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Asch
Asch
Information
Appearance Tales of the Abyss
Hometown Baticul
Residences Daath
Age 17
Height 171 cm
Weight 68 kg
Race Human
Occupation God-General
Weapon Sword
Japanese Voice Actor Chihiro Suzuki
English Voice Actor Yuri Lowenthal[1]
Character Designer Kousuke Fujishima

Asch the Bloody (鮮血のアッシュ Senketsu no Asshu?) is a God-General and an anti-hero in Tales of the Abyss. He is the 6th Division Commander of Special Operations within the Oracle Knights.

History[]

Past[]

In reality, Asch is the original Luke fon Fabre. As a child, Luke took his responsibilities as the future ruler of Kimlasca extremely seriously, developing a cold and impersonal disposition. However, his love for his country and people was evident during this time, and he made a promise to Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear that he would marry her and create a world where "no one has to be poor" and "war never happens". When he was ten, Luke was kidnapped by Van Grants to make a replica, who would later become known as Luke fon Fabre after assuming the position that Luke once held within the kingdom. The original Luke then became known as "Asch".

Van's initial intention was to mold Asch into a perfect servant and use his power of hyperresonance in his plot to overthrow the Yulia Jue's Score. Asch eventually escaped and returned home only to find that Luke had usurped his life, family, fiance, and home. Following this discovery, Asch became Van's servant. Afterward, Van was able to raise his protege through the ranks, all under an assumed name and identity, although it does become apparent that a few of Asch's fellow God-Generals are aware of his true identity. At first, Asch was willing to follow Van's plan to destroy the Score, but this changed when he discovered Van's true intentions to replace the world with replicas.

Asch came to secretly despise his master's plan and cherished a hatred of all replicas, as he still harbors resentment toward the one who took his life and happiness in Kimlasca. Asch began to act as a double-agent, secretly working behind the scenes against Van while appearing to following his orders. He uses his cold exterior as a shield to protect himself and repel anyone who inquires about his intentions, making a vow that he will never return home and going so far as to reject Natalia. He insists that he is not the boy she once knew, though it is later revealed he thought and spoke of her often.

Role in the Plot[]

Asch Opening

Opening still from Tales of the Abyss.

Asch has the same goal as the party, but most of what he does is undercover work. He seldom works in junction with the party, apart from during times of necessity. For example, in order to escape the Qliphoth in the Tartarus and investigate Ortion Cavern, Asch had to cooperate with the party in Luke's place. Despite this, most of the time, he outright refuses to work with them. He assists the party on several occasions, including lowering the Outer Lands, eliminating the miasma, and preventing Luke and Natalia from being executed. At Eldrant, Luke and Asch duel to metaphorically determine "who the real Luke is".

Luke emerges victorious, and Asch forfeits his Key of Lorelei to Luke. Afterward, a group of Oracle Knights arrive, and Asch stays behind to fight them. Although Asch manages to kill many of the knights, he succumbs to his injuries sustained during the battle. He forms a mental link with Luke during his last moments. Upon Asch's death, Luke receives Asch's fonons and with them gains the power to use "second-order hyperresonance". After Luke defeats Van and stays behind to release Lorelei, he sinks into the core of Auldrant, catching Asch's corpse inside. After Lorelei thanks Luke for releasing him, a surge of energy surrounds Luke and Asch, and Asch's hand twitches.

Appearance and Personality[]

Anime Concept Asch

Concept artwork for the Tales of the Abyss anime.

As the original Luke, Asch has green eyes, and long, red hair with dark tips. His God-General attire consists of black air armor outlined with red.

Asch is a very cold and impersonal man. This is a result of his upbringing, where he was not only groomed from birth to become the ruler of Kimlasca, but also treated very coldly by his father, who knew his son was destined to die at Akzeriuth. Thus, Asch separates his internal emotions from his external appearance. He is also forced to do this after he becomes Van's servant in order to hide his true intentions while appearing subservient. Asch has a tremendous amount of pride and cares deeply for his country and the people around him. He is extremely short-tempered and hot-headed, even more so than Luke, and nearly always insists on doing things on his own.

Fighting Style[]

Asch Rending Saber

Cut-in image for Rending Saber in Tales of the Abyss.

Asch fights in the Albert-style swordsmanship, which focuses on strong, concise strikes that yield heavy damage, while sacrificing speed for more defensive tactics. His attack movements are very similar to Luke's abilities, but Asch wields his weapon in his right hand, providing the illusion of him mirroring Luke's movements in battle. While he and Luke share similar move lists, Asch also has access to four fonic artes and all sidequest-related attacks. Asch is the only major character who has only one mystic arte, but he is one of only two playable characters who have access to all AD Skills in the game.

In Tales of the Rays, Asch gets a plethora of new artes to individualize his fighting style from Luke, similarly to Zaveid who also got many new artes to differentiate him from Dezel, and fractured Milla, to differentiate her from Milla Maxwell in the same game. In Asch's case, they are all altered versions of Luke's artes.

Other Appearances[]

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2[]

Asch Cut-in (TotW-RM2)

Cut-in image for Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2.

Asch appears as a playable character in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 alongside Luke and several other members of the cast from Tales of the Abyss. Instead of a relationship as original and replica, he and Luke are portrayed as twins. Asch first arrives on the Van Eltia after being injured in a experiment by Janis Kern, and is placed in the infirmary. When Janis arrives on the ship to speak to Raine Sage, Asch awakens and attempts to attack Janis, but he is held back by the Protagonist in time.

During the events of the story, Luke attempts to form a bond with Asch, but Asch ignores him. During the third mission in the mines, Asch, Harold Berselius, and the Protagonist save Janis and his assistant from being killed by soldiers. In the deepest areas of the mines, they find Janis nearly being killed by a soldier polluted with negative energy that transformed into Blade Rex. After defeating the monster, Asch and Harold receive Janis's crystals and return to the Van Eltia. After Goede is finally defeated, Asch is shown on the Van Eltia looking at the mana spreading across the world. The sword Asch uses throughout the entire game is his exclusive Maestro Sword.

Tales of VS.[]

Asch Status (ToVS)

Status image in Tales of VS.

Asch Cut-in (ToVS)

Cut-in image for Tales of VS.

In Tales of VS., Asch is one of the strongest swordsmen raised in the Kingdom of Nidhogg to join the "Yggdrasill Battle" mainly for supremacy. Asch was not present in the previous fights, and his existence was only recently announced to the public by the government. As in Tales of the Abyss, he is looking for Luke in order to gain revenge for his stolen identity. Much to his chagrin, Dhaos mass produces even more replicas. To unlock Asch's story, he must be fought in Stahn Aileron's story mode after being confronted in Leon Magnus and Kyle Dunamis's story mode.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3[]

Asch Cut-in (TotR)

Cut-in image for Tales of the Rays.

In Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3, Asch and Luke are rivals and students under Van. During the main story, Asch, together with the Protagonist and Natalia, attempt to gather a document from the deeper parts of Schiffo Dong Springs. During this mission, there are skits where Asch and Natalia exchange their common thoughts and feelings for each other before being interrupted by the Protagonist.

Tales of Asteria[]

Asch (ToAsteria)

Artwork for Tales of Asteria.

Destiny of the Twin Stars[]

After countless wars, Windor, Auj Oule, Kimlasca, and Sylvarant enter an agreement to peace.

In a Fractured Dimension, Asch is referred to as Asch fon Fabre, the eldest son of the Fabre family. To keep the peace treaty stable Asch is appointed as Kimlasca's goodwill ambassador, and travels to the other countries with Guy as his escort. Before leaving, Asch complains at how his younger brother, Luke, is not taking the current events seriously.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Asch (ToLink)

Artwork for Tales of Link.

  • Luke's name translates to "light of the sacred flame" in Ancient Ispanian, while Asch's name translates to "charred remnants of the sacred flame", referring to his replacement by Luke in the story.
  • Asch was born on Remday, Lorelei-Redecan 48, N.D. 2000.
  • Asch's fonon frequency is equal to the mathematical constant pi, which is approximately 3.14159.
  • Asch's personality remains largely static throughout the story, while Luke's is dynamic.
  • In both language files of Tales of the Abyss, there exists two artes neither Luke nor Asch have access to in any final version of the game. They are called "Falling Dragon" ( Tsuiga Soushouzan?) and "Ravaging Hell" ( Tenma Senretsushou?).
    • Asch also has an unused cut-in image and mystic arte, Binding Doom ( Reijin Goubakusatsu?).
  • In Tales of Vesperia, there is a letter in Nam Cobanda Isle that reads, "Natalia to Asch".
  • Asch's outfit appears as a legacy costume for Yuri Lowell in PlayStation 3 and Definitive Edition releases of Tales of Vesperia.

References[]

  1. Skit Style BBS Podcast #155 Bonus... (2014-02-22) Retrieved on 2014-9-3.


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