Ashley "Leyley" Graves[1] is one of the two titular main protagonists of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. She shares this role with her brother, Andrew Graves.
Profile
Ashley
Ashley is a young, pale-skinned and thin woman with deep pink eyes and black, shoulder-length, unruly hair, which she keeps in a loose and low ponytail.
Ashley wears a black choker with a pendant hanging from it. She also wears a black shirt which reveals her cleavage and the straps for her black brassiere, which are shown to have polka dots in official art of her. She wears grey denim shorts and grey lace-up boots, which are accompanied with black ankle socks. She shares a good part of her facial expressions with those of her mother.
Leyley
As a child, Ashley, or Leyley, had much shorter hair that was accompanied with a total of five hairpins; three barrettes and two snap pins.
She wore a violet t-shirt with black stripes under black dungarees, a purple belt and ebony shorts. Leyley wore violet brothel creepers.
In-Game Sprite
Much like the other characters, her in-game sprite is a stoic grayscale pixel-art version of her. As Leyley, she has a more pinkish palette. As Ashley, she features a noticeable frown.
Personality
Unlike Andrew, who was internally hollowed out by obligation, Ashley grew up without structure or boundaries. She sees Andrew as an extension of herself, not an individual, and her existence is deeply intertwined with his. Her personality is characterized by an extreme lack of empathy, manipulative tendencies, narcissism, and an unhealthy obsession that leads her to dehumanize others and find pleasure in domination.
Although she was a planned daughter, her parents' neglect was constant. She grew up without structure, without boundaries, and without true affection. Andrew's mother placed the responsibility of caring for Ashley and "doing whatever she wanted" on him. This gave a spoiled and needy child too much power, making her believe that Andrew was an extension of her, a "servant," "nanny," and "life partner" all in one. Ashley had no friends at school, was antisocial, and incapable of connecting with anyone. She saw other people as mere obstacles to be endured in order to avoid being alone.
She feels little to no remorse after committing violent crimes, such as murder and cannibalism. She is also verbally violent and apathetic when it comes to other people's feelings. Even as a child, she felt no remorse for murdering Nina after discovering she had a crush on her brother. She also berated and persecuted Julia for dating Andrew, which was one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, for their breakup. The few times she tries to justify her actions, she looks for ways to assuage her guilt or blame whoever was killed.
Ashley demonstrates throughout the story an unhealthy obsession with Andrew, to the point of doing anything to ensure his continued presence by her side. This jealousy means she has no qualms about killing those closest to her or satisfying any of his desires. As he was her sole caregiver, she became dependent on him due to the neglect her parents inflicted on her. Consequently, she displays ignorance or hatred for most people who even remotely cross her or her brother's path, even to the point of considering their death a suitable option.
Ashley doesn't love Andrew in a healthy way. She needs him to exist, reflecting a broken child who confused care with love and love with possession. She can be interpreted as someone with Borderline Personality Disorder with obsessive traits, exhibiting fear of abandonment, alternating between idealization and hatred, impulsivity, instability, and emotional deprivation. She also displays narcissistic traits.
While Andrew feels discomfort, Ashley seems enthusiastic about the idea of eating human flesh. She accepts and revels in what is "transgressive" for others, feeling freedom rather than guilt at losing her morality, which reinforces perverse narcissism and sadistic traits. The devil's talisman is a metaphor for her desire for total control. She wants not only to survive, but to dominate her circumstances, others, and especially Andrew. She feels powerful, important, and justified, believing herself to be above human morality.
With the security of being alone in the world, her obsession intensifies. She believes she can finally merge their lives, souls, and even bodies without interference.
Background
Ashley is the second child and only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Graves. Since their parents thought she would be "easy" to raise, Ashley's primary caretaker had been Andrew. It is suggested that Ashley did not have a proper and comfortable place at the family's dining table. More than that, Ashley felt constantly neglected and pushed away by her parents. It was Andrew who fulfilled the role of both mother and father for Ashley but, as a child himself, he would spoil her and cater to her every demand in exchange. One of Ashley's fondest memories includes Andrew spending his allowance to buy her lemon muffin cakes for her birthday.
Ashley also had few friends; her only friends, Nina and Julia, were wary of her yet smitten with her brother. Ashley felt betrayed when Nina confessed to her that she had a crush on Andrew and as such, persuaded Andrew to help her 'teach Nina a lesson.' This lesson involved trapping the young girl in a dusty storage box in an abandoned warehouse, only for the siblings to leave her trapped overnight. The next day, Ashley was surprised but not horrified by Nina's death, and helped Andrew bury her body in a nearby forest.
At some point, Andrew started dating Julia and Ashley's friendship with the girl soon fell apart as she sent constant death threats and voicemails to her.
Prior to the events of the game, Andrew and Ashley had to be quarantined alongside their whole apartment building due to a 'parasite infestation' in their water supply. Ashley would then spend the next three months in quarantine with Andrew and starts to starve once they run out of food and their building's wardens stop supplying them with food. She would also attempt to call their mother numerous times, to no avail.
The Coffin of Andy and Leyley
Episode 1: The Coffin
Ashley and her brother are starved inside the building due to their food supplies running out and the guards not giving them any food, that is until their neighbor dies during a botched demonic summoning. Ashley again pressures Andrew into helping her cut up the neighbor's body so they could both eat him. When the guards finally notice the neighbor is missing, Ashley is attacked but the guard is killed by her brother before she is hurt.
Ashley and her brother now plan to escape but during their attempt end up killing the other guard inside the building by sacrificing him to a demonic entity. The siblings both escape the apartment complex and go into the city as criminals running from the law with a now uncertain future ahead of them.
Episode 2: Graves
The episode's ending varies depending on a pair of choices. The first condition is whether or not Andrew spends all of the ammo in Ashley's stolen gun. The second condition is whether or not Ashley trusts Andrew in keeping watch over their parents.
These change both Andrew's and Ashley's dispositions and their interactions, which can range from being hostile and terse to affectionate and teasing. It also reflects on Ashley's sense of safety around Andrew, and whether she fears his 'change' in contrast to the Andy she previously knew.
Burial
In this route, Ashley is initially bothered by Andrew's change in disposition: she worries about his lack of indecision and constant anxiety. At the same time, she enjoys his attention and his endeared teasing. The Burial route further splits into two: the Love route and the Friendship route, depending on Ashley's choices in her next vision.
Questionable route
This route prominently features a prophetic vision with Andrew and Ashley post-coitus. Although Ashley is embarrassed that Andrew also saw her vision, she's not disgusted by the implication that their relationship can turn sexual, if not romantic. When Andrew wants her to promise 'they aren't like that,' Ashley has the choice to say 'never' or 'never say never.' Regardless of her choice, the ending of the Love route suggests that Ashley saw their sexual relations as both inevitable and a way for her to keep Andrew around.
Sane route
In this route, the siblings do not get a prophetic vision of them post-coitus. Ashley's vision is merely her interacting with spirits, one of which is implied to be Andrew, and Andrew does not experience any vision. Ashley is bothered by Andrew's apparent distance, but she plays along with his banter.
Decay
When the Graves siblings dine on their parent's corpses after killing them in this route, Ashley will tell Andrew that she ate people's flesh because she believes doing so will make her feel superior to other human beings and she will gain their knowledge and absorb their lives into her.
In this route, Ashley's next vision is interrupted by the presence of an aggressive and hostile Andrew. She attempts to escape, only for Andrew to catch up to her and he holds her at cleaver-point. The route further splits into two, technically three, outcomes: An Andrew route and an Ashley route. An outcome where Andrew kills Ashley, however, is determined by whether or not Andrew spent all of the gun's ammo on the hitman at the start of Episode 2.
Andrew route
If Andrew spent all of the ammo, Ashley is unable to defend herself and Andrew slits her throat. Ashley is terrified upon waking up and resolves to mend their relationship to no avail. Andrew's distance is more hostile, even rude, and Ashley vacillates between provoking him and becoming meek to appease him. After they discard their parents' remains, Ashley is worried about what Andrew will do and if their relationship is still fine.
If Andrew did not spend all of the ammo, Ashley can choose to shoot him or let him kill her. If the player chooses the latter, Ashley teases Andrew before he can kill her. He whispers, "Then I'll see you in a bit," and slits her throat. The rest of events are the same as when Andrew kills Ashley before she can defend herself.
Ashley route
If Andrew did not spend all of the ammo, Ashley can choose to shoot him or let him kill her. The former choice sees Ashley threatening Andrew with the gun before she shoots. She then shoots his corpse multiple times, crying as she does so, and then wakes up. The rest of events are the same as when Andrew kills Ashley, whether ammo remains or not.
Trivia
- Ashley is the first protagonist introduced in Episode 1, and the only one playable in the first episode. This changes when she shares the spotlight with Andrew in Episode 2.
- If Ashley shoots Andrew, the tears blur her eyes, revealing that she is wearing some sort of makeup. However, it is unknown whether she purchased such makeup after leaving the apartment or is using an old one.
- In both "bad" endings, i.e. the possible game overs the player can get, Ashley ends up being caught (by the guard) or killed (by the hitman) before Andrew.
- So far, the only direct death caused by Ashley is in one of the possible endings of the Decay route. In all other cases, she is indirectly responsible by ordering her brother or the demon to kill her victims.
- Keeping in mind that she wanted to kill the Lady from room 302, Andrew technically stole a kill from Ashley.
- Her blood type is AB.
External links
References
- ↑ The Coffin of Andy and Leyley - Questions & Answers - Steam News (en) (2025-02-01).