Ashley Winchester is the main protagonist of the PlayStation RPG, Wild Arms: 2nd Ignition (released in the US as Wild Arms 2). His favorite heroes include anything involving the color red, although he doesn't think of himself as one due to experiences on his home planet, Filgaia. Regardless, Ashley is a man who will jump into action to protect others, especially his comrades and his love interest, Marina Irington.
The member currently playing Ashley acquired him on December 11, 2013, and has played him since. This member was the first to play the character.
Ashley was an orphan whose parents were killed as a result of a war, eventually taken in by Marina's family and drafted into the musketeer brigade under the service of Meria Boule's king. Ashley's mission was to rescue a boy named Tony held captive by three men from the destroyed kingdom of Slayheim, but freed an explosive monster weapon, Kalivos, in the process. As punishment for going against the commander's orders and allowing the men to escape the Withered Ruins, Ashley was placed under house-arrest and later drafted into another musketeer brigade known as ARMS (Awkward Rush & Mission Savers in Japan, Agile Remote Mission Squad in the US).
Unfortunately, a terrorist organization known as Odessa used a Demon Summoning ritual to turn everyone at the Sword Cathedral into monsters, while Ashley himself was possessed by the demon Lord Blazer responsible for turning Filgaia into a wasteland. The demonized Ashley came into contact with the Guardian Blade Argetlahm, allowing the ancient hero, the Sword Magess, to restore his humanity. In the process, the powers of Argetlahm and Lord Blazer combined, allowing him to tap into said power to transform into Knight Blazer, as he was informed later on.
On the way to defeating Odessa, he came across Lilka Eleniak, a crest sorceress getting started, Brad Evans, a war hero turned criminal, and Tim Rhymeless, a young boy chosen as Baskar's Pillar and a friend of Tony and Scott. He would later meet up with a female bounty-hunter, Kanon, who sought to destroy the demon inside of him. Following his final battle with Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus, Odessa's leader and Brad's former commanding officer, Ashley was left in subspace until he met the Sword Magess, who introduced herself as Anastasia Rune Valeria, an ancestor of his chief leader, Irving Vold Valeria and led him back to Filgaia. Sadly, Anastasia had to stay behind and sent Lucied, the Guardian of Desire, to assist him.
It wasn't long until Ashley's demon form evolved into Over Knight Blazer when he rescued a kidnapped Marina from the clutches of Caina, a member of Odessa's Cocytus squad. The act of transforming frightened Marina, but she was able to get over her fear of Ashley and helped him free himself from Lord Blazer taking control over his body. Eventually, the Crimson Noble Marivel Armitage joined the party, and the identity of the threat was revealed as the Kuiper Belt, an encroaching parallel universe the consumed worlds.
After a failed mission that resulted in the larva being destroyed, Ashley and Co. were sent to the wreckage of Heimdal Gazzo, Odessa's air fortress, and discovered the horrid secret of Irving funding Odessa. At the same time, Irving ran off with his sister, Altaecia Rune Valeria, and left a note saying to meet them at the center of the world. After finally consumating his relationship with Marina, Ashley led the group to the center of Filgaia and after the roots draining Filgaia of life were obliterated, Ashley confronted Irving, who informed the group that he founded Odessa as a necessary evil to get the nations united and prepared for the Kuiper Belt, before the group was sent inside Altaecia for the battle against the core of the encroaching parallel universe.
Irving and Altaecia died at the end, and Ashley's negativity freed Lord Blazer from his chains inside the Event Horizon. Ashley, realizing that the world needed people to unite and not depend on lone heroes, pulled out the Argetlahm with the powers of his friends and in a final battle, destroys the Blaze of Disaster. Ashley returned home for a while before he was suddenly brought to the multiverse one night.
Involvement[]
Beginnings[]
Ashley's start in the multiverse was at Demeter Plaza, where he entered a waffle house to get some breakfast. It was there that he met a witch by the name of Yuria, and the two discussed how Ashley was going to become more used to his new surroundings, and his desire to meet Marina again, granted she would obviously worry about his disappearance. Although the conversation was pleasant, Ashley never saw Yuria again.
It wasn't long before he met an unarmed Brad, and the two began discussing leads before Brad went off to find information and Ashley met a mysteriously cloaked figure who gave him an equally mysterious berry with an unknown time limit before leaving. Ashley ate the berry and Brad returned, but it wasn't long until a young girl was kidnapped and taken from her parents. Realizing something strange was up, Ashley and Brad offered to rescue the girl, which parents accepted. Ashley later informed Brad about the stranger that gave him the berry before going off to meet the kidnapper, who was surely that very stranger Ashley encountered.
As the child was let go and Brad escorted her back to the parents, Ashley faced the stranger, who revealed that his plan to draw Ashley out to him had worked, and that the berry inside Ashley had an unfortunate side effect: the revival of 'Disaster'. Ashley found himself being attacked, and the stranger revealed himself to be a demon that took the appearance of the Protoblazer monsters seen at the terrorist attack on Sword Cathedral. Ashley had run out of time, and as a result, he transformed into Knight Blazer, another intention of the demon.
In the brief fight, Ashley proved himself triumphant before the monster died laughing as his body vanished from Banisher. With Brad returning, Ashley began contemplating if what the monster said was true and that it was directly connected to Lord Blazer. The berry he had eaten also allowed him to increase his overall defense from past enemies. Afterwards, he met Vash, who Marina was a fan of, and had returned to him his revolver bought in a weapon shop that he visited before running into Lilka again as well. From there on out, the former ARMS members began discussing what to do as well as Ashley's problems. Vash sometimes listened in on the conversations, but there were times he was busy playing with local children and eating donuts.
Fateful Encounter with Legato[]
One day, the group woke up to find Vash had run off, but encounted him at a self-made donut stand in the Tower of Twilight to help an old man keep running his donut shop in Demeter Plaza. That day, Ashley and the group learned more about factions, more specifically about the Celestial Guardians. Those that were encountered that day were Sita, Nu-13, King Candy, and Inspector Lewton. At a later point in time in the mall, while Ashley and the others had split up to learn about what to do, Vash was left by himself and was confronted by a man by the name of Legato Bluesummers, who sparked up conversation regarding himself being sent by Vash's twin brother, Millions Knives.
Legato demonstrated his power as to warn Vash not to attack a messenger, warning him of twelve assassins with twelve cut coins that were to hunt him down. If Vash were to collect all twelve cut coins, "something interesting will happen". Legato then disappeared, and after Vash heard that there was a head in the bag that belonged to someone, Vash went off to find the others and escape, only for them to be found by Monev the Gale of the Gung-Ho Guns. The following chase left dozens dead and inflicted great damage to the Plaza, and Vash was pushed to the brink of madness. After taking down Monev in the next encounter thanks to Lilka and Knight Blazer, Vash was about to execute Monev, but had stopped himself at the last second before receiving info about the next Gung-Ho Guns and receiving the first cut coin and recovering before paying respects to those lost in the attack.
The Avengers and other involvements[]
Afterwards, Ashley and Vash fought Tsubaki and Nu in a coliseum match and lost, followed by an encounter with Deadpool and Iron Man that got Ashley, Brad, Lilka and Billy into the Avengers. Ashley was also involved in a group effort to stop Fawful, and Vash joined M.A.R.S. as a secondary member.
Powers and Capabilities[]
Knight Blazer
Ashley is experienced with handling a type of ARM (standard-issue weapon made from dragon fossils) known as the bayonet, and is able to slash enemies and fire different types of ammunition that come in cartridges. Ashley also has experiences with throwing knives, often using them to disarm his enemies and trigger switches out of reach to open doors and operate other objects connected with said switch.
Ashley is able to access his inner power and transform into Knight Blazer, in which he specializes in using a fighting style that includes punches, kicks, and a beam sword. His most powerful attack in this form is Banishing Buster (also known as Banisher), a large particle beam that can be fired out of the crystal concealed under his armor towards an enemy party, but takes a lot of energy to perform.
Ashley can also use energy to channel Lucied's fighting power and summon it to inside of Lucied so that the Guardian can fight alongside him.
Followers[]
Lilka Eleniak[]
Alignment: +3.5
Entered the multiverse on March 26, 2014.
Age: 14
A crest sorceress just getting started, and the sister of the famed Eleniak Witch-Girl, Lilka was one of Ashley's first comrades in ARMS. In terms of personality, Lilka is usually upbeat, having a desire to bring about good spirits despite bad things that happen. She once had a short-lived crush on Ashley, but decided to get over it upon realizing Ashley yearned for Marina instead. After losing her sister in an accident that involved the Millenium Puzzle, she ran away from her home in Sielje and joined ARMS in her place, but was able to realize her individuality and open up to people, including her rival Terry, who has a crush on her.
Lilka's favorite food consists of chow mein in the original Japanese version, and jelly rolls in the American localization.
Brad Evans[]
Alignment: +2.5
Entered the multiverse on December 16, 2013.
Age: 33
The famed "Hero of Slayheim". A war criminal from the Slayheim Liberation Army who was labeled as Prisoner #666 after his arrest, he spent five years in Illsveil Prison on death row until Ashley and Lilka broke him out as a member of ARMS. Most of the time as a reluctant and untrusted individual, but came to appreciate the friendship he saw in his comrades. It is known that his commanding officer was Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus, who ran off and abandoned his men near the end of the war.
Brad has a friend from the war, Billy Pilder, who was probably the real hero of Slayheim and Brad decided to take that alias and cover for him. After the Angel Weapon detonated and turned Slayheim into a lifeless salt flat, Billy miraculously survived, but was left in a vegitative state, hence the wheelchair. After the defeat of Lord Blazer, Brad checked up on Billy, who seemed to be recovering shortly before Brad entered the multiverse...
Surprisingly, Brad's name is not his real name at all. Shortly before the final operation of the Slayheim Liberation Army, Brad, previously known as Billy Pilder traded names with the real Brad, Billy Pilder, not to mention their ID cards as well. The reason being that the real Brad was going to take most of the blame, so Billy switched his name with Brad and took the blame for his friend. Brad swore an oath to return Billy's real name to him after the war, but never had the right time to do so.
An independent Plant (an extraterrestrial being), Vash is known by the people of Planet Gunsmoke (AKA No Man's Land) for his incredible marksmanship and reputation as the Humanoid Typhoon. Despite the destruction which usually surrounds him, Vash is a pacifist who refuses to kill anyone, even if it is an enemy out to kill him. The unfortunate thing about this is that he has obtained scars on his body from the lives of his enemies that he spared.
Vash can be spotted in his trademark red coat and round-framed sunglasses, but there are times where takes off the coat revealing some of his scars and the battle suit underneath. The $$60,000,000,000 (sixty-billion double-dollar) bounty on his head is no more, as a result of Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson from the Bernardelli Insurance Society labeling him as a walking natural disaster.
Vash hides a dark past beneath his apparent personality, and as time passes, the moment where he is to face his twin brother, Millions Knives, draws nearer...
Billy Pilder[]
Alignment: +2
Entered the multiverse on June 2nd, 2014 and became a part of the group later on.
Age: 31
Brad's war buddy from the Slayheim Liberation Army, Billy is hinted to be the true "Hero of Slayheim" who Brad took the place of so that Billy could get off more easily after the war that destroyed Slayheim. Sometime after trying to stop the Angel Halo from detonating, Billy was left in a vegatative state and was placed on a wheelchair sometime after Brad's arrest. Since then, Billy slowly recovered from amnesia until he was brought to the multiverse and continued recovery at the Hospital of Light, where he acquired magic legs and was able to walk.
Billy is still not able to fight, but he is capable of speaking and offering intel for the group.
Surprisingly, Billy's name is not his real name at all. Shortly before the final operation of the Slayheim Liberation Army, Billy, previously known as Brad Evans, traded names with the current Brad, Billy Pilder, not to mention their ID cards as well. The reason being that the real Brad was going to take most of the blame, so Billy switched his name with Brad and took the blame for his friend. Billy (now named Brad Evans) swore an oath to return Brad's name to him after the war, but never had the right time to do so.
Lucied[]
Alignment: 0
The Guardian of Desire in the shape of a purple wolf. Lucied is able to take physical form using a person's strong desires, and is the only Guardian capable of doing so as an independant force. He is also a noble Guardian who does not have an existing medium to carry his spirit. It is said if one uses Lucied's powers, their warring powers will be strengthened. Lucied was the Guardian who was always by Anastasia's side during the conflict with Lord Blazer, and as a result of the final battle, was sent to the world that would later become Anastasia's world. There he would remain until Ashley drifted to that world through Filgaia's subspace after defeating Vinsfeld. When Ashley left, Anastasia sent Lucied to help him. When Ashley's party found the Werewolf's Den, Lucied lent Ashley his powers and remained inside his body.
After Lord Blazer was destroyed and Ashley was brought to the multiverse, the drain affected Lucied directly. This means he is only able to fight in physical form with the permission of Ashley's desires.
Foes[]
Legato Bluesummers[]
A man often seen in a white coat, Legato is a sadistic nihilist who serves directly under Millions Knives and shows a great deal of devotion as well. Legato is also shown to enjoy eating meat made from humans, making him a cannibal, but is known to enjoy eating sweets as well. He does not take well to slave owners, due to his past as a nameless sex slave who would kill people with telekinetic threads from a cage when no one noticed him.
He is currently out to kill Vash with a game involving cut coins and a case for them, as well as the Gung-Ho Guns. The reason being is Vash had heavily injured Knives during the July Incident on No Man's Land.
Quotes[]
"Why, when we all desire the same results, do people choose such different paths?" - Ashley pondering different choices between people before entering the multiverse
Trivia[]
Marina Irington happens to be a big fan of Vash as a "character", as explained on the poster of him in her room at the Town of Meria's bakery. A picture of his revolver is also seen in one of the rooms at the town's inn.
The character Janus Cascade is deliberately based off of Ashley. Despite the fact that he shares some of the same attacks with the bayonet, there are combined efforts of similarities and differences in terms of character arcs. For example, a similarity is that Ashley was saved by "Big Sister" Anastasia at the end of Disc 1 and Janus was rescued from the streets of Little Twister by "Big Sis" Keziah.
Although Ashley has no voice in the game he is from, he is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai in the Japan-only Drama CD. Sakurai is mostly known for his voice work on Cloud Strife from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Joining Sakurai are Kiyoyuki Yanada (responsible for the voice of Ginji Matsuzaki from Black Lagoon) as Brad, and Moyu Arishima (Caro Orange from Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2) as Lilka.
At the moment, Vash is the only follower in Ashley's party to not make an actual appearance in the Wild Arms series outside his cameo in Wild Arms 2.
No, Brad and Billy aren't in a romantic relationship.
During the Shōnen Captain magazine runs of the Trigun manga, Yasuhiro Nightow, the creator of the series, was forced to take some details regarding Legato out of his story by both the pre-release publishers and Trigun fans for the installment releases. The reason for this was because of the more obvious hints of cannibalism and sexual comments towards Vash that might have been out of place.
