| “ | Tell me Worthy, why do you stand in court? You despise criminals, I can feel it. You and me... we're the same. One day you'll understand. Oh, believe me, you will. You're just one man. You'll see what it really takes to bring them down once you try to go at it alone. | „ |
| ~ Gant justifying his crimes to Miles Edgeworth. |
Damon Gant (originally Kaiji Ganto) is a major antagonist in the video game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, serving as the main antagonist in the final case of the game, "Rise From the Ashes".
He's the District Chief of LAPD, being extremely respected for his jovial demeanor, intelligence and track record catching criminals. However he's not all that meets the eye, as while he was initially a hero who effectively solved many crimes, his failure to convict Joe Darke caused him to do the unthinkable and kill Detective Neil Marshall in order to secure a conviction for Darke, kickstarting the events which would lead to the aforementioned case and eventually his own downfall.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
- Killed Detective Neil Marshall in order to frame mass murderer Joe Darke for it and ultimately have him executed. While Joe Darke deserved it, Gant still killed a completely innocent man without remorse.
- Arranged the crime scene to make it look like Ema Skye had accidentally killed Marshall, in order to gaslight and blackmail her sister Lana into helping him frame Darke instead.
- After successfully fabricating evidence and securing the conviction for Darke, he fired investigator Angel Starr and demoted Neil's brother Jake Marshall from his original rank, to prevent them from finding out the truth.
- This shoddy case would indirectly taint Miles Edgewroth's career, as he was the main suspect of having forged evidence for the case.
- Years later when Jake became suspicious of the case and asked Bruce Goodman to retrieve the evidence so they could review it, Gant stabbed Bruce to death to prevent him from doing so.
- He used his extreme intelligence, knowledge over the law and high status to manipulate the court against Phoenix Wright and Ema Skye, and in fact came very close to victory.
- Once he thought he had won, he mocked Wright for his apparent failure and told him his career was over, taunting him with having accidentally condemned Ema Skye to prison, and even threatening to press legal charges against Wright for putting him to trial. Though this was mainly to continue to look innocent in front of everyone, it was undoubtedly sadistic too.
- After the tables turned on him and it became evident he was guilty, he attempted to invalidate the trial on a technicality, accusing Wright of presenting illegal evidence in a last-ditch effort to avoid prison.
- Right after his breakdown he claimed he should have killed Jake when he could, calling him "good-for-nothing scum" for always "hounding him" instead of investigating "the other crimes which happened every day".
- In the end he refused to show remorse for the bulk of his actions and attempted to justify himself to Edgeworth, claiming he only did what he had to do and that Edgeworth would one day understand why he did it.
- While he's very affable and acts jovial to everyone, this is primarily a facade to hide his true motivations. And regardless of it being genuine or not, it's evident he's willing to throw even those closest to him under the bus to fulfill his goals, making his attitude shallow.
Why He Doesn't Stand Out?[]
- He fails the high Heinous Standards of Ace Attorney to other villains of similar or lower resources, such as Manfred von Karma, Dahlia Hawthorne, Kristoph Gavin, and his own archenemy Joe Darke who had zero resources in comparison.
- That said, he still meets the General Standards by murdering two of his friends, blackmailing and gaslighting (psychologically abusing) Lana for two years, conspiring to have both Lana and Ema take the fall for his murders, having personal villainy to them due to almost ruining their relationship, and intending to ruin Phoenix's life out of spite.
- He's a genuine extremist who was primarily motivated by giving criminals like Darke the punishment they deserved. While his methods are extremely questionable as he abused the law, hurt his own allies and even hurt innocent bystanders to achieve it, he still was genuinely convinced he acted for the common good. Unlike von Karma, Gavin, Excelsius Winner and Aristotle Means who only manipulated the law for their personal gain.
- He's not completely remorseless as he says he felt bad for taking the evidence from Detective Goodman's locker after killing him, and later apologized to the judge for betraying their friendship.
- He has some actual affability and honor as he praised Wright and Edgeworth for their work defeating him, saying they represented "a new beginning", by this point having nothing to gain from it.
Trivia[]
- He ironically shares some similarities with his nemesis Joe Darke, as both started by killing only one person only to then commit additional murders and crimes in order to cover their tracks. However, Darke still killed many more and with less justification and as such is NPE.
External Links[]
- Damon Gant on the Villains Wiki
- Damon Gant on the Ace Attorney Wiki
- Damon Gant on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
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 Villainous Benchmarks
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Games Apollo Justice Trilogy Ace Attorney Investigations The Great Ace Attorney | ||