Phoenix Wright


 * You may be looking for the game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney or the Ace Attorney series.

Phoenix Wright is a professional poker player who was instrumental in re-introducing the Jurist System into California law. He was a renowned defense attorney who was famous for turning hopeless cases around.

Personality
Wright is generally easy-going, which usually leads to his friends leading him around. Wright is a loyal friend who does not back down once he has set his mind on something. He has somewhat of a sarcastic side that he usually keeps to himself.

When he was a lawyer, he was dedicated to defending his innocent clients, but he depended much on his boss and mentor Mia Fey.

Early life
During fourth grade, Phoenix Wright was in the same class as Miles Edgeworth and Larry Butz. One day, Wright was accused of stealing Edgeworth's lunch money. Due to a lack of an alibi, everyone assumed Wright was the culprit, but Butz and Edgeworth came to his defense, Edgeworth asserting that he could not be proven guilty without evidence. At the time, Edgeworth took strongly after his famous father Gregory Edgeworth, a legendary defense attorney. This event would be a powerful inspiration for Wright during his legal career.

After the DL-6 Incident, Edgeworth transferred schools and moved out of town, taken in by Manfred von Karma.

University years
Wright studied art and law at Ivy University. During his time there, he saw a story in a newspaper with the headline "Dark Suspicions of A Demon Attorney". The article said that prosecutor Miles Edgeworth was suspected of tampering with witnesses and fabricating evidence. Edgeworth had become a ruthless prosecutor, unrecognizable from the Edgeworth that Wright knew from his childhood. Wright attempted to contact him, but he was ignored. Wright decided that if he became an attorney, Edgeworth would have to meet him sooner or later in court, and then Wright could save him from his problems.

In his third year, Wright was framed for the murder of Doug Swallow, who had been a former lover of his girlfriend Dahlia Hawthorne. Wright's lawyer was Mia Fey, a rookie at the time who had not taken a case since her first a year before. Fey exposed Hawthorne as the true killer, which Wright found hard to believe. Hawthorne would later be convicted and sentenced to death.

Fey's defense of Wright inspired Wright to pursue law full-time.

Law career
Wright handled at least 16 cases in his career; out of these, he lost once and another was postponed due to the defendant's disappearance.

Earlier cases: 2016-early 2017

 * Main article: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

After receiving his law degree, Wright became a pupil of Mia Fey and a member of Fey & Co. Law Offices. After she was murdered, Wright inherited the firm, renaming it to Wright & Co. Law Offices.

2017-early 2018

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

2018-2019

 * Main article: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

Disbarment

 * Main article: Turnabout Succession

In April of 2019, Zak Gramarye, a famous magician at the time, called Wright to his detention cell. Gramarye challenged him to a game of poker, which Wright won. Gramarye then asked Wright to be his lawyer, as he was suspected of having killed his master, Magnifi Gramarye. He had just recently fired his previous lawyer, and the trial was to occur the next morning, but Wright reluctantly agreed to take the case.

The next day in court, Zak Gramarye's daughter Trucy gave Wright a piece of paper that seemed to have been ripped out of a journal. He took it into court with him, where he faced a young Klavier Gavin. Wright was able to show that Zak's stage partner Valant Gramarye had the opportunity and motive to kill Magnifi. In the end, Gavin presented Magnifi's journal, which had a page ripped out. Wright presented the page that Trucy had given him, as it seemed to be the missing page, but Gavin declared that the evidence was fraudulent, calling a forger to the stand who confirmed that he made the page. The trial abruptly ended soon after.

When Zak took the stand to receive his sentence, he disappeared into thin air, and no verdict was ever given.

Wright was then put before a hearing conducted by the other lawyers in his field. It was determined that he was responsible for the forgery and all of them except Kristoph Gavin voted for Wright's disbarment.

Post-disbarment

 * Main article: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Two weeks after the Gramarye trial, Wright took in Zak's abandoned daughter Trucy and raised her as his own. He also made friends with Kristoph Gavin, and the two of them met often over the next seven years. Wright had a sneaking suspicion that Kristoph was somehow related to the forged evidence, but having no proof at the time, he continued his investigation, confirming among other things that Kristoph had requested the forgery. The day would come, seven years later, when he would eventually use Kristoph's new student Apollo Justice to come to the truth.

Trivia

 * His first name is a reference to the phoenix, known for reviving itself from the dead; he is famous for his almost impossible comebacks during trials. His surname is likely meant to have a similar effect to his Japanese surname (with lines such as "Isn't that right, Wright?"). His Japanese surname, Naruhodou (成歩), is a reference toward the Japanese expression "naruhodo", which equates to the English "yes, I see".
 * His given name, Ryuuichi (堂龍一), initially had no particular significance until Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations introduced a man named Furio Tigre (芝九蔵虎之助 Toranosuke Shibakuzō in Japanese) — Ryuuichi alludes to the dragon, while Toranosuke alludes to the tiger, which are said to be natural enemies.
 * Phoenix Wright does not have a driver's license.
 * His badge number is 26381.
 * In the official art, Wright has blue eyes, while in the game he has black pupils.
 * Dialogue in Rise from the Ashes suggests that Wright engaged in cow-tipping at some point in his life.

Development
During production, someone suggested "Souka Naruhodo" (which translates to "Oh, yes, I see now") as a name, but that was quickly struck down by higher members of the staff, settling for simply Naruhodo instead.