Ashen Eye is an ancient faerie, a being of immense age who has existed for thousands of years and is deeply entrenched in the world of neighbors and magic. This entity is known by the name Ashen Eye, a reference to the three purple eyes with distinctive spiraling pupils that are revealed from beneath its worn, brown shroud. The faerie typically appears in the form of a desert nomad, its face hidden by veils, with two thin, almost mummified-looking limbs visible while it keeps an additional pair of arms concealed within its robes. It also carries a simple wooden staff. The official guidebook describes Ashen Eye as androgynous, and its true form is further noted to possess scorpion-like appendages.

The personality of Ashen Eye is defined by a perplexing and often dangerous fascination with humans. It takes great interest in the fleeting and fragile nature of human life compared to that of a neighbor. Ashen Eye finds beauty in the moment a child becomes an adult but also derives pleasure from seeing a human shaken to the core of their soul, regarding this intense observation as a form of love. This manifests as a deeply mischievous and sadistic streak. Ashen Eye enjoys playing very dark tricks and creating games for humans, where the outcome of a loss invariably results in tragedy for the victims. However, these games are not unwinnable; for those who are cunning enough, there is always a path to victory. Ashen Eye may even provide cryptic hints to help its adversaries figure out what they must do. The faerie does not mind losing as long as it gets to witness the struggle of its victims, and it may compliment or even reward those who manage to overcome its challenges. It seems to hold a particular dislike for mages, holding the opinion that they enslave and bind faeries.

Ashen Eye is driven by its own amusement and the desire to observe intense emotions, especially pain and struggle. It seeks out individuals who are in turmoil or who show potential for interesting development, finding their suffering to be the most compelling emotion to witness. This motivation is what led Ashen Eye to take an interest in both the protagonist Chise Hatori and the antagonist Joseph. The faerie is not inherently loyal or malicious in a traditional sense but instead acts as a chaotic force that creates situations to test and observe others for its own entertainment.

In the story, Ashen Eye serves as a recurring and troublesome force. It first appears by bestowing upon Chise an animal skin that allows her to shapeshift, a gift that serves as a test of her loyalty to Elias Ainsworth. Later, Ashen Eye overhears a young girl, Stella Barklem, angrily wishing her younger brother would disappear. Taking the words literally, Ashen Eye kidnaps the boy, erases the memory of his existence from everyone who knew him, and sets up a game for Stella and Chise to find him. Ashen Eye later collaborates with Joseph, providing him with information about Chise being a Sleigh Beggy. During the final confrontation with Joseph, Ashen Eye attempts to help him escape, leading to a conflict where Elias decapitates the ancient faerie. However, due to its nature, Ashen Eye survives this injury without any lasting harm.

Ashen Eye has several key relationships that define its role. It regards Chise Hatori with amusement, aware of her past struggles and finding a strange beauty in her resilience. The faerie finds Joseph’s centuries-long, desperate struggle to stay alive immensely interesting and offers to assist him despite normally loathing mages. However, once Joseph finally chooses to surrender and accept his fate, ceasing his struggle, Ashen Eye loses all interest in him and abandons him. A significant relationship develops with Stella Barklem. After Stella, having learned of Ashen Eye’s nature, boldly declares that she will find a way to make it regret it if it ever threatens Chise again, Ashen Eye becomes intrigued by her spirit. The faerie then uses her words to form a contract with her, deciding to watch over her to see if she can uphold her pledge to protect Chise.

Ashen Eye undergoes a subtle but notable development through its interactions with Stella. While initially a distant and purely chaotic menace, its growing fascination with Stella leads it to form a direct magical contract with her. It later appears to intercept a letter to warn Stella of potential danger awaiting Chise, suggesting a shift from pure observer to something closer to a contracted familiar, bound to watch over a human it finds compelling. Its development concludes with Joseph, as the faerie is left disappointed and sulking when its favorite source of suffering, Joseph, chooses peace over pain.

The notable abilities of Ashen Eye are vast, befitting its status as an extremely ancient faerie. It possesses very potent magic, capable of overwhelming and briefly confining even Elias, the titular Magus. Specific powers include teleportation, often using black smoke or portals of shadow. It can manipulate memories, having demonstrated the ability to erase the knowledge of a person’s very existence from the minds of others. Perhaps its most defining ability is its effective immortality; Ashen Eye is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to kill. Even after being decapitated, it reappears later seemingly having suffered no ill effects other than a brief setback.