Personality: Franziska is introduced as formidable, in every sense of the word. She is the daughter of and successor to Manfred von Karma, a legendary—and tremendously crooked—prosecutor who went forty years without ever losing a trial (until the case that resulted in his conviction for murder and subsequent execution). She is a prodigy, having become a prosecutor herself at thirteen and remaining undefeated ever since. As an attorney, she is cold, ruthless, and amoral. She sees the courtroom as a battleground, and as far as she’s concerned, a trial’s sole purpose is her own victory. Much like her father, she is willing to take nearly any means to ensure a guilty verdict, and the tactics she uses can range from being questionable to downright illegal. In game, she has both concealed vital evidence and manipulated witness testimonies—as well as her witnesses themselves—to avoid the disclosure of any information that might harm her case.
Franziska is far beyond insufferable. She is arrogant to the extreme, and flaunts this shamelessly. Nearly everything she says highlights her egotism, and she constantly gives the impression that she believes herself to be incapable of error. However, it would be more accurate to say that the way she presents herself reflects only what she wants to be true. Not only does she hold herself to impossibly high standards; she also—and perhaps as a direct result—has plenty of her own insecurities.
This is rooted in both her family’s values and her father’s reputation as a prosecutor. The von Karma family—and in particular, Manfred—apparently places great emphasis and value on perfection, and Franziska was raised to believe that she had to be “perfect in every way” (which, incidentally, is the von Karma family creed). As Manfred’s daughter, she felt as though she was expected to do far more than just succeed to be acceptable. She needed to live up to the name he’d made. She had to match his capabilities and flawlessly continue his legacy; anything less would be a disgrace. Regardless of how unrealistic of a belief it might be, she sees failure as being unacceptable. As she put it, she had to be a genius, even if she didn’t believe she was. And on some level, she doesn’t. Franziska isn’t her father, and her skills aren’t at his level. Willing to accept it or not (and she is not), she does know it. She will go out of her way to avoid letting this show—or really, even to recognize it herself—until she is confronted with no other possible choice. Under normal circumstances, anything that even remotely resembles validation of her self-doubts will make her petulant and vicious; she is competitive to the point of absurdity, and holds very long grudges.
The relationships she has with other characters and her motivations throughout Justice for All demonstrate these things. When she was growing up, she learned to see her “adopted brother” (who Manfred was also training to be a prosecutor), Miles Edgeworth, as someone to compete against. She loathed the fact that he always seemed to be several steps ahead of her (even though this was probably a given, considering the seven year age gap), and developed a fierce sense of rivalry towards him—which was later accompanied by resentment, after he “left her behind” when he became a successful prosecutor before she did. Years later—even after she’s become an accomplished prosecutor in her own right—she still sees him as a competitor, and hasn’t let go of the impulse to prove that she’s more “worthy” of the von Karma name than he is. After Phoenix Wright managed to defeat Edgeworth in court, she took it upon herself to face him (and beat him, of course); then, by winning against someone Edgeworth couldn’t, she’d have surpassed him.
However, that didn’t go as planned. She lost to Wright—not just once, but twice, although she claimed the first time “didn’t count”—and broke the perfect winning streak that she’d held for five years. Predictably, she takes this terribly; while she can at first come off as being quite composed, it doesn’t take much to shatter this. Franziska reacts to personal failure with uncontrollable anger. When things don’t turn out the way she intended for them to, she throws enormous fits; when Wright wins over her in court for the first time, she responds by whipping him unconscious (which, for that matter, she later does to a witness whose testimony cost her a victory). After Wright wins once, she can’t let him get away with it. Not only does she need to beat him to prove herself over Edgeworth, but she now has to redeem herself as well. This drive to defeat Wright is what holds her together until the end of the game—at which point, in her outrage, she (very temporarily) decides that she’s going to quit practicing law altogether. She hadn’t been able to be the prosecutor that her father was, and therefore, had failed to meet her own standards. It’s only after she feels as though she has nothing left and has made up her mind to “quit” that she breaks down and admits to Edgeworth her motivation for doing what she’s been trying to do.
She eventually does move past her fixation on living up to her father’s name; when she shows up again a year later, it’s apparent that she’s become more concerned with creating her own. And although she still sees Wright as a rival, she is considerably less hostile towards him. Despite the change in her goals and general demeanor, however, Franziska is still very much the same. She’s as absurdly competitive as ever, and still obsessed with maintaining her “perfect win record.” Though she was in the country because she’d agreed to help with a case, all she saw it as was another opportunity to defeat Wright (and/or Edgeworth) in court. And instead of in any way accepting her past losses to Wright, she has apparently resolved to just pretend they never happened.
When it comes down to the things she’s most passionate about, Franziska is hardly driven by any sort of logic or sensibility. Her motivations stem from insecurities that she is all but unwilling to acknowledge, and her efforts to preserve her “perfect win record” ultimately take the back seat to her desire to feed her ego. She would insist otherwise, of course—more often than not, she refuses recognize her own imperfections. She doesn’t want them to exist; therefore, they don’t. She doesn’t want to be anything less than flawless; therefore, she isn’t. Frankly, if she doesn’t like the truth, she will often just opt to deny it. Likewise, she tends to resist admitting that she’s wrong. She is one to stick by her arguments long after they have been shown to be invalid—because by changing her mind, she’d have acknowledged that she failed. She’ll hold off on that for as long as she possibly can.
She strives to be indomitable and to stand above the world, and along with this comes an all-consuming need to be in control of any situation that she finds herself in. This, when combined with her constant craving for respect and admiration, can make her incredibly difficult to put up with. When dealing with others, she will take great effort to ensure that she has the upper hand at all times. She makes effort to intimidate the people she’s around, and for that matter, is often successful at it. Her cold and generally inhospitable demeanor certainly contributes to this, as does her rather unfortunate penchant for violence. She always carries a whip, which she will gladly use on nearly anyone in her presence—and to make matters worse, she has a very short temper. However, reasons that she will use it are not limited to anger or frustration; she takes no issue with striking people simply because she feels like it.
In addition to this, she has an aggravating habit of condescending towards everyone around her. Her eagerness to pick out flaws in others’ statements and actions extends far beyond the courtroom; she is quick to insult, and doesn’t need much provocation to do so. She is both patronizing and inconsiderate even when there is no spite or malice behind it. And despite her often-unbearable attitude, she isn’t always malicious. She has been shown on several occasions to express sympathy or concern on characters’ behalves, and to some extent, does seem to care about the well-being of others. Self-centered as she might be, she can be surprisingly willing to help people when there’s nothing for her to gain from it. Having her on your side, however, will more than likely not make her company any less irritating. As far as she’s concerned, friendliness does not necessarily include an attitude adjustment.
It should also be noted that Franziska does, in fact, knows how to present herself in a way that’s not off-putting; she has been shown to be very much capable of getting on people’s good sides if she feels that it’s necessary. The only constant requirement is that she keep the upper hand over anyone she must associate with, whether it be in court or simply in conversation. Franziska does not plan for losses. Reality isn’t what she’d like it to be, though, and losses still happen—and when they do, she is effectively unable to respond sensibly. When it comes to that point, and she has nothing left to say, she’ll just lose her cool.
Afterwards, of course, she’ll most likely ignore that it ever happened.
[CANON] Franziska von Karma || Ace Attorney || Reserved (3/4)
Franziska is far beyond insufferable. She is arrogant to the extreme, and flaunts this shamelessly. Nearly everything she says highlights her egotism, and she constantly gives the impression that she believes herself to be incapable of error. However, it would be more accurate to say that the way she presents herself reflects only what she wants to be true. Not only does she hold herself to impossibly high standards; she also—and perhaps as a direct result—has plenty of her own insecurities.
This is rooted in both her family’s values and her father’s reputation as a prosecutor. The von Karma family—and in particular, Manfred—apparently places great emphasis and value on perfection, and Franziska was raised to believe that she had to be “perfect in every way” (which, incidentally, is the von Karma family creed). As Manfred’s daughter, she felt as though she was expected to do far more than just succeed to be acceptable. She needed to live up to the name he’d made. She had to match his capabilities and flawlessly continue his legacy; anything less would be a disgrace. Regardless of how unrealistic of a belief it might be, she sees failure as being unacceptable. As she put it, she had to be a genius, even if she didn’t believe she was. And on some level, she doesn’t. Franziska isn’t her father, and her skills aren’t at his level. Willing to accept it or not (and she is not), she does know it. She will go out of her way to avoid letting this show—or really, even to recognize it herself—until she is confronted with no other possible choice. Under normal circumstances, anything that even remotely resembles validation of her self-doubts will make her petulant and vicious; she is competitive to the point of absurdity, and holds very long grudges.
The relationships she has with other characters and her motivations throughout Justice for All demonstrate these things. When she was growing up, she learned to see her “adopted brother” (who Manfred was also training to be a prosecutor), Miles Edgeworth, as someone to compete against. She loathed the fact that he always seemed to be several steps ahead of her (even though this was probably a given, considering the seven year age gap), and developed a fierce sense of rivalry towards him—which was later accompanied by resentment, after he “left her behind” when he became a successful prosecutor before she did. Years later—even after she’s become an accomplished prosecutor in her own right—she still sees him as a competitor, and hasn’t let go of the impulse to prove that she’s more “worthy” of the von Karma name than he is. After Phoenix Wright managed to defeat Edgeworth in court, she took it upon herself to face him (and beat him, of course); then, by winning against someone Edgeworth couldn’t, she’d have surpassed him.
However, that didn’t go as planned. She lost to Wright—not just once, but twice, although she claimed the first time “didn’t count”—and broke the perfect winning streak that she’d held for five years. Predictably, she takes this terribly; while she can at first come off as being quite composed, it doesn’t take much to shatter this. Franziska reacts to personal failure with uncontrollable anger. When things don’t turn out the way she intended for them to, she throws enormous fits; when Wright wins over her in court for the first time, she responds by whipping him unconscious (which, for that matter, she later does to a witness whose testimony cost her a victory). After Wright wins once, she can’t let him get away with it. Not only does she need to beat him to prove herself over Edgeworth, but she now has to redeem herself as well. This drive to defeat Wright is what holds her together until the end of the game—at which point, in her outrage, she (very temporarily) decides that she’s going to quit practicing law altogether. She hadn’t been able to be the prosecutor that her father was, and therefore, had failed to meet her own standards. It’s only after she feels as though she has nothing left and has made up her mind to “quit” that she breaks down and admits to Edgeworth her motivation for doing what she’s been trying to do.
She eventually does move past her fixation on living up to her father’s name; when she shows up again a year later, it’s apparent that she’s become more concerned with creating her own. And although she still sees Wright as a rival, she is considerably less hostile towards him. Despite the change in her goals and general demeanor, however, Franziska is still very much the same. She’s as absurdly competitive as ever, and still obsessed with maintaining her “perfect win record.” Though she was in the country because she’d agreed to help with a case, all she saw it as was another opportunity to defeat Wright (and/or Edgeworth) in court. And instead of in any way accepting her past losses to Wright, she has apparently resolved to just pretend they never happened.
When it comes down to the things she’s most passionate about, Franziska is hardly driven by any sort of logic or sensibility. Her motivations stem from insecurities that she is all but unwilling to acknowledge, and her efforts to preserve her “perfect win record” ultimately take the back seat to her desire to feed her ego. She would insist otherwise, of course—more often than not, she refuses recognize her own imperfections. She doesn’t want them to exist; therefore, they don’t. She doesn’t want to be anything less than flawless; therefore, she isn’t. Frankly, if she doesn’t like the truth, she will often just opt to deny it. Likewise, she tends to resist admitting that she’s wrong. She is one to stick by her arguments long after they have been shown to be invalid—because by changing her mind, she’d have acknowledged that she failed. She’ll hold off on that for as long as she possibly can.
She strives to be indomitable and to stand above the world, and along with this comes an all-consuming need to be in control of any situation that she finds herself in. This, when combined with her constant craving for respect and admiration, can make her incredibly difficult to put up with. When dealing with others, she will take great effort to ensure that she has the upper hand at all times. She makes effort to intimidate the people she’s around, and for that matter, is often successful at it. Her cold and generally inhospitable demeanor certainly contributes to this, as does her rather unfortunate penchant for violence. She always carries a whip, which she will gladly use on nearly anyone in her presence—and to make matters worse, she has a very short temper. However, reasons that she will use it are not limited to anger or frustration; she takes no issue with striking people simply because she feels like it.
In addition to this, she has an aggravating habit of condescending towards everyone around her. Her eagerness to pick out flaws in others’ statements and actions extends far beyond the courtroom; she is quick to insult, and doesn’t need much provocation to do so. She is both patronizing and inconsiderate even when there is no spite or malice behind it. And despite her often-unbearable attitude, she isn’t always malicious. She has been shown on several occasions to express sympathy or concern on characters’ behalves, and to some extent, does seem to care about the well-being of others. Self-centered as she might be, she can be surprisingly willing to help people when there’s nothing for her to gain from it. Having her on your side, however, will more than likely not make her company any less irritating. As far as she’s concerned, friendliness does not necessarily include an attitude adjustment.
It should also be noted that Franziska does, in fact, knows how to present herself in a way that’s not off-putting; she has been shown to be very much capable of getting on people’s good sides if she feels that it’s necessary. The only constant requirement is that she keep the upper hand over anyone she must associate with, whether it be in court or simply in conversation. Franziska does not plan for losses. Reality isn’t what she’d like it to be, though, and losses still happen—and when they do, she is effectively unable to respond sensibly. When it comes to that point, and she has nothing left to say, she’ll just lose her cool.
Afterwards, of course, she’ll most likely ignore that it ever happened.