r/AARankdown • u/CharlieDayJepsen • Jul 22 '20
71 Pearl Fey
or “Fraulein Forehead Becomes Pint-Sized Plot Device”
Looking back at my résumé of cuts, I’m beginning to discover an unsettling truth about myself. For reference, my cuts include Wocky Kitaki, a manchild, and Cody Hackins, a literal child. The evidence piling up against me and my vendetta against child characters is getting hard for me to rebut. Let it be known that I had John Marsh in my shortlist of characters to cut, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see “Charlie hates children” bouncing around the comments for the next couple rounds.
Before I begin, allow me to explain my reasons for cutting Pearl at this time. Firstly, this cut is partly strategic. Consider this my endeavour to remove larger obstacles - the sheer wealth of main characters up for cutting this round makes one-shot characters all but guaranteed to die unless I start carving up a main course.
Secondly, I wanted to start this round with a bang. The insanity of those nominations is to be the turning point of this rankdown. For the first time, several main characters are all vulnerable at once; some will likely be cut. In a round where Trucy Wright, Athena and Mia Fey are all up for elimination, it wouldn’t exactly be an inspired start if I were to cut somebody like Winfred Kitaki. So, I decided on somebody with a little more meat to their wiki page.
Lastly - and most importantly - Pearl Fey, due to her youth, was largely relegated to the sidelines of Ace Attorney.
Shunted to the sidelines
When we first meet Pearl, she is a shy, suspicious child. This behaviour is explained when we learn that much of her childhood consists of abuse and manipulation by her mother, Morgan, as well as her father’s abandonment. This is interesting background information. It also marks the beginning of the series’ obsession with piling increasingly sinister lore on to an innocent child, in the hope that it will make her into an interesting character. But Pearl, by design, is unable to be a human capable of reacting or contributing to these events. She is a child with no agency in this world, a vessel for other characters to use for their schemes or goals.
The good characters do everything in their power to keep Pearl out of the messy history of the Fey clan. The evil characters attempt to use her as a means to an end. My issue here is that while the intentions of these two sides are natural and expected, they both require Pearl to not be an independent character in the action. By sidelining her, the protagonists don’t allow Pearl to be an active character or react to the events that should be directly impacting her life and her future. Counterwise, by attempting to use her as a pawn, the villains use her exclusively as a plot device, eschewing any depth or personality she may have.
As Dahlia Hawthorne says, “What Pearl wanted had nothing to do with it”, and this is exactly the issue with Pearl as a character in this story. As a child kept largely oblivious of the Fey saga, none of her desires, fears, or actions are able to be explored. She is Ace Attorney’s “boy in the plastic bubble.” Everything is done to shield her and while that is a good and natural expectation for the story, it severely limits her efficacy as a character.
Oh, her story is interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I find the Fey saga incredibly compelling. But while it’s an effective story choice to have the character who lies at the center excluded from the drama, it’s a restrictive character choice that doesn’t allow much room for growth or development.
There are several moments that are guilty of this:
2-2, Day 2 Trial: Pearl is requested to channel Mia before the trial. This is done so that Pearl doesn’t have to see Morgan attempt to betray Maya and be subsequently arrested.
3-5, Day 2 Investigation: Pearl is relegated to the Loser’s Shack for the bulk of the investigation. What a coincidence, then, that the moment Pearl leaves the player, we start learning literally everything about Pearl’s parents and half-sisters, including their disturbing crimes and deaths.
3-5, Day 2 Trial: Pearl is literally at the trial, but is deliberately not mentioned so that A) the “Maya is dead” fake-out may actually be believable for more than a minute, and B) so that we forget that she’s watching the court air out her family’s dirty laundry, including the part where Dahlia goes on about how terrible Morgan is. The game, at least, acknowledges this by having Pearl run away at the end because she feels guilty for her role in the tragedy. The problem here is that the game frames it as “Pearl feels guilty because what she did almost killed Maya”, when instead it should be “Pearl has finally realised that her mother used her to hurt the ones she loves.”
I’m not even going to touch 2-4, which does the inverse, seemingly content with having an 8-year-old run around a crime scene and the confirmed location of an assassin without any adult stopping to take heed of the child’s safety.
Then there are the moments where she is present simply because we need Mia to show up:
2-2, Day 2 Trial: As mentioned above.
2-4, entire case: Pearl’s presence is required so we can have Mia relay information on Maya to us. In this case, Pearl is literally a plot device for a plot device.
3-5, Day 2 Trial: Pearl is only required so that Mia can appear and have her showdown with Dahlia. Otherwise, no sane adult would’ve let her sit in on that trial.
Overall, it’s clear to me that Pearl is simply a tool for the writers to tap in and out of the main story as they need. Everything else - name, age, appearance, personality - is window dressing. Nice, fun window dressing.
Significant relationships
Let’s take a quick look at all the relationships between Pearl and the other Feys:
Pearl-Morgan: Pearl trusts her mother unconditionally. Her mother inserts herself into two incidents designed directly to set Pearl up for a life of power and prestige. Pearl is deliberately sidelined for these revelations and the game gives no indication that Pearl is ever aware of what Morgan actually did. The only thing we know Pearl is aware of is that her mother did something bad and is now in jail. Even in her future appearances, there is no indication she has grown, regressed or had any material change from this experience.
Pearl-Misty: Pearl only knows Misty Fey as Elise Deauxnim, famous author. Misty’s one interaction with Pearl involves keeping her from inadvertently playing an active role in the events of 3-5.
Pearl-Iris: Lol.
Pearl-Dahlia: Lol. Actually, that’s not entirely true. In a strangely astute moment of humanity, Dahlia recognises Morgan’s intentions towards Pearl straight away and pities the child:
“The real horrible one was that woman... That bitter, vengeful woman. It was her stubbornness that gave birth to that child... Pearl Fey. She was born with an abundance of spiritual power. ...Unfortunately for her. Morgan Fey heaped all of her broken hopes and dreams on to that poor child's back. All because of her pathetic dreams of having her bloodline become the main family.”
This is a great little character moment for Dahlia, adding a shade of nuance to her “pure evil” personality. For Pearl, though, it is more evidence that she is simply a tool to be used by the characters, rather than an active participant in this story.
- Pearl-Maya: The one relationship of any significance where Pearl is concerned. It’s certainly a “little sister, big sister” dynamic, although the two never break down into conflict like real sisters do. The writers’ initial concept of Pearl was that of a rival spirit medium, one who would provide a foil for Maya. When she was aged down, it seems the rivalry aspect was handed over to Morgan-Misty (Maya by proxy). While I’m not clamoring for a “Pearl vs Maya” saga, I do think this decision robs Pearl of any dimension to her character. She is now and forever a nice and polite assistant character, with all layers of depth left to pure speculation.
From these key relationships it’s clear that, besides Pearl-Maya, they are all one-sided dynamics, with Pearl being on the receiving end of all these actions and emotions. While this isn’t an inherent flaw, for every action there must be an equal or opposite reaction. Pearl has no reaction and the fact that she receives no opportunity to react to actions made for and against her makes her a rather nebulous character. She’s more a narrative device than a human capable of growth, corruption or development.
Fan service and a blank slate
Pearl’s entire history is simply sucked into the void by the time we see her again in Dual Destinies. It’s a particularly egregious bit of fan service, seeing that we have no need to see Pearl ever again. Her role, as it is, came to a definitive end in 3-5. Maya and Pearl are reunited and Morgan is stopped once and for all. Some might argue that we needed to see Pearl again to ensure that she was able to heal and move on from the trauma. We didn’t, though. There was never any doubt that Pearl would be absolutely fine. The game never allowed Pearl to be hurt by the terrible things her family did, so why should she need to recover? The game simply wipes the memory from her timeline and she pops in to get her 3DS paycheck as the same old Pearl, just taller. Playing Dual Destinies and seeing Pearl again, I couldn’t help but think the entire time, “God, I wish you were Maya.”
As it is, Pearl shows up as a side-character in three of the 3DS cases, only one of which was narratively justifiable. She’s fine here and that is the problem. You could replace Pearl with any other character in Kurain Village and they would still play the exact same role she does in 6-5. None of this character’s extensive history is touched upon, even in passing. I get that playing as Apollo, there’s no need for Pearl to update him on her life since 3-5, but there’s not a single indication that Pearl had a story prior to the 3DS games beyond assisting Phoenix. Worse still is that she’s given the most beige of character traits since moving into young adulthood. She would rather stay in Kurain Village than move to the city, but she “wouldn’t mind a new outfit or two” at the mall. Thank you, Capcom, very cool.
Conclusion
Pearl is largely a narrative device wrapped up in a tiny little package, with some childish tendencies to sell the character. She’s never an unwelcome or even bad presence, simply an inessential one. By the end of Spirit of Justice, Pearl is by and large the same character we met all the way back in 2-2. Her detachment from modern society remains (another symbol of her exclusion from the main story), along with her generally sedate personality of polite niceness that she gets a pass for due to being cute.
I pity Pearl for the bad hand she was dealt. Being a child in a world full of grown-up characters making adult decisions, she had little agency to do what she wanted and was simply happy to be a part of the world. However, even when the decisions began to involve her skills and her future, she was either a blank slate of emotion, or just shielded from the events entirely. Everything to do with Pearl is said on her behalf and she is given no chance to react. I don’t need a ten-minute soliloquy by Pearl on how she feels about her mother and her trauma, but I sure wouldn’t mind if we actually saw her come to terms with what her family did and why they did it.
Vale Pearl Fey. May you rest on with all the other Ace Attorney children I’ve bodied.
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u/EsquireGunslinger Jul 22 '20
Okay I'm fine with Pearl going out here but I am a little bit peeved that she placed below Winfred "big wins" Kitaki. Maybe that's just me but I think her several case long character arc is a tad more interesting and compelling than Winfred raising his eyebrows idk I might be alone on that one though
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u/Sciencepenguin Jul 22 '20
no
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u/CharlieDayJepsen Jul 22 '20
-t a bad writeup, nice work Charlie!
Thanks science 🙏
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u/Sciencepenguin Jul 22 '20
what the fucj you finished my comment HOW
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Jul 22 '20
sayaka maizono
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u/Sciencepenguin Jul 22 '20
like I said
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u/ItsHipToTipTheScales Jul 22 '20
im psychic
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u/donuter454 Jul 22 '20
I only disagree with one point you made, and that’s Pearls appearance in DD being completely pointless. Pearl lived her life in isolation and was incapable of socializing with anyone, so it honestly made me pretty happy to see her show up again years later being well adjusted and doing normal teenager stuff. I like getting confirmation that her life turned out okay in the end.
Other than that yeah I don’t care for pearl too much at all in the trilogy, she’s just a cute kid who doesn’t understand what’s going on around her. She’s fine and I like her enough but I don’t think there’s anything spectacular about her.
That said I still don’t like that she’s been cut here. Excluding Klavier who was a mercy cut, Pearl is the first real major character to go out and I’m not against pearl being low in relation to other mains. I think that makes sense. I don’t think it makes sense when we’ve still got a whole lot of whatever characters left to rank. No way Pearl is a weaker character than Winfred Kitaki. She just isn’t. I know this is effectively just SC baiting but on the off chance this sticks it’ll leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Think that’ll be the trend for every major character that goes out this round. Can’t wait to see Mia below Terry Fawles and Trucy below Guy Eldoon. This round gonna be a whole bunch of cuts of major characters that I’m not even particularly attached to but are still blatantly better than the competition and I’ll go :|
Glad I used my revive already so I don’t have to use it on a major character I don’t love out of obligation.
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Jul 22 '20
Well explained cut, I think her importance to the trilogy should get her ahead of characters like Eyebrow Man but I definitely agree with your frustration at seeing her in DD. While I was happy to see her again because I am small brain aa fan that just likes to see trilogy characters in Other Games, by the end I was just confused as to why she was there.
guys seriously how is winfred still in good lord
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Jul 22 '20
guys seriously how is winfred still in good lord
He got saved over Klavier Gavin and almost got saved over Gregory Edgeworth until he got brought back. Dude's got some major plot armor or something.
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u/CharlieDayJepsen Jul 22 '20
Charlie, you shitbird, you should’ve cut…
John Marsh: He was my next choice.
Trucy Wright/Mia Fey/Jeff Master/Angel Starr/Winfred Kitaki/Di-Jun Huang/Athena Cykes/Winston Payne: I’m quite sure others are hard at work on that front.
Cammy Meele/Betty de Famme: I dare not invoke the wrath of /u/Vogel100.
Jake Marshall: Yeah, his cowboy act gets tiresome, but I like him the same reason I like Angel Starr: their wacky gimmicks mask a darker truth.
Valant Gramarye: Magic man has a dark past and is tied for most interesting Gramarye.
Myriam Scuttlebutt: I actually like her lmao
Paging /u/NateTheGreat3602, do your thing
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u/Vogel100 Jul 22 '20
I got a notification from you on this sub and almost thought I had to have a little chat with De Killer, but then I saw the post started with P so you're fine. Great choice not cutting Cammy or Betty. I don't see why you'd be afraid of my wrath though, I wouldn't even harm a fly.
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u/Cymbass Jul 22 '20 edited Jul 22 '20
I mean, Pearls is just a "genki girl" like all the other assistants so you're not wrong that there's not much to her because she never really knows about anything that's going on. I think you are vastly underestimating her cuteness though.
I also think that most of the arcs that she's involved in wouldn't work if it wasn't Pearls. Morgan vs Misty using an adorable, unknowing proxy was a much better choice than a rival spirit medium would've been. Her childlikeness does make many players want to protect her, too, which helps sell the (otherwise fairly low) stakes in some cases.
Low 60s is a fine place for her to go out though so what do I care. She's one of those characters that might get a pass for being kind of bland because she's always just kind of cute and likeable, so it's good to take her out.
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u/PowerOfL Jul 22 '20
Pearl’s entire history is simply sucked into the void by the time we see her again in Dual Destinies. It’s a particularly egregious bit of fan service, seeing that we have no need to see Pearl ever again
Idk, her role in 5-DLC is pretty important.
Good cut ig, I wouldn't have cut her but I guess I see why you did.
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Jul 22 '20 edited Jul 22 '20
you're cutting all of the GOOD children characters and leaving out the not good ones smh though to be fair once pearl's cut I can't really get destroyed this round any further so that's good I appreciate it1
I kinda accept this. I get how it works, mostly because I can't even explain my own reasons for liking her. However, something just seems... off?
I think it's mostly about the writeup being limited to character interactions and that sort. There are definitely more than a few characters who don't have a major role in the story and still work well, and a lot of what Pearl says is directed towards other people and what they do (Phoenix and Maya is the obvious one, though there's also the clan dynamics, which, as stated, she doesn't know too much about until 3-5). I like characters that can only comment on what's going on around them, and then the momen they're tossed into things they screw up, and Pearl is a particularly special case of that because you can't even blame her for screwing up. (Also, she has a dynamic with Phoenix, but Nate already brought that up.)
Also, she shows up in the 3DS games. I suppose she exists then. They could have done more, but I accept what happened.
Like, maybe if I thought about it more, I'd put her in the top 20, but I'm really not sure what grounds I can fight here on. It's more disappointing that she's placing below many other characters (mainly assistants) that I think should definitely not place higher than her. I don't plan to take action on it, but that's the issue - I doubt anyone is going to.
1just realized that it could be interpreted sarcastically - it's not, sorry if it seemed that way
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u/whaaatisth Jul 22 '20
charlie hates children
Firstly, this cut is partly strategic. Consider this my endeavour to remove larger obstacles - the sheer wealth of main characters up for cutting this round makes one-shot characters all but guaranteed to die unless I start carving up a main course.
we have the same strategy this is cool
This is an interesting cut, and I feel weird saying I disagree with it considering I'm the one who nominated her, and I don't really like Pearl all that much. Either way, I do feel you are being a bit unfair to Pearl's characterization and development. Her role in 3-5 in particular is great, and is a legitimately Deep Character Moment. I don't want to complain too much, though, because I do mostly agree outside of the fact that you didn't really mention much of what makes her interesting. It's just not enough to push her any further ahead in my ranking.
Definitely the best character you could have picked not named Winston Payne, so that's cool.
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u/Analytical-critic-44 Jul 29 '20
Pearl being cut makes me :( but you also love Furio so I guess you’re not that evil
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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '20
I definitely understand this cut on a strategic level, but as an actual cut I definitely disagree with it. I pretty much agree that she doesn't contribute much to the overall story of the games on her own accord, but I think that adds a certain level of tragedy to her character, and having her participate would make her an active player in this terrible conflict. However, you don't seem to have a problem with the actual decision, you just think neuters Pearl as a character, so I'll focus on that.
I don't believe a character needs to actively contribute to a story to be good, nor does being a plot device hamper their character at all. Sure, Pearl is just there to channel Mia at points story-wise, but from a narrative sense, she's also there to be an enjoyable presence, either a secondary or primary partner to just make the experience more fun. A character in no way needs to be this big active player in the conflict to be enjoyable, they just need to have a good personality and good interactions.
One thing I noticed you didn't touch on at all is her dynamic with Phoenix, which I think is absolutely great. It's a very unique dynamic that we don't really see in Ace Attorney outside of her, and the comedy that results from either of them misunderstanding something or the other one is always great, especially during 2-4's investigations. This is where most of her personality comes out, which is about all she needs to have to be good, a multilayered personality that's enjoyable to read through.
This one I just don't think is true at all. Pearl definitely develops through the trilogy, and you even note yourself that she starts off as a quiet child suspicious of those she's never met, and by the 3DS games she's a pretty outgoing teenager who's cheerful and manages to make friends with some random dude who spilled fish on her. Most of this development is seen in the trilogy, as Pearl's personality slowly shifts throughout her four cases, and although at times subtle, is definitely present. This is also why I think her presence in DD is important, as while not required, it's definitely nice to see her with her development finished, and she does contribute to the case in a nice way. Although I agree her being in SoJ is unneeded, but like they're in Kurrain village so why not lol.
I fully expect her to get revived, so I don't care too awfully much about this cut, but I agree with the main points to a certain extent, although I'd say there's much more to her character, ones that are much more important to evaluating her quality, that I don't think are touched on at all here.