Luke Atmey

"Luke Atmey"

- Zvarri! The truth has once again been elegantly revealed to me!

Luke Atmey was an egotistical self-styled "Ace Detective" who was a witness to the murder of Kane Bullard and the theft of the Kurain Sacred Urn. Atmey's archenemy was the notorious thief Mask☆DeMasque.

Early life
Allegedly, as a child, Atmey got the same report card comment every year, namely: "Gets into lots of mischief trying to be the center of attention." As he grew up, Atmey failed to grow out of this personality trait. He has also claimed to have been the vice-president of the boxing club at college, thus giving him faith in his own fighting abilities.

Blackmailer
When Mask☆DeMasque stole the Tear of Emanon, Luke Atmey figured out that the thief's real identity was Ron DeLite. He sent a letter to DeLite, telling him to give the Tear to him in exchange for money lest he be caught. Atmey began to blackmail DeLite into stealing three more items for him in exchange for money. Atmey gave DeLite plans and instructions to help him steal the items. On the third planned heist, Atmey "retrieved" the item in question and received a red jewel from the museum in return. He fashioned this jewel into a ring, which he wore on his right hand and began to flash around.

Murder of Kane Bullard
One day, Kane Bullard found out about Atmey's secret and began blackmailing him, threatening to expose the secret to the press. Atmey decided to take matters into his own hands and kill Bullard, using one final blackmail letter to lure DeLite in to take the fall for him. In order to secure an alibi for himself, Atmey faked video evidence of himself dressed as Mask☆DeMasque stealing the Kurain Sacred Urn on the night of the murder. The urn itself was worthless on the black market, but since it was meant to contain the ashes of Ami Fey, the founder of the Kurain channeling technique, it had immense sentimental value to the Fey clan and the rest of Kurain Village.

DeLite turned himself in for the thefts in order to prevent himself from being implicated for the murder. When the trial for DeLite's supposed theft of the urn started, Atmey used the forged evidence to trick DeLite's attorney, Phoenix Wright, into implicating Atmey for the thefts. If Atmey was tried for the crime and declared guilty, he would be determined to be not guilty of the murder by his alibi, thus making it impossible for him to be charged for the murder under the law of double jeopardy. However, during DeLite's subsequent trial for the murder, Wright uncovered this plot and successfully pinned the murder on Atmey before he was formally found guilty for the Mask☆DeMasque crimes.

Personality
Luke Atmey was an eccentric, egotistical and attention-seeking man who considered himself a master detective. He liked to boast about his deductive skills and courage. In order to be ready to examine clues all the time, Atmey wore a monocle that doubled as a magnifying glass. He seemed to be proud of his acquisition of the red diamond on his ring, often showing it off. His detective office served as an expression of his narcissism, containing such features as a massive self-portrait, an "unabridged edition" of his autobiography, and an "Atmey vial". Underneath this eccentricity was a cold, manipulative and intelligent individual.

Atmey's ego also reflected in his speech. He tended to use sophisticated or multi-syllabic words, with plenty of alliteration such as, "Might you my merry murderous motive manifest?" His most memorable personality quirk is his habit of exclaiming the word "Zvarri!" similarly to the way in which "Eureka!" is often used. Since Atmey's arrest, Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey have used this word as well, in reference to the case. Dick Gumshoe once referred to him as "Detective Zvarri" before recalling Atmey's self-styled title of "Ace Detective", from which Phoenix and co. were able to deduce that he was referring to Atmey.

Name

 * His Japanese name comes from the phrase "ai ga hoshii dake" meaning "I just want love", fitting with his egocentric personality.


 * "Luke Atmey" is a pun on "look at me", which correlates with his personality and strong desire to become famous.


 * The French name, "Matt Moissat", comes from "mate-moi ça" which means "look at this".

Development

 * His Japanese name, "Aiga Hoshiidake" (星威岳 哀牙) was originally intended for Diego Armando, but the director decided that the kanji for "dake" (meaning "mountain") did not fit with Armando's "smug" personality and therefore gave the name to Atmey instead.


 * In the Japanese version, he talks with a lot of very old Japanese words, and his catchphrase is "Zuvari!" (ズヴァリ). The catchphrase is based on the word "zubari" (ズバリ - lit. "frankly", "decisively"), often used in Japanese infomercials.


 * At one point in the localization process, his catchphrase was "Schwing!" However, Janet Hsu changed it to "Zvarri!" as a catchy, eccentric phrase worthy of the character, based on the Japanese catchphrase.


 * Due to his name pun, many Japanese Ace Attorney fans sent him chocolate on Valentine's Day, addressed to Capcom. He received even more than Phoenix Wright and Godot.


 * Atmey has a rather long, Pinocchio-like nose, which raises the question as to how he was able to fit it under the Mask☆DeMasque mask.


 * Atmey's flamboyant bow tie somewhat resembles (albeit in a different color) that worn by the primary defence protagonist in very early concept art attire; said character would later be redesigned into Phoenix Wright.


 * Curiously, in Atmey's official artwork (see template at top of page), he has two gold chains, with a ruby button at either end of them, but this is not seen on his sprites in-game.


 * With his long nose, formal clothes, and monocle, Atmey bears a superficial resemblance to the most well-known design of the comic book supervillain the Penguin, one of the many foes of Batman.