since Phoenix has proven to be a man of integrity.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Phoenix exposes Sir Gallante, a serial killer that Williamson was after for 3 years. Williamson obviously still assumes the worst of Phoenix after that. Later subverted in Turnabout on the Web, as he thanks Phoenix for helping him expose Togamera.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Wright if you choose to cover for Pearl.
  Obadiah: Why did you do it? You let the true culprit escape. Is that justice? Is that the truth?
• Wrong Genre Savvy: His style of prosecuting is totally inappropiate for an ace attorney game, something that is harshly deconstructed throughout it.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Conversely, he gives this speech to Wright if he proves Pearl's motive.

Mark Watters

The blabbermouth lead detective on the Sir Gallante investigation. He doesn’t take his job entirely seriously, and is probably more trusting than a homicide detective should be.

• Berserk Button: He does NOT like being accused of murder. Also, breaking secrecy really irks him, even though Watters ironically gets in trouble for saying too much.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • If not for his intervention, Togamera would’ve gotten away with everything.
  • He also appears just in the nick of time when it seems that Jane is about to kill Trucy for stumbling onto the bloody knife that killed Porter and distracts her long enough for Trucy to knock her unconscious with a wine bottle. Though its somewhat subverted later when it's revealed that Jane was only bluffing.
  • Played with during Turnabout into the Unknown: The evidence he privately gives to Phoenix manages to prove Mendirez' innocence, but when he attempts to prevent Luciano from escaping, Luciano distracts him by making one too many taunts about Watters' wife, whom Luciano killed, and ends up taking Watters hostage.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He did after all manage to get Webb’s Interpol ID.
• Clueless Detective: Almost as bad as Gumshoe in that regard, seeing as he gives out important details even before the trial starts. No, really. It’s not an act, he really is as clueless as he seems. He even blabbed out all details concerning the investigation of Sir Gallante to a journalist.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He can be a bit of a jerk, but despite his dark clothing, he's a decent guy and morally upstanding detective.
• The Day the Music Lied: During the second day of the trial, Gallante’s Leitmotif plays for a short while when you confront him about being Gallante. He isn’t.
• Evil Lawyer Joke: If you present the attorney’s badge to him 3 times in the 4th case. He also does his a fourth time early in the fifth case's investigation if Phoenix presents his badge, so Phoenix decides to strike back with a police joke of his own... only to get a Dude, Not Funny! reaction from Watters.
• Foil: To Dick Gumshoe. Gumshoe is easily excitable, large, loyal, and friendly, while Watters is laid-back, small, independent, and aloof.
• Friendly Rivalry: He dislikes Phoenix but is still willing to work with him to solve cases, and even crack a few jokes at each other's expense.
• Greaser Delinquents: Well, he looks like one. It's a strange choice of attire for a police officer.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Briefly helps Phoenix out during the second investigation of Turnabout Consequences.
• It's Personal: His wife and sister-in-law were murdered by Carlo Luciano, giving him an extra reason to want him caught by any means necessary.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He's rather rude to Phoenix, but he has every right to be mad at him for accusing him or murder and revealing his secrets to Williamson. Even then, he still helps Phoenix, despite him feeling he betrayed him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Becomes one to Phoenix after the events of The Rogue Turnabout. He’s more of a jerk towards Phoenix, but he still cares about finding the truth and is still very helpful in providing him information.
• Kick the Dog: Mocking Phoenix’s intelligence the day after his best friend got shot. Even Williamson admits it was unnecessary.
• Leitmotif: "Metropolis Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
• The Lost Lenore: His wife Sandra was one of Carlo Luciano's past victims.
• Nice Guy: Despite working with the prosecution, he’s helpful towards Phoenix and Maya as he even lets them investigate the place. It doesn’t stay that way, though he ends up easing up on Phoenix by the end.
• Punny Name: His name is a pun on watermark.
• Red Herring: His fingerprints are on the gun along with Rivales’, he has a motive to want them all dead, and he was in the penthouse at the day of the murder. One would assume that he’s Sir Gallante… right?
• Skewed Priorities: Apparently examining the material of the desk is more important than actually examining the crime scene. Y’know, the thing that all detectives should do.
• The Slacker: He’s surprisingly carefree for a homicide detective.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Justified, seeing as Wright accused him of being a Serial Killer, which he wasn’t. He more or less gets past this by the end of the game.
• Tsundere: Type A. Even Wright lampshades it in Turnabout Consequences.
• Walking Spoiler: Not for the reasons you think.

Wayne Parker

A security guard who worked for Michael Rivales. He has been accused of being the serial killer known as Sir Gallante.

• Anti-Villain He works for the mob and turned a blind eye to their wrongdoings. He's grown to regret this and is desperately trying to leave the mob lifestyle behind, much to the chargain of his boss. He also turns himself in for being an accomplice to a murder two decades ago, despite the statue of limitations having run out.
• The Atoner: Even though he didn’t actually kill Charles Locke, he didn’t do anything to stop his death. It doesn’t come off as much of a surprise that he turns himself in at the end.
• Big "WHAT?!": Does this frequently, to the point of it being a Running Gag.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: It’s rather easy to hurt his feelings. And despite being a mafia enforcer, he never killed anyone in his entire life.
• Face of a Thug: He does look like an intimidating mobster, but he’s actually more of a Gentle Giant with the shades of Manchild.
• Gentle Giant: He's never killed anyone despite working for the mob though he did stand by and do nothing as one of his colleagues murdered an innocent man.
• Meaningful Name: His name is a mix of both Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker. And he's gotten accused of being a vigilante superhero.
• Nice Guy: Despite being a mobster, oddly enough. And it’s revealed that he actually hated his job.
• Odd Friendship: With Virgil Black. One wouldn’t expect a mobster to hang out with a carefree hippie.
• Resignations Not Accepted: He really wanted to quit his job, but one cannot simply leave the mafia.
• Scary Black Man: Subverted. He doesn’t act like it at all outside of his job, but he was employed with that idea in mind by his employer, as he has the perfect physique for the job and trope.

Michael Rivales

The Don of the Rivales Family and Sir Gallante's latest victim.

• Asshole Victim: Potentially one of the worst out there. Even his own employees hate him. ESPECIALLY Sarah Keyes.
• Beard of Evil: Has a beard and is an absolutely hidious individual.
• Blackmail: How he kept Parker around. He did know some very important Family secrets, after all.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He's sliced open after being executed at point blank range. Fortunately, we only hear about the grisly details. Despite the brutality of it, Rivales completely deserved it.
• The Don: Obviously.
• Hate Sink: Everyone who knew him had nothing positive to say about him. Rivales was a brutal, ruthless, odious, and abusive monster who was far more vile than the person who killed him. The only objection anyone has about his death was the vigilante execution he suffered rather than the fact he's gone.
• Meaningful Name: He shares his first name with one of the main characters from The Godfather trilogy.
• Posthumous Character: What's known of him comes to light after his death. He only has a few lines through flashbacks.

Virgil Black

A friend of Wayne Parker. He is unemployed because “Working’s a scam, dude.” He relies on Parker’s financial assistance to keep him from starving in the streets.

• Beware the Nice Ones: He's a goofy and friendly hippie, and an Affably Evil Serial Killer.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He’s Sir Gallante.
• Bus Crash: He's a victim in chapter 5.
• Compressed Hair: How on earth does he manage to make his afro fit inside his helmet?
• Cruel and Unusual Death: His murder is so brutal and drawn out that he couldn't even be identified for a long time. Despite being a Serial Killer, Phoenix feels nothing but sympathy for him.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Who would’ve thought that a New-Age Retro Hippie is actually a dangerous serial killer?
• Hidden Depths: While he seems like a lazy stoner, he's a physical powerhouse and an incredibly intelligent man who singlehandedly brought the mafia to its knees.
• Karmic Death: He dies in a similarly brutal way to all those he's murdered. It's less satisfying than most examples, but a fitting end for him nonetheless.
• Lazy Bum: He sits around doing nothing while he leeches off Parker's allowance. Completely subverted by Sir Gallante, who is anything but lazy.
• Meaningful Name: Virgil, combined with Gallante gives Vigilante. He’s also the "black" knight.
• NEET: Let’s see. He’s jobless, his place is a total mess and he lives off his friend’s money.
• New-Age Retro Hippie: His methods of operation as Sir Gallante are everything but pacifistic.
• Nice Guy: Seeing as his friend is suspected of being a Serial Killer, he tries to help him the best way he can. Subverted later, as he does have his own reasons for it. His friendship towards Wayne is genuine though.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: When first encountered, he comes across as a rather dimwitted and simple hippie who can't get a job and spends his time toking and mooching off his friends. He's actually an extremely cunning and formidable serial killer who evaded an entire police force and almost dismantled a mafia syndicate.
• Odd Friendship: With Wayne Parker.
• Red Herring: He escapes from prison not long after being arrested. He actually was kidnapped and killed by the mafia.
• The Slacker: As he would put it “Working’s a scam, dude.”
• Shame If Something Happened: Regarding Sir Gallente, he claims that “If he knows you’re onto him, he might try coming after you.” Turns out it is a not-so-innocent thin-veiled threat directed at Phoenix.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: He's the victim initially identified as "Guildenstern" in Case 5. After being stabbed in the lung, he was strangled to death, and his body was buried in moist soil to speed up his decomposition, making him unrecognizable. He was only identified because of his criminal record.
• The Stoner: Implied. He keeps a bong—- lava-lamp in his room.
• Totally Radical: Did you expect anything else from a guy like him?
• V-Sign: The Hippie version.
• Walking Spoiler: The fact he's Sir Gallante turns his entire character upside down.

Sarah Keyes

The victim’s secretary/security chief. She seems to have an unhealthy obsession with violence. Saw Parker enter the victim’s penthouse the night of the crime.

• Abhorrent Admirer: To Phoenix. Unlike Oldbag though, it’s all an act. The moment she saw that bungee harness, she kicked him out of the scene.
• Anti-Villain: She broke the law by framing an "innocent" man and assisting in a murder, but she wasn't aware of Wayne Parker's Heel–Face Turn and Michael Rivales was responsible for her father's murder.
• Beware the Silly Ones: She does act all sweet and all, but she actually worked together with Sir Gallante to take down Michael Rivales.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sure, she might seem nice towards Phoenix, but it’s all an act. She’s actually a bitter cynic that hates the entire Rivales Family. Not that she doesn't have a good reason to do so.
• Broken Bird: Her beloved dad's death did not do wonders for her mental health.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite acting ditzy, she is somewhat competent in using the security system.
• Dissonant Laughter: She sure seems to like talking about all these gory details with smile on her face, much to Phoenix’s dismay.
• The Ditz: She gives off spades of this when first encountered, being a strange and erratic woman with an unsound and irrational mindset. It’s all an act, as she's fairly intelligent, though the part about her being irrational is completely accurate.
• Dumb Blonde: What she seems to be. It's actually a ruse to make her beneath suspicion, as she's a fairly cunning woman.
• Family Theme Naming: Locke and Keyes. Lock and keys, anyone? She changed her name on her own in order to hide her identity from Michael Rivales, but it still counts.
• Foreshadowing: The fact that she’s in charge of the security system shows us she isn’t as ditzy as she appears to be.
• I Reject Your Reality: She gave evidence pointing towards Parker to Wright… while completely ignoring the fact that he’s a defense attorney. Even after he has introduced himself.
  Sarah: Maybe that will help you get the guilty verdict you want!
• Mood-Swinger: One time she’s an extremely cheerful and kind of ditzy, one time she’s a bitter woman. Especially towards Maya. And towards both Michael Rivales and Wayne Parker.
• Malicious Misnaming: Towards Maya.
• The Nicknamer: Her nicknames for Phoenix are as bad as Oldbag’s. For example, Feenie-Weenie, Feenie-Poo.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: She works as a security woman, despite coming across as an absolute airhead. She also helps orchestrate a murder and does a good job at obstructing the investigation.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: What she did to Rivales and what she believed she was doing to Parker. Her actions would have actually gotten Parker acquitted if he hadn't turned himself in out of remorse.
• She Is All Grown Up: She’s Charles Locke’s daughter, though Rivales didn’t make the connection even after looking at her. Wayne Parker even says this trope word for word.
• Spanner in the Works: She forged evidence to frame Wayne Parker for Rivales' murder, which leads to a chain of events that leads to the unmasking of Gallante.
• Tragic Villain: Her actions are far from morally justified, but she was only lashing out at the people who killed her father and ruined her life. While Parker was a genuine Anti-Villain, he was an accomplice in her dad's murder, making it understandable why she hated him so much.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She framed Parker for Rivales' death, not knowing that Gallante was killing the group because he wanted to free Parker from it, or that Gallante was really backed by Francisco Mendirez. Gallante was supposed to kill Carlo Luciano. Parker's trial led to Gallante being unmasked before he could kill Luciano. Luciano surviving led to him taking revenge on Mendirez, which pretty much leads to the events of the rest of the game.
• Walking Spoiler: Just look at it!
• You Killed My Father: The real reason she started working for the Rivales Family. She wanted to get close to Michael Rivales so that she could have revenge. She also framed Wayne Parker for the same reason, as he accompanied the hitman (Carlo Luciano) who killed Charles Locke.

Sir Gallante / Virgil Black

A knight-themed serial killer and self-proclaimed superhero who has been killing off members of the criminal underworld for the past three years. Most information is supposed to be classified, but somebody leaked a lot of it to the public.

• Affably Evil: Even when he's close to being exposed, he remains in good spirits, treating Phoenix and Williamson with a suprising amount of respect for a culprit.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Awful as his murder methods are, they're used solely against the Rivales family, who kill criminals and civilians alike.
• AntiVillain: Type III. He's extremely ruthless, holds little regard for the law, and will kill those who get in his way, but he tries to only kill those who are far more evil than him (such as the Rivales family) and can see reason if confronted, Such as when Phoenix uses his mantra against him to convince him to turn himself in.
• BlackKnight: Goes with his Knight Templar aesthetic.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He somehow manages to break the entire witness stand to pieces.
• Code of Honour: He has two principles he abides by: "Protect the innocent" and "Slay the evil". The former one is used by Phoenix to force a confession out of him, since Watters would be convicted in Gallante's place otherwise.
• Dark Is Evil: His outfit has a dark color palette and he is a sinister, if sympathetic character.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He can be reasoned with, as he turns himself in when he realizes he almost broke his code of honour. He also only seeks to kill people who are a threat to society (like the Rivales family,) though he will murder those who get in his way.
• Evil vs. Evil: He's a ruthless serial killer going up against the mafia.
• Graceful Loser: Admits his defeat after Wright exposes him.
• Heel Realization: After Phoenix convinces him to admit to his guilt, he realizes that he almost allowed an innocent person (Watters) to be convicted in his place and thus nearly broke his principle to "Protect the innocent", and admits that he should have turned himself in right from the start.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Either he was oblivious or had a massive case of the Idiot Ball when he teamed up with Sarah Keyes to kill Rivales. Keyes and Gallante loathed and loved Parker repsectively, putting their goals at complete odds and almost getting Parker arrested for a murder he had no part in. Even if she was the only potential ally he could turn to, she almost destroyed his schemes due to her personal vendetta.
• Hypocrite: He claims to never hurt innocents, but has no problem with framing people for crimes and threatening to kill anyone who tries to stop him. Phoenix Wright calls him out for this and Gallante turns himself in, realising he's become just as bad as those he sought to stop.
• Knight Templar: Moves on to this territory after he threatens Phoenix & Maya in the abandoned building.
• Large Ham: To say he chews the scenery is a massive understatement. He may be one of the hammiest characters in any ace attorney fangame.
• Meaningful Name: His pseudonym refers to how he perceives himself: a gallant knight that slays the evil.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: He almost broke this rule by causing Watters to be sentenced in his place. Thankfully, Wright reminded him about his principles.
• Noble Demon: He has a strick moral creed and seeks to protect the innocent, even if his methods are extreme.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Remember that hawk that frequently sits on the Rivales Tower entrance?
• Serial Killer: Has been killing for around three years.
• Serial-Killer Killer: Most of his victims had many deaths on their hands.
• Superheroes Wear Capes: As any knight with a knack for the theatrical would do!
• Sympathetic Murderer: The Rivales family were awful wastes of humanity, and he genuinely wanted to be like a superhero and protect the people. He even apologises for his mistakes and accepts his punishment, showing that he's still a Nice Guy, despite his bloodsoaked hands.
• Unwitting Pawn: It's revealed in T-Unknown that he was one to Francisco Mendirez.
• Vigilante Man: He goes around killing members of organized crime. In particular he's targeting members of the Rivales gang.
• Villainous Breakdown: Breaks the entire witness stand.
• Walking Spoiler: He's Virgil Black in disguise.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He does kill criminals, after all, though his methods are more similar to the Punisher than Batman.
• Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: To the point where his best friend starts wondering where he got all of the stuff needed to commit these killings. As we later find out, Francisco Mendirez supplied him with these means.

Debuted in Turnabout on the Web

Edman Books

The defendant in this case. Considers himself to be the number one fan of Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney. A bit naive and doesn't quite understand the severity of being accused of murder.

• Fanboy: He is a huge fan of Phoenix, so much that he goes into complete fanboy mode when Phoenix shows up as his defense attorney, completely forgetting the dire situation he is in.
• Fan Dumb invoked: He idolizes Phoenix to such degree, he actually disses Apollo in front of him. He probably is a caricature of all Apollo's real life haters:
  Books: I'm so glad you're the one defending me and not that stupid Justice guy.
  Phoenix: Hey! Don't talk about him that way!
  Maya: Yeah! Polly's our friend!
  Books: He's a no talent failure!
  Phoenix: No talent? He hasn't lost a single case!
  Books: Face it, the guy fails at life!
  Phoenix: You haven't even met him. Why would you say that?!
  Books: He's trying to replace you!
• Innocently Insensitive: Even though joining in the argument against Webb was a joke, it did strain their relationship. Subverted if you examine Webb's message to Mask3d_n00b.
• Shipper on Deck: He seems to ship Maya with Phoenix, much to Phoenix’s confusion.
• Significant Anagram: Edman Books → Masked Noob → Mask3d_N00b.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: His last name is Books and he works at the library.
• Terrible Artist: His neighbourhood sketch makes Maya's fliers look like one of Larry Butz's drawings.
• There Are No Girls on the Internet: He believes in this. He’s proven wrong at the end of the case, when he meets the Woman:
  Books: There ARE girls!! There are GIRLS on the INTERNET!!!

Walter Wade Webb/Bad Player

The victim. A shady figure who never made an attempt to get to know any of his neighbors. He looks like an average guy, but he is said to be a member of Rivales Family. The part of him being a member is actually one big lie made up by Togamera. He's actually an Interpol agent investigating them. It's later revealed that he worked along with Gladys Porter and Steven Jameson.

• All for Nothing: Taking the heat for Cody in order to save his life still ended up with the both of them being killed.
• Asshole Victim: Subverted. Not only was he not the criminal Togamera said he was, he was INVESTIGATING people from the Rivales Family. Not to mention, he was willing to die in Cody’s place.
• Good All Along: He is initially assumed to have been a member of the Rivales family, but it turns out he was actually an Interpol Special Agent who was investigating the Family.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Pulled one off to try and save Cody. Sadly, it didn't work, as Cody was the next victim.
• Interpol Special Agent: He was actually working for the Interpol to take down people like Togamera. This is why he died.
• The Nondescript/Ridiculously Average Guy: How his neighbors see him.
• Punny Name: His name is a pun on the World Wide Web, obviously.
• Undercover Cop Reveal: Posthumously. This is vastly different than Togamera's claim he was a Rivales informant.
• Walking Spoiler: His real identity turns the case on its head and is the final clue into incrimnating Togamera.

Morton Dreisan

An amoral coroner working for the police department. He seems to have little to no respect for the dead. Turns out he's way more than that: He's Carlo Luciano, an assassin formerly working for the Rivales Family and the one who currently works under the name of Francisco Mendirez.

---

• The Ace: He's probably the only law enforcement OC who seems to be genuinely good at his job, knowing what he's talking about and able to work and mantain his composure in difficult and unusual cases. Being a Professional Killer likely helps him with this, though his skills are impressive for a man usually regarded as just a sadistic brute.
• Ambiguous Situation: It is never revealed if "Morton Dreisan" was a real person whom Luciano was impersonating a la Bobby Fullbright or if he was an identity Luciano made up for himself a la Robert Snow.
• The Bad Guy Wins: On one count. Though he was still caught, he wanted to ruin Mendirez' reputation and he certainly did.
• Bald of Evil: A ruthless Professional Killer who is bald.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He's a harmless, eccentric old man who enjoys his job a bit too much. He also just so happens to be a serial killer who liberally uses torture and torment to make his victims suffer as much as possible before he kills them.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Along with Allen Yossarian, a.k.a Franceso Mendirez. Though he's the far more dangerous out of the two, as Mendirez kills for his own benefit while Dreisen kills just because.
• Consummate Liar: Even when completely cornered, he still puts up a decent fight due to being able to bluff his way through situations on the spot. Luciano is a masterful tactician, and without his sadistic urges being as apparent in his testimony, he's a far trickier opponent.
• The Coroner: It's his job to conduct autopsy reports.
• Determinator: Being revealed as Carlo Luciano does nothing to break his resolve, and he goes down kicking for a Final Boss worthy testimony, trying to murder everyone in the courtroom when he is defeated in a battle of wits. Even when his neck is snapped by Mendirez, he still gets a final shot in.
• Eviler than Thou: In a game with Nathen Togamera, Virgil Black, Michael Rivales, and Francesco Mendirez, he somehow manages to be worse than all of them combined and times by ten for good measure. There is no low he won't sink to, and his methods of targeting his victims are the stuff nightmares are made from.
• Evil All Along: He is Luciano, after all.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Oh boy yes. Like... making death puns about Watters' wife. Who he killed.
• Evil Laugh: His breakdown, involving his arms flailing and sharp teeth gleaming is terrifying, mirroring Damon Gant's breakdown, but giving it to a sadist with a horror movie villain aesthetic.
• Evil Old Folks: He's 52 years old, and a ruthless Professional Killer who formerly worked for the Rivales Family.
• Eye Scream: This is used to identify him as Luciano, as having a gouged out eye is a pretty rare physical characteristic, especially in Ace Attorney.
• Faux Affably Evil: Well, more in the style of Blaise Debeste's idea of "affability." He seems helpful, competent, and chatty, yet is depraved and sadistic, moreso when he no longer has to hide his true self.
• Final Boss: He's the last enemy of the game, and by far the most climactic and complicated one to beat, due to his absolute determination to get away with his heinous acts.
• Foreshadowing: How does a coroner have such good insight into a secretive and complicated family that he should never have encountered in his life? There's also the fact that he's the first person to enter the records room after Cody Hackins, a place he really had no reason to be at, especially at such a suspicious time.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears a pair of round Opaque Lenses and turns out to be a Professional Killer and the game's Big Bad.
• Gallows Humour: He has… a rather weird sense of humor. It gets even worse once he's revealed to be an assassin.
• Hate Sink: He's by far the most depraved character in the game. He's a cruel, sadistic, treacherous serial killer with no morality whatsoever. Even before he reveals he's Luciano, he is already an utterly loathesome person.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His fingerprints have been destroyed by him to avoid leaving traces, which ends up proving that he is the killer, as he wouldn't have left a print on the murder weapon due to having no print to leave. His excuse about why he doesn't have any fingerprints doesn't hold up, and it's the first sign that he may not be able to wriggle his way out of his mess.
• Kick the Dog: He makes jokes about Watters' wife, who he murdered, solely to be a reprehensible douchebag.
• Lack of Empathy: He doesn’t show any respect for the dead at all, as he refers to them as “it”. Subverted, it’s more of a verbal tic. He does apologize to Phoenix, after all. Winds up being double subverted, as Morton is actually a ruthless assassin formerly on Family's payroll.
• Light Is Not Good: He may mainly be covered with white and light grey, but his heart is as black as they come.
• Obviously Evil: He's so creepy and conspicious that it's a wonder he wasn't suspected sooner. Especially since he somehow seemed to either appear right after a crime had happened to have an insider knowledge on the crimes and criminals.
• Older Than They Look: He's rather ancient looking for a 52 year old, making you wonder what he's done to age so poorly. Truth is that his old appearance is likely a ruse to make him look less threatening.
• Opaque Lenses: This turns out to be a plot point, they hide the fact he only has one eye.
• Slasher Smile: Makes one full of sharp teeth during his Villainous Breakdown.
• Verbal Tic: Calling the dead people “it”.
• Villainous Breakdown: He suddenly bursts into Evil Laughter while making a gloating facial expression full of sharp teeth, and then he takes Watters hostage by grabbing him and pointing a gun to his head.
• Walking Spoiler: Want to know why his page has more spoiler tags than a FBI classifed file? He's the infamous assassin Carlo Luciano, the true Big Bad who's been using Francisco Mendirez's name to ruin his reputation.

Nathen Togamera

A pompous FBI agent investigating the criminal activities of the victim. Has a tendency to be overly dramatic and exaggerate things.

• Big "NO!": Also a part of his Villainous Breakdown.
• Berserk Button: Tampering with HIS case. Also, talking about Webb.
• Bold Inflation: He really likes to EMPHASIZE things.
• Cassandra Truth: He actually didn’t kill Hackins, but at this point nobody believes him.
• Catchphrase: “I’m not at liberty to discuss that.”
• Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Paints Webb as a dangerous criminal in order to "investigate" him and when he's exposed as the murderer, he tries to justify the death by claiming to be an assassin. This falls apart when Webb was revealed to be working for Interpol.
• Detective Mole: After he kills Webb, he gets himself involved in the investigation to ensure someone else is framed for the crime.
• Dirty Cop: He works for the Rivales family. He murdered Webb because the latter was investigating him. He was also involved in the MN-6 Incident behind the scenes when he was just a regular detective, covering things up for Mendirez.
• FBI Agent: His role in the case, and the reason he has so much power over it.
• Graceful Loser: Oddly enough, despite his Villainous Breakdown.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Whenever someone disrupts HIS investigation. It’s all an act.
• Hate Sink: He's an insufferable, treacherous, and condescending murderer who uses his position in the FBI to sabotage an investigation and make the police look like idiots. He also works with the mob, frames an innocent man as one of them, and attempts to ruin several people's lives to save his own skin. Williamson (who loathes Phoenix with a passion) actually works with him just becauses Togamera irks him so much.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: If he only didn’t have PureMadness as a witness, the murder would’ve been most likely left unsolved.
• It's All About Me: It’s even lampshaded by Williamson here:
  Obadiah: You really don’t have any loyalty to anyone but yourself.
• Jerkass: Possibly the biggest one in the game.
• Just Following Orders: He claims this is his reason for killing Webb, as he was assigned to kill him by FBI. Subverted, because this is just yet another lie.
• Killer Cop: He turns out to be Webb's murderer.
• Knight of Cerebus: Oddly, he plays this to himself. Once it becomes clear he's Case 3's murderer, all his former comedic traits disappear completely. In a game-wide example, his murder of Cody marks the point where the plot becomes a whole lot darker.
• Kubrick Stare: He starts doing this when he's cornered.
• Large Ham: When talking about Webb.
  Togamera: A villain! A truly HORRENDOUS man!! The world will not mourn his passing!!
  Phoenix: Was he really that bad?
  Togamera: A tyrant! A dictator!! The WORST of men!!!
  Phoenix: ...That bad. Got it.
• Manipulative Bastard: He tricks several people into becoming suspects by instigating a flame war in order to kill Webb and blame it on them.
• Mood-Swinger: He can somehow alternate between The Stoic and Large Ham, oddly enough. The latter is an act.
• Not Me This Time: He didn't kill Cody Hackins, but it was his gun that was used for the murder.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He uses this excuse to draw suspicion away from himself when accused of being Webb's murderer. In actuality, he's an incredibly cunning man who was able to play the police force like a fiddle.
• Perpetual Frowner: He NEVER smiles. And when he doesn’t frown, he grimaces angrily.
• Sinister Shades: He always seen wearing sunglasses, even in the courtroom and they ends up breaking them when he's finally cornered.
• The Stoic: Oddly enough, he alternates between this and Large Ham.
• The Sociopath: He has no problems with resorting to murder and ruining several people's lives just to protect himself, and is only upset about Cody's death because he's accused of it.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Paints an Interpol agent as being a mobster when really he's trying to take the mob down (which includes Togamera). He also tries to paint Cody Hackins as a dangerous criminal, despite being a seventeen year old boy who only committed a misdemenour.
• No Indoor Voice: Especially when talking about Webb.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Williamson.
• The Men in Black: He looks like one of them. Alternatively, his character design might've been inspired by Agents from The Matrix.
• This Cannot Be!: Part of his Villainous Breakdown.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He claims that killing Webb was necessary, since he was a threat to society. Subverted, because Webb was actually an Interpol agent who tried to expose him.
• Would Hurt a Child: Even though he didn't kill Cody, it's implied that he would've done it if he only had a chance.
• Verbal Tic: Tends to ACCENTUATE certain words in his PHRASES to sound upper-crust, much like Florent L’Belle.
• Villainous Breakdown: He takes his glasses off, breaks them and screams.

Woman / PureMadness

A sole alleged eyewitness to the crime.

• Bad Liar: Even Williamson calls her out on it.
• Cool Mask: A Guy Fawkes mask that she never takes off, ever.
• Deadpan Snarker: She has a rather dry wit and most of her dialogue is incredibly sarcastic.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  Maya: Why would you lie about something as simple as that [being a witness to the crime]?
  Woman: Felt like it.
• Expressive Shirt: With an Awesome Face.
• The Faceless: And we never ever see her real face behind that mask.
• For the Evulz: She claims she killed Webb for this reason. It’s a complete lie, as she wasn’t even near the crime scene when it happened.
• Heel Realization: She shows some signs of this when Wright confronts her about it on AF.
• Insane Troll Logic: For example, when Phoenix presses her on the statement where she admits that she didn’t see it from her house.
  Phoenix: I think this is pretty much clear by now.
  Woman: Aha! So you admit that I killed him?
• It Amused Me: This is the reason why she lied in the first place.
• Laughing Mad: When she’s exposed in court.
• Malicious Misnaming: Constantly refers to Obadiah as “Mr. Wilson”
• Meaningful Name: Well, she’s known to cause madness at AF.
• No Name Given: Her real identity is never revealed. The game keeps to refering to her as "Woman" or "PureMadness".
• Refuge in Audacity: She confesses to a murder she didn't commit for the sake of it and spends an entire day committing perjury even though she has little to gain from it. Her antics are so absurd, Phoenix has to step in to defend her from her own accusations.
• Shout-Out: To many Internet memes and Internet culture in general.
  • She wears a Guy Fawkes mask, which is an allusion to the (in)famous Anonymous group. Indeed, she remains anonymous for all the case, as we never learn her true name.
  • She spins a leek and her Leitmotif is a remix of Ievan Polka.
• Sock Puppet: Turns out "Salmonella" is her other account on Ace Fanclub.
• Spanner in the Works: Her testimony may have incriminated Books at first, but the constant lies and her unpredictable nature have caused Togamera’s downfall.
• Troll: Obviously. She did make a total mockery out of the court after all.
• The Unreveal: We never get to learn her name or see what she's hiding under that mask.
• Unwitting Pawn: Was this to Togamera, as it turns out. He used her to cause a Flame War on Ace Famclub targeting Webb, with the intent of creating suspects for Webb's murder.

Anton Simms

A forty-year old man who is still living in his mother's basement and the administrator of the Ace Fanclub, better known by his username 1337aZnPrInceSz.

• Anti-Villain: He did forge evidence, true. He did have his reasons for it though, as he and his mother were in danger.
• Basement-Dweller: And his mother's basement is shown to be full of his stuffed animals and anime.
• Berserk Button: Calling his anime “cartoons”.
• Cuteness Proximity: How he reacts when you show him Pearl’s profile.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He cooperated with Family to protect his mother.
• Fanboy: Of Phoenix Wright. He even made a page dedicated to him.
• Fat Bastard: Downplayed. While he did give false testimony and forge evidence, it wasn’t like he really had a choice.
• G.I.R.L.: His username on AF, "1337aZnPrInceSz", understandably makes Phoenix and Maya assume he's female at first, and they are quite surprised to find out that he isn't.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: Being a guy obsessed with Asian culture, he wears the Fu Manchu mustache. Subverted, he isn’t evil. He did forge evidence, but he didn’t kill Walter Webb.
• Gratuitous Japanese: A character tic of his.
• Hypocrite: He claims to be a fan of Phoenix Wright and yet he lies to him and disrupts his investigation. He does have his reasons, but still.
• Karma Houdini: While he wasn’t a murderer, he never faces punishment for forging evidence. In fact, he and his mother end up under Witness Protection Program.
• Occidental Otaku: Taken to the absolute extreme. Naturally, it grates on everyone around him.
• O.C. Stand-in: He’s the one that was chatting online with the chief detective in the original trilogy.
• The Pigpen: His shirt is stained in mustard and ketchup. And he’s later testifying in court. In the same shirt.
• Take That!: Is a living one to otakus.
• Witness Protection: Where he and his mother end up after the trial, as the Rivales Family would likely be after their heads otherwise for Simms' role in exposing Togamera.

Jimmy/Steven Jameson

A mysterious acquaintance of Obadiah Williamson's. Seems to be taking a great interest in Nick's recent cases.

• Beware the Silly Ones: A positive example. He's easygoing and a bit ditzy, but he's an utterly terrifying opponent if someone is poisoning the legal system.
• Big Good: His actions and sacrifice help lead to Phoenix and his allies emerging victorious.
• Berserk Button: Justice not being delievered. If he feels like something is unfair, he'll take it into his own hands to fix it.
• Blue Is Heroic: He wears light blue and is the one of two secondary law enforcement characters to be an unambiguously good person.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's strange, to put it slightly, but he's extremely effective at what he does, be it investigating or prosecuting.
• Chekhov's Gunman: After having a minor role in Turnabout on the Web, he gets more screen-time in Turnabout Consequences, with being the replacement prosecutor. And in Turnabout Into the Unknown, we finally find out his backstory.
• Expy: His prosecuting style is pretty much the same as Klavier's, being rather helpful to Phoenix. His reasons for prosecuting however are much more personal.
• Foil: To Obadiah. He's relaxed, calm, and informal while Obadiah is alert, stressed, and professional. It makes it even odder that the two became friends in the first place, as he embodies all the traits Obadiah can't stand in other people.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He allowed himself to be killed to open up an investigation, something that led to the Rivales family being dismantled.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Williamson. Well, at least they’re on neutral terms if nothing else. Obadiah wasn't amused with him pretending to be a prosecutor, however.
• Nice Guy: Unlike Williamson, he doesn’t seem to mind Phoenix that much. No, really. He really is as nice as he seems, which only makes his death all the more tragic. In fact, he was such a nice guy he was willing to help Francisco Mendirez once he realized he was being framed.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He's an extremely competent prosecutor despite originally coming across as a slightly eccentric and dimwitted man.
• Sacrificial Lion: His death is abrupt and brutal, showing that Luciano is an incredibly dangerous threat if he's actively targetting law enforcement.
• Save the Villain: What he was trying to do for Mendirez, until he was killed.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Jimmy follows what he believes is the right thing to do, regardless of the obstacles in his way. This is best examplified by his disobayal of Williamson in order to investigate Pearl's kidnapping.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When Phoenix asks him if he and Obadiah are friends.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: He's the victim initially identified as "Rosencrantz" in Case 5. His head was smashed so badly that he was completely unrecognizable and could only be identified by his teeth, which had been scattered all over the place.
• Only One Name: He goes by "Jimmy" for the most of game. We find out his true name after his death in Turnabout into the Unknown.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red, carefree Oni to Williamson’s blue, stern one.
• Tranquil Fury: Gavin really pisses him off. Jimmy makes sure to give the corrupt attorney a piece of his mind while hardly dropping his laid-back persona.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Obadiah.

Stranger2Love/Nathen Togamera

A lurker on Ace Fanclub. It's also an account used by Nathen Togamera to communicate with the members of the Rivales Family.

• Beware the Quiet Ones: As it turns out, he’s a member of the Rivales Family. He's also Nathen Togamera, who ironically is anything but quiet in person.
• Shout-Out: His username is a reference to the infamous Rick Astley song "Never gonna give you up," showing that he has at least a passing knowledge of internet culture.
• The Quiet One: He doesn't talk much, due to wanting to stay in the shadows.
• Walking Spoiler: Yeah, it’s rather hard to talk about them without revealing that It’s actually Agent Togamera’s account to communicate with members of Rivales Family.

Francisco Mendirez

^{Click here for MAJOR SPOILERS.} the real one the imposter

Michael Rivales' nephew who took the leadership after his uncle's death. A ruthless man who's responsible for many things happening thorough the game's story. It's not so simple. There are actually two people using the name of Francisco Mendirez: Allen Yossarian, the real Francisco Mendirez and Carlo Luciano, the one using the name to ruin his reputation further.

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• A Lighter Shade of Black: By sheer circumstances. He's a vile sack of garbage, yet Luciano is a child murdering torturer who has killed dozens in horrific and brutal ways, including people that just so happened to be related to his victims. Mendirez obviously never comes close to that level of depravity, though he's still a monster in his own right. He eventually uses this to escape major punishment, as he's far less of a threat than Luciano, meaning he'll be allowed to hide out while the police investigate the full scope of Luciano's actions.
• Ambition Is Evil: In his bid to take over the Rivales family, he turned Sir Gallante into an Unwitting Pawn to murder his allies so he could take their place once turning on him. He even lacks the Well-Intentioned Extremist nature of Gallante, just being an evil bastard with no loyalty or empathy whatsoever.
• Bad Boss: If Wocky is to be believed, he's even worse than his uncle. While Francisco Mendirez himself is DEFINITELY not a saint, he's not the one who backstabbed Togamera and Meredith but rather his imposter. Making Mendirez look like one of these was part of his plan. He's this for a different reason, as he had most of his underlings slaughtered to protect himself from punishment by the legal and illegal world.
• The Bad Guy Wins: A Foregone Conclusion concerning the MN-6 trial. He can also become this in the good ending, as he escapes the full scale of the law and will likely be able to live out the rest of his life if he's able to flee the wrath of the Rivales family.
• Big Bad:
  • Responsible for many things, such as Cody Hackins' murder, Maya Fey's attempted assassination, Pearl Fey's kidnapping and the poisoning of Carlo Luciano.
  • Though the real Mendirez is technically only guilty of Pearl's kidnapping and hiring Gallante to kill several other Family members in his quest to take over the Rivales family for himself.
• Blackmail: Threatened Meredith Fey that if she doesn't cooperate, Pearl Fey will suffer.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Both the impostor and the real thing: The real Francisco Mendirez hired Sir Gallante to kill off any potential threat to him after the MN-6 incident. It just so happened one of them happened to be Luciano, who survived the ordeal and swore revenge against him. Luciano also exploits this trope as a part of his plan to ruin Mendirez: intentionally backstabbing Togamera and Raphael in obvious ways while using Medirez' name.
• The Don: Took over the leadership of the Rivales Family after Michael's death. He's unlikely to keep it due to his treachery being revealed, meaning that he'll become a pariah amonst the family and spend what little he has left of his life running away from some seriously pissed off and ruthless mobsters, provided that there's enough of them left to hunt him down.
• Dragon Ascendant: Was a high-ranked member of the Rivales Family before Michael's death.
• Hate Sink: He's a ruthless and treacherous coward who murders his own allies due to his obsession with power. Despite the hell he's put through, it's impossible to feel any sympathy for him once it's revealed why he's being targetted.
• Hidden Villain:
  • We've never seen his face so far. And as Raphael said, he never shows his face to his cronies either. His name is one of the few things we do know about him.
  • It's finally explained why he doesn't show his face to his subordinates: the Mendirez we've known for the nearly the whole game was actually Carlo Luciano, out to destroy Mendirez' reputation among his cronies.
• Karma Houdini: Courtesy of Phoenix Wright defending him. While he's far less dangerous than Luciano and innocent of the charges he's accused of, he's still a massive threat to society who killed many people in his path for power. Sadly, his freedom is necessary to capture Luciano, making it an undesirable but necessary payoff.
• Knight of Cerebus: A dangerous criminal, who's responsible for many of the game's tragic events. It's never a good sign whenever he's mentioned.
• The Man Behind the Man: He's this to Virgil Black/Sir Gallante, manipulating him into killing his fellow mobsters for him.
• Manipulative Bastard: While "Yosarrian" is this to Phoenix Wright, it's revealed he was also this to Virgil Black, tricking him into doing his dirty work for him under the impression that it was a necessary evil. If Luciano didn't get to Black first, Mendirez would have once he took over the family.
• Meaningful Name: Francisco means free man. He's never imprisoned for his crimes, and dies a civilian if he is killed in the game.
• The Reveal: There are two men going by the name "Francisco Mendirez": the real one known as Allen Yossarian, his impostor being Carlo Luciano, who has faked his death in the MN-6 incident.
• Walking Spoiler: His status as Big Bad isn't a spoiler but his actual identity most certainly is. Actually, even the first becomes a spoiler later on when it turns out the real Mendirez isn't the Big Bad after all.
• Would Hurt a Child: As it turns out, he was the one who killed Cody Hackins. He threatened to do the same to Pearl Fey if Meredith wouldn't cooperate. This is eventually subverted, as Carlo Luciano was the real culprit, though it's likely that Mendirez would have done the same if it suited him.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
  • The impostor Mendirez will do anything, and that means anything, to have suspicion pointed away from himself that he's actually Carlo Luciano and is the one slandering Mendirez's name, and that is including setting up his own soldiers to take the fall. Raphael Donatello, Meredith Fey, and Agent Nathen Togamera were no more than pawns to him.
  • The first instance of this is Luciano leaving behind an account called "Ursa Major 777", leaving that behind so that Wright would believe that Togamera was the one who had shot Cody and that Togamera was indeed covering for the Rivales Family and using the fanclub to do so. The impostor Mendirez also framed Togamera for Cody's death by using his gun when Togamera had his guard down, ergo Togamera was telling the truth in that he was not the one who bought about the end of Hackins' life.
  • The false Mendirez also set up Pearl Fey to be the attempted assassin of Maya Fey and by association, getting Meredith in trouble for attempting to cover it up. All that was needed was for Raphael to squeal on whoever the accomplice was, but things didn't quite happen that way. Raphael refused to squeal on Meredith, yet Jimmy knew who the accomplice was, and Phoenix did, too.
  • However, the real Mendirez was the one who used Sir Gallante in order to kill off those who would likely rat on Mendirez, those who were prying into the truth of MN-6 years ago.

Debuted in Turnabout Consequences

Gladys Porter/Makoto Fey

A rude and bitter reporter from Oh! Cult! Magazine. The sister of Sandra Watters (Mark's wife who was murdered by the Family) and has been working with "Jimmy" and Walter Webb to investigate the Rivales Family.

• Cloudcuckoolander: Gladys is a little... "out there". Her paranoid and rude behavior quickly becomes tiring for everyone who is unlucky enough to have to deal with her.
• Commander Contrarian: No matter how you answer her questions during the interview, she’ll NEVER be satisfied.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Subverted. She's been a target of the Rivales Family for years so her paranoia is justified.
• First-Name Basis: She's on this with Mark Watters, of all people. It turns out she's his sister-in-law.
• Intrepid Reporter: Subverted. She THINKS she’s this, but instead of asking Wright necessary info about the Fey Clan, she asks him useless questions like “What’s your favorite color”.
• Jerkass: Not to the level of Togamera, but still…
• Jerkass Has a Point: She insists that nobody in their right mind would channel Dahlia Hawthorne.
• Manchild: She’s quite immature despite being 29 years old.
  Pearl Fey: A bit immature, this one.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: After Wright has run out of questions towards her and starts grasping.
  Porter: Okay, no. You know what? Shut it. Just SHUT it!
• Obfuscating Stupidity: She's still pointlessly rude, but during the second day she really calms down, implying that her antics might be at least partially an act. It's all but confirmed in the final case, which reveals she's been working with Jameson and Webb to investigate the Rivales Family.
• Punny Name/Shout-Out: To GLaDOS from Portal.
• Properly Paranoid: There really ARE dangerous people following her around.
• Talkative Loon: She's not quiet about her insane conspiracies.
• Walking Spoiler: We don't find out her true motives until the final case.
• Your Mom: She retorts with this when you present Pearl’s profile to her.
  Phoenix: You seem to have quite an interest in Pearl.
  Porter: Your mom seems to have an interest in Pearl.

Raphael Donatello

A caretaker working at a home in Kurain Village and a trusted butler of Meredith Fey.

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• Affably Evil: He's a Rivales member and a friendly and polite man with a soft spot for old ladies.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: He's rather standard for a mobster, using conspiracy and intimidation to get his way rather than torture and murder. This and his genuine honor make him a saint in comparison to the notoriously evil Rivales members.
• Battle Butler: He's this, due to his real occupation being a gangster for the Rivales family.
• Berserk Button: Traitors. This makes him turn on Mendirez, as the unscrupulous mobster broke that rule in the worst way possible. For all Donatello's faults, he never betrays anyone who hasn't betrayed him, even when working with different groups.
• Cold Sniper: His role in the case and what he's implied to be in general. Despite this, he didn't shoot Maya, being guilty of conspiring with Meredith to tamper with the scene and throw the police off the Fey clan's trail.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Remember the man from Lotta’s photo in the first case?
• The Butler Did It: Except not really.
• The Comically Serious: He says "I was raised in the sewers and I was taught the art of ninjitsu" with a completely straight face.
• Deadpan Snarker: When the moment arises, he tends to use rather scathing and sarcastic insults while never changing his calm and collected tone.
• Dual Boss: With Meredith Fey.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As mentioned in Not So Stoic, backstabbing his allies is one thing he won't do.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: He's a fantastic butler and skilled conspirator, being vital in Meredith's schemes.
• Noble Demon: He's an ally of Mendirez, but he's also a very honorable man-he's convinced to work with Wright when he realizes his boss is a traitor by nature.
• Odd Friendship: With Meredith Fey, who he doesn't seem to mind. She respects his competence and intelligence.
• Red Herring: While he was the sniper and is part of the Rivales Family, he didn't shoot Maya Fey.
• Servile Snarker: He makes a lot of quips at his boss' expense. Not that she minds much.
• Shout-Out: To two of the teenage mutant ninja turtles or Renaissance artists, for some reason.
• The Stoic: He isn’t a man of many expressions.
  • Not So Stoic: As it turns out.
  Raphael: This group used to have standards. We would never betray the ones we worked with! If Mendirez is going to change all that, he can go to hell for all I care! That's it! I'm through with it! Finished! I'm not taking anymore orders from a man who won't even show me his face! You hear that, you nutter? I know you're watching this trial! I QUIT!!!
• Sinister Shades: He has them, which give him a shifty appearance.
• The Quiet One: Raphael doesn’t really speak much.
• Walking Spoiler: There's a lot more to him than merely being a butler to Meredith. Namely that he's the main link between the Rivales family and the Fey clan.

Meredith Fey

A former Master of the Kurain Channling Technique and the grandmother of Maya and Pearl. She retired because her spirit powers wore off due to her old age.

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• Abusive Parents: She was regarded as neglectful and biased towards her children, ignoring them every time matters related to the clan came to action. She's also not much better as a grandparent, doing the exact same thing and using her love for some of them to dismiss and ignore other grandchildren she is less fond of.
• Affably Evil: Despite all her many awful actions, she is surprisngly sweet to those who don't rub her the wrong way. She is also capable of showing empathy and remorse, apologising and accepting her punishment when her crimes are brought to light, something only she, Pearl, and Sir Gallante do.
• Anti-Villain: Type III. She wants the best for her family but associating herself with the Rivales gang pushed her into doing some questionable things.
• Brutal Honesty: She’s highly critical about Maya’s leadership and isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
• The Cynic: What she says about Maya says it all:
  Meredith: She’s always tried to please everyone, which in our case simply is NOT possible.
• Dual Boss: With Raphael Donatello.
• Evil Cripple: She's a mob asset and a ruthless matriarch as well as a phyically frail old lady who finds it difficult to even stand up.
• Evil Old Folks: Downplayed. She has the best intentions for her family but her desire to protect them leads her to do some questionable things, such as working with the Rivales Family and faking Pearl's kidnapping.
• Fatal Flaw: Stubbornness. She's unwilling to modernize the Fey clan and will ally with those who share her old fashioned ideals, regardless of their backgrounds. Her inability to adapt to the world and embrace a gentler path leads to her neglecting her own family due to her archaic and demanding way of parenting and playing into the hands of the mob, with a disloyal gangster being her only ally.
• First-Name Basis: With most people she meets. Though in the typical Fey fashion, she makes sure to give people like Phoenix a fitting epithet.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: She isn't a nice person by any means but she didn't shoot her own granddaughter. She also cared deeply about Pearl and helped her in any way she could, even if it went against her personal beliefs.
• Horrible Judge of Character: She should have known the Rivales were not to be trusted. Rejecting their help would have been far less catastrophic than playing into their hands.
  • In a sadly realistic example, she was unaware that Pearl was showing signs of mental instability and believed her that isolating herself from the world was the best course of action. Naturally, this made things worse and only made Pearl's illness more severe as she had nobody to help her heal. She does this again by not picking up that Pearl is a Stepford Smiler, something extremely alarming for a teenage girl who has recently returned from a self imposed exile due to the trauma she's suffered in the past. This leads to her not realising that the motive behind Maya's shooting could be mental illness rather than a pragmatic reason.
• Ironic Name: Meredith is shown to not be a great ruler in the slightest, trapping the Fey clan in the Rivales family's grasp and driving Pearl into deeper anguish. In the end, even she admits her mistakes.
• Nostalgia Filter:
  Meredith: When I was Master, Kurain saw more peace and tranquility than it had in a hundred years.
• Odd Friendship: With Raphael Donatello, a snarky and odd butler several decades her junior. He's been her closest ally for the past five years probably due to being one of the few Affably Evil Rivales family members.
• Offing the Offspring: What Phoenix believes her to have attempted to do to Maya. The truth is more tragic.
• Parental Favoritism: Towards Pearl and Iris.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  Meredith: I. Did. Not. Shoot her!!!
• Red Herring: While she did unwillingly go through with the assassination plot, she didn't shoot Maya Fey either.
• Retired Badass: She was once a Kurain Master.
  Raphael: The last great one, so would say.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: She uses her advanced age to justify her blunt and snappy dialogue.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She’s strict towards Maya, but surprisingly nice to Phoenix and Pearl.
• Taking the Heat: For Iris. Except as it turns out, it wasn't Iris at all she's seen.
• Tough Love: Implied with her relationship towards Maya.
• Tragic Villain: The Fey clan has been plagued by misfortune and tragedy, and she's witnessed her family be murdered and imprisoned for horrific crimes. Due to this, she believes that a firm and powerful rule is necessary to restore the clan to its former glory, with her belief that the mob will uphold their end of the bargain. After enabling the family to fall even further and becoming a mere pawn for the Rivales family, she's forced to admit that she's failed as a leader and destroyed any chance of the clan ever rehabilitating itself. While her crimes are worthy of a lengthy sentence, it's hard not to see her as a victim as well due to her noble ideals backfiring horrifically.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She approached the Rivales family about smuggling Pearl out of the country and became one of their assets in exchange. This set all the events into action, including Maya being shot five years later.
• Walking Spoiler: She brings in an entirely new aspect to the plot and opens up a whole heap of possibilities. As the spoiler tags indicate, there's far more reach to her actions than just maintaining the Fey clan.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She genuinely believed her actions were for the good of the Fey clan. Unfortunately for everyone, they brought ruin to all affected by them.

Debuted in Turnabout into the Unknown

Finnegan Hood

The suspect’s neighbour and a former defense attorney. Rather secretive about what he did or didn’t see.

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• Affably Evil: Or is he? Yeah, he is.
• Ambiguous Situation: It is insinuated at one point that he may actually have hired Shelly DeKiller to assassinate Jane's biological father, but there is no proof after that to confirm or deny this.
• Amoral Attorney: He forged evidence which cost him his badge. To his credit, he openly admits it during his conversation with Phoenix.
• Anti-Villain: He has zero morality whatsoever and is perfectly fine with breaking the law, but isn't actively malicious and can be helpful under the right circumstances. He's less evil and more of a terrible person with some honorable traits buried within him.
• Attention Whore: He wants to be noticed and have his fifteen minutes of infamy, only ever dropping his desire for recognition when his daughter is accused of murder. He has a habit of purposely exaggurating his worst deeds to make himself seem more notorious, despite it hurting his credibility.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He encouraged and enabled his daughter's worst traits throughout her life. This got both of them arrested when she used this to derail a murder trial and attack Trucy.
• Berserk Button: Accusing his daughter of murder is a very, very bad idea.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He's a strange man, but he was an extremely gifted attorney, only being disbarred due to forging evidence. He's incredibly good at leading cross examinations astray and has a knack for using bluffs and ploys uncannily effectively. Phoenix and Trucy have to give it their all to spot his lies and stop him from hijacking the trial.
• Card-Carrying Villain: He's not shy about admitting how crooked he is. He's also upfront about how big of a liar he is and arroaches discussions about his unethical behavior with glee.
• Do You Trust Me?:
  • Inverted. He actually commends Wright for answering "no", arguing that it would be a foolish move to implicitly trust someone whom one has never met before.
  • Later on, Finnegan brings up the question again, the night before the trial involving Jane. If Phoenix answers yes to this question, Finnegan believes him to be a fool for doing so as Finnegan had lied and cheated and taunted Phoenix several times over during the case.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He adores Jane and would do anything to protect her including risking his freedom to cover for her in court.
• Evil Counterpart: Played with. His backstory suspiciously resembles Wright's. He got disbarred due to evidence forgery and ended adopting his client's daughter. Jane is the same age as Trucy, except she is a Creepy Child with very unsettling behavior. They also both dress in red, in contrast to Phoenix and Trucy, who usually wear blue. Though it turns out he's not so much evil as just manipulative.
• Evil Genius: He's not a good person, to say the least, and a skilled manipulator, improviser, orator, lawyer, and tactician. Phoenix finds this out the hard way.
• Evil Redhead: While nowhere near as evil as he originally appears, he's got red hair and is a habitual criminal who is indirectly responsible for his daughter's psychotic outbursts.
• Fiery Redhead: Zig-zagged. He usually is calm and composed, unless someone attempts to harm his daughter.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He's got glasses and is an unrepentant lawbreaker.
• Lean and Mean: He's very skinny and not a particuarly upstanding man.
• Manipulative Bastard: The only thing he's guilty of being. Well, except for possibly hiring Shelly DeKiller to assassinate Jane's biological father.
• Moral Myopia: He seems to adore the fact his daughter has embraced his unpredictable and destructive behavior until he's the target. Then she's out of control until the next person comes along to face her wrath, then she's his perfect little girl again.
• Noble Demon: He's fully honest about being a dishonest individual, and all of his schemes in the trial are to protect his daughter.
• Oireland: Red hair? Check. Four-leaf clover pin in lapel? Check. Irish accent with some dialectal words thrown in? Double check.
• Papa Wolf: Towards Jane. He lied in court to protect her.
• Psychopathic Manchild: A "benign" example. He lacks the maturity to control his impulsive behavior and is far more erratic and immature than most people his age are, as well as disturbingly eager to manipulate others and break the law. He's a deeply irresponsible and unstable person who ironically can relate well to his adopted daughter due to having almost all the same traits she has.
• Red Herring: He has far less to do with the crimes than it originally appears. Him and Jane were witnesses and nothing more, regardless of what they'd like others to believe.
• Unwitting Pawn: Jane tricked him into thinking she was a murderer, and he lied in court to try and provide her with an alibi, thinking it was the only way to deflect suspicion from her. This only served to give her more time to sabotage the trial and bask in the spotlight. Despite this, he's impressed with her cunning behavior when he realises she's outsmarted even him.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's unknown exactly what punishment he faced for lying in court to protect his daughter.

Jane Hood

Finnegan Hood’s adopted daughter. Seems to be a little unhinged, to say the least.

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• Ambiguously Evil: It's never made fully clear if she really does have murderous intentions or if she just likes acting like she does.
• Attention Whore: She may not have the same genes as Finnegan, but damn if she doesn't mirror him in this regard. Knowing him, he probably encouraged this behavior.
• Ax-Crazy: She's a budding homicidal maniac in a teenage girl's body. Even if she's only assaulted two people, she clearly shows a desire to do far worse in the future.
• The Bad Guy Wins: A comedic and lighthearted example. She succeeded in confusing and annoying the court with her insane behavior and had the time of her life. Even if she's likely to face imprisonment, she got what she wanted and then some.
• Captain Obvious: She has a habit of repeating what she's already said in a different way. She likes to reiterate things she has already said. She repeats herself.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Really likes to play the part of one, anyway.
• Creepy Child: Her behavior is deeply unsettling, so much that Trucy, after speaking with her for a few minutes along Phoenix, wanted to leave.
• False Confession: Makes one to Gladys Porter's murder in a gambit to have Phoenix establish her innocence of said murder.
• Happily Adopted: No matter how destructive their family dynamic is, she does love her dad and he clearly cares for her, risking imprisonment to protect her in court when he falls for his lies that she's a murderer.
• Large Ham: Given that Jane has been taught acting lessons by Finnegan Hood, she definitely knows how to come across as this whether or not it benefits her. For instance, Jane pretends to be a comic book villain, even if it would strip away her freedoms and get her arrested for the death of Gladys Porter.
• Obviously Evil: Slasher Smile? Check. Milking the Giant Cow? Check. Repeatedly confessing to killing people? Check. Invoked trope, it's all an act.
• Red Herring: As it turns out, despite her fingerprints being found on the knife, she wasn't the one who killed Gladys Porter.
• Red Is Violent: Red is her main color motif, and she's slightly bloodthirsty, to say the least.
• Refuge in Audacity: Admitting to a murder she had no part in, attacking Trucy, and making herself as suspicious as possible is such an insanely stupid thing for an innocent person to do, especially if the culprit is likely to also be a Serial Killer with mob connections. The only reason she's taken seriously is because nobody believes that she'd be idiotic enough to pull such a stunt. When she's finally kicked out of court, the damage has been done and she's made a laughing stock out of the trial.
• Slasher Smile: She has a nasty one as her default expression. It makes her look Obviously Evil, something she plays up to the maximum.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's unknown what punishment she faced for attacking Trucy and lying to the court.

Allen Yossarian

The defendant, accused of murdering both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He's also a retired Rivales Family officer. He's also the nephew of Michael Rivales, Francisco Mendirez.

• Asshole Victim: Should you choose to not reveal Pearl's motive in Consequences, he ends up being killed in the final case along with Carlo Luciano.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Carlo Luciano.
• Cigar Chomper: Smokes on a cigar whenever he ignores Phoenix.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has a rather dry sense of humour, cracking mean spirited jokes in his typical aloof manner.
• Evil All Along: Well, he's Francisco Mendirez, so this is pretty much a given. Not that he tried to hide it very much.
• Hate Sink: He's a cruel and ruthless man who cares about nobody but himself. It's no wonder Phoenix can't stand him. He's also Francisco Mendirez, who is also a Hate Sink, so there's a two in one for that.
• Jerkass: Possibly the worst in the game along with Togamera. He treats his defense attorney like garbage, such as belittling him for his "trust in your clients" policy, and not giving him straight answers even when it could help his case. Him being Francisco Mendirez doesn't help matters.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: As it comes with being the defendant for the final case, he hides a big secret. And the truth ain't pretty: He's Francisco Mendirez, the nephew of the former don of the Rivales Family. Five years ago, he and Carlo Luciano devised a plan to get rid of the Cadaverini Family. Carlo however ended up being caught in the act and Michael having none of it, ordered Mendirez to kill Luciano. Mendirez didn't comply: He managed to fake Carlo's death while ending up accused of his murder. Choosing to not go to prison for a crime he didn't commit, he and Kristoph Gavin framed the owner of the place the crime happened in. After being acquitted he decided to finally kill off Luciano along with the other members of the Rivales Family. And to do that he financed Virgil Black, creating Sir Gallante in the process.
• Karma Houdini: Zig-zagged in one of the games two endings. If you chose to reveal Pearl's motive in Consequences, Phoenix will successfully prove that Francisco didn't commit the three murders, however the trial itself revealed key information sufficient to allow Interpol to arrest him but at the same time it's stated that Francisco will be allowed to cut a deal to become a state witness and effectively allowing him to walk away with a slap-on-the-wrist punishment in exchange for offering all the information he knows of the Rivales Family. Francisco himself clearly has no complaints about this given that the rest of the Rivales Family would be after his head for creating Sir Gallante.
• Laser-Guided Karma: His backstabbing of Carlo Luciano ended up setting off most of the game's overarching plot, as Carlo then decided to destroy Francisco's reputation in the mob.
• Manipulative Bastard: When Phoenix threatens to leave, Yossarian outright tells him that he won't. Because if Phoenix quits, he'll never get his "precious answers", will he? Phoenix begrudgingly agrees.
• Not Me This Time: He's a mafia officer, but insists he didn't kill anyone this time, and being Phoenix's client, this is bound to be true. On a much wider scale while he turns out to be Francisco Mendirez, current leader of the Rivales Family, he's not responsible for any of the game's murders that were taken to court: they were ordered or carried out by Carlo Luciano using his name. He's responsible for using Virgil Black to murder his fellow Rivales mobsters in his quest to usurp his own uncle, though it's unlikely he'll ever face consequences for this.
• Not So Stoic: For some reason, he lost his usual composure when Carlo Luciano has been brought up in conversation. It turns out to be because Carlo is alive and out for revenge against him. In general Mendirez is a lot more cowardly and paranoid than he lets on, and he'll have a Freak Out if it ever seems like his life is in danger, or his secrets are exposed.
• Pet the Dog: While one could make a convincing argument that his Villainous Rescue was motivated by self-interest, at the end before he's taken away he asks for a moment to thank Phoenix for everything he did for him, even apologising for being such an uncooperative client, making it clear that, everything else aside, he's genuinely grateful to Phoenix for going so far to prove his innocence. This is actually the reason he and Luciano survive in the "prove the motive" route: in the other route, Phoenix' willingness to go along with Obadiah's attempt to frame Mendirez shatters any faith he had in Phoenix, and Phoenix will be unable to talk him out of snapping Luciano's neck, and Luciano takes Mendirez down with him.
• Retired Monster: Used to be a mafia officer in the past. Whatever he did at that time, it sure doesn't seem to concern him too much. Except he's not retired at all. In one of the two routes of the game he ends up becoming one for real.
• The Quiet One: He's not really a talkative fellow.
• Villainous Rescue: When Luciano is holding Detective Watters hostage and is preparing to shoot Phoenix, Francisco ends up grabbing him in a chokehold. If Phoenix proved the culprit's motive in the previous case, he's convinced to spare Luciano and turn him over to the police and lays him out cold with one punch. If not, he tells Phoenix to stay out of Family buniness and snaps Luciano's neck, only for his pistol to go off and shoot Francisco in the chest, resulting in his own death on the stand shortly afterwards. It's an overall surprisingly gutsy move considering he spent most of the game terrified of Luciano's wrath.
• Walking Spoiler: Being Francisco Mendriez gives away a lot about him.

Salim Kushari

The witness of MN-6 incident. Owner of the diner where the crime took place, with a rather terrible sense of humor.

• Clear My Name: Obadiah and Jimmy tried their best to help Kushari accomplish that during the MN-6 trial. However, they failed because Obadiah had nothing to counteract a forged poison bottle, a false piece of evidence made by Kristoph Gavin and Togamera, that had Kushari's fingerprints. Obadiah tried three times to counteract this evidence, but no matter what he presented, he had nothing to render the bottle invalid, thus Kushari was accused for the "poisoning" of Carlo Luciano. It would not be until years later that Kushari would finally be proven innocent, by the hands of Phoenix Wright and Obadiah or Franziska von Karma.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Is ultimately cleared of all his charges at the end when Phoenix finds the truth behind MN-6 and released from prison.
• Hot-Blooded: Which ends up working against him when his outbursts allow Kristoph to discredit him and make him look much more suspicious.
• Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Does this as well, much to Obadiah's chagrin.
• Miscarriage of Justice: Ended up convicted of Carlo Luciano's murder thanks to Kristoph Gavin and Togamera's forged evidence.
• Pungeon Master: He constantly makes god-awful food-related puns. Only Steven Jameson finds them funny.
• Punny Name: Kushari is a type of Egyptian dish.
• The Scapegoat: Kristoph Gavin accuses him to get Mendirez a Not Guilty verdict, and he succeeds.

Carlo Luciano

A dangerous assassin working for the Rivales Family. Died of poisoning during the meeting with Francisco Mendirez.

• Asshole Victim:
  • He was a ruthless assassin on Family's payroll, responsible for killing many people. Including Sandra Watters and Charles Locke.
  • Turns out the truth is way muddier than that: He's not actually dead, as he faked his death five years ago in the MN-6 incident. But should you choose the ending where you don't prove Pearl's motive, he finally becomes one for real.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He seems to be just another random victim from the past, but he turns out to be much, much more.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Died of poisoning which caused him to outright VOMIT BLOOD. Subverted, as this was only a lookalike of Luciano who did it; the actual Luciano never did ingest the poison.
• Darker and Edgier: His murder methods are far more brutal and depraved than in most Ace Attorney canon works and fangames and the fact that he psychologically torments his victims and their close ones until their brutal deaths almost seem like a Mercy Kill is so vile that the mood goes from bleak to nightmarish when he appears. There is no depth too low for him to sink to and the game doesn't shy away from it, showing how nightmarish of a foe he is.
• Determinator: It's almost impressive how much effort he puts into what he does, even when the odds are completely against him. He goes above and beyond the call of duty by using hundreds of different methods to ensnare, torment, and dispose of his targets. Even when it's revealed that he may [[spoiler:not be dead after all, he continues his killing spree as the police close in on him, while still doing his job. If something nice can be said about him, it's that he never gives up no matter what.
• The Dreaded: Even other Rivales family members were terrified of this guy. See below for why.
• Evil Is Petty: He was notorious for responding to any slights by utterly destroying and ruining everything around said person until the end when they're practically begging him to just kill them.
• Eye Scream: What Mendirez did to him. He's not too happy about it.
• Faking the Dead: Luciano never ingested the poison at all at the time of MN-6; that was only a body double of Luciano's who did it. The decoy was there to throw off the whole investigation. Indeed, the body double did exist, but Luciano had anticipated that someone might request to see said fake corpse, so he had burned it as Dr. Morton Dreisan.
• Fatal Flaw: Pointless cruelty. He probably would have taken longer to catch if he hadn't gone on a killing spree during the fifth chapter to add more damage to Mendirez's reputation, which he had already utterly destroyed. The fact that he does so much to his victims also means he leaves enough evidence that he can be directly linked to many crime scenes even without a fingerprint.
• Fate Worse than Death: What he likes to do to his victims. He would much rather make them want to kill themselves than kill them directly, as his "fun" stops once they're no longer alive to suffer due to his cruelty. His favorite method is to target their friends and family first, then blame them for his own actions.
• The Ghost: He’s never to be seen and appears only in other people's testimonies and recollections. Even his face is obscured in shadows on his picture in court record. This is so the player won't recognize Morton Dreisan as him until the very end.
• Hate Sink: There's not an ounce of humanity in him. He's a sadistic murderer who tortures and torments his victims, taking depraved joy in the suffering of them and their close ones. He somehow becomes even more unlikable when Morton Dresian reveals his true colors, being so devoid of any likable or endearing qualities that fellow Hate Sink Mendirez almost seems badass for subduing him.
• Hero Killer: He personally murders Cody, Jimmy and Gladys. In the climax, he takes Detective Watters hostage and threatens to kill him, and tries to shoot Phoenix dead. In the Non-Standard Game Over where Phoeinx is unable to conclusively prove that he is Dreisan, it's heavily implied that he goes on to murder Phoenix, Obadiah and the rest of the heroes after Mendirez is executed.
• Ironic Name: Carlo means "free man" while Luciano means "light." He's none of these by the end of the game.
• Irony: He murdered the only person that had enough evidence to link Mendirez to the Gallante killings, meaning that he'll likely end up becoming a Karma Houdini in the legal sense. This ironically is the only hope of Mendirez saving himself, meaning that in that instance, Luciano indirectly helped protect Mendirez from harm and consequences in an attempt to ruin his life.
• Kick the Dog: His entire life revolves around being as cruel and depraved as possible, not only hurting those who wrong him, but also everyone they care about.
• Last Breath Bullet: In the Bad Ending, Phoenix is unable to convince Mendirez not to kill Luciano and turn him in to the police. As Mendirez snaps Luciano's neck, Luciano's pistol goes off and shoots Mendirez in the chest, and he succumbs to his wound shortly afterwards.
• Meaningful Name: Charles "Lucky" Luciano was a Real Life mobster, a man known for his ruthlessness and efficency.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: A deconstructed example as it makes him even worse. His methods are so barbaric and inhumane that they actually offer sympathy to his victims, regardless of how vile they are as people. He liberally uses physical and mental torture to strike fear in the hearts of his enemies, though this isn't just reserved for the guilty.
• Posthumous Character: As it turns out, he also had a role in Pearl Fey's kidnapping. Subverted, as he's not dead after all.
• Professional Killer: Worked as one for Rivales Family, although if the Cadaverini Family is to be believed, he wasn't particularly loyal to them.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Word among Rivales family officers is that if you ever crossed him, he wouldn't just kill you, he would ruin your entire life, and only kill you once you were begging to die. Francisco Mendirez found this out the hard way.
• Sadist: He's perfectly capable of simply killing his victims, he just doesn't like to because it takes the fun out of destroying every aspect of their life before he gets bored of them and moves on to another unfortunate soul.
• The Sociopath: Described as such by Steven Jameson. Doubles as Foreshadowing, as who else do we know who has an extreme Lack of Empathy towards the dead?
• Stupid Evil: While he's a great liar and cunning tactician, he leaves a trail of evidence behind with his needless cruelty, making it rather easy to implicate him in his crimes. In some ways, this lack of self preservation makes him even more dangerous, as he's unable to determine when to count his losses, going out all guns blazing even when hopelessly outmatched.
• Walking Spoiler: His mere presence and the fact he's still alive dramatically raises the stakes of the game, as he's far more dangerous and powerful than anyone else who appears before him. Doubly so in the fact that's he's Morton Dresian, a character who has personally interacted with Phoenix and co many times before.