Fanon / Ace Attorney

• Two bits of common fanon in the Ace Attorney fandom would be calling Manfred von Karma the "Demon God" Prosecutor and that the reason Manfred adopted Miles Edgeworth was partly for an heir, this coming from his aristocratic attitude. Of course, this makes no sense given that canonically Von Karma explicitly screams that he always hated Edgeworth for scarring his arm with the misfired gun during the incident that led to Von Karma murdering his father and taking in Edgeworth in the first place. The reason he took him in was to set up a Evil Plan to ruin Edgeworth's life by making him believe he murdered his own father instead of Von Karma, a la The Lion King (1994).
  • For that matter, it's fanon that Edgeworth was legally adopted by the von Karmas at all: he always goes out of his way to specify that Manfred is his "mentor," while Franziska is his "mentor's daughter" (not that it stops them from acting Like Brother and Sister anyway, of course).
• Despite the lack of voiced dialogue except for the Stock Audio Clips, much of the fandom collectively decided that Edgeworth speaks using Received Pronunciation, though he is an American raised by a German (and his Japanese counterpart is, well, native to Japan, but raised by an American).
• While nothing is explicitly confirmed in the games, many fans have embraced the idea that Edgeworth is gay, due to him being unaffected (and in some cases actively surprised) by romantic signals from women while having a positively massive amount of Ho Yay between him and Phoenix. Alternatively, he is asexual, which is something "Turnabout Time Travel" supports by him admitting disinterest in relationships and married life.
• Phoenix is frequently theorized by fans as being bisexual, due to his former relationship with Dahlia, Ship Tease with Iris and the large amount of Ho Yay he has with Edgeworth.
• While Franziska has yet to appear post-Time Skip, many fans interpret her post-Time Skip design as having a shorter hairstyle, as well as donning a suit like many of the other prosecutors (that still incorporates her unique flourishes). She is also depicted as being nicer as well, with her tendency to whip others being heavily toned down in time skip fics, due to being Older and Wiser.
• Regarding Matt Engarde, a lot of fans have suggested that the scars in his right eye are actually love scratches from his cat Shoe.
• While Godot's fate post-Trials and Tribulations is not made clear besides that he was arrested for murdering Misty Fey, given he never appears again afterwards, many fans theorize that he died shortly after the game, due to his lack of appearances, the drawing at the end of Trials and Tribulations (which has him besides Mia and Misty, who are both dead), and his already poor state of health from being poisoned and put into a 5 year coma, on top of nursing an untreated stab wound in his eye for days.
• The Ace Attorney Kink Meme also has its own fanon, like OCs which are used by different users for different stories, and when a story centers around a pairing other than the usual popular ones, it will normally be taken for granted that the series doesn't really have a canon on shipping... just a lot of Ship Tease.
• It is universally accepted by fans of the series that the one who forged the bloody ace in "Turnabout Trump" was not Phoenix, but rather Trucy, and that he only claims he did it to protect her. The basis for this theory stems from the fact that Phoenix never had an opportunity to make it, considering he was in police custody at the time.
• Klavier and Kristoph Gavin's father is often assumed to be named "Kurtis". This is never established in canon, but has appeared in multiple fan works.
• It's common in fanfics with Klavier to have him wearing glasses when he's not prosecuting or being a rockstar. He's often wearing modern, thick plastic-rimmed glasses to contrast his brother's more posh metal-rimmed ones. His hair is also usually styled in a high messy bun on his days off, and at least one character will point out how normal he looks if they see him dressed like this.
• In the Apollo Justice era, Edgeworth is assumed to wear glasses. This has now become canon as of Dual Destinies. The jury's still out on whether it's Ascended Fanon or I Knew It!, though.
• Players of Dual Destinies often come to the conclusion that the Phantom murdered Bobby Fulbright so that he could take his identity. In canon, it's never revealed how Fulbright died, only that his body couldn't be identified until the closing hours of Case 5-5, which is subsequently interpreted as the phantom intentionally mutilating his corpse beyond recognition to complete the scheme.
• As of Spirit of Justice, Gumshoe is one of the only classic trilogy recurring characters who hasn't appeared post-Time Skip. Fanon usually has him in some not-insignificant position in the police department (sometimes even as chief) and married to Maggey.
• Some fans view Nahyuta as non-binary, using he/him or they/them pronouns. This is supported by the artist comments in the official artbook stating that a goal of making him appear gender-neutral was part of his design process.
• In fanworks that feature Evil!Apollo, it's common to have his hair-horns hanging down his face.
• Fans of Clay Terran often characterize him as someone who loves the Gavinners' music, if for no other reason then the hilarity of Apollo's best friend/roommate being a huge fan of his rival.
• Many fans interpret Lana and Mia's "intellectual attraction" as them having genuinely Experimented in College, with Ema's correction being a sign of her blissful naivete.
• While not entirely common, a number of fans tend to have Pearl quit her spirit medium training entirely in her teenage years in favor of embarking on her own path akin to Mia, largely to distance herself from her evil mother, Morgan Fey.
• Though it's confirmed in canon to be actual grape juice, it is often thought that Phoenix drank wine early on during his disbarment period, and the grape juice he drinks is an Addiction Displacement.
• Since Manfred von Karma is apparently executed somewhere between the first and second games (less than a year, which is fast even by Japanese legal system standards), it's a popular belief that he requested the execution to be carried as soon as possible, because someone like him would likely prefer the death penalty over living in disgrace.
• In the first game, von Karma mentions having a grandchild who has a dog named Phoenix. Since Franziska obviously doesn't have any children by the time of her first appearance in the second game, this means she has an older sibling. Word of God has flip-flopped on the sibling's gender (with a manual saying female and one of the game designers implying male) but fanon more popularly leans toward female. The character is generally portrayed in fan works as the White Sheep of the von Karma family due to implications they never took the Persecuting Prosecutor path or aren't even a prosecutor at all. Alternatively, some fans Hand Wave away the character's existence by suggesting Manfred lied about having a grandchild so he could make a point against Phoenix.

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