Ashe (Final Fantasy)
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| Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca | |
|---|---|
 Ashe as seen in FFXII |
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| Game series | Final Fantasy series |
| First game | Final Fantasy XII |
| Character designer(s) | Akihiko Yoshida |
| Voice actor(s) (English) | Kari Wahlgren |
| Voice actor(s) (Japanese) | Mie Sonozaki |
Ashelia or Ashe B'nargin Dalmasca (アーシェ・バナルガン・ダルマスカ Āshe Banarugan Darumasuka?) is a 19-year-old Hume princess fighting to liberate her kingdom, Dalmasca, from the Archadian Empire. In addition to being the leader of the Dalmascan resistance movement, she is the sole heir to the throne, her eight brothers having been killed during the Archadian invasion. Her husband, Lord Rasler also died in the battle to reclaim Nabradia Fortress, making Ashe a young widow. Though the marriage was political, Ashe eventually came to love Rasler, and he her, making his death very hard on her- she still wears her wedding ring two years after his death.
Ashe can be thought of as the leader of the party; both holding the most political power due to the position of her birth, she is also the most dedicated and committed of the party to the goal of destroying Archadia. The party, all of whom were kindred spirits who'd lost someone dear to them in the war, was a great help in maturing Ashe from the woman who wanted nothing but revenge to the woman who wanted peace.
[edit] Story
Upon hearing the tragic news of her father's death, Ashe went into hiding and, with the official claim by Marquis Ondore that she had committed suicide, assumed the alias Amalia, a prime member of the Dalmascan rebels with the intent of not only regaining freedom for her country, but also vengeance against the Archadian invaders and "Basch" for murdering her father. It was by fate that Ashe met Vaan and the others during the rebellion's vain attempt to assassinate Vayne Solidor, separated from her party and facing Archadian soldiers until Vaan and gang aided her. After making it out of the sewers, she was captured by Vayne and sent to the Archadian Dreadnaught Leviathan with the intent of getting the Dusk Nethicite from her. But once found by Vaan and company, she offically joined the group. The fact that she met a kindred spirit in Vaan helped Ashe keep striving for her goal, as they both lost those dear to them to the war. Likewise, she came to forgive Basch, who she discovered was not the murderer of her father, but rather was framed by his twin brother, Judge Gabranth.
Being a descendant of King Raithwall, Ashe was a pawn in the Occurias' plan; via Nethicite shards from the Sun-Cryst, they hoped to use Ashe to destroy the Empire and restore the Occurian version of "order" to the world. This was done because, beyond being a descendant of Raithwall herself, she was also so consumed with vengeance that the Occuria did not believe she would take the path of forgiveness for the Empire as a whole, making all the Empire pay for the crimes of Doctor Cid and Vayne Solidor.
It was only in the second before she stood before the Sun-Cryst that Ashe realized she couldn't go through with it; ironically, it was because the ghost of Rasler that the Occurria used to guide her did not act like the Rasler she had once known, attempting her encourage her to take "base revenge." She resisted her impulse to destroy the Empire, deciding that as her people of Dalmasca had never used the Dusk Shard before in a crisis, so would she never use any other shards of the Sun-Cryst to make war. The interference of Gabranth, Dr. Cid, and Reddas' sacrifice prevented her from personally destroying the Sun-Cryst, but her decision was the breaking point of Occurrian control over the world.
After the destruction of the Sky Fortress Bahamut, Ashe assumed the throne of Dalmasca, supporting a peaceful resolution between Archadia and Rozarria to bring peace to Ivalice.
[edit] Notes
- Akihiko Yoshida, stated that Ashe's physical features were designed with the intent of making her look vaguely French: "the base of her bone structure is a French person's. We were given orders from the start to not make her look like an Asian. But we modified her a bit to look more like a Japanese for the sake of the Japanese audience, and also since a character that looks completely French makes some of the CG expressions difficult." When asked about her rather revealing clothing, Yoshida commented that "Dalmasca is supposed to have a hot climate."
- Ashe is also the centerpoint of two running gags in the game: she dislikes having her rebellion group called "insurgents", always correcting those who call them that, and a second, more complex joke: the Occurian blades (Sword of Kings and Treaty Blade) are both extremely heavy, and whenever Ashe first grabs hold of them, she is unable to keep them up as they always fall straight to the ground.
