Dahlia Hawthorne
Ace Attorney character
Dahlia Hawthorne in Trials and Tribulations
First appearance	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (2004)
Created by	Shu Takumi
Designed by	Tatsurō Iwamoto

Dahlia Hawthorne, known in Japanese as Chinami Miyanagi ( Japanese: 美柳ちなみ, Hepburn: Miyanagi Chinami), is a character who appears in the 2004 video game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations. She initially appears in a flashback episode as the girlfriend of protagonist Phoenix Wright, who is on trial for murder and defended by rookie defense attorney Mia Fey. She is proven to be the true killer, and Phoenix becomes an attorney at Mia's law office. She is eventually executed for her crimes, but not before her also-incarcerated mother, Morgan Fey, proposed she assist her in a plan to have Maya Fey killed, which Dahlia accepted to get revenge on Mia by having Dahlia's sister, Pearl Fey, channel Dahlia so she may kill Maya.

She was created by Shu Takumi, and designed by Tatsurō Iwamoto, who had difficulties coming up with a design that fit all the necessary parameters. When localizing her name, localizer Janet Hsu named her Dahlia after the album Dahlia by X Japan, while naming her Hawthorne from the short story " Rappaccini's Daughter". Dahlia has received generally positive reception, with multiple critics considering her among the most evil characters in the Ace Attorney series and a tragic figure due to her upbringing.

Dahlia Hawthorne first appears in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations as its main antagonist, appearing in a majority of the game's episodes as the central antagonist of each. She was born to Morgan Fey and is a twin sister to Iris. Prior to the events of the Phoenix Wright trilogy, Morgan was unable to become the master of the Kurain spirit channeling technique, losing out to her sister Misty Fey, causing her husband to take Dahlia and Iris and leave before remarrying a woman with a daughter named Valerie Hawthorne. Iris was sent to live away from Dahlia at Hazakura Temple under Sister Bikini, and Dahlia eventually plotted to steal his riches. She eventually enters a relationship with a man named Terry Fawles and, working with Valerie and Iris, staged a kidnapping plot where Terry was the scapegoat while Dahlia leapt off Dusky Bridge with the ransom. Valerie testified that Terry murdered Dahlia, causing him to be sentenced to death. Terry escaped, and Valerie was killed. Terry Fawles is defended by defense attorney Mia Fey as her first defendant, where it is eventually discovered that Dahlia Hawthorne was alive. When she's about to be shown to be the true killer of Valerie, Terry, feeling doubt, consumes poison that Dahlia told him they should drink if they ever doubted the other, succumbing to its effects. This allowed Dahlia to go free, and caused Mia Fey to experience trauma from the incident.

Mia's co-worker, Diego Armando, began investigating Dahlia, and six months later, was poisoned by her using a locket containing a jar of poison, putting him into a coma. She pawned it onto Phoenix Wright, who accepts it as a show of her love for him and insists on keeping it. She eventually plots to kill Phoenix and retrieve the locket, though Iris offers to get it back from him so she wouldn't have to kill him. After failing to do so for eight months, Dahlia suspects Iris had fallen in love, intervening without telling her and planning to kill him with poisoned cough medicine. Before Dahlia could do so, a man named Doug Swallow warned Phoenix about Dahlia, saying he believed she stole poison from him and is dangerous. Phoenix knocks him out, breaking an electrical wire before walking away. Dahlia, having found Doug, electrocuted him to death, planting the cough medicine on Doug to frame Phoenix for murder. Mia took Phoenix's defense due to Dahlia's involvement, eventually proving that she was the killer despite her using her charm on the judge and prosecutor. Phoenix, who was already working to become a lawyer, joined Mia's law office, and Mia Fey is eventually murdered.

Five years later, while on death row, Dahlia met Morgan Fey, who had been convicted of murder in the previous game as part of a plot to frame Maya Fey in order to ensure her daughter Pearl Fey could take over as the Master of the Kurain spirit channeling technique. Morgan shared with her a plan to lure Maya to Hazakura Temple, where Pearl would follow instructions given to her to channel Dahlia once Dahlia is executed, at which point Dahlia would kill Maya. Dahlia chooses to participate in order to get revenge on Mia Fey for proving her guilt. Diego, having awoken from his coma, learns of Mia's death and Morgan's plot, working with Maya's mother, Misty Fey, to thwart this plot to get revenge on Dahlia.

One day, Phoenix, Maya, and Pearl go to Hazakura Temple due to Maya wanting to train and Phoenix seeing Iris in a newspaper and being shocked due to her resembling Dahlia. There, they meet various people, including Sister Bikini, Iris, and Misty Fey under her pen name Elise Deauxnim, her true identity unknown to them. While Maya is training in a separate area, Misty channels Dahlia to prevent Pearl from doing so. Dahlia attempts to kill Maya, but is stabbed by Godot in the back, causing Misty's death as well. After this, Maya locked herself in the training hall, channeling Dahlia to prevent her from acting. Phoenix discovers the corpse of Deauxnim, as well as the bridge to Maya's area on fire. Iris is put on trial for Deauxnim's murder. Upon the discovery of the lock on the training hall, Iris is made to unlock it; once unlocked, Dahlia in Maya's body swapped places with Iris and locks her away with five locks when everyone is distracted.

Dahlia testified as Iris that Maya was responsible for killing Deauxnim, who had been discovered to be Misty. It's eventually demonstrated that she was Dahlia herself, and Dahlia admitted her plot, believing that Maya had committed suicide after killing Misty by jumping into the river. Phoenix deduces that Maya is the one channeling Dahlia after Maya due to it being impossible for her to have jumped, and Mia, in Pearl's body, mocked Dahlia, saying that this plan failed just like all of her other plans failed, and that she would never get revenge. Phoenix demands Dahlia leave her body, causing her spirit to become disconnected and sent back to the afterlife.

The inclusion of Dahlia in the crossover card game Teppen for an Ace Attorney event called "Turnabout Festival," Dahlia was rejected due to not being "suited to the story [they] wanted to tell," though they expressed interest in including her down the road. ^[1]

Dahlia was designed by series designer Tatsurō Iwamoto. Iwamoto had trouble designing Dahlia despite Trials and Tribulations being an easier design process for him overall. He found the design instructions contradictory, noting how she was a "heroine" but also the "ultimate villain," as well as the use of both western and traditional Japanese clothing. Furthermore, he had to include an aspect to her that Phoenix would fall in love with. He was able to create designs that fulfill each of these elements, but struggled to combine them into one, requiring Capcom to give him a separate room to focus on design. He estimated it took around 2-3 months to find a design, though he did take a break at one point due to a lack of progress. ^[2]

Her Japanese surname, Miyanagi, refers to her beauty, while her first name, Chinami, is a play on " chi mo namida mo nai" (血も涙も無い), an expression that describes her "cold blood" as a "merciless killer," according to author Sílvia Gabarró Mora. ^[3] In Japanese, Dahlia speaks in an honorific language. ^[4] In English, her first name contrasts the name of her sister, Iris, each with the same name as a flower, dahlia and iris respectively. ^[3] Her English name was created by English localizer Janet Hsu, and comes the album Dahlia by the Japanese rock band X Japan. Hsu exclaimed that they were listening to the album at the time, and liked the name Dahlia. They stated that her surname, Hawthorne, was a reference to the short story " Rappaccini's Daughter", and that her nickname, "Dollie," comes from her "Dolly" name from the fan translation of Trials and Tribulations. ^[5]

Dahlia Hawthorne is voiced in English by Dani Chambers, who expressed excitement to play the role due to her love of the Ace Attorney series. She felt that Dahlia was not "very complicated" and is instead "more just straight up evil ... [wanting] everything her way." She appreciated being able to play a mean character in her vocal register, as she had usually been cast as young girl characters due to her register being very high. She also appreciated being able to switch between three different voices. ^[6]

Dahlia Hawthorne has been generally well received as a villain. Nintendo Life writer Kate Gray praised Dahlia as a "compelling" villain who was enjoyable to face in court; she compared him to Professor Moriarty, the rival of Sherlock Holmes, someone who is a "real foil that's almost as good at hiding her tracks as [Phoenix] is at revealing them." She felt that, while her "juxtaposition of sweet and scary" was not new, it was done well, in part due to how it was used sparingly to "maximize the impact." She also discussed the visual design of her two breakdowns, arguing that her first - where the butterflies surrounding her burn up - signify her lack of concern for anyone and anything besides herself. She also discussed how Dahlia is a motivating factor for the actions of several Trials and Tribulations characters and revealed the flaws of them as well, including Phoenix's "unwavering trust," Godot's "dogged pursuit of revenge," and Maya's "willingness to help despite the cost to herself." She found her a highlight of the series, arguing that even once she is defeated, it doesn't change the trauma suffered by characters like Iris, Godot, Phoenix, and the Fey family, as well as the deaths of Terry and Valerie. She nevertheless considered her the most tragic character in the series, citing her mother abandoning her due to a lack of love and her father resenting her due to her mother's lack of power. ^[7] She considered her among the best villains in video games. ^[8]

KK News staff felt she was the epitome of a character who mixes beauty and viciousness, feeling that her ultimate end brought her nausea and fear. Commenting on her design, they argued that she could have been a heroine if she was less cruel. ^[9] Another staff member considered her a tragic Ace Attorney character, feeling that her beauty, wisdom, and evil created a lasting impression in players, particularly being the only Ace Attorney antagonist who appears in three or more episodes as of Trials and Tribulations. They felt that players would initially hate her on their first playthrough, but on subsequent playthroughs, would feel sympathy for Dahlia, due to how her family treats her. They felt that, had Iris been in her life, she may have not gone down this road. ^[10] Hardcore Gamine 101 staff argued that Trials and Tribulations was often considered the best title in the Phoenix Wright series, attributing this in part to Dahlia being "one of the most devious villains" in Ace Attorney and her "shocking mean streak" being significant through the game. ^[11] Game Watch writer Asami Rina considered her among the most evil characters in the series, considering her story to be the beginning and end of Trials and Tribulations. ^[4] Game Donga staff discussed her as a standout female character in Ace Attorney, calling her the most evil woman in the series and a scary character. They also regarded her as a standout female villain in gaming. ^{[12] [13]} VGMOnline writer Oliver Jia discussed her theme, stating that it is inspired by traditional Japanese music and that it had an "ambient arrangement of notes that represent the seemingly innocent nature of the character." While finding it minimalistic, he found it to be a great theme. ^[14] Fellow VGMOnline writer Tommy Ciulla criticized the theme, feeling it was lacking, using it as an example of composer Noriyuki Iwadare's weakness with character themes. ^[15]