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| “ | The dark side is strong in me, for I am Sith! | „ |
| ~ Asajj Ventress. |
| “ | Jedi. Their Order is a fading light in the dark. Corrupt and arrogant. They must be punished! The Jedi shall fall! | „ |
| ~ Asajj Ventress declaring her intentions. |
Asajj Ventress is a Dark Jedi assassin and a major antagonist in both the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series and comics. She is a recurring antagonist in the Star Wars franchise, appearing as a prominent antagonist in both the Canon and Legends continuities. In both continuities, Ventress is a Dark Jedi who's the apprentice and assassin of Count Dooku, and a commander of the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. She is also the (former) arch-enemy of Ahsoka Tano.
Asajj Ventress serves as the secondary antagonist of both the 2008 film, Star Wars The Clone Wars, and Season 1 of the TV series; as an anti-heroine in Seasons 3-5, and as one of the two main protagonists (alongside Quinlan Vos) of the novel Dark Disciple. Ventress also serves as a major antagonist in Star Wars Legends, where she is a member of the Dark Acolytes, and is a recurring antagonist in Star Wars: Republic.
In the animated micro-series Star Wars: Clone Wars, she was voiced by Grey DeLisle, who also voiced Gramma Stuffum in Codename: Kids Next Door. In the film and TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, she was voiced by Nika Futterman, who also voiced Silhouette in Destroy All Humans!, Zira in Disney's The Lion Guard, Catwoman and Lashina in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Contents
Personality
Asajj Ventress had a tragic life, she started out as a caring, kind person but hardened her heart when her first master Ky Narec died. She fell into darkness giving into her emotions of resentment and rage. Ventress had a short temper quick to be angered or infuriated during battles and lightsaber duels. As opposed to her recklessness, she was known to be cunning and swift in the long run. Asajj was known to be vindictive and when she was betrayed by her master, she desired nothing more then vengeance against him. Ventress returned to her kin, the Nightsisters, and with their help recruited Savage Opress and treated him like a slave which ultimately caused him to turn against her and thwarted her plans. After her people were massacred, Ventress was once again alone without a family and wandered the galaxy. Overall Ventress is highly cunning, mysterious, and even sophisticated.
Ventress became a bounty hunter wanting to take on dangerous missions with big payouts. Her attitude towards missions involving people were softened as she freed the Kage hostage Pluma Sodi. She no longer wished to kill anyone anymore and rescued Obi-Wan from the returned Sith Lord Darth Maul but was really interested in the bounty that was on them. She encountered Ahsoka Tano when she was on the run from the Republic and sympathized with her when her master abandoned her as well and tried to help her clear her name.
Near the end of the war, she encountered Quinlan Vos who asked for her help to assassinate her former master Count Dooku that strengthened her compassionate and trusting side leading to romantic feelings for the maverick Jedi. Vos later gave into the dark side and in the end, Asajj told him not to give into hate and experienced the light that embraced her before sacrificing herself to save Quinlan. Asajj Ventress fully redeemed herself over everything she had done and been through and gave her life for love that she finally received.
Biography
Early life
An infant Asajj with her Nightsister mother.
Asajj Ventress was born on the planet Dathomir to the Nightsisters Clan, an order of Force-sensitive witches who wielded the dark side. While Asajj was still an infant, the matriarch leader of the Nightsisters, Mother Talzin, was forced to give Ventress up from her birth mother to a Siniteen criminal named Hal'Sted as payment for protection of the clan. Hal'Sted took Ventress back to his home planet of Rattatak to raise her for several years until she became a toddler.
Asajj as a toddler alone on Rattak.
A few years later, a gang of Weequay pirates attacked Rattatak and Hal'Sted was killed in the ensuing chaos. A young Ventress discovered her master's body and wept with pirates eventually cornering her. She was rescued by a Jedi Knight named Ky Narec who was battling the pirate forces. Asajj managed to save Narec by tapping into her own Force potential and threw a pirate into the air. Ky sensed the Force was strong in her, and took her into his care to train the child as a Jedi Padawan.
Becoming a Jedi
Asajj Ventress as Ky Narec's Jedi Padawan.
For years, Narec trained Asajj in the ways of the Force into her late teens and tutored her in lightsaber combat. She was orphaned once again when Weequay pirates attacked Rattatak again. Ventress and Narec fought bravely, but one of the pirates shot Narec in the back, killing him. Enraged, Ventress took up her master's lightsaber and ignited her own lightsaber and began killing off the pirates, eventually causing them to call off their attack. Consumed with fury and a desire for vengeance and raw emotions that led her to the dark side of the Force.
Asajj Ventress embracing the dark side and kills the pirate.
Ventress rid her world of warmongers and pirates and ruled Rattatak claiming the planet as her own. Sensing her power in the dark side, the Count of Serenno Dooku came to her planet and recruited Ventress to join him after seeing her in a battle in the gladiatorial pit fight eliminating all the contenders, as an apprentice and personal assassin. She still blamed the Jedi for abandoning her master and ignoring the suffering on her homeworld, vowing to destroy them. Tyranus took Ventress as one of his most valuable servants and began training her in the ways of the Sith. The Count introduced her to his Sith Master Darth Sidious and he stated to his apprentice that he had found a worthy disciple in Ventress. On Serenno in the Count's palace, Ventress pledged herself to Tyranus and impressed him with her strength in the dark side of the Force. Dooku trained her in lightsaber combat and was given twin red-bladed lightsabers that she obtained in a ceremony.
Dooku's Apprentice
Asajj Ventress confronts Anakin on Yavin 4.
Tasked by Darth Sidious, Ventress' first assignment as Dooku's apprentice was to kill a Jedi Padawan named Anakin Skywalker. She piloted her fanblade starfighter to Muunilinst where Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin were caught in a battle against the Separatists led by Durge. Ventress then attacked Anakin and lured him off-world to the jungle moon of Yavin 4. Once there, she destroyed Anakin's starfighter and killed the escort clone garrison and Ventress fought against Anakin on the planet Yavin 4. The young Jedi dueled Ventress though the jungles that led to the ancient Massassi temples. While she pushed Anakin to the dark side, the duel ended when he grabbed her arm and disarmed one of her lightsabers and overpowered her and sent her falling off a cliff into a ravine but she survived.
During an early mission of the war, Ventress bribed a clone named Slick into betraying his allies and commanded battle droids on planet Christophsis. She later encountered Anakin, now a Jedi Knight, and his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and dueled them. The duel was a trick of hers meant to keep the Jedi distracted while Slick destroyed valuable stores and weapons crucial to the Republic's defense of Christophsis. During the duel, Ventress taunted the Jedi and used the Force to throw objects at them. The two Jedi defeated her, but she was able to escape when she jumped out of a window and landed on a large tri-droid. Ventress ordered Whorm Loathsom to march his droid forces into the city and keep the Jedi occupied while she left the planet and headed to Tatooine in her starship the Trident.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Film
In a plot to turn Jabba the Hutt against the Republic, Count Dooku ordered Ventress to kidnap Jabba's son Rotta and frame the Jedi for the crime so the Hutts would join the Separatists. Ventress first traveled to Tatooine and destroyed one of the skiffs that were protecting Rotta's sail barge and used one of the ship's tentacles to grab the sail barge and fled to an abandoned monastery on Teth. Ventress held Rotta hostage on the planet Teth locking him in the dungeon and made contact through hologram with Tyranus and Lord Sidious who praised her success.
The Republic sent Anakin Skywalker accompanied by his new Padawan Ahsoka Tano to Teth where Ventress waited and remained hidden allowing the Jedi to rescue the Huttlet. She had the protocol droid 4A-7 record Anakin and Ahsoka manhandling the child making it seem the Jedi were the culprits behind the kidnapping. When the recording was sent to her master, Dooku ordered Ventress to retrieve the Hutt and to ensure success a droid legion and a squad of vulture droids landed on the planet for the battle. The droid army began their attack on the small Republic unit and the Jedi and some clones were forced to retreat inside the monastery and Ventress believed they were trapped.
The Dathomirian sliced the control consoles on the hangar door entering the hangar of the monastery and killed several clones before encountering Captain Rex who subdued him with the Force demanding to know where Skywalker was. The clone refused her interrogation and Ventress used a Force mind-trick to make contact with Anakin but failed to learn his whereabouts. Eventually Ventress reached the Jedi who were attempting to flee from a landing platform and engaged Ahsoka in a brief duel. The Padawan managed to hold her ground against the Sith Acolyte for a few moments before falling to the ground. Anakin Skywalker later rescued Ahsoka and attacked Ventress with help from a flying can-cell. The two Jedi quickly escaped the mesa with Rotta and fled the planet on a derelict transport ship called the Twilight.
Ventress made contact with her master informing him of her failure before becoming distracted by the arrival of Obi-Wan Kenobi who led the reinforcements. Obi-Wan and his clone squadron helped retake the monastery and encountered Ventress in the darkness of the edifice. Both Ventress and Kenobi dueled throughout the monastery ending on a catwalk and Obi-wan was able to defeat Ventress disarming her of one of her lightsabers. The Dathomirian was forced to retreat and escaped by jumping onto a passing vulture droid starfighter. Continuing the scheme, Dooku met with Jabba in his throne room and presented a hologram of Ventress explaining that Anakin Skywalker was on his way and that he killed Rotta which angered the Hutt. Darth Tyranus told Ventress and Jabba that he would deal with the Jedi himself but stated to his acolyte she would pay for her failure.
Dark Side Assassin
On the moon of Rugosa, Dooku sent Ventress to Toydaria to negotiate an alliance between the Toydarian King Katuunko and the Separatists. King Kantuunko had a planned meeting with Grandmaster Yoda but Ventress sabotaged his starship and crash-landed on the coral moon with three clones accompanying him from Coruscant. The Dathomirian proposed a wager to the King that she would prove the Confederacy were more superior by capturing Master Yoda and if he escaped the King would join the Republic. Kantuunko allowed Ventress the wager against Master Yoda, pledging to side with whoever won.
Ventress remained by the King's side while she deployed the droid army to hunt and eliminate Yoda, monitoring his progress through hologram. Yoda managed to defeat Ventress and her forces easily, and rendezvoused with King Kantuunko who decided to join the Republic as the Dark Acolyte ignored the fair conditions of the wager. Dooku through hologram ordered Ventress to kill the king and replacing him with a Separatist installed leader, but Yoda stopped Ventress from assassinating the king using the Force to stop her lightsabers in mid-air. Ventress had no choice but to flee in her ship by detonating explosions near a rock ridge. Tyranus was disappointed with his acolyte and developed a grudge against the Toydarian King.
Ventress fights Ahsoka aboard the Tranquility.
Later, Dooku sent Ventress to intercept the Republic warship Tranquility and rescue Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray. She killed the first few clones on board, but was confronted by Ahsoka and Jedi Master Luminara Unduli. During the fight, she managed to blind Luminara in her left eye, and quickly fled. She regrouped with traitorous Senate Commando Captain Faro Argyus and freed Gunray. The trio made their way to an escape pod before the two Jedi caught up with Ventress, leaving the two Jedi to watch as their escape pod blasted off into space. Argyus then attempted to discredit Ventress, but Ventress quickly killed him and escaped with Gunray into space.
Ventress was later sent to the planet Kamino to spy on the cloning facilities from underwater as part of a plan for the cyborg General Grievous to invade Kamino and destroy the cloning facilities, thus preventing the Republic from producing more clones. Although Grievous failed the first part of the plan, he returned with Ventress and her droids emerged on squid-like vehicles out of the ocean attacking the facility. Grievous' mission was to destroy as many clones as possible to halt the production of new ones, while Asajj Ventress aimed to steal the original clone DNA sample of Jango Fett. They were met with Jedi resistance, however. While the 501st Legion prepare to fight, Grievous and his battle droids swarm Tipoca City, while Ventress infiltrates the storage chamber and managed to steal the clone DNA but was confronted by Anakin and she clashed with him while Obi-Wan clashed with Grievous. Ventress was defeated by Anakin who took the DNA, but when she tried to Force pull it out of Anakin's hands, a clone quickly grabbed it as she was Force-pulling. Anakin and his troopers cornered Ventress and ordered the Clones to execute her, but Ventress Force pushed the clones away and jumped onto Grievous' passing escape pod and escaped Kamino.
Betrayed
Ventress shocked as Dooku suddenly abandons her.
As the Clone Wars drew to a close, Darth Sidious sensed Ventress growing more powerful in the Force and contacted his apprentice ordering him to kill his dark acolyte. During the battle, Asajj attacked a Republic warship over the planet Sullust, facing a vastly superior Republic fleet commanded by Anakin and Obi-Wan. The Jedi decimated her troops and shot her down, forcing her to crash-land in the Separatist flagship's hangar.
Injured, she contacts Dooku begging him for reinforcements, but he refused to assist her, claiming that she had failed him for the last time and that she was no longer his apprentice and now must die. Left alone to fend for herself against the Jedi, Ventress refused to surrender, battling Anakin and Obi-Wan at the same time. Unknown to the three of them, Dooku had ordered the nearest Separatist cruiser to fire upon the very ship they were on. In an act of desperation, injured by the crash, Ventress savagely Force choked both Anakin and Obi-Wan into submission. A nearby explosion broke her concentration, and the Jedi disarmed her. As a wrecked ship crashed into the hangar, Ventress was able to make an escape. When the cruiser exploded, Dooku assumed Ventress was dead.
In reality, Ventress narrowly escaped in her damaged ship just before the flagship exploded, though she was knocked unconscious. Her ship floated through a graveyard of ships when a scavenger ship picked her up. Ventress told them to take her to Dathomir, but they refused. In response, Ventress Force choked them to death and flew the ship to Dathomir. Upon arrival, she was surrounded by Nightsisters warriors, but was stopped by Mother Talzin, who recognized her and took her to the Nightsister village here she was born. Asajj collapsed into her arms and was carried inside by the sisters. Talzin read her mind, and Ventress relived her past up to the point of Dooku betraying her. Ventress then swore revenge on the Count, and Talzin enlisted two Nightsister warriors to help Ventress kill him. Talzin also gave Ventress and her partners a potion to make them invisible, as well as lightsabers and a poison dart. Ventress and her two warriors then left for the Separatist planet Serenno to kill Dooku.
The Nightsisters' attempt to destroy Dooku in his palace failed when he unleashed a blast of Force lightning, sending them through a window and off a cliff. Ventress recovered herself and was able to save her accomplices using the Force and she ordered a retreat - her revenge had to wait. The three survived and returned to Dathomir, where Ventress reported their failure to Talzin. But the Clan Mother saw an opportunity with Dooku vulnerable he would be eager to protect himself with a new apprentice. After Count Dooku visited Dathomir and instructed Talzin to bring him a new apprentice, the Nightsisters plot to find a Nightbrother from the same village that produced a former Sith Lord. Mother Talzin sent Ventress to the other side of the planet to find a member of the Nightbrother clan to act as Dooku's new apprentice. An apprentice that the sisters will control and unleash on the Count when the time was right.
To find a suitable candidate for Dooku's apprentice, Asajj tested the Nightbrothers. She faced their best warriors in brutal combat until only one remained a Nightbrother named Savage Opress. Ventress took him back to the fortress where the Nightsisters used their magics to empower him with the dark side of the Force, transforming him into a gigantic warrior and rippling with muscles. Savage reflexively clutched Ventress' throat surprising her but she used the Force to command him to release her. For his final test, Savage's brother Feral was brought in and Ventress ordered him to kill Feral and carried out the brutal act. The Nightsisters present Opress to Dooku, who took him back to Serreno with him.
Anakin and Obi-Wan discovered Savage Opress was from Dathomir and visited the Nightsisters where Mother Talzin told the Jedi where his next location would be. After the Jedi left, Talzin told Ventress that her plot to use Savage to kill Dooku must be put into effect immediately. Though Asajj felt he was not ready, she made her way to Dooku's Separatist frigate and touched Savage's forehead, recalling the memory of his allegiance to her. Together, they teamed up against Dooku. When Opress was wounded by Dooku's Force lightning, Ventress angrily told him to get up and kill Dooku, calling him a fool repeatedly. Opress refused, finding his strength and attacked Ventress and Dooku with a Force choke. The three battled until Dooku escaped down a hatch followed by Asajj but Savage was too big to follow. Ventress pursued Dooku and fought him again, but failed to defeat him and fled. Ventress quickly took advantage of the chaos on board the frigate and escaped by ejecting from the ship in an escape pod. Ventress glared at Dooku's frigate briefly before her escape pod jettisoned and vanished into space.
Ventress duels Grievous to prove who the better warrior is.
Having harbored a grudge against Ventress and Talzin since their attempt on his life, Dooku monitored his former apprentice's movements and learned of her return to Dathomir. Ventress formally rejoined her clan undergoing a Rebirth Ritual to signify her allegiance. Dooku targeted the Nightsisters and dispatched General Grevious and his droid army to massacre Ventress, Mother Talzin, and the Nightsisters. Despite their best efforts, Ventress and Mother Talzin were the only survivors with the Clan Mother telling Ventress to leave the planet and find her own path, believing she is the only remaining sister.
Bounty Hunter and Unexpected Alliances
Ventress decided to make a living as a bounty hunter and went to Tatooine. After killing Oked, Ventress took his place on a mission led by Boba Fett to protect a chest on a train which, when opened, reveals a young Kage girl held captive inside. Ventress double-crosses Fett and frees the girl named Pluma who was suppose to be delivered to the Belugan Lord Otua Blank, who wanted her as his bride. Ventress altered the deal when the girl served as an unexpected twist arose in a bounty hunter team-up with Boba Fett.
Soon Ventress and Kenobi are side-by-side fighting the dark warriors.
Later discovering a bounty on Savage Opress, Ventress hunts down the Nightbrother. Her search lead her to Opress and Darth Maul, who were holding Obi-Wan Kenobi hostage. She then rescued the Jedi from Maul and Savage. Ventress and Kenobi joined forces, barely escaping with their lives and Obi-Wan tried to enlist her, but Asajj refused. After making her way to the under levels of Coruscant, Ventress began once again taking up the profession of bounty hunter, sporting a new voice disfiguring helmet. After Ahsoka Tano's expulsion from the Jedi Order, Ventress encountered the fallen Padawan on Level 1213 of the underworld, capturing her and intent on turning her in after she escaped from a Republic prison. Ultimately, however, she decided to help Ahsoka, as she hated the Jedi more than she wanted the bounty. Ventress was later interrogated by Anakin, who thought she had framed Ahsoka. Ventress helped Anakin clear Ahsoka of treason charges by providing clues that lead to the true culprit's identity fallen Jedi Barriss Offee.
Final Unexpected Alliance and Redemption
Ventress partnered with pirate Lassa Rhayme to pull a job on a competing pirate, Hondo Ohnaka. The Jedi Order partnered former master Quinlan Vos with Ventress to assassinate Count Dooku. The two fell in love, and Ventress trained Vos in the ways of the dark side, but cautioned him only to use it as a weapon to kill Dooku. When Vos fell to the dark side completely under Dooku's influence, Ventress vowed to save him. With help from bounty hunter Boba Fett, she infiltrated Dooku's hideout, where she found that Dooku had brainwashed Vos and was using him as a minion. Vos accused Ventress of betrayal and engaged his former lover in a brutal duel from which she was forced to retreat. Left with no other options, she appealed to her old nemeses Anakin and Obi-Wan, who reluctantly agreed to help her in order to save Vos.
The trio infiltrated Dooku's hideout and managed to free Vos, who had repented of the dark side after reconnecting with Ventress. She appeared before the Jedi Council, who pardoned her war crimes in appreciation for rescuing Vos. She then resumed her relationship with Vos. He enlisted her in a plot to kill Dooku and his master Darth Sidious, but they were captured by the former before they could put their plan into action. When Dooku attacked Vos with Force lightning, Ventress jumped in the way of the blast, sacrificing her life so he could escape. Vos took her body back to Dathomir to be laid to rest with her sisters in the pools of her village.
Killed Victims
- Several Weequay pirates (Including Ky Narec's killer)
- Rattatak's pirates and warlords
- Several Clone Troopers on the Tranquility
- Faro Argyus
- Arc Trooper Colt
- Most of the crew on the Resolute
- Ratch and his crew
- 4 Nightbrothers
- Feral (Ordered by Ventress)
- Many Battle Droids during the Battle of Dathomir
- Oked
Episode Appearances
| Appearances on The Show |
|---|
Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
Season Five
Legacy
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Trivia
- Her design originated as concept art by Dermot Power for a potential female Sith Lord during the development of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. However her character was abandoned in favour of Count Dooku. Power wanted her earlier designs to look almost as if she was a samurai.
External links
- Asajj Ventress
- Asajj Ventress at the Star Wars wiki
- Asajj Ventress at Heroes Wiki
