Rasler

Name: Rasler Heios Nabradia
Japanese name: ラスラ・ヘイオス・ナブラディア
Age: 18
Race: Hume
Seiyuu: Yasuyuki Kase
Voice Actor: Andrew Philpot

A young prince of Nabradia, and Ashe’s late husband. Their marriage was for political reasons, but in a rarity among such couples the two genuinely cared for each other. Unfortunately, Archadia invaded Nabradia shortly after their marriage, and Rasler went to defend his country in battle. He fell due to the fact that his armor has a giant hole perfect for someone to shoot an arrow into it, so I don’t know what he expected.

His remains were brought back to Dalmasca, given that Nabudis was wiped out in the Archadian attack by a mysterious force (read: nethicite).

A ghostly vision of Rasler appears to Ashe several times throughout the game, but it is in truth just the Occuria trying to manipulate her into doing what they want. Ashe finally realizes this at the Pharos, and rejects the ghost, saying that her late husband would not have wanted her to seek such vengeance.

Opinion

It’s really hard for me to not snark about Rasler. I mean, come on, his death is just so ridiculous. Look at his armor design! Look at how he gets shot right in the chest! Maybe I’ve just played the game too many times but whenever I start the game up again I just laugh. Oh, Rasler, we hardly knew ye. Go hang out with Reks.

The ghost Rasler thing is interesting as a plot device, and I do like that he and Ashe did seem to actually care for each other, although it would have been nice to have more than a single flashback about them. I mean, we got a FMV, so I guess that was the entire budget allocated for that. The manga expands on their relationship, but the manga is terrible, so. Not much of a tradeoff.

I also want to point out that Rasler has one armor design. One. He gets married in it, he goes off to battle in it, and he's buried in it. He also shows up as a ghost in it. It's one of those things you don't necessarily think about during the game but when you notice it, it's really funny. He has this lovely white suit of armor that's just perfect for weddings and battle and being a ghost! Oh, FFXII.