Sandbox / Ace Attorney Godot

Ace Attorney | Main Character Sheet
Wright Anything Agency (Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice) | Defense Attorneys & Assistants | Main Prosecutors (Miles Edgeworth, Franziska von Karma, Godot) | Prosecutors & Judges | Law Enforcement | The Fey Clan | Troupe Gramarye | Kingdom of Khura'in
Original Game | JFA | T&T (Dahlia Hawthorne) | AJ | DD | SoJ | Manga | Anime | Novels | Theater | Victims
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Godot

Voiced by (Japanese): Hideki Kamiya (OT), Hiroaki Hirata (anime)

Voiced by (English): James T. Wilson (OT), Brandon Potter (anime)

Debut: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations

"Blacker than a moonless night, hotter and more bitter than hell itself... That is coffee."

Main prosecutor of the third game. Godot is known for drinking lots of coffee, up to 17 cups per court session. Although a prosecuting rookie, he possesses legal experience that makes him a formidable foe. A suave man with a Mysterious Past, he holds strong dislike, almost hatred, towards Phoenix until the end of the last case.

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A-I

• Adaptational Jerkass: The English localization infamously exaggerates his comments to Franziska in 3-5, turning what in Japanese was a demonstration of him not being intimidated by her into a full-blown Stay in the Kitchen rant.
• Affably Evil: Ruthlessly tries to push Phoenix to the limit... and enjoys cups of rich coffee and always pays genuine compliments (whether anyone understands them or not) whenever they're warranted. He's also a Graceful Loser who ends up befriending Phoenix before ultimately going away for murder.
• Ambiguously Brown: He's darker than most of the cast, though his nationality- other than him not being Japanese (in the original)- is as much of a mystery as his name. Becomes less ambiguous when he's revealed to be Diego Armando, a Spanish name.
• Anti-Villain: His antagonism with Phoenix notwithstanding, Godot is actually a fairly clean prosecutor for original trilogy standards. Also, his desire to make up for his perceived failure at saving Mia puts him into this trope to the point where Maya tries to take the heat for him.
• Arc Words: "The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over" are very important words to Godot and his past.
• Back from the Dead: He claims he's this to Phoenix, though the truth is more akin to "back from a deep coma". He actually means a different type of death altogether.
• Badass Boast: He means every word.
  I've returned from the depths of Hell to do battle with you.
• Berserk Button:
  • At one point in Case 3, Godot furiously chugs his coffee, then says that every time he is lied to, he downs a cup of coffee and then beats down the liar with the empty mug.
  • Do not screw with his coffee, especially adding something like sugar that'll corrupt its purity (to him). He's not going to take it well. This one actually makes quite a bit of sense, seeing as how his life was ruined by a certain someone slipping poison into his coffee, which put him in a coma.
• Big Bad: He is a member of the Big Bad Ensemble in Trials and Tribulations. He is a Big Bad since he intentionally prosecutes cases that Phoenix is defending in order to get misplaced revenge on Phoenix even if they are unrelated to the Fey family, and refuses to prosecute cases that do not involve Phoenix. He fights the team of Dahlia Hawthorne, the main Big Bad who is also the Greater-Scope Villain who caused the events that turned Godot evil; and Morgan Fey, another Greater-Scope Villain.
• Blind Without 'Em: He needs his visor to see, but even then, he can't see perfectly. Specifically, he can't see red against a white background, presumably because the visor's red lenses make everything look red to him.
• Break Them by Talking: In the anime, he does this to Luke Atmey when he is exposed, bluntly saying that all his fame-seeking crimes have earned him is a prison sentence.
  Godot: You rode up on a high-octane rocket, and flamed out in a blaze of glory. What's left is dark and empty. Thirst can make a man guzzle down everything there is. At this point, brother, it's all over but the crying.
• Broken Ace: He lost it after Mia died, resulting in him hating Wright for most of the game along with his limited vision.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Initially appears as a prosecutor version of this. Not only does he drink gallons of coffee in and out of the court (he limits himself to 17 mugs of coffee during investigation or a trial), he wears a mask all the time. This goes away once it becomes clear that he's doing both since coffee is why he woke up from his coma in the first place, and that he's mostly blind and needs the mask to see.
• By the Lights of Their Eyes: Unusually realistic variant. The three red lights on Godot's mask are distinctly visible in pitch blackness (as opposed to anyone's eyes), which comes up when Furio Tigre causes a power outage during his Villainous Breakdown, and later when Maya testifies that when she was attacked, she was saved by a man with a light that only illuminated his face.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Mild example, but the judge is perfectly willing to call out Godot for his bad attitude and his excessive coffee-drinking. This is strange when one considers that 'bad attitude' is practically a job requirement for prosecutors in this franchise, and he had nothing to say about Franziska bringing an honest-to-god whip into the courtroom and using it on anything (including him) in sight.
• CharacterCatchphrase: "That's one of my rules." When it appears in case 4, it alerts anyone who hasn't noticed the caffemania, piercings, suit, haircut, skin colour and beard to his identity. He also tends to say "Ha...!" when he's amused or gloating.
• Cerebus Callback: His vehement hatred of "poisoning" coffee with cream or sugar becomes less funny when it's revealed that Dahlia poisoning his coffee (disguised as sugar) is how he ended up in a coma.
• Expy: He does meet some of the criteria of a Char Aznable expy. To wit, he's a masked stranger who's introduced as an enigma with quite the reputation, he has an intense rivalry with the main character (if mostly from his side), he's revealed to have been connected to another major cast member (namely, he and Mia used to be lovers), and while introduced as antagonistic he reveals more sympathetic qualities over the course of the story. Earlier concept art actually shows that his mask looked a lot like Char Aznable's before the makers settled on the design seen in the final version.
• Chekhov M.I.A.: Godot is inexplicably MIA for the start of Bridge to the Turnabout and Franziska has to prosecute in his stead. He returns later on (equally without explanation) and it isn't until Phoenix pieces it together that we find out just where he was.
• Code of Honour: He has his own personal code of conduct that seems a bit odd from everyone else's point of view. Several times he offhandedly mentions one of his personal guidelines then follow it up with "That's one of my rules." Phoenix even wonders at one point if he actually has a list of these somewhere or if he's just making them up as he goes along. The most important one to him is "The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over."
• Color Blind Confusion: He is unable to see red on a white background at all, so he cannot see blood or red food stains on white objects like white aprons or snow. When this situation comes up, Godot attempts to gloss over it or deny that the color is there at all.
• Cool Mask: His visor is actually for medical purposes; the poison that almost killed him also blinded him, and he needs the visor to see. It isn't perfect, though- he can't see the color red presented against a white background.
• Complexity Addiction: Prosecutes Phoenix's cases in order to punish him for failing to protect Mia, and test his worthiness — when Redd White is the one who actually killed her (and despite him already being in prison, Godot could've presumably just used his prosecutorial connections to make White's prison life miserable). Additionally, in "Bridge to the Turnabout," he arranges a complicated plan to directly protect Maya — when he could've just sent Morgan's letter to Phoenix and preemptively saved the day right then. In the end, he himself admits this.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: He's a suave rookie prosecutor in his thirties, while Franziska was an emotional teenager. Also, while both are motivated by their desire to defeat Phoenix, Franziska eventually moves past it, while Godot doesn't until it's too late.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: He himself admits in the end. The final case of Trials and Tribulations could have been avoided if he had just asked Phoenix for help and warned Maya about Morgan's plot in the first place. Additionally, since he managed to find Morgan's note before Pearl did, it would have been simple for him to just avert the whole thing by destroying or hiding the note. It's implied he wanted the plan to go through so that Maya would be in danger so he could save her to make up for failing to save Mia (at least in his own mind). But then, where would be the fun (for the players) in that?
• Deadpan Snarker: One of the most sharp-witted characters in the series, and unlike Phoenix or Edgeworth, he's very vocal with his quips.
• Death Seeker: Quite possible. Godot objects before Case 3-5 can be wrapped up by stating that they still don't know who the real killer is, something he has no logical reason to do since he IS the killer and the Judge seemed ready to forget the question as he was about to pass the verdict.
• Disease Bleach: Or more appropriately, poison bleach. His hair was black before his coma.
• The Dulcinea Effect: Deconstructed. His desire to physically protect Maya from someone who wants her dead leads him to let a terrible chain of events lead up to such a situation rather than rationally handle it.
• Easily Forgiven: After everything is explained and he takes responsibility for his misdeeds and selfish motives, no one in the courtroom expresses any rancor towards him for deliberately endangering Maya and killing her mother.
• Epic Fail: A tragic example. His desire to atone for not being able to save his former girlfriend's life leads to him killing her mother and traumatizing her sister and cousin. If anything, he hurt the Fey clan even more by trying to protect them.
• Exact Words: He is built up as yet another fearsome prosecutor that's never lost a case. When Phoenix first faces him in court, however...
  Judge: Yes, your reputation precedes you. What kind of cases have you dealt with so far?
  Godot: Ha...! None.
  Judge: What did you say...?
  Godot: I've never prosecuted a case before.
  Judge: N-Never? But you said you've never lost before.
  Godot: ...Exactly. I've never lost. I've never won before either.
  • Of course, this is really two examples in one: He said he's never prosecuted a case before, but as Diego Armando, he's defended in plenty of them.
• Eye Scream: The poison Dahlia used to spike Godot's coffee did some major damage on his central nervous system and Godot even lost his sight in the process. Also, during the final case he is stabbed in the eye by Dahlia which is subsequently hidden underneath his mask.
• Failure-to-Save Murder: The entire reason for his hatred and quest for vengeance against Phoenix is that Phoenix "failed" to protect Mia from getting murdered. He later realizes he was instead blaming himself and was projecting on Phoenix.
• Fallen Hero: He's the result of Diego Armando being utterly and completely broken then filled with a new, hateful resolve for finding Mia's killer... who he decides is Phoenix. This occurs by Godot rationalizing Phoenix as an Accomplice by Inaction who was complicit in her death, in spite of Redd White being the one who killed her.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride and an inability to let go of the past. Godot is so desperate to atone for a situation that was beyond his control that he ends up complicating it due to his hero complex. Because he's unwilling to swallow his ego and confide in people like Phoenix that could have prevented Morgan and Dahlia's plan, he rushes into a dangerous situation, irresponsibly placing himself as the hero, in which he is forced to kill Misty Fey who was being channeled by Dahlia. If he'd just gone to Phoenix for help or told the police about Morgan's note, Misty may still have been alive.
• Final Boss: He's the final prosecutor of the original trilogy. And the final killer as well.
• Food Slap: Throws his coffee at Phoenix three times.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual:
  • Phoenix was a bit intimidated to confront Godot until he was sure his goggles couldn't fire lasers. Understandably, he has Franziska to thank for his knee-jerk fear of aggressive prosecutors.
  • The manga has four panel, non-canon joke strips, and one of them had Phoenix questioning where all the coffee comes from. Godot then presses a button on his visor which causes it to dispense coffee.
• Griefer: The legal equivalent. His motive for becoming a prosecutor was to make Phoenix, who he blamed for Mia's murder, lose cases.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: His strategy during the trial over the theft of the Sacred Urn. Either Godot manages to give Ron a Guilty verdict for stealing the Sacred Urn, or (what ends up happening) Phoenix gets Ron a Not Guilty verdict... which causes Phoenix to unintentionally invalidate Ron's alibi for the murder of Kane Bullard.
• Hiding the Handicap: His mask isn't just for show, seeing as it helps him see; but his vision is still impaired even when wearing it, specifically: he can't see the color red when displayed on a white background. He's too proud to own up to it, though.
• He Who Fights Monsters: His bitterness is thanks to being poisoned by Dahlia Hawthorne and being unable to stop Redd White from killing Mia. In the end, he becomes a murderer himself.
• Hypocrite: Though his goals from the onset are to protect Maya from Dahlia, and he takes some efforts to avoid her being implicated of Misty Fey's murder, once the final trial comes down to two suspects, himself and Maya, he still refuses to come clean as being the killer despite knowing she's about to take the fall for his actions. For all that he claims to do what he does for Mia, had Phoenix not unveiled the truth by force, Maya would have gone to jail for murder, Iris would still be jailed for admitted accomplice, Pearls would be left alone in the world with no relatives to turn to, and Misty was already dead by his hand. In short, he would have in one fell swoop destroyed all of Mia's only surviving family and walked away scott-free, were it not for the very man he chose to blame for Mia's death.
• Ice-Cream Koan: Has an incomprehensible coffee-related koan for every situation.
  Phoenix: Um... the rest of the court doesn't speak Coffeenese. Can you elaborate a bit more?
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Played with. He took a loved one's death extremely personally despite not having anything to do with it and not being able to do anything to prevent it, and sets out to take revenge on the people he deems responsible for it, namely Phoenix (as by then the real people at fault had been dealt with). He had been outwardly blaming Phoenix for Mia's death, but later on admits that he was blaming himself. He's eventually proven mistaken in this way of thinking.
• Inadequate Inheritor: He mocks Phoenix that he's one of these to Mia Fey's legacy, claiming that he could never dream to be the attorney that she was. When he sees Mia's ghost alongside Phoenix, both accusingly pointing at him, he breaks down.
• Informed Ability:
  • Parodied. He introduces himself as the legendary prosecutor that had never lost a case, and Luke Atmey says, in the English version, that Edgeworth praised him as the best prosecutor before going to study abroad. In actuality, Godot had never prosecuted a case (he's never lost nor won) and Edgeworth has no idea who Godot is.
  • It is also Played Straight in that, despite the constant praises he gets through the game, he's the only prosecutor in the series known to have lost every single case they've taken on.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Naturally it's coffee and not alcohol, but one of his "distressed" animations has him simply chugging down his current cup.
• Inner Monologue: A rare antagonist example. When Phoenix proves Godot is the one that killed Misty, he laughs it off until he sees an image of Mia's spirit. Godot then starts to freak out a little in his mind and wonders if Mia is living on through Phoenix.
• Insane Troll Logic: On his first encounter with Phoenix, Godot claims that he has never lost a single case despite never having prosecuted any cases in the first place, arguing that prosecutors always start out undefeated.
• Irony:
  • He can't see red on white... as in Redd White, Mia's killer.^note It should be noted that this only applies in the English version; White's name has a different pun in Japanese.
  • Godot hates Phoenix because he believes that he could have saved Mia if he hadn't been late the night of her murder. His reasoning is that Phoenix is an Accomplice by Inaction thanks to this. Godot ultimately chooses to allow Pearl, Maya and Misty Fey to get into a dangerous situation he could have completely averted in order to rescue Maya and make up for his own failure to save Mia. After his Villainous Breakdown, he outright admits to it.
• Irrational Hatred: Really holds a high grudge towards Phoenix for Mia's death, despite all the circumstances surrounding the event wasn't his responsibility. Godot admits at the end he was just redirecting all that hatred from himself.
• It's All My Fault: He won't admit it until the end, but he blames himself thoroughly for Mia's death even though he was in a coma of no fault of his own and couldn't have done anything.
• It's Personal: He holds a vendetta against Phoenix because he failed to prevent Mia's death, and intends to make him pay for it.

J-W

• Jerkass to One: Godot is a Cruel to One example as he treats everyone with cold but polite professionalism except for Phoenix; he relentlessly behaves rudely towards him until the very end of Trials and Tribulations for both good and bad reasons.
• Knight in Sour Armor: For most of the game he thinks he's this, sticking it to Phoenix to get the justice that Mia deserved for her death due to Phoenix's inaction despite his failing health, but in reality it's just his own selfish desire to make up for his inability to do the job himself, which he comes to terms with at the end.
• Large Ham: "Blacker than a moonless night... Hotter and more bitter than hell itself... That's coffee."... and that's just one of the few of his melodramatic quotes. Definitely a case of Tropes Are Not Bad, though. The man is so damn suave and chic with his delivery that you just want him to say more.
• Leitmotif: "Godot - The Fragrance of Darkness; That is Coffee", one of the most iconic themes in the franchise for how smooth and suave it is, perfectly matching Godot's own cool, collected demeanor. It's even his cell phone ringtone.
• The Lost Lenore: He convinces himself Mia is this, enough to the point of taking it out on Phoenix as his way of coping, blaming him for letting her die. By the end he realizes this is just misplaced anger and moves on.
• Lying by Omission: In Godot's introduction, he claims to have never lost a case, making him appear legendary until he reveals he hasn't won any case either: It's his first time acting as a prosecutor.
• Making a Spectacle of Yourself: His slitted red visor.
• Malicious Misnaming: He constantly calls Phoenix "Trite", or in the Japanese version, he intentionally mispronounces "Naruhodo" as "Maruhodo". Note that while the misnaming seems at worst an immature insult in the English version^note calling him a word that can mean "lacking originality or freshness" does make more sense after Godot's anger at Mia's "unworthy" successor comes to light, deliberately mispronouncing someone's last name is perceived as ruder in Japan. At the very end of the game, as he and Phoenix share One Last Cup of Coffee before he is hauled off to jail for murder, he finally calls Phoenix by the correct name, showing that he's finally gotten over his misplaced grudge.
• Manly Tears: Defied by him, as he states that "The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over."
• Meaningful Name:
  • Besides the literary reference, bear in mind that his name is pronounced "Go-doe", not "Go-dot". As in Diego Armando.
  • Additionally, in the Japanese version, he gets his name from Godou River (Eagle River in English), the river that played such a prominent role in Mia's first case.
• Metaphorgotten: He really loves his coffee metaphors. Too bad nobody but him ever seems to understand them.
  Phoenix: Could you PLEASE knock it off with the cheesy proverbs and illogical metaphors already!?
• Misplaced Retribution: Phoenix had nothing to do with Mia's death aside from walking into her office too late to catch Redd White. Godot still decides that he's responsible and tries to make his courtroom life hell. At the end of 3-5, he admits that he really blamed himself, which still falls under this trope as he was in a coma when Mia was murdered.
• Morality Chain: Maya Fey plays this role for him as his last connection to Mia Fey.
• Must Have Caffeine: 17 cups per trial day, with a philosophical comment or two to go along with each one... and that's just in the courtroom; at one point he alludes to a 13th cup of morning coffee. At least a few of them end up on Phoenix's head in trials. Furthermore, when explaining his being "back from the dead", he describes how the smell of a doctor's cup of coffee woke him up from a seven-year coma.
• Mysterious Past: No one has heard of him or knows anything about him from before he became a prosecutor. Some more about his story is discovered by the end of the game, though.
• Nerves of Steel: So much so that he doesn't even flinch when Furio Tigre's roar has everyone else cowering behind a table or when he himself is accused of Misty Fey's murder. He does, however, start to lose his cool as Bridge to the Turnabout progresses towards the end, starting with him realizing that he missed "Maya" written in blood on the lantern when he tried to cover up the murder. He's also the only character in the original trilogy to make it clear he won't put up with Franziska's crap.
• Never My Fault: A very important part of his backstory. In reality, he knew better.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: In Case 3-5, it turns out that Godot learned a year before the story started that the Big Bad would target Maya Fey. Rather than report this to the police or tell Phoenix, he concocted a plan of recruiting two co-conspirators, letting Maya go to the mountain where she would be found, try to stop the Big Bad himself, letting one of the co-conspirators take the blame when things go sour. When caught, he finally admits that he just wanted to atone for not saving Maya's sister Mia and that helping Maya was an excuse. Though his actions for killing Misty was to get revenge by killing Dahlia as he later admits.
• Oh, Crap!: Every prosecutor makes these faces but a particularly significant one occurs in 3-5 when he learns of the bloody writing on the stone lantern... which reads "Maya". Given that he had made significant efforts to make sure Maya couldn't be incriminated, it's pretty bad news to him.
  Phoenix: [Godot's] suddenly shaking... and I don't think it's all the caffeine...
• One-Way Visor: He's nearly blind without it and it lets him see more-or-less normally. To everyone else it just looks like three glowing red lines.
• Only a Flesh Wound: He takes a knife wound to the face from Dahlia-in-Misty's-body and it never gets treated (which is why it opens up later). He still walks it off and can ignore the pain enough to keep it hidden from everyone.
• Only One Name: When he's introduced, no one even knows if he has a last name or given name, just that he answers to the alias "Godot". He does have both a first and a last name, but nobody connects him to the name 'Diego Armando' until 3-5.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He normally has Nerves of Steel and barely ever shows weakness when the defense gets the upper hand on him, so it's quite telling when he does start showing nervousness in his last trial.
• Persecuting Prosecutor: Played With. He's the only prosecutor from the original trilogy who never engages in witness coaching or evidence tampering of any sort; he even submits the piece of evidence that ultimately gets him convicted and requests that 3-5 be continued right as the Judge is about to call a verdict, ensuring the true killer is found. He does assault Phoenix, but unlike Franziska before him, he never goes so far as attacking witnesses or the Judge. Ironically, despite being the only rival who outright kills someone, legally he's one of the cleanest prosecutors in the original trilogy.
• Pride: Like most major prosecutors, only of a distinctly different kind. He's smug about his abilities, true, though his downfall is his inability to admit when things are his fault.
• Psychological Projection: The real reason he blames Phoenix for not being there to save Maya is that he blames himself for the same, as he only woke up from his coma after Mia had died, much like how Phoenix walked into Mia's office after Redd White had killed her. He eventually admits this when he's pinned as Misty's murderer.
• Put on a Bus: Ends T&T being arrested for Misty Fey's murder, technically-speaking. Unlike Franziska and Edgeworth, he's never reappeared, or even been mentioned, in subsequent games.
• Real Men Take It Black: He insists that coffee must be black as a moonless night. Justified when you learn he ended up in a coma when someone slipped poison into his coffee, and he's understandably jumpy about anyone tampering with it these days.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He starts giving Phoenix one at the climax of Bridge to the Turnabout, saying that he'll never be the defense attorney that Mia was. He gets interrupted when he sees Mia's spirit standing beside Wright, both dramatically Giving Him The Pointer Finger, causing him to break down.
• Red Filter of Doom: The anime describes his eyesight this way, with the mask applying a red filter to all the colors he sees.
• Remember the New Guy?: As a result of the first game not having planned for sequels, he was never mentioned by Mia or Grossberg prior to the third game despite being significant to both.
• Revealing Injury: Case 3-5. The entire time he's prosecuting, he's sustained a knife wound that is not being treated properly. This wound is also what brought him down as well.
• Revenge: His drive against Phoenix Wright for failing to protect Mia Fey and his motive to killing Misty Fey as Dahlia Hawthorne when she tries to kill Maya Fey.
• Revenge Before Reason: He all but admits that his reasons for hating Wright are pointless, and that he was ashamed of his own inability to prevent Mia's death. He also admits that he knew that Dahlia-channeled-by-Misty Fey wasn't really Dahlia but part of the reason he attacked her (with an intent to kill instead of subdue) was his overwhelming hatred of her.
• Rule of Cool: Several times he'll be seen catching a cup of coffee that slides to him from off-screen (stage right) that apparently comes from nowhere. Why? Because it's awesome. One explanation may be that the bailiff actually gets them for him but this isn't ever confirmed (and the Anime doesn't clarify this either.)
• Sad Clown: Outwardly, he's a wise-cracking Bunny-Ears Prosecutor who has coffee mugs slid onto his desk with a metaphor or joke to go with each one, and has the Nerves of Steel to stare a mafia/yakuza thug in the eye and question him. But he's also suffering tremendously, both physically (was in a coma for five years, has grayed hair, has to use a visor to be able to see even just partially) and mentally (Mia died while he was in a coma and he believes it's all his fault).
• Secretly Selfish: While he risked his life to save Maya from Dahlia and Morgan, he states in retrospect that, while not consciously aware of such, he was most likely primarily motivated by his desire to atone for his guilt surrounding Mia's death, hence him not trying to get Phoenix's help in protecting her.
• Shout-Out: His name is a reference to Waiting for Godot. There are some references to the story across Trials and Tribulations, including one by Godot himself (stating that, when he woke up, there was no one waiting for him).
• Smug Smiler: One of his sprites sports him with a huge grin on his face, and the boxart of Trials and Tribulations shows him smiling with an air of confidence about him.
• Smug Snake: He's highly condescending and arrogant for a rookie prosecutor. The Judge of all people calls him out on it. Justified, he used to be a seasoned defense attorney, so he knows his stuff. That and he's a bit smug to begin with.
• Something Only They Would Say: For the audience's benefit more than any character. When Diego Armando mentions "That's one of my rules.", it becomes obvious that it could only be Godot.
• Spit Take: A favored reaction of his when surprised or caught off guard by Phoenix. Sometimes he'll take a fresh drink just to abide with the spit-take.
• Stepford Smiler: That smug grin isn't all sunshine and rainbows, he even admits in the end that he keeps smiling no matter how angry or grief-struck he becomes.
• Sympathetic Murderer: Alright, he did kill Misty Fey but the circumstances behind it and his own explanation of it make it difficult to fully fault him. So much so that Maya even tries to cover for him.
• Tears of Blood: When Phoenix points out that they "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot, the knife wound he received reopens, leading to the following line:
  Godot: Have you forgotten already? In my world, the color red doesn't exist. These must be... my tears.
• That Man Is Dead: Attempted to take this way out when he began his quest for vengeance against Phoenix, but it ends up subverted by the end because he simply denied his identity to himself in order to ease his suffering and shift the blame.
• Thinking Tic: Godot lays his left arm across his waist, rests his right arm on his left hand, and touches his visor in his thinking animation.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Though he throws his cups right-side-up, they always turn in midair and land perfectly shut on Phoenix's head, emptying their contents all over his hair and face. Played for Laughs.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He's overly fond of coffee, to the point of drinking up to 17 cups a day, and using various coffee-related metaphors to get points across in court.
• Tragic Villain: He's ultimately driven by a desire to make up for his own failure, and in the process, ends up committing a murder that could have been avoided.
• Uncertain Doom: He ends the last trial with a serious knife-wound to his face that he left untreated and which reopens during the trial, and his physical condition was already frail due to Dahlia having almost killed him with poison. On top of all this, he's just been convicted of murder and could well be facing execution. The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue doesn't detail what he's been up to and he exclusively shares the final sketch with two dead people. However, it's never explicitly stated whether he lived or died; he's simply never been mentioned again in any subsequent game.
• Verbal Tic: He tends to utter "Ha...!" before making dismissive comments.
• Villainous Breakdown: Very tame in comparison to previous ones, after he is exposed as Misty Fey's killer his visor which was smoking blows up (yet it didn't get destroyed). After Phoenix points out that they "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot, his knife wound reopens invoking Tears of Blood.
• Voice Changeling: Apparently he's quite good at doing impersonations, mimicking both Victor Kudo and Desirée DeLite's voices in court, complete with his theme music changing to their and lighter female text blips for the latter despite speaking in a low baritone.
• Waistcoat of Style: You can't be a main prosecutor in this series and just wear a normal suit, it seems.
• Would Hurt a Child: Emphasis on "would". He stabbed Dahlia without caring who channeled her. It turned out to be Misty, but it might have been Pearl, something he acknowledges.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: His poisoning has, (at least according to the anime), left him with a regular need to return to the hospital for maintenance, and of course, it struck him blind without his visor.

Diego Armando (Soryu Kaminogi)

Diego Armando (Soryu Kaminogi)

Voiced by (Japanese): Hiroaki Hirata (anime)

Voiced by (English): Brandon Potter (anime)

Debut: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations

"The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over."

A senior member of Grossberg Law Offices, and at the time the best lawyer under his employ. The night before Mia's first trial, Grossberg had drunken himself unconscious and wasn't awake in time to be at the trial, so Diego comes to help the new "kitten" instead. He was soon poisoned afterwards by Dahlia, resulting in his "death".

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• Affectionate Nickname: He refers to Mia as a "kitten". Though apparently it's because when he's introduced Mia is a rookie attorney with zero experience (like a newborn kitten), it's vague whether there's subtext of him being flirtatious, sexist, or a bit of both.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: "Armando" isn't actually a surname.
• Cynicism Catalyst: He's already fairly cynical when he's introduced, having seen his fair share of hardship in the courtroom. This gets worsened after the Miscarriage of Justice that's Case 3-4 though what pushes him over the edge is his poisoning and loss of Mia in his coma.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: His leitmotif is also his ringtone.
• Figure It Out Yourself: Comes off as being less helpful to Mia than Grossberg is, even though he co-counselled her first case as a defense attorney. Justified, since Mia's first case is the fourth case of the game and her second case is the games's first case, so the player already knows how things works and doesn't need another explanation.
• The Ghost: In Case 1, as Dahlia having poisoned him is a plot point. He only appears in Case 4, marking the reveal that he was in the present-day cases all along as Godot.
• A Glass in the Hand: After Terry Fawles commits suicide, he does this with his coffee mug.
• He Knows Too Much: Poisoned by Dahlia because he started asking too many questions about the Valerie Hawthorne case and seemed to suspect foul play.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Armando may come off as cynical, smug, and condescending towards Mia in her first case but he genuinely wants to help the defendant, has a strong ability to remain calm even when faced with a difficult situation and warms up to Mia romantically when he tells her that it's acceptable to cry when everything is over. Sadly, he gets worse after he was poisoned by Dahlia, putting him in the coma, then waking up five years later to learn Mia's dead. He became bitter towards Phoenix and blames him for her death, even when Phoenix was not responsible for it.
• Large Ham: While not through voice tone or volume, he loves using metaphors or giving unnecessarily complex descriptions of objects (such as coffee) or people.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Might be a reference to the soccer player Diego Armando Maradona, who fell victim to drugs. Also, Diego Armando? It spells Godo, which is how you pronounce Godot.
  • The name 'Diego' stems from the Greek word for "teaching." Fits his status as Mia's mentor.
  • Additionally, Armando means "plotting" or "setting up" in Portuguese. As you'll find out in case 3-5, he has been doing it for quite a while.
  • His Japanese given name, Sōryū, may refer to the eponymous Blue-Green Dragon of Chinese and Japanese lore. The dragon provides fierce protection, wards off evil spirits, and symbolizes strength, wisdom, the energy of transformation, and spring, the season of rebirth. When in pain, he causes red rain, colored by his blood. Compare this to how Kaminogi Sōryū "transformed" into Godot, wears primarily blue-green, and is hellbent on providing protection for Maya against a literal evil spirit. Not to mention his final scene in which he cries tears of blood.
• Mysterious Past: The only two things known about his past is that he's Brazilian (according to Word of God) and that he formed a relationship with Mia. The story focuses more on his future after Dahlia ruined his life.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: He's the only male character to not be instantly charmed by Dahlia Hawthorne.
• Palette Swap: The only difference between him and Godot is the lack of a visor and the differently-colored hair and undershirt, hence him being a Walking Spoiler.
• Perpetual Smiler: Never seen without a smug look on his face even when he's crushing a coffee mug with his bare hands after Terry Fawles kills himself and Dahlia Hawthorne gets off scot free. Intentional on his part, as he advises Mia that a lawyer needs to keep smiling.
  Diego: A lawyer is someone who smiles no matter how bad it gets. That's one of my rules.
• Posthumous Character: Played Straight, with his poisoning being a plot point in the first case. He appears in the fourth case, which takes some time before the poisoning happened. Said case also reveals this trope is actually subverted, as Godot and Diego Armando are the same person.
• Remember the New Guy?: Never mentioned by Grossberg or Mia prior to Trials and Tribulations, at least not to Phoenix. The explanation was that the first game was written without considering the possibility of a sequel, let alone a third game. There's also the fact that he was considered as good as dead, judging by Grossberg and Mia discussing the poisoning incident in Case 3-1.
• Sexy Mentor: Not only that, he and his "student" Mia did get together.
• Something Only They Would Say: More for the audience's benefit than any character.
  • "That's one of my rules. Remember it."
  • "As dark and bitter as Hell itself."
• Stay in the Kitchen: There are subtle hints here and there that he has sexist attitudes, though he might just be contemptuous of rookies regardless of gender.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Diego is a tanned, dark-haired man who stands six feet tall. The anime plays up Mia getting flustered by his attention.
• Theme Song Reveal: "The Fragrance of Dark Coffee", which is Godot's leitmotif, plays at the end of Turnabout Beginnings after he smashes his mug.
• Tranquil Fury: He is the one who taught Mia that defense lawyers don't get to cry, no matter how bad things get. At the end of "Turnabout Beginnings", he still has a calm smile on his face after Terry Fawles poisons himself and Dahlia gets away. The only thing that betrays his anger is his coffee mug shattering in his grip.
• Walking Spoiler: You cannot look at the guy without learning at least something about the plot of Trials and Tribulations (namely that Godot used to have a different identity in the past).

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