So, I've been thinking about something over the last couple of days (ever since the news of GS5 broke out I've been in a AA mood) and something bothered me. It's obvious Kristoph had a hand in Phoenix's disbarment, but I propose that it had little to do with Phoenix himself and more to do with Zak denying Kristoph the opportunity to take such a high profile case. It didn't matter if it was Phoenix or if it were some other attorney. However, after the trial, Kristoph was the only one who voted against taking Phoenix's badge away. Why was that?

I believe that, somehow, Kristoph felt a certain kinship. Phoenix was simply a lawyer doing his duty who happened to be dealt a harsh hand (by Kristoph himself of course), so he may have felt sorry for Phoenix. Kristoph himself knew that Phoenix had no prior knowledge of that page's existence or the fact that it would've been forged, so perhaps he felt somewhat guilty for dragging this poor man down for the sake of his petty grudge against Zak. As I mentioned, Kristoph more than likely meant for the forged evidence to hurt ZAK, not the lawyer who he was defending. That was just a minor detail in his revenge plan.

Now, am I saying Kristoph is a nice man? Not at all. But I view him as what Manfred von Karma would be like, if he were a defense attorney.

(Please note: I haven't gotten to Apollo Justice in my replay just yet, so my memory may be fuzzy on these details).

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It had to do with Zak and Kristoph himself; Zak because he denied a high-profile case and Kristoph for being infuriated because a "third-rate" attorney got the job instead of a renown lawyer such as he.


It did matter it was Wright. In Krissy's eyes, Nick was a poor attorney, unlike him: the Coolest Defense. However, if it was someone on the same level or below our hero, I guess things would have happened like they did, but what if it were an attorney by the same level or above Kristoph? I think Gavin would have accepted the reality that his to-be client didn't choose him because he cheated in a game of poker.


I think it was because he wanted to be close to Wright. Maybe because he stayed with Zak's daughter? He was a media bomb, so news of Trucy taken under Nick's wing would be a nice scoop, and those papers would have to be processed and stored in a governmental agency, so Kristoph could have pulled some strings to see what happened with Zak's daughter, knowing that, one day, he would make some sort of contact with him or her and that could be his opportunity to correctly enact his revenge (seeing as how Zak didn't suffer a thing).


He didn't feel a thing from accidentally killing Drew, why would he feel from disbarring an attorney? The same "third-rate" attorney that was chosen over him?


I repeat: In Krissy's eyes, Nick was a third-rate lawyer, meaning he was below him. Gavin's the law is absolute type of hypocritical character. He didn't want his courts tarnished by commons such as the Jurists, so he could have meant the same for Wright; he didn't want a third-rate defense attorney taking over a high-profile case such as State Vs. Zak Gramarye.


That was the idea; Wright not knowing a thing. The day before the trial, Kristoph confronted his brother in his office, saying that the attorney he would face didn't have good intentions or something along those lines. He prepared the special witness Klavier was to present to hurt Nick. Why would he feel bad after planning to severely "punish" Phoenix? Kristoph's en egocentric; if he can't have it, then no one will. If he couldn't have the State Vs. Zak case, then Phoenix also wouldn't (and by God's will not someone as third-rate as him in Gavin's eyes).

Let's review:

+ Zak wanted a lawyer based on a game of poker.

+ Kristoph played and lost because he cheated.

+ Nick played and won, Zak chooses him.

+ Wright went to Gavin's office to collect the evidence, he sees who Zak chooses and is infuriated.

+ Krissy plans a revenge to disbar that third-rate that was chosen over him and to incarcerate Gramarye.

+ He tells Trucy to give her father's attorney a piece of evidence, he presents it, Klavier calls the special witness under his brother's instructions, Phoenix's credibility is damaged, his badge taken and, who was supposed to be declared guilty, runs away (the only hole in Kristoph's plan).

I dont think that he is a nice man at all.
Voting against an disbarment doesn´t mean, that his intention was really nice and pure, to begin with. Kristoph is a cold-blooded, intelligent and calculating guy. He of course was expecting that Phoenix would lose is badge and that his voice wouldnt have changed anything at all on the whole situation.

He merely wanted to play the role of the "loyal friend".
To be quite honest, I cant think of a benefit, Kristoph gains from a friendship to Phoenix but once again, the black Psychelocks leave much room for interpretation.

(I bet all I wrote sounds crappy as hell, really need to polish my English...)

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A "nice man" wouldn't have cheated at poker nor payed any importance to loosing the opportunity of being a statewide-known attorney. It's as if cases like these don't happen once every few months in Japanifornia.


Let's assume the Bar Association's Board is composed of three/five/seven/nine individuals; it's a ratio of 2:1/4:1/6:1/8:1, that's overkill and Kristoph knew it, but such as you said, he wanted to keep up appearances, like most villains do.


Krissy was friends with him, Nick could have mentioned he took over Zak's daughter, meaning that some day, he'd make a comeback to try and contact his daughter or the man taking care of her.


This is my interpretation of those locks: Psychelocks are supposed to be a representation of the secrets inside one's hearts. Depending on how deep those secrets are, you get amounts ranging from one through five. With this in mind, the black types could be a VERY dark secret, I.E. Kristoph's initial goal was to incarcerate Zak and disbar Wright. The "tree" of disbarring an attorney and incarcerating a man kept branching into indirectly being responsible of jailing Valant Gramarye, killing Zak himself, Drew and almost murdering Vera. Kristoph seems like the type of guy that likes to be in a silent room, meaning he'd have enough time to think a lot of things, like his past actions, bringing his conscious into action, slowly becoming mentally unstable because he's facing the reality of things. Keeping in mind he's an egocentric and self-proclaimed individual, when thinking of the atrocities he committed, he realized that he became the opposite of what he was (a handsome and elegant individual): a cold-blooded monster. Perhaps this is what mentally damaged him. It's like a good-looking teenager worrying over a zit in the middle of his forehead, but for Kristoph, he's entire face was covered by zits, and no anti-acne solution could cleanse his soul.


The only problem I noticed were commas and periods, nothing else.

I do not think that Kristoph felt any sense of guilty or responsibility for even a second once he chose to set Phoenix up. One reason Kristoph voted against Phoenix' disbarment was, as Reimitsurugi mentioned, likely to get close to Phoenix so he could keep watch over him. Another reason could be that, to the outside world, Kristoph was a kind, fair, gentle man and one hell of a lawyer, so to keep up with his image, he voted against the disbarment - probably with a suave mention of guilty of unknown forgery.

Which always made me think, if a lawyer really doesn't know that the evidence he holds/presents is forged, can he really be disbarred for that?

C-A

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Aha, thanks for reminding me that, everyone involved with him said they felt as if they were being watched, so it's obvious why he'd want Nick as a "friend".


That sounds hypocritically nasty and fits his character very well. Imagine the media headlines saying that Ace Attorney was voted to remove his badge, but one well-known Kristoph Gavin voted against his disbarment, justifying it with a "guilty-innonce" sort of line.


Once you make a step inside the courtroom, you're expected to be prepared and know the basis of your case. Evidence is key on a trial, so you should have knowledge around the pieces of them you have (and keep in mind they're OK with the evidence law). Of course, Phoenix was accepted evidence at last hour before, but it's been handed to him by "professionals" such as Gumshoe, not from an eight-year-old saying a stranger told her to.

How can Kristoph feel kinship with Phoenix when he says what he said to the court during 4-4?

(from memory) "Phoenix Wright? A second-rate defense attorney who relies on bluffs and trickery? He refused me... To go with that poor excuse for a man? He deserved to die for that alone (...) Phoenix Wright and Zak Grammarye both got what they deserved."

That alone says it all. Kristoph has no good feelings about Phoenix, and his voting, as CatMuto and Reimitsurugi said, was a mere way of approaching Phoenix.

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Ahaha... I did mention it's been awhile since I played AJ, so I forgot a bit of the details.

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A LOT of vital details that add to Kristoph's character actually.

Personally, I think the obvious answer is being passed over here. Kristoph rather clearly voted against the disbarment for the same reason all criminals in this series do any action at all: To avert suspicion from themselves. Failing that, and seeing that Phoenix was staying close to the case, it was pretty clear that Kristoph couldn't merely sit back and watch from afar, the way he did with, say Brushel. He had to stay close to him - for the sake of distraction.

And he would've gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those meddling kids.




Or smart ex-attorney.

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But doesn't that attract attention, though? Phoenix DID personally go to Gavin & Co. to get the papers himself, so why should Kristoph expose himself and remind Wright of WHO was originally handling the case?

Hi, I'm Kristoph Gavin and I voted against your disbarment even though you illegally presented evidence, oh and by the way I was the first attorney to represent Zak.

Did he? I don't remember this being mentioned, but even so, I think Phoenix was still not his mistrusting hobo self, so he probably ignored the danger of the situation. We see Phoenix do a lot of that: confronting Redd White and Dee Vazquez outside court, crossing a burning bridge, etc. I wouldn't put it past him to think nothing of Kristoph being Zak's first lawyer.


Though later he most likely did keep his "friendship" with Kristoph to get back at him.

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I think it was mentioned during the first minutes of the disbarment trial in the lobby with Zak. Something along the lines of evidence transferal or something.


Pretty much. I think what happened is that Kristoph was too infuriated that he gave his secretary everything while he was angrily polishing his nails on his office. Nick came, talked with the secretary and she gave her everything.


Good point.


I think he keeps his friendship because Kristoph "stood-out for him". I think it isn't until after he kills Zak that Nick realizes who's been behind the aftermath of his disbarment.

Urgh! I am so angry, I keep blotching the polish!
Really, now, I must draw that...

C-A

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Good one! xD

I think things went down as:

Secretary: Good evening Mr. Ga-

Kristoph shut-closes his door and startles the secretary. Outside, you can hear the ruckus his causing by throwing the stuff in his office.

Kristoph: That third-rate magician chose me over a third-rate attorney?! The idiosyncrasy of that man! I cheated at a game of poker? So the hell what?! That game is like the law, flawed. You have to play dirty to expose that fault and try to correct it. You failed at correction? You still won! But no, he wants a third-rate defense attorney to give him a third-rate acquittal against a third... rate... Prose... cu... tor...? Klavier!

Afterward, he prepares everything, informs his brother and everything else is history...

That'd be one hell of an oneshot fanfic, actually.

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