Who had the most influence on Ash?

[Karamazov]

We've seen many characters interact with Ash, but who do you think influenced him or his life the most?

It's not just limited to travelling partners, by the way. It could be a CotD, Team Rocket, Cynthia, what have you.

 

[Froakie]

Paul. Well, Ash has an effect on Paul. I dunno. And Brock.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Shigeru, Team Rocket, his mother, Professor Oak and (maybe) Takeshi, Kasumi and Hikari.

 

[Turquoise]

I would say Paul too because they had the most Interaction and the greatest rivalry.

 

[Cybersai]

In the first season, Gary and Brock.

 

[Blazing Charmander]

Misty, Brock and Gary each had a hand in making Ash the competent trainer and person that he is now. I also feel that the experience of having Paul as a rival has wisened him up as a trainer and to his own battling styles in comparison to those of others.

 

[Afrojisiac-19]

I would say Flint from the Sinnoh Elite Four because Ash tried using his battling style or technique.

 

[Hellion]

OS: Brock was the only one to really teach him stuff and show him the ropes, but Gary was his main motivation.
AG: Nobody really... Ash was more the one doing the influencing.
DP: Paul was his main motivation, but he still took something from most people he encountered, like Dawn, Bertha, Flint, adapting his techniques...

 

[pokemon fan 132]

This is too obvious but ill answer it anyway.Answer is Brock,Misty and Gary.
Considering Ash was in original series greenhorn logically he needed most help than.

Brock helped Ash to develop his own battling style mentoring him on type advantages,preparing some battling strategies for him(like he did with lt.Surge,(encouraging him with moral support.One of particular moments i remember was in Kanto league when he was about o battle that girl with grass types.His further coach and mentor role was followed up in Johto and Hoenn while in Sinnoh Ash as it was showed didnt need so much help in that aspect anymore.

Misty aside from being like coach and mentor giving him some tips about choice of using pokemon(like vs Blaine,in Kanto league,vs Pryce) served as push to Ash and motivation to try harder with her criticism invoking in Ash desire to prove himself.We can see that in several occasions like when she managed to motivate Ash to get over his lost in Kanto league not allowing him to start self pity himself,when she helped him to put himself together in battle vs Rudy in Oi with Squirtle learning hydro pump etc.
She also kept him on ground giving him reality check when Ash used to act impulsively when being annoyed by Gary or starting to brag how he is better trainer than he really was.
She also acted like rival during some occasions with Mistys portrayal of being better trainer than he is invoking in Ash anger and motivation to go forward.

Gary served usual role of being arrogant rival whose purpose was to put himself in higher light than main hero was serving as motive for Ash to try harder to catch up with him.

In Hoenn Ash was already more mature and experienced not needing so much help anymore being able to take mentor role to May with someone learning from him in exchange,while in Sinnoh while Dawn left some influence on main hero using some of techniques in contests for his battles her help was mostly staying on moral support with Ash not needing so much help like he did as rookie.

 

[Ranger Jack Walker]

OS: Brock was the only one to really teach him stuff and show him the ropes, but Gary was his main motivation.
AG: Nobody really... Ash was more the one doing the influencing.
DP: Paul was his main motivation, but he still took something from most people he encountered, like Dawn, Bertha, Flint, adapting his techniques...

Couldn't have said it better myself. Espeically on the AG part.

 

[Zoro]

We've seen many characters interact with Ash, but who do you think influenced him or his life the most?

It's not just limited to travelling partners, by the way. It could be a CotD, Team Rocket, Cynthia, what have you.

Takeshi.

Shinji might have helped him too, showing him that he can have more then 6 pokemon and still keep them strong, he did have more then 6 in DP though counting Pikachu obviously.

 

[Shinneth]

Yeah... early on, I'd say Brock and Gary intiially influenced him the most, in AG I can't recall anyone notably influencing him since that series served to show how much he matured since the original series (nothing wrong with that, imo). For DP, definitely Paul. Paul was his main driving force throughout the series, though Dawn had a lasting influence in the form of his battling technique (picking up on Ice Aqua Jet, most notably), Cynthia obviously had a lasting impact, and of course at least half of Sinnoh's E4 since they went out of their way to establish continuity in Ash trying out their techniques later on. But Paul was still the biggest source of influence and probably taught him the most important lesson by the end of the series.

 

[Caseydia]

Right now, it seems that both cilan and Trip is having the most influence.

 

[danh19]

he started his journey with misty and brock and he started growing as a person and a trainer with them so I would say they a big influence through brocks wise ways and encouragement to misty's almost rivalry spurring him on to better things

 

[Almonds]

Even now, I'd say Gary. Gary pretty much started the whole rivalry, which gave Ash the desire to become a better trainer. This eventually led to Ash becoming the trainer who he is now.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

I'm going to be unnecessarily contrarian and say Ritchie had a bigger influence over Ash than Gary did. True Gary was extra motivation to catch a Pokemon or fight a gym but he wanted to be strong trainer since the beginning. And regardless of how riled up Ash got about Gary in the short term Ash still neglected his training before the indigo league. The motivation Gary gave him didn't give him results. Ritchie on the other hand made really understand he had limits, and that other people truly want to defeat him. He couldn't rematch Ritchie or cheese it. He had to win to get what he wanted and he didn't. Ash's lost to Ritchie was the hardest he ever took a loss in the entire series. But one argument I could see for Gary is it was his influence that decided where he would go until Unova.

 

[Gengarzilla]

It's gotta be Paul. No contest.

Nobody else has really opened Ash, the bastion of bonding with his Pokémon, up to the reality that a cold hearted and sometimes borderline cruel stance towards one's Pokémon can actually produce some results. While Paul's two predecessors, Damien and Koji, both got immediate comeuppance, Paul gave Ash a record breaking and downright heartrending 4-0 loss before that happened to him.