#He cant defend them anymore if they're brought up on false charges

[alynnl]

I've been thinking about AA4 era Phoenix (Beanix, if you will) - and the theory that he distanced himself from his friends from the original trilogy so that they wouldn't get caught up in the web of Kristoph Gavin's conspiracies.

It's a nice theory, but I have one objection.

Does Phoenix Wright really believe his friends to be so incapable of defending themselves?

With Maya and Pearl I guess it's understandable. They almost got caught up in their own family's plot in AA 2 and 3 so maybe it's best they're well out of it.

I guess you could include Larry with the Fey girls in the "for the best he's not involved" category, since he probably would be unlucky enough to truly be in danger (if Kristoph took any interest in him, that is.)

But then we get to Edgeworth. And by extension, Gumshoe (possibly Kay) and Franziska.

Edgeworth and his whole team have proven themselves to be very capable of holding their own, and helping Phoenix solve cases when he couldn't do it alone. AA2 and 3 show Edgeworth, Gumshoe and Franziska coming through when it really counts, and Phoenix is grateful for their assistance.

On top of that, the Investigations games show Edgeworth taking down multiple corrupt people, making me believe he'd be more than a match for Kristoph if they did face off.

Edgeworth vs. Kristoph would have been a great logic chess sequence if it actually happened.

There's only one way to explain Edgeworth's absence from AA 4, and that's him being out of the country during the Zak Gramarye trial and the subsequent fallout. And perhaps one of Phoenix's regrets was not taking the time to contact Edgeworth and ask his advice before the trial started.

Maybe my bias towards him is showing, but I feel like that trial would've gone differently if Edgeworth was there instead of Klavier. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or maybe it was by design, but we'll probably never know for sure.