Ash Crimson

Ash Crimson is the protagonist of the Tales of Ash, the third story arc of The King of Fighters series, with his first appearance being in The King of Fighters 2003 as the leader of the New Hero Team. His official nickname is Sneering Firelight  or The Sneering Blaze.

Development
Ash was designed with the intent of creating an "attractive evil character" with little changes done to him since conception. During the initial planning stage for Ash, developers wanted to create a protagonist that has never been done for the franchise. Following this idea, they decided to create a feminine-looking and unheroic character to contrast the impact from the previous protagonists.

Falcoon adds that the main goal for Ash was to make him an ambiguous hero that purposely makes players "feel bad" for cheering for him. Ash's character design was not made by Falcoon—some of the development sketches for Ash's final design look closer to Nona's style. However, Falcoon did add extra details to Ash while illustrating him to better fit his character. KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation "A" earned its title for three reasons: arcade, arrange, and Ash. In a later interview, Falcoon relates that he asked permission from the 2D team to borrow Ash for the game.

Personality
Ash is a cunning, self righteous, and flamboyant individual. Confident in his own powers, he doesn't take things too seriously and considers things that are of no interest bothersome. Even when faced with serious situations, he is calm and somewhat blasé. He isn't one who considers working with others, but instead uses others to achieve his goals. He tends to flaunt the superiority of his halfhearted effort and speaks in a playful and condescending manner, which often irritates the characters he is speaking to.

He views Elisabeth as his older sister figure, and notes that she is "too serious". He feels that Duo Lon and Shen Woo are his good friends, although he appeared to them with mysterious intentions. He also has a habit of calling people pet names such as "Betty" for Elisabeth, and "Ozzy" for Oswald.

His personality seems to slightly change when actively using the power of the Yasakani jewel. Usually calm and composed, when using his Fructidor move, Ash will laugh maniacally while making his opponent burn with the purple flames of the Yasakani. This behaviour is similar to Iori, and it may be interpreted as Orochi's taint affecting his mind.

Abilities

 * Pyrokinesis - Ash can create and control special green flames that look like melted wax. The origin of this flame is still unknown.
 * Create Fire - Ash can create fire from thin air.
 * Fire Projectile - Ash can create projectiles made of fire.
 * Fire Attacks - Ash can increase damage of his punches and kicks with fire.
 * Fire Aura - Ash can create fire around his body.
 * Power Absorption - Ash can steal powers from anybody he chooses. He decided to target the Three Sacred Treasures. He managed to steal two of three treasures leaving Kyo as the next power to acquire. He could possibly kill people during this process, but he left Chizuru and Iori alive. This was demonstrated when he absorbed Saiki's powers, in turn destroying Saiki's original body.
 * Yata Mirror (formerly) - The following are powers shown by Ash when he acquired Chizuru Kagura's Yata Mirror:
 * Seal Powers (formerly) - Ash can keep enemies from using their powers for a while.
 * Teletransport (formerly) - Ash can disappear and reappear somewhere.
 * Yasakani Jewel (formerly) - The following are powers shown by Ash when he acquired from Iori Yagami's Yasakani Jewel, which was later regained by Iori after Ash's disappearance:
 * Create Fire (formerly) - Ash can create red/purple fire. It is unknown if possessing the Jewel also allows its possessor to become subject to the Riot of the Blood, but it could be assumed that Ash is immune to the Riot of the Blood due to not having Orochi blood.

Fighting style
Ash fights using an acrobatic style combined with fire abilities to give a graceful fighting style. His fighting style in general is similar to the French martial art of Savate.

Despite his stature, he is extremely powerful. He is a good character for people who like to zone and poke their opponents, but he also has many other tools at the player's disposal that can be used to rush down efficiently, all while keeping the pressure on them. In KoF13, he also employs Iori's and Chizuru's powers into his moveset.

Music

 * Splendid Evil - The King of Fighters 2003
 * Joker - The King of Fighters XI, XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only)
 * The Second Joker - The King of Fighters XIII
 * Fructidor - Days of Memories

Voice actors

 * Sōnosuke Nagashiro
 * Duke Clement - The King of Fighters: Another Day (English voice)

Appearances
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Mainline

 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation "A"
 * The King of Fighters XII
 * The King of Fighters XIII - Edit entry/mid-boss

Mobile

 * Days of Memories (second, fourth, and seventh titles) - non-playable
 * The King of Reversi
 * Moeyo! KOF Daiundokai
 * SNK Dream Battle
 * The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Online
 * The King of Fighters: World
 * The King of Fighters All Star
 * Kimi wa Hero

Cameo

 * The King of Fighters XIV - in Team Official Invitation's ending, and in Verse's winquote vs. Iori
 * The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout - background
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2 - background, Kula Diamond's Normal Outfit-Variaton E

Anime
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 * The King of Fighters: Another Day

Similar characters

 * Saiki
 * Evil Ash

Trivia

 * In KOF 2003, Ash quotes Robert Browning's poem "The Year's at the Spring", this is the same poem that appears again in KOF XIII.
 * Ash's birthday, February 14th, falls on Valentine's Day (in the Northern Hemisphere).
 * Ash is the only protagonist who never won a KOF tournament, being in a team or not.
 * Most of Ash's moves refer to the French Revolution; they are named after months of the French Republican Calendar.