Ash is one of the main characters in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror film Alien. He is the science officer of the USCSS Nostromo and, unknown to his crewmates, is a synthetic sleeper agent sent by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation to secure a xenomorph specimen to be brought back to Earth. He is portrayed by Ian Holm.
History[]
When the Nostromo ostensibly discovered the signal on LV-426, Ash ensured the crew investigated by pointing out that failure to do so would incur a total forfeiture of their personal shares in Weyland-Yutani, as per company regulations. It seems Ash, acting in concert with MU/TH/UR 6000, also concealed the true nature of the signal from the rest of the crew — while Ash claimed the message was undecipherable, after landing on LV-426 Ripley was able to determine that it was likely some form of warning and not an S.O.S. as previously assumed. Even so, Ash successfully convinced her that heading out after the search party to warn them would be futile. When Kane was returned to the ship with a Facehugger attached to him, Ash undermined Ripley's command and let the search party back on board, thereby breaching basic quarantine regulations; the move made Ripley suspicious of Ash, suspicions she took to Captain Dallas, but he had no answers for her.
Once the Nostromo left LV-426, Ash notably ignored Parker's suggestions that Kane be put into stasis for return to Earth, where a proper medical team could examine him. After attempts to simply pry the Facehugger from the comatose Kane failed, Ash attempted to surgically remove the creature at Dallas' insistence, but its acid blood almost ruptured the ship's hull. When it later detached and died by itself, Ash began studying the creature intently. He discovered several interesting characteristics, including the Xenomorph's ability to replace its cells with polarized silicon, giving it a prolonged resistance to adverse environmental conditions, but apparently learnt nothing of value in the crew's later attempts to combat the Alien.
When the Chestburster ripped out of Kane at the crew's final meal before they were to return to hypersleep, Ash prevented Parker from attacking the infant Xenomorph with a knife, allowing it to escape into the ship. Ash constructed two tracking devices to help track the creature, but a subsequent search resulted in Brett being killed by the already fully-grown Alien. When Dallas volunteered to go into the Nostromo's ventilation ducts to flush the creature into the ship's main airlock, Ash remained notably calm as the other crew members panicked while Dallas was stalked and attacked.
Death[]
When Ripley became increasingly suspicious of Ash's inability to provide any helpful information on the creature she consulted MU/TH/UR directly, finally learning of "Special Order 937", a secret directive that Ash had been given by Weyland-Yutani to ensure the return of the Alien to the company's laboratories, even at the expense of the crew. When Ripley confronted Ash with this information he attacked her, holding her down and attempting to asphyxiate her by forcing a magazine down her throat. However, Ash was decapitated by Parker before he could kill her, revealing him to be an android. Despite being headless, Ash continued to attack Parker until Lambert stabbed the android in the back with an electric prod. After the confrontation, Ripley reactivated his remains, hoping to interrogate him for any information that might help in the fight against the Alien, but Ash merely mocked the remaining survivors, gloating that they would not survive the Alien's rampage by giving an exact analysis of the unique characteristics of the creature. After hearing his taunts, Ripley deactivated Ash for good and an enraged Parker incinerated his remains with a flamethrower.