Wright Anything Agency (Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice) | Defense Attorneys & Assistants | Main Prosecutors (Miles Edgeworth, Franziska von Karma) | Prosecutors & Judges | Law Enforcement | The Fey Clan | Troupe Gramarye | Kingdom of Khura'in
Witnesses and Other Characters (Original Game | JFA | T&T [Dahlia Hawthorne] | AJ | DD | SoJ | Manga | Anime | Novels | Theater) | Victims
Investigations (AAI | AAI2) | TGAA (Major | Minor)
PL vs. PWAA
Here is a list of characters from Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. But as for any game long enough, beware of MAJOR unmarked spoilers!
You can also visit the main character pages for Ace Attorney and for Professor Layton.
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Main Characters
Professor Hershel Layton
Voiced by: Yō Ōizumi (Japanese), Christopher Miller (English)
- The Ace: In this game, compared to Phoenix. He can do almost everything: fighting, investigating, helping Phoenix out in the trials, solving puzzles, and prosecuting, and being quite good at it.
- Badass Pacifist: When he fights, he always does so to disarm, never to injure or kill. Which is why it's a bad idea to send suits of Animated Armor after him. If there's nobody inside the armor that can get hurt, he can go all-out.
- Badass Teacher: Luke's teacher.
- Cultured Badass: He's an archaeology teacher after all.
- Disney Death: He is the apparent victim of the third trial, getting turned into a gold statue. In reality, he was knocked out, replaced with an ordinary gold statue, and dragged off to a nearby forest.
- Final Boss: Is the final prosecutor of the game.
- Friendly Enemy: Despite being the Final Boss, he stays on friendly terms with Phoenix.
- Good Is Not Soft: His commitment to the truth results in deliberately awakening Espella and Eve's traumatic memories of the fire, causing them and the Storyteller much anguish.
- Hero Antagonist: He takes the prosecutor's bench in the final trial, but only seeks to find the truth and barely antagonizes Phoenix, if at all.
- Leitmotif: The iconic "Professor Layton's Theme", as per usual for the character and his franchise, gaining two remixes along the course of the story.
- One-Man Army: Twice! First, when he confronts a group of Shades who are pursuing Maya, then when he sword fights mechanized suits of armour in the Storyteller's tower.
- Only Sane Man: Very serious unlike Phoenix who's prone to his usual antics.
- Put on a Bus: Is apparently turned to gold part way through the game, but reappears later unharmed. This may have been partly because he would otherwise likely upstage Phoenix for the whole game.
- The Smart Guy: Gives Phoenix a lot of intel and info about Labyrinthia.
- Spanner in the Works: The Storyteller very much thinks so... except he isn't, due to Darklaw bringing him in on purpose for her own plans. Phoenix ends up this trope instead.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's actually based on Phoenix as Akihiro Hino revealed. They took every good point of Phoenix and worked on the bad points to create Layton.
- Taken for Granite: During the 3rd case, although he is turned into gold instead of stone. Then it's averted when it's revealed that he was simply replaced by a gold statue of himself.
- Unfazed Everyman: Few things are able to faze him and he always keeps his cool even in the most serious of situations. Justified by all of the crazy antics he's been through.
- Unwitting Pawn: Darklaw brought him and Luke in on purpose to expose Labyrynthia's mysteries, with the intent of triggering Espella's repressed memories and getting her revenge against The Storyteller. Unfortunately, thanks to Phoenix's interference, this works far too well.
Luke Triton
Voiced by: Maki Horikita (Japanese), Maria Darling (English)
- Child Prodigy: Downplayed. He is pretty darn smart for a kid his age, though he still has a lot to learn.
- Despair Event Horizon: When Layton gets turned into gold.
- Hidden Eyes: His "despairing" model has his eyes hidden by the bill of his hat.
- Kid Sidekick: To Layton.
- Like Brother and Sister: Has this dynamic with Maya.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When he realizes Maya couldn't have turned Layton into gold, he feels absolutely horrible for taking the stand against Maya.
- Out of Focus: When Layton returns to court for the final trial, Luke is nowhere to be seen. But it turns out that he's actually figuring out how to work the machines responsible for "magic".
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He goes berserk when Layton is apparently killed, and testifies against Maya in blind grief and rage.
- This Is Unforgivable!: About the witch who turned Layton into gold.
- Unwitting Pawn: Eve intended for Layton and Luke to solve Labyrinthia's mysteries to trigger Espella's repressed memories and arranged for their arrival.
Phoenix Wright
Voiced by: Hiroki Narimiya (Japanese), Trevor White (English)
- Amnesia Danger: During the first witch trial, Phoenix is randomly called to be the defender, despite the fact that everyone (including Phoenix himself) believes him to be just a simple baker — and not even a particularly good one. Luckily, once the trial gets underway, Phoenix remembers that he's a defense attorney and knows all about how to handle a courtroom... well, sorta...
- Anime Hair: And proud of it.
- Badass Bookworm: Not known for his fighting skills, but Phoenix Wright is able to get people acquitted in witch trials. Despite being a modern-day defense attorney with reasonable expectations of what does and does not count as evidence, Phoenix not only rolls with having to apply logic to magic, but successfully and repeatedly takes on the Kangaroo Court in the witch trials. And wins.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Phoenix Wright is a Kleptomaniac Hero who usually pulls his court strategies out of his ass and uses spirit channelling as a legal technique.
- Butt-Monkey: Like in own series, he's often mocked for various reasons.
- Catchphrase: Objection! Hold It! Take That!
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Both he and Layton are very competent heroes. The difference between the two is that Layton acts like that all the time, while Phoenix's badass side mostly comes out when his back is to the wall.
- Determinator: Will stop at nothing to proves his client innocent.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?:
- Mostly justified, nobody knows him in the game and before the first witch trial, he and Maya were bakers. Ends up being a plot point too when The Storyteller focuses more on Layton and Luke due to their notoriety and Phoenix and Maya, as a result, fly under his radar.
- Ironically, after he gets what is probably the first witch trial acquittal ever, the prosecution and judge feel obliged to acknowledge his skill, meaning that Phoenix gets more respect in witch court than in normal court. Not to mention the townspeople make huge golden statues of him and Layton at the end of the game.
- Forgot About His Powers: He never uses his Magatama at any point in the game, despite how using it would resolve the entire story extremely quickly. This is most likely to ease in new fans into the game that don't know the plot of the original trilogy (as the Magatama would require a lot of explanations).
- Heroic Safe Mode: After Maya is dropped into the fire pit and presumed dead, Phoenix is obviously devastated but keeps things together for the sake of his younger companions.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: He still attempts to put evidence into his pockets, on occasion. This backfired in The Final Witch Trial where him attempting to put Espella's, or more accurately, Darklaw's pendant into his pocket got him accused with trying to tamper with the crime scene.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: He forgot everything before his arrival in Labyrinthia when you meet him, including his job as a lawyer. It doesn't last long, though.
- Leitmotif: As usual, Phoenix is accompanied by a new "Objection!" theme. "The English Turnabout" gives him a direct orchestrated remix of his original Objection theme, while the Witch Trials in Labyrinthia give him "Objection! 2012", more suitable for the city's Middle Ages setting.
- Nerves of Steel: It's often pointed that Phoenix is much more effective when he's under pressure.
- Spanner in the Works: As much as Layton or even more than him. Darklaw was counting on the Professor showing up to solve Labyrinthia's mysteries, but nobody expected Phoenix to come along as well, let alone for him to successfully defend suspects like Espella in the Witch Trials (the English Courtroom shows this perfectly as Darklaw didn't expect Phoenix to win that trial). It is possible even the Storyteller himself barely knew about his presence.
- Stepford Smiler: After Maya's supposed death.
- Tranquil Fury: His exchange with Barnham after Maya's apparent demise makes it clear how very much Phoenix would love to punch him in the nose and maybe go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the crazy town, but he barely even raises his voice.
- Unconventional Courtroom Tactics: Unorthodox courtroom conduct is the basis of his character.
- Unexpected Character: In-Universe. Unlike Layton, Phoenix was not a part of Darklaw's plans, and his involvement actually throws them off the rails.
Maya Fey
Voiced by: Mirei Kiritani (Japanese), Samantha Dakin (English)
- Brief Accent Imitation: In the final trial, she acts like a knight in an apron and Barnham's helmet in shouting out "Hold it!" in her best, faux-British accent.
- Catchphrase: "Aaaaaaaaaall right!" when getting psyched about something, usually court.
- Designated Victim: In her own series, Maya gets accused of murder every game she shows up in. This game is no exception, with her serving as the defendant in case 3. In fact, Maya is the ONLY defendant in this game aside from Espella.
- Disney Death: She winds up falling into the courtroom's fire pit at the end of the third trial. Fortunately, it turns out to have a false bottom.
- Death Faked for You: It turns out the false bottom was a ruse to not kill any of the guilty witches.
- Forgot About Her Powers: Maya never channels any spirits, not even Mia's. Possibly justified because there weren't much moments where spirit channeling would come in handy. Either it's not applicable at the moment (such as in London and Labyrinthia in general, where most of the residents of the latter would mistake spirit channeling for witchcraft), Maya's amnesia before the first witch trial and the fact that she rarely channels spirits when they aren't necessarily required for the given situation. And since all but one of the deaths in Labyrinthia were staged, trying to channel someone only to fail because they're actually alive might have caused the characters to catch on to the overarching mystery way too quickly.
- Genki Girl: Just as cheerful and energetic as always.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: An even bigger offender than Phoenix; she often eggs him on and encourages him to just hurry up and take the stuff already!
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Like Phoenix, she does not remember anything prior her life in Labyrinthia when Layton first meets her. And also like Phoenix, she recovers her true memories relatively quickly.
- Leitmotif: Oddly enough, while Phoenix retains his Objection and court-specific themes, Maya's "Turnabout Sisters Theme" doesn't play during any direct interactions with her. Instead, the cutscene-specific theme "In-Flight" plays her normal motif as she talks to Phoenix on the plane headed to London, and later, after Maya seemingly dies during a Witch Trial and Phoenix is forced to take shelter in a tavern, "Turnabout Sisters Music Box Melody" plays instead. As the name indicates, it's a music box rendition of Maya's theme, meant to sound more somber and silent given the circumstances.
- Like Brother and Sister: Has this dynamic with Luke.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: In the final trial, she wears an apron and Barnham's helmet to conceal her identity, so as to hide the fact that she's still alive even after being "burned at the stake". It doesn't look very convincing, but it does the job well.
- Teen Genius: Though she still has a lot to learn when it comes to being a spirit medium and solving puzzles, she's pretty good at both, despite her young age.
- Unexpected Character: In-universe. Like Phoenix, Darklaw did not intend on Maya getting involved with Labyrinthia.
Espella Cantabella (Mahoney Catalucia)
Voiced by: Aoi Yūki (Japanese), Joanna Ruiz (English)
- All the Other Reindeer: Because she's the Storyteller's daughter, almost all the townspeople fear to get involved with her in case it results in narrative retribution.
- Broken Bird: She's sure she's the Great Witch and is driven insane because of that.
- Damsel in Distress: Despite being one of the protagonists, Espella serves as the defendant in three out of four of the game's trials, meaning she spends roughly half of the game incarcerated.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Subverted, she thought she was the one who set the town on fire by accident and thus thinks she's Bezella, but she actually backed out at the last second and Eve was the one responsible.
- Death Seeker: At the end of every Witch Trial, she insists that she is The Great Witch Bezella and that she be burned to put an end to the witch trials. Everyone in the city is quick to accept her claims just to resolve everything. In the finale she even tries to jump from the top of the bell tower in despair. Thankfully, Darklaw, Layton and Luke save her.
- Designated Victim: She's the defendant in three out of the game's four trials.
- Guest-Star Party Member: There are a few puzzles in the game which you solve as her rather than Layton, Luke, Phoenix, or Maya.
- Heroic BSoD: A good portion of her life is nothing but these. When The Legendary Fire took place and wiped out her hometown, circumstances occurred that led her to blame the cause of it entirely on herself, then leading her to spend most of her childhood afterwards in guilt-induced catatonia. Her father then took drastic actions in order to snap her out of it...
- It's All My Fault: She damn says everything bad that happens in the game is her fault in some form or another. It takes the quartet many times to tell her it's not the case, but she never listens and gets herself in trouble anyway. Special mention goes to a tragic scene in the past where she was completely sure she killed hundreds of people in a catastrophic wild fire during a festival.
- Leitmotif: "Espella's Theme No. 1 ~ Memory", a music box melody, plays in-game as her character theme. It is later remixed into "Espella's Theme No. 2 ~ Truth" during the climax at the clock tower.
- Meaningful Name: Espella. In the Japanese version as well; "mahō" means "magic". Subverted from an in-universe perspective; Espella is shown to have been her name before Labyrinthia even existed, and even after it was created she was never intended to have been a witch... at least not until Darklaw hijacked the story.
- Mind-Control Eyes: When she starts to act strangely, her eyes become dull blue disks.
- Nice Girl: She tries really hard to befriend everyone, even though they look upon her with contempt. She's typically very polite and gentle, which is part of why it's so troubling to see the entire town shun her.
- The Scapegoat: Espella became this when, as a child, Eve pinned the blame for setting the Great Fire on Espella, so that Eve could avoid being scolded (though Eve at least told everyone "don't be angry at" Espella). Subverted when, just after that revelation, it's revealed that because Eve mentally blocked out what happened, Eve actually believed it was Espella, so the scapegoating was unintentional.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Conspired with Eve to ring the Bell of Ruin, not knowing it would cause the entire town to fall unconscious during the fire festival. As a result, the entire town burned, an event which came to be known in Labyrinthia as The Legendary Fire. However, it should be noted that it was Eve who actually rang the bell, not Espella, since Espella backed out, making Espella a lesser case of this trope than Eve.
Sir Zacharias Barnham (Sir Jiiken Barnrod)
Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Mark Healy (English)
- The Ace: Everyone in town admires his skill and zeal in prosecuting witches and frequently interrupts the proceedings to chant his name.
- Angrish: At one point, the only thing this eloquent knight of the Inquisition can say in reply to Emeer is "Arg... blargh."
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: When it turns out that the concept of "logic" is literally non-existent in the Witch Trials, Barnham watches Phoenix's and Layton's usage of logic and picks it up against them to a startling degree.
- Dartboard of Hate: He has a crude crayon drawing of Darklaw on the board behind his desk which he threw a sword at. Hilariously, this is directly across from her desk in the same room.
- Everyone Has Standards: Like some of the more moral prosecutors he'll defend any witnesses that the defense accuses of the crime the defendant's on trial for, but only to a certain point. Once he's convinced that the true culprit is guilty, he'll turn on them without hesitation.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Barnham believes that this trope is in play, and thus that there is no point trying to look into the witches' motives. It's subtle, but finding out that Kira and Greyerl do have understandable motives helps to shift him out of this mindset.
- Hero Antagonist: Barnham is a genuinely good and honorable man who lives purely to guard Labyrinthia from that which would harm its citizens. In any other setting he would most definitely be a Knight in Shining Armor but his morals come from a very backwards and unjust foundation, which is not his fault. Having to go up against Phoenix and his unwavering focus on the truth eventually causes him to have a To Be Lawful or Good morality crisis over the real consequences of the witch trials.
- Knight in Shining Armor: He's certainly honorable and loyal. It's just that the system he serves is so shockingly corrupt that he still comes off as antagonistic anyways.
- Leitmotif: "The Sword of Labyrinthia", a heroic and glorious theme meant to invoke Barnham's own image in the eyes of the Labyrinthian citizens. The theme is also later played for the rest of the Knights of Labyrinthia during the final trial.
- Moving the Goalposts: When Phoenix proves by witness testimony that Maya couldn't have left a piece of evidence in the Golden case, Barnham says that witchcraft warps people's memories and encourages the witnesses to "rethink" their testimony with this in mind. In other words, any time you hurt his case, it doesn't count. (Fortunately, there's a loophole to abuse.)
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Special Episode 6 recounts an incident known as "Barnham's Wild Ride", in which a dog startled Barnham's horse during one of the Storyteller's parades. The horse bolted off, dragging Barnham all around town for hours because his foot had gotten caught on the reins. Kids never let this one incident go, and started tying dolls to the knights' horses while referring to them as a "bouncing Barnham", constantly reminding him and the town at large of the whole thing.
- Out of Focus: He's arrested just before the final trial and consequently completely absent from the final four or five hours of the game, though he makes a brief appearance in the ending cutscene.
- Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: After Maya is cast into the fire, Barnham offers Phoenix the chance to run him through. This just makes Phoenix angrier at him.
- Punny Name:
Word of God states his Japanese name comes from "Burn Rod", alluding to the murder weapon of the first case he prosecutes in the game — a magic rod used to cast a fire spell. His English name sounds like "Burn 'em," especially when the audience starts chanting it, which is exactly what is done with witches. - Real Men Wear Pink: He's a gallant, coolheaded knight but he cares for a cute, terrier-like dog named "Constantine". Maya speculates that he likes to cuddle with Constantine when no one's looking. He also tends to favor pink shirts after regaining his memories of his life before Labyrinthia.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's involved in a really brutal and unjust system, but he really is interested in finding the truth. If that happens to be someone other than the person he arrested, he helps Phoenix expose them. He's also quick to investigate his superior Darklaw when he smells something fishy. Also, when Phoenix, Luke and Espella are trying to get out of town after Maya's apparent death, he tells them a way to get out without being spotted, and doesn't even pretend to go after them.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Edgeworth in the first Ace Attorney game. Like Edgeworth, Barnham is at first "win at any costs" but with him facing a Determinator in Phoenix, he too changes his ways.
- Sword Pointing: Does this instead of Giving Someone the Pointer Finger in court.
- Undying Loyalty: Has complete faith in the Storyteller and his Story. It's deconstructed by Darklaw when Barnham attempts to expose her — she rightfully points out his refusal to even consider questioning the Storyteller's authority even while challenging hers means he lacks the resolve to unravel the whole truth that the Storyteller is keeping from Labyrinthia's populace.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: As the main prosecutorial rival in the game, he's significantly more competent than Flynch, and despite seemingly having faced no real opposition before, is better able to counter Phoenix's arguments.
Darklaw (Jordalla)
High Inquisitor Darklaw (Jordalla)
Voiced by: Toa Yukinari (Japanese), Jo Wyatt (English)
- Accidental Murder: As a child, she rang the Bell of Ruin not knowing about its effect, causing everyone attending the Fire Festival to pass out near the fire and leading to their deaths by it.
- Amnesiac Dissonance: She blamed Espella for causing the Legendary Fire that killed both her own and Espella's mothers along with almost everyone else in Labyrinthia, only to find out later that she herself was the culprit behind it, albeit accidentally.
- Animal Motifs: Deliberately designed to resemble a cat. Her name can be read as Darklaw.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Since she, as the Great Witch, was the one who had rewritten the Storyteller's story to target Espella, she is basically this, with the Storyteller himself acting as her main rival.
- Break the Haughty: She's extremely confident in court and has things under control to the point that even being called to the witness stand and being revealed as the one who carried Espella to the tower as well as admitting to leading the Shades won't faze her, but when she realizes that she was, in fact, the one responsible for the Legendary Fire and her mother's death, she freaks out.
- Call-Back: To the Ace Attorney series, she can be seen scratching her neck in the final trial at several points due to having her pendant ripped off her neck which left a very bad injury, much like Alita Tiala's habit of doing so due to Pal Meraktis nearly strangling her to death.
- Didn't See That Coming: She had Phoenix and Maya sent to Labyrinthia and altered their memories to think they were bakers, simply because Phoenix's exceptional defense skills proved Espella innocent of assault and theft, which messed up Darklaw's plans. Unfortunately, Phoenix did such a good job that even while brainwashed Espella remembered it, and when she get's accused of witchcraft she insists Phoenix be her defender. This messes up Darklaw's plans big time.
- Disc-One Final Boss: She's set up as the game's final inquisitor, being in charge of the last trial. However, after Phoenix finds out she was at the crime scene and calls her as a witness, Layton shows up and takes over as the game's real final inquisitor.
- Dual Boss: She testifies alongside the Storyteller as one of the final witnesses of the game.
- Femme Fatalons: Her gold spiky gauntlets have this effect; with the fingerpoints sharpened.
- Final Boss: She’s one of the last witnesses along with The Storyteller. She's also the final culprit and, technically speaking, the game's only true killer.
- First-Name Basis: In the special episodes, she actually starts calling Luke, Maya and Barnham by their first names, showing a warmer and more personable side than in the main game.
- Foreshadowing: She first met Phoenix and Maya outside Labyrinthia; and her gauntlets are the same ones used by the witch that initially attacked Layton to get Espella. If you pay sharp attention to the same witch's body language, you notice she has several movements that are identical to Darklaw's.
- Additionally, she wanted Phoenix to simply have Espella plead guilty to assault, implying she actually believed Espella to have done it, when in reality it was an unknown third party and Espella was more the victim. This comes back later, when Eve is shown to believe Espella was responsible for the Great Fire that she herself actually caused.
- Forgotten Childhood Friend: Was Espella's best friend when they were kids. She doesn't blame her, seeing as how Espella's memories were deliberately erased.
- Heel Realization: After she learns that she was the one responsible for the Legendary Fire, she realizes she was wrong to blame Espella and the Storyteller for something that was her fault, and considers her quest for vengeance against the Cantabellas for causing her father's death to be "unforgivable."
- Heroic BSoD: When she remembers the truth about the Legendary Fire.
- Karma Houdini: She is never shown facing punishment for ringing the Bell of Ruin and thus causing the Legendary Fire that claimed nearly every life in Labyrinthia, including that of her own mother and Espella's. While she didn't know that ringing the bell would lead to that, the fact remains that she was told never to ring it in the first place, an order which she deliberately disobeyed.
- Large Ham: During the special episodes, she still keeps making elaborate villainous speeches while wearing her Great Witch costume, and she has by far the most exaggerated "puzzle solved" animation out of any character when the other characters pressure her to show it off. It also turns out that she's actually a fairly shy, reserved person while not performing the role of Darklaw or the Great Witch, making her this in-universe too.
- Leitmotif: While not exactly played for Darklaw specifically, "Sealed ~ The Darkness Within" only ever plays during the final trial, and is strongly associated with Darklaw and the Great Witch, given they're one and the same.
- Matricide: Purely accidental, but by ringing the Bell of Ruin, she caused the fire that killed her mother (as well as Espella's mother and most of the town) which led to the creation of Labyrinthia, which eventually led to her father's suicide. She's as broken by this knowledge as you'd expect.
- Meaningful Name: Her real name, Eve — she was the one who succumbed to the "temptation" of ringing the Bell of Ruin. Also, "Darklaw" both sounds like "dark law", signifying her antagonistic role in court, and "dark claw", which is funny because she was "replaced" in Espella's memories by a black cat.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Legendary Fire she accidentally started killed almost everyone in Labyrinthia, including her own mother and Espella's mother, and scarred Espella for life.
- The Plan: Luring Layton to Labyrinthia was planned all along. Phoenix's arrival was not.
- Red Baron: The Great Witch Bezella, though she’s unaware of that last part.
- Revenge by Proxy: Downplayed. Her own iteration of the Story being rather cruel to Espella is her way of getting back at her father. This makes poetic sense, as her entire grudge is based around the fact that the Storyteller was oblivious to the suffering the Story caused to everyone, so she decided he really needed to experience the consequences of it himself.
- Shrinking Violet: The special episodes reveal that she's very shy around groups of people. She manages slightly better when she wears her shade costume.
- The Starscream: To the Storyteller. As the one responsible for engineering the specifics of the Story, she has decided to twist the Storyteller's words into an ending she feels is more appropriate.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: As "Ms. Darklaw," she's initially somewhat cold and dismissive of Phoenix, wanting him to plead guilty, but he earns her respect by defending Espella.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Strangely inverted. She shares many similarities with Aura Blackquill, like similar cold personalities and an obsession with punishing a teenage girl for allegedly committing matricide as a child and committing multiple illegal or unethical actions to do so, only to discover she was innocent near the end. However, Dual Destinies was created and released (in Japan at least) after this game and, unlike Aura, Eve was actually friends with Espella until the incident.
- Tomato in the Mirror: As it turns out, she is the one who rang the Bell of Ruin, making her Bezella after all.
- Took a Level in Kindness: She becomes significantly warmer and more open in the ending and Special Episodes.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: When she rang the Bell of Ruin and accidentally killed everyone in Labyrinthia save Espella and their fathers, she subconsciously blocked out her memory of it and pinned the blame on Espella.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As a child, she rang the Bell of Ruin, understandably not knowing what the consequences would be. As a result, everyone in the vicinity passed out in the middle of the Fire Festival, leading to the Legendary Fire.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": How she ended up getting replaced by Espella's cat in the latter's memories.
- We Used to Be Friends: With the Storyteller, before he accidentally drove her father to suicide. She...didn't like him after that.
- Xanatos Gambit: Phoenix and Professor Layton could only either fail at defending Espella, or uncover the entire truth about the Labyrinthia and Espella's role in the Legendary Fire, and both would give Darklaw her desired revenge. The one thing she didn't anticipate was that Espella's actual role in the Legendary Fire was different than Darklaw herself had believed.
- You Killed My Father: In her mind, the Storyteller is the one to blame for her father's death.
- Younger than She Looks: She's around 20 years old, but looks to be in her late 20s or early 30s. Of course, the first time we see her she's disguised as a schoolteacher and Espella as her student, which helps further the illusion that she's older than her real age.
The Storyteller
The Storyteller
Voiced by: Masashi Hirose (Japanese), Robert Ashby (English)
- Angrish: Whenever someone, usually Layton, makes a point against him that he counter, he descends into unintelligible grunting.
- Animal Motifs: Owls. His mask, the Knights of Labyrinthia's helmets and the town's own insignia all have owl eye-based designs to them. His parade car also has two giant owl ornaments on the front.
- "The Great Witch" reveals that he actually owns a pet owl named Hoot, of which the design of the previously-mentioned items seem to be inspired by.
- Anti-Villain: He's an imposing, deep-voiced figure manipulating all of Labyrinthia through his stories and uses his powers to dispose of anyone who gets in his way, but he's really trying to help his daughter recover from childhood trauma.
- Big Bad Ensemble: He’s the one who rules over Labyrinthia with his Story, and behind the witch trials, with the goal of destroying Bezella. Who is his own subordinate.
- Captain Oblivious: He becomes so preoccupied with what he sees as Layton's interference and the big picture of the story that he doesn't realize that Espella is the prime suspect for being Bezella and has been on trial before. It's also implied that he didn't know about Phoenix's presence in Labyrinthia at all either.
- Complexity Addiction: Your daughter might've caused an accidental genocide, huh? So what do you do? Have the Bell Tower investigated properly and/or take her to therapy? No, you spend years managing a fake Eldritch Location as part of an elaborate coverup to make her forget the incident altogether, that's what. At least he learns a "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot lesson in the end.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Downplayed. His ultimate goal is to save his loved ones... but he did create a living Lotus-Eater Machine for that express purpose and did some pretty questionable things to the experiment volunteers, such as forcing some to live in poverty, and others to live with the time bomb of being a witch.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot:
- Rather than threatening a punishment or promising her a reward, Mr. Cantabella decided to tell his daughter that she would be possessed by an evil witch if she rang the bell, knowing that she was a trusting enough child to believe it. He blames himself for her continuing trauma and laments having come up with such a foolish story.
- In the denouement, Eve Belduke points out that there's another route he could have taken. Since he knew back then that Eve, not Espella, was the one who rang the bell, he could have pointed this fact out to her. Mr. Cantabella, however, points out that he knew that the trauma of the incident had caused Eve to believe that Espella had been responsible.
- Dual Final Boss: He’s one of the last witnesses along with Darklaw.
- Greater-Scope Villain: In a sense, even if he lacks real antagonism beyond the sheer lack of ability to stop escalating his attempts to treat Espella's delusions.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He considers Newton Belduke to be the truest friend he ever had.
- Leitmotif: The cutscene-specific "Storyteller's Theme ~ Parade" introduces the main notes of his theme, during the eponymous parade on Layton's first glimpse at Labyrinthia. Later, during conversation scenes in-game, "The Audience Room" plays instead, fitting the darker, more intimidating atmosphere of his tower.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: He's Espella's father.
- Manipulative Bastard: If him manipulating people in Labyrinthia says anything.
- Meaningful Name: His real name in English sounds like "author". "Literast" is a Japanase reading of the word "literature"
- Papa Wolf:
- People who upset Espella, accidentally or not, found themselves subject to unpleasant happenings in the Story. Ironically, this had the effect of making people afraid of her, which left her nearly friendless.
- Loses his shit when he learns that his own daughter is on trial for being the Great Witch. This is not what was supposed to happen.
- Poor Communication Kills: He planned the story to have a witch branded as Bezella the Great Witch and to be executed, but no one told him that the public thought that he was referring to Espella as the Great Witch due to Darklaw altering things behind his back.
- Rewriting Reality: Controls the world of Labyrinthia with his stories. None of the townspeople consider it possible his stories won't come true. This is because he uses his resources as president of a huge pharmaceutics corporation, some cutting edge technology, and hypnosis, to make it appear to come true. This is parodied in Special Episode 3, where he's stated to attempt to make his hospital stay to cure his illness mentioned below more pleasant by writing a Story about it, but it naturally doesn't have any effect.
- Soap Opera Disease: The fact that he suffered from one is what prompted him to put such an abrupt end to his story, but by the time everything is cleared up, his staff has already found a cure.
- This Cannot Be!: When he finds out that Espella is the one suspected of being Bezella.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: This man goes a bit far in solving his daughter's mental issues, and traumatizes a boatload of "witches", their families, and their "victims" in the process.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: He gets so invested in writing the Story that Espella leaves the tower and turns to the town baker for a Parental Substitute. Eve is also rather bitter about his absence, accusing him of neglecting his daughter in order to make millions as Labrelum's president.
- Would Hurt a Child: When he sends suits of Animated Armor to attack Layton, some of them also go after Luke.
Secondary Characters (Labyrinthia)
Bardly (Merun)
- Comically Missing the Point: He for some reason thinks having more pet birds than his rival Birdly will make the audience listen to him more. Instead of, you know... improving his music.
- Mr. Exposition: He's the first one to give Luke and Layton a bit of information about Labyrinthia, as well as the Storyteller and his influence over it.
- The Rival: To Birdly, who far outshines him as a minstrel.
Patty Eclaire (Kurowa)
- Benevolent Boss: To Phoenix and Maya, whom she treats like family.
- Berserk Button: Generally a kind and easy-going woman, but belittle bread at your own peril.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: She takes on the Vigilantes with only a bag of flour and a rolling pin when they threaten Espella after it appears that she has killed the Storyteller.
- Mama Bear: She refuses to join in the persecution of Espella and rushes to her defense in the final trial.
- Serious Business: Bread. Belittling her bread, accidentally or not, will result in her chewing out whoever did so.
- Spanner in the Works: Her confronting the Vigilantes when they arrest Espella and throwing flour at them is what exposes an otherwise invisible robe that becomes crucial evidence in the trial and directly leads to the truth about Labyrinthia being unraveled.
- Sweet Baker: She is the town baker and is the only one willing to befriend and take in Espella when the rest of town virtually shuns her. She treats her employees (Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey) like family and gladly helps Professor Layton and Luke when they arrive in town.
- Team Mom: Is essentially this, as she's the closest thing Espella has to family among the people of Labyrinthia, and also lets the team stay at her bakery during their time in the city, even after Phoenix and Maya remember that they aren't her apprentices.
Ridelle Mystere (Nazomi Steria)
- Improbable Age: She doesn't look a day over 18, and yet she's the head librarian of the biggest library in the city. As such, she's also in charge of the most precious and well-kept books.
- Punny Name: In English, her given name is an obvious play on "riddle", while her family name is French for "mystery". Through Dub Name Change, the other translations keep the puns as well.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Granny Riddleton, though unlike the latter, she is young, stern, and down-to-earth.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: As stated above, she quite visibly a teenager, and yet she's wise and smart enough to be in charge of the biggest library in the city.
The Judge of Labyrinthia
Voiced by: Bunmei Tobayama (Japanese), Peter Egan (English)
- Amnesiac Dissonance: The end credits reveal what he does when he regains his memories of who he was before being a judge. He becomes a singer.
- Fantastic Racism: Like all Labyrinthans, he is deeply biased against witches, and wants to see them all put to the torch. However, when Phoenix points out that one witch (Greyerl) didn't actually do anything besides be something she had no control over, he is moved to grant her a stay of execution.
- Hanging Judge: The Judge is not just biased towards the prosecution — he is impatiently looking forward to calling your client guilty as soon as you make one wrong turn, so he can gladly condemn them to burn in the fire alive and watch them reduced into ashes. Though it's shown at the end that he did have doubts and guilt about sending helpless women into the flames, as well, so he's relieved when it turns out that they didn't die, after all.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Greyerl comments that the Judge's demeanor changed after what happened in The Golden Trial which caused him to sentence her to something else other than the death penalty.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of the main Ace Attorney judge in terms of appearance and of role, although he's not as much a Cloudcuckoolander as the Ace Attorney Judge post-Flanderization.
Wordsmith (Kyke)
As a Vigilante
A head-in-the-clouds, unemployed old man who acts as a witness in Espella's trial.
- Clark Kenting: Subverted. His helmet with the eyemask does nothing to conceal his lengthy beard, nor his identical body language. He still insists that he's not Wordsmith, to Phoenix's frustration.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Ooh boy. This man is more than a little out there, frequently making strange metaphors and outright dozing off.
- NEET: In his own roundabout way, he admits to not having a job, as Phoenix points out after his introduction. This is averted when it turns out he's No. 10 of the Vigilantes.
- The Stoner: He floats back and forth while testifying, twiddling his thumbs or staring up into the sky while speaking, and one occasion stating "everything felt like an illusion."
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: As you'd expect from a guy called Wordsmith, he uses grandiloquent, florid language to describe the most mundane events.
Mary (Bertha)
- And Call Him "George": She has a tendency to hug her goat so tightly that it starts baaing in pain or distress.
- Punny Name: Mary had a little lamb. Well, goat.
- The goat's name is Snowy, in reference to the line "His fleece was white as snow".
- In addition to the name, the nursery rhyme quotes the little lamb would "follow her everywhere she goes", while Snowy the Goat is instead held tightly in her arms and is basically forced into going with her.
- In her special episode appearance, she complains about this, wondering why the developers gave her goats instead of sheep.
- Skewed Priorities: She is so obsessed with milk that when two men were seemingly burned to death in front of her, she focused more on bringing back home (basically stealing) the bucket of milk Espella had been carrying so it wouldn't go to waste.
Kira (Madalla)
Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Japanese), Carina Reeves (English)
- Arc Villainess: The culprit of the second trial, though she didn’t actually kill anyone.
- Break the Haughty: It begins when she shows her true colors over the trial; at the beginning, she sounds very arrogant. However, as Phoenix and Layton start demolishing her arguments, she starts to lose her cool quickly, culminating in her final breakdown. When Phoenix and Luke find her again, she has been reduced to a pitiful, broken shell of a woman.
- Chekhov's Gunman: First appears as the true culprit in the first Witch Trial of the game, before being burned at the stake... or so it seems. She shows up again later, and plays a key role in Espella's second trial.
- Conspicuous Consumption: The Special Episodes reveal that for some reason, she opts for her glasses to have a solid gold frame and diamond lenses.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Sealed in a cage and lowered into flames upon her conviction, though it turns out to be a Disney Death.
- Disney Death: She is apparently burned at the stake, but it's later revealed that she actually survived, and became one of the Shades.
- Framing the Guilty Party: What Kira thought she was doing when she burned two robbers to death and framed Espella for it.
- Hammerspace: The only justification for the fact that Shade Kira still has her Character Tic of plucking the petals of her flowers, since she doesn't have her flower basket on her by the time you question her the second time in court.
- Informed Attribute: A major point in case 2 is that she cannot see clearly without her glasses. Despite this, she is never shown wearing them outside of her profile picture.
- Invisibility: One of the two spells she could use as a witch was Dimere, which gives its user the ability to turn anything they touch, including themself, invisible.
- Light Is Not Good: Her English name sounds like the Japanese onomatopoeia of twinkling (kirakira), but she's the true killer of the first trial.
- Meaningful Name: "Madalla" = "Murderer". Lampshaded in one of the No Fourth Wall DLC episodes. And of course, Kira= killer.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: More of a minor case. In the final witch trial, Darklaw continuously brushes off Kira's testimony and continuously implies that Kira is lying about things, upsetting Kira to the point that she reveals Darklaw's involvement in the case and role as leader of the Shades.
- Motor Mouth: She doesn't talk a lot (ie, like Oldbag or Stickler), but she evidently talks very fast. Her voiced dialogue actually sometimes sounds like you're playing the game with her dialogue sped up twice as fast. Could be as part and parcel of her breakdown sequence as the flower basket, though.
- Playing with Fire: One of the two spells she could use as a witch was Ignaize, which summons a circle of flame within a one-meter radius of its user.
- Slasher Smile: She adopts one later in the trial, especially when challenging Phoenix to prove she dropped her glasses.
- Smug Snake: When unmasked as a witch and the true culprit, she acts very condescending, only to throw, as Phoenix describes it, a major hissy fit when you win. As is the tradition with female murderers in the second cases of previous Ace Attorney games.
- Unexplained Recovery: Even though Kira was supposed to have been executed, Phoenix sees her alive and well, disguising herself with a blue cloak. It later turns out that the courtroom's firepit has a false bottom.
- Villainous Breakdown: Upon being exposed as the real killer, Kira screams and throws her flower basket into the air and she flails about constantly. Finally, the flower basket comes back landing upside-down on her head and she falls to the floor. In fact, she gives off some hints that she's not all right upstairs even before her breakdown; towards the end of the trial, she breaks out into crazy villainous laughter several times and starts ranting in a lower and not-quite-so-girlish voice.
- Walking Spoiler: Well... duh. On two levels, even... First, shedunnit in the first witch trial. Second, her execution was staged and she becomes a major player in the last trial.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: When Kira framed Espella, it surprisingly wasn't out of any personal grudge. Kira hated the witch trials, and since she genuinely thought Espella really was a witch, she did what she thought she had to do to get Espella executed so that the witch trials would stop. She takes it very poorly when this just results in her being executed instead; in fact, even Espella feels sorry for her and pleads with the guards to stop the execution, to no avail.
Knightle (Knights)
- Analogy Backfire: He often uses his toy sword and wooden shield in order to prove his points, despite how useless those pieces of gear are.
- I Have Many Names: He apparently changes his name based on his profession. He first goes by "Knightle" when training to become a knight, then "Spudley" when he gives up on that and decides to become a potato vendor instead. After he gives up on that, he goes by "Whatley" until he can find another job. In the end, while he's still jobless, he ultimately decides to call himself "Ignitely", as he believes that "a man's name should express his heart".
- That Man Is Dead: Though his name doesn't actually change in the dialog box, he no longer goes by Knightle after Espella's trial. It turns out that with the trial going on for so late, he overslept and missed his entrance exam the following morning. Now he goes by Spudley, seller of potatoes. And then when his potato cart is destroyed after an explosion, he changes his name again!
- Meaningful Name: A portmanteau of "knight" and "little", refrencing both his appearance and his stature. His second name, "Spudley" is derived from "spud", a synonym for "potato". After he gives up on that and is between jobs, he goes by "Whatley", since he doesn't know what he wants to do next. Lastly, he goes by "Ignitely", to represent how fiery and passionate he is.
- NEET: Unlike Wordsmith, who turned out to be one of the Vigilantes, Knightle plays this straight. After Knightle describes himself, Phoenix concludes that Knightle is jobless. While Knightle is trying to get a job as a knight, he isn't in any formal vocational training, and ulimately missed his extrance exam. He then decides to become a potato seller instead, but gives up on that and spends the remainder of the game unemployed. Even during the Special Episodes, he still doesn't have a job, but it's inferred from his dialogue he hasn't given up on finding one.
Emeer Punchenbaug (Emil Sandbag)
In fancy clothes
A drunken middle-aged man who pops up time and again around Labyrinthia, and a witness in Espella's trial.
- The Alcoholic: Well, it's never directly addressed, but it's made blatantly obvious.
- Butt-Monkey: He tends to be ignored and mocked more than once and people find him annoying in general. Come on, his surname is basically punching bag.
- Casanova Wannabe: He's apparently reached the stage in his life where you start looking for that "special lady". Much to the dismay of any female around him.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Temporarily. His name doesn't come up until near the end of the second trial. Until then, the game is content to label him "Some Guy." This is because his name is similar to the spell "Amere," which he heard the real culprit cast, thinking that she was calling his name.
- Failed a Spot Check: All the freaking time. Probably the biggest is in the third trial where he fails to realize Jean Greyerl has been revealed to be a girl.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: While the other witnesses in Espella's trial, as well as Barnham, are trying to get Espella convicted, none of them like Emeer very much, and frequently make insulting comments about him with him in earshot. In Mary and Kira's case, the two women get into an argument and badmouth Emeer while he's standing between them.
- I'm Standing Right Here: People often openly mock him when he's standing right there. He's gotten used to it.
- Leitmotif: Courtroom Jester ~ Cheers!
- Punny Name: 'A mere punching bag.'
- Small Name, Big Ego: He has a pretty high opinion of himself, especially after he gets rich, despite the fact that he's a mere witness.
- Spanner in the Works: To Kira, as it turns out. Her plan would have failed regardless thanks to Wright proving the collective witnesses' testimony to be unreliable, but Emeer's involvement leads directly to Kira herself being exposed and convicted of witchcraft.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Given his Butt-Monkey status and habit of massively changing trials with his presence, Emeer's probably meant to be the Labyrinthian equivalent to Larry Butz.
Jean Greyerl (Patras Earlgrey)
Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō (Japanese), Phillipa Alexander (English)
Alternate model (SPOILERS)
Newton Belduke's butler.
- Arc Villain: Actually "Arc Villainess" as she's the culprit of the third trial, though she didn’t actually kill anyone.
- Burn the Witch!: Subverted. The Judge is ready to put her to the flames, but Phoenix points out she didn't actually do anything, and she receives a stay of execution.
- The Butler Did It: Subverted. The game sets you up to believe Jean killed Belduke, and even she herself thought so, but it later turns out he was already dead by the time she strangled him.
- Compressed Hair: Apparently, she's able to clip her waist-length hair up in a way that makes it appear as a boy's mushroom cut.
- Contrived Clumsiness: She "accidentally" singed a part of the wall in her room to give herself an excuse to paint that part of the wall green so that she could use the Godoor to create a portal to Belduke's study in the said wall, as that spell can only be used on green walls.
- Death Seeker: She was so guilt-stricken over thinking she killed Belduke that she was waiting, for three months, for the Inquisition to get hold of her and send her to the fire as a witch.
- Dissonant Serenity: He always has a neutral, pleasant look on his face and a mild tone, despite the recent murder-by-transmutation and being called to the witness stand. Exposing the truth breaks through her facade.
- Driven to Suicide: As a child, she wanted to turn a leaf into gold so that her parents could sell it and get money, as they were completely broke, but this backfired: she accidentally turned her goat friend to gold instead. Realizing that not only would she be hunted down and executed for witchcraft, but so would her parents for being a witch's accomplice, she decided to kill herself by jumping in a river. Fortunately, Belduke saved her and took her in.
- Even the Guys Want Him: It's actually a case of Even the Girls Want Her, since as a boy, Lettie admits to being attracted to Jean, and is disappointed that she was really a girl, while Emeer openly flirts with her after learning she was a girl.
- Graceful Loser: Once Phoenix has proven decisively that she attempted to strangle Belduke and that she had reasonable motive to do so, Jean is calm about her defeat. She congratulates Pheonix on finding the truth through logic and reason and confesses her crime.
- My God, What Have I Done?: She breaks down in tears after she reads Belduke's final letter expressing concern for her safety, which she'd previously believed was written to oust her as a witch, causing her to strangle him in his sleep without realizing he was already dead.
- Parental Abandonment: Is stated to have been taken in by Belduke without anyone to take care of him. Her parents are presumably alive and well, as after Belduke found and rescued a freezing Greyerl in the river, he managed to contact her parents, but suggested to them it would be best that they do not attempt to reconnect with her due to her being a witch and must uphold a male identity.
- Poor Communication Kills: Although she didn't actually kill Belduke, she could've spared herself the trouble of being suspected of murdering him and thinking she did had she mustered the will to read Belduke's entire letter that she believed was denouncing her as a witch.
- The Spock: In following with his alchemy training, he tends to approach situations with logic and rationality even when testifying on the witness stand and imprisoned in the dungeon. He refuses to answer questions until Phoenix can provide a logical basis for suspicion.
- Stepford Smiler: Jean maintains a stoic smile at all times, but this clouds the fact that she was Driven to Suicide, had to go into hiding to avoid persecution, and nearly killed Belduke, which she feels insurmountable regret for.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: After being rescued by Belduke and explaining her situation to him, he decides to disguise her as his male butler in order to hide the fact she is a witch.
- Taken for Granite: One of the two spells she can use as a witch is Goldor, which turns anything it's cast on into solid gold, including living beings.
- Tears of Remorse: Her breakdown consists solely of her tearing up at the realization that she attempted to kill her surrogate father over a misunderstanding.
- Thinking Up Portals: One of the two spells she can use as a witch is Godoor, which creates portals in green walls, and only green walls.
Newton Belduke (Mist Belduke)
Voiced by: Katsunosuke Hori (Japanese), Timothy Watson (English)
- Blood from the Mouth: He's found dead with blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. Double Subverted: Once it's discovered that his tomato juice was laced with sleep medicine, Phoenix suggests the "blood" was actually this tomato juice. But then Emeer says the bottle was still unopened when the body was discovered, and it's ultimately revealed that it was blood after all; Newton ingested a chemical that tore up his insides, resulting in a very painful suicide.
- Driven to Suicide: He was found mysteriously dead in his locked study by himself, and while it looks like he was strangled to death due to the finger marks around his neck, he actually poisoned himself, with the strangulation being inflicted posthumously.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: When a thunderstorm suddenly caused a bell tower to appear, his reaction to it was noted differently than the townsfolk. The sight of it drove him past the Despair Event Horizon, as it was the same one he built for his hometown and inadvertently razed it with, leading him to poison himself.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: The Storyteller considers him to be the truest friend he ever had.
- Killed Off for Real: Worth mentioning he's one of the few characters in the story to actually die. In fact the only others are those killed by the Great Fire.
- Leitmotif: "Twilight Memories", a sad and slow orchestrated theme that could easily pass as a "Reminiscing" theme, and is often used as such.
- Minor Major Character: He scarcely ever appears, but his role in the backstory is nonetheless essential.
- Off the Rails: His death is the only death that was not foretold by the Story.
- Parental Substitute: To Jean, in a way. After he saved her and she explained she was a witch, he allowed her to stay with him provided she hides her true gender, so she doesn't get found out.
- Plot-Triggering Death: His death starts his daughter's quest for revenge and indirectly leads to Layton and Phoenix being brought to Labyrinthia.
- Posthumous Character: He's been dead for months by the time the events of the game take place.
- Universally Beloved Leader: Downplayed, as his contributions to Labyrintha's wellbeing through his work made him very popular, but despite some people confusing his work for magic and some thieves trying to steal his work, he was stated to have no enemies.
Birdly (Fermata)
- Always Someone Better: From his debut on, he continually outshone fellow minstrel Bardly, enough to be considered his rival.
- Dancing Bear: In-Universe. By all accounts, he's a pretty bad bard who makes lackluster rhymes, but the only reason why people flock to him over Bardly is because he's accompanied by a parrot. Bardly realizes this and decides to get a parrot of his own.
- Meaningful Name: A bard who's named Birdly. He also has a pet bird.
- Parrot Pet Position: His parrot Cracker resides on his right shoulder most of the time.
- The Rival: To Bardly. Though it becomes increasingly clear that Bardly is no match for him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He, along with Luke and Emeer, becomes one of the key witnesses in Maya's witch trial, having rushed onto the scene of the crime and seeing her holding a Talea Magica after she supposedly turned Layton to gold.
- Stealth Insult: He slips in various barbs toward Emeer while singing about him, some of which are more obvious than others.
Ms. Primstone (Ms. Tataaseru)
- Meaningful Name: A prim and proper teacher named Primstone. Additionally, her name is one letter away from "Brimstone", which could either be referencing the "Fire and Brimstone" that awaits the witches after a trial or her fatalistic approach to life.
- Stern Teacher: Projects this image, being fairly strict and authoritarian, even towards former pupils like Barnham.
- Unreliable Narrator: Her testimony in Maya's witch trial proves to be embellished at best and outright lies at worst. She claims that Layton was threatening Maya with a knife, which is completely out of character for him and that Maya in turn attacked Layton using the summoning spell "Famalia". Both claims are proven false by Wright with ease. Layton's detached golden arm isn't holding a knife when it's found and the gem Maya was supposedly using to cast a spell turns out to be fake.
- Verbal Tic: Has a habit of saying "dearie, dearie me" and announcing that something will be "on the test!".
Lettie Mailer (Reda Yubin)
- Blush Sticker: Which look rather big compared to her relatively small face.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Ooh boy, does she scream loudly. Her shouts even make Phoenix's ears ring. Later the same thing happens to Barnham and the Judge.
- Large Ham: SIIIIIIIIIR!!!
- Reformed Criminal: Used to be a somewhat infamous food thief until Sir Belduke intervened, setting her on the straight and narrow in her current profession.
Vigilantes
- Overly Long Name: Dzibilchaltunchunchucmil is by far the longest and most difficult to pronounce name.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Let's see...
- You have the unique but ordinary-looking Boistrum as their leader.
- Lottalance, Balmung, Lyewood, Servius and Treddon retain the standard soldier design (although Lyewood has darker skin).
- Shakey, who looks like he's barely survived the universe's attempts at trying every single way to kill him at once and despite being barely able to stand, is the fastest runner out of the entire group.
- Foxy, the Token Female who's barely wearing any armor, or anything for that matter. She's also fawned over by Servius and Treddon and constantly steps on them.
- Dzibilchaltunchunchucmil appears to be an infant at first with his small appearance and snot drip, but his Big Word Shout reveals that he's actually an adult Violent Glaswegian who has a tendency to attack the witness stand and subsequently fall over. He also locked everyone in the Bell Tower and ate the key, much to their fury.
- Wordsmith, who's pretty much the same, but as a knight.
- The Smurfette Principle: Foxy is the sole female in the group.
- The Starscream: Played for Laughs. Optional dialogue during cross-examination reveals that Lyewood subconsciously intended to usurp Boistrum. This is brought up again by Layton in Special Episode 9, and Lyewood thinks aloud about how fun it would be to pull the strings.
Rouge (Rabure)
- Bad Guy Bar: She runs a bar on the rough side of town with some tough-looking customers, though it's ultimately harmless.
- The Bartender: Owns a tavern and offers the downtrodden Phoenix some comforting words.
Robbs and Muggs (Aris and Teles)
- Asshole Victim: They tried to rob Espella before disappearing.
- Disposable Vagrant: They were criminals who were disposed of.
- Kill It with Fire: They fell victim to the spell "Ignaize", which burned them away to nothingness although that's what we're led to believe.
- Punny Name: Both of them. Robbs as in "robbery" and Muggs as in "Mugging".
- We Hardly Knew Ye: They're seen for all of a few seconds before they get roasted and disappear entirely. They later get a passing mention in the final witch trial where it's revealed that they were spirited away and became part of the Shades. Finally, they show up in the ending cutscene and some of the credit slides.
Eve (Kurone)
- Familiar: She's heavily implied to be the familiar of the Great Witch Bezella, as a cat with a scarf very much like hers can be seen on the mural depicting the Legendary Fire. At first it seems like this is confirmed when she appears alongside Bezella when she summons Granwyrm, but it's ultimately subverted, as not only was Eve never present during the Legendary Fire, but Bezella is an utter fabrication, and the mural itself was likely made up by Darklaw to bring out Espella's repressed memories.
- Make the Dog Testify: Downplayed at the beginning of the final trial. While Espella is testifying, Eve shows up and joins her at the witness stand. Eve doesn't actually testify, but Phoenix talking to her during cross-examination leads to Espella making an additional statement.
- The Quiet One: She's a fairly quiet cat and doesn't meow too much, to the point where she doesn't respond at all when Luke asks her what happened during Bezella's assassination of the Storyteller, and she doesn't really respond to Phoenix attempting to question her during the trial either (although doing so does get Espella to chime in with important information). Espella notes that part of it is likely due to Eve not always responding to her name.
- Replacement Goldfish: Is subconciously this to Espella, replacing her childhood friend Eve Belduke, AKA High Inquisitor Darklaw. Because having the real Eve around in Espella's life was far too great of a reminder for her of the Legendary Fire, the Storyteller had Darklaw erased from Espella's memories, resulting in her unconsiously naming her pet cat after her. Consequently, Espella ends up misremembering Eve the cat as the one who was with her during the Legendary Fire, instead of the actual Eve.
- Shout-Out: She bears a striking resemblance to a certain cat from Ghost Trick, another Capcom game, down to the scarf around her neck. In fact, both cats happen to be named after a person who was very important to their owner — although unlike the owner of the cat in Ghost Trick, Espella only subconciously remembers who Eve was named after.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": A subconscious example: Espella named her after her childhood friend, Eve Belduke, AKA Darklaw.
Constantine (Chūken)
Barnham's dog, whom the main characters meet shortly after the first witch trial. Luke's ability to talk to animals allows him to relay Constantine's thoughts to the other characters.
- Blatant Lies: In Special Episode 4, he denies his friendship with Eve, and when it's pointed out that he gave her a pastry, he insists he doesn't remember giving anyone any gifts.
- Jerkass to One: He dislikes Wright and bites him every time they meet, but is amicable enough towards everyone else.
- Non-Human Sidekick: He's a dog, and Barnham's trusted companion.
- Passing the Torch: When Barnham is arrested for treason, he sends Constantine to help Layton and Luke get into the Storyteller's tower to investigate.
- Please Wake Up: During the flashback story in Special Episode 8, he kept bringing food to his dead parent, thinking they were still alive and simply refusing to move or eat. Barnham adopts him after discovering this.
- Team Pet: To the Knights of Labyrinthia, of whom he's officially a member himself.
- Undying Loyalty: To Zacharias Barnham. After Barnham is charged with treason and taken to the dungeon, Constantine makes sure to complete his mission by helping Layton and Luke access the Storyteller's tower so they can fulfill their investigation.
Cracker (Biscuit)
Birdly's pet parrot, who accompanies him during the second witch trial and was present at the crime scene.
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Averted; because Cracker is just repeating what he heard in order, his testimony is the most helpful out of any witness in the game.
- Make the Dog Testify: Phoenix calls him as a witness to determine in what order the events at the crime scene took place, since he repeats the sounds in the order he heard them.
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: He repeats the "Slam!" of a door opening, and the "CLANG!" heard when gold Layton fell to the floor.
- Spanner in the Works: His presence at the crime scene allows Phoenix to discover that the witch used Godoor, a portal spell, and thus that the Talea Magica came from outside the crime scene.
- Token Non-Human: Exploited. After all the other witnesses prove unreliable, with Barnham claiming it's because the witch confused their memories, Phoenix determines the most reliable testimony will come from Cracker, the only witness who isn't human and thus the one who remembers the incident most accurately.
Secondary Characters (London)
English Judge
The judge who presides over Espella's trial in London.
- Disappointed in You: After the trial, as it has become clear that Flynch didn't do his job properly and came to court unprepared, he tells him to take it as a lesson.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Johnny Smiles gets on his nerves so much, that he's relieved when Olivia takes the stand, considering her a nice change of pace. However, as it turns out, Johnny provided crucial evidence to crack the case, while Olivia turned out to be the actual thief (albeit not of the PC Badger dolls themselves, but of the gems smuggled inside them).
- Judicial Wig: Oddly enough, he's the only judge in all of Ace Attorney to wear one. Justified, since he's in England, where this remains a common practice. (On the other hand, that might be his actual hair).
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's clearly standing in for the Judge of the main series games, having similar animations and fulfilling the same role.
Johnny Smiles (Yutorino Gardner)
- Ascended Fanboy: According to him, seeing how cool police chases looked in crime dramas was the reason he became a security guard.
- Hidden Depths: Possibly. Him keeping the PC Badger tag hidden from everyone and the language he used to describe it "deciding the trial" implies that he knew more about the true events than he lets on.
- Large Ham: He's rather fond of dramatically throwing his cap at the screen and giving a huge grin with his teeth showing, or of flashing his flashlight rapidly from side to side, and he makes a big production out of chomping his chocolate bars...
- Small Name, Big Ego: Fancies himself a "professional" security guard... despite only being in the job for 6 months and being pretty lax in his work.
- Spanner in the Works: Had he not kept the PC Badger tag he found Espella holding to himself as a "secret weapon", the case may well have gone unsolved.
- Sunglasses at Night: Leaving everyone in disbelief that he does this for the sake of Rule of Cool. It's deconstructed, as it's shown to be a very unprofessional thing to do in his line of work and really hurts his credibility with everyone.
- Sweet Tooth: He's constantly eating chocolate bars. This actually winds up saving him from getting framed for assault, since he left chocolate fingerprints on his torch, proving he didn't wear gloves that night. And if he was not wearing gloves, he would have left fingerprints on the weapon as well if he was the culprit, but it's as clean as a whistle.
- Wild Take: When he's contradicted, he rears back, causing his security guard cap to fall partway over his face as he grits his teeth. Eventually, his chocolate bar starts melting too.
Olivia Aldente (Olive Ardente)
Voiced by (Japanese): Mai Aizawa
- Ambiguously Brown: Averted. She appears to have a black skin tone in spite of hailing from Italy, but this ends up being explained through her stating that she's Sicilian, where a high amount of residents have darker skin tones◊ due to most of their lineages being based in Africa.
- Arc Villainess: She may be the victim of the first trial, but don't let that fool you. She isn't as innocent as her appearance might suggest, being a jewel smuggler and also attacking Espella during the incident, only for someone to knock her out from behind.
- Evil Chef: Downplayed. She's a cook and, while she's not a murderer like your typical Ace Attorney culprit, she is still a criminal.
- Genki Girl: How she presents herself. She has a hammy-voiced introduction complete with her clapping and then throwing her arm into the air in a pose, she moves a lot (mostly her hips) even when she's supposed to be standing still, and sometimes she juggles lots of food in the air.
- Graceful Loser: Once she's cornered she calmly confesses to her crimes and spares no detail about her jewel smuggling.
- Gratuitous Italian: She liberally spices her sentences with various Italian words.
- He Knows Too Much: Attempted to kill Espella for stumbling onto the jewel smuggling plot, but was knocked unconscious.
- Left Hanging: We never do find out who whacked her on the head. The game leaves it open even after the conclusion, although it's somewhat hinted that it was one of Darklaw's Shades.
- Lethal Chef: She mentions a secret spice that "probably isn't safe for human consumption" she intends to give Smiles as revenge, and she later makes reference to cooking "experiments" that are implied to involve... questionable ingredients.
- Lone Wolf Boss: Her case is the only non-witch trial and the only trial to take place outside of Labyrinthia.
- Punny Name: Al dente. Her first name comes from olive, as confirmed by her Japanese name.
- Rule of Sexy: Despite how unhygienic and dangerous it is for a chef's tunic to leave the belly button exposed. Although the Judge does lampshade this. Olivia tries to justify it by pointing out how warm the kitchen is.
- Spanner in the Works: Twice over. She accidentally messes up Layton's plan to get Espella to safety when she catches the girl holding a PC Badger she was using to smuggle jewels. The resulting altercation gets Espella on trial for assault, letting Darklaw find her again. However, she also inadvertently messes up Darklaw's plans, since Phoenix becomes Espella's defense attorney and proves Espella innocent, forcing Darklaw to try sending him and Maya to Labyrinthia while altering their memories to try and get them out of the way, which only makes things worse when Phoenix starts getting involved in the witch trials.
- Starter Villain: She’s the first culprit faced. Notably one of the very few trial culprits in an Ace Attorney game to not be a murderer.
- Villainous Breakdown: When she starts to get stressed out, she brings an eel up to the stand and tries to repeatedly chop its head off, although it keeps dodging. When Phoenix starts divulging on what likely happened on the ship, she's audibly breathing heavily. She finally breaks down upon being fingered as a jewel thief, puts a gigantic fish onto the stand and screams bloody murder while attempting to chop its head off, only for the giant fish to dodge, and then spin around and use its tail to slap Olivia to the floor. When Olivia gets up afterward she still has a "mark" on her face from it.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Played with. She actually was wounded, but she plays it up to look like she's the innocent victim in the case. That's not entirely the truth.
Prosecutor Flynch (Prosecutor Bartley)
Voiced by (Japanese): Shinya Takahashi
- Blind Without 'Em: He's unable to see without his glasses, and ends up flailing about and breaking them during his breakdown.
- Last-Name Basis: He's only ever referred to by his last name, to the point that his given name is never revealed.
- Meaningful Name: Flynch = flinch.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Winston Payne, being a Warm-Up Boss with a pain-related Meaningful Name. They even have similar Wild Takes (they both defend themselves with one arm with their mouth open when contradicted).
- Villainous Breakdown: While he's not exactly evil, he has a rather spectacular breakdown after being defeated in court, dropping his glasses, falling down while searching for them and flailing about until he breaks them.
- Warm-Up Boss: He's the prosecutor of the tutorial case, and quickly loses his footing in the trial. It's also justified in that he wasn't nearly as involved with the investigation as he should have been and didn't prepare adequately for the trial, which the Judge calls him out for before handing down the verdict.
Carmine Accidenti (Giovanni Jicole)
Voiced by (Japanese): Keiichi Nakagawa
- Born Unlucky: Played with. Layton notes he has a knack for getting into dangerous situations... but he's primarily known for surviving all of them.
- Butt-Monkey: Special Episode 1 starts to make fun of this trait of his, even making Maya suggest that he should change his name. Nick doesn't think that's it.
- Made of Iron: Layton notes he has a knack for miraculous survivals, so he isn't surprised he survived the car crash.
- Punny Name: Car accident. Made even more obvious in the German version: "Will Crash".
- Put on a Bus: Is hospitalized after the car crash at the beginning, and does not appear at all after that.
- Remember the New Guy?: He's stated to be a former student of Layton and someone he knows well, but has never appeared before now.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The only screen time he has is him getting in a car accident while smuggling Espella out of Labyrinthia. This along with his previous investigations into the nature of Labyrinthia are the catalyst which sets the entire plot of the game in motion, with his efforts to escape with Espella being the indirect cause of Layton, Luke, Phoenix, and Maya getting involved in the affairs of Labyrinthia.
- Unluckily Lucky: According to Layton, he has survived plenty of dangerous situations, with the prologue's car crash just being the latest of the bunch. While he's unlucky to keep finding his way into danger, he's clearly very lucky to still be alive.
PC Badger (Mister Taiho)
The mascot of London's Metropolitan Police, and a counterpart to the Blue Badger, the police mascot from the mainline Ace Attorney series. A cargo of PC Badger dolls was being transported on the freighter where the incident of English Turnabout took place, and Espella was accused of trying to steal one of them.
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Wears a belt without trousers. Also wears a custodian helmet and an address tag.
- Carry a Big Stick: Is holding a police baton.
- Cultural Translation: In-Universe, in the Japanese version. The original Blue Badger is named Taiho-kun. PC Badger simply replaces the Japanese honorific with a Western one to fit as London's police mascot, hence Mister Taiho. The change also reflects differences in the image the police mascot must give off: -kun is semi-formal, and commonly used to refer to a man who is younger or of lower or equal status, thus giving an air of friendliness when applied to the Blue Badger. Mister is decidedly formal and falls more in line with the respect the Metropolitan Police would expect to command.
- Fun with Acronyms: The "PC" stands for "police constable".
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-Universe. Apparently, as Phoenix notes in his Inner Monologue, the Blue Badger seems to have been so popular with the English as to result in London's own police implementing a variant of him as their mascot.Phoenix: (I see that "mascot" made a career for itself in England. Who would've thought...?)
- Irony: The fact that the police mascot played a key role in a criminal operation; as Phoenix exposes in court, thieves (among them Olivia Aldente) were hiding jewels inside the PC Badger dolls to smuggle them out of London.
