Asch

Asch the Bloody is a God General of the Order of Lorelei. He can be arrogant and rebellious, and almost always seems angry.

Backstory
Asch is really the original Luke fon Fabre. A replica of him was made when he was 10 years old. This new Luke took everything Asch had - his family, fiancé, and even his home. This is why he always seems angry. He is particularly hateful to the source of all his problems, Luke, seeing him as inferior.

He does, however, have a soft spot for his fiancé, Natalia. When he was young, he promised to change Kimlasca with her so that "no one has to be poor" and "war never happens". However, when Natalia tries to bring up those times, he insists that he's not the same as he was back then in an attempt to push her away. Later in the game, it's revealed that he speaks of her often when she isn't around.

Role in Story
Most of what Asch does is the "behind the scenes" work - though works towards the same goal as Luke and friends. He seldom works with the party, except at times of necessity. For example, to get out of the Qliphoth and investigate Ortion Cavern, he had to cooperate with the party (in Luke's place) and use the Tartarus. However, most of the time, he outright refuses to work with them. At the end of the game, he even fought Luke over who would fight Van.

Relationship with Luke
Although he thinks that Luke is supposed to be his replacement, and thus the same as him, there are many things in the game that say otherwise. Perhaps the most obvious of these is that Luke's hair is light at the ends, and Asch's is darker. Their clothing is also like this, with Luke's white and gold contrasting with Asch's black and silver. Yet another difference between them is that Luke is left handed, and Asch is right handed. Also, as Luke gradually changes throughout the game, Asch always stays the same. Their personalities are also quite different, with long-haired Luke being the closest to Asch.

However, Luke also disgusts Asch for not being an ideal replacement. He didn't like how Luke always called himself inferior, because they were essentially the same person, and that was an insult to Asch (as Asch didn't want to be thought of as weak). Yet, Luke's feelings on the matter by the end of the game were different, and they fought (due to Asch's stubbornness) to settle the issue over who the "real" Luke was. In the end, Luke did win, yet Asch still thought of Luke as his replica. One of his last actions was to take his name back as his own, as a small step in accepting Luke, and acknowledging that he wasn't inferior.

Upon his death, he gave Luke some of his power, allowing Luke to use second-order hyperressonance (and to fully control it at that). It gave Luke the power he needed to finally defeat Sync and Van.

The End
After the defeat of Van, Luke stayed behind to release Lorelei. As he was doing so, he was sinking into perhaps the core of Auldrant, and caught Asch's corpse along the way. It was there that the two fused due to the Big Bang, or the fusion of original and replica due to fonon separation. However, it is debated whether the one who shows up at the end is either Luke, Asch, or a combination thereof. Much of the symbolism in the end points towards Luke (some argue against it because the Big Bang also leaves the memories of the dead one behind in the survivor), yet the Big Bang itself goes both ways.

However, there is no official statement regarding his identity.

Glitch
For a short amount of time after the destruction of Akzeriuth, Asch is a playable character. Also, a glitch involving Mushroom Road enables Asch to remain in the party until the end of the game.To get Asch, go to the other side of Mushroom Road, then use the "Map Trick" glitch, then exit out of the glitch in front of Grand Cokmah.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2
Asch and most of the The Abyss characters appear as playable characters, although his excact role has not been revealed.

Trivia

 * Asch contrasts in many ways from Luke.
 * The end of Asch's hair is a dark red; Luke has lighter ends.
 * Asch's hair, when down, goes to the right; Luke's goes to the left.
 * Asch wears silver and black; Luke wears white and gold.
 * Asch is right-handed; Luke is left-handed.
 * Asch remains largely static throught the game; Luke changes drastically.
 * The way Asch's name is spelled likely came from the German word for ash, Asche.
 * Asch's favorite food is chicken, and his least favorite foods are octopuses and carrots.
 * Born on Remday, Lorelei-Decan 48, ND 2000
 * The name of Asch's voice actor (English) highly resembles the name of the main character of Tales of Vesperia, Yuri Lowell. Whether this was intentional or not is unknown.