Magnifi Gramarye

Magnifi Gramarye was the founding member of Troupe Gramarye, a group of stage magicians. His death sparked a chain of events that resulted in the disappearance of Zak Gramarye, a blow to Valant Gramarye's reputation and the disbarment of Phoenix Wright.

Career
Around 2006, Magnifi Gramarye started his professional magic career. He became wildly popular in its prime, appearing on TV very frequently on many networks. He formed Troupe Gramarye with two students, whose stage names became Zak Gramarye and Valant Gramarye, and his daughter, Thalassa Gramarye. He wrote a diary of all that happened in his life.

Accident
In 2016, Troupe Gramarye was rehearsing "Zak and Valant's Quick Draw Shootem", which involved Zak and Valant Gramaye each aiming a prop pistol at Thalassa Gramarye. However, Thalassa was shot, and Magnifi helped to cover the incident for the sake of the Gramarye name, though he began to blackmail his students. Magnifi retired after the accident.

Death

 * Main article: Turnabout Succession

Three years later, Magnifi was hospitalized because he had liver cancer. Combined with his diabetes, he had less than three months to live. He wrote a letter to each of his disciples, telling them to "shoot, one shot, square in the forehead" with one of the two prop pistols that he would have with him. This was a test; if Zak killed Magnifi, the rights to his magic tricks would be gone forever. If Zak or Valant failed to shoot, he would have failed the test and not inherited the tricks. He wrote in his diary:

Zak came first and shot the forehead of a clown doll, waking his mentor up in the process. Magnifi informed him that that was the right answer; he tore out the last page of his diary and he wrote his will, giving Zak all the rights to his magic. Valant showed up next; he intended to shoot Magnifi and frame Zak for the murder, but he could not do it and turned to leave. Magnifi woke up, telling him that he had failed the test, and that he had already given his tricks to Zak. After Valant left the room, Magnifi shot himself in the forehead.

Valant heard the gunshot and returned to find Magnifi dead. He decided to frame Zak after all; he manipulated the crime scene to give himself an alibi and to prevent the death from looking like a suicide, which left Zak as the only possible killer.

Zak was put on trial, and Valant was set up as a witness. Zak rejected Kristoph Gavin as his attorney and chose Phoenix Wright instead. Kristoph decided to seek revenge; he planted a fake page from Magnifi's diary (which he had intended to use as Zak's attorney) onto Wright and told his brother, Klavier Gavin, who was to prosecute, of the fake evidence Wright was going to present. During the trial, Wright presented the diary page, not knowing that it was forged, and Klavier showed that it was a fake. However, before the judge could give his verdict, Zak disappeared from the courtroom. Wright was later stripped of his lawyer badge.

Wright nevertheless continued his investigation of Magnifi's murder. Wright's cross-examination of Valant had indicated that Valant was probably the real killer, which turned Wright and the public against him. Only after seven years did Wright finally hear from Valant what had really happened to Magnifi.

Name



 * His Japanese surname, "Arumajiki" (或真敷), means "unworthy". It could also be a play on "aru" meaning "there is" and "majiki", possibly meaning "magic".


 * His Japanese given name, "Tensai" (天斎), means "genius".


 * "Magnifi" may have come from "magnificent", which is a common enough title some magicians add to their name.


 * The English surname "Gramarye" comes from a word once used as a synonym for magic or sorcery. It is also an alternative spelling of "grimoire", which is supposedly a book of instructions in the use of magic. The French surname "Grimoire" is a more obvious play on this.


 * The French given name "Melchior" is also the name given in later legend to one of the Magi appearing in the Gospel of Matthew.

Development

 * Like the other members of Troupe Gramarye, Magnifi's cape is held in place by a brooch in the shape of a suit in a deck of cards. In Magnifi's case, this is spades. His beard and sideburns form a similar shape to the bottom part of a spades symbol.