Simon Blackquill


 * ''"Blackquill" redirects here. You may be looking for Aura Blackquill, who is a robotics engineer at the Cosmos Space Center.
 * "Simon" redirects here; for the character from Gyakuten Kenji 2 whose fan-translated name is "Simon Keyes", see Sōta Sarushiro.

"Simon Blackquill"

- ...............Hmph. ......Enough jabbering. Get on with it, already.

Simon Blackquill is a prosecutor who stood in court despite serving a murder sentence for the UR-1 Incident. As well as using psychological manipulation techniques to his advantage in court, he also frequently uses his pet hawk Taka to intimidate others.

Early investigations
For much of his early career as a prosecutor, Blackquill pursued an international spy only known as "the Phantom". As it was said that the Phantom showed no emotions, he learned analytical psychology from Metis Cykes, who worked at the Cosmos Space Center alongside his older sister, Aura.

False conviction

 * Main article: UR-1 Incident

On October 7 2020, Blackquill went to visit Metris Cykes after she claimed to have discovered crucial information about the Phantom. When he arrived at the robotics lab, however, he found Metis lying on the robot repair bench, dead from a stab wound in her chest. He was horrified to discover Athena, her eleven-year-old daughter (who did not understand the difference between humans and robots at the time), standing next to the body, who explained that she intended to use the automatic repair bench "take her apart so she could be fixed". Fearing that Athena had killed her own mother, Blackquill dismantled a robot who had witnessed the crime with the katana that had been used as the murder weapon. He then put the pieces of the robot into a wheeled parts container, picked up the blood-covered Athena in arms, and took both robot and little girl out of the lab. However, while he was still at the crime scene, Blackquill was inadvertently caught on camera by a visiting journalist and subsequently arrested for the crime.

Although Blackquill soon found himself on trial for Metis' murder, he put up little resistance and even outright claiming that he had stabbed her. Athena desperately tried to explain that Blackquill was innocent, but her cries fell on deaf ears and the prosecutor was found guilty. This incident, along with the disbarring of veteran defense attorney Phoenix Wright a year previously for unintentionally using forged evidence, began what became known as the "Dark Age of the Law", in which public perception of the legal system fell.

Permission to prosecute

 * Main article: The Monstrous Turnabout

"Phoenix Wright"

- A prosecutor who is serving time? How do you still have your law license?!

"Simon Blackquill"

- Hmph. You of all people should know, what is dark is light in this new age of the law...

"Phoenix Wright"

- Well, I refuse to accept that!

Blackquill got his license to practice law back after Miles Edgeworth became the Chief Prosecutor. His first case after seven years was against Apollo Justice, who was defending Damian Tenma, mayor of Tenma Town, for the murder of Rex Kyubi, alderman of Nine-Tails Vale. During the trial, Blackquill broke his shackles, causing everyone in the courtroom to panic. Although he was provided with sturdier shackles the following day, he still broke them.

First case against Wright

 * Main article: Turnabout Reclaimed

After Phoenix Wright agreed to defend an orca accused of murder, he initially struggled to find a anyone willing to prosecute the case. However, Blackquill was intrigued by the case, and agreed to face Wright in the courtroom. Wright managed to prove not only the orca innocent, but when Blackquill accused her trainer of the crime instead, he cleared her of all charges as well.

Versus Athena

 * Main article: Turnabout Academy

"Simon Blackquill"

- Are you prepared to give up on all you have worked for thus far? It would not do to have you disappoint you-know-who!

Blackquill took the reins on the first case against his old friend, Athena Cykes. He used this case to challenge her, to make sure she was worthy of her badge, and see how hard she would work if she truly wished to save him from his fate.

During this case, Blackquill acted somewhat like a troublesome student; falling asleep and not waking up during Aristotle Means' speech, not saying "here" when Means did his "roll call", and walking out of the court without permission. Justice even commented that "there is always one", in reference to Blackquill's behavior in court mirroring that of a bad student.

However, when Cykes started to fall into a mental breakdown, he helped pull her out of it by telling her that she was going to let down "you-know-who" (referring to himself).

Return to the Cosmos Space Center

 * Main article: The Cosmic Turnabout

"Simon Blackquill"

- ...Not yet. I'm... not quite ready yet.

"Judge"

- Hmm?

"Simon Blackquill"

- Ngh... Graaaaaaagh! [breaks shackles]

Eight years after his own trial, a new case drew Blackquill back to the Cosmos Space Center. He had a feeling that this case tied into his own, and he felt he could finally capture the "phantom" that has been looming over him for eight years.

When the trial began, the judge noticed that both Justice and Blackquill were acting different from their usual selves; Justice was far more serious due to the personal nature of the case, while Blackquill broke his shackles at the start of the trial and delivered his own opening statement, rather than making the judge do it for him.

UR-1 resolution and catching the Phantom

 * Main article: Turnabout for Tomorrow

Following the arrest of Athena in place of Starbuck, Blackquill was visited by Aura in the detention center. With only one day left before his execution, Blackquill was determined to protect Athena to the end out of respect for his mentor, and refused to attest to his innocence. Angry that her brother was intent on hiding the truth at the expense of his own life, Aura launched a rebellion at the Space Center with her robots, holding several visitors hostage in exchange for a retrial of the UR-1 Incident, indicting Athena for the crime of killing her own mother.

In the retrial, Blackquill was called as a witness, and continued to insist that he had killed Dr. Cykes for what she had done to Athena for the sake of her research. Eventually after Athena cross-examined him with the Mood Matrix, he finally admitted to the truth of what he saw: a bloodstained Athena looking at her mother on the robot assembly device. Blackquill bitterly told Wright off for forcing him to reveal the truth he wanted to protect, but Wright went on to prove that neither he nor Athena were responsible for the murder, and that they were both innocent.

Outside, Blackquill's superior, Miles Edgeworth, declared Blackquill a free man and unlocked his shackles for good. Blackquill thanked Aura and apologized for the trouble he caused, expressing his gratitude for the first time in years. Edgeworth then granted Blackquill special permission to take over as prosecutor for the case. Once the true culprit - the Phantom - had been found out, Blackquill arrested him and put him under the protection of the Prosecutors' Office, declaring that the prosecutors wanted to question the Phantom for all the crimes he committed. After the case was resolved, Blackquill visited the Wright Anything Agency to ask Wright to represent Aura in court.

Personality
Blackquill is a calm and collected man who speaks in an old-fashioned style of English and has a dark and somewhat mischievous sense of humor. He addresses his rival attorneys with the (somewhat outdated) honorific "-dono", while everyone else tends to get a nickname that plays on their real name or their appearance (e.g., Bobby Fulbright is usually referred to as "Fool Bright"). Blackquill will sometimes refer to other prisoners, such as a surgeon or a captured ninja, to explain away whatever he is objecting. He is also an Iaijutsu practitioner, flicking his finger at the defense whenever he is annoyed, causing a "slicing" effect which was even able to cut off a piece of Wright's hair. Although he seems dismissive of the supernatural, he did genuinely thank Jinxie Tenma for giving him a ward meant to stave off insomnia caused by the yokai Azukiarai.

In court, Blackquill will use psychological tricks to bend witnesses and the judge into doing and saying what he wants, including flattery, suggestive persuasion, and outright death threats, basically the reverse of Athena's psychological methods (Athena reads emotions and looks for contradictions, Blackquill instills emotions and forces a reaction). He will also send Taka to attack attorneys and witnesses alike whom he believes are attempting to use underhanded tactics or being obstructive (such as Justice attempting to use his bracelet during cross-examination, or Aristotle Means when he started throwing chalk at Athena to disrupt her own cross-examination), but will also use him to deliver evidence to other parties. He also does not tolerate lying, attacking any witnesses who lie in court. Although he and Taka share a close bond, he appears to like birds in general, stating that penguins are the top attraction at aquariums and becoming angry when Dr. Herman Crab "belittles" Rifle the penguin.

Athena has stated that, in the past, he was a good-hearted man who always followed the rule of law and, despite his somewhat intimidating appearance, deeply cared about Athena as his mentor's daughter; even when facing execution for the murder of Metis Cykes, he never spoke about what he saw that day, instead being willing to die for Athena's sake. After the case is finally resolved by Wright, Justice, and Athena, he generally acted the same as usual, but did genuinely thank his sister Aura for her efforts to save him and apologized for the suffering he caused her.

Name

 * His Japanese surname is possibly a play on the word "yugami" (歪み), which means "a warp/distortion".


 * His Japanese given name, "Jin", means "swiftness".


 * His English given name "Simon" comes from the Classical Hebrew "שִׁמְעוֹן" (shim'ón), meaning "hearkening" or "he has heard". In game, it may come from his psychological manipulation, which other characters have compared to the children's game "Simon Says". Another possibility is a reference to the bestselling psychology author George K. Simon, who published a book about manipulation titled "In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People".


 * "Blackquill" is a combination of "black" (dark colors being prominent in his character design) and "quill" (a writing implement made from the molted flight feather of a bird). It could also be read as "black will" - a possible reference to his impending death sentence.

Development

 * Blackquill has the unique interjection "Silence!", which he uses in court. In the Japanese version, this is "Dama ri nā!"（黙りなァ！）


 * The concept for his character was that of a contradiction: someone who worked as a prosecutor, but was also a criminal.  His initial designs focused on the criminal element, but for the final design this was switched more towards the prosecutor side, with only some small bearings of his criminal background (his shackles, color scheme, and ragged hair). His use of a hawk was to reflect a samurai vibe, since falconry was a sport conducted by samurai.


 * As shown in his concept art, he used to wield a sword which interacted with the shackles much like his "finger technique". However, this was dropped as "too unrealistic", as swords are illegal for the general public to own in Japan, let alone a criminal.


 * During his initial concept, he was the one who had Athena's ability to read emotions (shown by his wearing headphones in an early draft). While this was eventually given to Athena, he was instead given the ability to manipulate people.


 * His speech style in the original Japanese version uses an old dialect of Japanese which sounds rough and slightly rude. In the English version, this was represented with a combination of British English and the (somewhat outdated) Japanese honorific suffix "-dono"


 * Although Blackquill has a voice clip for "Objection!" and "Silence!", he does not speak at all during the anime cutscenes in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies; the only voiced character not to do so.