Biography
Early Life
Ash Williams was born on April 8th, 1957 to father Brock Williams and mother Caroline Williams in the city of Kenward, Michigan. Raised in the neighboring small town of Elk Grove, details of Ash's early childhood are scarce, though a notable event during this time was him getting beaten up regularly by other children over his feminine name. Several years after Ash was born, Brock and Caroline would welcome their second child: a daughter named Cheryl.
Teenage Years
At an unspecified point between his childhood and adolescence, Ash's mother would leave the Williams family, which forced Brock to raise his two children on his own. Now with only one parental figure in his life, Ash, either subconsciously or knowingly, began to model his developing qualities after Brock's own boorish and chauvinistic traits. These characteristics led the teenage Williams towards of a life of sex, drugs, bullying, and partying, making him a notorious figure throughout Elk Grove's tight-knit community.
Several key events occurred during Ash's young adulthood, though the exact order in which they occurred remain unknown. These include befriending Chester "Chet" Kaminski (whom Williams would consider his best friend), dating a young woman named Linda Bates, and Brock purchasing a used 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 from the local Destruction Derby arena for Ash to drive. During this time, Ash attended Kenward County High School.
After his romance with Linda Bates had ended, Williams began seeing another girl named Linda. While it is unknown where these two initially met, both of them ultimately wound up working together at a local S-Mart department store. During this time with his "second Linda", Ash developed aspirations for visiting the coastal city of Jacksonville, Florida. Williams went as far as to book a vacation for himself and Linda, though this trip never came to fruition due to an incident during another vacation that would change the course of his life forever.
Incident At The Cabin
It would be in October of 1982 that Ash, along with his girlfriend Linda, sister Cheryl, his friend Scotty, and Scotty's girlfriend Shelly, took a weekend trip to a secluded cabin in the woods of Michigan. Unbeknownst to anyone in their party, the quaint cottage was owned by Professor Raymond Knowby, who just one week prior had accidentally unleashed a malevolent entity known as the Kandarian Demon on the property. Though the professor had somehow managed to quell the demon, the group of vacationers would inadvertently awaken the creature once more after discovering a tape recording of Knowby reading aloud incantations from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis.
Ash's sister Cheryl became the first to fall victim to the Kandarian Demon's attack, having been violated and infected by the living woods themselves. After listening to his sister's frantic pleas to leave the cabin, Williams reluctantly agreed to drive her to the nearest town, only to discover that the narrow steel bridge leading to and from the property was now completely destroyed, trapping them at the cabin until morning. Upon their return, Cheryl's "condition" took a turn for the worst, and was now completely consumed by the Deadite spirit inhabiting her body. Over the course of the night, Ash watched as his friends succumbed to this supernatural madness which they had released until only he remained unscathed. During this time, Williams committed horrific, unthinkable acts in the name of self-preservation towards his loved-ones, including beheading Linda with a shovel, and shooting Cheryl directly in the face with a shotgun. In the final moments of that first night, as the Deadite Scotty and Cheryl began to close in around him, Ash made one last desperate play, and threw the Necronomicon into a roaring fireplace. Williams watched as the book itself let out a horrific scream, and the shambling corpses he once called friends begin to melt into fleshy pulp heaps upon the cabin floor.
Ash slowly staggered out of the cabin and into the cold light of the coming dawn, believing that this onslaught was finally over. His assumption couldn't have been more wrong, and the Kandarian Demon roared through the forest and weaved through the cabin, hoisting Ash into the air and pushing him through the treetops. Briefly becoming a Deadite himself, Ash's possession was short-lived as the purifying light of the rising sun broke through the forest canopy and expelled the spirit from within him. Overwhelmed by this rapid-fire series of events, Ash collapsed into unconsciousness on the muddy forest floor right outside the cabin, only to awaken several hours later. After making another (failed) escape attempt in his car, Williams was chased back into the cabin by the Kandarian Demon, forcing him to take refuge there for at least one more night.
Eerie sights and sounds began to fill the cabin as the demons toyed with Ash's mind in the hopes to break him. The recently deceased Linda arose from her shallow grave, laughing and dancing in the moonlight before entering the cottage itself. Falling directly into the lap of her lover, Linda's severed head bit Ash's right hand, infecting it with evil. After ridding himself of Linda for good, Williams forced to deal with the creeping infection in his appendage after it began to attack and move on it's own by lopping it off at the wrist.
After enduring more psychological torment by this evil entity, Williams was confronted by a new party arriving to the cabin: budding archeologist Annie Knowby, Professor Ed Getley, and local guides Jake and Bobby Joe. Believing Ash to be responsible for the disappearance of Raymond and Henrietta Knowby, the group quickly learns of what transpired before the arrival of Williams and his original party after listening to Raymond's tape recorder. Much like Ash's friends, Ed Getley, Jake, and Bobby Joe soon fall victim to evil's attacks. During a search for the missing Bobby Joe right outside of the cabin, Ash became a Deadite himself once more, targeting Jake and Annie. After Jake had been killed by the newly reawakened Deadite Henrietta, the Deadite Ash staggered towards the defenseless Annie. It was only after finding a small pendant on the cabin's floor he gave to Linda the previous night that Williams was able to break free of evil's possession over him.
Having devised a plan to utilize the "lost pages" of the Necronomicon and put a stop to the Kandarian Demon's assault once and for all, Ash (with Annie's assistance) geared up for battle by attaching the very chainsaw which had lopped off his hand onto his stump, and grabbing a nearby shotgun and holster. After disposing of the Deadite Henrietta first, Annie began to read an incantation from the pages which would turn the intangible demon into a thing of the flesh, and open a rift in time to pull the creature inside. Before Annie could complete the passage, Ash's severed hand stabbed her in the back with the Kandarian Dagger, leaving Ash to face the Kandarian Demon alone.
Caught in the creature's grip, Williams was slowly dragged closer and closer to the demon's chomping maw. With her dying breath, Annie managed to complete the spell and fully open the rift in time. The Kandarian Demon vanished into the vortex, and all was quiet inside the cabin. A trembling Ash crawled over to Annie, telling her she did it, though this peaceful moment was abruptly ended when the hinges flew off the cabin door, and the pull of the time vortex began to grow stronger and stronger. Ash tried his best to walk against the wind, but it was of no use, and he was swept up into the swirling otherworldly rift.
Trapped In 1300 AD
The other end of the time vortex opened, spitting out Ash (along with his Oldsmobile) into England during the Middle Ages. Quickly surrounded by knights on horseback, Williams was taken prisoner by the army of Lord Arthur, as they believed him to be a soldier of their foe Henry The Red (who himself had just been captured). Among all of Arthur's men, only the Wise Man believed Ash to be "The Promised One", a prophesied hero from the sky who would save their people from the terror of the Deadites. Ignoring The Wise Man's claim, Ash and his fellow prisoners were taken by to Castle Kandar, where he learned the very evil he had just destroyed at the cabin was now roaming through the English countryside unchecked, terrorizing the local population. Williams was then knocked into an underground torture chamber known as "The Pit", where two captive Deadites were used to dispose of Arthur's enemies. After retrieving his chainsaw thanks to The Wise Man, Ash easily destroyed the Deadites and escaped The Pit, becoming the first man to ever do so. An awestruck crowd gathered around the stranger from the sky, who demanded that Henry The Red be let go. Arthur's men, still stunned by Ash's deed, released Henry and his captive troops.
Now convinced that Ash was indeed The Promised One, the local "primitives" began to treat him like a king, including the beautiful maiden Sheila (who was responsible for knocking Ash into The Pit in the first place). Informed by The Wise Man that the Necronomicon was the key to returning to his proper time, Williams set out on a quest to retrieve the book from a cursed graveyard. Ash's odyssey would be interrupted by the supernatural at almost every turn, which included a chase through the Dark Forest from the shapeless Kandarian Demon, an attack from miniature duplicates of himself, and the creation of a full-sized "Evil Ash" grown out of his own body. Ash would eventually retrieve the Ex-Mortis from the cemetery in which it laid, though not without fumbling the simple incantation which would allow the safe removal of the book from the cursed grounds. His failure to recite the words resulted in the creation of an army of Deadites (led by his undead doppelganger) arising from their graves and attacking Castle Kandar in order to reclaim the Necronomicon. Using a combination of 20th Century engineering and weaponry, Ash, Lord Arthur's subjects, and Henry The Red and his troops successfully defeated the legion of darkness. With the battle victorious, Arthur's Wise Man used instructions found within the Ex-Mortis to create a potion which would allow Ash to sleep his way back to his proper time.
Exile
Successfully returning to the 20th Century, Ash was forced to face the consequences of what had transpired at the cabin, revealing the grizzly details to his father and the families of the friends which he was forced to kill. Stories of the fateful trip and Ash's gruesome deeds began to spread like wildfire through Elk Grove, which led to Williams earning the nickname "Ashy Slashy". With his hometown believing him to be a psychotic killer and his father disavowing him, Ash felt the best option was run from his bullies instead of standing up for himself, and left Elk Grove for good.
Information regarding Ash's activities during the next three decades remain sparse, though there are several key events of note. At some point, he found employment with the ValueStop retail store chain as a stockboy, and worked at several of their locations across the state of Michigan. At another unspecified point, Williams acquired a new copy of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, keeping it safely locked up inside a wooden trunk in his Airstream trailer home.
Thirty Years Later
After more than 30 years of running from his bloody past, Ash would be found by the forces of evil once more after reading from the Necronomicon while stoned. After revealing his dark secret to trusted ValueStop co-worker and friend Pablo Simon Bolivar, Williams planned to go on the run once again, though the Deadites had other plans in mind. Bolivar, along with his upstairs apartment neighbor Kelly Maxwell, would join forces with Ash to help him stop the terrors unleashed by these wicked creatures. During this time, Ash and his cohorts were unknowingly being pursued by the mysterious Ruby Knowby and police officer Amanda Fisher.
After visiting Bolivar's shaman uncle, El Brujo, Williams learned through an ayahuasca-induced "spiritual trip" that the key to stopping evil was at the old cabin where his journey began, and he must bury the book beneath the building's foundation. Reluctantly, Ash and his Deadite-fighting companions eventually arrived to the Knowby property, where they finally came face-to-face with Ruby. Thought the woman had presented herself as the lone surviving member of the Knowby family, Ash and the others soon learned her true identity as the ancient Dark One responsible for creating the Necronomicon after Williams had willingly surrendered ownership of the book over to her. Though Ash came extremely close to killing Ruby in the cabin's cellar, he instead opted to accept a deal she proposed: in return for allowing her to keep the Ex-Mortis, Ash was free to live the remainder of his life in Jacksonville, Florida without fear of demon attacks ever again.
Return To Elk Grove
For the next six months, Ash (along with Kelly and Pablo) took residence in a waterfront trailer park in Jacksonville, reveling in his newly guaranteed demon-free lifestyle with non-stop partying in a waterfront trailer park. However, this peace didn't last, and through a Deadite messenger dispatched by Ruby herself, Ash was summoned back to his hometown of Elk Grove. Upon making the long trek from Florida back to Michigan, Williams and his cohorts learned that Ruby's Demon Spawn children now sought the Necronomicon for their own nefarious purposes. Though a bit reluctant at first, Williams and the others agreed to help The Dark One destroy her offspring and retrieve the book.
During this time, Ash would be reunited with many figures from his past, including his old girlfriend Linda Bates (now married to Sheriff Thomas Emery, a former target of Ash's bullying during their youth), his best friend Chet Kaminski, and even his estranged father Brock. Like most most people who are close to Ash, these loved-ones began to pay the price when the forces of evil were unleashed upon the town. Having mended his relationship with his father (who now believed Ash to be a hero after saving him from a Deadite), Brock would die on the streets of Elk Grove after getting run over by the possessed Oldsmobile, and Chet Kaminski would meet his end by the hand of a Deadite double of the late Cheryl Williams after Ash refused to shoot her and risk hurting Kaminski.
On top of all this, the emotionally-manipulative demon known as Baal was now loose in Elk Grove, and was hell-bent on destroying Williams. With the aid of Sheriff Emery, Baal captured Ash and took him to the Kenward County Asylum, where the demon used his powers of persuasion and illusion creation to attempt to convince Ash that the incident at the cabin 30 years ago was nothing more than a delusion. Though Ash immediately saw through Baal's deception, he opted to play along in order to get close to the demon, even playing the part of his henchman when Kelly, Pablo, and Ruby arrived to rescue Williams. Eventually dropping the facade after trapping the demon, Ash would suffer yet another loss when Pablo was sliced in half by Baal's razor-sharp finger.
Upset by the loss of his friend, Ash would be manipulated by Baal (possessing Pablo's corpse) into traveling back in time to prevent his younger self from ever finding the Necronomicon in the first place. Williams, along with Kelly and the reformed Ruby, arrived back in 1982 and made their way to the cabin, unknowingly severely altering the timeline from their arrival alone. After fighting Henrietta Knowby and recovering the Ex-Mortis from the cabin's cellar, Ash and Kelly would be confronted by Baal (dropping the deception of being Pablo) and Ruby's 1982 counterpart, who killed her "soft" future incarnation. Inside the cabin, Ash would challenge Baal to a one-on-one no powers fistfight for the fate of the world, sealing it with a blood pact on the Necronomicon itself. Williams would use Baal's talon-like finger against him, slicing the demon clean in half and destroying him for good, which led to a portal to Hell itself beginning to open directly beneath the cabin. Ash and Kelly fled the burning cottage as the 1980s Ruby remained inside, seemingly crushed by the structure as it fell in on itself. While Ash's actions did not save his old friends from their grisly fates as he had hoped, Pablo was resurrected from his recent demise, and Ash's demon-destroying deed had made him Elk Grove's hero upon returning to the 21st Century.
Testing The Mettle of Man
Several months after saving Elk Grove, Ash's status as a hero was larger than ever as he prepared to open his first solo business venture: Ashy Slashy's Hardware Store and Sex Toy Emporium. It would be during the shop's grand opening day that Ash would be reacquainted with a woman from his past: Candace Barr, whom he had married years prior during a non-stop alcoholic bender through Branson, Missouri. Unbeknownst to Ash, the two had conceived a child during their "honeymoon", a daughter Candace would name Brandy.
After losing Candace during a Deadite attack at Kenward Country High School, Ash took in his long-lost daughter, trying his best to get to know her while bringing her into his world of demons and monsters. It was during this time that Ash was sought out by the Knights of Sumeria, an ancient order who believed that the end of days spoken of in the Necronomicon was nigh. In addition to this, Brandy was being manipulated by Ruby, who had not only survived the ordeal at the cabin in 1982, but was now operating as a school guidance school counselor named Rebecca Prevett. Ruby's plot required that Ash's offspring betray him, which ultimately failed when Brandy herself was stabbed in the back by the Kandarian Dagger and died. With Pablo's help, Ash killed himself and ventured into another dimension known as "The Deadlands" to retrieve Brandy's spirit and put it back into her body, though it was this action that accidentally led to the rift between the worlds opening and allowing the long-banished Dark Ones to enter the Earthly realm once more.
After retrieving the Necronomicon and it's lost pages, The Dark Ones unleashed the Deadites across the globe, initiating the apocalypse the Knights of Sumeria had fought so hard to prevent. One of the creatures unleashed by The Dark Ones was Kandar The Destroyer, the champion for the forces of evil which only seemed to grow stronger from attacks. Learning that the United States Military planned on dropping a nuclear bomb on Elk Grove in an attempt to kill Kandar, Ash knew that his moment as humanity's savior, "The Prophesied One", had finally come. Bidding farewell to Brandy, Kelly, and Pablo in the back of an evacuation van, Ash took control of a disregarded army tank left on the streets of Elk Grove, and drew the attention of Kandar. Loading the Kandarian Dagger into the tank's barrel, Ash fired the mystical weapon directly into the creature's chest. As the giant monster began to melt, Ash attempted to escape the confines of the tank, only for Kandar's enormous body to collapse directly on top of him. Rendered unconscious from the battle, Ash was pulled to safety by a hooded figure, a member of the Knights of Sumeria. Williams faded in an out of consciousness as the knight tended to his wounds before eventually falling into a long, deep sleep.
The Future
Decades passed, and Ash awoke from his slumber inside a strange coffin-like stasis chamber in an empty white room. Adding to the confusion of his current situation, Williams was surprised to see that a new android hand virtually identical to one of flesh and blood was now on his stumped arm. Ash opened the vault-like door of the chamber, only to be greeted by an android woman named Lexx. Leading "The Savior" into a large garage, the android revealed that in the aftermath of Kandar's attack, the world had turned into an apocalyptic wasteland ruled by The Dark Ones. Given a new set of clothes and reuniting him with his beloved Oldsmobile (now outfitted with a jet engine and machine gun), Ash drove into the sunset to continue taking on the forces of evil.
What happened to Ash following these events remain unknown.
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