Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca

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Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca
Ashe as seen in FFXII
Game series	Final Fantasy series
First game	Final Fantasy XII
Designed by	Akihiko Yoshida
Voice actor(s) (English)	Kari Wahlgren
Voice actor(s) (Japanese)	Mie Sonozaki
Motion capture actor	Mei Yoshikawa
In-Universe Information
Weapon	Sword
Quickenings	Northswain's Glow Heaven's Wrath Maelstrom Bolt
Race	Hume
Age	19

Ashelia "Ashe" B'nargin Dalmasca (アーシェ・バナルガン・ダルマスカ, Āshe Banarugan Darumasuka^?) is a protagonist in Square Enix's console role-playing game, Final Fantasy XII.

Ashe 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 only child of King Raminas and the sole heir to the throne.^[1] Her husband, Lord Rasler Heios Nabradia also died in the battle to protect Nalbina Fortress (on the border of fellow Nabradia, Rasler's home state), making Ashe a young widow. Though their people believed that their marriage was political, they actually love each other, and thus, making his death very hard on her- she still wears her wedding ring two years after his death.^[2]

Ashe can be thought of as the leader of the party; 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.

Contents 1 Story 1.1 Revenant Wings 2 Other appearances 3 Notes 4 External links 5 References

[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. The Dusk Shard was lost, when Vaan reluctantly surrender it to Judge Ghis.

Vaan and the others helped Ashe to escape, and later aided in her quest to obtain the Dawn Shard from Raithwall's tomb, as it's the only proof of her royal heritage. She saw the extent of it's power when Ghis unwittingly activated it, destroying his own fleet, and decided that she wanted that power for her cause.^[3]

When the chief of the Garif tribe told her that the stone she holds has lost its power over the years, the young man Larsa suggested that she should accompany him to meet the Gran Kiltias, an important religious figurehead and Al-Cid, an influential leader of the Rozzaria empire. By having Ashe formally recognized as queen, they hope that she can get Dalmasca's freedom peacefully and neutralize the Resistance and the threat of another war between the two nations as well. Their hopeful path was destroyed, however, when Emperor Gramis meets his untimely demise, and Vayne Solidor took over the throne, with the intention of continuing the war.

Ashe decided to head to Archadia and destroy the Dusk Shard that Vayne now possessed, fearing that he will use it against them, after obtaining Raithwall's old sword, that can cut through nethicite, hidden in the Stilshrine of Miriam under the Kiltias' care.

During this trek, Balthier revealed his past to Ashe, as well as his counsel that she "musn't give her heart to a stone", because he feared that the same thing that happened to his father, Dr. Cid, might lead her to that path.^[4] She later met the scientist while infiltrating Draklor Laboratories, goading her to fight, as a test. Upon defeating him Cid fled, saying that he would go and await them at Giruvegan.^[5] The party gave chase, but Ashe was drawn inside to meet the Occuria by Rasler's ghost.

It was later revealed that 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.^[6][7] 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 Occuria used to guide her did not act like the Rasler she had once known, attempting to encourage her to take "base revenge."^[8] She resisted her impulse to destroy the Empire and went against the Occuria's wishes, 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.^[9][10] The interference of Gabranth, Dr. Cid, and Reddas' sacrifice, wielding the Sword of Kings, 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 and defeating Vayne Solidor in combat, Ashe assumed the throne of Dalmasca, supporting a peaceful resolution between Archadia and Rozarria to bring a new age to Ivalice.

[edit] Revenant Wings

Ashe joins Vaan and gang on another adventure, once more to prevent the threat of war the Judge of Wings is setting up.

[edit] Other appearances

A chibi version of Ashe, along with Vaan, are available player characters in Itadaki Street Special, she also makes an appearance with the rest of the main FFXII characters in Itadaki Street Portable.

[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 three running gags in the game: she dislikes having her rebellion group called "insurgents", always correcting those who call them that.^[11][12] The second joke is more complex: 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. The third running gag is Ashe telling Vaan not to interrupt her when she speaks, a possible nod to the fact that Vaan, while the main character, is not the central figure of the story (though in the Japanese version, Ashe was always reprimanding Vaan for using the word "omae", an improper form of the word "you", whenever he was referring to her).

[edit] External links

• Maiestas - An Ashe shrine.

[edit] References

v • d • e Final Fantasy XII

Revenant Wings • Characters Vaan • Penelo • Basch • Ashe • Balthier • Fran • Larsa • Ba'Gamnan • Vayne Solidor Ivalice • Kiss Me Good-Bye • Soundtrack