Dahlia Hawthorne

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.

Story
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 one-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 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 must drink the poison in the bottle. As a result, Terry Fawles had died, and Dahlia Hawthorne was free.

Six months later she met with Diego and poisoned a cup of his coffee with the same poison that had killed Terry. The poison vial, which was actually a pendant she wore as a necklace, she handed 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 six 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.

Personality
On the OUTSIDE, Dahlia Hawthorne is sweet, polite, and graceful. On the INSIDE, however, she is an evil demon who yearns for power.