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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. He 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. 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.

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. When discovered, Ash displayed a cruel and sarcastic side, taunting 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 the Xenomorph the Nostromo had surreptitiously being sent to retrieve was an incredibly dangerous creature likely to kill the entire crew.

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.

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.

Navigation[]

           Official AVP Logo Villains

Xenomorphs
Xenomorph Queen (Empress, First Acheron Queen, Second Acheron Queen, Cloned Queen, Antarctic Queen and The Matriarch) | Drones (Nostromo Drone, Sevastopol Drone, Mendel Drone, Lead Alien and Grid) | Runner (The Dragon) | Warrior | Raven | Newborn | Deacon | Rogue | White Hybrids | Red Xenomorphs | Predaliens (Gunnison Predalien and The Abomination) | Praetorian Xenomorphs | Neomorphs | Prateomorphs

Predators
Jungle Hunter | City Hunter | Berserker Predator | Ultimate Predator | Feral Predator | Chopper Predator | Celtic Predator | Scar | Tracker Predator | Falconer Predator | Bad Blood Predator | Samurai Predator | Viking Predator | Valkyrie Predator | Emissary Predator | Exiled Predator | Cleopatra | Devil | Tichinde | Killers

Weyland-Yutani
Peter Weyland | Carter J. Burke | Ash | David 8 | Karl Bishop Weyland

Jamaican Voodoo Posse
King Willie | Gold Tooth

Colombian Scorpions
Ramon Vega | El Scorpio

Borgia Industries
Hunter Borgia | Lucretia Borgia | Isabella Borgia | Bruno Borgia

Others
The Engineers | Edwin | Will Traeger | Stans | Walter Golic | Mason Wren | General Spears | Working Joes | Sean Fifield | Frank Elgyn | Iris Humphries | Junior | Martin Perez | Jonathan Gediman | Amengi

Disambiguations
Xenomorph | Predator

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