#klavier is canonically just as blind as kristoph

[journalsouppe]

APOLLO JUSTICE!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! What i would literally give to have a true AA4 sequel. I wholeheartedly believe if Yamazaki's team could ignore aa4 canon to make 5 & 6 then Shu Takumi should absolutely be allowed to ignore any 5&6 canon to make an aa4 sequel. I'm dying out here pleaseeeeee

The Phoenix sticker is from Peachcott. The Klavier sticker is from Ayabit from the Turnabout Cinema zine. The Apollo and Trucy stickers are from astarsor.

Writing typed below!

rating: 9.8 played: Fa 2023 port: 3DS favorite? Y replayable: Y recommend? Y series: Ace Attorney

Comments

THE JUDGE PAINTING

apollo's such a dork <3

ooo i like the perceive function

i love the music

DONT SAY THAT TRUCY T_T

there's so much going on in this investigation

wow i love how uneasy i feel even after the trial ended

LMAO I FORGOT ABOUT THE PHOENIX SEX PHOTO

i dont think y'all want your panties back...

klav's a bill and ted fan i see lol

LOVE mr eldoon's design 10/10

klapollo meet cute moment LMAO

oops ^^; i accidentally wrote a 600 word essay about the first case

i like how apollo cried over trucy

IT'S JUSTICE TIME??? T^T

i like klavier's hands a normal amount

alita must have some dirty fucking feet

the animations are so smooth

apollo being jealous of klavier at the concert and thinking he's cool LMAO

apollo is WHIPPED

trucy is KILLING it in court, she really is nick's daughter

klavier's shoe print *skull emoji*

out of pocket shiny forehead comment LMAO

lamiroir has similar vocal tones as malon!

THE PENIS FIRE AND KLAV PUTTING IT OUT IN THE BKGD

the smile and hair twirl klavier LMAO

why am i doing this music recording thing T^T

i dont like looking at daryan T_T

letouse kazuma moment lmao

capcom loves the face down death with writing on the ground huh LMAO

wtf is the judge talking about

i love all these scientific tests with ema! :)

i love the snackoos SFX

klav does not miss an opportunity to take a short at apollo's big forehead LMAO

APOLLO YOU DUMBASS

faking blindness is crazy

I KNEW IT WOULD BE DARYAN'S VOICE

klav's office is so much more normal than edgeworth's

WAIT IS IT GRAMARYE AND NOT GRAYMAYRE??

THE ANIMALS??

i love apollo and lamiroir goofing on klav

similar tech opening to brc

WTF WAS THAT KRISTOPH JUMPSCARE T-T

LORD DADDY???

oh he's insufferable

HOLY SHIT THAT'S WHY VERA IS STARING AT KLAV??

"rip off" phoenix is so real for that

are they injecting magnifi with piss??

im curious why kristoph would do this to phoenix

he just left his daughter???

tf is going on

T^T THE KRISTOPH ZOOM IN

why does klav have that egg from dragon tales

apollo understands me with mascots

this is so gay omfg

daryan not liking trucy means he goes even more into the shit book than before

apollo the journaling king

the x-ray function is a really fun addition

BABY TRUCY

omg phoenix with out the ugly hd redraw

GUMSHOE

he said it!!! he said 'ace attorney' lmao

i love and hate that i have to present the journal page

why does the screen shake when mr misham speaks T_T

THAT SCAR IS FREAKY

siblings omgggg

Summary:

I love this game so much. I love it so much that I am heartbroken knowing that AA 5 & 6 butchers the story it setup and I'm considering not even playing them unless AA7 is announced. I love all the main characters so much, the whole story was so well built and I can def see the influence the story had on DGS. Apollo is such a good protagonist, he's relatable but also so unique. I love seeing his character progression in the game: a new attorney who is easily manipulated to a confident and determined attorney who trusts in his own judgement. I LOVED Klavier oh my god. I love how much he respects Apollo and although he doesn't hesitate to tease him, he doesn't bully or abuse Apollo in any way. They both have a mutual admiration and rivalry where they try to play as fairly as possible. Klav doesn't maliciously withhold or change evidence, but he does spend hours reviewing his arsenal and thinks of all the counter arguments the defense could bring up. I really like Apollo's ability, it continues the mystery and mysticism from the original trilogy but with new mechanics. I adore Trucy so much. She honestly might be my favorite AA character. She's determined, strong willed, and above all -- extremely silly. I couldn't of asked for a better character to be Phoenix's daughter. I also LOVE the sibling reveal at the end but gdi if only they actually figure it out T^T T^T. I think Apollo and Trucy's dynamic is probably my favorite Defense and assistant dynamic. This who game was so fun, I know 4-3 is not everyone's favorite and it is a little all over the place but I also enjoyed it and loved the premise. There's so much to say, I haven't even talked about Nick and Kris - what an incredible feud, what a genius development for Nick. I cannot recommend this game enough, I am so obsessed with it and cannot wait to make art <3 <3.

[characteroulette]

Apollo Justice is such a game.

Welcome to a seven year time gap!! Your client is actually disgraced (disgraced???) former Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright!! Your tutorial mentor man is a condescending bitch!! Apollo has zero control over any of the proceedings and in the end has to present falsified evidence to prove his mentor was the true murderer for reasons that won't become apparent until much, much later!!!

wanted to think more about what the fuck just happened?? Too bad!! Time for shenanigans to ensue in proper Ace Attorney fashion!!

Here's your assistant, the girl who gave you that forged evidence!! She's Phoenix Wright's daughter. Adopted. Here's a mystery man who looks nearly exactly like the man you just sent to prison for murder!!! Also Ema is back and she's PISSED! Klavier gets a proper intro and he's bitter as fuck!! Time to present panties twice in a row and turn this courthouse into a circus!! Your assistant holds herself at ransom just to explain the main mechanic of the game to you, despite having done this mechanic in the previous case. Your client is a lil punk and his fianceé is actually both way worse and more sympathetic than you first thought!! Hope you enjoyed having your hand held during the second trial day by this Klavier guy it will happen again.

Also, Klavier sent you tickets to his concert. Which Apollo had to pay for. What a weird series of events to get us to this concert. Lamiroir sure is pretty I hope nothing happens later to ruin her character!! Despite the murder weapon being a hand canon and the victim being a man who looks like a brick house, everyone stalwartly believes a tiny 14-year-old child performed this crime without so much as an injury to his name. Apollo watches a man die and is haunted by his final words. Surprise Lamiroir is acrually blind and accused the penis hair shark man to be the actual killer!! He hated your guts from moment one for some reason well now you know it's because he was the villain here. Have fun watching Klavier get lit on fire again and again at least 7 times. The most convoluted and unsatisfying breakdown and way to acquit your client yet.

Well, whatever. Final cases are supposed to be the best!! This Mason system seems weird but surely it has to explain some things. Phoenix Wright is our main narrator and all. Apollo actually gets his shit together enough to understand something is weird about all of this but he's got no other choice than to charge into it all headfirst. The most horrifying Ace Attorney character design with the most annoying tell to spot. Klavier fucking loses it and wuh-oh seven years ago time. Explain yourself, Phoenix Wright.

Upstart Klavier!! Zak spouting ominous bullshit that makes you realise he was planning to run no matter what!! BABY TRUCY!!! The last time we'll ever see Gumshoe in a mainline game... And, of course, as if you didn't already feel cornered by this game's lack of agency, it makes you present the forged evidence yourself. You helped get Phoenix disbarred. You had no other choice but to do so.

Anyway really fucking annoying investigation time!! Have fun figuring out which very specific order in which to do these snapshots!! Apollo and Trucy are siblings??? Whaaaaat?? BLACK PSYCHELOCKS??? What does it mean??? Phoenix has fully taken over the case it is no longer Apollo's show.

Back to the trial, your client could die but more importantly, Kristoph is back, baby!!! We're never going to learn what those psychelocks meant, you have to first stare at the scar on his hand making a face lol. Misham said he never met his client but Vera obviously met Kristoph in person so Drew either left her in a room with a questionable adult alone or was straight up lying on the stand about that. I mean Zak had the evidence that could clear his name in his pocket the whole time and chose to fucking dip instead of clearing himself of a murder charge so like same hat, but I digress. Klavier is having a TIME, Apollo doesn't get to say a damn thing as we close on the court, and wheeee that's it that's the game!! You get to choose the Not Guilty verdict yourself don't you just feel so included???

I want to make it clear that I love this game dearly, but woof it is. Such a ride.

[musical-attorney]

Text: I tried to make the guys look as cool as possible in this illustration. Even Apollo seems to manage to pull things together, as if feeling the pressure to look good when standing beside the Gavin brothers. Klavier was originally supposed to wear glasses in the courtroom and sunglasses everywhere else, making the Gavin brothers the "glasses brothers" as well, so I took this opportunity to show them the way they were meant to be. I'm usually fighting an uphill battle when it comes to art for the "Ace Attorney" series, but the simplicity of this layout allowed me to take my time with details, so I am very happy with how it turned out. I especially like Klavier here, as I was able to draw him in greater detail than I did for the screen art. (Kazuya Nuri)

[eleccy]

erhem. consider. kristoph gavin with munchausen’s syndrome by proxy

klavier was routinely sickly as a child but nobody could ever figure out why. little did they know that kristoph was slipping minute amounts of household cleaning chemicals into his drinks for years - his earliest formative experiences covertly poisoning somebody.

it takes years for the amounts to accumulate enough to manifest in symptoms but luckily the lasting effects for klavier are minimal. he gets a malignant tumor excised from his stomach then goes to europe to study the next year because his parents believe the clean air over there will be good for him. klavier improves enormously but no one puts two and two together that it’s because he’s separated from kristoph for the first time. but, there is more to be discovered...

if you’re not familiar with the whole munchausen’s syndrome by proxy premise, it is a psychological disorder that causes sufferers to insist that their chosen victim is severely ill (which, they’re not). it usually also involves convincing medical personnel to perform unnecessary procedures and most times, the sufferer is the one making the victim sick.

anyways so time goes on and eventually kristoph finds a new victim in his employee, apollo. apollo is confused as to why he starts having all these weird symptoms like throwing up, feeling shaky and numb, odd fevers that come and go. but he never makes the connection to his boss.

another aspect of munchausen’s syndrome by proxy is the desire for attention and sympathy which i definitely feel like kristoph could get himself into. he starts showing up at all of apollo’s medical appointments and insisting that his assistant has to have the best of care. the staff are practically falling all over each other to meet with kristoph’s demands because after all, he’s an elite and a learned man and there must be something here worth pursuing. kristoph can be extremely convincing so i feel like he would play this part so well that even apollo is sure that something is gravely wrong with himself. over time he starts to become convinced that it may be hopeless. he starts writing out a will for himself.

kristoph just says what symptoms he fears apollo is going to develop, and it happens, which only leads everyone involved to believe in his words even more. but he’s the one poisoning him. so of course, he would know exactly what apollo is going to develop.

the only thing that can stop this is phoenix and ema coming forward with raw evidence and atroquinine tests that show beyond a doubt that kristoph has been poisoning apollo. obviously apollo is so shocked, so angry, he doesn’t believe it all at first and continues to insist that it’s something else, something that’s killing him, but eventually klavier comes to him and tells him his story and they both fully realize that they’ve been victims the whole time.

the scariest part of this though is that when klavier and apollo go to confront kristoph about this, he categorically denies the allegation and is disgusted when klavier and apollo try to contest this with evidence. and that’s when apollo finally realizes that his bracelet has not. moved. because kristoph isn’t lying, he’s just completely and totally, genuinely unaware that he’s been behind these poisonings. just like his black psychelocks blind him to the facts of his motive behind killing zak gramarye.

👁👄👁 

this is some of the scariest shit i’ve ever written and i should make this into a fic for halloween

original tags on this bc tumblr hates me

#kristoph gavin #aa4 #warnings: disturbing #warnings: abuse #my true crime ass has been going way too far down the youtube rabbit hole #but this is a disorder that typically is more correlated with women #but is something that i one hundred percent believe kristoph could have #and he may actually have it canonically just based on like #the way that he talks to klavier and talks OVER klavier in 4-4 #insisting that klavier cant make his own decisions and doesnt know what hes talking about etc #fuck. i scared myself

[myspacepoet]

What's your headcanons about the gavin Brothers, i ask because in your latest peice of art, I saw an article about Edgeworth's demon prosecutor days, and thats got my interest peaked.

it’s everyone’s lucky day, because this was the exact amount of gentle prodding i needed to write all this out. if you’ve already read this on the discord you should check it again cause i added some more stuff at the bottom <3

i’m gonna preface this by saying that i couldn’t give a single shit about kristoph’s canon motivations. i haven’t played aj:aa and have no intentions to. kristoph is mine now and i’m giving him the backstory and motives i think are interesting. fuck off <3

i’m also working on a base assumption that kristoph is 8 years older than klavier, i’m not fact checking this as i don’t have the brain capacity to internalize the ace attorney timeline, and also that the gavins are actually german and lived in germany for at least a good while, because i do what i want

longpost warning, posting this from my phone so no cut very sorry

the gavin parents are these moderately known defense attorneys, konrad and elizabeth. i might write this scene out one day but at some point they have a date night, they go to see a thematically fitting play/musical/opera (i haven’t decided which), leaving 10 y/o klavier in the hands of 18 y/o kristoph. they don’t come back.

they decide to take a walk after the play/musical/whatever and stumble across a dead stage hand in the middle of the park, and are arrested for it after they call the police. now, i have done the bare fucking minimum of timeline checking for reasons previously mentioned but i believe miles MIGHT have been 20 at the time???? and hopefully also in germany??? but BASICALLY miles gets assigned to the case, and Makes A Bunch Of Shit Up™ and gets them convicted.

methinks the bullshit motive miles came up with was that like something the stagehand was involved with went horribly wrong during the production and the play/whatever was essentially ruined (the real culprit was actually the egotistical lead actor who was angry at the “performance of their life” being ruined by the stagehand) so kristoph starts resenting the courts and law in general but prosecutors ESPECIALLY. at first it’s just resentment for miles but then he realizes “WAIT A SECOND. it’s not HIS fault, HE is just a symptom of a larger problem” the problem of course being the rampant corruption in the general legal system and the fact that trials are so skewed towards the prosecution.

this is because i first of all believe there should be genuine consequences for miles’ demon prosecutor days, and also i think the most compelling villains are the ones that see an actual, valid, problem but pick a batshit insane solution.

this leads us neatly into the fact that instead of resolving to FIX the system, he resolved to get REVENGE on the system, which i personally think is a really interesting choice.

as i am a sappy little bitch and think sibling dynamics/relationships are just the bomb, this has a lot to do with klavier. the idea of kristoph having a soft spot for klavier, no matter how little it shows later in life, gives it me heart palpitations so im adding that.

kristoph decides to take his blind rage and all-consuming resentment out on the first sad sack of shit he sees. the sad sack of shit in question being phoenix. he’s like “hmmmm… some sorta… beacon of morality… some sorta… hero…” and decides to fuck his shit up.

it wasn’t ever REALLY ABOUT phoenix, more about inflicting the pain he and his brother felt after the loss of their parents on the courts and legal system, hurting miles (the guy he hated in the first place) was only a bonus to him. killing zak was just out of paranoia for his super secret villainous plot being uncovered etc. etc.

editors notes:

- ok i wrote all this out then realized i FORGOT SOME THINGS but didn’t feel like finding where they should go in the main wall of text so here they are <3

- konrad and elizabeth are convicted when klavier is 10, kristoph is 18, and miles is 20. they’re around 40-45 at the time.

- they’re executed 2 years later, after which kris and klav decide the pain of living in their childhood home with their parents dead is too much so they move to america, this is also about the time kris stops actively resenting miles in particular

- another reason kris and klav stay in germany for so long is because there’s a very very long custody battle over who gets klavier now that konrad and elizabeth can’t take care of him, eventually ending in kristoph taking custody of his brother

- kristoph used to be very protective of his brother, his only goals being to protect klavier and get his revenge. this eventually turned into just getting his revenge

- kristoph definitely had like an eye-twitch-internal-screaming moment when klavier announced he was gonna become a prosecutor, but rationalized it to himself as having some sort of man on the inside or something like that

alright that’s all i can think of for now

[ronsenburg]

i saw this post and IMMEDIATELY started writing an essay, so I moved it here so as not to clutter up someone else’s post...........

it absolutely blows my mind that, today in 2021, i honestly can’t remember what’s canon from the turnabout serenade case, what i read in a fanficition, and what is my own personal HC. like, it’s been more than a decade since i played the case for the first time and it’s probably been 5ish years since the last time i played AJ (definitely forgot to play it again before writing youngblood which is.... contributing to this) so i really don’t know if what goes on in my head is accurate, but, over the years, i’ve come up with a Lot of Thoughts, which i’ll discuss below. 

tldr; it’s all about power (the desire for, the subversion of, the need to maintain), but if you’d like the specifics, here you go:

daryan: i think the explanation that he did it for “the money” is a line. please don’t mistake me, daryan is an asshole and a murderer, im not discounting that, but in court ive always thought that he was playing the part that everyone- especially klavier- is expecting of him. he’s the bad guy. might as well make it a finale for the books.

i’ve always seen daryan and klavier as opposite sides of the same coin when it comes to family and career aspirations. where i imagine klavier came from a well off and well loved family before his parents died, i see daryan from a working class, difficult upbringing. i read a few papers on the psychology of children/parenting style of police officers and decided early on that daryan’s dad was also a cop. his mother is either dead or (more likely) left them early on. dad coped by working a little too hard, gambling/drinking a little too much, and was overall not around a lot and kind of an authoritarian/controller when he was. it left daryan with a lot of anger he had to cope with, about what it means to be a cop, the idea of a “just cause” and the ends justifying the means, and an issue with authority (which is laughable, considering what a bully he turned out to be. sometimes we emulate our parents unintentionally; it’s the only thing we have to model our behavior on). so daryan started off at a disadvantage. klavier started off loved and supported and surrounded by expensive belongings, but the death of his parents and the subsequent emotional and financial abuse by his newly appointed guardian/brother left him in a similar place by the time he and daryan met. i think it was probably the foundation for their bond, and i think it’s why klavier decided to become a prosecutor instead of following in his brother’s footsteps and why daryan ultimately decided to enter law enforcement as well. i think they had a lot of optimistic, idealistic thoughts on being better than the people that hurt them, on utilizing the law to make the world a better place. i don’t think klavier ever conceived that kristoph could have wanted him in the prosecutors office as another pawn to play, and i don’t think he realized how fluid daryan’s morality could be.

shipping alert—you guys know me, im crazy for the idea of a “best friends to on again off again lovers to tenuous coworkers to bitterly disappointed in but still harboring feelings for the other person despite being on opposite sides” dynamic between daryan and klavier. i honestly can’t separate the ship from the case and im sorry about it. if you read youngblood you know that i think daryan started to resent klavier pretty early on, when they were still together, when the band was still successful, because klavier was able to move forward and work through the issues of his past while daryan was seemingly stuck. yes, daryan had made detective and the gavinners were a hit, he’d risen above his initial social standing and thrown off the control his father, he had money and fame and a future. but everything he had was because of klavier. daryan needed klavier, emotionally, morally, financially. but even when klavier was professing his love for daryan, both privately and in the form of chart topping songs, he didn’t need daryan. it was obvious (and of course, healthy, but how do children of abuse learn what a healthy relationship looks like without help? especially when the only relationships you’ve ever had are codependent and, in some ways, just as toxic?) and so things spiraled. daryan got possessive and angry again and klavier got distant and they broke up and got back together and broke up and didn’t get back together but kept ending up back in each other’s arms for comfort and for support and because how the hell do you move on when the person you’ve been in love with since you were 15 is sitting next to you on a tour bus and is also your partner in a homicide case and singing songs he wrote about you on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans?

okay, shipping glasses off, sorry. but no matter how you look at their relationship, daryan’s promotion out of homicide was probably the most distance they’d had from each other in years, as it removed a large chunk of the daily “working relationship” aspect. and without klavier there to act as a moral compass, it was likely easier to slip back into his earlier thoughts about what constitutes justice and his intense hatred of being pushed around by someone who has more power than you. so enter the chief justice with a son who is sick, dying even, but can’t get the medicine he needs because there’s a government out there telling them no. The reasons are arbitrary: the medicine could be used as a poison and can’t be found anywhere else so it might come back to bite the country in the ass if it’s misused by criminals. newsflash: pretty much all medicine is poisonous if it isn’t used correctly, should we stop using penicillin entirely because some people might be allergic to it? they’ve essentially condemned a whole bunch of people to death because they’re worried about their reputation. and that doesn’t sit well with daryan, who is caught up remembering the bullshit justifications his dad would spout when he knocked him around, that kristoph would give when withholding every single penny of money klavier was entitled to until he agreed to do what kristoph wanted. it isn’t right, it isn’t fair and unfair laws shouldn’t have to be upheld, especially when they’re the unfair laws of a country you most definitely did not swear to uphold and protect. it was never about money, though daryan agrees to take it when the chief offers it to him, more for his comfort level than for daryan’s need or desire. it’s about justice and putting a bully in it’s place with a (seemingly) victimless crime that should be so easy given his role in the international division of criminal affairs and klavier’s sudden hard on for the country of borginia. seriously, how could this have been any more straightforward? daryan is capable of murder, though. all cops are. and if it came down to a “them or me” shootout, of course he’d pull the trigger. 

machi: when you come from nothing, the desire to have something of your own is overwhelming. the idea that machi is famous and financially set is disingenuous; he is not individually famous, he is Lamiroir’s “blind” pianist. yes, she views him as a son and seems to care deeply for him, but his main purpose in her life is to perpetuate a lie. machi has been abandoned before; what will happen to him if lamiroir suddenly remembers who she was in the past? what if she has a family and a true son of her own and has no use for him? what if their secret is found out and the public rejects him for his role in it? he is 14. what does he know about being provided for? about contracts and trust funds and royalties? he ended up in an orphanage originally because he was unwanted, and that led to a life of poverty and hardship. abandonment issues are rooted in fear and are rarely logical. i find it far easier to believe that machi did it for the money, but more for the power money might have given him towards independence in an unfeeling and capitalist world.

kristoph: i won’t get into this, because this is supposed to be about daryan and machi and the guitar’s serenade, and kristoph is not really involved in that at all. but i think everything that kristoph has ever done in the game, good or bad, is rooted in a pathological need to constantly be in control. i think that kristoph and klavier both have very intense personalities that they have sought to control over the course of their lives for the sake of their careers. kristoph believes that to be a good lawyer, you need to play your cards close to your chest, that to show your hand is to expose a weakness that the enemy can exploit, that to show no weaknesses at all places you in a position of power. klavier believes that to show his true self, to display his weaknesses and fears to the public, would result only in their rejection. as such, they both wear masks of their own creation even under the most intense of pressures: kristoph as pleasant and calm, klavier as magnetic and dynamic. note the primary difference in their rational? klavier wants to be wanted, while kristoph wants power. and power corrupts, after all. once you have it, what could be more overwhelming than the idea that you might lose it all? it can drive even the most rational people to commit acts of passionate irrationality in the name of holding on to that power. and kristoph has so many pieces involved in his strategy to maintain.  

[astrologista]

Hey, I was wondering if you could provide some insight on Klavier and Apollo's relationship with each other? Just a general overlook of it. Thanks!

Hey nonny, I wish I knew who you were, ‘cause I need more friends in this fandom.

By this I assume you are looking for a bit of a meta on Klavier and Apollo’s relationship? I’m also assuming it’s ok if I include all the spoilers for AA4?? If not, don’t read, play the game first, lol. Well, I’ll give it a try.

By reading various other metas on Klavier and Apollo, I have come to agree with many people that this relationship has a lot of unexplored potential that the game itself only sort of brushes over. Despite being the main focus of AA4, AA4 is also really the only game where Apollo and Klavier get any focus at all. In AA5 Klav does show up for a hot minute but it’s so brief and really just boring, which is really just the fault of the kind of lukewarm writing (compared to AA4 at least). The AA6 Asinine Attorney case has some mildly interesting banter in it, but it’s so short and is also noncanonical...

All that aside, Klavier and Apollo really make their on-screen appearances count in AA4. It is kind of obvious to anyone that Klavier and Apollo are in a way mirror counterparts, as prosecutor and defense attorney, to Edgeworth and Phoenix from the AA trilogy (1-3). Their dynamic is totally different, but their circumstances are oddly similar. Klavier is the prosecutor living in darkness, convinced that Phoenix Wright is a liar and a cheat, and blinded by someone he cares about who is senior to him (like MVK was to Edgeworth). Apollo is the stalwart defense attorney who believes that prosecutor is innocent to the last, and will go to the very ends of the earth to save that person from falling into complete despair. Parallels can be drawn between the way in which Apollo saves Klavier and how Phoenix saves Edgeworth. So I believe that this central idea is kind of where the idea behind the Klapollo relationship originated (from Narumitsu).

As for their relationship with each other, it slowly comes to be built on trust. Unlike Narumitsu, Klapollo only meet later on, not as children. So it takes some time for Apollo to really trust Klavier, as Apollo claims early on that Klavier’s foppish ways & rockstar glam bother and annoy him. It would have been easy for Apollo to write Klavier off as some arrogant airhead, and worst of all, Klavier looks exactly like the awful boss who just sent a wrecking ball through Apollo’s life and gave him severe trust issues. And also happens to be the brother of said awful boss. In fact, when Apollo meets Klavier for the first time, Kristoph is the first thing he thinks of. That’s a very shaky base to build trust from.

Despite that, Klavier somehow manages to win Apollo over. It takes time, but through Turnabout Corner and Turnabout Serenade, you can see the character development happening. Klavier starts actively helping Apollo in the courtroom and, where the truth is concerned, is hardly ever a hindrance to him in uncovering it. It’s difficult to keep hating someone who believes in you so strongly, and Apollo starts responding to that in kind. They make clear that they both consider each other rivals, still. But they definitely become friends, and maybe something more to each other too.

But the trust between Apollo and Klavier isn’t truly canonized until it gets put through a trial by fire. This time Apollo has to force Klavier to see the truth, a dark truth that Klavier desperately wants to avoid plumbing into. Klavier has to put an immense amount of trust in Apollo (and to some extent, in Phoenix) during Turnabout Succession that they are right in accusing Kristoph of what they are accusing him of. And Apollo is only able to complete his objectives by helping Klavier to finally stand up to his brother. 

By the end of this case, it feels like the bond between Apollo and Klavier is definitively real. While I do wish there was even more content to be enjoyed, what we got is more than enough to prove that Klavier and Apollo have an extraordinarily strong relationship based on mutual trust with each other, forged through trials where they continually prove to each other their dedication to the truth. Their ability to work together and help each other in this regard rivals or even surpasses the amazing tag team that is Narumitsu! And I kind of just love them. The end!

[absolutelaw-blog]

PROFILE ; KRISTOPH GAVIN.

GENERAL.

full name.  kristoph gavin.  pronunciation.  kris-toff gah-vin.  nicknames.  the coolest defense in the west. the coolest killer in the west. kris. (   caution on this one  :  if you call him this and your name isn’t klavier gavin, he’ll go above & beyond to make you miserable. he’ll tolerate it from his brother, but no one else   ) . height. 6′1″-6′2″.  age.  32 years old (   in canon  ;  age is verse dependent.   ) . zodiac. capricorn. languages. german (   mother tongue   )  ;  english (   learned pretty much concurrently with german, and so he’s about equally fluent   )  ;  japanese (   passable. living in aa-universe california necessitates knowing at least a little   ) .

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair colour.  platinum blonde.  eye colour.  grey-blue. skin tone.  pale, freckles easily.  body type.  lean. he’s tall & broad-shouldered enough to be intimidating if he’s trying, but outside of that, he’s not very physically imposing. he is, apparently, strong enough to kill a man with a wine bottle in one hit, though, so i guess he has to have something of a swing.  accent.  pleasantly transatlantic, tinging on somewhat british. it’s how he learned english, and while he could have easily adopted an american accent after living in california for such a long time, he insists on ‘ speaking properly. ’ (   he’s pretentious.   ) he usually does not speak with a noticeable german accent -- but when stressed, upset, angry, frustrated, flustered, or otherwise not as in-control of his emotions as he usually is, the accent will slip out. he despises this. dominant hand.  right hand. posture.  confident, almost regal. shoulders back, hands clasped behind his back or arms crossed in front of him, chin up, looking down his glasses at you. there may be no crown on his head, but that won’t stop him from holding himself like he’s a king.  scars.  one, along the back of his right hand. can, in the right light, take on the appearance of a rather horrid face when he twitches his hand. despite its peculiar qualities, he doesn’t think about it much anymore. he got it as a child  ;  it’s been there so long it’s no longer notable to him.  tattoos.  none. he thinks they’re rather distasteful.  most noticeable features.  height, long hair, self-assured posture, eyes hidden behind glasses, that scar. 

CHILDHOOD.

place of birth.  berlin, germany.  hometown.   los angeles, california.  birth weight / height.  – manner of birth.  . . . the usual one ? first words.  his parents used to joke that his first word was ‘ cross-examination. ’ this, of course, was only after he got into themis legal, and proved he could be an asset to the family name. kristoph always sort of resented it. and so, he’s not actually ashamed to say his first words were the usual ones. ‘ mama, ’ ‘ papa, ’ ‘ puppy. ’ that sort of thing.  siblings.  klavier gavin (   younger brother   ) .  parents.  oskar gavin (   father   )  ;  emilie gavin (   mother   ) .  parental involvement.  oskar and emilie were minor political figures in germany  ;  they had children more as attempts to maintain a family-friendly image in the face of mounting scandals than they did out of any actual, genuine interest in raising said children. as such, kristoph (   and later, klavier   ) was pretty much handed off to a series of nannies & otherwise left to his own devices. his parents’ actual involvement in raising him was . . . minimal. they died in an accident while he was completing his junior year of college. he played the part of the grieving son perfectly well, but he wasn’t really all that aggrieved about it. (   he always sort of wondered if the accident was an accident or if it was some political move, but to investigate that, he’d have to actually care about what happened to them.   ) 

ADULT LIFE

occupation.  defense attorney.  current residence.  a rather posh high-rise apartment building in los angeles. a rather posh solitary confinement cell.  close friends.  why, his dear friend phoenix wright, of course !  (   hah.   )  partners.  what, legal partners ?  uh, he’s got a student -- oh, you mean romantic partners ?  ugh. pass.  relationship status.  single. not looking. (   verse dependent.   )  financial status.  let’s just say he’s in a very comfortable income bracket. (   --- & how did he get there so fast, what with his parents losing most of their fortune to constant legal battles, leaving him to make money himself ?  best not to ask.   )  driver’s license.  yes. he doesn’t like to drive, though. he’s more the ��� hire a driver ’ type.  criminal record.  prior to the events of apollo justice ?  clean as clean can be. too clean. suspiciously clean. after ?  one count of evidence forgery, two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder -- and that’s only what we know of. 

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation.  bisexual / demisexual. maybe a slight preference for men, but functionally, it doesn’t matter -- he’s very, very demisexual, and it’s extremely rare that he’s actually genuinely attracted to someone. nine out of ten times, if he sleeps with someone, it’s going to have been because doing so conferred some kind of material advantage on him -- i.e., they had something he wanted.  romantic orientation.  biromantic / demiromantic. again, though, it tends not to matter, because it’s so incredibly rare that he feels real attraction of any kind towards someone. if kristoph is romancing you, it usually means he wants something from you.  preferred emotional role.  Submissive | Dominant | Switch |  Unsure preferred sexual role.  Submissive  |  Dominant |  Switch |  Sex repulsed libido. low. unless he actually likes you. then about average ?  turn ons.  if i answer this question, my kristoph muse will physically manifest IN my home and poison me with atroquinine, killing me within fifteen minutes of ingestion. turn offs.  unless he actually likes you, don’t try to make him be genuinely emotionally vulnerable with you. ugh. disgusting.  love language.  in the very rare case he actually likes you, he appreciates them all. however, he especially likes acts of service. he knows better than anyone else that pretty words are often lies  ;  actually going out of your way to assist him with something isn’t so surface-level to him, and is deeply appreciated.  relationship tendencies.  generally, he thinks they’re a waste of time & a potentially dangerous vulnerability. to be avoided. 

MISCELLANEOUS.

character’s theme song(s). i know i put my go-tos (   where i want to be from chess & choke by idkhw   ) on the last meme that asked a question like this, so i’m gonna try to go for some different ones  :  severed by the decemberists (   gonna leave you all severed   ) & nice day by the romanovs (   nice day for a murder !   )  hobbies to pass the time. playing the violin (   & occasionally writing a piece or two   ) , cooking, keeping journals, reading, taking walks (   usually with his dog   ) , shopping (   shush.   ) . mental illnesses. none that are formally diagnosed. he clearly has quite a number of problems going on in that head of his, but he would define them less as problems and more as strengths, so it’s not like he’d seek help.  physical illnesses.  other than being blind as a bat without his glasses, he’s physically healthy.  left or right brained.  left brained.  fears.  nothing at all. failure. being forgotten. being wrong. that he isn’t the best, always & at everything. IT’S OVER, KRISTOPH. YOU’RE NOT NEEDED ANYMORE.  self confidence level.  unreasonably high. you could say he has a bit of a god complex.  vulnerabilities. his academic intelligence and logic may be above & beyond that of your average person, but he never matured emotionally, so he still has the emotional intelligence of a child. his solution to fearing that he might not be perfect was to repress it until he had five black psyche-locks, for god’s sake. and it was his hatred of wright that blinded him to the idea that phoenix might formulate a plan that could stop him -- he saw wright as a naive idiot because of that hatred, and as such underestimated him. his inability to process or even acknowledge his own emotions means that he has no way of telling when his analyses are objective and when they’re tainted by how he feels about them, and his arrogance means he’s convinced they’re all accurate. so, sometimes, no matter how accurate his formula is otherwise, he forgets to factor in emotion -- and he miscalculates. 

Tagged by: @smoulderingsilver (   aaaahhh thank you so much !!   )  Tagging: again, anyone who wants to do this, consider yourself Tagged By Me. 

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Okay! Here’s the last of the non-canon outtakes featuring Franziska and Phoenix’s arrest. This one follows that which I linked there. Phoenix and Franziska argued a little more, she stormed out, she and the rest of the family complained about Phoenix, which is where that bit with Diego came from, and then she has an idea. I like the part that gives some more insight into her relationship with Phoenix, as I discussed in the other outtakes post how close they used to be, and I most especially mourn the material of Franziska and Kristoph going head-to-head, but it just cannot fit with the overall arc I wanted.

But there’s actually not any rules, so if I want to post scrapped plot threads, who’s gonna stop me? Nobody that’s who. 

She has never actually been to the office, despite it being one of Phoenix's frequent haunts; come to think of it, she cannot recall ever having gone to the Borscht, either. His physical presence faded from her life and a ghost tried to fill the hole caused by his absence. Traffic is heavy even at this time and she rehearses potential opening statements as she curses at the other cars and the slow crawl they are locked into. It is 4:52 when she pulls into the lot, scrambling from her car; on a Friday, he may have already left by now, leaving the work to the junior partners - though if he has, she is marching back to the detention center and telling his client that along with all of his other vices, he isn't even a dedicated attorney.

Gavin's office is like Grossberg's: much larger than Mia or Phoenix's holes-in-the-walls or even her father's office, hosting more than two attorneys, and the decor is as tacky and indulgent. Her feet sink into the plush carpet and she glances over the polished surface of the waiting room coffee table before she looks around for someone to speak to. There is a desk that looks like it is the reception area, but no one at it. 

[This connecting segment never got written, but here she meets Apollo and asks him if Kristoph is still here because she needs to speak with him. Apollo asks for her name and she gives it as "Franziska Edgeworth" which ends up a brick joke with Apollo much later.]

Despite the fact that the boy - probably not a boy, he can't be that young if he works at a law office, at least 17 - said that Gavin was about to leave, he is sitting at his desk when Franziska enters his office, his hands folded in front of him like he has known to expect her for longer than he has. He can't have expected her. "Do shut the door behind you," he says, gesturing to it.

The office is well-decorated, fancy - more like many of the prosecutors' offices she has seen, nothing like any of the defense attorneys within her own family. She takes her time returning to the door which she left to swing ajar behind her, scanning the bookshelves and the coffee table. The latter holds a decorative paperweight, and the former, bookends, all heavy looking (injuries appear consistent with a strike from a blunt object and given the location of the wounding to the head the attacker appears to be shorter than the victim); on the desk there is a letter opener (stab wound to the throat, though shape of injury does not appear consistent with any kind of knife), but for that she would have to move toward him, away from the door. Better to run, for several reasons: the other attorneys are still in the office and would hear any skirmish taking place within the room, but Gavin would not risk his reputation chasing her down in front of them. She could claim self-defense - she would claim self-defense, she is not her father, she would not strike first - but she is the interloper in this office, and the only witnesses are people who have reason to be sympathetic to Gavin. 

The door clicks closed. "What brings you here, Ms von Karma?" Gavin asks with a smile that could be pleasant if she did not know the true nature of the man. "Or - you didn't happen to change your name, did you?" He leans forward, his head tilting almost imperceptibly, but the light of his desk lamp catches on his glasses and for a moment the flash of the light hides his eyes behind them. 

"No, I didn't," she replies. "However, I thought it best to be discrete, given that it is very much not customary for a prosecutor to show up unannounced at a defense attorney's office."

"And your reason for such is...?" One eyebrow arches. He nods at the chair in front of the desk. "Please, sit down."

"No thank you. I intend to keep this brief." She touches the back of the chair and gives one of the legs a nudge with her foot; solid, heavy, more likely to become a liability to her should she try to pick it up and use as a weapon. "Phoenix Wright."

Gavin's expression does not change from the tiny, closed-lipped smile he has been giving her. Cool under fire in the courtroom; why should he not be outside of it as well? "I do not make it a policy to discuss my cases with the prosecution, Ms von Karma."

"I am not prosecuting this case. What I am is a friend of the defendant’s, and concerned about him, and so have come to check in on how his case is progressing.”

Gavin does not respond right away. Instead he stares at her, as though through her. "Then ask him," he says. "It is not as if the police refuse a prosecutor come to speak with a detainee at any time of day or night. You have left your office early enough that even were you a defense attorney, you would be let in without trouble." The languid smile does not leave his face. "I think one of two things, Ms von Karma: either you have something you wish from me specifically, or you and the accused are not as close of friends as you thought."

Franziska blinks. "Pardon?" The part of her paranoid enough to assess Gavin as a threat is the part of her that keeps her mouth moving; she cannot allow him to know that she suspects him, but he has given her a different opening. "Phoenix and I are not - what, exactly?"

If she plays this right, she can make him hand her an alibi. 

"You can hardly blame him, can you?" Gavin says. "How careful he has to be with his reputation since he was disbarred -- and for forging evidence, at that."

"He did not--"

Gavin holds up a hand. "You don't need to tell me that," he says. "I was, as you recall, the one person in the Bar Association--"

"--who voted in his favor. I am aware."

"But you understand where this places him. Whatever the truth, to the rest of the world, he forged evidence for the sake of personal victory. It hardly helps appearances for someone so accused to spend a great deal of time with a von Karma, now does it?"

For a moment she is struck silent. Phoenix pulled away from all of them, not just her. He closed himself off from everyone; he stopped confiding in Miles even though they live together, he drifted from Mia, Maya complained that he stopped texting. It wasn't just her--

-- Maya could coax him out to lunch when she came home from Kurain, Mia dragged him to get occasional haircuts, Ray saw him at Trucy's magic shows whenever Phoenix went -- Franziska went to Miles' apartment and only ever found him sleeping, she went to the office and saw his daughter more than him, she went weeks at a time without him answering her texts, she got her news of him from everyone in the Edgeworth-Fey grapevine but him, she stooped to texting Larry, she --

-- she wasn't abandoned by her oldest friend in the world because of what her goddamned father had done --

-- was she?

Gavin pushes his glasses up and his face curls in a smile that does not touch his cold eyes. "You never realized?" he asks. "I thought you more observant than that. We all have our blind spots, I suppose."

This morning in the detention center was the first time in years he was so open with her, and he wasn't open. Of everyone he locked his heart away from, it was her most of all. Her oldest friend in the world, who supported her every aspiration, who celebrated her getting her badge before him, who grinned at her for countless trials across the courtroom, setting her adrift as soon as her name became slightly inconvenient because of his own mistake.

She can't take this as an excuse for coming to see Gavin. She can't let this go. "He wouldn't," she says. "He believes in me -- not for a rumor -- nor for what my father did --"

"No? Then let me be frank with you -- I have looked into your court record, quite extensively. For a prosecutor, you have a very even ratio -- except in one particular instance. You have a perfect loss record against your own brother."

"Where are you going with this?" she snarls. She knows the bluffing sort and Gavin is not it -- he sees several moves ahead instead of just the backs of his opponent's cards.

[I unfortunately forget precisely how this line of dialogue would end. He basically implies she's corrupt and has been throwing trials to Miles, and turns it into a threat somehow -- I think he was going to threaten to bring an investigation down on her head. There was also going to be a jab somewhere obliquely referencing Klavier what with Kristoph remarking on Franziska's "remarkable loyalty" to her older brother, enough to hand him victory.

[She would then storm out and go back to the detention center to speak with Phoenix again. She tells him that she went and spoke with Kristoph, and that finally makes Phoenix crack. He has a speech that is something similar to what he says in Acing the Turnabout to Miles about being terrified that Kristoph is going to kill any one of them who investigates too closely. 

[His fear gets to Franziska; we see her paranoid edge earlier with her looking for a weapon when going into Kristoph’s office (which by the way that paragraph is one of my absolute favorites I’ve written), and it returns here She doesn't want to go home alone for fear of walking into her death and she calls up Lana to accompany her home, because Lana knows what it's like to have someone making those threats toward her. She picks Lana up at the office where she works with Mia and Diego and two of them go back to Franziska's apartment, find it fine and empty, but Franziska packs a weekend bag and crashes with Miles for the weekend. She tells him it's to help him and Trucy; this is true, but it is also her being afraid to be on her own, and her afraid to leave then on her own. She doesn't know if Kristoph would target them.]

[synnefo-nefeli]

Klapollo Head Canon: Eyesight

While it is well known that Kristoph is practically blind without his glasses...so is Klavier.

Klavier wore glasses when he was younger, but as soon as he could switched to contact lenses.  He liked the freedom they offered, but most importantly they allowed him to escape looking like Kristoph’s ( albeit younger) identical twin. 

Plus he could wear all the fashionable sunglasses as he liked without worrying about prescriptions.

At first contacts were about standing out, but after the events of AA4, Klavier won’t be caught dead in glasses as he is afraid that Apollo and Phoenix Wright will be reminded of Kristoph.  But really, it’s because Klavier doesn’t want to see the monster with his brother’s face in his mirror.

So he keeps up wearing contacts; every now and then he’ll wear computer lenses when he’s stuck staring at his screen for hours but the moment a colleague comes into his office, Klavier tosses the frames into his desk drawer.

People didn’t realize HOW blind Klavier was until one day at an investigation, Klavier lost one of his contacts (Chief Gumshoe patted him WAY too hard on the back, I guess) at the crime scene. 

 He tried disguising his semi-blindness with his sunglasses, but there was only so much he could do before he became dizzy and visibly disoriented with only one eye able to see clearly...and because Apollo noticed Klavier’s distress.

As he could no longer take having vision in one eye, Klavier removed the other contact and took Apollo’s offered hand.  Before they left to return to the prosecutor’s office, Klavier made Apollo lead him around the crime scene a bit, before they began their walk to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Apollo just chalked Klavier’s insistence on being a “Prosecutor’s Quirk”, but guided Klavier around without further complaint all the way back to Klavier’s office so that Klavier could replace his contact lenses.

They also stopped for coffee and a bite too...and that’s the story of how Klavier had a literal blind date with Apollo without the other realizing it was a date until like 5 years after they married.

[astrologista]

Kristoph Gavin Character Analysis I

Part 1 of... fucking infinity, I hate this bitch so much lmao.

Well, it's Halloween time and I just thought, why not. So let's answer this question.

What makes Kristoph Gavin a scary character/villain? A soft spoken gentleman with a deadly secret... the Devil, who lives in his hand, that crazy evil scar thing, his creepy music theme... damn, he’s a scary dude. But scariest of all? His psychology, as we all know. (This is mostly gonna be headcanons. but ya know what, I have a license (hands you a piece of paper that says ‘i can do what i want’))

Kristoph seems like a person who is very aloof, particularly when it comes to personal relationships. At first he kind of just seems like the typical anime glasses guy whose main emotion is like whooa he does the glare thing with his glasses sometimes. But... what is he really about?

You know, let me digress for a moment, what's really interesting to me about the AA characters is how much depth they have in their writing. Case in point, Adrian Andrews. There's a character who you assume is just going to be the typical "anime glasses girl" who is a career woman who don't need no man, and is very aloof, cool, and as she says, not concerned with irrelevant topics or things. Later you learn about the true depths to her personality. The fact that she is codependent, that she needs other people telling her what to do in order to survive. Just because she masks these emotions doesn't mean they don't exist. I felt that really gave a lot of depth to her character and added another dimension that stories in this genre don't often address as boldly or fully (especially when it comes to a female character). So the quality of the writing is always really top notch with only a few exceptions. Take this as context...

Now getting back to Kristoph Gavin. Typical anime glasses dude, right? But no, though. One of the reasons why he's so interesting to me is how his emotional understanding of personal relationships really works. Or seems to, anyway. Based on the endgame testimony and his crimes, Kristoph Gavin is extremely dangerous because, should you get involved with him in any way, he will never, ever let go of you, ever. Once you are entangled with him he wants you to stay entangled, not unlike an overbearing parent who refuses to let you go. It's partly that he thinks he knows what's best for you (that is, to stay completely loyal to him). And also partly... because he is pretty dependent on what other people think of him. So he needs to keep them around him closely.

Kristoph's biggest fear was his lying being exposed for what it was. That Phoenix was really the honest, straightforward attorney, and not him. Kristoph would do anything to perpetuate his own false reality. He kept it going for seven years. His absolute worst fear of all was losing his reputation. Being seen for what he truly was in front of others. He could never accept that. That fear drove all of his murders. Fundamentally, he sees himself as benevolent... when nothing could be further from the truth of how he was hurting everyone who had the misfortune of crossing his path.

Kristoph has a need to perpetuate this false identity of himself above all else. A very adjacent second goal to that is to keep all of his personal associates very close and under his control in order to keep the first goal intact.

Reject him and he will stalk you until you are dead. By his hand, or otherwise. Slight him, and he will get you at the first opportunity, case in point, Zak Gramarye. (He only had to get a quick glance at the guy and his fate was sealed. Turnabout Trump is a chilling case.) Replace him, and he will tear your life and livelihood up into little itty bitty pieces. He will then continue to stalk you aggressively for seven years while pretending he is your best friend. Case in point, Phoenix Wright.

Create false evidence for him and you become a loose end. So does your daughter. Like I said, just don't get involved with him. If he feels threatened, Kristoph Gavin will not hesitate to end you. It's definitely an obsession. I mean the first word that comes to people's minds when it comes to Kristoph usually isn't "obsessed", because he gives off the aura of being calm and uninterested. But he is, he's obsessed. You have to be obsessed to do what he did. This shit consumed his every waking hour, and that's what he won't admit. That he was so sick, he completely lost the plot. Phoenix was already living in his head rent free the day he ordered the forgery. And even though Phoenix wasn't physically present at the Misham trial and was only watching everything by video camera, you can bet Kristoph was seeing Phoenix. Hallucinating him, images of him. Probably multiple images of him. That's how obsessive. Imagine letting something or someone control you to that extent. Imagine thinking that you're so important, that Phoenix taking Zak Gramarye's case at all was meant to be a slight against you personally. (It's funny because Phoenix mentions not even knowing Kristoph at all until after the disbarment. So Kristoph's own logic in thinking that Phoenix was just out to shame him absolutely doesn't track. Ob-sessed, dude.)  

It's actually pretty astonishing that someone like Apollo made it out alive. On a side note, I really think Kristoph enjoyed having someone to mentor. He sought someone like Apollo out. Someone naive and new to the field for him to indoctrinate. And maybe I have a post about that later, cuz that's a whole 'nother barrel of monkeys right there. (It kind of involves Apollo’s naivete (also, daddy issues, hello.) being a huge reason why he would gravitate towards having a mentor known for having a “caring” personality. And I think Apollo genuinely liked that about him, which makes the end result so much more awful for Apollo to deal with because to him, that was real.)

But now think of Klavier, right. Being forced to grow up with that. To live with that your entire life. To have a familial relationship that is that smothering, that suffocating, that strangling. That controlling, to criticize every single thing that you do or say right down to the way you say it. And remember... He's never letting you go. I would go on a world tour as a rock star, too. Anything to be anywhere he isn't. This is horror movie tier stuff. (now im imagining a horror movie trailer for aa4 focusing on gavins stuff... eep!)

And Kristoph Gavin markets himself as someone who simply doesn't care. He's the coolest defense in the west and he doesn't care for what you may think about it. Except... he does care. It totally consumes him. Your perception, your opinion, is everything to him. He has shitty self esteem, deep down, because he knows Phoenix is better than him. And tries to mask it with narcissism as the two duke it out. Appearances are everything, evidence is everything. What people think is true is the only thing that matters, truth doesn't. And it makes sense that his closest contacts and associates are the targets for his constant narcissistic abuse and gaslighting. Their opinions matter even more than the common crowd - of course, Kristoph hates them. Which makes it even worse for him when the jury decides unanimously that Vera is innocent (and by implication, he is therefore guilty). The jury verdict was kind of like the ultimate confirmation that guess what, the evidence doesn't matter. The common and boorish masses have passed judgement, no matter how "mindless, emotional and irrational" they are, even they can see behind his crappy little facade. Even a blind woman like Lamiroir can see that insecurity; even a common person can understand it just by looking at the facts. That's what absolutely wrecks him... that his “poker face” couldn’t hold a candle to Phoenix’s. And he loses the “hand” again (because of his “hand”... get it??).

The identity that he needs to maintain is part of how he sees himself in his mind. As Phoenix's protector, not as his stalker. As Klavier's benevolent big brother, not as his abuser. As Apollo's teacher and mentor, not as someone guiding him into ruin. He lives in a false reality.

Try to bring this up in any way, shape, or form and he will write it off. You're just imagining things...

Because at some level, Mr. Black Psyche Locks himself doesn't even realize. (I feel like that might just be basically canonical fact, based on Pearl’s explanation of how black psyche locks are supposed to work.) That’s pretty freaking terrifying.

At the end of the day this is a big part of the reason I think his character is just so interesting. In a very messed up way, Kristoph is one degree away from being such a good person. He could've been obsessively protective of Klavier - the way a big brother is supposed to be - instead of abusive, could've actually been very caring of Phoenix instead of manipulative. Terrible people can have good traits, just as good people can have awful traits. His attention to detail and understanding of psychology (like getting Vera those gifts she would like so much) could've been used for genuine good. He could've been someone who cares deeply about other people because he does care deeply about other people. But only in terms of their relation to himself, what do they think of him, how are they useful to him.

Maybe this is why I kind of like his character. Intelligent, semi-neurotic protective characters are just my ish. But, no, he has to have a narcissistic bent that skews everything into complete abuse. That’s what makes him awful... that he’s devoid of a moral compass or true compassion for other human beings.

So in closing, fuck off, Kristoph Gavin.

Postscript, he's also such a good foil for Phoenix for this reason. Kristoph does everything for himself. Phoenix does everything for Trucy, because he's a dad and he understands the weight of what it means to really care for someone. Kristoph couldn’t understand motives like that. And Phoenix can't help it if he's an order of magnitude smarter and more mature than Kristoph is. He was just born like that. Classy as fuck. You know what, Kristoph Gavin is like the dollar store version of Phoenix Wright as an attorney. Has many of the same functions but actually doesn't have a leg to stand on and will fail you when you need it. And is revealed to just be a cheap knockoff of the real thing.