Ashley Graham (Resident Evil)

Ashley was originally created as an unnamed character simply referred to as "Girl" by the game designer, Yasuhisa Kawamura. "Girl" was intended to be the second playable character of the initial version of Resident Evil 4. Scenarios featuring the character were written for the "Castle", "Hallucination", and "Zombie" builds. In the "Castle" scenario, she was supposed to be a test subject held against her will within an underground lab beneath a castle. With the help of a B.O.W. dog taught to follow her orders, she manages to escape. Following the 2002 edition of the Tokyo Game Show expo, the "Castle" game script by Kawamura and Noboru Sugimura was discarded, though Kawamura went on a new script based on the same story.[3]

Development was restarted with a version of the "Castle" build script supplied by Sugimura when Shinji Mikami took over as director of the project in late 2003; the original version of Resident Evil 4 which was undergoing development was abandoned.[3] "Girl" was reworked as the daughter of the American President, who player character Leon S. Kennedy must search for and rescue. She is written to be a defenseless companion who can be directed by the player to stay in a hiding place.[4] Although Ashley is predominantly controlled by artificial intelligence whenever she is following Leon and is intended to be protected by him throughout the entire game, they must split up in certain narrative segments of the game, while others are played from her perspective.[5]

In the remake of Resident Evil 4, the team aimed to expand Ashley's characterization and relationship with Leon.[6] Differing from the original, Ashley's game mechanics were completely changed and can be called to maintain distance, come close, and be unable to be left at the safe spot anymore. Yasuhiro Ampo said, "As a character, we wanted to have her by your side so she left an impression, and as a game, having her hide while you went and fought in the original was fun in some ways. But having a character like Ashley and then having her basically disappear for a while felt like a waste. We wanted to avoid that in the remake."[7] Ashley's health bar was also removed. She gets downed after taking too many blows, and Leon must revive her to continue. She can also be picked up and carried away by enemies, and if carried too far away from Leon without being saved, the game ends.[8] Her outfit and overall design were altered to look and act more like a true partner than a damsel in distress.[9]

Ashley's appearance in the original game received a mostly negative reception. Many gaming media outlets have criticized her as one of the worst[18][19] or annoying video game characters.[20][21][22][23] Charlie Barratt of GamesRadar used her as an example of the "pure-hearted love interest", stating that this kind of character lacks personality.[24] In 2012, Toadette Geldof of Vice described her as one of the lamest video game characters of all time, commenting that "She's so lame that she can't even really walk on her own, so you have to piggy-back her around and then set her back down any time you need to kill something."[4] In 2016, Liz Finnegan of The Escapist criticized and described her as one of the hateable video game character. Commenting that "She’s defenseless and worthless and needs your help constantly."[25] In 2017, Jessica Famularo of Inverse has claimed that she is least best Resident Evil heroes. She criticized and said that "She's often written off for being helpless to an irritating degree. No one really wants her around, it would seem."[26] In Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian described Ashley as a damsel in distress who appears to be helpless, arguing that defending her caused players a lot of frustration.[27] Shubhankar Parijat of the Gaming Bolt also cited Ashley as the third worst character in the entire Resident Evil series, claiming that "she’s not even a character, At best, she’s a plot device, and at worst, she’s an annoying gameplay mechanic".[28] Samara Summer of GamePro wished that Ashley doesn't appear in the remake of Resident Evil 4, claiming that "She can't fight, she can't free herself and she can't even look for a hiding place on her own. With her screaming she doesn't motivate me to help her either."[29]

Ashley has been positively appraised by a few commentators. GameDaily featured Ashley Graham as part of its "Babe of the Week: Hottest Blondes" feature, adding that they would give her the "pain in the neck" award.[30] Hollander Cooper of GamesRadar included her in their "Top 7 Game characters you're wrong for hating", commenting that "she'd sometimes get attacked by a Los Plagas, but she usually gave you plenty of time to spin-kick the assailant before being dragged away. Plus, you could always tell her to hide in a box or a trashcan, and she always did so without a fight."[31] David Craddock of Shacknews cited Ashley as one of his favorite video game companion, saying that "When you are saddled with her, she’s perfectly content to hide in a dumpster while you clear out enemies. If only all companions were so agreeable."[32]

The character's appearance in the 2023 remake has received positive reviews from critics. Jade King of TheGamer noted that the remake avoided sexualizing Ashley, including by eliminating the possibility of players looking up her skirt.[33] Similarly, Ashley Bardhan of Kotaku praised Ashley's new character model, especially the decision to replace her skirt with a skort.[34] Joseph Yaden of Inverse and Ed Smith of PCGamesN both thought that Ashley had now become more of a partner than a damsel in distress.[35][36] The word "Moushley," which describes fanart of Ashley shown as a mouse, has spread across the internet. The following day, Capcom also acknowledged it, and the official Resident Evil Twitter account tweeted a mouse and an emoji in response to the meme.[37][38]