| “ | That's... ENOOOOUGH!! Do you have any idea of the conniving that led to the acquittals of those WRETCHED criminals?! We have to fight fire with fire! Our courts can't function without a Reaper! Can't you see all I've done for this country?! This has been my struggle! | „ |
| ~ Mael Stronghart breaking down while trying to justify all of his crimes. |
| “ | Being the Lord Chief Justice wasn't enough. Short of becoming Her Majesty's Attorney general, I could have no real power to effect the changes needed in this country. And for that promotion...I needed to ensure no remnants of the past remained, I like everything to run smoothly, In the exact manner that I prescribe. Like a well-oiled machine... | „ |
| ~ Mael Stronghart, after his villainous breakdown. |
Mael Stronghart is the main antagonist of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles duology, being the overarching antagonist of The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and the main antagonist of The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve.
He is the Lord Chief of Justice of London who wants to get rid of the crime on London at any cost. So much so that he's revealed to be the mastermind behind the Professor conspiracy and the Reaper's curse, two of the main mysteries of the games.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- Back when he was a prosecutor, he discovered that Klint van Zieks (brother of Barok van Zieks) murdered one of the members of aristocracy out of a desire to take justice into his own hands. But rather than report it, he blackmailed him into becoming his own vigilante and gave him targets to kill, who included two other members of the aristocracy and the previous Lord Chief Justice to rise unto power. This event would later be known as "the Professor's killings". What makes it worse is the fact the last murder drove Klint unto a self-loathing spiral due to killing his mentor.
- When Genshin brought his suspicions about Klint being the Professor, Stronghart refused to open the case by claiming that the evidence against Klint was too weak.
- When he found out that Klint was killed by Genshin Asogi, he planned to have him framed for Klint's murders by having Tobias Gregson steal Genshin's ring and have John Wilson put down in the autopsy report that his ring was found inside the stomach of Klint.
- Once arrested, knowing that Genshin had Klint's will where he confessed everything, he bargained with Genshin that if he admitted to his crimes, he would organize a fake execution so that he would be sent free, basically putting his crimes onto him.
- The situation led to Barok Van Zieks becoming prejudiced against the Japanese.
- In the process of this, he indirectly caused Daley Vigil (a worker on the prison that held Genshin) to be fired and subsequently attempted suicide, which he would be later be reduced to a beggar on the streets. This also led to Daley Vigil agreeing to impersonate Tobias Gregson for money to give Tobias an alibi and to judge Jigoku attempting to frame him as the murderer of Tobias Gregson.
- He allowed Barok van Zieks to be the lead prosecutor in Genshin Asogi's trial despite him being too biased to see the situation objectively.
- Also in the process, he offered Seishiro Jigoku into the position of Minister of Foreign affairs if he helped with the process, to which he complied.
- When he saw Enoch Drebber discovering Genshin rising from his grave, he feared that the conspiracy would be revealed, so he convinced Seishiro Jigoku to shoot him, ultimately betraying him on the deal and making Jigoku betray his friend.
- This indirectly caused Enoch Drebber to have his life ruined by having his graverobbing tendencies exposed and his future career destroyed, reduced to be a con-artist, and eventually enact a murder.
- Now converted into the Lord Chief Justice, he decided to have an organization that would follow Barok van Zieks in that he would mandate them into killing defendants who escaped the guilty verdict, and would spread information of these mysterious killings as "the Reaper's curse".
- This would affect Barok deeply, to the point that he retired for five years and did not take any case because he did not want to kill more people due to his supposed "curse". It also made him a constant target of attempted murders in retaliation, one of which scarred his face.
- It also affected Tobias Gregson, one of his members, as even if he was told it was for the greater good by him, he still felt guilty for it, especially when he started to train Gina Lestrade.
- Desiring a more powerful position to realize his dream, he decided to erase any evidence of his previous crimes. So he organized a plan to kill the people that were involved in the conspiracy. In which, he would send Jezaille Brett to Japan to kill John Wilson and he would blackmail Seishiro into sending Kazuma Asogi (the son of Genshin) to kill Tobias Gregson. Both of them would be scot-free of their crimes due to the relationship that Japan and Britain had.
- Although he knew that Kazuma was still alive, he still accepted Seishiro's request to replace Kazuma in the assassination exchange, causing him to become the culprit of Gregson's murder.
- He was perfectly okay with sending Barok to jail to take the blame of Tobias's murder. Even after that trial ended up showing that Barok was innocent of the murders of Tobias Gregson and the Reaper victims, he was still willing to convict him if it meant remaining in power.
- Knowing that Kazuma believed that Barok sent his father to his death and therefore hated him, he assigned him to be the prosecutor in his case. He also put Maria Gorey, the daughter of Courtney Sithe, as coroner of the case to manipulate the facts if he needed. He had her leave out that the time of death may have been tampered and later berated her when she brought the ring that supposedly incriminated Genshin Asogi to the courtroom and threatened to punish her.
- Once he felt that the trial was going on for too long, he decided to put himself as judge for the case to end whenever he desired.
- When Gina was not taking well the revelation that Tobias Gregson was an accomplice of the Reaper's killings, he humilliated her in court and told her to leave the police.
- When Seishiro was found guilty for his murder of Tobias, he was ready to end the case with him being sent to jail. The only reason he didn't forcefully end it was because Naruhodo managed to convince the judiciary to continue the case.
- He was constantly being obstructive in the trial by attempting to get it finished and by attempting to reject the summoning of important witnesses.
- When Ryunosuke and Barok asserted that he was the real Reaper, he tried to push Kazuma into trying to make a case against Barok to divert the accusations against him and when Kazuma supported the defense's request for Mikotoba's testimony, he told Kazuma that he was possessed by his "homicidal" father's spirit despite knowing that Kazuma's father was innocent of the Professor killings.
- Even when Naruhodo proved that without doubt he was the one responsible for all of his crimes, he still managed to convince the judiciary to not punish him due to him bringing out the fact that if all of the truth went public, the legal system would return to be filled with crime. They only managed to arrest him due to Naruhodo being in contact with Herlock to broadcast the information of the trial with the queen, and her declaring that his position should be revoked and that he would be sent to jail immediately.
- Despite losing his power as Chief Justice, he tried to adjourn the trial.
- Although he says that he's only doing the crimes for a better country and a more powerful legal system, he is pointed out in his hypocrisy that due to him not actually taking a hand on the crimes, he's actually a delusional coward who only cares for his position.
- After being exposed, he admitted that he wanted the British legal system to run like a well-oiled machine, which means having everything under his control.
- He shows no care about what happens to his allies that he doesn't plan to kill, given as he didn't do anything when Jezaille Brett, his main assassin, was murdered in Japan or when Courtney Sithe, one of the coroners in the conspiracy and turned head coroner, was found guilty of murder.
- Basically, he manipulates everyone's sense of justice or greed for his own benefit, ultimately not truly caring about them even when he's benefitted by their actions and disposing of them if they pose an inconvenience.
- Overall, he's the one responsible either partial or mainly all of the events of the story, and he affects all of the main characters in some shape or form.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- Despite his heinous actions he is still a genuine extremist. He truly believes that his actions are benefiting the country, and that him being in a more powerful position will be good for Britain in the long run. What's more there seems to be no indication that there is selfishness in his actions despite many call outs on his crimes.
- In the final scene we see with him, Barok van Zieks asks him that if he bothered to count the amount of people he killed, in which he only responds with silence with his head looking down. While it is not much it does indicate he felt remorse for the actions he has done that led him to spill so much blood.
Trivia[]
- Although the standard is very high on Ace Attorney, Mael Stronghart manages to stand out on being the culprit with the most named characters affected for his actions, having close of 20 named characters. The only one who can even challenge him is Excelsius Winner, due to his actions that led to the disastrous events of the original Phoenix Wright Trilogy and Gyakuten Kenji 2.
External Links[]
- Mael Stronghart on the Villains Wiki
- Mael Stronghart on the Ace Attorney Wiki
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 Near Pure Evils
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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit Dual Destinies Spirit of Justice The Great Ace Attorney Fanon Ace Attorney: Conflict of Interest Turnabout Jackpot | ||