Asajj Ventress: History Of A Sith Assassin
"I always had a good feeling about you, assassin."
-Nute Gunray to Asajj Ventress (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)
First introduced as an assassin and aspiring Sith apprentice to Count Dooku in the Clone Wars multimedia project (now considered Legends) and later brought into canon in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, Assajj Ventress has become an iconic Star Wars character and major player all throughout the prequel trilogy era. This article will attempt to provide a primer for her characterization, history, role in the Clone Wars, fate, and legacy in the Star Wars galaxy.
History
As presented in The Clone Wars, Asajj Ventress was born as a Nightsister on Dathomir somewhere between 43-39 BBY. However, she was taken from Dathomir and spent most of her formative years on the brutal planet Rattatak, where she was forced to live as a slave under a crime lord. She was later freed and trained as a Jedi by Jedi Knight Ky Narec, who had come to the planet to protect the populace from local warlords. She trained under Narec for years and helped him with his work, until Narec was killed. His death led her to abandon the Jedi path, and she gave in to dark side of the Force. Vowing revenge for Narec's death, she eliminated her rivals, eventually establishing herself as a ruler on the planet. In Legends, she was actually born on Rattatak instead of Dathomir, and her appearance was indicative of the Rattataki species, although her formative years were very similar to her canonical upbringing.
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Role In The Clone Wars
Asajj Ventress came to the attention of Sith Lord and political leader of the Confederacy of Independent System, Count Dooku. Dooku decided to recruit Ventress as an assassin and commander of the Separatist military forces during the Clone Wars. She also became an acolyte of Sith teachings under Dooku and famously wielded two red-bladed lightsabers. The galactic conflict of the Clone Wars brought her into contact with two of her most famous rivals, Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, both of whom she had several encounters with throughout the war.
Although she never appeared in any of the prequel trilogy movies, she was introduced as a new villainess in the Star Wars: Republic comics set during the Clone Wars and then made her onscreen debut in the Clone Wars microseries, which was originally created by Gennady Tartovsky to serve as a bridge between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Her most significant appearance in the microseries was a fierce confrontation between her and Anakin Skywalker. As a Sith acolyte, Ventress believed that her defeat of Skywalker would lead to her ascension as a full Sith Lord. She successfully lured Skywalker away from a Republic assault on Muunilinst to Yavin 4, where they had a fierce duel on top of a Massassi temple. Although Anakin was ultimately able to defeat her.
In the Republic comics from Legends, Anakin and Obi-Wan faced her again. Anakin, after becoming a Jedi Knight, even dueled with her on Coruscant. Though he defeated her, the duel left him with a scar around his right eye (seen in Revenge of the Sith). He also had to tap into the dark side of the Force during both of these aforementioned duels to defeat her.
Ventress' most famous Jedi foil in canon, however, was Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom she had numerous encounters with during The Clone Wars series and, despite her hate for him, often behaved seductively toward him. In The Clone Wars movie, which introduced the 2008 animated series, Ventress had a major duel with Kenobi on Teth, as Obi-Wan and Anakin attempted to recover Jabba's son, Rotta, whom the Separatists had kidnapped in order to frame the Jedi.
Ventress matched wits against Jedi Master Yoda on Toydaria, where she hoped to convince the King of Toydaria to side with the Separatists in the war. However, the crafty Jedi Master and his clone troopers defeated her droid forces won the Republic an alliance with Toydaria instead. Yoda also stopped a last-ditch attempt by Ventress to kill the King of Toydaria on the orders of Count Dooku after his rejection of a Separatist alliance. Later on in the war, she successfully infiltrated a Republic Cruiser, rescuing Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray, who had previously been captured by Republic forces on Rodia. She also led a Separatist assault on Tipoca City on Kamino, hoping to destroy the cloning facilities.
Returning To Her Roots
Midway through The Clone Wars series, fearing her growing powers and perhaps sensing potential betrayal by Count Dooku, Sith Lord Darth Sidious ordered Dooku to kill Ventress, which Dooku reluctantly attempted to do, ordering Separatist forces to have her killed during a battle. This betrayal hit Ventress particularly hard, and she returned to the planet of her birth, Dathomir, seeking revenge against Dooku. The leader of the Nightsisters clan, Mother Talzin, helped her by turning a Nightbrother named Savage Oppress, into a fearsome dark side warrior. Ventress unleashed him upon Dooku. Unfortunately, the attempt to assassinate him failed, and Dooku and Grevious subsequently turned their forces against Ventress and the Nightsisters on Dathomir, all but wiping them out while she escaped.
Fate
After the obliteration of most of the Nightsisters of Dathomir, Ventress roamed the galaxy, becoming an independent bounty hunter. Being away from the influence of Dooku and the Separatists, Ventress occasionally came to the aid of some of her former enemies, including Obi-Wan, saving him from a deadly encounter with Savage Oppress and his renegade Sith Brother, Darth Maul, who had re-emerged over a decade after his fateful duel with Kenobi (The Phantom Menace) and sought vengeance against him.
Ventress also later aided Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano when she was hiding out in the Coruscant underworld, wrongfully accused of a terrorist bombing of the Jedi Temple. Ventress initially planned to claim a bounty on Tano, but later changed her mind and decided to help Tano prove her innocence.
Although The Clone Wars animated series officially ended without a definitive resolution to her fate, there was a follow-up book written by Christie Golden, Dark Disciple, which was based on scripts for episodes written by Katie Lucas. The storyline, which would have extended over eight episodes, had Ventress team up with Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos to attempt to assassinate Count Dooku. During the course of their adventure, she and Vos fell in love, but she died at Dooku's hands, sacrificing herself to save Vos.
In Legends, her fate was left somewhat open. At the conclusion of the Obsession comic book miniseries, she appeared to receive a fatal wound from Anakin on Boz Pity. However, it turned out to be a ruse, thanks to a meditation technique that made her seem dead. She commandeered a ship and escaped off into the galaxy without a trace, wanting to get as far away from the war as possible.
Legacy
Ventress' legacy, like that of several villains in the Star Wars universe, is a complicated one. While she will probably be most remembered for her villainy in the Clone Wars and her association with Count Dooku, the Sith, and the Separatists, it is important to remember that she didn't start off evil and had been exposed to the Jedi path earlier in her life as well. Unfortunately, that path was cut short due to the death of her master, and she slid into darkness, ultimately joining agents of evil like Dooku and the Separatists and committed her share of villainous acts. However, once she was, ironically, forced away from those malign influences by Dooku and Sidious, she started on a pensive journey back to the light, which ultimately ended in her sacrificing her life to save a Jedi Knight, giving her at least a measure of redemption in the end.
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Source(s): CBR, Wookieepedia