Phoenix Wright's magatama.
Wright's magatama before being charged with spiritual power.
| Maya Fey |
| This jewel... This is called a Magatama. It's a magical charm and it's always protected me.. |
The magatama is a sacred charm given to Phoenix Wright by his assistant Maya Fey and given spiritual power by Pearl Fey in Reunion, and Turnabout. Wright keeps the magatama with him for the rest of the series, losing it only once to date. Miles Edgeworth borrows the magatama when he fills in for Wright as defense attorney in Bridge to the Turnabout.
Maya remains unaware of what the magatama actually does after Pearl charges it with spiritual energy until The Stolen Turnabout. This is mostly because of her absence from Reunion, and Turnabout and Farewell, My Turnabout, having been incarcerated and kidnapped, respectively. In Turnabout Big Top, whilst Psyche-Locks appear, Wright doesn't mention them to Maya.
Magatamas are mostly known of and owned by the Fey clan. Occult enthusiasts such as Ini Miney also know about the magatamas. Dick Gumshoe believes that the magatama is candy and tries to eat it on several occasions.
Usage
One Psyche-Lock, the minimum number that can appear.
Five Psyche-Locks, the most that can appear at once.
The magatama has a special ability to allow its possessor to see Psyche-Locks, which appear when someone is hiding information from the user. After presenting the Magatama to someone, the user can proceed to break the person's Psyche-Locks, using evidence to piece together a portion of the secret being hidden. More deeply buried secrets have more Psyche-Locks on them (and thus are tougher to unlock). Once all of one's Psyche-Locks are broken, that person will finally admit to the truth and will reveal his or her secret in full, elaborating on what he or she knows about the subject in question. This information could be in the form of evidence or dialogue, and it is often helpful in court.
In the original Phoenix Wright trilogy, the magatama is present in the court record and is accessed and used by presenting it like any other piece of evidence. If the person to whom the user is talking has a Psyche-Lock on one of his or her subjects of conversation (under the "Talk" menu), the user will initiate the lock-breaking process by yelling, "Take that!"
Wright also has a special investigation chapter in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Instead of being in the court record, the magatama icon is located on the top center of the touchscreen in the Talk menu. Wright can either touch the icon or press "X" to initiate the lock-breaking process. However, at one point, he encounters black Psyche-Locks that he cannot break.
Other magatamas
The magatama made of blue flames formed by the furious spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne.
Magatamas are often worn by members of the Fey family, although unless charged with spiritual energy, they seem to have no functional purpose. The people known to have magatamas have different colors of magatamas as follows:
- Phoenix Wright & Miles Edgeworth - Green (originally belonged to Maya Fey but given to Wright, then temporarily lent to Edgeworth)
- Maya Fey - Orange (she presumably had this one as well as the green one she gave to Wright)
- Mia Fey - Blue
- Pearl Fey - Aqua
- Iris - Violet
- Bikini - Pink
Morgan Fey was not shown to have a magatama. Misty Fey had a magatama according to Godot's recollection of her death.
There is a "Lesser Magatama" in the Main Hall of Hazakura Temple. Supposedly, there is a "Greater Magatama" in Fey Manor that was supposed to be on display at the Kurain Village exhibit at Lordly Tailor, but it was too big to fit through the door.
When the furious spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne is forced from Maya's body, she turns into eleven blue flames which form a magatama before disappearing.