Valant Gramarye is a highly prolific magician who was a member of Troupe Gramarye, a famous group of magicians.
Troupe Gramarye
A younger Valant Gramarye.
Valant Gramarye, along with Zak Gramarye, was an apprentice of the legendary magician Magnifi Gramarye. Together with Thalassa Gramarye, the group Troupe Gramarye was formed. Troupe Gramarye became a household name as their popularity rose to great heights.
However, beneath all the fame and hype, there was a dark side to the Troupe. Rumors of a love triangle between Zak, Valant, and Thalassa persisted. Thalassa left the group when she married another stage performer, but when he died in an accident on stage, she returned. Ultimately, she married Zak, having a daughter, Trucy, with him.
Shooting incident
Some time later, tragedy struck. During a rehearsal of a shooting trick in which Zak and Valant fired a series of bullets around Thalassa, she was hit by one of their bullets and was critically wounded. Magnifi managed to keep the accident a secret, but the relationship between the mentor and his pupils would never be the same, as he constantly hung Thalassa's "death" over their heads.
Magnifi's death
To my beloved student, Valant: To you I entrust the task of lowering my life's curtain. Come on the 13th, 11:20 PM. I will ready a gun with which you will shoot, one shot, square in the forehead. You cannot refuse, and we both know the reason why. -Magnifi Gramarye
Two years later, Magnifi was nearing the end of his life, confined to a hospital room with cancer and diabetes. A year afterward, Valant received a letter from Magnifi. Valant saw the letter for what it was, a test, and he came up with a plot to kill Magnifi and frame Zak for the crime. He arrived at Magnifi's hospital room at 11:20 p.m., as ordered. Magnifi was asleep in bed. However, Valant's nerve failed, and he couldn't bring himself to shoot Magnifi, turning to leave instead. Magnifi, who was not really asleep, stopped him, telling him he'd already passed on his magic to Zak, and asking Valant to support him.
Valant left the room a broken man, knowing that his career was over. As he stood out in the hall in shock, he suddenly heard a gunshot from inside the room. He quickly raced back inside, and found Magnifi dead. Magnifi had taken the gun and shot himself in the forehead.
Hurt and angry, Valant went with his original plan to frame Zak for the crime. He moved the gun out of reach of Magnifi, injected some additional IV Fluid into the IV Bag, and then called the police. Just as Valant intended, Zak was arrested for Magnifi's "murder," and Valant offered himself as a witness.
Trial
The case looked bad for Valant initially. Phoenix Wright showed some evidence linking Valant to Magnifi's death, revealing the fact that the IV Drip was tampered with. However, Wright presented a page from Magnifi's diary that turned out to be a forgery, and the trial was abruptly ended. However, something happened that Valant had not intended: Zak vanished from the courtroom, never to be seen again for seven years. No verdict was ever given for the trial.
Valant thought that Zak's disappearance was as good as a confession of his guilt, but rumors began spreading that Zak had actually disappeared to cover for Valant. Thus, Valant was incarcerated for some time. Wright visited him in jail and questioned him about Troupe Gramarye; he learned about the accidental shooting of Thalassa. Valant insisted he had not committed the murder, but Wright did not believe him. Valant also warned Wright to stop reopening old wounds, but Wright was resolute in his search for the truth and he left to continue his investigation of Magnifi's death.
Valant was eventually released and was able to continue his career. However, suspicions lingered among the general public.
Career post-Troupe
Valant continued his work, making do with what he could. Since he was not a legal heir to the rights to Magnifi's magic tricks, which had been left to Zak, he had to get by on his own talents. However, Valant's magic was vastly inferior to Magnifi's magic. Combined with the continued suspicions from the public and his continued real guilt, this meant that Valant would come upon hard times. He would eventually come to live in a one-bedroom apartment. He continued to bide his time, though, knowing that in seven years, if Zak never showed up, he would be declared legally deceased, and Valant would inherit Magnifi's magic.
Gavinners gig
- Main article: Turnabout Serenade
Seven years after Magnifi's death, Valant obtained a job with the popular Gavinners band. The Gavinners had acquired a foreign singer, and they worked with Valant to pull a disappearing act with her during one of their concerts. Consequently, the disappearing act allowed the singer to witness a murder, which helped to prove the innocence of the defendant in the subsequent trial.
Resolution
Three months later, the time had come for Valant to inherit the rights to Magnifi's magic by Zak's disappearance, and he scheduled a comeback show to revive the Gramarye magic. However, this was not to be; Phoenix Wright met with Valant, showing him that Zak had reappeared long enough to make a legal will transferring the rights to the magic to his daughter, Trucy, as well as a written letter of confession by Zak. Valant admitted that confession was a lie.
He finally told the truth about Magnifi's suicide and his own crime of altering the scene to frame Zak. Having lost everything, Valant decided to turn himself in. His last words to Wright were that "she" might still be alive...
Personality
Valant maintains a high air of arrogance and prides himself on the larger-than-life persona he plays on stage. He is a true showman in every sense of the word. He wears yellow because that is his lucky color. He has a tendency to make puns that revolve around the word "Alakazam" when he is shocked and/or surprised, such as: "Alakazam, Alakazing... Alakaboom", "Alakanoooooooooo!" and "Alakazoooooooomg!"
Name
- Valant likely comes from "valiant" meaning someone who shows courage or determination. Although not shown as a particularly couragous character, Valant does show great determination to become a great magician in his own right.
- It is also possible that his name comes from "Valand" which is germanic devil's name.
- The English "Gramarye" is a medieval English word meaning "occult learning" or "magic".
- The French surname "Grimoire" is also the name of a book of cult magic.
- "Arumajiki" means "unworthy" in Japanese.
- In chemistry, "valence" electrons are the extra electrons on the outermost shell, which are frequently given away to other atoms during reactions. Valant is the only member of Troupe Gramarye who has no legal or blood relations to the others, and who is never intended to inherit Magnifi's magic: he orbits around the rest of the troupe, but is never really a part of it. In the potential love triangle between Zak, Thalassa and Valant, it is Valant who was cast off.
Development
- Valant's younger self was designed first, and was given black hair so that it would be obvious he was graying in his older years.
- In the Japanese version, his belt buckle used to have a "B" on it, with the intention that his name would be "Baran." It became a "V" in the final version.
- In the back of the Gyakuten Saiban 4 Guidebook, there's a character chart that labels Valant's feelings towards Thalassa as "one-sided love." This ties in with Spark Brushel's speculation that there was a love triangle between Valant, Zak, and Thalassa.
- Valant's older "shocked" sprite has fewer doves and rabbits than his younger "shocked" sprite does.
- Like the other members of Troupe Gramarye, Valant's cape is held in place by a brooch in the shape of a suit in a deck of cards. In Valant's case, this is hearts.