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This Villain was proposed and approved by Villains Wiki's Pure Evil Proposals Thread. Any act of removing this villain from the category without a Removal Proposal shall be considered vandalism (or a futile "heroic" attempt of redemption) and the user will have high chances of being | ||
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| “ | That's right, Manfred von Karma. He's the best prosecutor there is. He hasn't lost a case in his 40-year career. He is a god of prosecution, Wright! A god! | „ |
| ~ Miles Edgeworth to Phoenix Wright about Manfred von Karma. |
| “ | I beg your pardon, you see, I rarely remember defense attorneys. They are like bugs to me. Needless things, to be crushed. | „ |
| ~ Manfred von Karma |
| “ | Wrong. There is only one thing you need to do here. You will slam down your gavel and say the word "guilty." That is your role! | „ |
| ~ Manfred von Karma to the Judge in “Turnabout Goodbyes.” |
Manfred von Karma (Japanese: Gō Karuma) is one of the two overarching antagonists (alongside Excelsius Winner) of the Ace Attorney franchise.
He is the overarching antagonist of the Phoenix Wright trilogy, being the main antagonist of the fourth case in Phoneix Wright: Ace Attorney and the overarching antagonist of its 2002 sequel, Justice for All.
He is proclaimed thoroughly as "God of Prosecution", obsessed with protecting his perfect reminisce record of cases, forging evidence, and killing anyone who stands in his way to do so. He is also the biological father of Franziska von Karma and the adoptive father of Miles Edgeworth; including another biological child and grandaughter.
His murder of Gregory Edgeworth directly caused almost every major event within the entire series due to the massive domino effect it had that caused countless lives to be ruined by it, including the main heroes of the story and among being the archenemy of Miles Edgeworth.
He was originally voiced by Masakazu Sugimori in Japanese (who also composed the soundtrack for the first game) and Brandon Gay in English. In the movie, he was played by Ryo Ishibashi. In the anime, he was voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in Japanese and Bill Jenkins in English.
Biography[]
Manfred von Karma was known and feared as the god of prosecutors. In his trials, he always played the judge, the attorney, the defendant, and the testimonies like marionettes. The main characteristics of his achievements were perfectly clean testimonies and perfectly clean (if forged) evidence, leaving no shadow of doubt on anyone. He never lost a case in his 40 years of prosecuting, prizing his pristine record above all else.
The IS-7 Incident[]
Manfred von Karma was assigned as the prosecutor of what would be known as the IS-7 Incident. The defendant was Samson Tangaroa, a famous pastry chef and TV star, who was the main suspect of the murder of Paul Halique, a sculptor who was participating in a contest Samson hosted at his mansion, which incidentally was the crime scene. The attorney assigned to the case was Gregory Edgeworth, who directly confronted von Karma at the crime scene. While Edgeworth tried not to judge von Karma's actions based on the rumors of forgery, he eventually concluded that von Karma was indeed forging evidence, since the victim's body disappeared from the scene yet von Karma somehow had access to an autopsy report. Despite Gregory's accusation, von Karma insisted that the autopsy report (which he had received from coroner Hilda Hertz) was genuine, and the police also vouched for its legitimacy, denying that the Haliques's body had disappeared.
The IS-7 trial dragged on for a whole year, due to von Karma's machinations. He ultimately won the case by having police detective Ian Sideman threaten to accuse Tangaroa's adopted daughter, Judy Bound, of the murder unless Tangaroa himself confessed, with Tangaroa being declared guilty as an accomplice to the murder. However, thanks to Tyrell Badd providing him with a recording of Tangaroa's confession, Gregory was able to prove that his client had been coerced, resulting in von Karma receiving his first penalty. The case was then put on hold, due to the only other witness and suspect, Carmelo Gusto, having fled the country. In truth, von Karma had no idea the autopsy was forged and chief prosecutor Excelsius Winner had used him as a scapegoat to throw suspicion off himself. Sideman took the rest of the blame for the coerced confession as was subsequently fired from the police force.
The DL-6 Incident[]
Von Karma's loss of his perfect record affected him deeply. Following the trial, Gregory and his son, Miles, along with court bailiff Yanni Yogi, entered the elevator to leave the court when an earthquake struck the building, leaving the three of them trapped. The oxygen inside the elevator started to run low, causing them to become desperate and confused. In a panic from the lack of oxygen, Yogi attacked Gregory, causing his gun to fall from its holster. The gun fell near Miles, who picked it up and threw it blindly at Yogi to prevent the bailiff from hurting his father.
At that time, von Karma was standing outside the elevator when Miles threw the gun, which discharged. The bullet passed through the elevator window and struck von Karma in his right shoulder, who released a demonic scream that became the subject of Miles' nightmares for years to come. The three trapped in the elevator fell unconscious, and as the power returned and the door opened, von Karma saw the them lying on the floor and Yogi's gun at his feet. Seizing the opportunity, von Karma picked up the gun and shot Gregory in the heart, killing him as revenge for ruining his perfect record. Yogi was accused of the murder, but was ruled as not criminally responsible after his attorney, Robert Hammond, convinced him to plead insanity and fake brain damage due to oxygen deprivation. During Yogi's trial, the court summoned Misty Fey, master of the Kurain Channeling technique to communicate with the deceased Gregory; Fey successfully channeled him, but because he had been unconscious at the time of his death, Gregory believed Yogi to be his murderer. Professional blackmailer Redd White later bribed Hammond's employer, Marvin Grossberg, into giving him information regarding Fey's involvement in the investigation, which he later sold to the media; Misty was subsequently labeled a fraud, the reputation of the Fey clan was destroyed, and she left Kurain Village in shame. While he and Hammond had won the case, Yogi's life was ruined following his insanity plea; he lost his job as a bailiff, his social standing, and his fiance, Polly Jenkins, who committed suicide. As such, he decided to live as a senile old man named 'Uncle', renting out boats at Gourd Lake with only a pet parrot he named after his fiance for company.
Meanwhile, von Karma took a six-month "vacation" to heal from the gunshot wound, this being the first and only time in his life that he ever took time off work as a prosecutor. He hid the bullet in his shoulder from everyone, too paranoid to even have it removed by a doctor and leave a potential paper trail. After healing from the wound, he returned to discover that Gregory's protege, Raymond Shields, was appealing the IS-7 case; von Karma decided to assign a different prosecutor to the case, as he knew that Master's conviction could not be overturned without new evidence. He also decided that he would have even bigger revenge on Gregory by adopting the young Miles and raising him along with his daughter Franziska to become a ruthless prosecutor like himself.
Training Edgeworth[]
Von Karma taught Miles everything about prosecution and Miles became a prosecutor alongside Franziska. Von Karma showed Miles the IS-7 case files, which he modified to say that Masters had been found guilty of the murder, leading Edgeworth to believe that his father's final case had been fully solved and that there was no need to investigate any further.
Miles's first trial was supposed to have him prosecute Mack Rell for the murder of Deid Mann. The defendant had accused the original prosecutor, Byrne Faraday, of being the great thief Yatagarasu and ordering him to commit the murder. Von Karma and his daughter accompanied Miles to the courthouse during the trial recess, but before the trial could resume, Rell and Faraday were both found dead in the defendant lobby. Von Karma strong-armed the detective in charge, Tyrell Badd, into allowing Miles and Franziska to investigate the scene before leaving the two to figure out what happened.
Final Vengeance[]
Years later, von Karma put his revenge plan into work. He contacted Yogi through a letter, giving him instructions about a plan to take revenge on Robert Hammond and Miles Edgeworth, who Yogi blamed for his ruin. So, Yogi contacted both Robert and Miles to go to the lake at different times.
As Robert arrived, Yogi killed him with a point-blank shot and threw him into the lake. As Miles arrived, Yogi and he used a boat to go to the center of the lake, and Yogi shot at nothing in particular just to call the attention of anyone who happened to be at the lake the shot again and dropped at the lake, leaving the gun behind.
Miles was accused of the murder and von Karma assigned himself as the prosecutor of the case, to make sure everything would go according to his plan and to see Miles ruined by himself.
Miles Edgeworth's Trial and Defeat[]
The day before the last day of the trial, Phoenix and his coworker Maya presented von Karma the letter he wrote to Yogi just as he was stealing all the evidence from the DL-6 Incident. He admitted to writing the note but was not willing to let it be presented in court, for it would ruin both his career and his revenge. He then violently assaulted Phoenix and Maya with a stun gun and electrocuted them until they were both unconscious, before stealing back the letter.
Even without the note, Phoenix acquitted Miles, only for Miles to later "confess" to murdering his father, Gregory. Remembering evidence that two bullet shots had been fired, Phoenix became convinced that something else was happening. Although von Karma stole most of the evidence, he failed to steal the bullet recovered from Gregory Edgeworth since Maya managed to take it.
In the final trial, Phoenix realized that von Karma kept the bullet in his shoulder, so he used a metal detector to prove this. Von Karma tried to argue otherwise, but when Phoenix revealed the other bullet and got consent to remove von Karma's bullet to check if the ballistic markings matched with the bullet found in Gregory's heart, von Karma realized that he was finished and released the same scream that he had 15 years earlier. Edgeworth finally realized the truth as von Karma confessed, banging his head repeatedly against the wall and screaming Edgeworth's name. After 40 years, the great Manfred von Karma suffered the only 2 defeats in his entire career, and he was now exposed as the murderer that he truly was. Seeing that he had finally lost, von Karma demanded the judge to end the trial so that he could face his punishment. The judge obliged, and von Karma was arrested for his crimes, subsequently dying of an unknown cause in jail afterwards.
Breakdown[]
| “ | You and your father are my curse! Your father shamed me with a penalty on my record! And you... you left a scar on my shoulder that would never fade! I...I'll bury you! I'll bury you with my bare hands! Death! Death! | „ |
| ~ The end of Von Karma's iconic breakdown. |
Von Karma slams his fist on the prosecutor's bench and bellows Edgeworth's name in rage, while images of the DL-6 Incident flash behind him. He then begins to slam his head against the wall behind him, getting faster and faster by the moment.
Later Appearances[]
Von Karma is frequently mentioned in later episodes of the series, often appearing during flashback sequences. In Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, he appears briefly during a flashback sequence, where he takes the young Miles Edgeworth and Franziska Von Karma to the courtroom for their first investigation.
He appears once again in Gyakuten Kenji 2/Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Path, being a central character in the third case, which is a flashback to Gregory Edgeworth's last case, where Von Karma got his first penalty and killed Gregory.
Personality[]
Manfred von Karma was an intimidating prosecutor who held great sway over the courts. This was not just due to his long win record, but also thanks to his forbidding appearance complete with stoic glare and occasional sneering grin. He also had a distinctive deep, threatening voice, which manifested itself in the "horrible scream" Miles Edgeworth heard during the DL-6 Incident. His authority was enough to override those of veteran detectives such as Tyrell Badd, and he could assign his students to any trial of his choosing. He commanded respect from everyone, especially his students. Miles and Franziska address him as "sir" and "papa", respectively, and Miles has referred to him as "legendary" and a "god" among prosecutors, while Kay Faraday simply thought him "scary" when she met him.
Manfred was extremely arrogant, seeing defense attorneys as nothing more than annoying flies to be swatted. He would often almost take over the judges' jobs during trials (such as sustaining his own objections or overruling those of the opposing defense attorney), with the judges themselves being too terrified to attempt to reassert control. He had a habit of piercingly snapping his fingers when he wanted to help get his point across and took such great pride in considering himself as "number one" that he not only set his ATM card number to "0001", but also openly advertised that it was such in court.
Manfred von Karma's most prominent trait, however, was his obsession with perfection and nothing less. He would do whatever it took to win a case, regardless of whether or not the defendant was actually guilty, even if it meant hiding undesired evidence, rigging witness testimonies - even going as far as retraining a parrot - and attacking Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey with a stun gun at one point. He also considered other prosecutors, such as Byrne Faraday, weak for failing to get defendants convicted. However, this "perfection" was also his greatest weakness. The small blemish on his previously-perfect record from the IS-7 trial led to a disproportionate response from Manfred: murdering the defense attorney, taking on Miles as his student (in a way, making him more like his father's killer than his own father), and then framing him for murder despite nurturing such a relationship.
When Miles was to take his place as a prosecutor for the first time, Manfred seemed proud of him. However, the way Miles talks about him is always as a mentor whom he respects, rather than as a parental figure. There was no surprise from Miles that Manfred would prosecute his trial with the aim of winning, evidently seeing his mentor as a man who would gladly prioritize his "perfect" career over him. Whatever feelings Manfred actually developed toward Miles were, they did not dissuade him from carrying out his plan to get back at the man who had ruined his perfect record.
Victims[]
| Murder/Attempted murder victims |
|---|
Victims of his actions
|
Quotes[]
| “ | Hah! A mere detective, speaking back to me. ...I admire your courage at least. Badd. Stand watch and see to it that they don't misbehave. | „ |
| ~ Von Karma meeting Badd. |
| “ | Tsk tsk tsk... If you have an objection, say it. Do you think a mere defense attorney can break my logic? | „ |
| ~ Von Karma taunting Gregory. |
| “ | The victim was not seen, as he stayed locked up in his room after the contest had begun. The only one who could have unlocked the locked rooms was Jeff Master. And the murder weapon, the rock salt lamp, was being kept in Master's room. This should be the decisive evidence in proving Master's guilt! Defense attorney. You've lost to me before you even had a chance to stand in court! | „ |
| ~ Von Karma claiming he won the case over Gregory. |
| “ | What are you hesitating for! I should've known you weren't ready yet! Franziska, you disappoint me as well, now get out of my sight, the both of you! | „ |
| ~ Von Karma dismissing both Edgeworth and Franziska when the former gets too many penalties in the first part of Turnabout Reminiscence. |
| “ | Von Karma: RAAAAAAARGH! Judge: E-excuse me? Mr. von Karma? Von Karma: Three minutes just passed. |
„ |
| ~ Manfred von Karma. |
| “ | Phoenix: I'm going to run this over you, and see what we find. Von Karma: ... I... refuse! |
„ |
| ~ Von Karma getting caught, and his famous breakdown. |
Trivia[]
- "Manfred' is the German word for "man of peace", which can be considered ironic due to his personality. It can also be an allusion to Manfred von Richthofen, known in World War I as the "Red Baron", who also had a great number of victories and was, indeed, defeated by a single bullet much like von Karma.
- "Von Karma" is an allusion to the bad karma he developed over the years. His daughter carries the same influence and power as her father did.
- His Japanese name "Karuma" (in Japanese: 狩魔) is the romanization for "karma", while "Gou" (in Japanese: 豪) may come from a kanji with the same pronunciation, "業", which also means "karma".
- Manfred lived in America in the Japanese games, though this was moved to Germany in the localization, due to the games taking place in America.
- The statute of limitations that Von Karma attempts to exploit is retconned in the second Miles Edgeworth investigations game, as the limitations are paused when the culprit moves country. This would mean that he would have been well within the limitations, due to being in Germany for long periods of time. Even without this retcon, there is still some added irony, as him and Gustavia (the culprit he inadvertedly enabled to get away with his crimes for 18 years) are both defeated due to being within the statute of limitations.
- In the anime version, Von Karma's breakdown was cut short, only showing Manfred screaming and failing to made a finger snap. After his confession, Wright pointed out that it was the truth that defeated Von Karma before the latter snapped his cane and collapsed on the ground like a broken man. The anime version of Von Karma's breakdown completely omitted the scene on which he bumped his head on the wall again and again.
- Furthermore, the live-action film reduced Von Karma's breakdown into a lengthy motive rant.
- The circumstances of his death are only vaguely hinted at ingame, but the official Japan-only guidebook for Trials and Tribulations, "Gyakuten Saiban 3: Investigate into the TRUTH," explicitly lists his cause of death as execution for his crimes.
- Manfred Von Karma is one of only two main antagonists to appear in more than one game, as he appears in both the Miles Edgeworth investigations games. Mael Stronghart appears in both of the Great Ace Attorney games and is the main villain in both of them.
- Manfred is the first of many law enforcement officials to be arrested in the series.
External Links[]
- Manfred Von Karma on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Manfred Von Karma on the Ace Attorney Wiki
