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Klint van Zieks
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Klint van Zieks
"I will not here discourse the corruption rife among the aristocracy, which is to me, as one of them, so apparent.”

Klint van Zieks was an English prosecutor and the older brother of prosecutor Barok van Zieks.

A celebrated prosecutor[]

Prosecutor van Zieks

Klint with his brother Barok and Inspector Tobias Gregson.

Klint van Zieks was born into a respectable, thoroughbred British aristocratic family in the late 19th century. Despite his privileged upbringing, he was deeply committed to the principle of equal treatment under the law and quickly rose to prominence as a brilliant prosecutor. His dogged pursuit of corruption across all London’s populace led to his promotion to Director of Prosecutions, and his success inspired his younger brother Barok to follow in his footsteps. It was during this time he wed into the wealthy Baskerville family, who gifted him a lavish jewel-studded collar for his beloved hunting hound, Balmung. He also became close friends with Genshin Asogi, a detective and one of three Japanese students living in London as part of an exchange program.

The Professor[]

Main article: Professor Killings
Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Ten years prior to the events of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Klint’s passion for the law brought him to a breaking point. No matter how hard he worked to reform the legal system, powerful criminals among the aristocracy continued to escape accountability using the vast resources at their disposal. Van Zieks came to the conclusion that the only way to stop such monsters was to become a monster himself. He first murdered a corrupt member of Parliament’s House of Lords, in what became his modus operandi as the Professor: he set his hunting hound Balmung upon him, who then tore out the man's throat.

After this first murder, fellow prosecutor Mael Stronghart quickly deduced van Zieks was the culprit. However, rather than report van Zieks' crimes, Stronghart instead saw the discovery as an opportunity. He blackmailed van Zieks into perpetrating murders that would benefit himself, threatening to reveal the truth to Klint’s wife and his younger brother should he refuse. Unable to bear the thought of his family discovering his deeds, van Zieks complied, and committed three other highly publicized murders to Stronghart's benefit. One of these murders was that of the then-Chief Justice, van Zieks' former mentor, so that Stronghart could rise to the position of Chief Justice following the vacancy. This act broke van Zieks' spirit: though his murders had initially begun to destroy monstrous members of the aristocracy, he had become the very thing he had wished to destroy, having slain his mentor for the sake of his own skin. However, this caused Barok, who had become suspicious of him, to believe the Professor was someone else. Still, the toll these deaths took on van Zieks was noticeable to his loved ones, though they did not know the true cause. After his fourth murder, his killing spree was brought to an abrupt end when his crimes were discovered by a second person.

A duel to the death[]

Main article: The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo
Klint van Zieks
"There is no path back to the light. Be it I or my dear friend Asogi who dies this night…I am eternally damned. To my extortioner, Mael Stronghart…may you feel the jaws of the beast at your throat every time you swallow.”
Genshin and Klimt

Van Zieks pens his confession as Genshin Asogi looks on.

Genshin Asogi, van Zieks' friend and investigative partner, had worked out on his own that Klint was behind the murders, as he was the only one with the means and motive to commit them. However, Asogi was unable to expose van Zieks' crimes through legal avenues: when he had urged Mael Stronghart to investigate Klint, the Chief Justice informed him that there was supposedly insufficient evidence to even initiate an investigation against van Zieks, as he was a famous prosecutor and a member of nobility. Late one night, six months into the Professor killings, van Zieks was confronted in his home by Asogi, who directly accused him of the murders. Guilt-ridden by his actions, van Zieks willingly confessed. For the sake of allowing his longtime friend to die honorably, Asogi proposed they duel to the death. Van Zieks accepted on two conditions: that he be allowed to write a last will and testament confessing his crimes, and that Asogi would ensure protection for Klint’s pregnant wife and unborn child. Asogi agreed to his terms, and van Zieks personally confessed to his wife before penning his will.

Van Zieks' will lay out the true circumstances behind his death and the Professor Killings: that he penned it before a duel to the death with Asogi, and that he was the true perpetrator of the Professor killings. With his confession, van Zieks also cursed the person that had extorted him to commit the majority of the murders - Mael Stronghart. Van Zieks concluded his will by expressing admiration for Asogi having promised to carry out his final two wishes and apologizing to his younger brother and his wife. In particular, van Zieks hoped that his crimes would not hinder his brother's advancement, and that his death would bring resolution to his wife.

The duel between Asogi and van Zieks ended in van Zieks's death from a stab wound to his heart. Asogi was later witnessed by household staff fleeing the estate, although there was insufficient evidence to arrest him. Fearful of the ramifications of the truth behind the Professor killings becoming known, Mael Stronghart schemed to bury the truth once and for all: he decided to pin the Professor killings on Genshin Asogi, in order to conceal the true identity of the Professor as well as eliminate a target who knew the truth. Van Zieks was publicly named as the Professor’s fifth and final victim, and his autopsy was altered to ensure Asogi’s guilt in the eyes of the judiciary. Additionally, Stronghart struck a deal with Asogi to force him to participate in his scheme to erase the truth behind the Professor killings.

Baskerville Lady

The Baskerville lady in labor.

In the days before his execution, Asogi gave Yujin Mikotoba instructions to find Klint's wife, who was about to give birth at a dilapidated house. Though Mikotoba helped successfully deliver the baby girl, the woman died shortly after. Before his ordered return to Japan, Mikotoba left Klint's newborn daughter in the care of his English detective partner, Herlock Sholmes, as he was unable to take the child with him back to Japan without disclosing her parentage.

Klint van Zieks's death deeply affected his younger brother Barok, who had spent his entire life in admiration of Klint and continued to view him as an aspiration after his death, ignorant of the truth. Even years afterward, Barok continued to honour his brother's spirit. He became a prosecutor like his older brother and allowed himself to be portrayed as the Reaper of the Bailey in order to deter crime in London. On Barok's jacket lapel he displayed his late brother's prosecutor's badge at all times. Furthermore, Barok hung a massive portrait of Klint in hunting attire in his office.

Personality[]

Klimit

Mugshot.

Klint van Zieks was once a brilliant and respectful prosecutor and very well known in the Prosecutor's Office. He aimed at ending the non-stop corruption and crime that was plaguing London's streets, and valued equal treatment of all under the law. His younger brother Barok looked up to him in honor, and viewed him as a "guiding light".

However, as time went on, Klint's passion for justice began to change him for the worse. No matter how much he did to reform the legal system, crime continued to run rampant in the United Kingdom, and many criminals managed to escape imprisonment using underhanded means. Klint began to believe that in order to truly prevent these monsters from plaguing England any further, he must become a "monster" himself. And so, he became a murderer, targeting one of London's high-ranking aristocrats who was secretly a criminal himself. When Stronghart caught wind of what he'd done and blackmailed him into turning his single murder into a killing spree, Klint complied, unable to face the thought of his actions being revealed to his family, especially his wife and brother.

It wasn't until he was forced to kill his own mentor, the former Lord Chief Justice, that Klint realized how much the darkness exhibited by London's criminal underworld had consumed him. As a result, when Genshin Asogi challenged him to a duel after learning of his heinous actions, Klint didn't hesitate to agree, writing a will telling how deeply he regretted his actions, and how he knew he was eternally damned.

Appearance[]

Klint had neatly combed lavender hair and blue eyes. He wore a red long suit outlined with gold stripes and gold buttons. He wore a white dress shirt underneath, gold epaulettes, a white sash, grey pants, brown boots, a white jabot pinned on with a gold crest, white gloves, and his prosecutor's badge.

Name[]

  • His Japanese name, as written in guidebooks, is Krimmet. While Krimmet is a real name, it is a German surname.
    • A common transliteration of the name is "Klimt". This gives a possible derivation of the name from the artist Gustav Klimt, matching with Barok's name seemingly referencing the Baroque style of art. Gustav Klimt was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement.
  • His English name, Klint, is likely derived from the Klimt transliteration, though it is also a Swedish name. An example is Hilma af Klint, a Swedish artist.
  • The surname van Zieks may reference the Japanese phrase '万事休す' (ばんじきゅう), meaning "there is nothing more that can be done; it's all over". Van Zieks by itself can also be translated to "of the sick" in Dutch, possibly if unintentionally referencing the Grim Reaper's emergence as a psychopomp during the Black Plague.
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