i'm in charge. don't forget that.
Me, rubbing my hands together, this is the page I've been looking forward to.My absolute most favourite thing in the world is to write deep dives into characters: where I spend a lot of time turning things over in their heads and figuring out what makes them tick. Sometimes I'll do this progressively, by making them confront and overcome their issues, particularly for characters that don't experience traditional growth in their own canon. Before working on this site – which is, I don't know, certainly going to add a few more words to this count – I've done this with Ashe extensively. You'd think I'd be sick of talking about it, or not want to do it again. Nope! I am so down for talking about Ashe and her depth, implied or not, literally all of the time.
It would be so simple to leave Ashe with solely her spite towards Cole as a motivator and nothing more – it's hard to continually, equally develop characters in a setting like Overwatch, particularly with the heartache over the loss of the PVE and the fact Ashe would never have realistically gotten a moment of it and if she had it would've been so far down the road, but whether it be her tie-in media, her voicelines, or her interactions with the other heroes in the game, the building blocks are all there, and I love her for it.
For me, Ashe is fascinating. She has a very particular, well-cultivated mask. She has the gumption to succeed at and see through anything she puts her mind to – "the best way to win is to rig the game". She's thorough. She's quick-witted. She's a realist. She's charismatic as hell (double sun moon Libra, baby). She's incredibly petty, destructive and cynical and assumes the worst. She's smart and everyone recognises it, thinking it's a waste she's thrown her lot into the criminal lifestyle. She doesn't give a damn: she's so unapologetically herself, she loves being this and the thrill outwitting her opponents brings and she knows what she's good at. She's unstoppably loyal. She's proud of what's hers and she'll fight tooth and nail to defend it.
She is so, undeniably confident: she talks big, and other characters comment on the perceivable ego... but it's well-founded. This is the woman that united thieves with a code of honour when she was eighteen years old, and has been running a successful enterprise for over two decades. If she talks big, it's because she has the receipts to back herself up. She made herself a queen. She can come off as tough, stand-offish and mean: but that's the front. Those are the thorns.
“ Aggression is no substitute for ability. ”
“ Reckon that's true. Good thing I have both. ”
-- Moira and Ashe spawn room interaction
Because she's so no-nonsense and straight-talking, fixated on her vengeance and the fury burning inside of her – rightfully so, I'll add – Ashe gets mischaracterised… a lot. This probably doesn't come as a great surprise. Any non-demure woman always gets this treatment and it's the same old takes and the same old reasoning for as long as I've been in fandom, even down to the shipping discourse to justify that she's a Threat™. I really have seen it all before. Every woman I get attached to is like this. And y'know, that only makes me double down on loving them more.
I mentioned the mask. Most people with a disinterest in her stop there. They fall, hook line and sinker, for that upheld hard shell of a reputation, that's kept an accord going and every gang in the new West unflinchingly in line for twenty years. Thing is, the mask isn't a very deep one. Ashe claims to be heartless but nothing could be further from the truth: she's so emotional and wears her heart on her sleeve, whether for anger or sadness or pleasure. She's spontaneous. She bristles. She's free and she freed herself but she isn't. She'll tell you exactly what's on her mind by the way she acts – you see her go through it shot by shot with Cassidy during Reunion. She experiences bluster, and gets aggressive when things aren't working out as they should – cause it's her way and she can't be at fault, oh no. I love that she's violent and volatile, like a fire that'll char everything to cinders until it consumes it all... maybe even herself. She truly lives up to being calamitous. She's expressive when it's personal, dismissive when it's not. She's a crier! Her mug shot from her eighteenth birthday even has her sporting the classic stained mascara look; but she's not crying anymore. This is the only mug shot they have for her wanted posters, by the way. It's such a vibe. She's shown to be rough around the edges, to have flaws – she's not perfect and collected all of the time. We love an emotional, well-rounded woman who is allowed to feel things and express them as aggressively as she pleases.
Most of all Ashe needs to prove herself to everyone of similar calibre – and for those she'd arguably admire, they have to show themselves to her first, and she's very much a show-off. There's multiple instances of her doing bullet walks along her fingers, and she's certainly the type of person to be of the opinion that if you've got it, you should flaunt it. Infamy is a cry for attention. Even now Ashe still feels the loneliness of her childhood; she wants so badly for her parents to admit they were wrong about her, that she did a far better job than they ever could. She did exactly what they unfairly demanded and she did it all (mostly) on her own and they still won't take it back. She couldn't understand why she wasn't enough for them then – she can't understand it now. She's authentically surprised when anyone shows her genuine affection and care because, people don't do that.
She's so terrified of being alone. When she's wronged, she does not let it go – she holds onto it for all time. Out of spite, because she should, and it's one hell of a motivator. Once her good opinion of you is lost it's gone forever. You do not cross her else she will hunt you down and end you. So that you hurt, like you hurt her.
Her vengeance didn't start with Cassidy: not even remotely. He's simply ushered it to the fore and made an even deeper cut because once upon a time he was on her side, he knows the significance of abandoning her and how it makes her feel, and after what he did she's not interested in hearing anything he has to say. She can't be wrong. Not at all and mostly she isn't. Understandably Ashe is incredibly bitter when Doomfist identifies his parents as supportive of his work steering Talon; and Lifeweaver, whose parents try endlessly to reach compromise with him despite how tenuous their relationship is. It hurts. It's a vulnerability that won't go away, not even with time.
What a beautiful contradiction that is. To be so secure in and brutally herself that there's not a doubt in her mind: but she knows. She has to live with the weight of the fact she'll never be enough. And yet— you'd never know it, from that polished exterior.
It's another part that has me thinking about her endlessly. It's so delicious of an aspect. I want her to have good things, I want her to be surrounded by people that genuinely love her and won't leave her behind. That maybe she can trust others with her whole heart again.
“ I hear if it weren't for your parents, you'd be as much an outlaw as me. ”
“ They're always trying to help, but frankly, I'd prefer they gave up. ”
“ Yeah? Well, be careful what you wish for. ”
-- Ashe and Lifeweaver spawn room interaction
Interestingly is how Ashe approaches interactions with other people, since, canonically, she doesn't know and hasn't met a single person in the roster other than Hazard and Cassidy. Obviously she wouldn't feel the same contempt for everyone else that she does for Cole. It's nice to read into, to have a small glimpse of what could be. Respect is something you certainly have to earn from her, through actions: proof. Love comes at cost and her parents taught her it real well. She approaches Ana and Widowmaker alike over who the better sniper is – outright claims it as herself to Ana, who sees her as big-headed, and winds Widowmaker up a little by making an insufferable pun and being playful about it – and she's always sizing other people up (literally, in Junker Queen's case. "They make 'em all as big where you come from" whilst whistling is incredibly sapphic of you, Ashe). Comparison is how she's had to be. How she's always been, good as well as negative. Running numbers, seeing connections – Vishkar's headlines is a tactic for lining their pockets, Symmetra, c'mon now – she marks people and, again, she's real good at what she does.
It makes sense. She is a gang leader. She's wary of intent, particularly around younger women, but she's not unapproachable. Once they show an interest she's actually kind of flattered. Heck she even quietly messes with Illari, known for being grumpy and sullen, which automatically seems to make Ashe like her.
Really, Ashe is the sweetest mean person you've ever met, in that she's not really all that mean. Well, she can be harsh, at times – but it's towards those who talk a selfless game and she does not believe people to be so innocently well-intentioned. There's always motive behind a good, selfless deed; those in Overwatch, old or new, just haven't admitted it to themselves yet. When others are openly themselves, it gains from Ashe respect.
“ Aye. Thought I'd bring Susie by the memorial. ”
“ You're more sentimental than I thought. ”
“ Aren't all us criminals softer than we say so? ”
-- Ashe and Hazard spawn room interaction
Ashe can be soft. (I described her as this before the Hazard interaction went into game. I was right.) She's so— devoted, to her family. It really is everything and it's such an effective quirk. They don't have to share blood, they just have to share a common purpose by helping each other, because the world isn't fair, you need people, you can't just go it alone. She's possessive of things and people, sometimes to its detriment, because that attachment is inseverable.
She can't fathom why Cassidy would want something else – she doesn't. He's hers, Deadlock's, and she will not let him not be hers. Yet at the same time those that work under her are not tools, and that goes such an extra mile into her lack of prejudice towards others and especially omnics. She's inclusive. She takes a hard line with people sometimes, yes, but she's not at all motivated in that way, they're just, other, she doesn't owe them anything. Once she's decided you're hers you've got her for life, and that loyalty is something that can't have a price put on it. She's so sentimental. It makes her much more interesting than just a money mill, it gives her something to fight for. She cares about her gang— a lot. Bob means the world to her. She's very active in her love, and shows it. Whenever anyone asks about him in voicelines there's always an immediate smile in her voice – instant guard down, even, because that's the man she'd unquestioningly trust her life with, and has.
It's a co-dependency, in her home amongst outcasts.
“ You're too good with that gun to waste it on a life of crime. ”
“ I'll go on the straight and narrow when hell freezes over. ”
“ Or when the law catches up with you. ”
“ (chuckle) Same thing. ”
-- Sojourn and Ashe spawn room interaction
She's no hero. She's not a good person, more so a bad one – she's a criminal after all. But Ashe is not evil either, and she isn't a villain. Her backstory shows how she ended up strafing the line, what matters to her; there's not a complete lack of morals, although the shades of grey she paints with are incredibly dark. She's merely making her way, and if that way involves moving on through you via the road to taking what's rightfully hers, so be it.
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