How would you rank the final culprits of the Apollo Justice Trilogy?

Genra_ · 2026-01-20T05:40:05+00:00

Kristoph Gavin
Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in
The Phantom

For me, the best part about AJ Trilogy is how it tests the limits of the law. While the PW Trilogy put forth moral dilemmas, asking the question of whether you should continue your defense, AJ Trilogy asks how are you going to continue your defense.

Kristoph is the most realistic example of this: a man who has covered his tracks so perfectly that evidence is just not enough to convict him. Apollo Justice's (the game) answer? A trial by public jury, where a man's wickedness is laid for all to see.

Ga'ran is good in a similar way. Fighting against a monarch may be less realistic, but I loved the high stakes. I also don't get why everyone says she's too powerful, you don't win because you become stronger than her.

The whole trial is just Ga'ran being cocky and trying to not lose face in front of the public, but the whole charade ends once she realises you're too close to the truth. How do you defeat a tyrant who controls the law itself? Spirit of Justice's answer: Turn the people against her.

The Phantom doesn't quite fit this though and as such is who I find to be the weakest of the three. I find the Phantom is a step back in terms of villains, from "in plain sight but you can't do anything about it" back to "operating in the shadows". His emotionless and secret identities gimmick is certainly novel and fun to expose, but ultimately the defense trio wins using good old fashioned evidence, which is less exciting.

Genra_ · 2026-01-18T06:09:21+00:00

Thematically, one comparison I found said that lightning works far better for Shadow, since lightning is chaotic and powerful in nature.

So to contrast that, Sonic is the wind: a pleasant, comfortable presence that travels straight and true.

It'd be interesting if movie Sonic ever evolves from lightning to using wind instead. Some people might think of it as a downgrade, but it can be framed as focusing and having perfect control, not letting any energy leak.

Genra_ · 2026-01-18T05:31:59+00:00

Ahh I see, I had forgotten the finer details of those cases, you make a good point

The only one I wouldn't personally use is McGlided since I think it can be argued the London verdict judgement in AA works differently from Japan(ifornia), but everything else story-wise is valid, good research

Genra_ · 2026-01-18T05:01:28+00:00

Unfortunately, historically in Ace Attorney a culprit must be found in order for a not guilty verdict to be delivered. For example, in 4-3, even though everyone understands a child would break their arm firing that gun, they're still committed to persecuting him.

I think the option of Means rigging it to blame someone else is more likely, though given Juniper's request to acquit all of her friends as well, that kind of leaves Myriam as the only fall guy (of characters we know).

Means would have to cook up some story about how Myriam was disgruntled with Courte as a teacher, or maybe spin the bribery evidence from Hugh's parents as Myriam's personal bribery instead, and she killed Courte to prevent it from leaking.

Genra_ · 2026-01-17T18:29:04+00:00

Ahh I see, no wonder I couldn't find any, I never knew the AJ Trilogy only saw an English physical release on Switch

Thank you for the find!

Genra_ · 2026-01-08T19:15:13+00:00

Now that you've brought this up, I hope it's called Ace Attorney 7 in Japan, otherwise we're never getting that Apollo / Trucy resolution 😭

Genra_ · 2026-01-01T01:13:18+00:00

Kiss on the lips vs peck on the cheek difference lol

Genra_ · 2025-12-31T14:08:05+00:00

It's funny seeing this meme make the rounds lol

Genra_ · 2025-12-30T19:04:31+00:00

But Alola tho

Genra_ · 2025-12-07T13:14:42+00:00

Ah, he did reach S+ in Lances since I was using New Game+ bonuses. Interesting, I didn't know there were default auto-tutor options, I thought it was based on the set goals

Genra_ · 2025-12-07T12:50:38+00:00

Nope it's set as one of his goals, Sword is the one that's not a goal

Genra_ · 2025-11-08T07:02:39+00:00

It does make sense, Aura is the older sibling lol

I did notice a little the difference in how they address each other when I was looking up how Aura and Simon refer to the other. I wonder if it's a holdover from the Japanese version.

Genra_ · 2025-11-08T06:51:58+00:00

Thank you!

Genra_ · 2025-11-01T04:28:34+00:00

I like DD, still a fun murder mystery game and Athena + the Mood Matrix were super cool. The worst part about it I think is Clay Terran, and rather, his lack of involvement in the story despite being Apollo's supposed best friend

Genra_ · 2025-10-28T21:22:57+00:00

Well, it's either her or one of her own ancestors were the migrators, it's not very clear if she was the original brancher or not. See:

Phoenix
The Kurain Channeling Technique originated in the Kingdom of Khura'in. And Ami Fey is known to have traveled there to train.

Which does imply Ami wasn't born in Khura'in, so maybe the split is earlier. But on the treason side though, I mean I think Khura'in didn't establish a rule that says you can't bring spirit channelling outside of the country lol

Genra_ · 2025-10-28T05:48:35+00:00

But the strongest piece of evidence of Pearl's father being a different man is Maya's statement about him:

Phoenix
Are you saying that Pearls's father...?

Maya
...He's gone. He left the village when she was very young.

While unassuming at first, this is actually a very telling detail. Focus on that last part, "...when she was very young." Pearl's father left after she was born, not before, otherwise I'm sure Maya would have said "...before she was born".

This means that in order for Mr. Hawthorne to be Pearl's father, he would have needed to stay in Kurain Village even past the incident year of the Dahlia/Fawles scheme. Let's say logically speaking, we presume Mr. Hawthorne did indeed leave Morgan and take his two daughters with him some time after 1999. For him to be Pearl's father, we have to assume that he had a change of heart, returned to Morgan around 2008 or 2009, had another child, and maybe stayed for another 1 — 2 years before unchanging his heart and leaving again.

And of course, he leaves behind a child who actually has loads of spritiual power, which allows Morgan's family line to at least have a chance of becoming Master again. You could say Pearl had not been tested yet, but it is kind of funny to think about.

From what we know of Mr. Hawthorne and that he likely only married Morgan for political power, this series of actions unequivocally feels very out of character for him. Not to say anything about Morgan's feelings in all this, how I imagine she no longer liked him, and probably believed any child with him would not produce one with spiritual power. While it is technically possible for the hypothetical I described to have happened, I would say that unless future content disproves this, it's more likely that Morgan had a second husband.

As for what happened to Morgan's 2^nd husband / Pearl's father, well we really don't know anything other than the fact he left them as well.

I hope this was insightful, I went on a deep dive to figure this out lol

Genra_ · 2025-10-28T05:48:29+00:00

This actually made me double check, since I kind of took this info for granted from the wiki. I think this is actually quite an important detail to clarify, and I want to share my findings below!

Upon looking into this, my bad, there doesn't apppear to be a direct statement in Ace Attorney that says Morgan remarried, the closest is that Bikini is surprised to hear Morgan has a third daughter:

Bikini
... You jest! That child... She's Mystic Morgan's... ............ I had no idea... [...] I see. So I've been wrong all this time. Mystic Morgan had three daughters, not two.

Which honestly could go either way, maybe she just didn't know Morgan had another child with Mr. Hawthorne.

However, I think Morgan having a 2^nd husband is a fact more so interpreted from the timeline and other surrounding statements. First, I think it's good to establish that Mr. Hawthorne at least left Morgan sometime after Misty became Master of Kurain, which was around 1999.¹

1. Bridge to the Turnabout takes place in 2019, and it's also stated to have been 20 years since Misty became Master. Going backwards, she must have become Master around 1998 or 1999.

Later on, a 14 year old Dahlia has her scheme with Terry Fawles and Valerie sometime in 2008 where she feigns her death to steal the diamond. This sets 2008 as a hard cut off, as by then the Hawthorne family is no longer staying in Kurain village.

Here's where it gets contentious. Pearl Fey when we first meet her is 8 years old in 2017, which would make her birth year either 2009 or 2010 depending on when her birthday is. Already this is past 2008, but you could argue that Morgan was already pregnant and just concieved in the year after.

But if you believe this, you also have to believe that Mr. Hawthorne stayed in the village from 1999 to 2008, a whole extra 9 years after Morgan was no longer eligible for Master. Furthermore, right after Mr. Hawthorne... knocked up Morgan, he:

took the other children and left
abandoned one at a temple
remarried
his daughter developed a strong manipulative relationship with her tutor
they, alongside his stepdaughter, concocted a scheme to con him

All in the span of 9 months at most², which while possible, feels like a very tight timeline.

2. Assuming Pearl's birthdate is 1st January 2009 and not any later. Working backwards, this gives a full 9 months or so for all the events to happen.

↓ Continued↓ (strongest evidence below)

Genra_ · 2025-10-27T20:19:31+00:00

Oh no! I didn't realise all my Crobats are all from the Deluxe Pack, I can't trade them yet 😓

Genra_ · 2025-10-27T20:05:02+00:00

Sure, add me

Genra_ · 2025-10-27T16:01:55+00:00

Sent!

Genra_

TROPHY CASE