#Character analysis brain goes brrrrrr

[characteroulette]

Okay actually I'll talk about this since it's on my mind. (Fnaf sb Ruin spoilers)

I like Cassie's reaction to shutting down Roxy a lot!! It's a pretty accurate child reaction to something like that happening. We, as adults, know that, logically, shutting Roxy down is for her best. She's broken and malfunctioning, so giving her a reset (like how we did to Sun/Moon for Eclipse) is probably the best thing we can do for her.

Cassie, however, is a child. To her, she's doing something so mean or terrible or awful to her favourite character and she's very clearly distraught about it. She's aware enough to know she has to do it, but the emotions are too big for her to separate it as a good thing instead of something as immensely sad as she feels it is. Her reaction to it being pretty real is probably what makes that moment work as well as it does; one point in Steel Wool's favour there!

Her erratic crying isn't great and her overall reactions are more "adult writing a child" than it should be, (what especially strikes me in the finale is the way she comes at Gregory with "Is it you? I mean, the REAL you?" as calmly as she does. As well as her phrasing. Were she more an actual child, she'd probably be freaking out a lot more than that and be less consolable, especially with all the heightened emotions surrounding this moment), but writing kids is hard so I can give somewhat of a pass to this. Considering Gregory has a lot of the same sort of hiccups to his reactions/phrasing, it's about what I'd expect from their character work.

Anyway yeah just a thought I had on Cassie an her character.

[wayward-wren]

Tubbo Character Analysis

Brain has been going brrrrrr all day and I gotta yeet some thoughts out before I can go on with my life anyway let’s go. Slight spoilers for November 16th. 

Tubbo’s recently revealed backstory about being found on the side of the road puts a lot of his character in a new light and it’s actually wild. I’d imagine him maybe around 7 or 8 when he got found by the sleepy bois family and gets adopted into their fold. He grows up along side them, inseparable from Tommy who’s very similar to his age, and looking up to Wilbur and Techno (side note, firmly believe Techno was the one to find him more on that in a moment). 

He’s just as chaotic as the sleepy bois, but he hides it a lot better (honestly it took me a while to catch onto his chaotic streak and see the depth of his character beyond ‘tommy’s best friend who’s kinda a yes-man’) But if he’s a yes-man it’s because he’s safer that way. It’s easier to be nice, to duck your head and do what you’re told because you’re less likely to get hurt that way. And then once he’s comfortable, he’ll let his chaotic streak out - for example the traps he made with Fundy. It’s a stark contrast to Tommy, who grew up with a family he trusted without question and who trusts almost too easily. 

Bringing it back to the Festival, that would have shaken Tubbo’s trust in a lot of ways. One - Schlatt (and Quackity, to an extent) betrayed him. Two - Techno shot him in front of a crowd of people - Tubbo’s friends. Three - Wilbur said to Tubbo that Techno wasn’t going to hurt him and Tubbo trusted him. He trusted that the two people he looked up to as older brothers wouldn’t hurt him, but instead he ended up shot by fireworks and traumatized. (and that’s why i like the idea of Techno finding him. It’s poetic, Tubbo being killed - twice - by the very person who found him and gave him a chance at a better life). 

And leading onto that, it makes complete sense that he didn’t trust Tommy at the eve of the war, why Tommy was ‘public enemy number one.’ 2/3 of his adoptive brothers betrayed his trust, and Tubbo knows how close Tommy and Wilbur are. He’s being careful, cautious, not letting his guard down to be hurt again. In contrast to Tommy’s blind trust of his best friend, Tubbo is used to betrayal and is much more cautious. 

I think it’s also worth noting that the only person he trusts is Quackity - who was also betrayed by Schlatt, and who was really the only person who actually tried to stop the execution at the festival. (Yes, Tommy did jump in, but he took his cue from Wilbur and didn’t do anything until after Tubbo was killed). 

I’ll be very interested to see what goes on as he embraces the presidential role. He’s already kinda struggling to keep Quackity and Fundy in check, and I think it would make sense for his frustration and temper to make more of an appearance. For possibly the first time in his life he’s in a position of power and he’s trying to do right by it, clearly (keeping the peace despite Fundy and Quackity’s efforts), but he’s also still just a kid and I can easily see him actually letting his anger go a little more than he should. (and I for one am kind hype for it. Let Tubbo go feral. As a treat). 

[everything-laito]

damn the brain be out here going BRRRRRR here’s the Laito and Cordelia Analysis (with a little bit of Karl sprinkled in) Part III

wow my fingers are freezing but my brain sure isn't! 

aaaanyways, iiiiiit’s trauma time!!! Am I a productive member of society by writing these analyses? No. Do I gain anything by writing them? Kinda, my brain gets exercised and they’re fun to research for. But if you haven’t read the first part or the second part for some reason (I recommend reading them in order), there they are. 

Once again, trigger warnings still apply; mainly about trauma, isolation, etc 

I’m gonna talk about the trauma and effects it had on Laito and to attempt to extrapolate why he is the way he is. I have a lot of examples I want to go over and stuff to talk about, so I think the trauma part is going to be split between two (or maybe three) parts. I also have a little bit to say about Karlheinz.

As always, big ass rant under the cut! 

Section 6: Neuroplasticity and Trauma

Oh???? More science vernacular??? You BET! Ok, neuroplasticity. I know I’ve talked about it on this blog. But, I seriously doubt that there is a madlad who has read all of my analyses (speaking of which, I should update the master list lmao) and I don’t expect anyone to do that LOL! Anyways, this neurological concept is the ability of neurons to adapt to certain circumstances or stimuli by creating new neurological pathways (through synapses). This basically relates to memory and learning. It’s why we don’t stay the same person as we grow and develop. It’s responsible from mindset changes to response to traumatic events. It plays a huge part in trauma, which is why “repressed memories” occur as well. 

Trauma, taken from Psychology Today, is defined as: 

...the experience of severe psychological distress following any terrible or life-threatening event. Sufferers may develop emotional disturbances such as extreme anxiety, anger, sadness, survivor’s guilt, or PTSD.

It’s a basic definition. And although I’d assume people would know what trauma is already, but knowing the lexical definition of something can be good to know before going into it. 

Obviously, Laito has trauma, there’s literally no refuting that. But, the point I’m getting at, is the reason why he is the way he is today is because of neuroplasticity. As previously stated, we are going to assume the DL vampire brain works similarly or the same as a human brain. So, because of the stress put upon the brain (Cordelia’s actions and Laito’s general upbringing in a stress filled household), Laito’s brain was rewired (neuroplasticity). This section doesn’t really have much new information, but I wanted to give a baseline since there’s many people who don’t know what neuroplasticity is.

Laito’s definitely different than what he was as a kid. He still kind of had his smarts, and might have been  but as we’ve deducted from the first part of this series, he might have been groomed. On top of that, the brain is easily moldable when you’re a child (which is why grooming makes sense for Laito’s case), and continues to snip brain cells off and form new connections. 

Section 7: Little intermission about Karlheinz 

I know I haven’t really talked about Karlheinz yet. So this will be the section that I do it in. I know this part is about Laito’s trauma, but it’s so hard to not just weave other characters into it. Nothing is stand-alone, which is why it was so hard for me to plan this out. I was debating about saving this for another analysis, but I feel like it fits. 

I referenced this in Part II, Section 5 of this analysis series. Basically, Karlheinz throws Laito into the dungeon and locks him up. Not Karlheinz personally, but he ordered someone to do it. We don’t explicitly know why, but there’s several implications. A huge one is that it was part of Karlheinz’ experiment. Before Dark Fate, I was like “wait, so did Karl find out about Laito/Cordelia? And got like jealous or was like ‘nah this shit fucked up no thanks’?” I was really scratching my head on that. But in Dark Fate, you find that Karlheinz knew about Cordelia and Laito, and even really wanted it to happen. Which is all sorts of fucked up. This really put Laito in for a loop. Here’s a scene from Dark Fate: 

Laito: That woman always, always believed in Karlheinz. Laito: She believed he married her because he loved her, wanted her. That’s why she was sure that one day... he will give his love only to her.  Laito: But she was tricked. She wasn’t loved from the start... Laito: -And I’m a victim of this unbelievable mistake... That’s how it is. Laito: I was treated as a vent for her feelings. Yui: ...Laito-kun... Laito: I’m sure he knew that something like this will happen... He is a god after all... Laito: I was hoping that... He just overlooked it up until now... Laito: But... I was naive.  Laito: I was only planned a scapegoat. 

God, when I played this, that just freaking struck me to my core. That’s so awful. Ironically... Karlheinz probably has some high level of emotional intelligence. I don’t believe he could be labeled as a sociopath, considering he has this high level understanding of pathos. He’s not god in a sense that he controls everyone individually himself. He’s so good at manipulation that he basically creates fate itself (whether you believe in it or not). He’s generally intelligent and cunning, and it also just helps with the fact that he’s immortal and can time travel. He knows cause and effect by now, and I believe Lost Eden said something about how he’s done so many different “timelines.” 

The definition of a god in a philosophical sense can be broken down into three words: omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. More wicked cool jargon! Yay! Here’s what they mean for extra clarification:

Omniscient: All knowing Omnipresent: All seeing Omnipotent: All doing

Sure Karlheinz doesn’t absolutely know everything, nor can see everything, and he definitely has limits to his power, but he has gained knowledge through living for so many years and time traveling; he has familiars which add to the whole “all seeing” part; and he has a lot of power. So basically, in the most semi-”realistic” sense, it would definitely be the closest being to any kind of god.

Karlheinz is probably the reason why Laito himself has such contempt towards religion, and the existence of a god in general. Sure, the boys are like “that shit’s made up by humans” in general, but it would make sense for Laito himself to have that specific hatred. It makes sense that these vampires would be like “oh that’s made up by humans” when they’ve been around forever and have seen multiple religions come and go. (I’m mainly talking about in DL’s lore case, not starting a religious argument; please don’t take it as such––just to clarify)

Section 8: Isolation

Originally, the previous part was going to be about Laito’s isolation being locked up. However, I went off the rails and it turned into that little intermission. This is going to be a shorter section, but I still wanted to talk about, and it will weave into the next section. 

There is no implications about how long Laito was locked up (and tortured) in the dungeon. There’s also no implications about why he was tortured. But torture and isolation puts such stress on the brain that there’s definitely going to be some kind of outcome if persisting for a good period of time. So let’s take a look at what that does to a person. 

Once again, taking this with a grain of salt. I imagine vampires don’t need to rely on social interaction as much as humans do, considering they live forever. But we don’t know. However, throwing Laito into a state of isolation implies that it would be some type of torture or harsh punishment for a vampire, which therefore implies that social interaction is a necessity for emotional function. It’s just sound, inductive logic. 

So now, as for isolation, I’m using this article as reference. It’s a pretty interesting one to read. Here’s another extensive article as well. Basically isolation can cause:

Depression/anxiety

Immune system deficiencies (basically more likely to get physically ill)

Sleep cycle changes (if put underground or with limited natural light)

Hallucinations

Paranoia

Issues with processing information and more susceptible to persuasion/manipulation

We have no clue if Laito’s experience fits all of these. Also, the second one can be crossed out because vampires in DL can’t get physically sick in the way we can. Also, unsure about the sleep cycle stuff considering they are used to being in the dark. Hallucinations and paranoia can’t be crossed off nor proven. 

Being isolated physically and mentally exhausts the mind, which is why it’s also a way of torture. Laito implies that he was tortured with physical devices, but regardless, it’s still stress on the mind. This type of stress definitely goes along with what was mentioned with neuroplasticity and trauma, which also supports the last bullet point: issues processing information and being more susceptible to persuasion/manipulation. Take this flashback from Maniac Prologue in HDB that I used in Part II section 5 (but here’s even more context):

Laito: ーー Let me go!! Let me out of here! Butler: I can’t, young lord. We’ve received strict orders from your father. I am deeply sorry, but please stay put for a while. Laito: What’s the point in having me chained up in here!? Butler: ーーI am very sorry. Laito: Hahahaha…You stupid old man! Do you think that this will make repent!? How foolish! That demon! Has his brain finally rotten from spending too much time with humans!? ー Cordelia appears Cordelia: ー Oh? Laito: …!? Have you come to save me? Cordelia: Oh dear. Ufufu…I’m sorry Laito, that isn’t it. Laito: Eh? Richter: ー Why are you here? Laito: …That’s my line. Cordelia: Okay, okay. No fighting! More importantly, Richter…Come here. Laito: …!? Cordelia: Nnn…Hey, Laito. You are a good boy. Laito: …!! Cordelia: Right, Laito? Laito: Yeah, that’s right. I’m…I’m a good boy after all.  ーー Besides, I’m the type of person who only get more aroused from this kind of thing.

Although I also use this to support the whole Stockholm syndrome point, this could also be supported with the trauma isolation also holds. His mind is being re-molded into the facade he holds. Also, note the whole “do you think this will make me repent?!” part. Just a very interesting thing. The word “repent” implies that there’s something to feel guilty about or the person knows that what they’ve done is bad. It just goes to show that Laito has some part of guilt or moral compass still in tact. 

You can also argue that this scene was when Laito just got locked up, or he’s been here for a while. Either way, he could have also been socially isolated before this too, just hanging around Cordelia like it’s implied when he was a child. Remember the whole not being in bed 9/10 times when he was a child? Yeah, controlled social isolation. We also rarely see Laito with other characters in his flashbacks. I don’t believe we see him with his brothers in any of his flashbacks from what I can recall; he’s usually with Cordelia. Just implies (to me) that he’s around her a lot. And being locked up is also a more extreme case of that, which would mold the brain even more. 

I know that was a LOT to process and read. I sure hope this still is cohesive for you all. I’m pretty bad at organizing this kind of stuff; it’s a bit difficult since it all just goes together. Which, kudos on the writers of DL, because that’s just good writing. I was going to put something about gaslighting in this part, but that might be too long, so I’m going to make that a separate part or include it in the next part. 

If you have any questions, feel free to just put it in the inbox. I’m planning on making the last part of this series answering all the Laito/Cordelia questions I’ve received, or just general questions pertaining to this analysis in general, whether it be tangential questions or clarifying questions. 

Hope you all are still enjoying this ride as much as I am!  -Corn

[bambuwu-writes]

annotation hcs (winter pt 1)

I haven't finished the winter troupe’s first chapter yet, so that would explain if any of these are ooc or feel kinda bland, sorry!

Tsumugi: king of annotations, I don't make the rules >:3. He’s the one whom everyone goes to when they have no clue how to go about something academic, and this kinda extends to script annotation. He takes such nice, neat professional notes on most of the pages. [as i said in kazu’s hcs, i think that most of the post-high school kids are fairly solid on note-taking] butttttt, i feel like on certain pages this dweeb[in a loving way] just forgets what the word neat even means. Im talking scribbles, lengthy notes for no reason random analysis, dogeared page, doodles, scratchy marks in the margins, he just gets into a state where his brain goes *BRRRRRR*. Most of it is nice though I promise.

Tasuku: (LOOK IN THE COMMENTS, some lovely people corrected me on this one as we have textual evidence about tasuku’s note-taking later on in the chapters!!!!!) mmmostly minimal notes. Some underlining here and there, mostly reminders to himself on movement and how to get down the subtleties of the script. I feel like he would dogear pages alot too! He’s the one who forgot to write his name on the front of his script, but after a couple of reminders he did it

Hisoka: there’s like, 10 words total in that entire script. Idk he just, feels his script, reads it, sleeps with it under his pillow, and then he’s got it. <- on that note, he definitely sleeps with his script sometimes. Once he told tsuzuru that the scripts were ‘comfy’ and tsuzu just accepted it and moved on with his day.

Homare: WHERE TO START WITH THIS ONE?? So, first off, somehow he managed to make the script look like an illuminated manuscript with all his additions?? Used one of his fountain/calligraphy pens with gold ink to write his name on the front cover~ puts in poetry when inspiration strikes him, so some of the pages are -covered- in writing. Adds little commentary to his notes like muku!! ‘Hmm?? This character seems to be quite nervous!!! Mayhaps this ought to play into their stance!!’ Uses multiple pens when annotating, so there is a bit of a range of color in there, mostly blues, reds, blacks, and on occasion some other colours. I feel like he would use a shade of wine red most often tho!

Azuma: unlike homare, i feel azuma has one specific pen dedicated to annotating his script. He always keeps it neat and tidy, no folded corners, and the script isn’t too worn-looking at the end of the run, he even has a place in his room where he keeps all his scripts! Tries to keep his notes in a nice little aside in the margins, keeping the lines nice and straight!

[lovetenya]

hey tj! is there a bnha character that you relate to the most? or a character you think you would get along with? 😊

hi!!! not sure you realize what kind of can of worms you’ve opened, so you’d better buckle up, anon. i am so sorry for the atrocities i am about to commit. i will probably have to add in a cut later, because i’m considerate. <3

i relate to several bnha characters and i LOVE character analysis, so this is actually something i’ve thought a LOT about. i’m gonna do bullet points to keep it organized, because even before i’ve written this, i know it’ll be long.

i’ll give you three for each.

i’ll start with the ones i relate to. i HATE to admit this, because i know a LOT of people only relate to him because they boil him down to his trauma, but i really relate to..

shoto todoroki.

although i don’t want to simplify him into his past, a big part of the reason i see myself in him is because i relate to his family issues, and how his personality is affected by it. my understanding of his character goes to another level with shoto because of how specifically i relate to these aspects of his life.

we both have incredibly strong senses of morality and will NOT go against our self-imposed regulations under any circumstances.

not only that, but we have the same MBTI type, zodiac sign, and number of siblings. (weird, right? my cousin has my name in her phone as “icyhot bastard” and it drives me crazy.)

the way he reacts to situations (with stoicism and pretend indifference) is very similar to me and how i interact with the world. i also relate to his dark humor toward himself (like when he jokes about his scar) because i do the same thing, and like shoto, people around me often can’t handle it.

also!! i struggle with understanding tone and the implications of what people are saying, just like shoto. tone tags are my favorite thing, and sarcasm (although i’m an avid user of it) is my worst nightmare.

another bnha character i relate to is, of course, tenya iida. i’m sure you’re all surprised.

i write so much for him because it’s almost therapeutic to SEE that people truly care and love someone like him despite all of his flaws (of which there are NONE /j)

he’s a passionate leader with an incredibly strong sense of morals, and i really relate to that. i love to lead because i can help others be their best, and tenya does too.

ALSO, everybody makes jokes all the time about him (and me) being innocent and just a stick-in-the-mud, forgetting that tenya LITERALLY TRIED TO KILL SOMEONE???? that chaotic lawful energy is very me. i’ll do a lot of questionable things as long as they’re for the right reasons.

lastly, i relate to katsuki bakugo.

because of the anger issues

because of the drive for success, the extreme determination, and the willingness to do ANYTHING to achieve his goals.

also the fact that he refuses to call anyone his friend. same, dude.

okay. finally i’ll move onto who i think i’d get along with. I’LL TRY NOT TO BE TOO SELF INDULGENT... but i can’t make any promises.

eijiro kirishima <3 <3 <3

NOT JUST BECAUSE I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM (but that’s a big part of it)

i think that he and i would get along because it’d be such a supportive, genuine relationship.

he’d encourage me to be more positive and make me feel safe to talk about everything i’m afraid to talk about.

and i’d encourage him to take things slow and serious, and i’d uplift him when he’s insecure or unsure of himself.

yeah. i’m just in love with him.

izuku midoriya <3

because i’m the opposite of his enthusiastic “i’ll never, ever give up!” sunshine HAHAHA

and i just really love his loving, caring nature and how he’s good just because.

i love how he’s great because he makes the conscious choice every day to be better so that he can be a hero everyone can look up to. he wants to inspire others like all might did for him.

i think we’d be really great friends because i’d love to hear him ramble about hero facts and theories and i would let him infodump and never lose interest.

(he’s my bf where kiri is my husband.)

and last, but certainly not least....

keigo takami. (or the fanon version, at least. no, not the tiktok playboy sex-addicted bachelor version. that’s gross.)

i think his carefree and laid back nature would complement my tendency for taking everything too seriously and being a stick in the mud

he’d make me lighten up and calm tf down every once in a while without being a jerk about it, you know?

and i’d make him deal with his deep rooted childhood trauma <3

also pretty red wings make brain go brrrrrr!! they’re so pretty and there’s so much great fanart of keigo

I’M SORRY I WROTE SO MUCH BUT THIS IS ONLY LIKE HALF OF IT.. I DELETED SO MUCH HAHA. if you made it this far, you’re a legend.

[characteroulette]

A study on Prosecutors --

(On AO3) (next)

So the Ace Attorney series has a vast cast of colourful characters. From their protagonist to their one-off witnesses for a trial, there's bound to be one or two who catch your eye. A main draw for many are the prosecutors in particular and a lot of thought goes into making them appealing to us. They're our villains, but they have to be likable enough for us to want to spend time with them. So, from start to beginning, here's a personal analysis on how each games uses every narrative trick available to it to make us like their villains.

First, Edgeworth.

He's introduced to us in a very specific way; someone who's all ready tied quite personally to our protagonist. There's an air of mystery to him even as you enter the first day of the trial; Phoenix knows him somehow and there's dark rumours surrounding him. The first day of the trial does its best to "prove" those rumours true! Everyone knows about the famous "updated autopsy report" scene and what follows. Another important factor in this is the cross-examination with the bell boy. Edgeworth does use underhanded methods to win his cases, so it seems to us. He's really willing to bend the rules in order to get the culprit declared guilty. (He's right, of course, for wanting that update for the autopsy report. We saw it in the intro ourselves; Mia didn't die instantly when Redd White hit her. But it's a sting to us and it goes to prove his methods aren't the cleanest and so all we can think of is how despicable this move is, how brilliant it is for him to throw us off completely.)

And then, the second day of the trial. He confronts Phoenix before the trial specifically to almost warn him that there's no mercy. He comes to show off to the player that there's a deep seated darkness in him, just not in the way we might have thought from that first game. And Phoenix's manner towards him is crucial to our own feelings towards him; Phoenix doesn't get upset or even react much differently than he had when talking with Gumshoe about it. He merely says, "You've changed." And then Edgeworth walks away and the trial can begin.

Edgeworth fighting against Redd White starts the important trend of Edgeworth not being quite as in control as he likes to think he is. He can't control any of his witnesses and it's a crack in his affect. It's the first sign towards him being less than the demon he presents himself as, the first moment we get to see there's something endearing buried beneath his coldness. It also brings his ruthlessness and quick thinking back into sharp focus; the very moment Redd White is about to confess, he tells White to do so. To confess, in fact, to a different crime; to placing the wiretap. It's a brilliant move that sets everyone off-balance, it handily explains White's involvement without him having to be the murderer, and it gives White the second wind he needs to drive Phoenix (and us) into a corner, to deserve our deus-ex-machina that follows. As a personal note, this is the moment where I started really liking his character. It's such a brilliant bastard move that I couldn't help but like him immediately for it. Oh, this man is actually a bastard, I thought to myself. I'm going to enjoy grinding him down completely as this game goes on. (Exactly what the story wanted from me, I'm sure.)

But with Mia's help, we win the trial and save both ourselves and Maya. The mystery is left hanging in the air: who is Edgeworth to Phoenix and what happened to make him fall so far to darkness?

This isn't a question that will be answered in case 3, but this is where the writing goes into overdrive to endear us fully to our prosecuting rival.

The first day of the trial is a comedy of errors. We get to witness firsthand how much careful control Edgeworth places in his methods, in his scripts, and how lost he is without all that. He's floundering so hard with Wendy Oldbag, who makes strange assumptions in her testimony that he has to run with and omits important things due to forgetting or just not being allowed to say. It becomes a bit of a game for him as well; he's figuring out what exactly happened just the same as Phoenix is. He starts working with Phoenix right at the end, just for a moment, after his own witness lied about the full scope of things.

This is important, this glimpse of working together with Edgeworth. It's a hint, a taste of what's to come, and it's masterful in how quietly it's slipped under our focus. We're reeling, too, after all, from Oldbag's sudden truths.

But we need to investigate some more. And so we head on into the second day.

I don't think I can overstate enough how well each Gumshoe anecdote goes towards endearing us to Edgeworth. Having a character with 100% faith in someone as darkly presented to us as Edgeworth is goes such a long way in demonstrating their humanity. Edgeworth may appear ruthless and dubious, but he's so goofy. He crushes a cup full of hot coffee and burns himself!! He stands at a window and mumbles Wright's name to himself over and over!! He's just as much of a trainwreck as everyone else in this universe and it goes so far towards endearing us to him, to building up our own trust of him when it's needed most.

Trial day two is one step forward, two steps back for Edgeworth. He's managed to find stability in Sal Manella's testimony, he knows this proves that only Will Powers could be the criminal here, and yet everything falls apart once again when Cody takes the stand. Once again, Edgeworth finds himself floundering and scrambling for ways to discredit Phoenix's methods of questioning Cody. He tries to make his belief in Powers' guilt work, but Phoenix throws it all into his face. By the end of this day, there's practically no way Powers can be found guilty of this murder. And so Edgeworth is left in shambles, no longer able to cling to his belief that everyone is guilty, that if he just gets a guilty verdict for everyone then he can make up for his own failings.

(We get a glimpse of it, but the real reveal is yet to come.)

(This investigation day, I feel, is where Gumshoe is cemented as our lovable oaf of our friend. He saves us from Dee Vasquez's yakuza/mafia men. He gets his big damn hero moment and gets to be a little in awe of it himself. This is the moment, right here, where we can really just fall in love with Gumshoe. It's another small point towards our endearment to Edgeworth, albeit one that's a detour into a different character study.)

And thus, we come to the third trial day. Our strongest, most definitive look into Edgeworth as something more than just our villain/rival of the game.

It's stated right out the gate that Powers cannot still be considered as the guilty party. That Edgeworth's approach to this particular testimony has to be different, focused on proving her lack of involvement but unsure of where to go from here. He lets Phoenix and Vasquez run most of the show, watches as Phoenix engages in a battle of wits with her, and flounders all the while in what he's supposed to do here. He shouldn't be needed, after all. There's no way Powers can be guilty, so what is he even doing here?

Seeing Phoenix falter, however, brings him the answer. In a sudden move, he throws out an objection. He stalls the trial because the truth, the full truth, has yet to be pulled from this witness. The full truth is within their grasp and after seeing Phoenix claw at it so desperately, he has to see it to the end. He can't let it hang in uncertainty; he has to figure this out or it will eat at him like so many other things in his life. (His father's death. His own guilt. His first two trial experiences. SL-9's darkness. So many unanswered questions hang over his head that we've yet to become aware of, and still they inform his turn here in this moment. They fit together to form this picture of a man who has been shown the light of truth which can dispell his own doubts and he latches onto it in a desperation, in a moment of casting aside his own helplessness in the face of all the darkness he's accrued inside him. He wants to find the truth! He's cast it aside for so long in his efforts to punish himself for a crime he believes he committed and yet still, yet still, he can't help but stumble forward into that light at the first moment he's allowed. He wants to believe in Phoenix, he wants to believe in something besides his own demons, and it shows in his stumbling, in his floundering, right in this moment.)

Because of his efforts, Dee Vasquez slips up and allows us to dig into her lie. Because of his moment of accepting the light of the truth, Phoenix is able to prove Powers' innocence.

Another iconic scene, Edgeworth comes to us after the trial and tells us in no uncertain terms to get out of his courtroom. He's not lying when he says he's been saddled with uncertainty and unease; after all, if Phoenix was able to show him this truth, then it brings up a doubt he never wanted to acknowledge.

*How many innocent people has he convicted in the past four years?*

*How can he say what he's doing is right when the truth he's been fighting for has never been the full truth?*

We've inadvertently cracked him wide open. We've inadvertently shown him a reflection of his own darkness and he could no longer stomach what he saw.

Which leads perfectly into our next case where we get to put all of this building endearment and trust into practice by defending Edgeworth from that looming darkness.

First off, everything about the scene between him and Phoenix in the detention centre is perfect. If you assumed he would give in so easily and allow us to defend him, then you haven't been paying attention to him. He's so stubborn he didn't give in to assisting us prove Vasquez's guilt until it was literally the last moments of the trial. He's been actively avoiding any revelation in his life for years. Of course he'd reject us outright. Even when Phoenix makes a heartfelt plea, is his usual irreverent self with his misplaced humour, Edgeworth won't even tell us a single detail.

But we, and Phoenix, know better than to give up. We know that, to get him to admit to anything, we have to dig deep. (A wolf who pursues the truth like it's an illness; Phoenix is a great character, too, because we're the ones who drive him to this in our own endeavours to Know.) So we investigate and learn and when we return, he has no choice but to admit that we're the only ones whom he can place his trust into.

We're the only ones willing to take his side. A favour in return for another; he doesn't remember, but it's important enough to Phoenix that we also begin to understand what exactly drives these two to be so Normal(tm) about one another. We begin to see that Edgeworth is less detached than he likes to believe himself.

It all comes very much into sharp focus the moment we meet Manfred von Karma. (Here's another thing the Ace Attorney series does really well: a contrast in mentors. We see how Mia teaches and nudges Phoenix and us along, how she can be stern and gentle in the same breath. She's clearly fond of Phoenix and treats him accordingly. A huge contrast in everything about Manfred and Edgeworth's dynamic. Edgeworth respects him deeply, but he doesn't seem to have any regard for Edgeworth at all. He talks about Edgeworth in a detached and unfeeling way so much that you could find yourself wondering if he knew Edgeworth at all if not for how many cues Edgeworth clearly takes from him. The difference in mentorship of Grossberg to Mia and Diego to Mia, of Kristoph to Apollo and Phoenix to Apollo, are also fascinating but I'll dive into those some other time agh.)

First of all, it's in their similar poses, it's in the way Edgeworth introduces us to the idea of Manfred. Second, it's Manfred's actions which reflect sharply right back onto Edgeworth. Suddenly, the way Edgeworth conducted his witnesses in the second case makes so much more sense when watching how Manfred controls Lotta and Gumshoe with his iron fist. It becomes apparent that Phoenix is outmatched when we can't find anything to gain a foothold and we're nearly at the end of our rope. We've come too far to back down here! We've grown too endeared to Edgeworth to let him down in this moment! There's darkness in him and we have to shine our light onto it, to reveal to him that he's not the demon he portrays himself as!

(I really feel Phoenix's desperation when he says, "I'm the only one who sees the real Edgeworth. I'm the only one who can help him!" Because he's right. We're the only ones who can help, who are willing to help, whether it be by playing the game and continuing the story or by seeing that same light in Edgeworth that Phoenix believes in so fervently.)

But despite everything leading up to this truth of Edgeworth's innocence, despite all our belief, Edgeworth himself can't believe it. It drives us, drives Phoenix to dig in further, to claw out the whole truth no matter how messy and ugly.

I cannot overstate enough what a masterclass of buildup and payoff 1-4 is to Edgeworth as a character. It's a culmination of how surprising it is to suddenly regard your main antagonist, your main rival whom you've fought against for the past two cases, as your ally. It takes some kicking and screaming to get Edgeworth to even be forthcoming to us about everything, it takes hard proof and full bluffing of a whole theory before Edgeworth tells us the whole truth. But we know he will. We trust him to trust us in turn because this is where the whole thing has been leading to.

And the catharsis to proving Edgeworth's innocence even against his own despair cannot be overstated either.

It really is no wonder that Edgeworth is a fan favourite. The leadup to his being fully instated as a mainstay ally is just absolutely beautiful in its execution. At least, it is to me.

(Edgeworth's continual growth as a character in his consecutive appearances are great, too, but by that point we've been endeared to him so of course we're happy to see his returns. Or annoyed, idk this is about my experiences lol.)

Anyway yeah, Edgeworth is great and the buildup of him becoming our friend is really good.