俺の黄金の魔女
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Rank: Prosecutor
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:36 am
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This post contains spoilers for all three gamesAll right, I promised (threatened?) some people I would do this, so here it goes. My justification for liking Phoenix and Edgeworth as a couple. Please keep in mind that I am not trying to say that Phoenix and Edgeworth are officially a couple within in the game. They’re not. But I love them anyway~
PHOENIX:
Let’s start off with friendship. I notice a lot of people who don’t seem to understand the appeal of the couple say Phoenix and Edgeworth are “just friends”. Yes, friendship is a huge facet of their relationship. My issue is with the “just”.
Friendship is important to Phoenix. Take, for example, Larry. When Larry gets in a jam in 1-1, Phoenix is there for him without question. Even though he knows Larry is a spaz, and that he probably won’t even get paid for his efforts, Phoenix wouldn’t even dream of NOT defending him. Even if the situation was of Larry’s own making, it’s hard to imagine that Phoenix would ever abandon him. So it’s only natural he do the same for Edgeworth, right? Of course.
But…there is one large difference between Larry and Edgeworth. Phoenix has known Larry his
entire life. How long did he know Edgeworth?
A year. And, of that year, they were only really close friends for a portion of it. Yet in that single year, Edgeworth had enough impact on him that Phoenix was willing to change his entire chosen profession and enter the world of law…
to save him. For someone he hadn’t even seen since he was NINE YEARS OLD.
Now, how many of us can say we would do the same for someone under similar circumstances? How many of us would change our majors in college because someone we’d only known for a year back in
grade school had bad RUMORS about them printed in the paper? How can that be “just” friendship? Friendship is doing everything you can to help someone, but it doesn’t include making radically life altering decisions based on them.
Phoenix trying to get into contact with Edgeworth after hearing the rumors is natural. That is something a friend would do for another friend, even someone estranged from us. But changing majors? Deciding that you will
save them from themselves? That’s above and beyond the call of “just friendship”. That’s not to say it’s romantic love, but trying to say it’s something “anyone would do for a friend” doesn’t cut it.
And that’s not all. It becomes even more amazing when you take Phoenix’s personality into consideration. Phoenix practically embodies the law of inertia. He takes maybe four cases a year on average. Of these cases, disregarding the ones not directly involved with his friends, there has been only one he’s taken of his own accord without Maya or outside forces pressing him to do so. (3-2) In other words, Phoenix isn’t exactly a go getter until you’ve actually gotten him moving.
So this guy, who has to be pressured into taking jobs, deliberately changed the entire course of his life to save Edgeworth.
Think about how huge that is.
No one was prompting him to save Edgeworth. No one told him that he should become a lawyer to save Edgeworth. No one told him Edgeworth needed his help. Phoenix SAW all those things based on a few articles in the news and
reacted according, of his own volition. Edgeworth wasn’t even in mortal danger.
At the end of 3-1 he still makes it a point to tell Mia that he’s going to become a lawyer to save a friend. You would think that he would be too torn up by what happened to him, but even then Edgeworth is still on his mind. His focal point. His goal.
Phoenix can be surprisingly selfish when it comes to Edgeworth. “I'm the only one who knows the real Edgeworth.” Who is he talking to there? Well, one of them is Larry, the other boy that knew Edgeworth for the exact same amount of time that Phoenix did. Yet Phoenix is asserting that HE has a special bond with Edgeworth, that only
Phoenix can understand Edgeworth’s pain.
Phoenix has a special worth to Edgeworth that no one else has.
His faith in Edgeworth is such that he refuses to believe that Edgeworth could possibly kill someone even on accident. Even when that’s what the evidence points to, Phoenix holds firm. Going so far as to yell at Maya and Grossberg that he believes in Edgeworth no matter what, even at the cost of all common sense.
In the second game, after Edgeworth vanishes, Phoenix undergoes a subtle, but strong change. It’s most obvious when Maya mentions Edgeworth’s name and Phoenix snaps at her—even when she’s facing the death penalty! But it also pervades the way he thinks about things. Phoenix has nightmares about going into court. He dismisses all prosecutors as being hateful and selfish. He has flashbacks to Edgeworth and has to violently pull himself away from thinking about him.
Here’s the thing I think a lot of people miss.
Phoenix knows, at this point, that Edgeworth isn’t dead. He isn’t reacting this way out of pain from a friend dying, his reaction stems from bitterness at feeling personally betrayed. He would
rather think of Edgeworth as dead, THAT’S how strong his bitterness is. It’s a very personal reaction. In 3-3, we get a glimpse of how strongly Phoenix feels about betrayal, as well he should considering his past. But even his reaction there is subdued compared to the way he reacts to Edgeworth’s name in GS2. (Which does make sense, Edgeworth’s “betrayal” is more recent, but it’s still food for thought.)
Also, keep in mind GS2 took place over the course of a year. Yet his bitterness wasn’t fading with time, it was growing stronger. Another interesting bit that people seem to miss? Phoenix is deliberately paralleled with Franziska, by Acro. The game goes out of its way to say both of them are similar. What is Franziska’s focal point, what is her driving force in this game? It’s Miles Edgeworth.
And when Edgeworth returns, that bitterness comes flowing out with a vengeance. Phoenix can’t even set aside his pain even though Edgeworth is trying to help find Maya. He lashes out at him whenever they meet. He’s wary. He’s been hurt. He says as much at the end of the trial, that Edgeworth’s vanishing felt like a personal betrayal.
But they worked through it, and came out the stronger for it.
The Phoenix/Edgeworth relationship is complicated. Phoenix knows where he stands with Maya, he has defined her place in his life. That definition is “the person closest to me”, which is incredibly touching and sweet. It’s painfully obvious that he loves her so much. But with Edgeworth…words aren’t enough. He CAN’T describe his relationship to Edgeworth with words alone. It’s too complex. Not all of it is good, not all of it is perfect, but it’s huge and complex and it defies
simple description.EDGEWORTH:
If Phoenix had never shown up, it’s not as though Edgeworth would have died. He would have turned into von Karma, twisted, bitter, and hateful. Phoenix might not have saved his life, but he saved him from becoming a monster. And for a long time, Edgeworth couldn’t forgive him for even reappearing in his life.
Phoenix drove Edgeworth to distraction in the first game. It’s obvious that Edgeworth still had “unnecessary feelings” concerning Phoenix, even as far back as 1-2, when he felt obligated to warn him about what he was up against. In 1-3, he couldn’t stop himself from helping Phoenix, even at the cost of his win. Phoenix was a reminder of what Edgeworth used to be, and he couldn’t help but respond to that. And it drove him
crazy. Gumshoe tells us as much. Walking around muttering “Wright, Wright, Wright”? Not exactly a confirmation of love, but it certainly shows Phoenix was on his mind. :p
Then, in 1-4, Edgeworth was brought the lowest he’s ever been. Accused of murder, without anyone willing to defend him. And then there is Phoenix Wright sitting across from him, chomping at the bit to “rescue” him. I believe Edgeworth pushing Phoenix away in this case was because he really didn’t want Phoenix to know how he had become what he did. Phoenix…made Edgeworth
ashamed.After all, it was Phoenix especially that he didn’t want defending him. It was Phoenix especially that he wanted to keep away from DL-6. He even admits later on that when he was being rude to Phoenix, he didn’t really mean it. He just wanted him to stay away no matter what.
But Phoenix unearthing these “feelings” had dramatic consequences for Edgeworth. By not being able to hide from his past any more, he found the strength to face up to what he thought had happened—it just turned out to be horrifically
wrong. And Phoenix saved him and found out what really happened. It was hard for Edgeworth to deal with, especially in the next case, when he was confronted with what he could easily become if Phoenix hadn’t been there, if Phoenix had given up from all the times Edgeworth pushed him away.
It wasn’t fair to leave the way he did. I think Edgeworth realizes that in GS2 when he comes back. He accepts Phoenix’s bitterness and anger as his due. He even tells Phoenix that he doesn’t hate him. Edgeworth went on a soul-searching journey, and for most people it might be enough to find the answer for themselves.
But Edgeworth doesn’t feel that way. He comes back to share his answer even though he knows Phoenix will be angry. He knows that Phoenix has a RIGHT to be angry, but what’s more important is that he knows that Phoenix is also falling into a trap somewhat similar to the one he was in a year ago. It’s not enough to want to save people—even though Edgeworth was saved by Phoenix. What’s really important is being able to search for and face the truth. And to do that, you need two people willing to struggle for it.
That person, to Miles Edgeworth, is Phoenix Wright.
And, even though 1-5 planted the seed, GS2 is what allowed their partnership to bloom. 2-4 has Phoenix coming to the slow but sure realization that even though he felt betrayed by what Edgeworth did, he still trusts him. He trusts him with Maya’s life. He trusts that together, they can somehow find a way to put Matt behind bars, save Adrian, and rescue Maya, even with impossible odds.
I love how at the end of 2-4, Phoenix automatically knows what Edgeworth needs when he’s going to go off and talk to Franziska. He even knows where Edgeworth going. Neither of them had to say a single word. Between these two, words are often awkward, but sometimes they have these amazing moments where their awareness transcends the need for words at all. And they still
understand.In terms of how much Phoenix means to Edgeworth, you can’t go without mentioning 3-5. I’m sure many of you heard that Edgeworth chartered a jet to go help Phoenix, but that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. Edgeworth isn’t exactly thrilled to be back in town, especially considering the circumstances. He has mixed feelings about pretending to be a defense attorney, for quite a few reasons.
But one thing he NEVER wavers on is that he is there for Phoenix. When he talks about how Phoenix is suffering to Ayame, you can tell that he wants to ease Phoenix’s pain, even if it means telling Ayame outright that she WILL tell Phoenix what’s going on or he won’t take her case. And when he talks about how he knows Phoenix is the last person that she wanted to know her secret, I believe there is a tinge of recognition. How could there not be? It was only two years earlier that he was sitting in jail, trying to protect his own “dirty” past from the only person who, for some unfathomable reason, still wanted to help him.
He’s been in that situation.
And when he is in court, facing his sister, he draws on what he knows of Phoenix to keep him going. When Fran tells him he looks like Phoenix Wright when he’s cornered, and Edgeworth thinks to himself that it’s because he IS Phoenix Wright when he’s cornered…he
knows Phoenix. He knows when he’s hurting, even if Phoenix refuses to tell him why. He knows that the badge Phoenix gave him is a symbol of the trust Phoenix is putting in him, and he won’t let that trust down.
Even though he can’t seem to stop himself from prying into what’s going on between Phoenix and Ayame, and he seems to be bitter when Phoenix won’t talk to him about Chinami, he still works towards what he thinks will allow Phoenix to free himself from whatever is causing him pain.
There is no one like Phoenix Wright for Miles Edgeworth. Phoenix is irreplaceable.
TOGETHER:
You know, I’ve talked about these two at length, so I’ll try to keep this short. I’d just like you to think back to a few moments.
Let’s think back to what happened after Edgeworth confessed in 1-4. Even Gumshoe was forced to admit that Edgeworth must be guilty! After all, he’d admitted it himself, right? Phoenix wouldn’t listen. When not even Edgeworth himself could believe any more, Phoenix still had unwavering faith.
Let’s think back to 2-4, when Phoenix was put in the position of throwing everything he believed in aside for the sake of Maya. Who was there standing across from him? Who was the one that made Phoenix believe that everything would be all right, simply because he was there? Miles Edgeworth, who coaxed, bullied and cajoled until he made Phoenix see the truth he’d struggled for the past year to find.
And, let’s think back to 1-5. Against impossible odds, not even quite understanding one another, these two worked together like a well oiled machine. It was something that came to them so naturally, so perfectly that even they weren’t quite aware of it.
Together, they can do anything.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I’ve just spent more than five pages talking about Phoenix and Edgeworth’s relationship in the game. Why do you think I did that? It’s because people tend to want to downplay the importance they have to one another. Phoenix and Edgeworth are unique to one another in a way no other characters in the series can duplicate. Does this mean that they are in love with one another IN CANON? No.
But I get so tired of people dismissing the possibility outright, of mocking fangirls for being “shallow”, “misreading’, and just “liking it based on looks”. A Phoenix/Miles relationship has its share of problems, but that is what makes it fascinating and wonderful. I think an amazing relationship could form. All the ingredients are there. These two men have inspired, challenged, and protected one another throughout the games.
Phoenix and Edgeworth might not be “in love” with one another, but I don’t think anyone can honestly deny that they
love one another, if they really take the chance to think about it.