Ace Attorney Investigations Prosecutors Gambit: The sins of the father and the legacy of the son

I love Ace Attorney. Ever since I was introduced to the series through the Great Ace Attorney series, I was obsessed with the series engaging mysteries and its wonderfully unhinged cast of characters (Herlock Sholmes my beloved <3). So with the long awaited localization of Investigations 2 coming soon, I thought it’d be a good time to talk about 2 of the best characters of the franchise, and their roles from one of the best games in the franchise, Miles Edgeworth and Sebastian Debeste (aka Eustace Winner), and how they perfectly reflect the themes of Investigations 2. So to start with, Investigations 2 has a very clear theme of fatherhood, and their impact on their children. The obvious example is Edgeworth and his 2 father figures, Gregory Edgeworth and Manfred Von Karma. Miles admired his father and wanted to be a defense attorney just like him when he grew up, giving him a connection to the legal world as a child. Unfortunately, Gregory would meet his demise during a particularly brutal case, and Miles was taken in by his fathers rival, Manfred Von Karma, who was a ruthless prosecutor who valued victory over truth. Under Manfred’s tutelage, Miles would adopt his ruthless ways, but there would always be a glimmer of the good that Gregory left on Miles, which eventually led to his redemption when he met his childhood friend Phoenix Wright, and abandoned the path of Von Karma to choose his own path. Throughout investigations 2, Miles’ status as a prosecutor was threatened by legal authority Justine Courtney (Verity Gavelle in the localization) while his fathers past came back to haunt him in the form of Raymond Shields (Eddie Fender in the localization), forcing Miles to choose between his childhood dreams or his current path. By the end of the game, Edgeworth settles on a compromise, choosing to do the duties of a defense attorney, saving people, while playing the role of a prosecutor, and fighting for the truth above all. In essence, Miles’ chosen path is one that pays respect to both his past, his father, and his experiences up to that point in his life

Sebastian Debeste meanwhile, is at the opposite end of the spectrum. He was raised with the belief that he was inherently better than everyone around him, that he was “the best” prosecutor, and this view was encouraged by many parental figures around him, including his father, Blaise Debeste. Blaise was much like Von Karma, a man who only truly cared about himself and his reputation, willing to bury the truth for his own ends even if it meant convicting a recently hospitalized amnesiac. Blaise would use his influence to manufacture his son's perfect record, all to reveal it to him when he became an inconvenience. After finding out the truth, Sebastian becomes lost, unsure of what to do next. It’s only after an encounter with Edgeworth that Sebastian finally decides to stray away from, and even surpass his father, to choose his own path, and to become a truly great prosecutor.

In conclusion, Investigations 2 is a thrilling tale, a wonderful story of parenthood, and how the actions of a father can impact a child's future. The stories of Miles and Sebastian are just two examples of this, and show that if a child remains shackled to their father, this can have disastrous results for the life of the child. Even if they have the best of intentions and are morally good people, if they don’t learn to live on their own, forge their own path, they’ll live a life of misery, constantly being haunted by the sins of the father. But Miles and Sebastian broke away from their mentors tainted legacy, and strove to carve patches of their own with resolves to live beyond their fathers sins