Miles Edgeworth



"Miles Edgeworth"

- By my hand, I will reveal the precious gem of truth!

Miles Edgeworth is an esteemed prosecutor and an old friend of Phoenix Wright. After he became a prosecutor, he prosecuted a case against Wright; he was a ruthless man who would do anything to get a guilty verdict for the defendant. Later, however, Edgeworth became a defendant being represented by his "enemy", Wright. After prosecuting in one more case, Edgeworth left the prosecutor's office to find out what being a prosecutor really meant. He later returned and, by the time of the Mask☆DeMasque trials, had become known as the top prosecutor in America. He also traveled abroad to study international law, prosecuting in five other countries.

Early life
In early 2001, when Edgeworth was nine years old, Larry Butz stole his lunch money. The suspect at the time was fellow student Phoenix Wright, who had skipped P.E. that day due to a terrible cold. The next day, a class trial was held with Wright as the defendant. Everyone was shouting that Wright was the culprit, but both Edgeworth and Butz stood up for him, saying that no one had proof that he had stolen the lunch money. The class trial ended and the three boys became almost inseparable friends. Edgeworth would often talk with his friends about his father, famous criminal defense attorney Gregory Edgeworth, whom he idolized.

Miles was always winning awards in school for various activities such as golf competitions, writing essays and playing the flute. Even back then, he hated the limelight and refuted all accolades and prizes he received.

DL-6 Incident

 * Main article: DL-6 Incident

On December 28, Miles went to the District Court to see one of his father's trials. Gregory was arguing a case against Manfred von Karma. During the course of the trial, Gregory managed to prove that von Karma had forged evidence. As a result of this accusation, von Karma received his first and only penalty. However, von Karma still won and Gregory's client was declared guilty. After court was adjourned, the Edgeworths went to exit the courthouse through an elevator, accompanied by bailiff Yanni Yogi. At approximately 2:00 p.m., an earthquake struck the courthouse and shut off the power, leaving Yogi and the Edgeworths trapped in the elevator with little oxygen. During the five-hour blackout, Yogi started to panic and attacked Gregory; Miles felt a pistol beneath his feet and threw it at the bailiff, hoping to stop him from possibly killing his father. A single gunshot rang out, and the young boy fell unconscious; the last thing he heard was a demonic scream that would haunt him for 15 years. He woke up inside a hospital; by that time, Gregory Edgeworth was dead, fatally shot in the heart by Yogi's pistol. Miles developed a deathly fear of earthquakes from the incident.

The police called upon a spirit medium, Misty Fey, to find the killer. She channeled Gregory, who accused Yogi of the murder. Yogi was put on trial with Robert Hammond defending him. However, Yogi feigned temporary insanity and got a not guilty verdict. The insanity plea, however, ruined his reputation, his fiancee committing suicide shortly after the incident. Meanwhile, media outlets found out about Misty Fey, and the resulting scandal ruined the reputation of her practice. Edgeworth subsequently developed a hatred for defense attorneys and spirit mediums, calling Misty Fey a "fraud".

Miles was then taken under the wing of Manfred von Karma, who trained him to become a ruthless prosecutor like himself. Through this, Miles met Manfred's young daughter Franziska, with whom he shared a strong sibling bond.

First investigation

 * Main article: Turnabout Reminiscence

The case also saw Edgeworth's first meeting with detective Dick Gumshoe in court, and they would maintain a working relationship.

First case

 * Main article: Turnabout BeginningsEdgeworth_young.jpg

Edgeworth became a prosecutor at the age of 20 and was considered a genius. His first case was against rookie defense attorney Mia Fey, who was also new to the courtroom. His case was against Terry Fawles, who was accused of murdering Sergeant Valerie Hawthorne, a policewoman who had testified against him five years prior to the case. Edgeworth used cunning tactics such as intentionally withholding information that would prove valuable to the defense (e.g. a witness's real identity). Fawles eventually died of poison that he drank, abruptly ending the trial. Edgeworth would later refer to it to Wright as his worst nightmare in court. Meanwhile, the witness, Dahlia Hawthorne, left the court with a smile on her face.

Rumors of fraud

 * Main article: SL-9 Incident

Later, Edgeworth prosecuted a case against Joe Darke during the SL-9 Incident. Darke was accused of murdering Neil Marshall, who was to be the prosecutor against Darke for a series of other murders. Due to incriminating evidence that ultimately would turn out to be forged, Darke was convicted, but there were rumors surrounding Edgeworth concerning under-the-table deals, fabricated evidence and illegal investigations. Edgeworth came to be known as the "Demon Attorney".

As a result of the incident, Edgeworth came to know one of the detectives, Lana Skye, and her sister Ema Skye. After the incident, Lana became chief prosecutor; Edgeworth believed Lana was looking out for him for the next two years.

First defeat

 * Main article: Turnabout Sisters

Miles Edgeworth maintained a perfect win record until he met his old friend Phoenix Wright in court in 2016, with Maya Fey as the defendant accused of killing her sister Mia Fey. Later, a witness, Redd White, pinned the murder on Wright instead, and Wright defended himself in court against Edgeworth. Unlike most of Edgeworth's previous opponents, who would buckle under his intimidating tactics, Wright persevered and kept fighting. Still, Edgeworth did not relent, wanting to preserve his perfect win record. However, White eventually confessed to the murder, and Edgeworth was devastated.

Second defeat

 * Main article: Turnabout Samurai

Edgeworth and Wright faced off again in the trial of Will Powers for the murder of Jack Hammer. The trial introduced witness Wendy Oldbag, who instantly fell in love with Edgeworth, much to the latter's dismay. Edgeworth became unrattled and did not protest Wright's suggestion that Oldbag was the killer. On the second day of the trial, Powers's innocence became more certain with Wright exposing more contradictions in the witness testimonies; the judge asked Edgeworth to reconsider his position. By the third day of the trial, Edgeworth was having a crisis of conscience. He forced the final witness, Dee Vasquez, to testify about what she had done after finding the body. This allowed Wright to expose a final contradiction that implicated Vasquez as the real killer.

After the trial, Edgeworth approached Wright, who thanked him for helping him. Edgeworth retorted that Wright had caused him to experience "unnecessary feelings" and warned him never to show his face in front of him again.

Accused of murder

 * Main article: Turnabout Goodbyes

On Christmas Eve, Edgeworth received a letter from Hammond to meet with him at Gourd Lake. They took a boat ride to the middle of the lake, and then Hammond, who was really Yanni Yogi in disguise, swore revenge on Edgeworth for ruining his life, and shot twice into the air. He then fell into the lake and swam away, leaving Edgeworth bewildered at what had just transpired, thinking the man had just committed suicide. In a daze, Edgeworth picked up the gun. When he went back to shore, he was arrested on suspicion of Hammond's murder, with the fingerprints he had just placed on the gun as evidence.

Wright found out about the arrest and offered to represent Edgeworth in court, but he refused. Wright investigated the crime, anyway, along with Gumshoe. Wright saw that the case had a connection with the DL-6 Incident and Misty Fey, and he returned to Edgeworth. Impressed by his ability to gather information, Edgeworth admitted that he just did not want to get Wright involved in the case, but now that he was involved, Edgeworth agreed to have Wright defend him.

The prosecutor for the case was Manfred von Karma, Edgeworth's adoptive father and mentor. However, Edgeworth knew that von Karma would not relent for his sake, as he would do anything for a guilty verdict. Wright's co-council Maya Fey, whom Edgeworth had prosecuted months before was arrested in contempt of court after persistently pressing the witness, but this action allowed Wright to turn the case around to adjourn the trial. Edgeworth paid Fey's bail in return.

The next witness was an old boat shop owner at Gourd Lake; Wright found a connection between him and the DL-6 Incident. Von Karma's relentless prosecution tactics caused the judge to render a guilty verdict, but Larry Butz burst in with his own testimony, and the verdict was canceled. Edgeworth informed Wright that Butz's erratic testimony was Wright's chance to tear a hole into von Karma's "perfect" trial. Indeed, Butz's testimony allowed Wright to pinpoint the real location and time of the murder, accusing the witness of killing Hammond in his boat shop and then posing as Hammond in the boat. Meanwhile, the witness disappeared from the courtroom, and a search warrant was issued for him. He was caught the next day; Wright found that he was Yogi, out for revenge, and Yogi eventually confessed to his identity and the murder. The judge declared Edgeworth not guilty.

However, Edgeworth raised an objection, not to the verdict itself but to his innocence of murder; he admitted to killing his father 15 years prior. Wright knew something wasn't right, and defended him in the subsequent trial, which was set up immediately due to the statute of limitations placing the deadline for solving the DL-6 case on that day. Wright pointed to von Karma as the real killer; Miles Edgeworth had actually shot von Karma, and then von Karma had killed the unconscious Gregory Edgeworth in his rage. Miles Edgeworth was declared not guilty again. Wright, Edgeworth and everyone who had helped him celebrated the victory, with Larry Butz admitting to have stolen Edgeworth's lunch money all those years ago.

SL-9 resolution

 * Main article: Rise from the Ashes

Months later, during the annual award ceremony for the prosecutor's office, Edgeworth received the King of Prosecutors trophy for that year (though he considered the whole thing a waste of a productive day). Police chief Damon Gant later requested that Edgeworth transfer a piece of evidence. Edgeworth thought little of it at first. However, his car soon became a crime scene; detective Bruce Goodman was murdered, apparently using Edgeworth's knife, and chief prosecutor Lana Skye was accused. Edgeworth was assigned to prosecute the case, but it was rumored that he only took the case to get himself promoted to chief prosecutor status.

Edgeworth faced Phoenix Wright in the subsequent trial. He informed the court that he was concerned only with the truth and not his perceived role in the courtroom. Demonstrating this, he picked out some contradictions in the witness's testimony even before Wright could. Later, Damon Gant appeared in the courtroom with more evidence, chastising Edgeworth for not finding it himself. He also informed the court of another "murder" of Bruce Goodman that had occurred in the Police Department evidence room simultaneously with the murder being discussed! Frustrated with his apparent failure to get the facts straight, Edgeworth requested another day of investigation while the courtroom erupted in an uproar. An inquiry into the matter determined that the fiasco was simply the result of miscommunication. Wright, accompanied by Lana's sister Ema, came to visit Edgeworth; Edgeworth gave Ema a fingerprinting set.

Officer Mike Meekins was arrested for the "other murder" and was called as a witness. However, after some clarification, it was revealed that the other "Goodman" was not actually Goodman but another detective from SL-9, Jake Marshall, who was desperate to re-investigate the SL-9 case. Jake Marshall made Lana admit that evidence from the SL-9 case was forged, causing another uproar.

Edgeworth came under fire again from the police department. Even though he never knew about the forgeries, he still blamed himself, saying he should have looked into the evidence for which he was responsible. He wrote a letter of resignation, unable to forgive himself for the career he had led.

However, Edgeworth returned for the final trial day. Both he and Wright suspected that Gant was the real killer. Edgeworth offered to cooperate with Wright. Lana tried to get herself declared guilty, but Edgeworth refused this and called Ema to the stand, asking her about the SL-9 case, as she had witnessed the murder. It turned out that Edgeworth had only gotten half of the evidence list, and Wright had found the other half in Gant's office. An argumentative struggle followed between Wright, Edgeworth and Gant, and although Gant tried to implicate Ema as the killer in the SL-9 Incident, Wright came up with a clever trap to expose Gant as the real killer of both Goodman and Neil Marshall.

Gant told Edgeworth that they were the same, and that one day Edgeworth would understand why Gant had done what he had done. Nevertheless, he commented that "you can't go wrong" with Edgeworth and Wright around. This troubled Edgeworth; he still blamed himself for the results of the SL-9 case, and he feared he would become a lone vigilante like Gant.

Disappearance

 * Main article: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All

Distressed and confused by all that had happened to him, Edgeworth wrote an apparent suicide note reading, "Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth chooses death." This note was discovered by the Bellboy. He then left America to find out what being a prosecutor truly meant. His note left Wright to believe that Edgeworth really had committed suicide, and Wright decided that the Edgeworth he had known as a child had died long before, replaced by a coward who committed suicide over a win record.

However, Edgeworth helped with Gumshoe's investigation of the death of Russell Berry, advising him to order a surprise search of Acro's room. Prosecutor Franziska von Karma, who had conducted the actual search, was furious when she found out that the search had inadvertently caused her to lose, though she was unaware of Edgeworth's involvement.



Return

 * Main article: Farewell, My Turnabout

Edgeworth returned to Los Angeles, finally having figured out the meaning of his profession. He met a startled Wright and von Karma, both of whom did not take his reappearance very well. He looked over the case in which both were involved and gave Wright some information about the case, since he was not acting as the prosecutor for the case. The next day, however, von Karma was shot and had to be hospitalized; Edgeworth prosecuted in her place for the trial. Much to Edgeworth's horror, Wendy Oldbag was once again a witness; otherwise, he had the trial under his complete control, preparing Adrian Andrews as a witness in advance. Wright, on the other hand, seemed particularly desperate to pin the murder on Andrews. Andrews tried to plead silence, prompting Edgeworth to reveal Andrews's dependency problems with other women to get her to testify. After court was adjourned, Edgeworth noticed a card Andrews was holding and became uncharacteristically furious; the card was a calling card from a an assassin, Shelly de Killer, for whom an entire police division had been created to track his movements. The truth was now clear: Engarde had hired de Killer to assassinate Corrida. Wright also told Edgeworth that de Killer was holding Maya Fey for ransom, explaining his desperation in court. Wright eventually found out that Engarde was guilty of the crime and that he had even recorded the murder to blackmail de Killer later. Edgeworth told Wright that he had left the country to find out what being a prosecuting attorney really meant, and in light of this revelation, it was now Wright's turn to figure out the meaning of his career.

De Killer accidentally gave away the fact that he was in Engarde's mansion, and Edgeworth and the police stormed the mansion to find that de Killer had already left with Fey. The trial resumed the next day; Edgeworth helped Wright stall the court while the police continued the chase. He eventually called de Killer as a witness by radio, but this backfired as he claimed Andrews had hired him. However, Franziska von Karma burst into the courtroom with evidence that allowed Wright to inform de Killer about Engarde's betrayal of him. De Killer swore a bloody vendetta against Engarde, and Engarde was found guilty.

After Engarde's conviction, Edgeworth left America again to study international law.

Acting defense attorney

 * Main article: Bridge to the Turnabout

One year later, Edgeworth received a frantic phone call from Larry Butz, telling him to return to Los Angeles. After discovering an apparent murder scene at Hazakura Temple, Wright had fallen into the nearby Eagle River while trying to cross a burning bridge to try to save Maya Fey; he had been taken to a hospital with a bad cold but no major injuries. When Edgeworth met Wright, Wright gave him his magatama and his badge; he wanted Edgeworth to defend Iris in the murder of Elise Deauxnim in his stead.

Godot was to prosecute, but he was missing, so Edgeworth pulled some strings to Prosecutor Franziska von Karma and the judge from his first case for the trial and then conducted an investigation of the Hazakura Temple area. In doing so, he began to empathize with Wright and the hardships he had to confront. In court, von Karma tried to crush Edgeworth, but drawing inspiration from how Wright defended his clients, Edgeworth pressed on and drew out much info from the witnesses until court was suspended.

After the trial, he returned the reins to Phoenix Wright and assisted in the police investigation, getting Gumshoe to find the murder weapon. Iris's similarity in appearance from Edgeworth's first case drove him to re-investigate that case, bringing back memories from the "nightmare" trial that had ended with suicide. However, he was unconvinced that Dahlia Hawthorne, who Iris resembled, had anything to do with Deauxnim's death.

Maya Fey was apparently trapped in the Inner Temple, a temple used to train spirit mediums who visited Hazakura Temple, with a trick lock. Iris was called to remove this lock with Edgeworth guarding her, but during this process, an earthquake shook the area and Iris disappeared, leaving five locks on the door to the Inner Temple. Iris was later found and she began to try to break the five locks.

Wright and the police soon discovered a garden near the Inner Temple, the true scene of the crime. Edgeworth and Wright discussed the crime there. Wright had a suspicion that Dahlia Hawthorne was somehow involved with the case, but Edgeworth informed her that Hawthorne had been executed for murder, so she could not have been involved.

Wright got Iris a not guilty verdict in court the following day. Edgeworth came to Wright's defendant lobby to congratulate him.

Crime ring investigations (Mar. 2019)

 * Main article: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

After a long trip overseas, Edgeworth returned to his office in America in the middle of the night to find the body of a detective. A mysterious gunman confronted Edgeworth; assuming this person to be the murderer, Edgeworth told the intruder, "No one gets away with committing murder in my office." The person fled and officers soon arrived at the scene. Edgeworth started investigating with Gumshoe and found court records with pages from a ten-year-old case taken. Edgeworth discovered that the real killer was Jacques Portsman. However, he still didn't know who had threatened Edgeworth and stolen those records from his office. An officer arrived and delivered a piece of evidence found in the room: a black card with a white mark on the front, with Edgeworth's office number and "retrieve the evidence" written on the back. Edgeworth and Gumshoe recognized the mark as that of the Yatagarasu.

Personality
Edgeworth is generally seen as a snob due to his condescending attitude in the courtroom. In court, he usually has the trial precisely planned out, ensuring his victory. Because of this, he tends to become easily ruffled with anything that does not conform to his plan. In particular, he tries to stick to standard courtroom proceedings, trying to make the witnesses state their names and professions to get them to cooperate.

Before facing Phoenix Wright in court, Edgeworth had a perfect win record. He was relentless in his tactics in court, and he would do almost anything to maintain his win record, though he still maintained a sort of moral code and never intentionally used forged evidence. His rationale was that he could not possibly know with certainty whether any defendant was guilty or not; he despised criminals, so getting every defendant declared guilty was his way of guaranteeing that the criminals he encountered got what they deserved. Ultimately, however, he was driven by his selfish desire to win.

Edgeworth's encounters with Phoenix Wright changed him radically. He left America to make sense of everything that had happened to him, and to figure out what being a prosecutor truly meant. After his return, Edgeworth became a valuable friend to Wright, challenging him to figure out what it truly meant to be a defense attorney in one of Wright's darkest and most vulnerable moments. He would even come to defend one of Wright's clients for him when Wright was temporarily incapacitated.

Edgeworth is extremely determined to find the truth, at one point callously revealing the background of a witness to get her to testify. In fact, Edgeworth's pursuit of the truth above all else has, on more than one occasion, caused him to join in on cross-examinations against his own witnesses, actually teaming up with the defending attorney in order to pry the truth from the witness.

Much of Edgeworth's personality can be traced back to his upbringing. The DL-6 Incident left him with seismophobia (a fear of earthquakes) and recurring nightmares about the incident; the latter ceased to occur after the incident was resolved. Edgeworth's reactions to earthquakes range from shortness of breath from a tremor to sobbing and curling up into a ball or even fainting. Edgeworth is also rather lacking socially; his expressions of jubilation come out rather awkwardly, and he prefers to be alone in general and resists other people's attempts to get involved with his problems. When someone looks at him, he glares back, which intimidates most people; he was taught as a child to do so. In addition, the revelation that Misty Fey was a fraud caused Edgeworth to become an extreme skeptic of the occult, even after Misty Fey was revealed not to have been a fraud after all.

Edgeworth has a few admirers, the main one being Wendy Oldbag, who calls him "Edgey-poo". Bikini also calls Edgeworth "handsome" and forgives him easily. Even as a child, he was praised for his various activities in school, but broke down into tears when he could not do something. However, Edgeworth has generally hated the limelight, and he often tries to credit other people or circumstances for his accomplishments. Edgeworth has insisted on some occasions (notably Will Powers's murder trial) that the truth was bound to come out, and that he was merely a vessel through which the court came upon the truth. This is, most likely, a form of modesty from Edgeworth's father that lives on through Edgeworth. But because his father died and his personality is never described, this is very hard to determine.

Being a very successful prosecutor raised by another very successful prosecutor, Edgeworth is quite well-off, living in a mansion and driving a red sports car to work, and this shows in his high-class tendencies. He owns a large dog named Pesu and sometimes puts his cravat around its neck. Edgeworth talks to Pesu because he has difficulties speaking with other people; in fact, Edgeworth has a deep emotional attachment to his dog.

It is hinted in the games (but much more strongly in the manga) that Edgeworth is a closet Steel Samurai fan. Ace Attourney Investigations expands on this and confirms that he is at least a fan.

In general, Edgeworth hates showing his weaknesses.

Name

 * Edgeworth may come from "edge of a sword", just like his Japanese name "Mitsurugi" (御剣), which contains the kanji of sword. This may be a reference to Edgeworth having a sharp mind and being a "worthy" opponent for Wright.


 * "Reiji" (怜侍) comes from the kanji of "cleverness".


 * The name "Miles" comes from the Latin word for a soldier.

Development

 * In Edgeworth's original design, he was going to be a 36 year-old veteran prosecutor, but the staff decided that was not interesting enough as a rival. When Shu Takumi saw the second Edgeworth version, he was struck with inspiration and created the back story between him and Wright.


 * Takumi once commented that Edgeworth was difficult to develop as a character compared to Wright. Edgeworth's character really came together once Takumi decided he would be rich. For Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Takumi initially intended for Edgeworth to be an unlikable man, but when he saw a comic depicting Edgeworth liking the Steel Samurai, he decided that a more likable Edgeworth would be "cuter", and so Edgeworth was fleshed out into the valuable friend and ally seen in Farewell, My Turnabout and Bridge to the Turnabout.


 * The younger Miles Edgeworth's suit bears a strong resemblance to Manfred von Karma's suit design.

Other media

 * Near the end of the episode "Remote Island Syndrome Part 2" of the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the mannerisms of a few of the characters mirror those of the sprites of some Ace Attorney characters. The scene in question is when Haruhi confronts the other characters with the truth of a "murder" that had taken place. Koizumi performs the same overly dramatic bow and head shake that Edgeworth does. The scene can be viewed here.