list of ace attorney characters

ace attorney is a series of legal thriller comedy-drama adventure/visual novel games created by shu takumi. players assume the role of a defense attorney in a fictional courtroom setting in the main series. published by capcom, the series includes ', ', ', ', ', "ace attorney investigations 2", ', ', ', and "". character names for the english release of the series were changed significantly from the original japanese release.
main characters.
phoenix wright.
 is a defense attorney and the main character of the franchise, and the protagonist in all games in the main series, except for apollo justice.
mia fey.
mia first appears in ", where she is introduced as rookie defense attorney phoenix wright's mentor and a member of the fey clan, a family of spirit mediums living in the isolated mountain town of kurain village. after helping phoenix win his first case, defending his friend larry butz, mia is murdered by billionaire redd white, and her younger sister maya is framed and accused of sororicide. however, over the course of the trial, maya uses her medium abilities to channel mia's spirit, and mia is able to guide phoenix to prove maya's innocence and white's guilt. in gratitude, maya becomes phoenix's legal assistant and partner, allowing him to consult mia when he needs guidance. following the conclusion of the game and maya's temporary return to kurain village to take up mia's intended mantle as master of kurain, phoenix is hired to defend mia's college friend lana skye by her sister ema skye.
in ", mia is channeled once again by her younger cousin pearl fey, allowing her to continue to guide phoenix in becoming a defense attorney. after deducing that her aunt morgan fey planned to frame maya for murder in order to claim the mantle of master of kurain for pearl, mia helps phoenix prove maya's innocence once again, finally physically reuniting with her and sharing a hug. mia also guides phoenix as to what it truly means to be an attorney after he realises one of his clients is guilty of the crime of which they were accused.
mia returns in "", which in addition to featuring her continuing to act as phoenix's mentor through being channeled by pearl, delves into mia's own early years as a rookie defense attorney working for marvin grossberg, and how she became phoenix's mentor. during a case defending death row inmate terry fawles for murder, with her coworker diego armando acting as her co-counsel and miles edgeworth acting as the prosecution, mia realises that the witness to terry's crime is the person terry had been convicted of killing: mia's cousin (and pearl's half-sister) dahlia hawthorne; however, before mia can prove dahlia's guilt as the actual culprit of the current crime in court, dahlia tricks terry into committing suicide by poisoning him, forcing the trial to conclude. sometime later, diego confronts dahlia about her past crimes, only for dahlia to manage to poison diego and leave him comatose. after dahlia commits another murder for which she frames her boyfriend, art student phoenix wright, mia successfully defends him and finally proves dahlia's guilt, leading her to be sentenced to death. in the aftermath of the trial, impressed with mia's abilities, phoenix reveals that he has decided to switch his degree from art to law, and states that he hopes to see mia in court again someday. he later becomes her apprentice. several years later, diego awakes from his coma to learn that mia is dead, and that he himself is blind (forcing him to wear a special mask to see). angered at phoenix for failing to protect mia in life, diego becomes a prosecutor dubbed "godot" to test his abilities as an "ace attorney". after mia's mother misty channels dahlia's spirit to prevent pearl from doing so, as part of another plot by morgan to have dahlia kill maya for her. diego, blinded revenge, kills misty as he attempts to kill dahlia. after admitting his guilt at the subsequent trial, diego briefly sees mia's spirit within phoenix, and admits his proficiency as a lawyer.
mia thanks phoenix for saving diego, declares that he has learned all that she can teach him, and bids him goodbye, saying that they may one day meet again. in the credits of the game, a sketch of mia, diego and misty is seen.
outside of the main "ace attorney" series, mia also appears in several other capcom games, including as an alternate costume for phoenix in "ultimate marvel vs. capcom 3", and as a collectible card in "" and "teppen: ace vs. the people".
mia has appeared in other media adaptations of "ace attorney". she is a recurring character in the "ace attorney" manga series published by kodansha comics. mia also appears in the "ace attorney" film, which loosely adapts her role from the first game, and the "ace attorney" anime series, which adapts the events of the original trilogy.
miles edgeworth.
 is phoenix wright's long-time friend and first rival in the court room. he is temporarily playable in and the main player character in and ace attorney investigations 2. as a child, edgeworth aspired to become a defense attorney, following in his father gregory edgeworth's footsteps. when they were children, edgeworth successfully defended phoenix in a classroom trial, where phoenix was accused of stealing lunch money from edgeworth himself. however, upon witnessing his father's death and watching in horror as the suspected murderer was let free, he gained a hatred for criminals and began studying to be a prosecutor, learning tactics from his mentor manfred von karma to always get a "guilty" verdict. this later earned him the name "demon prosecutor". miles had not lost a case he was involved with until his first trial against phoenix, after which he felt a need to defeat phoenix. by the end of the first game, miles would undergo some self-reflection, and eventually cast aside his traumas to become a more well-rounded and just prosecutor, instead of just chasing guilty verdicts.
edgeworth's spin-off game "ace attorney investigations" was originally going to star ema skye, another character from the series, but due to fan response, they went with miles edgeworth, a more popular character.
maya fey.
 is a spirit medium and the younger sister of phoenix's boss, mia fey. maya is introduced in "phoenix wright: ace attorney", in which she is accused of her sister's murder and defended by phoenix. she becomes his legal assistant and investigates cases with him in the first three "ace attorney" games. maya cheerily banters with phoenix during investigations, and can channel her sister's spirit when phoenix needs her help. she does not appear in the fourth and fifth games, but returns in the sixth, reuniting with phoenix in khura'in as she prepares to complete her channeling training. maya also appears in other franchise media: the manga, film, anime series, and the spin-off games including the "professor layton" crossover and "ace attorney investigations". maya, alongside phoenix, also makes cameo appearances in several games across other genres.
pearl fey.
pearl first appears in "", where she is introduced as the sheltered younger cousin of spirit medium and investigative assistant maya fey and a member of the fey clan, a family of spirit mediums living in the isolated mountain town of kurain village. a spirit medium herself, after her mother morgan fey attempts to have maya framed for murder in order to have pearl succeed maya as the master of kurain, pearl channels her deceased cousin and defense attorney mia fey so she can guide phoenix wright in clearing her cousin's name and exposing morgan's crimes. afterwards, pearl often accompanies phoenix and maya, whom she views as each holding romantic interest towards the other (as their "special someone"), because of her sheltered upbringing. at one point, they take pearl to the berry big circus. nine months after her mother's arrest, pearl, maya and phoenix are invited to an awards show at the gatewater imperial hotel, where maya is kidnapped by notorious hired hitman shelly de killer and phoenix is made to defend his employer matt engarde and have him receive a "not guilty" verdict as ransom. pearl and maya subsequently each separately channel mia to allow her to pass information about where maya is being held to phoenix, allowing them to turn de killer against engarde during his trial and have engarde plead "guilty", allowing for maya's release. pearl additionally displays her athletic abilities in being able to run from the mountaintop kurain village to los angeles in under five hours, a distance taking two hours to travel by train.
pearl returns in "", seeing the sacred urn she had previously broken displayed at a department store, before it is stolen by the infamous thief mask☆demasque, a.k.a. ron delite. after phoenix clears ron of both his true theft charges and untrue murder charges, ron's wife desirée hugs him, leading to pearl, having just arrived on the scene, knocking phoenix out, after mistakenly believing him to have been cheating on maya. sometime later, after visiting her mother in prison and travelling with phoenix and maya to a mountain retreat, pearl is tricked by her mother into attempting to channel her deceased half-sister dahlia hawthorne to have her kill maya, only to be saved by her aunt, misty fey, who had disappeared many years prior, and mia's former boyfriend godot, who had been rendered comatose many years prior. later, while pearl's other half-sister iris is accused of misty's murder, pearl confronts franziska von karma over her poor treatment of maya, rendering her speechless, before once again channeling mia to help phoenix in court. in the aftermath of the trial, pearl returns to the temple in tears to clean up gravy she had spilled on misty's portrait; phoenix and maya then catch up with her, reassuring her that she is not to blame for the events that occurred.
pearl does not make a physical appearance in the series' fourth entry; however, she is briefly referenced in dialogue by phoenix in '. by ', set eight years after "trials and tribulations", pearl is a high school student, regularly keeping in touch with phoenix and his legally adopted daughter trucy wright, who sees her as her "big sister." after phoenix's new protégé athena cykes is arrested, pearl visits phoenix on her regular route to clean his office and deliver him a letter from maya, before accompanying him in proving athena innocent of her mother's murder, and comforts athena after phoenix breaks the black psyche-locks on her subconscious mind, representing repressed memories of secrets. in the game's dlc case, set several months earlier, pearl is visiting shipshape aquarium with her summer camp before being questioned by police after the aquarium's owner is apparently murdered. subsequently, pearl runs into phoenix and athena, introducing herself to the latter before recharging phoenix's magatama, it having finally run out of spiritual energy after she had first charged it for him upon meeting him nine years prior. after an orca and subsequently their trainer are accused of the murder, pearl assists phoenix and athena in their investigation, retrieving forensics equipment phoenix had previously received from ema skye. months after the trial's conclusion (the death having been proven to be accidental in nature), pearl revisits the aquarium with phoenix, athena, trucy, and apollo justice.
in "", pearl briefly appears in kurain village after apollo visits it with his deceased adoptive father dhurke sahdmadhi (channeled by maya), providing them with directions to a cave they were searching for. after maya finally returns from her medium studies in the kingdom of khura'in, she is greeted by pearl, who unsuccessfully pitches the concept of allowing clothing stores to set up in the town. in the non-canon dlc case "asinine attorney", pearl appears on vacation in the kingdom of khu'rain, briefly impersonating royal priestess rayfa padma khura'in to prevent them from being kidnapped.
outside of the main "ace attorney" series, pearl makes a brief cameo appearance in the "" spin-off title, also appearing in several other capcom titles, including as an unlockable costume in "we love golf!" and as a collectible card in "teppen: ace vs. the people".
pearl has appeared in other media adaptations of "ace attorney". she is a recurring character in the "ace attorney" manga series published by kodansha comics, and in a stage play based on the case farewell, my turnabout, portrayed by shiyū urushibara with understudy yūna takano. pearl also appears in the "ace attorney" anime series, which adapts the events of the original trilogy.
dick gumshoe.
 is a homicide detective of the local police department. despite his occupation, he is a clumsy and forgetful man who is largely seen as incompetent by the prosecutors, frequently resulting in his salary being lowered. as a result, he lives in poor circumstances. despite this, he is a friendly man who is determined to find the killer and is fiercely loyal to miles edgeworth, and eventually comes to be a trusted ally of phoenix wright as well.
franziska von karma.
 is a prosecuting attorney and the daughter of manfred von karma. 
franziska first appears in "" as an antagonist to protagonist phoenix wright, specifically in the second episode. she is a prodigy prosecuting attorney, becoming an attorney in germany at the age of 13, going undefeated until she was 18. she seeks to get revenge on phoenix, who presumes this to be because he defeated her father, manfred von karma. she is typically seen holding a whip and using it on others, in and out of court. she tends to use the word "fool" to describe others, and has a cold personality. he defeats her in two trials, causing her great frustration. in the original japanese version of the game, she lived in the united states rather than germany.
ema skye.
 is the younger sister of chief prosecutor and has hopes of becoming a scientific investigator. she first approaches phoenix's office to obtain a defense attorney for her sister, lana. though he ignored most of the cases he received during maya's two-month absence, he took ema's due to her resemblance to maya in personality and appearance. the kanji for her japanese surname, "hōzuki", translates to "treasured moon" or "jeweled moon". she was included in the video game ' due to the developers' desire to bring back some familiar faces to it, where she became a homicide detective after failing to qualify for her dream job. as a result, she became moodier and addicted to a chocolate treat called "snackoos." in "spirit of justice", she finally passed the test to become a forensic investigator and lightens up. ' was originally to star ema skye, but due to the response from the fanbase, they chose to replace her with miles edgeworth, who was a much more popular character. she was featured as a secondary character in it.
nintendo world report editor michael cole commented that ""s witnesses are not quite as funny or interesting as the ones in the , specifically mentioning ema skye, adding that she lacks dick gumshoe's "lovable incompetence".
the judge.
the unnamed 
apollo justice.
 is the main protagonist in "apollo justice: ace attorney" and is a major playable character in "dual destinies" and "spirit of justice". he is a defense attorney and was phoenix wright's understudy in the three games in which he appears. he was born in 2003 to jove justice and thalassa gramarye (thus also being trucy wright's biological half-brother), though after the former's death in 2005, he was adopted by dhurke sahdmadhi, a defense attorney at the time, and was raised alongside sahdmadhi's son nahyuta in the kingdom of khura'in. in 2012, justice was sent to a boarding school in america, where he met his best friend clay terran, an aspiring astronaut.
in april 2026, he defended his first client, phoenix wright, in court under the supervision of his mentor kristoph gavin; however, this trial ended in gavin's conviction as the true perpetrator of the crime. two months later, he joins the wright talent agency, which is then renamed the wright anything agency, and defends three more clients against his former mentor's brother, prosecutor klavier gavin. while defending the last of these clients, justice proves that kristoph gavin was behind the forgery that led to wright's disbarment, allowing wright to retake the bar exam and become a defense attorney again in july 2027.
in december 2027, his best friend, clay terran, is murdered at the cosmos space center. suspicious of his coworker, athena cykes, justice temporarily leaves the agency in order to investigate the murder alone. however, after wright proves cykes's innocence in court and identifies the true culprit (who is immediately shot by an unidentified sniper), justice resumes work at the agency.
in april 2028, he meets nahyuta sahdmadhi, who is now a prosecutor, for the first time in fourteen years. justice successfully defends trucy wright against sahdmadhi; however, one month later, after successfully defending dhurke sahdmadhi in a civil case against phoenix wright, he returns to khura'in and is once again reunited with the prosecutor. there, he successfully defends his foster father against two counts of murder. however, during the trial, he learns that dhurke was actually murdered himself just days prior, and was being channeled by maya fey in the intervening time. the trial results in queen ga'ran's deposition, and justice decides to stay in khura'in to run dhurke's old law office, now known as the justice law offices.
trucy wright.
, born , is phoenix wright's adoptive daughter, introduced in "apollo justice: ace attorney". she is a stage magician and accompanies apollo on his investigations.
athena cykes.
 is a defense attorney and a specialist in analytical psychology. she first appears in "dual destinies".
ryunosuke naruhodo.
 is the protagonist of the "great ace attorney" games. he is the ancestor of phoenix wright.
susato mikotoba.
 is a judicial assistant who often helps ryunosuke in his cases. she is described by capcom as a yamato nadeshiko (a personification of the image of the ideal japanese woman), a progressive dreamer, and a lover of foreign mystery novels. 
others.
recurring characters.
frank sahwit.
 a thief posing as a newspaper salesman, he was witness in phoenix wright's first case.
misty fey.
 the mother of maya and mia fey, she was contacted by the police to solve the dl-6 murder and went missing shortly afterwards due being falsely accused of being a fraud
larry butz.
 the childhood friend of phoenix wright and miles edgeworth who always causes trouble. he was the defendant in wright's first case as a lawyer.
manfred von karma.
 is a ruthless perfectionist prosecutor who maintained a perfect trial record for 40 years, von karma is the mentor of miles edgeworth as well as franziska von karma. he serves as the prosecutor in charge of the final case of the first game.
shelly de killer.
the third in a line of professional hitmen, 
gregory edgeworth.
the father of miles edgeworth, gregory edgeworth was a defense attorney who was killed in the dl-6 incident.
"phoenix wright: ace attorney".
redd white.
 the arrogant ceo of bluecorp, redd white is a blackmailer who was witness in wright's second trial
damon gant.
the chief of police and boss of lana skye, he led the investigation into serial killer joe darke and was later witness in the dlc case rise from the ashes
lana skye.
 in the japanese musical based on the series, "ace attorney - truth resurrected", staged by the all-female troupe takarazuka revue, asahi miwa was cast as leona clyde, an original character based on lana, whom phoenix wright is featured as having once been in a romantic relationship with in place of iris/dahlia hawthorne. the sequel, "ace attorney 2 - truth resurrected, again", establishes leona to have died shortly after the first musical, and he mourns her death.
"justice for all".
acro.
, known under the stage name 
matt engarde.
 is a television actor and the rival of juan corrida, he was the defendant in the final case of justice for all
"trials and tribulations".
prosecutor godot.
, real name is a mysterious prosecutor with a grudge against wright who serves as prosecutor on his trials in the third game
dahlia hawthorne.
 a ruthless serial killer who's the former love interest of phoenix wright and the main antagonist of the third game
luke atmey.
 the self proclaimed "ace detective" who heads the atmey detective agency and the arch-enemy of the thief mask demasque. he is one of the witnesses in the third game
"dual destinies".
gaspen payne.
 is winston payne's younger brother who appears as the first prosecutor in "". he is a bit more flexible with the law than his brother and is not averse to using dirty tricks in the courtroom; his attitude is rather conceited towards defense attorneys as well. he wears a black suit with sunglasses and has a large quiff hairdo.
"spirit of justice".
inga karkhuul khura'in.
, full name 

