#oh well. heres me iris + dahlia dissertation of sorts

[mekatrio]

babbling about iris and a bit about dahlia bc they are awesomely awesome characters

iris is one of The characters ever like takumi accidentally wrote an amazingly compelling morally-grey female character but barely did anything w her (common trend with his characters)

like this is an insane line that everybody just glosses over like.. dahlia's murder of doug swallow + attempted murder of phoenix wright is, by iris' own admission, the first time dahlia had ever acted out without iris' knowledge. and yes iris' line here can be interpreted specifically as "this was the first time dahlia's actions regarding phoenix weren't planned between dahlia and iris", but considering that:

1.) iris knew abt dahlia's faked kidnapping plot

2.) knew that dahlia had poisoned armando, and pretended to be dahlia to try and retrieve the necklace from phoenix in order to protect her

and 3.) hid the fact that she swapped places with a channelled dahlia at the sacred cavern,

im more inclined to believe that this line of hers meant that this is the first time that dahlia had ever acted out without iris' knowledge. which would then imply that every other scheme dahlia had carried out before this, iris has had knowledge of.. which honestly makes sense. like several of dahlia's crimes (faked kidnapping + murder of valerie) took place in close proximity of hazakura temple, and when u take this line into account, its more than likely that iris had played some sort of role in valerie's murder. like.. im sorry its just so mindboggling to me that so many ppl talk abt iris like she's the "good" twin or that she was threatened into helping dahlia bc like.... that just isnt true. if she was actually a "good" person, she wouldve let someone know that terry fawles was being framed, that dahlia had murdered valerie, and tht dahlia had poisoned armando and gave the evidence away to phoenix. cuz like what would dahlia hv done to her? shes a small woman whose preferred method of killing is poison, and even though iris had said this:

dahlia's attempt to kill phoenix was a discrete attempt at poisoning, which relied on him being sick, and failed anyways. her murder of doug swallow was a matter of luck that a dangerous live wire was just dangling around, and her stabbing of valerie is well... lmfao its video game logic so ill ignore that. and also like, dahlia actually cares abt iris. its extremely unlikely she'd ever hurt her, and this is evident in the way that she had never once incriminated iris at any point. she couldve revealed tht iris had known abt the faked kidnapping, had known that she poisoned armando and was planning to kill phoenix, and yet she never does. during 3-5's final trial dahlia calls iris a nuisance and a backstabber, but yet never once does she reveal the extent of iris' complicity. the most she does is privately reveal to phoenix that iris had known abt the faked kidnapping. and she only does this as a channelled spirit, who now harbors a degree of resentment towards iris for her 'betrayals':

but when dahlia was alive? what would she hv done to threaten iris? the most plausible thing she could do is maybe threaten the safety of sister bikini, but yet this possibility is never mentioned at any point. what is more likely is that iris wasnt being threatened into helping dahlia out, and instead helped her out of her own volition bc she loved and cared for her in spite of everything:

and this would also then make this other crazy line from iris make much more sense:

iris, knowing full and well that dahlia cared deeply for her, would use her own well-being as a bargaining chip to protect phoenix. basically, "if you try to kill phoenix i will Kill Myself." and also the fact that she admits that she considered killing her own sister like... DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A "GOOD" TWIN TO YOU??

and say even if iris was being threatened by dahlia... she still continues to keep quiet about everything, even after shes incarcerated and has no means to hurt her. never once does iris reach out to phoenix and tells him "yeah sorry but i was lying to you for 6 months". even when phoenix is right in front of her face, she still doesnt admit this to him. and then she goes on to cover up another murder, this time at the hands of godot, and continues to lie to not just phoenix, but other members of law enforcement. and when faced with dahlia, who is being channelled by maya.. she still chooses to help her, aiding her in deceiving everyone:

oh and did i also mention that she um.. BRUTALLY DESECRATED HER AUNT'S CORPSE...?!?!?

like it really drives me nuts how ppl say that she's the opposite of dahlia, that shes her better half. cuz shes really... really not. shes been an accomplice of dahlia for god knows how long, having kept quiet about her various killings and poisonings, deceived phoenix for 6 months and let him believe for 6 whole years that the woman who loved him was also the woman who tried to kill him, had considered killing her sister, tried to cover up a murder, helped her dead sister deceive everyone, and desecrated her aunt's corpse. and shes an amazing character for that!!! iris is just as dark-hearted as dahlia, and the only difference is that she never took the plunge and took someone's life, though she does admit to having considered doing that. but still, she is an accomplice all the same.

both her and dahlia love each other, but hold feelings of resentment and remorse towards one another. dahlia feels betrayed by iris, and iris knows this. also this post puts this aspect of dahlia's character into words much better than i ever could, so let me just snag it and put it over here:

in order to reduce iris into this "good twin threatened by her evil twin", it requires a disregard and flanderization of both iris' and dahlia's character. and considering how much this fandom loves to beat down dahlia and regard her as this cartoonishly evil character, its no wonder that iris' character is similarly oversimplified; bc people love to make dahlia = bad, then iris must be good! well BZZZT Wrong! both iris and dahlia are amazingly complex characters... who unfortunately exist in ace attorney's universe, where character complexity is secondary to murder mystery, if its even considered at all. and this is why the narrative does the insane decision to frame phoenix's unwavering belief in iris' character as a good thing which is um. Excuse Me? like he has no evidence whatsoever to suggest that the woman he fell in love with isnt the same woman who tried to kill him. but like ok sure he's defended clients in more incriminating situations, so the story is probably drawing a final parallel of Believe In Your Client with phoenix's and iris' dynamic. except the reveal that phoenix's gf did not try to kill him but instead.... lied to him for 6 months, never told him about the danger he was in during this time, left him to believe that she tried to kill him, and continued to deceive him is like. Bro. Hello. nothing about this is admirable and just makes phoenix look like an extremely unhealthily devoted man like....!!!?!?

but anyways YEAH iris is a charmingly complex character who was too good for ace attorney. sniffles. but i see you iris i know you're crazy and i love u!!!