Before the announcement made things official, there had been rumors for months that Ash would be added to Apex Legends as a playable character, but many of those suspicions seemed to be dropped once she was added to the game as a narrative presence over being a playable Legend in Season 9. The character is one of the game's strongest connections to Respawn Entertainment's other first-person shooter franchise, Titanfall, as Ash actually appears in the second game as a secondary villain.
Now that she's been confirmed as a playable Legend for Season 11, however, it seems like Respawn is really going all-in on Apex Legends' Titanfall connection, and fans seem to be loving it. While those familiar with both series have been excited about their continued connection, plenty of Apex fans never played through the campaign of Titanfall 2 and might be missing some of the context for who Ash is outside of the Apex Games. Luckily, Respawn has been planting the seeds of Ash's storyline in Apex for quite some time now and not everyone needs to play Titanfall 2 in order to get what she's about, but the game certainly paints an interesting picture of the Apex Games before they ever existed and provides plenty of background on many of Apex Legends' major characters.
Who is Ash in Titanfall 2?
Titanfall 2 sees the player take control of Militia rifleman Jack Cooper who ends up being bonded to Titan in the early sections of the game after inheriting it from a dying Pilot. In addition to inheriting the Titan, Cooper also inherited the Pilot's mission: to stop the IMC from taking over the rest of the planet, which involves stopping the IMC's hired mercenary group: the Apex Predators. Led by Kuban Blisk (the founder of the Apex Games), the Apex Predators are a group of highly skilled Titan Pilot mercenaries who do the work of the highest bidder. Included in the group are Ash and Viper, Valkyrie's father in Apex Legends.
Ash confronts Cooper and his Titan BT in a house manufacturing plant and almost kills both of them. Luckily, Cooper is able to escape her trap and rescue BT after the two were separated by the mercenary. They then proceed to fight Ash head-on and beat her and her Ronin-class Titan, seemingly killing her. Because she was a human consciousness housed inside a robotic, Simulacrum body, she was able to survive her fight against Cooper and BT and be remade by Vision Dynamics, a weapons company that specializes in building Titans.
Ash's Connection to Apex Legends
Ash actually connects to Apex in a lot of different ways. Before the events of Titanfall 2, she was Dr. Mary Somers' apprentice before trapping her inside a black hole. Somers happens to be Horizon in Apex Legends and the two worked on building Pathfinder before Ash betrayed her. She was eventually betrayed herself and put into a Simulcrum to save her mind before the events of Titanfall 2.
After being rebuilt, she met back up with Blisk, who beheaded her and split her head into nine different pieces scattered across King's Canyon. The Legends rebuilt her and turned her body over to Hammond Robotics only to have the company wipe her memory and throw her away. She's then rescued by Pathfinder who takes her in and helps restore her memory with the help of some of the other Legends. Once her memories were regained, Blisk calls her and apologizes for her beheading, and the two set up the Apex Arenas for her to run. Now, she's been given permission to join the Apex Games as a Legend and likely has some things to work out with Horizon once the two meet on the battlefield.
Apex Legends is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.