Ash Williams

File:Bruce Campbell Army of Darkness.jpg

Ashley J. Williams, portrayed by Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness

Ashley J. "Ash" Williams is the main character in the Evil Dead horror film franchise, played by Bruce Campbell.

Ash is known for his two favorite weapons: his "boomstick" (a sawed off double-barreled 12 gauge Remington shotgun), which he advertises is on sale at "S-Mart", and the more noticeable chainsaw, which was adapted to replace his right hand (amputated in Evil Dead II after being possessed by a Kandarian spirit).

Character bio

Template:Spoilers Ash is in his early 20s and usually lives a "normal" life. He is employed at the superstore, S-Mart (where he works in the housewares department), and has a girlfriend, Linda.

In The Evil Dead, Ash and his girlfriend Linda, sister Cheryl and friends Scotty and Shelly stay at a log cabin in the woods, where they find the "Naturom Demonto" (renamed or possibly translated to Necronomicon ex Mortis in the sequels), the "Book of the Dead", along with a tape recorder. The tape is a recording of the owner of the cabin, who was translating a passage of the book. By playing the tape, Ash and his friends awake the evil spirits who now can possess the living. Ash's friends are consequently possessed and killed until he's the last survivor. However, the film ends with Ash being overtaken by an evil spirit himself.

The sequel Evil Dead II, starts with a short recap of the first Evil Dead film where Ash arrives at the cabin with his girlfriend Linda (in this reshooting, Ash's other friends were left out of the story) and later kills her after she becomes possessed by a Deadite spirit. Ash is then overtaken by an evil spirit. From this point, the film continues the story from where the first film left off. Ash is released from the spirit by the coming of dawn, only to pass out. Ash regains consciousness moments away from sunset to find himself stuck at the cabin with the spirits of the Evil Dead for yet another night. Later, the cabin's owner's daughter and three more people arrive. It is by the end of this movie that Ash gets his famous chainsaw in place of his hand. The movie ends with Ash being sucked into a vortex and travelling back in time to 1300 AD, where the locals claim, according to their prophecies, that he is "The Man That Falls from the Sky" who will save them from the Deadites (demons).

The next film, Army of Darkness continues the story from here, where Ash has to defeat his alter-ego known as "Bad Ash" who is leading the Army of Darkness in search for the Necronomicon. In this movie, Ash constructs a mechanical prosthetic hand out of a gauntlet from a suit of armor. The prosthetic is remarkably strong. The movie has two different endings, one where he returns to his time and another where he ends up in a post-apocalyptic future. In the ending that made it in the final release, Ash appears at S-Mart, his original place of employment. There, he does what Ash does best - slays the beast, and gets the girl.

Life Outside the Trilogy

Since Army of Darkness, Ash has been featured in numerous video games and comic books, wherein he continues slaying demons and spouting out his memorable one-liners. Most recently, he is featured in the comic Army of Darkness versus Re-Animator, wherein he is confined to a mental hospital and is forced to go up against the demented Doctor Herbert West, and an upcoming battle with Dracula and possibly another with Darkman. At one point, there was talk of Ash appearing in a sequel to Freddy Vs. Jason; however, Sam Raimi eventually decided against it. Though tempted, Raimi thought it would be unfair to the other director to dictate rules for what Ash could and could not do, which would be required as Raimi has plans for Ash in the future.

Other facts

Ash is left-handed.
Ash can play piano well, as demonstrated in Evil Dead II
He usually acts in a "macho" sense, even in a crisis.
Ash has starred in the Evil Dead video games, where he was voiced by Bruce Campbell. The Evil Dead video games are Evil Dead: Hail to the King, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick and Evil Dead: Regeneration, and appear to be canonical.
Ash's last name is never given in the movies, but was first revealed in Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick.
The character of Duke Nukem is based at least partially on Ash. Duke uses many of Ash's catchphrases, including "Gimme some sugar, baby"; "Hail to the king"; "Come get some"; and "Who wants some."
The character of Hoss Delgado from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy is based partially on Ash. He wears a metal right hand and can replace it for a chainsaw bow.

Quotes

(after replacing his severed hand with a chainsaw) "Groovy!"
(after replacing his severed hand with a strong metal gauntlet) "Groovy!"
"Hail to the king, baby!"
"Workshed!"
"Come get some."
"Why you..."
"Shop smart. Shop S-Mart."
"Well hellooooo Mr. Fancypants!"
"Gimme some sugar, baby."
"Who wants some?"
"I got laid, by my sister"
"Yo! She-bitch! Let's go!"
"Klatu! Berata! N-*cough*!"
"You bastards! Give me back my hand! GIVE ME BACK MY HAND!!!"
"Good... bad... I'm the guy with the gun."
"Uhhh, that's gotta hurt!"
"Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up! You see this? This... is my BOOMSTICK! It's a 12 gauge double barreled Remington, S-Mart's top of the line... you can find this in the sporting goods department... that's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan, retails for about $109.95, got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right, shop smart, shop S-Mart. YA GOT THAT?!"
(while cutting off his evil hand) "Who's laughing now? WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!" This quote is actually sampled in the song "Who's Laughing Now?" by the industrial band Skinny Puppy.
"I got news for you pal, you ain't leading but two things right now, Jack and Shit, and Jack left town."
(from Army of Darkness Director's Cut) "I ain't that good."

External links