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Magnifi Gramarye
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Valant Gramarye
My mentor, the magnificent Magnifi Gramarye was a true deity among magicians. A creator-god who gave birth to magic and illusions that defied our very imaginations!

Magnifi Gramarye was the founding member of Troupe Gramarye, a group of stage magicians. His death sparked a chain of events that resulted in the disappearance of Zak Gramarye, a blow to Valant Gramarye's reputation, and the disbarment of Phoenix Wright.

Career[]

Young Magnifi

Magnifi Gramarye at the start of his career.

Magnifi Gramarye started his professional magic career around 2006. He became wildly popular in his prime, appearing on TV very frequently on many networks. Many aspiring magicians came through his door, but only three had the talent that he desired. Two of these men were given the stage names "Zak Gramarye" and "Valant Gramarye", and the other was a man named "Mr. Reus". These three became his students. Magnifi formed Troupe Gramarye with these students and his daughter, Thalassa Gramarye. Thalassa briefly left the Troupe to marry a guest performer, though she returned after her husband died a year later.

In 2015, Reus was injured while practicing a magic trick. Because of this, Magnifi, believing that Reus was too unskilled, removed him from the Troupe's next show. Reus defied this decision by showing up for the show anyway, causing Magnifi to permanently oust him from the Troupe.

Accident[]

Thalassa's Accident

The fateful Quick-Draw Shoot 'em that went wrong.

One year after Reus left, the remaining students were rehearsing "Zak and Valant's Quick Draw Shootem", which involved Zak and Valant Gramarye each aiming a prop pistol at Thalassa Gramarye. However, Thalassa was accidentally shot. Magnifi helped to cover the incident for the sake of the Gramarye name. Although he retired after the incident, he began to blackmail his students, who carried on Magnifi's legacy.

Death[]

Main article: Death of Magnifi Gramarye
Talking to Magnifi

Zak talking to Magnifi for the last time.

Two years after the accident, Magnifi was hospitalized after being diagnosed with liver cancer. Combined with his existing diabetes, he was rendered bedridden for about a year. By April 2019, he had less than three months to live. In his hospital bed, he wrote a letter to each of his disciples, telling them to "shoot, one shot, square in the forehead" with one of the two prop pistols that he would have with him. In reality, this was a test to determine which of the magicians, if any, would inherit the rights to the fundamental trick that served as the basis for all of Magnifi's magic. Magnifi arranged for Zak to arrive first, and if Zak killed Magnifi, the rights to the trick would be gone forever. If Zak or Valant failed to shoot, he would fail the test and not inherit the trick.

Zak came first, as expected, while Magnifi was apparently asleep. Because he could not bring himself to kill his mentor, he shot the forehead of a nearby clown doll. Magnifi then informed Zak that this was the right answer. Subsequently, he tore out the last page of his diary and wrote his will, giving Zak all the rights to his magic.

Valant showed up next, intending to shoot Magnifi and frame Zak for the murder, but he could not do it and turned to leave. Magnifi woke up, telling him that he had failed the test, and that he had already given his trick to Zak. After Valant left the room, Magnifi shot himself in the forehead. Valant heard the gunshot and returned. Finding his mentor dead, he decided to frame Zak after all. He manipulated the crime scene to give himself an alibi and to prevent the death from looking like a suicide, which left Zak as the only possible killer.

MagnifiDead

The body of Magnifi Gramarye.

Zak was subsequently arrested and put on trial, and Valant was set up as a witness. Zak rejected Kristoph Gavin as his attorney and chose Phoenix Wright instead. Furious, Kristoph decided to seek revenge. He planted a fake page from Magnifi's diary (which he had intended to use as Zak's attorney) onto Wright and told his brother, Klavier Gavin, who was to prosecute, of the fake evidence that Wright was going to present. During the trial, Wright presented the diary page, not knowing that it was forged, and Klavier revealed the fraud for what it was. However, before the judge could give his verdict, Zak disappeared from the courtroom. Wright was later stripped of his attorney's badge.

Wright nevertheless continued his investigation of Magnifi's murder. Wright's cross-examination of Valant had indicated that Valant was probably the real killer, which turned Wright and the public against him. Only after seven years did Wright finally hear from Valant what had really happened to Magnifi.

Personality and legacy[]

Magnifi

Mugshot.

Magnifi enjoyed widespread fame for his magic. He was said to have ushered in a golden age for stage magic, and his illusions defied imagination and were deemed miraculous. His on-stage personality seems to have persisted in his off-stage interactions, a trait that both of his students inherited. He meticulously kept a diary of all that happened in his life.

However, underneath the fame and glamor was a strained and bitter relationship between Magnifi and his students. After the accident with Thalassa, Magnifi hid Thalassa away and blackmailed Zak and Valant to do his bidding. All the while, he retained the rights to his fundamental trick even after his retirement. As he neared his death, he devised a convoluted test, in grandiose fashion, to determine the heir to his magic, which failed in a way because Zak had not actually figured it out, while Valant had acknowledged that it was a test. He treated his relationships with his students the way he treated his magic shows, based on flair, reputation and magician's talent, rather than on honesty. Nonetheless, Zak and Valant remained loyal to Magnifi and retained a sense of respect for him as a magician. His granddaughter Trucy, however, believes that Magnifi did ultimately have a more benevolent outlook at magic, evidenced when he expelled Retinz after the latter disobeyed him, not because Retinz was lacking in skill, but rather because of his self-serving nature.

Magnifi's magic was possible due to an innovative fundamental trick. This trick was considered his property, and the rights to this trick was the basis behind the test that he had devised for his students before his death. In addition to this, he had an extraordinary innate sense of perception, which he used in his magic shows to read subtle body movements in his audience and manipulate this information for his purposes. He also used this to beat Zak in poker, being the only person to do so other than Phoenix Wright. This trait is hereditary, so his daughter Thalassa, as well as her children Trucy Wright and Apollo Justice, also possess this ability.

Magnifi was a prolific journal writer and kept two journals: one for writing down new magic tricks for the Troupe and the other for documenting his personal life.

Name[]

  • Japanese - Tensai Arumajiki (或真敷天斎):
    • "Tensai" (天斎) is a homophone of "tensai" (天才), meaning "genius", "prodigy", or "natural gift".
    • "Arumajiki" (或真敷) is a homophone of "Arumajiki" (有るまじき), meaning "unworthy". It could also be intended to sound similar to "majikku" (マジック), the Japanese spelling of the English word "magic".
  • English - Magnifi Gramarye:
    • "Magnifi" may have come from "magnificent" to give a similar overall meaning to his Japanese name. An alternative basis is the word "magnify", sharing a sight-based theme with his granddaughter Trucy. The name is also used in the alias of some real life magicians.
    • "Gramarye" comes from a word once used as a synonym for magic or sorcery. It is also an alternative spelling of "grimoire", which is supposedly a book of instructions in the use of magic. His French surname "Grimoire" is a more obvious play on this.
  • French - Melchior Grimoire:

Unofficial[]

  • Brazilian Portuguese - Magno Grimório: [1]
    • Adaptation based on the US name.
    • "Magno" comes from "Magnífico" (Magnificent), this being a reference to his magic tricks and position as leader of the Troupe Gramarye.
    • "Grimório" is a literal translation of "Gramarye".

Development[]

  • Like the other members of Troupe Gramarye, Magnifi's cape is held in place by a brooch in the shape of a suit in a deck of cards. In Magnifi's case, this is spades. His beard and sideburns form a similar shape to the bottom part of a spades symbol. Even his hospital pajamas have spades on them.

References[]

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