#i'd also like to mention how painful it is to see shivering athena from the counsel perspective.

[attorneys-against-court-violence]

I'll never get over how Athena's trauma is written in Dual Destinies. I never will. It's one of few areas I have absolutely no complaints about.

At a surface-level, it's a very effective tool to evoke discomfort, fear, pity, and intrugue from the player. We get glimpses as to what's causing these nervous breakdowns of hers in 5-1 and it's nothing comforting (a courtroom with bloodied-out faces staring judgementally at a crying child is... distrubing). Those breakdowns are accompanied by near silence, letting us drink in the raw emotions of the moment. Her breakdown in 5-3 is a standout example; there's nothing but hollow wind and a shivering, broken Athena to lend the moment its deserved gravitas as she fruitlessly tries to calm herself.

Repeating the trauma of having to defend a dear friend from being accused for killing their tutor, in spite of nobody listening to you, is going to do that to you.

Come the revelations in 5-5, we get compelling body language with her covering her ears in distress - the most sensitive part of her & source of a lot of pain in her childhood. Shaking her head in denial at the revelation of what Simon saw when he walked in the robotics lab, how rarely she comes out of her sad pose during the first half of 5-5 (reminiscent of Edgeworth's own brooding pose in the Wright Trilogy, most often seen when he's reliving his own traumas). Even after things come to light and the truth is revealed, she struggles to even say what happened while locked in that Edgeworth arm-grab pose. It's fantastically handled each time it rears its ugly head.

Going deeper, it also explains a lot about her behaviour; her reflexive throwing of the police officer in 5-2 and her furious outbursts being some good examples. Her emotional state is pretty wild throughout Dual Destinies - partially because she's just like that - but partially because she's trying to keep the more uncomfortable feelings down. She goes quiet when the Blackquills first arrive, being avoidant around the topic of Simon and unable to confront Aura for just how cynical and loathing she's become. She's very iffy around blood and is noticably uncomfortable and perturbed during 5-3 (for reasons I have already mentioned). Her main motivation for keeping this pain to herself is a tragically relatable one; not wanting the drag others down in her sorrow. That's the reason she gives Phoenix when he tells him to back down and stop fighting (a stark contrast to when she objected on his behalf in 5-DLC, sensing he still had some fire left in him).

Despite having others help bring her back from a dark state of mind before, her pushing others away to carry the sufferage alone when it's too much for her feels painfully real.

But one of my favourite parts is how other characters handle it. Specifically, how Phoenix handles himself around Athena. Even if he doesn't know the full extent of her traumas, he knows she's nervous and perhaps not in the best of spirits. He's a LOT more gentle with her than Apollo, is for damn sure; guiding her through examining Courte's body and praising her for getting through it despite going pale. He does still tease in 5-DLC, 5-3, and 5-4, but it's more playful than what he does with Apollo. He also keeps it to a minimum in 5-1 after just barely making it before she has another shutdown, prioritising his role as a reliable presence over anything else. A very good example of this is 5-5; when the big revelation finally comes and Athena's ready to confess to what really happened during UR-1, Phoenix is there to reassure her that she's safe and prevents the Judge from butting in to give her room to disclose what happened.

When push comes to shove and Athena can't quite make it out of that terrible mental space on her own, it's her friends and allies that ultimately help pull her out. Juniper Woods re-assures Athena of her faith, something that had appeared to waver over this case until the truth of what she saw the day of the murder came out. Simon Blackquill reminds her why she's even here to begin with, indirectly stating that he so desperately wishes her to succeed and bring them both out of this mess. Apollo Justice - on top of the usual "your're fine!" bit - reminds her of the skills she has to turn 5-3 around. Phoenix Wright, having dealt with many a client and friend burdened by trauma, gives Athena the stable footing she needs to get back up and carry on. Even if he needs to step in now and then, it's not to belittle or infantalise her - it's to be supportive.

I've said before in a past essay I don't really think too highly of anymore that I don't really mind the fact that Athena needs so much help throughout the game. This is the main reason why; her PTSD from the events of UR-1 have a believable impact on her character and ability to perform normally, with characters helping to pull her back out in ways unique to them and their respective relationship to her. As I said, she gets all that support because she genuinely NEEDS it. The game does a good job proving that much.

And that's alright.

Part of the reason it took so long to solve this is that Athena constantly pushed people away from her problems. She didn't want anyone else to become another psychological casualty of something that otherwise only affects her. It's when she finally sees that Phoenix can and does help her that she can finally let him do so, and help him in return by digging into that dark place and letting the memories of that day come back to her.

Trauma in Ace Attorney doesn't often get this level of focus. It can and has been depicted rather well in the past - see Edgeworth for a good example - but Athena, being the heart-on-your-sleeve type and a protagonist, offers a unique opportunity to witness how it affects her on a more personal, sometimes first-person level. Between a gut-wrenching and haunting presentation, stellar characterisation, and fairly grounded consequences and reactions to it from her and others... it's a rare part of Dual Destinies that I have no complaints about.

Happy Thena Thursday!.....?