Aase's first appearance in the series, shortly after boarding Titanic and getting listed by steward Simon Doonan
Aase Ludvigsen (her first name sounds like Osa) is a main character in the 1996 miniseries, 'Titanic'. She is a Third Class passenger from Denmark, traveling with the Jack family, 'Black' Billy Jack, his wife Clarinda Jack and their 4 children. as a Christian convert. She falls in love with the young Third Class passenger and thief Jamie Perse, who immediatley noticed her at the Third Class Entrance when getting onboard and the steward Simon Doonan lists the passengers names.
Perse later comforts her when the ship departs. She is standing at the railing on the Poop Deck, being gloomy, when Jamie, under the false name of Miriam Dickie, the man he stole his boarding ticket from, asks what is troubling her mind. She explains how she is melancholic about the fact she has to leave her family in Denmark, and fears she'll never see them again. All the while she fiddles with a piece of the last nightcap from her mother's clothesline. She's looking for a better life, but is also worried as well as grateful to be on this beautiful ship. Jamie however dreams of a better lifestyle, since he lived on the streets. He wishes to go to First Class. To her it doesn't mean much, she feels that everyone will arrive in America at the same time.
Jamie and Aase begin to develop good chemistry and he convinces her it's okay to let go of the past. She can throw the bit of cloth away, which she does. They later exchange glances at a Third Class Party. Jamie tries to go to the First Class area, which he manages, later.
After the ship leaves Queenstown, they wave Ireland goodbye, Jamie says he's never met a persoon as good as her. She smiles at this. Later, they play tag with the Jack's children on the stern of the ship and then sit down on a bench. He asks what her plans are when arriving in New York, upon which she says she wants to be a teacher after going to Minnesota with the other converts. She also wants to have children of her own. Jamies then shares his big dreams of becoming part of the 'moving picture' business. He was inspired after having seen one in a box, with actress Mary Pickford. Aase funnily later pronounces it wrongly, calling her Mary Pickle. Jamie compliments her by saying she's prettier, she could be in the moving pictures too. She chuckles, saying that it is nice, but she is looking for God, whilst getting up and running off when the kids ask her to play some more with them.
Jamie goes to the most luxurious First Class cabins with Doonan to get a look at all the valuable stuff, from the rich folk and they make a plan of robbing the places. When returning to the Third Class, he sees Aase and another young girl sniggering and Aase sees him in the fancy suit, and is surprised. He proudly tells her of his adventure, when she exclaims how good he looks. He dismisses the compliment but she insists "you ARE beautiful to me" on which he replies that his beauty must have rubbed off from her onto him and gives her a gentle kiss on her forehead. Visibly shy and smiling, she walks past him. They can't take their eyes off each other when walking past each other. Unbeknown to them, Simon Doonan was hiding and looking at them.
The next evening, on April 14, just after 10:00 P.M, there's another festivity at the Third Class General Room, where they end up dancing. A little while later, when sitting on a bench on the aft deck, they're gazing at the stars. They talk some more and Jamie still cannot stop thinking about the luxury of the wealthy people, to which Aase still replies that under the stars everyone is the same. He mentions that he wants to get her a tiara, but without thinking straight, he accidentally reveals his real name. He had no choice to come clean and tell her the truth about who he really is, but still tries to find an excuse to explain how he got the ticket. She's visibly upset, learning that he is a thief and then Doonan appears, demanding Jamie to come along with him to see the purser but she immediately grasps what this means. Aase warns him not to do it. He hints that he's forced to do it and goes on about how life really works, that's she so bloody good all the time. Aase replies that she just wants to stay true to herself.
So she gets up and walks away, Jamie calling out that he can change. Doonan then lets it slip that he wouldn't mind to have her. Jamie however doesn't like that idea and he threatens him, to stay away from Ludvigsen.
A while later, after 11:00 P.M. Aase, Clarinda Jack and her daughter are combing their hair in a Third Class washplace, Clarinda shares her worries over Aase, travelling alone. She also has concerns about Aase spending time with Jamie, saying that he could be trouble but she reminds Clarinda that they are all God's children, like Clarinda herself has said once before. Clarinda leaves with Ophelia and Aase is now alone. She takes as shower in a cubicle.Then, the worst imaginable happens. Suddenly Doonan appears in front of her. She begs him to leave her alone but nobody can prevent him from forcing herself upon her. As this horrific moment takes place, It's 11:20 P.M.
Around 11:39 P.M, the lookouts of Titanic are talking about the haze on the horizon when suddenly they spot ice. They sound the bell and call the bridge to report what they saw. Officer Murdoch orders Quartermaster Hitchens to turn to starboard and runs the engine full astern. The ship turns, but it takes too long and they cannot avoid a collision, the ship scrapes along the iceberg on the starboard side. A lot of people are woken up or startled as Aase literally feels her whole life come crashing down as she is walking the hallway that suddenly jolts to one side, with her having to cling on a bar on the walls to keep balance. Aase is in total sorrow, despair and pain as she was just raped moments ago. She struggles to continue, while the ship's hull is ripped open on a few places beneath the water line, which wakes up Jamie. Tons of water are flowing into the belly Titanic. Five minutes later, Jamie notices water in his cabin.
While the crew uncovers the lifeboats, Jamie finds Aase, crying and huddled in a corner on a remote part of the Third Class Deck. He covers her with a blanket and wants to guide her to a lifeboat, but she is reluctant to go and doesn't want him to touch her. She then sees her wounded face and asks what's happened but she's in a state of intense discomfort and trauma and doesn't want Jamie to ask anything about it. He tries to pull her with him, when Clarinda Jack and the kids then come up to the place as well. Clarinda is in disbelief upon seeing her condition and immediately points a finger at Jamie, who says he only found her that way and swears he wouldn't ever hurt her. She then angrily lays the blame on the crew and wishes God's vengeance is released upon then. She will report it to the captain.
Jamie pleads the steward to open the locked gate, for the sake of the badly hurt Aase.
Doonan overheard Clarinda while he appears again and nobody knows what really happened except for Aase, who straight away looks at him with a dark expression. He says the captain hasn't got the time for them and they should wait for instructions, while demanding Jaime to go with him. Jamie doesn't want go because Aase is hurt. Aase, despite the state she's in, is worried over Perse and exclaims to him: "He has a hold on you." Perse promises that he will be back and Aase starts sobbing. Clarinda then takes her to the Third Class Waiting Room to clean her wounds. Aase is convinced she now cannot be baptised anymore, but Clarinda tries to encourage her. She's lost all hope, and just sits, hardly moves and doesn't react. Meanwhile the Third Class people around her are worried because they don't get answers from the crew on what they should do now they've gathered here.
After 1:00 A.M., the ship's bow has clearly submerged for a large part. Jamie and Doonan are filling their bags with all sorts of accessories. Jamie however keeps getting worried over the steerage people down below. He throws the bag at him and his conscience is speaking, but Doonan speaks dirty language about Aase, thus Jamie learns what he has done to her and in rage punches him hard. However Doonan is too strong for him, overpowers him and beats, kicks him around the room. Jamie tosses the tiara near his enemy and leaves the cabin.
Aase looks at Jamie in sadness, after he put her in lifeboat 14
Panic starts to arise among the steerage passengers. Jamie makes his way there to the Waiting Room and he tells Mr. Jack to come with him, meanwhile he finds Aase in the middle of the room, sitting silently and empty. She is numb and completely down in the dumps, and doesn't move. She says she doesn't want to live anymore. Even her faith in God has left her. But Jamie, with all his passion, says that he never felt so strong about someone ever before, so he tells her God must exist as he has brought him to her. Jamie pulls the teary-eyed Aase along with him and the Third Class passengers climb the stairs with him, but they're stuck behind a gate. The sailor doesn't let them through as he is still awaiting orders, when Jamie tells him Aase needs to be on a boat. He only lets a handful of people by, but not the Jacks. Jamie promises to come back for them before taking Aase to the Boat Deck. While manoeuvring his way through the crowd, he tries to give her comfort by talking about the future that lies ahead, mentioning the peach orchard, her family and her wish to become a nurse in Minnesota. She's carefully put into the boat and Jamie swears he'll find her and come look for her if he makes it off the ship alive. An officer asks him to work a davit and he is willing to help, she stares at him in sadness. Meanwhile a mysterious looking woman clothed in black and with her face covered, gets into the boat. A First Class passenger named Isabella Paradine is next. Then the boat lowers away.
A while later, a bit of panic grows among the waiting passengers where Jamie is controlling the davit, some people jump into the lifeboat and it causes him to lose his footing, the rope slips through his hands and he falls down into the lifeboat and is screaming in agony, he's hurt but also wants to go back to the ship because he still needs to make sure the Jacks get released, but then he loses consciousness. This saves his life.
After 2:00 A.M. The ship's sinking pace increases rapidly and her bow is pulled under. Just moments later, the sea reaches the forward promenade decks of her superstructure. Meanwhile, in lifeboat 14, Isabella Paradine reminds Officer Lowe that they were supposed to wait to pick up survivors. Aase is also worried about all these people, especially the Jacks, who just broke out of a gate a while ago, but it was too late for them. Lowe answers they will come back but they'll have to wait till things are calmed down and he fears the suction of the ship.
Over 10 minutes later, the ship's doom is imminent, as the water rapidly rushes up her last decks, Her downward trim increases and her front section goes down, the stern starts rising, all kinds of loose objects crash through the ship. The people in the lifeboats watch in horror as the final plunge begins, and her stern rises into the air, until at a certain angle, she breaks in two, and finally sinks completely at 2:20 A.M.
After Titanic is gone, both Isabella Paradine and Aase beg Officer Lowe to go back, and he gives in. However the woman dressed in black disagrees and finds the idea foolish! He reveals himself as no one other than Simon Doonan. Aase completely loses it and lunges at him to smack and beat him but he backhand-slaps her into the cold water and then grabs a gun. He threatens everyone with it. Luckily, Lowe is fast enough to knock him down with an oar and he falls into the sea unconscious.
Jamie, who landed in a Collapsible. has a terrible case of delirium when he thinks he sees Aase in the water, so he takes her onboard in his arms, but it is a man. The other occupants worry over him and think he's lost it. Later on, it appears Aase was saved and pulled back into lifeboat 14.
Jamie arrives on Carpathia with his hurt arm in a bandage, walks downstairs where they keep the injured. He comes across the grief-stricken Mrs. Paradine, who just saw the lifeless body of her lover, Wynn Park. She gets mad at him for being alive, but he's adamant that he didn't want to be saved and lost many himself, after wich Isabella calms down and apologizes.
Jamie looks everywhere for Aase but not a single person he asks knows anything about her. Then, he sees a woman sitting on a bed with long hair. He immediately runs at her, expecting it to be Aase, but it is another woman regretting getting into a lifeboat because she didn't know beforehand there weren't enough boats. She presumably lost her husband this way.
After bumping into telegrapher Harold Bride who suffers from frostbite, a shriek voice shouts at him, requiring him to go over and help. It's Molly Brown, who watches over someone in need of care. It's Aase. Molly says she needs soup badly, as she was pushed out of a boat and pulled back in. Aase opens her eyes and the first thing she sees is Jamie. Surprised but relieved that he made it, she sees it as a miracle and soon, she starts to believe again. Jamie, with a lot of regret admits he couldn't find the Jacks, believing that they didn't make it. He wonders why he, a criminal, survives and good people like them died. But Aase soothes him by saying there maybe isn't logic, he should accept it. He sees it as a chance to start over, she strokes his hair and then they finally kiss.
Having disembaked from Titanic in New York, they make plans for where to go now. James is very sure that he would never be on other sea voyage. When Aase asks him if he still wants to go to California, he says he'd rather go to Minnesota and join her church, but she wonders if he would really like that. Jamie shrugs it off and say that he only wants to be with her and build a better life together. Aase then proposes that going to California wouldn't be bad for either, after all she could be a teacher or nurse there as well while he shouldn't give up his dream of the pictures in a box. There's also peach trees, orange trees. Perse promises to grow them in their backyard to pick them for her at every breakfast.
Personality[]
Aase is a cute young woman, very pure of heart, innocent and sweet, with a clear Christian belief and a set of values. She just likes to help people and believes in their goodness. She is also vulnerable but becomes more open-minded when talking to Jamie. She hates injustice and doesn't like the fact that Jamie is a thief and tries to dissuade him from going with Doonan. She's more forgiving than Clarinda who thinks Jamie poses a threat or trouble, but Aase regards him as one of God's children too. She's later in shock after being abused, loses all hope during the sinking and she starts to not care anymore, wanting to give up. When she's gotten off Titanic in lifeboat 14, she still wants the officer to help the people in the water. When she wakes up out of her unconsciousness aboard the Carpathia, she wants to fully commit to have a life with Jamie and assures him it's okay that he's saved, because she believes in the good of people and trusts him in that he will better his life.
She survives the sinking after a tragic course of events, including the death of the Jack family as well as falling out of the lifeboat into the cold sea after a scuffle with Simon Doonan, who had assaulted and raped her when she was in a shower cabin.
Aase is portrayed by German actress Sonsee Neu.
Quotes[]
- "Maybe there's not such a thing as a reason. Accept it, the gift." (When Jamie wonders why God would let a thief like himself survive while so many good people died)
- "Look at youuu!! Where have you been?" (Seeing Jamie appear in a smoking, walking towards her after his latest First Class visit)
- "If only Mary Pickle could see you right now!"