Ashlar predominantly appears in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches, but he is mentioned by name in one book of the Vampire Chronicles, Blood Canticle (2003), as an influential character for Lestat’s fledgling Mona Mayfair.
Ashlar is conceived and born in an hour and a half, many thousands of years ago, on a secluded island where the Taltos live. A member of an ancient race of beings nearly twice the size of average men, Ashlar enjoys a shared consciousness with his immortal kindred, who are able to recollect aspects of one another’s history and of the histories of those few Taltos who die from accidents. The relative peacefulness they enjoy on their island, far away from mortals and fear, trembles when the island begins to sink into the sea. Ashlar escapes with a few of his Taltos kindred, including two of his daughters. They sail to a new land where they set up an encampment. But cold winters make this land painfully unlike their former island paradise.
Ashlar forms a small tribe and endeavors to live in peace with the mortal inhabitants of that area. After a time, the mortals become fearful and distrustful of these Taltos beings. They raid the camp, kill the young, and capture many of Ashlar’s friends. Able to defend himself, but unwilling to fight back, he gathers his remaining Taltos allies and takes them to other lands where they can live in harmony with friendlier mortals. Some of his clan leaves, hoping to find better places to live. Thus, Ashlar’s clan continues to dwindle throughout the long centuries. In the Late Iron Age, members of the Taltos even identify themselves as the Picts, who live in the northeastern area of Scotland, and Ashlar begins to learn how to better hide his nonhuman nature from mortals.
As Christianity becomes the dominant religion and political force in the West, Ashlar interacts with various members of the Catholic clergy. The Taltos take vows, make Holy Orders, and are given the assignment of operating a small church. Congregants revere Ashlar as a great saint. He compiles a book of the Taltos, which the Church decides is blasphemous. As time passes, he abandons his work as a churchman, but the laity and clergy do not forget him. After he is believed to be dead, he is canonized and declared Saint Ashlar. Despite all of this, his clan continues to dwindle, until he is the only Taltos remaining. He spends many long years searching for others, but finds none. Throughout all of his searching, he discovers the existence of a group of mortals called the Talamasca, who are fascinated with supernatural beings. Although they provide him with no new information on his kindred, they prove to be valuable allies.
One member of the Talamasca, Stuart Gordon, introduces Ashlar to the female Taltos Tessa, but she cannot procreate, so he leaves her in search of another mate. Through another friend in the Talamasca, Yuri Stefano, Ashlar learns that the recently murdered Aaron Lightner had been involved with the Mayfair family of witches, one of whose members, Rowan, has recently given birth to a Taltos named Lasher. Eager to encounter Lasher, Ashlar seeks and finds Rowan and her husband, Michael Curry, a former psychic candidate for the Talamasca, only to discover that Michael has killed Lasher. Moreover, Ashlar learns that Lasher and Rowan have mated and produced another Taltos child, Emaleth, but Rowan has killed her, fearful of Taltos overpopulating the world. This news saddens Ashlar, as he believes Emaleth would have made a wonderful mate, but he remains friends with Rowan and Michael and eventually visits their home in New Orleans, where he discovers that Rowan’s cousin Mona Mayfair has recently given birth to a Taltos, Morrigan. Ashlar and Morrigan are instantly attracted to each other. They flee New Orleans together to a secret island that Ashlar purchases with his vast fortune.
Once settled on the island, Ashlar and Morrigan have four Taltos children—Silas, Oberon, Miravelle, and Lorkyn—who, like other Taltos newborns, grow to adult size very quickly. In time, Ashlar unearths the location of several other Taltos, whom he invites back to the island, where they can all live together in the harmony that Ashlar once enjoyed thousands of years ago. Ashlar’s son Silas becomes fearful and angry towards the mortals living on nearby islands, so he starts a rebellion against his parents, secretly poisoning both Ashlar and Morrigan to weaken them. When Ashlar realizes that he can put up no resistance, Silas openly rebels, capturing his parents, siblings, and any other Taltos who will not follow him. Silas’s rebellion lasts for two years, until he attacks the nearest island, inhabited by the drug lord Rodrigo, but Rodrigo and his Drug Merchants fight back, killing Silas and his rebels and capturing the remaining Taltos. Rodrigo locks Ashlar and Morrigan in the large kitchen freezer on the compound, where the husband and wife freeze to death, embracing each other like sleeping angels. When Lestat, Quinn, and Mona liberate the island by destroying Rodrigo and his Drug Merchants, they take Ashlar’s and Morrigan’s bodies back to Mayfair Medical Center for research, while their three remaining children return to New Orleans to be with their family.
For more perspectives on Ashlar’s character, read the Alphabettery entries Aaron Lightner, Ash Templeton, Little People, Lorkyn, Mayfair Medical Center, Michael Curry, Miravelle, Mona Mayfair, Morrigan Mayfair, Oberon, Quinn Blackwood, Secret Isle, Silas, Taltos, and Yuri Stefano.