When it comes to complicated Star Trek characters, Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) shook up the entire Discovery crew when his complicated history finally came to light. Ash’s first appearance on Discovery started off kind of shady. He had allegedly been locked up as a prisoner of war by the Klingons for seven months. Like fans, though, Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) found that hard to believe when the two met in season 1, episode 5, “Choose Your Pain.” Ash then explained his survival by implying that the Klingon Captain L’Rell (Mary Chieffo) was using him to satisfy her more salacious needs.
Discovery did an excellent job of setting Ash up as an innocent Starfleet officer caught up in a bad situation. And that was true. . .until it wasn’t. The horrible truth of his true identity was revealed in season 1, episode 11, “The Wolf Inside.” Ash told his girlfriend and fellow officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) that he wasn’t in control of his body, and that he believed his consciousness had been hijacked by L’Rell’s lover, Voq. He was right, and fans eventually learned that he’d been turned into a sleeper agent as part of a Klingon scheme to infiltrate Starfleet. Ash’s situation didn’t just leave the USS Discovery crew in disarray as they struggled to pick up the pieces. It left fans wondering who he’d ever really been in the first place.
The Real Ash Tyler
Star Trek is no stranger to undercover agents. Ash wasn’t the first character to undergo drastic changes in pursuit of a grand political cause. In he Original Series, Thelev (William O'Connell) turned out to be an Orion pretending to be an Andorian delegate. His end goal in season 2, episode 15, “Journey to Babel,” was to maintain his people’s source of dilithium for their ships. Thelev was so deep undercover that only the autopsy that Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) performed on his body revealed his true identity.
But unlike Thelev, Ash didn’t choose to be used as a vessel for a Klingon warrior. In fact, the decision to do so was taken out of his hands entirely and made by Voq with the help of his lover/co-conspirator L’Rell.
In Ash, the Klingons had in their possession a vulnerable young man with access to vital intel. Ash was originally from Issaquah, a small city near Seattle, WA. He never knew his father, and his mother died during the first vacation she’d taken in twelve years of working as a 3rd grade teacher. Ash owned a lake house and a boat near Lake Shasta, CA, and he often took advantage of both to go water-skiing. He was promoted to Lieutenant while serving on the USS Yeager. For all intents and purposes, Ash Tyler was a regular person living a normal life as opposed to one steeped in spy games like Garak (Andrew Robinson) of Deep Space Nine. Then he was taken prisoner by the Klingon Empire during the Battle of the Binary Stars in 2256, and nothing for Ash would ever be the same again.
L'Rell & Voq
Ash’s sudden appearance in Discovery wasn’t the only red flag that things weren’t as they appeared to be. L’Rell pledged herself to Voq in the series premiere, but fans did not see him return, nor did they see L'Rell using the traditional Klingon method of mourning over his passing. She was overly familiar with Ash when they reunited. Ash was being plagued by memories of the things L’Rell had forced him to do for survival. All the little signs were there, but they only made sense in hindsight. L’Rell performed the choH‘a’ herself to implant Voq’s consciousness into Ash. Her familiarity with Ash stemmed more from her romance with Voq than her abuse of Ash himself.
It was the same with Ash’s PTSD symptoms related to his past with L’Rell. He was reliving a life he never lived, gaining knowledge of the Klingon language without learning it, and having romantic feelings for someone who had hurt him beyond measure. To say L’Rell’s relationship with both Voq and Ash was complicated would be putting it mildly. She and Voq loved each other. She used Ash’s body to try to bring him back. She conceived her son Tenavik with Voq, but Ash felt obligated to help protect the child as a father figure. L’Rell was ready to die for Voq, only to sacrifice his essence to save Ash with the same choH‘a’ that had condemned him in the first place.
The Aftermath of a Sinister Plot
In the wake of all the terrible things done to him, Ash should have been a broken shell of a person for the rest of his appearance in Discovery. Being repeatedly used, abused, and made to lose faith in his own understanding of reality should have pushed him into total misery. He had been turned into a threat against the Federation, but also against good people like Michael Burnham and Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz). Instead, though, he had a turnaround worthy of branching off into its own story.
While Ash struggled with the weight of what happened, he made himself go to the Klingon homeworld Qo’noS to help L’Rell in season 1, episode 15, “Will You Take My Hand?” It was his way of putting to good use the things he learned while sharing consciousness with Voq. He had the option to either make something of his trauma, or allow it to drown him. It was a true testament to the kind of person Ash really was that he could find such strength even after having it tested by something no other Star Trek character had experienced before.
Ash was a controversial figure in Discovery. He started off as a prisoner of war, became Michael’s love interest, and then dark secrets he didn’t even realize he was harboring came to light. He was used in a way that television viewers hadn’t seen since Ben Wilkinson (Charlie Weber) turned out to be sharing consciousness with the big, bad Glory (Clare Kramer) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The crew of the USS Discovery didn’t know what to do with Ash after it was all said and done, and neither did he. Ash never set out to assault Michael, (sort of) murder Hugh, or to leave Starfleet in shambles trying to make up for his work as a sleeper agent. He simply got caught in the middle, and in some ways that’s the saddest part.
Yet, Ash’s story isn’t just about the ways he suffered. It’s also about the ways he survived. He made amends with Michael, and at least came to an understanding with Hugh. He went on to become the commander of the clandestine organization Section 31. Fans and Star Trek characters alike still wonder who Ash really was, and why Voq chose him of all people. The answer will probably never be clearly explained. Whoever he is, though, it looks like he’ll return with the rest of the USS Discovery crew in season 5.