Hub of Puzzles and Mysteries

okay. as we all know. phoenix does not believe in people unconditionally unless they have given him prior reason to do so (like edgeworth and mia). this exchange that happens in aa1 is, i think, the biggest example of him admitting it out loud:

Phoenix: I'm going to believe in you two until the end.

Larry: Us two?

Maya: Edgeworth and... who else? You mean me right?

Larry: Nah! He means me! Right, Nick?

Phoenix: Yeah, you, Larry.

Maya: Not... me?

Maya: ...

while it clearly hurts for maya to hear i think it makes sense. they've known each other for a very short time at this point and phoenix does, at this point, have more reason to trust in larry than he does maya (even though that trust seems pretty much revoked by the time aa3 rolls around because of larry admitting he was the one who stole the lunch money that caused the class trial at the end of turnabout goodbyes but i digress). while they're still in the process of quickly becoming good friends and while maya does seem to have grown attached to phoenix more quickly than phoenix to her (presumably because phoenix had defended her when no one else would) it's clear that phoenix isn't quite at the point she is. HOWEVER! according to rfta he also gets so depressed at the fact that she went back to kurain village to train that he literally doesn't take a single case for two months until he meets someone (ema) that reminds him so much of maya that he can't say no. fast forward to aa2:

Phoenix: What's wrong?

Maya: Are you sure? I mean, I'm guilty! I'm a murderer!

Phoenix: No one's decided that yet.

Maya: But I did! I killed that person... with these... two hands...!

Phoenix: That's enough, Maya.

Maya: It's hopeless! If you defend me, you'll lose, I'm sure...

Phoenix: Stop it!

Maya: ... ...Help me... Nick, help me... I'm scared...

Phoenix: Don't worry, I will. When is the trial?

this exchange is interesting to me because it's at this point that maya holds him back from leaving and gives him the magatama. their friendship, even though they've only just been reunited, is strong enough that phoenix insists that no one's decided WHO the killer is yet even in the face of maya admitting she thinks she's done it. but the thing IS—phoenix doesn't explicitly state he BELIEVES she hadn't done it. and when the topic of belief does come up later in the case, this is what ensues:

Maya: Um, Nick...

Phoenix: Yeah?

Maya: Why do you believe in me? Why do you think I didn't kill Dr. Grey?

Phoenix: ...Because of something Mia told me.

phoenix says out loud that the reason he believes wholeheartedly in maya's innocence (NOW, mind you) isn't because of his belief in maya's character, it's because of mia's words: spirit mediums can't dream when they channel. and he wholeheartedly believes in mia, which means that he now wholeheartedly believes in maya's innocence by EXTENSION.

and then farewell, my turnabout happens. and again, the minute he hears that maya's been kidnapped, his eyesight goes grayscale and starts fading like it doesn't do for any other character in the series:

Phoenix: (M-My sight... Everything's fading away... Maya... Maya... Maya's been kidnapped!)

and suddenly, phoenix is doing everything in his goddamn power to try to get her back. it's to the point that even the people of the gallery start turning against him when he attempts to pin the blame on adrian andrews to buy some time. it's even to the point where MIA, of all people, starts looking at him with seemingly genuine disapproval and not just her usual exasperation when he fucks up in court. and the only thought running through his head?

Phoenix: (This is to save Maya... This is to save Maya... Even if the whole world turns against me, this is one fight I can't give up on!)

Mia: ...

and then the case is over, and maya and phoenix have this exchange (as well as the happy little picture which always make me want to combust so i'm putting it in this post because look at them):

Phoenix: M-M-M... MAYA!

Pearl: Mystic Maya! Mystic Mayaaaaaaaa!

Maya: Oh, Nick! I knew you would come through! You got Engarde convicted, like I knew you would... And on top of that, you even rescued me!

Phoenix: Well, of course I did! You know I would never desert you!

and it's DIFFERENT when phoenix says it this time. when he told her he wouldn't abandon her all the way back in aa1 it was different. it was when she thought she'd been abandoned by everyone and phoenix compared it to his own past and made the decision to stay by her side through that trial partly because of that (and partly because of the fact that she was mia's sister). this time, when phoenix says he would never desert her, he EXCLAIMS it and states it like it's a simple fact of life. he would never desert her! that's all there is to it! and from then on things change. aa3 is known for its phoenix&maya moments for a reason: the banter is hilarious, the dynamics sublime, and if you didn't really see it before, you REALLY start to notice that you're getting hit with the wacky friendship/sibling-like shenanigans (maya whacking phoenix over the head with the shichishito is, of course, the first thing that comes to mind, but there's so so so many more moments) now. the conversation of "belief" between them starts in the stolen turnabout, where pearl starts crying and tells phoenix she'll never forgive him for taking ron delite's case. but when he asks maya about it?

Phoenix: And what about you...? Are you OK with me taking Mr. DeLite's case...?

Maya: Y-Yeah... I'm fine, Nick. I believe in you.

Phoenix: ... *sniffle* (I think I'm going to cry.)

she believes, wholeheartedly, in phoenix. and later, of course, bridge to the turnabout happens. you see how phoenix quite literally knocks larry (who he once said he'd always believe in) out of the way despite larry's very rational protests that the burning bridge was too dangerous to try and cross in his effort to reach maya on the OFF CHANCE that the murderer had fled to the other side. despite the fact that phoenix, just hours earlier, had been so terrified of the bridge that he needed literal time to recover after crossing it. and when dahlia-as-iris starts trying to pin the murder on maya....

Dahlia/Iris: I saw her commit the crime with my very own eyes... And then I cleaned up the area to try to protect her.

Phoenix: OBJECTION! Th-That's ridiculous! Maya could never do such a--

INSTANT dismissal. INSTANT refusal. it's not at all like his rationalizations (and his trust in mia over maya) in 2-2. he BELIEVES, wholeheartedly, in maya. in the fact that maya could never kill anyone. and the thing about it is that his belief in maya didn't come from some grand showcase of saving him like mia and edgeworth did—it was the product of years of friendship. throughout the entirety of the time that dahlia tries to pin the murder on maya, phoenix refuses to even CONSIDER the idea:

Phoenix: (I still can't believe it... The idea of Maya cornering someone at knifepoint! It's just silly!)

bridge to the turnabout even ENDS with maya saying that phoenix is one of the feys now. she calls herself his big sister TWICE and the only objection he has to it is that she was trying to claim that SHE was the older one and not the other way around. he (as shown by the end credits) literally ended up sitting under a freezing waterfall with her for the special course spirit training despite not being a medium at all. it's very clear by the end of the trilogy that phoenix and maya are absolutely irreplaceable in each other's lives, no questions asked.

the context for maya giving phoenix the magatama in the first place was because phoenix refused to let her admit she was guilty even to herself:

Phoenix: I'll be back later, Maya. In the meantime, please make sure you prepare it, OK?

Maya: Huh? "It"? What is "it"?

Phoenix: The document requesting me to be your attorney, of course.

Maya: …! But…

Phoenix: What's wrong?

Maya: Are you sure? I mean, I'm guilty! I'm a murderer!

Phoenix: No one's decided that yet.

Maya: But I did! I killed that person… with these… two hands…!

Phoenix: That's enough, Maya.

Maya: It's hopeless! If you defend me, you'll lose, I'm sure…

Phoenix: Stop it!

Maya: … …Help me… Nick, help me… I'm scared…

Phoenix: Don't worry, I will. When is the trial?

and then, of course, phoenix goes to leave and maya stops him:

Phoenix: Alright. I'm going now.

Maya: Wait.

Phoenix: ...?

Maya: This jewel... This is called a Magatama. It's a magical charm and it's always protected me. Give this to Pearly... And I'm sure she'll lend you her spiritual powers.

and you have to kind of think about the gravity of this. this is maya "...i've been abandoned, haven't i?" fey. this is a person who's used to being left behind, over and over. her father's dead. misty walked out on her. even mia, in her own way, left her behind, and maya says as such ("several years later, my sister announced she would "become a lawyer" and left the mountain." maya even mentions how she lives alone, because at this point morgan is still doing her best to keep pearl as separate from others as she can). more than that, pearl is not the only person who's grown up seeing the fallouts of bad marriages in kurain village—maya grew up there as well. if there's one thing the fey women seem to be used to, it's men walking out on them. and this is a different situation but from maya's perspective i think it can be read kind of similarly—this is phoenix, her semi-new friend who she was just reunited with, who has just seen what seemed like, at the time, the potential horrors of channeling: a spirit going berserk and killing someone using maya's body. it would have been very easy for phoenix to get freaked out by it and turn away, if nothing else, but he doesn't! and more than that, this is the second time he's looked maya in the eye and promised with all of his heart not to leave her behind. even when she tries to push him away because she's got a self-sacrificing streak a mile long.

and when she gives him the magatama...she mentions how it's always protected her, which implies that before the magatama "died" and needed to be recharged (by pearl, this time) whoever had charged it had done so with the intent to "protect" in whatever manner that may have been (maya doesn't know about psyche-locks because that's something spiritually unique to pearl, something which is slightly expanded upon in aa3). and there are two people in her past who would have wanted to see her protected: mia is one, and misty is another. and since no mention of mia is made (what with mia already have her own magatama[s]), it's safer to assume that whoever had charged the magatama previously with the intent to protect would've been none other than her mother. now! the reason i think an argument could be made that it was misty's magatama in the first place!

SO! we see from the kurain master's scroll that misty USED to wear a magatama, though the color of it isn't shown. she also isn't wearing a magatama when met at hazakura temple, and though this could be written off as her just having it somewhere else on her person, i don't think so because of two things: one, the kurain master's talisman (pictured above) that she had kept on her until the day she died, like she was supposed to. it would stand to reason that if she DID still carry her magatama on her person, it would have been dropped alongside the talisman when she died, but there was no magatama in sight and only the talisman to be found. the second reason is because of her final words before she vanished, detailed in mia's files in aa1:

"'I have tarnished the Fey name.' Leaving only these words, my mother vanished."

the fey name meant everything to misty, enough for her to leave her children behind and go into hiding to attempt to spare the village the embarrassment of housing a laughingstock. though she kept the master's talisman (because, at the time, there would have been no other option for someone to be the master in misty's place except morgan, who was not as spiritually powerful as misty, and misty was clearly not about to let that happen) it isn't a stretch to think that she would have abandoned her magatama—charging it with spiritual intent and leaving it behind in the hands of her youngest daughter as a final farewell. it would explain why she carried no magatama on her person when we meet her for the first time at hazakura temple, and explain why maya, who already has her own orange magatama, placed special weight on this green magatama that had supposedly always protected her in some way, shape or form.

The Cali team is Phoenix and Athena, and the reasoning from the team for having Phoenix go to the Khurain kingdom was "What can be the challenge for Phoenix at this point?", if I'm recalling correctly. He seems to be seen to have reached some height and to have needed some absurdly powerful foe. If you're viewing him in terms of what can challenge him, while also viewing him as needing a lawyer killing kingdom for that, I suspect you're going to have problems imagining more stories for him.

Athena has had problems in terms of her position as a main player character from her introductory case, and her first game had her juggle what she got of that role with other roles (like the person with a mystery role and the Maya/Edgeworth person to save role, for examples). Spirit of Justice seemed uncertain about what to do with her with her DD plot roles gone. The case she got was fun, but her treatment didn't feel like that from a team that could make her the protag for future main plots. And, I imagine she'd be sharing the protag role with Phoenix. I'm doubtful that we'll get a stab at another main game that's not a Phoenix Wright game.

Not to make several mountains out of a molehill but the complete misunderstanding the AA fandom has of Kristoph Gavin's character as well as the relationship he had with Phoenix (of whatever relationship they may have had) is something I find so incredibly fascinating. I think that Kristoph is a much deeper character than people give him credit for, and just because his inner workings aren't laid out in plaintext like Ace Attorney tends to do doesn't mean the game doesn't have several hints and nudges that imply how he really feels. You just have to think a little.

AA4 (and slight Dual Destinies) spoilers below the cut!

MAYA: When she was younger it was mostly her sending him jokes, memes, and mildly concerning anecdotes/photos while he reacts with confusion and exasperation, but now that they've been friends for a decade and have both significantly matured... it's still mostly her sending him jokes, memes, and mildly concerning anecdotes/photos while he reacts with confusion and exasperation.

EDGEWORTH: Semi-regular check-ins throughout the week. Phoenix is checking to see if Miles isn't getting too overloaded with work. Miles is checking to see if Phoenix has managed to avoid getting badly injured again. Then they politely double-check to see if they're still available for their weekly lunch. Maya read through the logs for this once and found it upsetting for reasons she refuses to explain to Phoenix.

LARRY: Larry badgers Phoenix with his random train of thought, much of which fails to make any sense to Phoenix. But Phoenix likes it because 1) Larry can provide levity when Phoenix really needs it, and 2) it helps him keep track of Larry. If Larry goes silent, it means he's probably found a new girlfriend, and will probably find himself on the witness stand in a trial within a week.

GUMSHOE: Gumshoe is the type of person who texts you to make sure you got home safely from wherever he saw you at. It's very considerate of him. Phoenix genuinely appreciates it but doesn't know how to verbalize it beyond various forms of "Thanks, Gumshoe!" To which Gumshoe invariably responds with "You're welcome, pal!" Getting a longer text conversation out of Gumshoe is impossible, however.

FRANZISKA: Aside from occasionally checking in with each other if Edgeworth goes radio silent, Phoenix and Franziska usually only text around once a month. Their text logs are full of almost nothing but insulting other people and gossiping. It's kind of hilarious. Occasionally they get bored and insult each other for old times' sake. It's like mild enrichment to them. If they don't get to have a "being mean" outlet it starts to have an adverse effect on their health. Fortunately they have the chance to be not-so-secretly extremely judgemental TOGETHER. Good for them.

PEARL: Pearl is old enough to know how to competently use a phone... but she's not exactly sure what to text Phoenix about. She basically only texts if Maya can't but still needs to send a message to Phoenix. I get the vague feeling that Phoenix occasionally sends her animal photos but I don't know why.

IRIS: The most agonizingly awkward check-ins you've ever seen. They want to make sure the other is okay, without having to think too hard about why the other might NOT be okay. Maya couldn't decide if Phoenix's conversations with Iris are more or less upsetting than his conversations with Edgeworth. (And speaking as a filthy Feenris shipper: yes, their texts would be like this even if they got back together. They cannot text normally with each other to save their lives.)

GODOT: Every once in a while Diego texts Phoenix a short and vague message that's usually mildly insulting (though lacking malice) and implies Diego has been getting into Situations of various sorts. Phoenix responds with something along the lines of "GODOT SERIOUSLY WHY DO YOU DO THIS STOP SENDING ME OMINOUS MESSAGES AND THEN GHOSTING ME" to which Diego responds with a coffee emoji and then ghosts Phoenix again for who knows how long.

THE JUDGE: The Judge seems to have gotten his texting app and his shopping list mixed up. Phoenix tried to correct him at first but has long since given up. While Phoenix was disbarred the shopping list messages stopped but then when he got his badge back the shopping list messages resumed. In the back of Phoenix's mind he suspects that this is deliberate on the Judge's part, but he refuses to fully accept the idea.

KAY & EUSTACE: Phoenix still only really knows the two of them through Edgeworth, but he likes them well enough to make it clear they can come to him if they need assistance. Eustance actually has taken Phoenix up on the offer once or twice when Franziska and Edgeworth weren't available, but Kay seems to just prefer trolling him.

KRISTOPH: The contents of the conversation were honestly relatively inoffensive as both kept up the facade of being "friends". Phoenix won't delete it because it's important to keep records of everything, but he still REALLY wishes he could.

TRUCY: Mostly just keeping tabs on each other. Trucy occasionally dabbles in texting like a stereotypical teen so that Phoenix can act befuddled like a stereotypical dad in kind, but it's really more of a joke that they're both in on. Only thing really notable is when Trucy decides she *needs* something from him and proceeds to spam messages at him until he either responds or calls her.

APOLLO: Occasionally Phoenix will ask how things are going, but mostly they talk about their actual jobs (for once). Apollo is All Business, and has learned that if he asks for law advice over texts instead of calling Phoenix is more likely to actually give straightforward responses instead of turning their conversation into a LONG conversation. And of course, every time Phoenix gets in a situation Apollo inevitably texts demanding to know why he was informed of it by SOMEONE ELSE. Dangit Phoenix would it kill you to keep Apollo in the Loop, like ever?

KLAVIER: Klavier has Phoenix on his list of people to message each morning with some ridiculous song lyrics. Phoenix is smart and has Klavier on mute. But unfortunately this has come back to bite him more than once. Klavier is well aware he's on mute and takes full advantage of this.

EMA: Any time Phoenix shows up in the news he gets a text from Ema with a link to the article followed by a snarky comment on it. "Seriously, Mr. Wright? Again?" But on occasion he reaches out to her for science-related info and it looks like she doesn't respond... because she usually calls him immediately, ecstatic.

ATHENA: Athena's texts to Phoenix actually resemble what you'd expect an employee's texts to her boss to actually look like, keeping him updated throughout the day and asking if there's anything else she needs to do, with him responding almost like a normal boss with warm advice and checking to make sure she's doing alright. There's copious amounts of emoticons, though.

BLACKQUILL: Simon usually only texts Phoenix when he absolutely has to. He instead has Athena pass along messages for him. But there was one evening when Simon texted Phoenix with some questions about his Japanese genealogy and they had a surprisingly deep conversation! Before going back to never texting each other.

RAYFA: Rayfa recently acquired a phone. She doesn't fully understand why a phone would be used for recreation, but Phoenix managed to acquire her number, so now he sends her bad jokes. Rayfa was confused at first but under her mother's advice she's started using them for learning experience, considering a lot of the jokes have contexts foreign to her. Phoenix has been trying to set Rayfa up with a pen pal in the states but no luck so far, so for now he just patiently answers her questions.

AMARA: Nahyuta does not have Phoenix's number, and the reverse is also true, so in the rare event that he has something to talk to Phoenix about he passes it on via Apollo. Unfortunately one time Apollp was unconscious from working all night and it was kind of urgent. Lo and behold, freaking Queen Amara somehow had Phoenix's number and passed along the message instead. Since then, she'll occasionally send Phoenix candid photos of the Courtroom, and Phoenix wonders what the heck his life has turned into.

LAMIROIR: Their conversations USED to be Phoenix giving Thalassa updates on her children, but lately it's been a series of frustrated exchanges as every attempt at scheduling a meetup with her, Trucy, and Apollo continues to fall through. It's a disaster. Phoenix wonders if they're cursed to never get proper resolution to the Gramarye family drama.

PROFESSOR LAYTON: Unsurprisingly, Layton sends Phoenix puzzles once a week, only some of which Phoenix can solve on his own, though he tries to ensure he has the answer by the time Layton sends the next puzzle. One time Phoenix asked Layton what he was up to these days, and the Professor told him. Phoenix promptly decided to not ask again unless it was relevant to a case, and now they mostly keep their occasional conversations restricted to discussing their respective children.