‘Apex Legends’ Season 11: What’s the Relationship Between Horizon and Ash?
Apex Legends Season 11 is on the way, and Respawn Entertainment just released the new season’s launch trailer, “Escape.” Season 11 welcomes the simulacrum Ash into the fray, but this new legend has some ancient history. Ash appeared as a major antagonist in Titanfall 2, and has been featured in Arenas and other side-stories throughout Apex Legends. What’s more, Ash and Horizon have a troubling history together — Ash is better known to Horizon as Dr. Reid.
Ash was Horizon’s assistant, Dr. Reid
Before the events of both Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends, Ash was known as Dr. Ashleigh Reid. She worked alongside Horizon on Project Iris, a plan put into place by Lillian Peck and Aleki Gibraltar to try and solve an impending energy crisis in the outlands.
Peck and Gibraltar organized a cadre of scientists that they named “the Group,” whose main goal was to figure out how to overcome or avoid this impending energy crisis.
To this end, Horizon and Dr. Reid worked together to synthesize something called “branthium” at the edge of a black hole. Unfortunately for Horizon, Dr. Reid had plans of her own — plans that included an alliance with the Apex Predators.
Dr. Reid trapped Horizon
Dr. Ashleigh Reid and Horizon were able to successfully synthesize branthium during their research together at the edge of a black hole. However, once Reid had the synthesized branthium, she was prepared to carry out her deal with the Apex Predators.
Horizon’s smaller research vessel was tethered to a larger vessel she and Reid used. Reid cut the tether, sentencing Horizon to what Reid assumed would be death, stranded at the edge of a black hole. As Apex Legends fans are aware, Horizon was able to find a way to escape after spending what she thought was 246 days in the black hole’s accretion disk.
However, due to gravitational time dilation, Horizon was actually gone for 87 years. During that time, Reid had returned to the Group with the branthium and betrayed them once they found a way to refine it, handing the research over to the Apex Predators, headed up by Blisk.
In a final act of vengeance, scientist Amelie Paquette of the Group stabbed Dr. Ashleigh Reid. However, Reid was saved by Blisk, who helped her become a simulacrum at her own request. She was later destroyed by Jack Cooper in Titanfall 2, and reconstructed by Vinson Dynamics before finally being deconstructed yet again by Blisk — seemingly to prevent some disaster or catastrophe.
Ash was restored again following the events of the Apex Legends Broken Ghost event, after which she became the announcer for the arenas game mode.
‘Apex Legends’ Season 11 teases map change
Now, Ash is preparing to join Apex Legends Season 11. It will be interesting to see what sort of relationship voice lines she might have with Horizon, and how they might explore Ash’s lore and past with her rival throughout the season.
In the meantime, Apex Legends Season 11 will also see a map change, as teased by the “Escape” trailer. It looks like the legends will be landing on a tropical island where they’ll have to compete not only with one another but also local fauna, including Carthage spiders — the same arachnids Caustic uses to create his toxins.
