Dahlia Hawthorne

"... Tee hee. You haven't changed a bit... Mia Fey."

- Dahlia's sweeter side

"Do. You. Think. You've. Won? Well!? Do you, Mia Fey? Heh. Heh. Heh. Heheh... That's. Just. Fine!"

- Dahlia's darker side

Dahlia Hawthorne is the central antagonist of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations. Cruel, heartless, and manipulative, Dahlia lives only for herself and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Turnabout Beginnings
Born to Morgan Fey, Dahlia and her twin sister Iris were taken by their greedy father who grew tired of living in a village run by women. He eventually remarried, but the new wife already had a daughter of her own, Valerie. Seeing her own twin as a nuisance, Dahlia convinced him to leave Iris at a channeling dojo called Hazakura Temple. At the age of 14, the Hawthorne sisters conspired to steal a two-million dollar jewel from their father with the aid of Terry Fawles through a phony kidnapping: Terry was to be the "culprit" responsible for abducting Dahlia, and Valerie, who had been promoted to detective, was to make the exchange. After Fawles had the jewel, she would run away with him. But when the time came Dahlia threw herself into the Eagle River (with the diamond) in an attempt to cut Terry out of the deal. Her body was never found, and Fawles was tried and convicted for her murder. Dahlia actually washed up on the river bank at Hazakura, where her sister discovered her and nursed her back to health. Five years later, Terry Fawles escaped from a band wagon and phoned Valerie to meet him at Dusky Bridge. Because he had spent five years in jail, he had forgotten what Valerie looked like, so he instructed her to wear a white scarf. Dahlia, hearing what Valerie intended to do, committed her first murder by stabbing her step-sister in the back and placed the body in the trunk of a car that was stolen by the fugitive Fawles. During the trial, Dahlia appeared under the alias "Melissa Foster" testifying against Terry Fawles. Before attorneys Mia Fey and Diego Armando could bring her to justice, their client poisoned himself due to a promise they made: if neither one could trust the other, then they had to drink the poison in the bottle. As a result, Terry Fawles had died, and Dahlia Hawthorne was free.

Turnabout Memories
Six months later, she met with Diego and poisoned a cup of his coffee with the same poison that had killed Terry. She handed the poison vial, which was actually a pendant she wore as a necklace, off to Phoenix so that she wouldn't be caught with it. She intended to kill him later and get it back, but her sister Iris begged her to spare his life, promising to get the necklace back herself. Dahlia waited eight months for Iris to do so, but when she failed, took matters into her own hands and tried to kill Phoenix herself. On April 9, Dahlia stole Phoenix's beloved cold medicine (Coldkiller X) and poisoned it so she could kill him. However, when she discovered her ex-boyfriend Doug Swallow talking to Phoenix about her, she panicked and decided to kill Swallow instead and frame Phoenix for the murder by planting the poisoned cold medicine in the victim's hand. At the trial, however, she was caught and exposed by Mia Fey, out to avenge the downfall of Diego Armando. Before she left to receive the sentence, Dahlia promised the latter that it was not over between the two.

Bridge to the Turnabout
Eventually, Dahlia received the death sentence through hanging, but not before her mother, Morgan Fey, warned her about a plan to return through the Kurain Spirit Channeling Technique and kill the family's heir, Maya Fey, Mia's younger sister. After five years of coma, Armando woke up and heard about Mia's death by Redd White, but blamed it on Phoenix Wright for letting her down. He changed his name to Godot and became a prosecutor to follow Wright and defeat him in court. However, he heard about Morgan's plan and called both Iris and Maya's mother, Misty Fey (who was under the alias of "Elise Deauxnim"), to channel Dahlia before she could be called through Morgan's daughter, Pearl Fey. Misty channeled her according to plan, but when she tried to kill Maya, Godot saved her by killing Misty on the spot with her own sword. He then told Maya to channel Dahlia herself to prevent being killed, and she did so. Dahlia then posed as her twin sister, Iris, tricking Wright in court to believe Maya was dead, not knowing the truth herself. However, Wright figured out the truth and, after much effort, exposed Dahlia's lies. Finally, when Dahlia said she couldn't be punished because she was already dead, Mia (channeled through Pearl) said she already received her punishment by being herself, a "pitiful creature living in defeat". She then immeaditely left Maya's body and, according to Godot, returned to the Hell she came from.

Breakdown
In "Turnabout Memories", she begins pronouncing Mia's name in anger, then turning her head to the camera, her eyes glowing in wrath while the butterflies that usually surround her burst into flames. In "Bridge to the Turnabout", when Wright finally corners her, she lands her head on the stand while holding it with her hands. She then screams in agony while her spirit leaves Maya's body, its hair flowing in every direction like fire and its eyes glowing evily. She then disappears in a burst of blue flames in the shape of a Magatama while images of her crimes flash behind her.

Personality
Initially, Dahlia Hawthorne appeared to be a sweet, graceful, angelic young woman, easily gaining the attention (and affection) of any man she came across. This, however, was merely a façade; in reality, she was as cold, cruel and manipulative as they came, not caring for anyone or anything but herself. She used her "sweet and innocent" persona to gain the loyalty of others, namely a college student named Phoenix Wright and a tutor named Terry Fawles, and bend them to her will - the latter was even willing to commit suicide for her, and did so while on the witness stand.

Even though she was eventually found guilty and executed for her second murder (her ex-boyfriend, Doug Swallow), not even death could hold back her evil; Dahlia's spirit later returned to torment Wright and her relatives in the Fey clan in a scheme that resulted in the murder of the mother of her nemesis Mia Fey, and endangered the life of Mia's sister, Maya. Fortunately, both Phoenix and Mia defeated her again with a breaking speech, which broke her so bad she left Maya's body and her spirit was sent to Hell forever.

Name

 * "Dahlia" and "Iris" are both flower names. However, it may be a reference to the murder novel "The Black Dahlia". Also, "Dahlia" sounds much similar to the term "the liar".
 * "Hawthorne" may be a corruption of "has thorns".
 * "Miyanagi" (美柳) is a name that usually evokes tranquility. "Chinami" (ちなみ) may come from the phrase "chi mo namida mo nai" ("without blood or tears"), basically meaning "heartless".

Trivia

 * Dahlia is widely considered one of the cruelest and most prolific Ace Attorney villains, along with Manfred Von Karma, Matt Engarde, Quercus Alba and the Phantom.
 * She shares the same name with Dahlia Gillespie, and like her, they're horrifyingly evil, not caring about anyone but themselves.
 * She shows many similarities with another villain, Dwayne Pipe: Both of them are good-looking, inhumanly cruel, manipulative (though Dwayne was far better at it), killed several people for no reason whatsoever, used poison as their main weapon, and were obsessed to get revenge with their respective arch-enemies for imprisoning them. They also used fake identities (Hers being "Melissa Foster", his being "Horrace d'Obscene") and both their names start with the letter "D" and are composed by six letters. Finally, they are by far the most evil and profilic characters in their respective games.