Asajj Ventress is a major antagonist in the Star Wars franchise. She is a Dark Jedi and a Dathomir witch who serves as Count Dooku's apprentice and personal assassin, and a commander of the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
Following her master's betrayal, she would become a member of the Nightsisters led by Mother Talzin and plot her revenge on Dooku. Unfortunately, her actions would lead to her rival General Grievous invading the planet of Dathomir, annihilating most of the Nightsisters as a result. She would eventually become a bounty hunter and sometimes, an unlikely ally with several of the heroes such as Obi Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, and later Quinlan Vos. In the Legends continuity, she is also a member of the Dark Acolytes.
Development and History[]
Born on the planet Dathomir during the final decades of the Galactic Republic, Asajj was a Dathomirian who was a member of a clan of Nightsisters led by Mother Talzin. While Ventress was still an infant, her clan came under a threat associated with the Siniteen criminal Hal'Sted. In order to ensure her clan's safety, Mother Talzin arranged for Asajj's mother to give her up to Hal'Sted, who took her away from Dathomir to be raised as a slave on the planet Rattatak. At the same time, Asajj was raised by the Ventresses, a powerful native Rattataki warlord family who had most likely given her the surname.
By 39 BBY, when Ventress was still a toddler, Mandalorian Meltch Krakko, who knew of her origins, heard about her turning into "quite the warrior." However, the young girl could not save Hal'Sted, who was killed during an assault by Weequay raiders, nor could she have rescued her foster parents. As she grieved over her loss, Asajj would have most likely died if it weren't for the arrival of a Jedi Knight named Ky Narec, who had been stranded on Rattatak after his starship crashed. Just when he was ambushed by a Weequay raider, Asajj used the Force to throw the raider into the air. Sensing Ventress's connection to the Force, Narec took the child into his care and decided to train her as his Padawan, despite being cut off from the rest of the Jedi Order.
The Master and Padawan duo became heroes to the people, ending wars and uniting rival armies. But tales and rumors of Ventress's new powers—her ability to move things with her mind and influence the minds of others—concerned the other warlords. Under Osika Kirske's leadership, they banded together to kill Ventress and her mentor. The warlords managed to kill Narec, but the pain of his loss, combined with Ventress's own undisciplined skills, sent her spiraling down the path toward the dark side of the Force.
When Narec died at the hands of a Weequay raider, Ventress tattooed her head and left her innocence behind. Her skull was striped with twelve marks, one for each of the twelve warlords she had killed after swearing their deaths. She then hunted down the warlords using a blood trail technique to track them. She developed a hatred of the Jedi, whom she believed had abandoned Narec.
Shortly afterwards, Ventress became a bounty hunter in the hopes of testing her prowess against a Jedi. But such an opportunity never came to being. Around that time, she had learned of the Jedi's most ancient enemy, the Sith. One day, she vowed, she would become a Sith herself and make the Jedi pay for what they had done to her.
Asajj Ventress was supposed to be a potential female and Palpatine's apprentice during the Clone Wars era, later when the Star Wars expanded universe resurrected this female Sith idea as one of Dooku's underlings who could appear more frequently throughout the Clone Wars, this nameless Separatist Commander was dubbed Juno Eclipse but the name was rejected as "not villainous enough", and she was renamed Asajj Ventress. The name Juno Eclipse was later given to a character from the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, with no relation to Ventress.
She was originally going to appear in Star Wars Resistance where she survived the events of Dark Disciple and would've battle Kylo Ren. Her role however was later changed to accommodate the original character Mika Grey instead.
Personality[]
Asajj Ventress' life has been tragic; she started out as a caring and 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 than 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 cunning, mysterious and sophisticated.
Ventress became a bounty hunter wanting to take on dangerous missions with big payouts. Her attitude towards missions involving people softened as she freed the Kage hostage Pluma Sodi. She no longer wished to kill anyone, and rescued her former nemesis Obi-Wan Kenobi from the returned Sith Lord Darth Maul, but was really interested in the bounty that was on them. She encountered former Jedi 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 in assassinating Dooku. Vos later gave into the dark side and in the end, Ventress told him not to give into hate and experienced the light that embraced her before sacrificing herself to save Quinlan from Dooku. Ventress redeemed herself by giving her life for the love that she finally received.
In The Bad Batch, Ventress appears to still be a hardened individual and helps Omega test her powers in the Force.