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| “ | I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies. | „ |
| ~ Ash taunts the survivors. |
Ash is the secondary antagonist of the 1979 sci-fi horror film Alien. He serves as the Nostromo's science officer, but it is later revealed that he is actually an android who works for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. His intent is making sure that the Xenomorph onboard the ship itself would be brought by him to the company, even at the expense of the ship's crew.
He was portrayed by the late Ian Holm, who also portrayed Zerah in Jesus of Nazareth, Squealer in the 1999 film adaptation of Animal Farm, Sir William Gull in From Hell, Jonas Muller in Renaissance and Chef Skinner in Ratatouille.
Biography[]
He is the Nostromo's inscrutable science officer. He administers medical treatment, conducts biological research and is responsible for investigating any alien life forms the crew may encounter. It is at Ash's insistence that the crew investigates the mysterious signal emanating from LV-426. Ripley becomes suspicious of him when he breaks quarantine protocol by allowing Kane, Dallas, and Lambert to re-enter the Nostromo while the Alien facehugger is attached to Kane. Captain Dallas later informs Ripley that Ash had abruptly replaced the ship's previous science officer, whom Dallas had done six previous missions with, just as the Nostromo left Thedus for its return journey to Earth. Over Ripley's objections, Dallas entrusts Ash with all science-related decisions.
After the Alien has killed Kane, Brett and Dallas, Ripley had discovered through the ship's computer "MOTHER" that Ash has been given special orders by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation to ensure the return of the Alien to the company's laboratories, even at the expense of the crew. When confronted by Ripley, Ash attacks her. When Parker and Lambert attempt to stop him, he managed to overpower both, while still attempting to suffocate Ripley. Ash is hit in the head by Parker, and the force almost completely severs his head. It is at this point that Ash is revealed to be an android.
The final three reactivate Ash's head to interrogate him about details regarding the Company's special order, which he reiterated were to assure the Alien's transport to the Company, with all other orders - including safety and survival of the crew - rescinded. They ask Ash for any tactic to defeat the Alien or at least help them survive it; Ash explained what they already knew about it being dangerous and cunning, although he also admitted that he admired the "purity" of the creature, as he decried conscience and morality as weaknesses in humans. After suggesting that the crew will not survive the Alien's attacks and mockingly giving them his sympathies, Ash is deactivated by Ripley and destroyed by Parker using a flamethrower.
Ripley later mentions Ash as part of the crew who perished before going into Hypersleep.
However, it wasn't the end of Ash, as prior to his destruction, Ash had transferred part of his AI programing to the Narcisus the escape shuttle of the Nostromo.
Personality[]
As an advanced android, Ash could effectively mimic human emotions and mannerisms to the degree that his crew mates were deceived into believing he was in fact human. Outwardly, Ash was calm, collected and intelligent, and seemingly considered himself superior to the rest of the crew, particularly Parker and Brett, which means that he is also an egotist. With regards to his secret orders, Ash clearly had no qualms with sacrificing the crew to ensure the Alien was returned to Earth.
On several occasions he directly assisted in the creature's progress and survival, although always subtly enough that his actions would not appear to be an outright betrayal of the rest of the crew. Similarly, he would often appear to assist in the fight against the Alien, most notably when he constructed motion detectors following Kane's death, although in hindsight it is clear his assistance was always specifically limited in its effectiveness. Despite his care, Ripley became suspicious as soon as Ash breached quarantine rules by allowing Kane and the facehugger back on board the Nostromo, something a Science Officer — in Ripley's mind at least — would never do; he justified the breach of quarantine as simple compassion for Kane, which Ripley didn't believe, but she ceased arguing and remained suspicious of him. When exposed, Ash displayed a cruel and sarcastic side, such as trying to murder Ripley by painfully asphyxiating her with a rolled up magazine, even though his enhanced strength would have allowed him to kill her faster, yet he chose the more agonising method; even when left helpless, he brashly taunted the other survivors and mocking their futile attempts to kill the Alien.
Ash was also an adept liar, successfully concealing from the rest of the crew the fact that Weyland-Yutani had already deciphered much of the transmission coming from the derelict before they had even left Thedus. He feigned ignorance when the signal was assumed by the others to be a distress call, even though the company had already learned enough from the message to know that it was not a distress call, but a warning; thus he was aware that the Xenomorph the Nostromo had surreptitiously being sent to retrieve was an incredibly dangerous creature, likely to kill the entire crew.
Despite Ash's loyalty to the Company, he had a generally negative opinion on humanity, as he found it physically fragile and intellectually obtuse; he also found mankind's capacity for conscience and compassion as weaknesses in the species, which were detriments holding them back from superiority, thus he found the Alien's single-minded ferocity as an evolutionary advantage.
Although first and foremost an entity programmed to execute its mission with ruthless pragmatism, Ash's consciousness relates in the diary he kept aboard the Narcisuss' computers that he genuinely respects Ripley; admiring his enemy's bravery, strength, resourcefulness and tenacity, much like how he admired the Drone aboard the Nostromo for similar reasons. Poignantly, he also longs to converse with her, as his program has grown to be able to feel loneliness in his 30 years of solitude as Ripley slept.
Quotes[]
| “ | Ripley: Ash, that transmission, MOTHER's deciphered part of it. It doesn't look like an S.O.S. Ash: What is it, then? |
„ |
| ~ Ash feigning ignorance about the reality of the S.O.S. and manipulating Ripley to stay onboard to prevent her interference with the Alien breaching quarantine |
| “ | Ash: Look, what would you have done with Kane? You know his only chance of survival was to get him in here. Ripley: Unfortunately, by breaking quarantine, you risk everybody's life. |
„ |
| ~ Ripley confronting Ash for breaking quarantine by letting Kane on the ship, and him attempting to deflect her suspicions about the decision |
| “ | Ash: You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? The perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. Lambert: You admire it. |
„ |
| ~ Ash admitting admiration for the Xenomorph |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Ash is the first villainous android in the franchise, the second being David 8.
- There are several hints throughout the movie that Ash is a robot. For example, he once runs in place for no apparent reason. He is also seen drinking only milk, which, due to his synthetic blood being white, may not have actually been milk.
- Ash had multiple moments that he disguised as kindness or caution, such as allowing the facehugger-smothered Kane through the quarantine with the excuse of obeying Dallas' orders and desire to help Kane, but really aiming to get the creature onboard; or when later warning the crew to not attack the chestburster, which was actually for the creature's safety, not that of the crew.
- A scene cut from the film but feature in the novelization was the airlock sequence where Parker attempt to take on the Alien and sent it flying out of the airlocks only for an alarm to scare it away. Later, Ripley suspects Ash turn on the alarm to alert the Alien, scare it away and keep it from dying.
- In the novelization, while speaking to the survivors, Ash tries to tell the survivors to repair him so they captured or destroy the Alien, but the survivors refused as he can't be trusted. Parker doesn't incinerate Ash's body but instead leaves it alone.
