| Helmut |
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Helmut is a large black guide dog and assists his owner, the blind assassin Bodhidharma Kanis, during his hits. Helmut's collar has a custom-made bell on it, with an identical one being attached to Kanis's knife prior to his arrest.
Rescuer
Saving Saint and Knight.
On a particularly cold day in December 2000, Kanis and Helmut witnessed two boys trapped in a frozen car. They rescued the children, only to find that they suffered from amnesia due to the trauma of their near-death experience. Kanis thus sent them to the nearby Happy Family Home orphanage.
Six years later, in February 2007, Helmut accompanied Kanis as he assassinated President Di-Jun Wang of Zheng Fa at the orphanage. Kanis's clients sought to betray the assassin and kill him, but with the help of Simeon Saint, one of the boys whom Kanis and Helmut had rescued, they managed to escape.
Fixer dog
Kanis was eventually arrested and convicted for his crimes by prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. By this time, Saint had run away from the orphanage, which had closed down. Kanis found that Fifi Laguarde, the owner of the orphanage, was now a warden at his prison, and blackmailed her into providing various goods for him and the other inmates, becoming "the fixer" of the prison. Laguarde would bring the goods to a well in the prison yard and spray perfume into the well as a signal for Helmut to arrive. The well was connected to the cell of Rocco Carcerato, which allowed the dog to carry the goods all the way back to Kanis's cell.
Dragging Knight's corpse.
In March 2019, Helmut delivered the dead body of Bronco Knight to Kanis. He had been stabbed in the neck, with a small chisel protruding from the fatal wound. The assassin was surprised when he heard the bell from his knife, which was now attached to the chisel. Suspecting that he was being framed, Kanis had the dog take the body to one of the workshops, pull the chisel out there, and then bring it back to him. Frank Sahwit, one of the prison inmates, spotted Helmut while he was pulling out the chisel and became frightened at the apparent sight of the dog biting Knight to death.
Knight's murder prompted Miles Edgeworth to investigate, as he was the one who had Knight arrested. He eventually met Helmut in the prison's corridor, with the dog's fierce barking frightening Edgeworth's companions, Kay Faraday and Eddie Fender, into running away, though the prosecutor was merely startled. Although Kanis had Helmut hide the chisel in his mouth whenever he had visitors, Edgeworth eventually found the chisel anyway. However, since only Knight's prints were on it, it was ruled out as the murder weapon, and Kanis was in turn ruled out as a suspect. Laguarde was eventually indicted for the murder.
Going on a walk
A week after the murder, Kanis and Helmut escaped from prison to look for Saint. They found Edgeworth, who was looking for the mastermind behind several murders. They figured out that these two people were one and the same, and Kanis had Helmut leap on Edgeworth as a distraction so that he could escape. Kanis then appeared after Edgeworth exposed Saint, in order to save his life from another assassin.
Personality
Mugshot.
Helmut is just as intimidating and dangerous as his owner Kanis, to whom he is fiercely loyal. According to the assassin, Helmut knows the standard dog tricks, but also has alternate versions of them used during hits. For example, "roll over" would start with Helmut biting the victim's foot. Helmut also likes to leap on Kanis's back suddenly, as if attacking him. One individual toward whom Helmut seems particularly antagonistic is Miles Edgeworth; just about the only thing the prosecutor and the assassin's dog have in common is a shared icy glare.
Name
- Japanese - Kuro (黒):
- "Kuro" is Japanese for "black".
- English - Helmut:
- "Helmut" is a German name derived from either heil ("healthy") or hiltja ("battle") and muot ("spirit, mind, mood"). In this case, it is also likely a play on the words "Hell" and "mutt", reflecting his role as a seemingly demonic dog.
- French - Pluton:
- His name in the French localization is "Pluton", referring to the ancient Greek God of the Underworld. This could also link to the multi-headed dog that guards the entrance to the Underworld.
- German - Hades:
- In the localized German version, his name refers to the same God from Roman and Greek Mythology as well.
Unofficial
- English - Anubis:
- His English name in the unofficial fan translation patch for Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit is "Anubis", which comes from the name of the canine-headed ancient Egyptian god associated with mummification and the afterlife.
Development
- Assuming that the Helmut who helped rescue Simeon Saint and Bronco Knight during the IS-7 Incident was the same dog encountered by Miles Edgeworth, this would make him at least 18 years old. Such longevity is exceptionally rare in dogs, particularly larger breeds, but not entirely unheard of.
- Helmut may be intended to be a Tosa, which are also known as Japanese Mastiffs.