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Nahyuta Sahdmadhi
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Nahyuta Sahdmadhi
O Holy Mother. As your humble servant, you would have me apt to save this wretch's soul. I suppose this too is part of my fate.

Nahyuta Sahdmadhi is an international prosecutor from Khura'in who believes that convicting criminals in court will provide salvation for their victims. He is also a respected monk in Khura'in, with a devout belief in the country's religious tenets. He is the main prosecutor in charge of Phoenix Wright's, Apollo Justice's and Athena Cykes's trials in 2028, and was shown to remember Justice from a long time ago.

Early life[]

Main articles: Khura'in royal residence fire and Turnabout Revolution
Drukpollynayu2

As a child with Apollo Justice and Dhurke Sahdmadhi

Nahyuta Sahdmadhi was born to attorney Dhurke Sahdmadhi and Amara Sigatar Khura'in, the queen of the Kingdom of Khura'in at the time. However, in 2005, an assassination attempt on Amara was carried out and Dhurke was almost found innocent of the crime, but was accused of forging evidence. Dhurke was forced to go on the run, while Nahyuta was exiled from the royal family for the crimes of his father. Nahyuta ended up living in the mountains with his father and the rest of the Defiant Dragons, along with Apollo Justice who Dhurke had adopted as a foster son. Nahyuta grew up with Justice and Dhurke until Justice left for the United States, adopting the Defiant Dragons' philosophy.

Dhurke eventually found Amara thirteen years after they went into hiding, discovering that she had not actually been killed, and they had Nahyuta's younger sister, Rayfa Padma Khura'in while on the run. Unfortunately, Amara was caught by the new queen, Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in. Dhurke and Nahyuta lived a life of solitude in the mountains until Nahyuta began to study to become a prosecutor, despite the harsh conditions that he endured for being the son of a wanted criminal.

At age 20, he became a prosecutor, and tried to fight for revolution from inside the law. However, Queen Ga'ran noticed this and used Rayfa and Amara as collateral to control him, threatening to expose the truth behind Rayfa's parentage and ruin her through Dhurke, forcing her to suffer as Nahyuta had. Nahyuta was thus forced to bend to her whim, the idea of revolution dying out inside him to protect the good name of his family.

An international prosecutor[]

Face off against a familiar face[]

Main article: The Magical Turnabout
AASoJ Anime 8

Meditating.

Five years after Sahdmadhi started his prosecuting career, Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth reached out to him to help the now-understaffed Prosecutor's Office. He prosecuted Trucy Wright against defense attorney Apollo Justice, having realized that the crime scene was an intentional murder. During the trial, he seemed to have a similar attitude to much of Khura'in towards defense attorneys (i.e., viewing them as co-conspirators with their guilty clients), it was the way he felt up until much later. During the trial, he became acquainted with Ema Skye, and despite his occasional annoyance with her friendship with the defendant, he was genuinely impressed by her ability and decided to retain her as his partner for the immediate future. Unwilling to face Justice in his current state, Sahdmadhi denied his past with Justice and treated him as a mere acquaintance, before the attorney won the trial Sahdmadhi said he'd be a stink bug in his next life due to his actions.

Against Justice's mentor[]

Main article: The Rite of Turnabout

About two weeks later, Nahyuta Sahdmadhi returned to Khura'in with Skye to prosecute Maya Fey for the murder of Tahrust Inmee. Since Inmee was the high priest, Sahdmadhi said that once Fey is sentenced to death, her soul shall be plunged in the lowest level of hell, the Hell of Tickling, where she will be tickled without end for five hundred million years. Datz Are'bal, as A'nohn Ihmus, was a witness and Sahdmadhi threatened him with the Hell of Hangnails where he'll have hangnails grown and ripped out for eight hundred million years. Nonetheless, Sahdmadhi was successful in pressing his case and convicting her, the DC act made Wright suffer the same punishment. However, Inmee's acolyte Puhray Zeh'lot was discovered to be dead by a bailiff, and he motioned for the trial to continue, apparently to worsen her conviction. Since Inmee's acolyte was equally devoted, Sahdmadhi says even the Hell of Tickling wouldn't be punishment enough. He says that in the afterlife, Fey will be sent to Bahlgilpo'kon Hell, a realm of eternal agony where she will suffer endless punishment of ja'gar by the galuun of Puhlmo'ten. Before Sahdmadhi could say something about Guhljaama, the terrified judge says that's enough. However, Sahdmadhi ended up losing this trial when Zeh'lot's true nature was revealed, Beh'leeb Inmee confessed to having killed Zeh'lot in self-defense, and Tahrust Inmee, channeled by Maya Fey, confessed to committing suicide while framing Maya for his death to avoid Beh'leeb getting convicted under the harsh justice system of Khura'in. Impressed by Wright's resolve and ability to reveal the truth behind several recent state-sanctioned murders, Sahdmadhi remarked that he owed a debt to the lawyer which he hoped to repay in the courtroom one day.

A murder at the theatre[]

Main article: Turnabout Storyteller

The next day, Nahyuta Sahdmadhi returned to America on Miles Edgeworth's request to prosecute a case, much to the judge's surprise. He was against Athena Cykes, whom was defending Bucky Whet for Taifu Toneido's murder on Simon Blackquill's request. During the case, he ignored Cykes for the most part and insulted Blackquill for his "softness", which ended up offending the other prosecutor so much that he decided to serve as Cykes' partner for the trial, the first in a long series of aggravations he faced in the case. For his sin, Sahdmadhi says Blackquill will be reborn as a panda and be put zoo to be exposed to public ridicule. He eventually outright asked the court exactly why they did not respect a "servant of the Holy Mother", having been fed up with Uendo Toneido and his refusal to assist his case. However, as Cykes slowly turned the case around by exposing Geiru Toneido, he came to recognize her as a worthy adversary.

The Khura'inese revolution[]

Main article: Turnabout Revolution
Nahyuta Sahdmadhi
In all this time, not once did I reflect on my own conduct... for I had believed all was fate. Lost in my own sense of resignation, I was unable to wake up from my despair. But you, Apollo. You have awakened me with your demonstration of our father's creed. A dragon never yields.

Nahyuta returned to Khura'in after Toneido's murder trial. This time, he was to prosecute his own father, Dhurke, for the murder of the minister, Inga. While interrogating him, Nahyuta confiscated everything he had, except for his attorney's badge. In the following days, the people of Khura'in had an uprising that he watched. During the revolt, Nahyuta was confronted by Justice, who questioned why he was serving Ga'ran.

The next day, Nahyuta stood at the prosecution bench with Ga'ran as they stood against Justice and Wright. It was revealed during the trial that Dhurke was killed by Inga a few days earlier while he was rescuing Maya and that Rayfa's aide, Nayna, was actually Nahyuta's mother, Amara. After Amara was shot and severely wounded, Nahyuta was forced by Ga'ran to confess that he was Inga's killer, threatening Rayfa's safety if he did not comply. However, when Justice figured out that Dhurke was framed for the assassination attempt on Amara, Nahyuta realized that it was Ga'ran who tried to kill his mother. Angered that his aunt had been deceiving him, he rebelled against her and retracted his confession, showing and proclaiming his status as a member of the Defiant Dragons. But in spite of that, he also gave false testimony in Ga'ran's defense, so she tried to invoke the DC Act on him to let her get away with killing her husband. But Justice proved that she was a false queen with no spiritual power making DC Act and all other laws she enacted null and void and that the fingerprints used to label Dhurke as the assassin were irrelevant or planted evidence. Apollo, with Nahyuta's help, was also able to find enough evidence in the Divination Séance to make Ga'ran the prime suspect for being the assassin, clearing Nahyuta of the charges.

Nahyuta parade

During the celebratory parade.

After the trial, Nahyuta became regent for Rayfa as she became the next queen of Khura'in. He also asked Justice to stay in Khura'in with him in order to rebuild the legal system together, to which he agreed. To his confusion, Rayfa began acting awkwardly around him and addressed him as "Braid Head". Unaware that Rayfa was embarrassed at addressing him as her big brother, Nahyuta decided to consult with Justice on the issue.

Personality[]

NayutaMug

Despite having a soft demeanor, Sahdmadhi has quite a sharp tongue, regularly invoking insulting metaphors and Khura'inese sayings to chew out the defense for any error he detects. While serving under Ga'ran, he has no tolerance for the defense attorney profession, considering it an unenlightened walk of life that must be quashed and punished by the rule of "the Holy Mother". He has a habit of using his beads to accentuate his points, such as stretching them out, taking them off and slamming the desk with it gripped in his hand, nervously holding them, throwing them at the defense (wrapping them around Apollo's forehead, on Phoenix's arm, and around Athena's body, although Blackquill did slice the second set of beads thrown at her), and constricting them with them and somehow using them to inflict pain on them after they use up their "three chances" (i.e. they significantly irritate him three times), and, when beaten, breaking them and getting knocked down with them. He has a tendency to view the court trial as a religious service, performing last rites for the deceased (hence his nickname of the Last Rites Prosecutor) and giving them peace by convicting their killers.

While he is, for the most part, a law-abiding, religious man, his prejudice and much of his holier-than-thou attitude is a farce; Sahdmadhi was originally a member of the Defiant Dragons, a resistance group seeking to revolutionize the broken and corrupt court system of Khura'in. He, however, was blackmailed by his aunt, who had threatened him with exposure of Rayfa Padma Khura'in as his sister rather than his cousin - which would result in Khura'in's prejudice towards the children of criminals, especially ones as heinous as Dhurke seemingly was - resulting in her becoming a social pariah, and a target for political assassins who did not wish her to be queen if he did not acquiesce to her corrupt administration. In time, Sahdmadhi came to believe that opposing her was impossible, and acquiescented to being her enforcer, which in turn gave him a rather nihilist and resigned outlook at life, frequently telling defense attorneys to "let go, and move on" and growing increasingly more irritated when met with defiant refusals to not give up. It wasn't until being defeated repeated times in court and when it was revealed that Ga'ran was behind the attempted assassination, that he began to regain hope and the will to oppose the queen, firmly believing Justice would be able to bring her downfall.

His true attitudes are shown in his polite and gracious treatment of Skye; despite the fact that she regularly finds evidence that ends up destroying his case, he never brings her to task for it and in fact regularly compliments her abilities. He was, however, at one point sufficiently annoyed that he warned that she would be made to endure an 8-hour long sermon, which left her visibly terrified, implying this was not the first time he had done it. A rather cultured man, he seems particularly well-versed in rakugo stories. Peaches are a favorite of his, and he seems to like soba as well. He also seems to like burgers, specifically the Southwestern burger with Jalapeno Jack cheese.

"Brother" relationship with Justice[]

See also: Apollo Justice#"Foster" relationship with the Sahdmadhi family

Though Dhurke raised Justice and is often referred to as the latter's "foster father" (which would nominally make Nahyuta Justice's "foster brother"), the precise nature of their relationship has never been made clear. Dhurke's position as an enemy of the state may have precluded any official parental or guardianship status, assuming that the relevant laws in Khura'in even have any similar concept at all. Notably, neither Justice nor Nahyuta have ever addressed the other as a brother. Since Dhurke's visit and the trial against Ga'ran, Apollo has referred to all three of them as a "family", meaning he still appreciates their shared bond to some extent,[1] but the nature of how he considers them is left vague beyond that.

Name[]

  • His given name "Nahyuta" comes from "nayuta" (那由多 or 那由他), which is originally a Sanskrit word that denotes a very large number. In Japanese counting system, it is used to denote 1060.
  • In an interview with Yamazaki, he stated that "Nayuta" was the name of someone he knew during his university days.[2]
  • "Sahdmadhi", his surname, comes from the Japanese proverb "hotoke no kao mo sando made" (仏の顔も三度まで), which means "Even the Buddha becomes angry if you brush his face thrice". This could be a reference to the "three chances" he gives to the defense before he constricts them with his beads, and the saying he once recounts "Even the merciful Holy Mother loses patience if she is struck three times." It may also come from "samadhi" (समाधि), a word used to refer to a state of mediative consciousness.
    • His family name in Chinese is translated as 史布國三/史布国三(Shǐbùguósān), which is pronounced similar to the Chinese idiom "事不過三/事不过三 (Shìbúguòsān)", meaning "a mistake committed three times will not be forgiven".

Development[]

  • Nahyuta's appearance is supposed to be very gender neutral overall as he was designed to "transcend gender." He was originally meant to be whichever gender the player would like him to be, an aspect rooted in Hinduism and Buddhism, where a number of deities are genderless or portrayed as both genders at once.[3]
  • Nahyuta's jacket was designed after a sherwani and a frock coat.[3]
  • Nahyuta's unique line "Satorha!" is a Khura'inese mantra that is meant to awaken those lost in their daydreams. It comes from the Japanese "satori" (悟り), which means "enlighten".
SoJ-chant

Nahyuta's chant.

  • Nahyuta's Khura'inese phrase after his signature hand movements is "Satorha imaoman domosamashi detashinuke taregasayo sonoka!"
    • Further, rotating the text of the chant by 180 degrees reveals some Hiragana-like characters stating the chant "さとら・いまおまん・どもさまし・でたしぬけ・たれがさよ・そのか!" (Satora imaoman domosamashi detashinuke taregasayo sonoka!).
    • According to Nahyuta, the phrase means "Even the merciful Holy Mother loses patience if she is struck three times." This is also the approximate meaning of the Japanese text when unscrambled.

Animations[]

  • One of Nahyuta's animations has a butterfly perching on his right hand. The appearance of the butterfly differs depending on which court Nahyuta stands in; in Khura'in, the butterfly appears to be native to the kingdom as shown from the mark of a mitamah on its wings, while in the United States, the butterfly appears to be entirely pink. Judging by the color and the pink particles coming off of it, perhaps it is a soul butterfly, not unlike the ones that come out of the Pool of Souls after a Not Guilty verdict in Khura'in.
  • Nahyuta's desk slam animation is impossible due to the rosary around his neck having to pass through his hair braid to be taken off the way it is.

References[]

  1. Apollo: It's the kind of hope that perseveres through the most desperate of times... ...it's what binds [Nahyuta], me, and Dhurke together... as a family.
    Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice. Capcom. Episode: Turnabout Revolution (in English). 2016.
  2. Ash (2017-04-17). 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Special Talk Session: Gyakuten Saiban Up Until Now, And In The Future - Takumi Shū X Yamazaki Takeshi X Eshiro Motohide (2017) Gyakuten Saiban Library. Retrieved on 2020-12-07.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Hsu, Janet. "Ace Trivia: Smorgasbord of Justice". Capcom Unity. Retrieved on 2016-09-02.
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