| Artie Frost |
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Artie Frost was a sculptor who attained fame in France under the name of Paul Halique, a mysterious artist who never made a public appearance. Despite having poor cookery skills, he entered a dessert-making competition. During this event, Frost was murdered in what became known as the IS-7 Incident.
The IS-7 Incident[]
Frost and Gusto with their sons.
Frost heard about a confectionery competition hosted by the famous TV chef Samson Tangaroa at his mansion, and decided to sign up for it despite having no cookery skills. His reason for doing so was in order to acquire and sell the prize, Tangaroa's "Ultimate Cookbook", for a lot of money. In order to increase his chances, he collaborated with Carmelo Gusto, an actual confectioner who had terrible design abilities. Frost would handle all the design work while Gusto would do all the actual confectionery creation. The two men knew each other from having sons who went to the same elementary school and were the best of friends.
Frost's betrayal.
With the pair cooperating, they both made it to the finals, but Frost began plotting against his confectionery partner, wanting the valuable Ultimate Cookbook all to himself. After Gusto made the two batches of sherbet for Frost to sculpt, the latter betrayed him by ending their collaboration before sculpting Gusto's submission. Frost now had everything he needed for his creation while Gusto was left with only his own ingredients and terrible aesthetic abilities. Additionally, Frost forced his son to capture and tie up Gusto's son, knowing that the boy was helping his father by taste-testing his creations.
Frost later entered Tangaroa's room, where the Ultimate Cookbook was being kept, and caught Gusto trying to take pictures of the recipe. Frost glanced at the page that Gusto was photographing, and found instructions for a cure to the "dissociated taste disorder" and the similiar ageusia. Frost realized that Gusto was suffering from one of these disorders, which was why he had had his son taste his creations, and mercilessly mocked his former ally for being a chef with no ability to taste. Gusto flew into a rage and tried to hit Frost, but the sculptor landed the first blow and the chef struck his head on one of the two rock salt lamps in the room. Frost then offered to keep this little secret between them, for a hefty fee, of course. A desperate Gusto responded by killing Frost with a blow to the head from the other rock salt lamp.
The corpse as Bound found it.
Gusto then hid the body inside the chocolate treasure chest sculpture in Tangaroa's room and hid the lamps inside the room of fellow competitor Delicia Scone. However, the body was found by Tangaroa's assistant, Judy Bound, before Gusto could finish covering up his crime, and thus Tangaroa himself was accused of the murder. Gusto managed to move the body to Frost's room and place it inside one of his confectionery sculptures, but Bound had figured out that Frost was "Paul Halique" and was afraid that the police would damage his final artwork during their investigation. She therefore moved all of the dead sculptor's creations and hid them in the building's cellar, not knowing until much later that the body was inside.
Since the body was missing, an autopsy was unable to be carried out. However, Chief Prosecutor Excelsius Winner blackmailed coroner Hilda Hertz into forging an autopsy report. The confrontation between prosecutor Manfred von Karma and defense attorney Gregory Edgeworth over this forged evidence would ultimately lead to the DL-6 Incident, while Tangaroa was wrongfully convicted as an accomplice to the crime. Meanwhile, the sons of Gusto and Frost almost died inside Frost's car when the doors froze shut, but the timely intervention of a passerby and his dog saved their lives. The two boys lost their memories due to the trauma of their ordeal and were raised in an orphanage, at which point they were named Bronco Knight and Simeon Saint. The police eventually found Knight and gave him Frost's signet ring as an inheritance, although he would eventually be arrested for murder and then murdered while in prison.
Resolution[]
The past resurfaces.
Eighteen years later, Judy Bound set a trap for Frost's killer by holding an art exhibit for the sculptures that she had stolen. The poison gas trap she set up worked to an extent, although her target, Carmelo Gusto, managed to survive, and was sent to the infirmary. An investigation of the incident ensued, during which Bound dumped the body into the fountain, where it was soon discovered. Eventually, Gregory Edgeworth's son Miles figured out what Bound had done, and in so doing, finally exposed the culprit behind the IS-7 Incident.
Personality[]
Frost's "Paul Halique"seal.
Frost was known just as much for his greed and vanity as he was known for his sculptures. He would charge customers hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single sculpture. He would often work in secret under the pseudonym of Paul Halique, and he always branded his works with his personal seal, so that fans of his art would unmistakably recognize his handiwork. His greed led him to betray Carmelo Gusto, to the point of forcing his own son to bind and gag his best friend.
Judging from his art, it would appear that he had something of an inferiority complex regarding women. Works dedicated to the relationship between himself and his wife, as well as between his father and mother, always depicted the woman as the dominant party. Despite this, he seemed to have a very high opinion of himself, judging from a self-portrait of himself in Napoleonic garb. Frost also designed tea sets.
Name[]
- Japanese - Paul Holic (ポール ホリック) / "Isaku Hyoudou" (氷堂 伊作):
- "Paul Holic" (ポール ホリック) is a play on "asking for trouble" or "digging [one's] own grave" (墓穴を掘る) - a reference to how he tried to blackmail Gusto.
- His given name in Japanese can also be read as "pole" (ポール), a possible reference to his career as a sculptor.
- "Isaku Hyōdō" (氷堂 伊作) is a play on "ice hall" or "ice sculpture", which is where his corpse was hidden.
- English - Paul Halique / "Artie Frost":
- His given name comes from his career as an artist, while his surname references his work with ice.
- It may also be a play on "defrost".
- "Paul Halique" is an alternate spelling of his original Japanese name.
- French - Paul Hock / "Arthur Sérac":
- "Paul Hock", sounds like "pollock", the common english name for two species of fish that live in the North Atlantic.
- "Arthur" references his career as an artist, while "Sérac" is a sharp tower of ice.
Unofficial[]
- English - Pierre Hoquet / "Isaac Dover":
- "Isaac Dover" is likely a play on "iced over", in reference to where his corpse was hidden. This is further evidenced by the fact that Delicia Scone's nickname for him is "Icy". "Isaac" is likely a romanization of his Japanese given name.
- "Hoquet" is the French word for "hiccup", while "Pierre" is a stereotypical French name. "Pierre Hoquet" sounds a lot like "Perroquet", meaning "parrot" in french.
Development[]
- Halique has the earliest date of death of any victim in the modern-era Ace Attorney installments. It is, in fact, a direct result of his death that the DL-6 Incident occurred along with its numerous ramifications.