#phoenix's savior complex

[mikayesha]

Mentally Imbalanced

[coffee-scrub]

Got hit with the narumitsu royal AU truck… 30 injured 7 confirmed dead

Based on/actually just set in @maym0rin’s royal AU artworks. Check out their posts for the deeper lore and gorgeous art!!! This is kinda a spin off/continuation of what they have so far.

[aceof-stars]

I'm so tired of hearing that Phoenix saved Miles without hearing about any of its implications.

Because Phoenix's savior complex is a major problem not a solution. Because Wrightworth is not about Phoenix saving Miles, it's about them saving each other. Because in Farewell My Turnabout, Miles Edgeworth said "We aren't some sort of heroes. We're only human." and he was right.

[shikisei]

im doing a lot better now!

[shouchiku]

i'm sorry but i really dislike the story that kind of gets pushed that like "Phoenix was there to save Edgeworth when no one else believed in him 🥺" because 1. we do NOT need to be feeding phoenix wright's ego like that he is BAD ENOUGH as is and 2. Does the name dick gumshoe mean NOTHING to you... like

the concept of phoenix maintaining a persistent, unselfish, and unwavering faith in edgeworth's morality is a fantastical narrative. GUMSHOE, however,

[cornertheculprit]

one thing i think is really funny is that. like. okay edgeworth chartered a jet and came flying over the instant he thought phoenix's life was in danger but if it hadn't been for larry calling him in a panic in the first place i sincerely doubt edgeworth would even have known about it at all because phoenix sure wasn't gonna call him about it. something even funnier is that at the beginning of the stolen turnabout when atmey makes the claim that even edgeworth thinks godot is a masterful prosecutor or whatever phoenix has no reaction whatsoever. he doesn't even care. it's MAYA who exclaims in disbelief and goes edgeworth?? no way??? etc etc. phoenix literally just stands there like he's made of cardboard until maya asks him if he's heard of godot before. doesn't even REACT to hearing edgeworth's name. at any given point in time in the trilogy + investigations there is this giant disconnect in how phoenix and edgeworth see each other and it's hilarious in an interesting way. by aa3 phoenix has already gone through the "savior complex" and "victim of my undying hatred" options and apparently that just left him like ??? uh yeah edgeworth's my. friend i guess. it's good to see him again. hey edgeworth i wasn't planning on calling you about my condition or the situation at ALL but now that you're here would you mind taking care of this girl for me and finding maya and acting as a defense attorney in my place because i trust in your ability to sort shit out. thanks! and edgeworth is just like ah wright the last bastion of justice and hope in this universe the man who shines so brilliantly before my eyes (or whatever the hell the line is i forgot) my dear and indispensible friend of course i will do this for you. it's just. the more you look at it the more the trilogy and investigations make it clearer that phoenix and edgeworth are just two guys in their twenties who do not really know or understand each other at ALL

[first-blight]

toy soldiers is phoenix somewhat obsessively following miles into the law profession just bc he wanted to see him again (and "save him" for what it's worth)

"don't you think i deserve better after all that we've been through?" - after miles doesn't react the way he expected bc he's somewhat grateful but still really closed off and not magically "over" it, and in fact actually disappears for a year ("i will love you like you died a martyr for me"....)

"they don't know you, not like i do, only you and i were meant to be. understand you, just like i do" - literally a thing phoenix says, how people don't understand miles and he's the only one who knows the real him

[bigtallgirlguy]

[chstart]

i've wound up mentioning it in a couple of convos n posts already but thinkin abt how phoenix's whole "full acquittal or nothing" overachiever way of practice even just in theory has a short life expectancy & can bite him in the ass real easily, & how both engarde's & atishon's cases are perfect examples of this, with phoenix's reputation being that of not only not losing any cases but also getting perfect acquittals every time (in jfa's case he hadn't lost once since his court debut two years ago & had only been getting full acquittals, & in dd's case he had a singular loss with engarde personally begging to be declared guilty & an unresolved trial with gramarye disappearing before a verdict could be handed, forged evidence or no). not only does the all or nothing mentality risk clouding judgement mid-case, it literally endangers him & those around him because his reputation of getting perfect acquittals even in cases where all the evidence seems to point at the defendant makes him a good target for blackmail. he always gets the verdict he's demanding. & esp after the whole gramarye thing taints the world's view of phoenix, why wouldn't some people who are fully aware they're guilty of wrongdoing still seek out phoenix wright?? after all, who's to say all those wins were legitimate?? prosecutors aren't the only capable of perjury & tampering with evidence.

[periwinkla]

I think what I love the most about AA is that characters have a duality to them that I don't see often in media. They have actual flaws and do actual bad things, and it's not glossed over. Phoenix is a fundamentally good person, he helps people at the drop of a hat, risks his life for them. Has a penchant for taking strays under his wing. He believes in people... but also not really. He carries a literal lie detector with him at all times, and only employs people who can also peer into other people's hearts. So is he really that trusting? Sure he trusts his clients are innocent, but he doesn't trust they will tell him the truth at all (there's always something to lie about). He believes himself naive, and that's why he works extra hard not to be. Some people think he changed with his disbarment but I feel like when he actually changed was after Dahlia. He became less and less trusting as time went on. And Phoenix actually does forge evidence and risks his subordinate's career, and he says pretty nasty things sometimes (that one time to Edgeworth had got to hurt, badly, especially if you consider that the note could have been genuine at first, which we don't know for sure), has a pretty tactless and somewhat hurtful sense of humor, brings his daughter to cheat at poker, and doesn't tell said daughter she actually has some family left alive. He's secretive, elusive and cryptic, and masks it under a false pretence of goofiness. Miles is, by contrast, very easy to read. He may appear emotionally stunted but is one of the more emphathetic characters. He realizes when he's wrong and immediately needs to correct those wrongs. He grows uneasy and uncertain and eventually recognizes when he's mistaken. By the end of it he begins to help people naturally, without even thinking about it as much as he would have in the past. He helps so many people, he has basically got Phoenix's savior complex 2.0 but the healthy kind where he doesn't jump off a bridge. But... he was also actually cruel, and did send innocent people to their graves (was he really so naive to believe whichever defendant came his way was guilty?). He feigned his death disregarding other people's feelings, and while you could say he had no obligation towards Phoenix (apart from basic decency and respect towards someone who had turned his life around to save him), he still abandoned Franziska, who was still just a kid and had just discovered her father was a psychopath. She probably thought, at some point, that the apple didn't fall that far from the tree. That's it's somehow her fault as well. He may be rude and antagonistic, frank to a fault. Isn't afraid of telling stuff to your face. But he also cares about the people he loves so much, to the point he doesn't hesitate to risk his career and break the law multiple times. He may appear a pessimist but he's pretty idealistic at heart, it's quite funny that his favourite show is about an hero of justice, isn't it? Godot is... well, we don't know much about it from before his coma, but he definitely shared Mia's sentiments for helping people in their hour of need. But when he wakes from a 6-year coma he's so broken that he just pins the blame on the most absurd person to blame it on, settles on a complicated plan, and also prosecutes on that particular murder he should just confess upon. Iris was sweet, innocent, self-sacrificing. She knew absolutely nothing about the world apart from what Bikini or her sister told her. She was naive and falsely thought she could fix everything, that her sister was salvageable, that she could save Phoenix. But she still ended up lying to the person she loved and abetting a murder. That's why I love these characters so much. They're interesting and their stories make sense. People don't remain unchanged from what happens to them. People are multi-faceted and complex. You can't sum them up in a bunch of characteristics and aspect them to act on every single one of them, always, consistently. Sometimes people break. They make mistakes they regret, ...and some they don't.

[cherryzlem]

Little personal analysis of Phoenix Wright's obsessive character (+savior complex as a treat):

HOW DO PEOPLE NOT REALISE HOW FUCKED UP IN THE HEAD PHOENIX WRIGHT IS ??? His relationship with Dahlia is such a good exemple of it and yet people act as if Dahlia is the only crazy one. SHE'S NOT !! Phoenix is obsessive when he's in love, it shows with Dahlia. He believes her to be so innocent and just thinks she's pure and fragile, and people don't find it weird that he finds this attractive ??? HE STARTED DATING HER FROM DAY ONE FFS !? He just instantly obsesses over Dahlia it's crazy, and wanna know the worst part ? He does the same with Miles.

Get this, Phoenix knew him for less than a year and decided to forge his entire legal career for him. I know on surface level it might seem cute and haha gay but that's so fucking weird ?! The moment he lost Dahlia he instantly changed directions, aiming to reunite with his chilhood friend because he thought he could save him from being sad (a thing he assumed just from a journal on top of that). Phoenix had planned day 1 to be Miles's savior and he stuck with it.

It feels so weird to deeply analyse Phoenix like that because I love him, he's our beloved main character, he's funny and I love reading fluffy narumitsu fics but god he is so terribly fucked up it gets scary if you think about his savior complex too hard 😭

[feralforbeanix]

Wrightworth is not "Sunshine x Grumpy"

They are "Visibly Traumatized x Repressed Trauma", they are bitch for bitch, they are so many more interesting things than that overused dynamic.

Miles is not some sad boy who needs to be coddled, he is a grown ass adult who sent many people to jail. Some of which could have possibly been innocent. He's done some shitty things that are influenced yes--but not excused by his trauma. He can and SHOULD be called out on things he did, stop blaming all his bad actions on Manfred or Gant.

Phoenix is not a golden retriever boyfriend. Maybe he was in college when he was "Feenie" but that shit ended the day Dahlia was arrested (Hot take Feenie feels more ooc to the Phoenix we knew in the trilogy than Beanix ever did to me). Phoenix is a snarky bitch almost all the time, even thinking/saying downright mean things to/about people he cares about like Maya. He has massive big brother energy but not always in the "I'll take care of you" way but often in the "I'm gonna disgust/upset/annoy you on purpose because I think it's funny" way. (Like if you choose the fishing pole in Turnabout Goodbyes, he teases Maya by suggesting they use Missile as bait, which Maya takes as well as you'd expect).

Miles is not a princess who waited every day for Phoenix to save him. Miles was perfectly content to forget his past entirely as is his coping mechanism, and Phoenix has a savior complex that no one asked him to have. Miles never asked for Phoenix to reappear in his life, Phoenix just realized Miles was gonna ignore him, so he became a lawyer himself so that would no longer be an option for Miles.

This isn't to say Wrightworth is a bad ship by any means. This is to say that their characterization and relationship are so often blatantly misunderstood by the fandom. So often watered down to fit a basic mold. Which is a shame because their actual relationship is so much more interesting to me.

Sooo many fanfics get both of their characters wrong to either fit a dynamic they never were or because they want to give them less accountability than they deserve.

[aceof-stars]

What I really want is a case where Phoenix's client is truly guilty of the crime they’re being accused of and there isn’t anyone blackmailing him to get an acquittal.

Farewell My Turnabout is the only case where a guilty verdict is the good ending and the only case that challenged Phoenix’s entire worldview. (Correct me if I'm wrong though because I haven't played the Apollo Justice trilogy). I wouldn't change anything about that case but I still think another case could have been taken further. Because 2-4, at the end of the day, is still about saving someone; it's about the value of trust and partnership in fighting for the truth because that is what will save someone.

But I want a case where there really isn’t anyone who can be or needs to be saved. Phoenix’s client is guilty, and there are no kidnapped loved ones or anyone forcing him to get a verdict either way. Even better if the defendant is a sympathetic killer like Acro. And there is no huge impossible decision/moral dilemma about who to save, it’s just realizing that doing the right thing means accepting a loss.

I always found it ironic that Edgeworth taking a loss in the name of truth is seen as an important sign of his redemption, but Phoenix almost never does the same thing. I know Phoenix gets to choose his cases and Miles doesn't but it just seems kind of hypocritical to me.

And I still want the case to have a happy ending because Phoenix still helped his client by giving them a proper defense. I don’t want Phoenix to come out of this demoralized. I just really need a case to finally hammer home to Phoenix that he should not be hinging his entire worth and motivation for being a defense attorney on if he can save people (because clearly 2-4 did not do that).

[hyperfixatinator]

Hey, do you guys ever think about the "Not Guilty" option at the end of the Engarde trial? Shelly De Killer released Maya from her kidnapping. Phoenix's hands are no longer tied. He could've said "Guilty" and sent Matt Engarde to prison where he would await the death penalty.

Instead, though, he continues fighting to get his client acquitted. Only this time, it's not an act of mercy. It's an act of revenge.

Phoenix knows De Killer has made Engarde his next target. He knows Engarde would face a worse fate should he be sent free. Phoenix isn't being a savior here. He's throwing Engarde out to the wolves. He was about to pull Engarde out of the frying pan to shove him directly into the fire for what he did to Maya.

It's one of those brief glimpses into Phoenix's humanity that's both unsettling and sobering. His savior complex and heroic reputation make it easy to forget just how far he'll go when the right lines get crossed.

[tudirkulosis]

i dont think the aa fandom talks enough abt phoenix's massive fucking savior complex in like all of the pwaa trilogy. esp as nrmts like yeah its easy to say "oo he's just super gay 4 edgey-poo" and like okay yeah. duh. not gonna sit here and deny that but at the same time i think thats super surface level?? like so much of phoenix's dialogue ESPECIALLY in aa1 regarding edgeworth is that he's like the ONLY person who can save edgeworth and he KNOWS that he can, almost to a... dare i say it... egotistical degree...? like he just kinda assumes he'll succeed in saving him? (it's been a minute since i played aa1 so i forget if this was textual or subtextual) but yeah idk. and then when u think abt the fact he was still in a relationship with dahlia/iris as he's studying law for edgeworth i think the whole "i can fix him" thing becomes even more apparent? i do not think phoenix wright knew he loved miles edgeworth. hell idek if he did. gay or not i think a lot of phoenix's motivation comes from a very paradoxically self-centered idea that it his his duty, his divine purpose to Help People to the degree that he bases his whole life on this one Dude He Needs To Help. idk if this makes sense who cares its midnight and i have mono i get an excuse to post nonsense

[aceattorneygamesfan]

I like krisnix because all the content about it is either:

Phoenix is a victim of his savior complex and he fell in love with his manipulator/they are both manipulators who hurt each other- 18k words, "Hurt No Comfort", "Angst", "Bottom Kristoph Gavin"

Or

"divorce selfie meme"