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Asajj Ventress is a major antagonist turned anti-hero in the Star Wars franchise.
Background[]
Asajj was shaped by a tragic history of being taken from her mother, enslaved, saved by her Jedi mentor. Her master later died, making her shift the blame of his death onto the Jedi Order itself. Her many tragedies and hardships instilled into her a darkness that not even her mentor, Ky Narec, could fully heal.
Personality[]
Because of her tragic history, a darkness grew inside her. After her master's death, she shows a lack of rationality, as she blames her mentor's death on the Jedi, believing that they had abandoned him.
She takes great pride in her skills, reacting viciously when Luminara Unduli insulted her lightsaber skills as being "unrefined, amateurish, sloppy", and she developed an obsession with Obi-Wan Kenobi, partly because he stole her master's lightsaber (her one keepsake of her master).
Asajj is also shown to be very sophisticated and often taunted Anakin Skywalker whenever they encountered. Her voice actress Nika Futterman describes her as "a bad guy with heart".
Asajj believed her path was to follow the dark side of the Force and even side with the Sith Order, only to experience true betrayal from them when Dooku, at the behest of Sheev Palpatine, ordered her death.
Taking to being a bounty hunter was not much of an improvement as Asajj did not like the lack of morals that came with the job.
However, upon meeting Quinlan Vos, Asajj began to change, developing strong romantic feelings and eventually falling in love with the Jedi. Her love for Quinlan was strong enough that when Dooku tried to kill Quinlan, she willingly sacrificed herself and died for him.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- The Force: Asajj has a very strong connection to the Force.
- Telekinesis: Asajj can telekinetically move objects or other individuals without physically touching them, and she utilizes it for offensive or defensive purposes.
- Force Push: Asajj can telekinetically send her opponents flying through the air, causing serious injury or temporarily incapacitating/knocking them unconscious, depending on how much power is unleashed.
- Force Pull: Asajj can telekinetically pull her opponents or objects towards her.
- Force Choke: Asajj can telekinetically choke his opponents to either weaken, kill or intimidate them.
- Force Grip: Ahsoka can telekinetically lift his opponents off the ground and into the air, sometimes by the neck, to immobilize them.
- Mind Trick: Asajj can control the minds of other sentient beings, except for individuals with indomitable wills.
- Force Jump: Asajj can jump or leap at great distances.
- Force Dash: Asajj can move at amazing speeds.
- Force Stealth: Asajj can conceal her presence from other Force-users.
- Telekinesis: Asajj can telekinetically move objects or other individuals without physically touching them, and she utilizes it for offensive or defensive purposes.
Abilities[]
- Expert Lightsaber Duelist: Asajj is a highly skilled lightsaber duelist. She managed to best General Grievous in a lightsaber duel without resorting to using the Force against him.
- Form I: Asajj is highly skill in Shii-Cho.
- Form II: Asajj is extremely skilled in Makashi.
- Form III: Asajj is highly skill in Soresu.
- Form IV: Asajj is extremely skilled in Ataru.
- Form V: Asajj has some skill in Shien/Djem So.
- Form VI: Asajj has some skill, applying Force attacks in her lightsaber sequence.
- Form VII: Asajj has some skill in Juyo, although she rarely uses it.
- Jar'Kai: Asajj is a master of Jar'Kai.
- Expert Hand-To-Hand Combatant: Asajj is an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant.
- Expert Pilot: Asajj is extremely skilled in piloting various speeders and most types of flying crafts.
- High-Level Intellect/Expert Tactician/Leader: Asajj is highly intelligent and wise. As a former Sith Commander, Asajj is a highly skilled tactician and a very capable leader.
Weapons and Equipment[]
Lightsabers[]
Asajj's valued weapon and possession are her green, red, blue, and later yellow-bladed lightsaber. She has had six lightsabers.
- Jedi Lightsabers: Asajj had built a green-bladed lightsaber during her apprenticeship under Ky Narec. After her mentor was killed by a Weequay raider, Asajj received Ky Narec's lightsaber which also had a green blade. Both would remain in Asajj's possession until they were destroyed in her duel against Dooku. After planning to get revenge on Dooku, Ventress once again wield a Jedi lightsaber, but it had a blue plasma blade while Karis and Naa'leth produced a green blade.
- Sith Lightsabers: Asajj received her first (third and fourth lightsabers overall) paired red-bladed curved-hilt lightsabers from Dooku, it belonged to Dooku's former apprentice, the late Komari Vosa. These lightsabers can joined to form a unique S-shaped double-bladed lightsaber or be used separately. Both would remain in Asajj's possession until they were taken from her by Barriss Offee.
- Sixth Lightsaber: After the events of Barriss' attempt to frame Asajj and Ahsoka Tano, she purchased a new lightsaber off of the black market. Unlike Asajj's previous lightsabers, this lightsaber had a standard cylindrical-shaped hilt and emitted a yellow blade. It would remain in Asajj's possession until her apparent death at the hands of Dooku, where it laid to rest with her.
- Seventh Lightsaber: During the Imperial Era, Asajj Ventress constructed another yellow bladed lightsaber, featuring a curved hilt similar to her old twin Sith lightsabers.
History[]
Childhood[]
Asajj was born to the Nightsisters clan, but while she was still an infant, the clan head, Mother Talzin, was forced to give Asajj to a criminal, Hal Sted (taking the poor child from her mother) for the safety of the clan. Asajj lived the early part of her childhood as a slave until Hal Sted was killed by pirates. She too would have died had she not tapped into her latent Force potential, and Force-pushed two pirates away from herself in self-defense. This was observed by a stranded Jedi master, Ky Narec. Narec took in the child, and raised and trained her as his Padawan. Asajj and her master formed a close and loving bond, and she trained hard with his guidance. Together, they fought for the oppressed people of the planet they were on, leading the masses in rebellion against various warlords. Alas, Narec was killed by one of the warlords they'd long fought, again leaving Asajj with no one. The death of her master drove Asajj to embrace the dark side, as she blamed the Jedi for abandoning Narec.
The Clone Wars[]
Taking up her master's lightsaber along with her own, Asajj self-trained in Jar'kai (wielding two lightsabers), and managed to get off-world to seek Count Dooku, whom she had heard was a Sith Lord. Dooku admitted she was more powerful than he had sensed but Asajj went too far by declaring herself a Sith. Dooku refuted this stating that while she wore the trappings of a Sith Lord and fought like one she lacked what truly made one a Sith Lord and showed his own mastery of the Sith Arts to prove his point and took her as his apprentice.
Eventually, however, Sidious demanded her death, sensing she was becoming too powerful in the dark side and feared that Dooku might be training her as a Sith Apprentice, and would betray him. Ventress survived Dooku's attempt to kill her, and returned to the Nightsisters' clan she'd been born to long ago and was welcomed back. However, several attempts of revenge on Dooku, the first of which included using the Nightbrother, Savage Opress, led to the slaughter of the clan and Ventress was forced to flee and eventually became a bounty hunter.
Asajj would soon take up on a bounty for her former servant, Savage Opress, and tracked him down, only to find he had a brother, Maul, and they had captured Obi-Wan Kenobi. Leading the brothers away, she helped Obi-Wan to his feet, stating she supposed she was there to rescue him. When the brothers returned, Asajj lent Obi-Wan one of her lightsabers, as Maul had taken Obi-Wan's, but stated she wanted it back. Obi-Wan said it was fine, "Red's not (his) color".
The two former enemies then crossed blades with the brothers, during which Asajj was disarmed and forced to fight Savage with hand to hand while dodging his saberstaff. Thankfully, Obi-Wan recovered his lightsaber and threw Asajj back the one she'd lent him.
Realizing they were outmatched, Ventress and Kenobi made their way to the cockpit and jettisoned from the craft.
Presumably, Ventress and Obi-Wan went their separate ways and Asajj continued to be a bounty hunter. She would later take up another Jedi, this one for Ahsoka Tano. She tracked her in the deeper levels of Coruscant, and captured her. However the two came to a mutual understanding and agreement due to suffering true betrayal; Ahsoka would plead Asajj's case and wipe her record clean if Asajj would help her find a way to clear her name. Asajj waited while Ahsoka contacted her friend, Barriss Offee, who gave them a lead at an old warehouse where Ventress led her and they went their separate ways.
However, Ventress was later ambushed by an unseen assailant, who stole her lightsabers. Anakin would later track down and attack Ventress, demanding why she betrayed Ahsoka, but Ventress managed to reveal she did not and that she was actually helping Ahsoka because of their similarities; Ventress's master betrayed her and the entire Jedi Order betrayed Ahsoka, both for the sake of self-interest. She revealed that someone else had attacked Ahsoka, and told Anakin they were directed to the warehouse by Barriss. Anakin let Asajj go and she was last seen walking the streets of Curscant. It was soon revealed that Barriss was the one who framed both Ahsoka and Ventress.
Later during the end of the Clone Wars, Asajj Ventress teamed up with Quinlan Vos on a mission to assassinate Count Dooku. When Vos began to fall under the sway of the dark side, Ventress served as his voice of reason and urged him to turn away from the pull of evil, and eventually fell in love with the Jedi. When Dooku tried to kill Quinlan, Ventress willingly sacrificed herself for him. Ventress' act of selflessness finally allowed Vos to renounce the dark side, and with aid from Obi-Wan Kenobi, Quinlan laid Ventress to rest on Dathomir. As she was laid to rest in the waters of a dark pool, the water turned green and the spirits of Ventress' clan had welcomed home their lost sister.
Imperial Era[]
Following the end of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Empire, Ventress was somehow still alive and travelling the galaxy. A year after the Empire rose to power, rogue clones of Clone Force 99 and Omega were investigating why the Empire was posting bounties on individuals with high midi-chlorian counts. Hunter and Wrecker contacted the bounty hunter Fennec Shand for information. Ventress had taken on one of the M-count bounty jobs, so Shand passed on the Bad Batch's details to her, knowing that she had more information. Ventress then tracked the clones to their island shelter on the isolated planet Pabu. The clones were reluctant to reveal their suspicion that Omega herself was being targeted for her M-count, but Omega wanted Ventress to test her, insistent on knowing who she really was. Ventress agreed to test Omega's Force potential.
Relationships[]
Anakin Skywalker[]
Asajj and Anakin have been enemies ever since early in The War. When Ahsoka was framed for murder and treason, Anakin instantly assumed that Asajj was the guilty party and hunted her down. When Anakin found Asajj, she told him that she didn't frame Ahsoka and had been trying to help the Togruta clear her name due to their many similarities.
Anakin growled "How dare you compare yourself to Ahsoka?!", to which she snapped "It's true! My master abandoned me and that's exactly what you did to her! You and your precious Jedi Order!" a scathing comment Anakin took to heart. She also told him how Ahsoka had contacted Barriss Offie and that Barriss told them to go to the warehouse where the nanodroids used in the Bombing of the Jedi Temple came from and that whoever attacked Ahsoka in the warehouse has her red lightsabers. This enabled Anakin to unmask Barriss as the real guilty party. Because Anakin took what Asajj to heart, his trust and respect for the Jedi Council was shaken.
Count Dooku[]
When Asajj first encountered Dooku, he was impressed by her skills such as her mastery of Jar'Kai, but was not impressed by her declaration to be a Sith. He told her that she lacked the vital qualities that make one a Sith and proved his point by demonstrating his mastery of the Sith Arts. Afterwards, he made her his apprentice and trained her in skills he himself excelled in such as Makashi.
However, Palpatine became concerned about her growing power and coldly ordered Dooku to kill her. Out of self-interest, Dooku betrayed her and left her for dead. However, Asajj survived and the two have been mortal enemies ever since. Dooku eventually killed Ventress with Force lightning when she threw herself between him and her love interest, the Jedi Quinlan Vos.
Maul[]
Despite the fact both are part of the same Night Clan, lead by Mother Talzin, Maul and Ventress were mortal enemies.
Gallery[]
Screenshots[]
Miscellaneous[]
Trivia[]
- Asajj Ventress was originally supposed to be a villain in Attack of the Clones, but didn't get added and was instead put in The Clone Wars.
- Asajj Ventress first appeared in the Star Wars Legends comic Jedi: Mace Windu and then appeared in the legends microseries Star Wars: Clone Wars.
- Asajj Ventress was originally set to return in Star Wars Resistance and would have battled Kylo Ren later, but the idea was scrapped and she was replaced with Mika Grey in "The Relic Raiders".[1]
References[]
External links[]
