History:Asch the Bloody (Tales Wiki) Personality: On the surface, Asch is a relatively childish and immature teenager. He's bitter, angry, and guarded, but he's also a truly moral character who wants for the good of others.
As Luke fon Fabre, he was prophesied in the Score to die and bring unprecedented prosperity to his kingdom. Because of this prophesy, Asch was raised to be a leader but grew up with only a few close bonds. Between his isolated childhood upbringing and training under Van, Asch isn't good at expressing himself and can be very blunt and brash. However, he maintains great love and dedication to the people, not only in his kingdom but as a whole. And even after discarding his past and identity as Luke fon Fabre, Asch still loves his family, loved ones, and especially his fiancee who all had accepted someone else in his stead. So in spite of his attitude and social downfalls, his leadership qualities and concern for the people shines through, helping him garner other people's trust and respect.
Asch can be difficult to work with because he always takes things seriously and strictly holds everyone to ridiculously high standards. Because he expects others to do the same, he can come off as bossy and overbearing. Assertive and critical, he's quick to anger when he and others don't meet his expectations. He may overreact to anything from a minor mistake to complete failure, but he doesn't allow himself to sulk because he feels pressed for time since he knows he's gradually dying as a result of his replication. That said, he prefers working independently because he knows his own plans and what he has to do, and he doesn't want others getting in the way, slowing him down, or messing him up. And he's prone to arguments, and gets even more cantankerous when he's wrong, in which case he retorts with insults, insists on illogical arguments, and/or storms off at inconvenient times. Usually without thinking.
Initially, the two motivators that significantly affect Asch's actions are his love for the people and his hatred toward replicas. The latter stems from not only physical agony of replication but also the psychological anguish of being replaced by his loved ones. It inevitably drives him to cast away his past and almost unquestioningly devote himself to Van's ideals. However, after Asch learns the details of Van's plan, he decides to defect because of his love for the world—he can't accept the idea of replicating the human race and eradicating all the originals.
Asch's view on and attitude toward replicas, especially his own, gradually change as the game goes on. They're intrinsically tied to his identity, reason to live, and his actions and decisions toward the end of the game.
From his own perspective, his loved ones had replaced him from the moment they accepted his replica as Luke, thereby displacing him as a person and effectively taking away his reason to live. His replica is the succession of who he used to be, consequently making him an extension of Asch himself, meaning that Asch expects him to live up to the same impossibly high standards of his stolen life, and to fulfill his purpose as Luke fon Fabre. But because his replica can't live up to those expectations, Asch feels he has every right to mock, bully, and even outright kill him for being an incompetent failure and ignorant, selfish, spoiled brat who is incapable of defending himself, his kingdom, and his fiancee. Naturally, Asch's pettiness backfires on him because it drives his replica to completely ignore his warnings and instead seek reassurance and approval from the only one giving it to him, thus sealing Akzeriuth's doom.
After the fall of Akzeriuth, Asch takes on a different approach toward molding his replica into a proper replacement to fulfill his purpose as Luke fon Fabre, take care of the people, save Auldrant from the miasma, and defeat Van. Although he seems overly focused on making sure his replica continues being Luke fon Fabre, the reality that Asch won't admit is there's always been a part of him that is like his replica and others; he wants to live, and continually seeks a purpose or reason to exist. Like the replicas, Asch feels that he doesn't have a place in the world, and moreover already knows he's dying anyway, so he might as well make sure that his replica keeps doing what he should as Luke fon Fabre. As far as Asch is concerned, whatever happens to him is no longer important. Because of this, he doesn't understand and feels insulted by his replica's lacking self-confidence. He becomes even more offended when the replica tries to give his past, identity, and purpose back. And he even rejects Luke as his replica when he decides he isn't good enough, attempts self-sacrifice to atone for Akzeriuth, and abandons the other responsibilities that come along with being the "Light of the Sacred Flame".
What neither Asch nor his replica seems to realize is that even as they work together, arguing every step of the way, they each manage to perform different functions of the same role that is otherwise known as Luke fon Fabre. Because they're perfect isofons, they're both the Scion of Lorelei, and the responsibilities of Luke fon Fabre are merely split between them like the Key of Lorelei. Asch only seems to realize this after losing the battle of self with his replica, urging his replica to go after Van while he handles the small fry, knowing what little time he has left and ultimately emerging not as Asch, but as Luke fon Fabre. He dies shortly afterward, but not without contacting his replica first and entrusting the rest of their responsibilities to him, finally resolving a long-standing, bitter self-conflict.
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History: Asch the Bloody (Tales Wiki)
Personality:
On the surface, Asch is a relatively childish and immature teenager. He's bitter, angry, and guarded, but he's also a truly moral character who wants for the good of others.
As Luke fon Fabre, he was prophesied in the Score to die and bring unprecedented prosperity to his kingdom. Because of this prophesy, Asch was raised to be a leader but grew up with only a few close bonds. Between his isolated childhood upbringing and training under Van, Asch isn't good at expressing himself and can be very blunt and brash. However, he maintains great love and dedication to the people, not only in his kingdom but as a whole. And even after discarding his past and identity as Luke fon Fabre, Asch still loves his family, loved ones, and especially his fiancee who all had accepted someone else in his stead. So in spite of his attitude and social downfalls, his leadership qualities and concern for the people shines through, helping him garner other people's trust and respect.
Asch can be difficult to work with because he always takes things seriously and strictly holds everyone to ridiculously high standards. Because he expects others to do the same, he can come off as bossy and overbearing. Assertive and critical, he's quick to anger when he and others don't meet his expectations. He may overreact to anything from a minor mistake to complete failure, but he doesn't allow himself to sulk because he feels pressed for time since he knows he's gradually dying as a result of his replication. That said, he prefers working independently because he knows his own plans and what he has to do, and he doesn't want others getting in the way, slowing him down, or messing him up. And he's prone to arguments, and gets even more cantankerous when he's wrong, in which case he retorts with insults, insists on illogical arguments, and/or storms off at inconvenient times. Usually without thinking.
Initially, the two motivators that significantly affect Asch's actions are his love for the people and his hatred toward replicas. The latter stems from not only physical agony of replication but also the psychological anguish of being replaced by his loved ones. It inevitably drives him to cast away his past and almost unquestioningly devote himself to Van's ideals. However, after Asch learns the details of Van's plan, he decides to defect because of his love for the world—he can't accept the idea of replicating the human race and eradicating all the originals.
Asch's view on and attitude toward replicas, especially his own, gradually change as the game goes on. They're intrinsically tied to his identity, reason to live, and his actions and decisions toward the end of the game.
From his own perspective, his loved ones had replaced him from the moment they accepted his replica as Luke, thereby displacing him as a person and effectively taking away his reason to live. His replica is the succession of who he used to be, consequently making him an extension of Asch himself, meaning that Asch expects him to live up to the same impossibly high standards of his stolen life, and to fulfill his purpose as Luke fon Fabre. But because his replica can't live up to those expectations, Asch feels he has every right to mock, bully, and even outright kill him for being an incompetent failure and ignorant, selfish, spoiled brat who is incapable of defending himself, his kingdom, and his fiancee. Naturally, Asch's pettiness backfires on him because it drives his replica to completely ignore his warnings and instead seek reassurance and approval from the only one giving it to him, thus sealing Akzeriuth's doom.
After the fall of Akzeriuth, Asch takes on a different approach toward molding his replica into a proper replacement to fulfill his purpose as Luke fon Fabre, take care of the people, save Auldrant from the miasma, and defeat Van. Although he seems overly focused on making sure his replica continues being Luke fon Fabre, the reality that Asch won't admit is there's always been a part of him that is like his replica and others; he wants to live, and continually seeks a purpose or reason to exist. Like the replicas, Asch feels that he doesn't have a place in the world, and moreover already knows he's dying anyway, so he might as well make sure that his replica keeps doing what he should as Luke fon Fabre. As far as Asch is concerned, whatever happens to him is no longer important. Because of this, he doesn't understand and feels insulted by his replica's lacking self-confidence. He becomes even more offended when the replica tries to give his past, identity, and purpose back. And he even rejects Luke as his replica when he decides he isn't good enough, attempts self-sacrifice to atone for Akzeriuth, and abandons the other responsibilities that come along with being the "Light of the Sacred Flame".
What neither Asch nor his replica seems to realize is that even as they work together, arguing every step of the way, they each manage to perform different functions of the same role that is otherwise known as Luke fon Fabre. Because they're perfect isofons, they're both the Scion of Lorelei, and the responsibilities of Luke fon Fabre are merely split between them like the Key of Lorelei. Asch only seems to realize this after losing the battle of self with his replica, urging his replica to go after Van while he handles the small fry, knowing what little time he has left and ultimately emerging not as Asch, but as Luke fon Fabre. He dies shortly afterward, but not without contacting his replica first and entrusting the rest of their responsibilities to him, finally resolving a long-standing, bitter self-conflict.