Asajj Ventress/Legends

"I am fear. I am the queen of a blood-soaked planet and an architect of genocide. I have helped to crack the galaxy in half with this war and conquered every enemy I have ever faced&mdash;including death. All except for you."

- Asajj Ventress, to Obi-Wan Kenobi

Asajj Ventress was a female Rattataki Dark Jedi and arguably the most dangerous of Count Dooku's Dark Acolytes. In actual fact, Ventress was trained as a Jedi Padawan, while an orphan child on her home world of Rattatak, under the tutelage of Jedi Knight Ky Narec. However, after Narec was slain, Ventress gave into her anger and began walking the path of the dark side; taking up the lightsaber of her dead master, she trained herself in the Niman/Jar'Kai style of lightsaber combat, before slaying all the warlords on Rattatak and installing herself as its ruler.

Eventually, Ventress's actions came to the attention of Count Dooku, and after a test of her abilities, she became a commander in the Confederacy of Independent Systems. She had yearned to learn the ways of the Sith from Dooku and believed if she had proved herself worthy, she would become his apprentice.

During the Clone Wars, she became one of the most feared beings in the galaxy, notorious for her defeat of several Jedi. As the war continued, Ventress became the bitter enemy of both Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his former mentor, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, the latter of which was convinced that she could be redeemed. During Kenobi's mission to return Ventress to the light on Boz Pity, she received a life-threatening wound from Skywalker, faked her death and disappeared into the unknown; wishing to be free of the Jedi, the war, and Count Dooku.

Early life
"On her own, Asajj would have died. Left to his own devices, the stranger would have undoubtedly been captured and killed. But together...they became something our world had never known...they became heroes."

- Osika Kirske

Asajj Ventress hailed from the barbaric Outer Rim world of Rattatak, the daughter of local warlords. As a child, Ventress' parents assembled a large army in the southern hemisphere of Rattatak, intent on challenging fellow warlord Osika Kirske. However, they were killed by Kirske before they could become too great a threat, leaving Ventress an orphan on the harsh, unforgiving world. She would have most likely died were it not for the arrival of a Jedi Knight by the name of Ky Narec. Stranded on Rattatak after his starship crashed, Narec sensed Ventress's connection to the Force and, although Narec was cut off from the rest of the Jedi Order, he decided to train Ventress as his Padawan.

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, and under Osika Kirske's leadership, they banded together to kill Ventress and her mentor. Tragically, the warlords would indeed manage 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, she tattooed her hairless 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. Ventress, now in control of the land once held by the warlords who had murdered her Master, had a castle built on Rattatak, from where she controlled her new kingdom. Ventress kept Narec's lightsaber as a memento of the good times with her mentor, and developed a hatred of the Jedi, who she believed had abandoned Narec.

Initiation on Rattatak


Ventress was still in command on Rattatak when the Clone Wars began with the Battle of Geonosis. After Echuu Shen-Jon killed Sev'rance Tann on Krant, Count Dooku, alias Darth Tyranus, went in search of a new acolyte to serve as a commander in the Confederacy of Independent Systems. He traveled to Rattatak, where he was met by a waiting humanoid co-conspirator. As he sat beside the Count in a nearby observation chamber, this robed individual was silently and swiftly dispatched by a dark, cloaked figure who then took his seat. Dooku noted the presence of the killer, but initially voiced doubt about her combat abilities&mdash;until Ventress threw herself into a gladiatorial pit fight in the Cauldron and easily annihilated such foes as Blorga, Granda Dolma, Nilo, L8-L9, Flalios, Jasper McKnives, Krutch, Anchor Blue, Swyy'm-Ee, and finally Giant Flog.

Dooku applauded Ventress's talents, but she then went too far by declaring herself a Sith, and claimed that Dooku knew nothing of the dark side. Dooku decided to "enlighten" her. After rendering her unconscious with a blast of Force lightning and later defeating her in a duel, Dooku presented her to Darth Sidious, who approved his choice, and ordered her to kill a certain Jedi&mdash;Anakin Skywalker. After her departure, Sidious told Tyranus that it was irrelevant whether or not Ventress succeeded. Either way, Palpatine won. In fact, events turned out better than even he had planned. Not only did Skywalker draw on his rage, but Ventress survived and the Sith gained a valuable assassin.

Before sending her on her way, Dooku gifted Ventress with the twin red blades of his former Padawan, Komari Vosa. The twin blades could be wielded separately or joined together to form a saberstaff, one more difficult to handle than the traditional design, given the curved nature of the handles. Dooku, having taken the blades from Vosa after her fatal fight with the late bounty hunter Jango Fett, now intended that Ventress should use them&mdash;much as Komari Vosa had&mdash;to be a bane to the forces of the light.

Ohma-D'un
Jedi Commander Anakin Skywalker and Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi were completely unprepared for this new enemy's swift attack on the Gungan colony on Ohma-D'un. Ventress released swamp gas on the Naboo moon, decimating the settlement, then waited with the bounty hunter Durge for Jedi to arrive.

First off, Durge attacked the strike team, sent the new variations of B2 super battle droids, and released the swamp gas again for the kill. While the Jedi were being occupied by Durge and the droids, Ventress made herself appear for the first time as she decapitated Jedi Master Glaive from behind. Then, she discarded her cloak on Glaive's corpse and before she dueled Kenobi, she stated these words with a hint of her past:

"I emerged from misery and suffering... only to find the Jedi I had once worshiped... are nothing but weak, misguided fools. Count Dooku speaks true... the galaxy needs a Jedi purge!"

- Ventress

Ventress lunged at Kenobi and, while admiring his speed for dodging his attack, tried to cripple him in a Force Grip. Durge got a lock on Kenobi and was about to shoot his head off when the late Glaive's Padawan, Zule Xiss, attacked him, causing him only to hit Kenobi in the left shoulder and to have Ventress release her grip.

As Ventress told Durge to go after Skywalker and ARC trooper Alpha-17 before they could sabotage the Separatist efforts of a Naboo invasion, she used the dark side to bring the dead Gungans to rise up as an army to back her up in taking on Kenobi and Xiss. The reanimated Gungans were destroyed, but the Jedi's strength were being depleted by the swamp gas. Ventress sliced off Xiss' left arm, though the Padawan had managed to hold on. She nearly killed Kenobi, only to be outnumbered by the enemy when the unaffected Skywalker and Alpha-17, who destroyed the Separatist fueling station, arrived.

Seeing that Skywalker wasn't cowardly as she thought, Ventress vowed to her assigned target she would remember that at their next encounter. She jumped for a ride with Durge, who was using his jetpack to pick her up for the Separatist retreat&mdash;though now the Jedi would undoubtedly remember the new face of war. Also, while Durge said that Dooku would consider the mission a failure, Ventress did not for she knew Kenobi's face and heart.

Ruul
Ventress trained at Dooku's fortress. Three months after the Battle of Geonosis, she was sent to Ruul, where Mace Windu, Senior Member of the Jedi High Council, was to meet with the Jedi dissidents led by Sora Bulq. Bulq had been converted to the dark side by Dooku after being captured on Bakura following the Battle of Geonosis, and was part of Dooku's plan. Ventress was sent in as an assassin, whom the dissidents were led to believe she had been hired by Windu.

Windu eventually uncovered the truth, but not before Ventress killed Bulq's former Padawan Mira (much to the Weequay's disliking). While Windu confronted Bulq, Ventress later ambushed Rhad Tarn, whom she saw promise in him, and persuaded him to no be longer a "weak pawn of the Republic." Together, they dueled Masters K'Kruhk and Sian Jeisel, who were too late to save Rhad from Ventress' lies. As Jeisel killed Rhad in self-defense, Ventress wounded K'Kruhk and was about to kill him when Jeisel (whose loyalty Ventress respected) blocked her attack, followed by Windu, who rendered Bulq unconscious and left to join the real fight.

Though Ventress briefly dueled Mace Windu, she realized she was no match for the Korun Master's skill in Vaapad&mdash;even using her deadly saberstaff&mdash;and fled Ruul with Bulq in a solar sailer.

Queyta
"Our spies knew you were coming, false Jedi. We're fully prepared to kill you all."

- Ventress to Obi-Wan Kenobi

Kenobi and Ventress met again a standard month after the Mission to Ruul, on Queyta, where Ventress and Durge fought Kenobi, Nico Diath, Fay, Jon Antilles, and Knol Ven'nari for the antidote to the swamp gas chemical weapon. The Jedi strike team was depleted in moments: Ven'nari sacrificing herself to shield the others from the explosion made by Durge firing on the Skakoan engineers' pressure suits; Diath being knocked into the lava by falling rubble; and Antilles joined Diath seconds later while holding Durge off, long enough for Kenobi and Fay to apprehend Ventress.

As Ventress ran from the two remaining Jedi, Fay used the Force to send scrap flying at Ventress, with one piece stabbing her between the neck and left shoulder. As Fay reached out to Ventress's mind, stealing her memories and identity, the Rattataki swore she would crush the Jedi woman's heart before she briefly fell into unconsciousness.

Kenobi quickly took the antidote from Ventress's hands, only to have Durge separate him and Fay in a lava eruption. Ventress woke up and found Fay laying beaten to the ground nearby, calling out to Kenobi. Fay, a Jedi Master who possibly had made the gravest mistake in her life of not carrying a lightsaber with her, realized too late as Ventress seized her chance and stabbed the Jedi in the back with her two weapons. As Fay lay dying, Ventress saw Kenobi hanging on a cliff face and offered him to join the Separatists, but refused. She promised to kill him at their next meeting, even as Dooku had forbidden her from doing so, and left him to die. Kenobi, after Fay sacrificed the last of her strength to him, eventually escaped with the antidote.

Duel with Jeht
Some time after that, Ventress battled the Jedi Master Darrus Jeht in a jungle locale. Jeht was already verging on the dark side, and after she stabbed him in the chest with her lightsabers, he attacked her with Force lightning before being rescued by clone troopers. She contacted Dooku after the fight, who told her she had done well in her "exercise" and that he would reward her with one day to recover before she was to move on to her primary target after that.

Yavin IV
"I'm going to make you pay for what you've done.''" "''Come, Padawan. Your fall will be my ascension to the Sith."

- Anakin Skywalker and Asajj Ventress

Four standard months after the Battle of Geonosis, Ventress traveled to Muunilinst, which was currently under siege, to carry out her first command; kill Anakin Skywalker. Flying her Fanblade starfighter, Ventress attacked Skywalker over Muunilinst and then lured him to the jungle moon of Yavin 4.

There, she destroyed his starfighter and the clone squad sent by Obi-Wan Kenobi to assist him, then battled the young Jedi through the moon's jungles and one of the ancient Sith Massassi Temples. The duel ended when Anakin gave in to his rage, hurt Ventress's left hand to grab one of her lightsabers after being disarmed, and knocked her from the pinnacle of the temple. Skywalker escaped in Ventress's fighter, leaving Ventress wounded but alive on the planet.

At some point, Ventress became worshiped as a goddess on the planet Mauk.

Growing obsession
"All she has ever known is violence! We'll never reach her through a lightsaber! I still think there's a part of her Dooku hasn't corrupted!"

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Although she had been tasked with eliminating Skywalker, Ventress slowly became obsessed not only with the boy, but also with his master&mdash;Kenobi. Somehow he was the center of Ventress's troubles, but she could not find any solution on how to dismiss it.

During almost every mission, she would meet Kenobi and Skywalker, either together or separately. Though she would gladly obey Dooku's order and complete the objective, her hatred towards the two Jedi would get in the way, as fellow Dark Jedi Tol Skorr would point out.

Arrival on Cestus


Ventress was sent in secret to Ord Cestus by Dooku to ensure that the JK-13 security droids, known as "Jedi Killers," were to be kept in production under the Five Families of Cestus Cybernetics for their part in the Separatist cause. The Five Families were sent news by Dooku of sending a representative, but he never said who or when, which gave Ventress the opportunity to sneak in. In truth, however, Dooku planned to use the JK droid presence to have the Republic investigate the Five Families' business, expose their control on Cestus and Separatist allegiance, and force them to bombard the planet as example to seceding worlds, which would cause other systems to join the Separatist cause. Then, the Separatists would clone the tissue of Dashta eels for many JKs in the droid army and would no longer need Cestus.

As Ventress arrived at the Tolmea Mountains, which held the secret base of X'Ting gang leader Trillot, she was led to him by his brother, Fizzik. She presented Trillot a gift from Dooku himself: salt, water, and windsnakes. As Trillot accepted the honor, his bodyguard Remlout, hearing that Ventress never turned down a challenge, offered her one of hand-to-hand combat. She accepted and promised Trillot that she would spare Remlout's life, since it was "hard to find a good bodyguard these days."

Though Remlout was said to be Trillot's best bodyguard, he could not lay a finger on Ventress as she leaped from his every charge and, through the Force, rendered him moribund and spasmodic.

As Remlout was taken to a medic, Ventress and Trillot discussed the business at hand. However, once Trillot mentioned that Obi-Wan Kenobi had come to Cestus to negotiate with Regent G'Mai Duris, Ventress saw a chance to put an end to her obsession. She knew right away that Kenobi would try to stop the JK production line, so she claimed that she would first take him down, then speak with the Families.

Manipulations
Ventress lived in Trillot's guest room during her stay. When she heard that Kenobi and Barrister Doolb Snoil were invited by Regent Duris to a ball held in their honor, she decided to toy with Kenobi, using the Quy'Tek meditations that Dooku taught her during her dark side training to hide her presence. She attended the ball, disguising herself in a X'Ting mask, where the Jedi Knight almost sensed her, while Fizzik awaited her outside. This troubled Kenobi for a moment, much to Ventress's delight.

The next day, at Trillot's base, Ventress sensed Kenobi's presence here, cloaked her own, and saw him asking Trillot, who was now in female form, to supply him with a Baktoid radiation suit so that he could infiltrate the Clandes Industrial factory and find information that would expose the Five Families' allegiance with the Separatists. When Kenobi left, Ventress told Trillot that in order for her trap to spring, the crime lord would have to give Kenobi what he needed so that he could trust her.

Ventress followed Kenobi to the Cleft Head cantina in ChikatLik, which had plenty of crowds for her to blend in. She went on playing her dangerous game of masking her existence around the Jedi Knight and when she sensed that he and Regent Duris were beginning a form a trust, she was determined to break it.

Master Kit Fisto, a member of the Jedi Council, devised a plan of his own to expose the Five Families-Separatist alignment. He captured the Five Families members, disguised as a Dark Acolyte named Nemonus sent by Dooku to "execute" them. Kenobi confronted him and in an orchestrated duel, Kenobi sent Fisto to run away and thus, with this, it appeared that Ord Cestus would shift its attention away from the Separatists. Unfortunately, they were unaware that Ventress had placed a hidden holocam in Kenobi and Fisto's "fight". Ventress then delivered the camera footage to Caiza Quill, one of the Five Families members and a cousin of Regent Duris. When Quill presented this footage to Duris, the deal with the Republic was called off, thus forcing Kenobi and Barrister Snoil to seemingly leave together.

However, Ventress knew that Kenobi would stay on Cestus and send Barrister Snoil to show evidence of the Five Families' counterfeiting as part of Cestus' economy, so she sent a drone fighter of probe droids to destroy the Republic Consular-class cruiser, with Snoil in it. However, Snoil managed to flee in an escape pod to the planet's surface, while Fisto's secret strike team mixed of a clone trooper squad, the Desert Wind anarchist movement, and Cestian miners prepared to wage a rebellion against the Five Families after the diplomacy options failed.

Ventress met with the Five Families at their most private base in ChikatLit. She brought assurance that if the JK droids were used to conduct fair trade, the Five Families would be rewarded. She also warned them that any attempt to use as mere commerce would result in their execution. Furthermore, she discussed the matter of the Cestian resistance's three recent attacks and asked for Cestus' map data so she could find the resistance's hideout through the Force.

Once she had found that the resistance were hiding at Desert Wind's base in the Dashta Mountains, Ventress ordered that the specially-made plastoid infiltration droids designed and ordered by Dooku to be tested and later sent them, with the JKs, after the Jedi and their allies. The resistance's casualties were low, but among them was Barrister Snoil, who gave his life to save Kenobi.

Shortly after, Ventress met with Regent Duris in person. She explained that if the the information of Cestus Cybernetics' fraud were to be brought to the Senate, the consequences would be very simple, but severe: the Republic would bombard the planet to stop the droid foundries; the Hive Council would suffer dearly; and Duris would "personally bear the full brunt of Count Dooku's wrath." Then, the Rattataki assured Duris that if Cestus ever needed help, Dooku and the droid leader General Grievous would "provide" them with resources.

Kenobi and Fisto traveled to Trillot's base, where they came to buy the Baktoid suit Trillot "promised" to supply earlier. When Trillot lured the two Jedi to a huge hive cavern beneath ChikatLik, Ventress sprung her trap as she activated a Xythan force shield to trap her opponents. Following her wake were a pair of young male X'Ting loyal to the Hive. She then ordered Trillot to leave and said that she would use the gang leader's protocol droid to translate her orders to the thugs.

Engaging the Jedi


After Ventress revealed Dooku's plan to the Jedi, she ordered the X'Ting thugs to attack them so that she may have enough time to study their movements before engaging them in combat. The two Jedi knew they couldn't slaughter the X'Ting for their loyalty to the Hive, so they fought them without their lightsabers. But even when unarmed, it did no good from preventing Ventress from learning their lightsaber technique.

Fisto was able to break away from the pack, activated his lightsaber, and pursued Ventress. However, since he had never faced Ventress before, his one lightsaber was unable to block both of hers. She was able to wound Fisto in the arm. As she came in for the kill, Fisto rolled off a dock and into an underground river.

Meanwhile, Kenobi broke free and told Ventress to tell the young X'Ting to leave, but she demanded to know why. Then, something in Kenobi's answer struck a nerve in Ventress that forced her to have the droid translate the X'Tings' order to leave:

"Haven't you learned what you wanted to learn? Seen what you wanted to see? What is the point of sending these children to their deaths? They only die because they trust you. Is there nothing left in you? If not goodness, then loyalty?"

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

As he fought Ventress, Kenobi gained leverage initially. He blocked all the strikes, and pinned her lightsabers down. She freed her right hand nearly decapitated Kenobi. As he moved to the left, Ventress's spin-kick caught him and knocked him onto the dock. Sensing, through the Force, that Kenobi was in trouble, Fisto summed up some strength and severed the dock. It collapsed, sending Kenobi and Ventress into the river. Fisto then lost consciousness.

Kenobi fitted a rebreather into his mouth, but since Ventress held two lightsabers, she could not. Obi-Wan pressed the sudden advantage until she dropped one of her lightsabers temporarily to grab her rebreather. In the murky water, Kenobi struck a blow against her ribs. Ventress headbutted Kenobi, causing them both to drop their rebreathers. Fighting underwater with no air, they realized that the first one to go up for air would be vulnerable. Seeing that she was stuck, Ventress released a black ink from her belt, and escaped.

After the deaths of the Five Families and ARC trooper A-98, who sacrificed himself by giving the supercruiser Nexu the location of their hideout to bombard, Ventress resurfaced from the water and confronted Trillot at her bedchambers. She raised one of her lightsabers and executed the X'Ting gang leader not just for failing her, but for accidentally seeing her dreams of death and destruction. Then, she had broken two of Trillot's guards close to her ship when she prepared to leave Cestus to rendezvous with Dooku and General Grievous.

During takeoff, as Ventress started wondering how Kenobi was able to remain firm back in their duel, her hands were shaking with either fear or anxiety. Seeing that this was not like her at all, she dismissed the feeling with the need and hunger for action, whatever the assignment.

Jabiim and afterward


Three months later, Ventress became one of the Separatist commanders in the Second Battle of Jabiim, aiding Alto Stratus, leader of the Jabiimi Loyalists, in an effort to have Jabiim break from the Republic. Eventually, they had succeeded.

When Obi-Wan and Alpha-17 were caught in the explosion of a fallen All Terrain Armored Transport, Ventress finally managed to capture the two, and transported them to her castle on Rattatak for interrogation and torture. While there, she placed a Sith torture mask on Kenobi and lied to him that Skywalker had died on Jabiim with the rest of the Padawan Pack, in order to break him and, she hoped, show Dooku how worthless the Jedi Knight was. Everyone in the galaxy believed Kenobi was dead, even Dooku and she wanted to save the revelation of the Jedi's survival as a surprise for the Count. Then, she would at last be accepted as Darth Tyranus's official Sith apprentice and a Dark Lord of the Sith.

However, one day, after Alpha-17 refused to tell Ventress the location of the Republic medical foundries under interrogation, she promised him a slow death. Afterwords, Aidus suggested to Ventress that Kenobi be shot so that they could meet up with Durge. But Ventress explained her reasons and went to spar with a couple of Bugnaughts. While at that, she was aware that Kenobi, Alpha-17, and Osika Kirske had caused a prison break and caught up with them. Though she managed to avenge her parents' deaths by slaying Kirske, Kenobi stole both Ky Narec's lightsaber and Ventress's own starfighter, using the latter to reach Riflor, and leaving Ventress broken and tearful on the landing platform.

Praesitlyn
During the Battle of Praesitlyn, Ventress ordered Muun Admiral Pors Tonith of the InterGalactic Banking Clan to give her a report on how he was faring. Tonith was rather fascinated by Ventress's looks and wished that she could aid him in the invasion, but the Rattataki was busy somewhere else at the moment.

Later on, when Ventress contacted Tonith again, the Admiral boasted of the battle turning to his favor and said that he may not need the reinforcements that Dooku promised him after all. Ventress, hardly impressed, responded to Tonith that the next time the two would meet, she would be his executioner. The Admiral scoffed of her remark, but knew deep inside that she meant it. Whether she knew that the Admiral would fail or sensed it through the Force is unknown.

Vjun
"Kiss her, Whie. Kiss her. Welcome home."

- Ventress's words haunt Whie Malreaux

After the defeat at Praesitlyn, Ventress killed Jedi Padawan Jang Li-Li in a space dogfight and brought the severed hand and damaged lightsaber to Dooku for the deed, though Dooku mourned for Jang's death in a way since he knew her as a child before leaving the Order.

Ventress was with Dooku at Bast Castle on Vjun, a planet strong with the dark side. She was told to bring Jedi Master Jai Maruk before Lord Tyranus alive so that his "treaty" between him and Yoda would be complete. However, after scarring Maruk, she believed that he should have been made "number seventeen" in her list of dead Jedi.

Dooku's plan was set in stone. Ventress watched from her ship, Last Call, as what seemed to look like Yoda entered a starship. She then followed him to Ithor and destroyed the escort pilots. But after realizing through the Force that "Yoda" was actually an actor named Palleus Chuff, playing as a decoy, she then decided that it would be best to capture him and destroy the ship to make it look like Yoda had perished.

The events on Ithor caused the Republic spirit to deteriorate, much to Ventress's liking. However, she was furious when news stated that she was known for killing eleven Jedi. Despite that, she continued her objective and hired a FIII Footman droid named Solis to give her the location of the real Yoda's whereabouts.

Ventress took eighteen A-series assassin droids on the Last Call and unsuccessfully ambushed Grand Master Yoda on Phindar Station, but managed to slay Masters Maruk and Maks Leem. Unbeknownst to Ventress, Chuff escaped and helped Yoda destroy the Last Call.

After Whie Malreaux watched his Master Leem to die, he struck at Ventress, but she suspended him. Before leaving, she gave Whie a chance to turn to the dark side, since she could see that he was "indoctrinated" by the Jedi.

Recalled to Chateau Malreaux on Dooku's orders, Ventress was given the liberty to toy with the Padawans Whie and Scout when they were captured. When Scout tried to reach her lightsaber, the Rattataki clawed her in the head, causing her to bleed, and later held her in a Force grip when she "spoke out of term." She then ordered Whie's own Footman droid servant Fidelis, whom she thought was the one that gave her Yoda's location, to shoot himself with a Neural-Net eraser for his loyalty to the Malreaux family.

After sensing Whie's feelings for Scout, Ventress decided to enjoy herself by telling the boy to give in to his dark nature and kiss the girl he adored. When the Padawan resisted, she was about to order the droids to kill the Padawans, when Solis came to the rescue and shot the droids down. Solis then held Ventress off while the Padawans managed to run. He sliced her on the left knee with a flechette, but was destroyed as she fired the Neural-Net eraser at him.

After placing a piece of cloth from her shirt on her wounded knee, Ventress went after the Padawans. Unfortunately, she met up with both Skywalker and Kenobi, but turned tail when faced with the prospect of fighting them both at once in her condition.

Rendili
During the initial stages of the Battle of Rendili, Obi-Wan discovered the renegade Quinlan Vos aboard the exploration vessel Titavian IV. He had betrayed Dooku's trust, and the Count had sent Ventress and Tol Skorr to eliminate him. Ventress and Kenobi battled yet again, though this time Ventress felt assured of victory and rode a ferocious rancor in pursuit of her nemesis. Kenobi and Vos escaped, but Ventress put a homing beacon on their ship's hull and followed them back to Coruscant, but had a little argument with General Grievous while on the way.

Upon her arrival, Ventress was unable to get at either Kenobi or Vos, as both were within the Jedi Temple. Instead she tracked down Anakin Skywalker, ambushing and engaging him in a duel in the upper underlevels of one of Galactic City's industrial sectors. Ventress dueled Skywalker and preyed upon the young Jedi's fears, leaving a scar down the side of Skywalker's face, though she claimed she could have taken his head. When she taunted Skywalker with threats to kill his wife, Skywalker again used his anger to defeat her. He entwined her body in thick electric cables, then sent her plummeting down into the murky lower levels. As on Yavin IV, Ventress barely survived her fall, but was this time too weak to continue fighting without assistance.

Christophsis
On the planet of Christophsis, Ventress led Separatist efforts to claim the important planet for the Confederacy. The Dark Jedi recruited the clone sergeant, Slick, to the Separatist cause and through him learned vital information regarding the Republic's defense of the planet. Asajj used this information and had her forces conduct a surprise attack on the secret location of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his troops; however, the timely intervention of Anakin Skywalker ensured that Kenobi and a portion of the clones with him escaped.

Realizing that there was a traitor amongst their men, Kenobi and Skywalker traveled to the Separatist headquarters on the planet to learn if they could discover the spy's identity. En route, the Jedi became aware of numerous droids noting their position, and doing nothing to stop them. Their fears that they were falling into a trap were confirmed when they arrived at the Separatist stronghold, there being no guards or resistance. Within, Ventress confronted the pair and engaged them in a violent duel.

The two Jedi constantly kept her on the defensive, forcing her to retreat. However, Asajj's main goal had truly been to delay the Jedi, so that Slick could safely destroy the weapons depot at their base; and while he succeeded at this, he was captured. Following the duel, Ventress ordered General Whorm Loathsom to march on the Republic forces, before leaving the planet to involve herself in Dooku's plan to ally with the Hutt clans.

Teth
Ventress took part in Dooku's plot to gain Jabba the Hutt's support against the Republic. She took custody of Jabba's son, Rotta from agents of his great-uncle Ziro, and held the Huttlet in an old B'omarr Monastery on the planet Teth. When Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano arrived to rescue Rotta, Ventress arranged for the espionage droid 4A-7 to edit a recording of Skywalker and Tano to show that they were kidnapping the child. She sent the footage to Dooku so that Dooku would use the footage to convince Jabba of the Republic's treachery.

Skywalker, Tano and Rotta made their way through the monastery to reach a landing pad, and then escaped from Ventress on a flying Can-cell and headed towards another mesa in the distance. As Skywalker, Tano, and R2-D2 escaped the planet with Rotta on a stolen ship, Ventress confronted Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had arrived with reinforcements. She dueled with him but fled the battle on a Vulture droid after she was disarmed of one of her sabers.

As the Battle of Teth came close to Republic victory, Ventress contacted Dooku that Skywalker was on his way to Tatooine. Knowing that Jabba was watching, she also lied that the Jedi had killed Rotta. Dooku knew right away Skywalker was bringing the Huttlet back to his father, so he told Ventress that he would deal with her later.

Immediately following her escape from Teth, Ventress visited the Kashyyyk system to meet with the Wookiee traitor Quaagan and take possession of Bitt Panith's secret Krossen project. Here she crossed paths&mdash;and blades&mdash;with Jedi Master Bant Eerin and her Padawan.

Rugosa


Some time after the Battle of Teth, Asajj Ventress challenged Grand Master Yoda on the coral moon, Rugosa, for the allegiance of Toydaria. It was decided that if her best troops could defeat Yoda, then King Katuunko would join the Separatists, if not he would join the Republic. After Yoda destroyed her droid army and Katuunko swore allegiance to the Republic, Dooku ordered Ventress to slay the Toydarian King. As loyal as she was, she was unsuccessful. Yoda showed up just in time to stop Ventress by force gripping both of her lightsabers in mid-swing and implored her to surrender. She, however, activated an explosive which sent a hill of boulders crashing down towards Yoda and Katuunko. While Yoda was occupied using the Force to stop the rocks from crushing them, Ventress was able to escape and fled the moon in Dooku's solar sailer, which the Sith Lord had loaned to her.

Kamino


After her mission on Rugosa, Ventress traveled to the clone troopers' homeworld of Kamino, acting as a spy and reporting directly to General Grievous. The cyborg general was preparing his fleet to take over a scout base to prevent the alert of the clone homeworld. Their ultimate goal was to capture Kamino and destroy the cloning facilities to halt the Republic's army production for good. The plan eventually failed as the rookie clones protecting the station managed to destroy it and all the droids assaulting it, alerting the Republic. Ventress was left with no option but to leave Kamino.

Gwori
Ventress also accompanied Dooku to Gwori where she executed Overseer Juhm for his failure to protect the shipyards from being destroyed by the Republic.

Khorm
After several failed missions, she was finally allowed the chance to redeem herself by helping Unger Gout to defeat the Khormai resistance. She killed Jedi Knight Tauht and captured Captain Ozzel, whom she forced to give the activities of Masters Kit Fisto and Plo Koon. However, she was forced to retreat when the Jedi destroyed the complex, allowing the Republic to land safely without any storm problems.

Rescuing Gunray
After being captured on Rodia by Senator Padmé Amidala, Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray was escorted by Jedi Master Luminara Unduli and Ahsoka Tano, to be delivered into the custody of Captain Faro Argyus of the Senate Commandos so he can be taken to Coruscant for trial. Upon being informed by Darth Sidious of the matter, Dooku decided to dispatch Ventress to either rescue the Viceroy or silence him before he was to be interrogated by the Jedi. Though Sidious doubted Ventress's ability after having failed before, Dooku assured his master that Ventress would succeed and, after the hologram of Sidious faded away, told her to prove her worth of being his apprentice. Thus, she took a group of boarding ships that ambushed the Jedi cruiser Tranquility. Super battle droids were deployed to deal with the Clone troopers on the ship allowing Ventress to sneak aboard and plant explosives in the engine room.

With her plans set, she made her way to the detention block of the ship where she encountered Ahsoka Tano and the guards who were protecting Gunray. She managed to kill a number of clones while dueling with Skywalker's Padawan until Luminara Unduli arrived. Trapped, but feigning surrender, she used her explosives to disable the ship and put her enemies off balance before escaping into the engine room. She was quickly followed by Luminara Unduli and using stealth, she managed to rupture a coolant pipe which temporarily blinded one of the Jedi general's eyes. Flying into a frenzied rage at Unduli's taunts that her fighting style was sloppy and amateurish, she managed to defeat Luminara and drop a series of pipes on her, trapping her and allowing Ventress to deal the killing blow. However, before she could accomplish this, she was Force pushed away by Ahsoka. Ventress then dueled with the two Jedi until she received a signal from Separatist spy Argyus who had managed to escape with Gunray into the Consular-class vessel.

Her task complete, she used the Force to escape into the ventilation system and threw a remote bomb before her which knocked Ahsoka Tano for a loop. Ahsoka and Luminara attempted to follow the Dark Jedi. Ventress then managed to make her way into an escape pod and rendezvous with Argyus's ship. Once aboard, Argyus claimed that he would note Ventress as a "contribution" to the mission in his report to Count Dooku; enraged by the implied insult, Ventress ran him through with her lightsaber. Seeing the Senate guardsmen killed, Gunray stated that he always had a good feeling about Ventress.

Alzoc III


After the Battle of Ryloth, Ventress was sent to the remote ice world of Alzoc III to destroy any evidence of the new Separatist weapon. There, she destroyed the remains of a Munificent-class star frigate and faced Jedi Luminara Unduli and Aayla Secura.

Behpour
After her failure on Alzoc III, Ventress led the Battle of Behpour along with Dooku and Kul Teska. There, she successfully saved Dooku after he was wounded fighting Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi and escaped with him.

Disappearance
"Just far away. Far from the Jedi, from this war, from Count Dooku. Just fly as far away as you can."

- Asajj Ventress

Throughout their battles, Kenobi had learned more and more of Ventress's past. He concluded that Ventress was misled, not evil, and took it upon himself to find her and bring her back to the light. Skywalker was convinced that he had killed Ventress on Coruscant, and that Kenobi was not thinking clearly, but the two uncovered a trail of clues that confirmed her survival and location, battling and killing Durge on the way. Ventress had been sent to the planet Boz Pity, where she was placed in a bacta tank by Count Dooku and given cybernetic modifications to amplify her rage. When Republic forces attacked Boz Pity, Kenobi came upon the chamber in which Ventress was contained within a Separatist facility, and was subsequently attacked by her when she detected him in her trance. She fought against both Kenobi and Skywalker, only to be unexpectedly abandoned by Dooku, who did not want her to delay his escape with an exhausted and malfunctioned Grievous. He ordered an IG-100 MagnaGuard to kill her as she desperately tried to reach Dooku's shuttle. Using a blaster rifle, the droid shot Ventress down as she approached the shuttle.

Enraged and wounded, Ventress attempted to kill Kenobi, who was trying to help her, only to be dealt a mortal wound by Anakin. As she lay dying, Ventress told Kenobi to protect the Galactic Core from Dooku, and finally let go of her anger and rage. Perhaps, she mused, Kenobi had been right about her. With that, Ventress appeared to die, and Obi-Wan ordered her corpse to be placed aboard a medical shuttle.

Despite appearances to the contrary, Ventress did not die, instead placing herself in a Sith trance on Boz Pity using her Sith healing techniques to heal the wounds she suffered. She was loaded aboard the med runner Bright Flight, and, while on board, emerged from her trance and ordered the pilots to alter their course; to take her as far away as possible from the war, Dooku, and the Jedi. The pilots complied.

Legacy
"I have collected a small number of seeds from my desert walks. I think I will plant them and see what they will grow, in memory of Asajj Ventress."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

A rumor existed that Ventress was seen fighting in the Second Battle of Xagobah roughly a month after Asajj had apparently disowned the Separatist cause. Anakin Skywalker and a young Boba Fett engaged in a dogfight with the Ginivex-class starfighter similar to one used by Ventress over Xagobah. Its pilot was fighting on the Confederacy's side and protecting the Techno Union Foreman Wat Tambor. However, as Geonosis had more available Ginivex fighters than Asajj's own personal one, the rumor that Ventress still fought in the war was nothing but a rumor, as she had not been seen since Boz Pity.

In 16 BBY, Obi-Wan Kenobi wrote in his journal that he was reminded of Ventress by a desert plant during his exile on Tatooine. He then planted seeds in memory of her, under the mistaken impression that she had died at Boz Pity.

Personality and traits
As a child, Asajj Ventress was likely a very caring, compassionate individual, but the slaughter of her parents left her grief-stricken and angry. While her apprenticeship under Ky Narec allowed her to at least partially recover, his death caused her to spiral into darkness. Again consumed by grief, Ventress gave into her rage and lust for vengeance. She abandoned Jedi philosophy and pursued power and retribution, becoming a vicious warlord. Taking over her homeworld in a flurry of bloodshed and left with no further enemies to slake her bloodlust, Ventress focused her hatred outward. She came to blame the Jedi obsessively for, from her point of view, abandoning her master.

Recruited by Dooku, Ventress became a Sith aspirant and embarked on a vicious killing spree against the Jedi as a Separatist commander during the Clone Wars. However, her general obsession over the Jedi eventually developed into a specific obsession over Obi-Wan Kenobi. It is unknown why she focused on Kenobi to the point of monomania, but his frequent escapes from death at her hands likely had something to do with it. Interestingly enough, their banter during battle occasionally had a pseudo-romantic theme, with Kenobi frequently referring to her as 'my dear'.

Despite the number of Jedi Ventress slew, she remained angry and pained, coming to resent Dooku for not allowing her to join the Sith.

Ventress took a great deal of pride in her own abilities and accomplishments, often viciously punishing whomsoever understated or criticized them, with examples including the unfortunate Captain Argyus. She placed particular faith in her formidable lightsaber skills, and when these were described to her as those of an amateur, Ventress' chagrin was immense.

Powers and abilities
"She is a gifted assassin. You have my word, she will complete her mission to the letter."

- Darth Tyranus, speaking of Ventress to his master Darth Sidious

Lightsaber training


Asajj Ventress was a master of Jar'Kai and took up the style after the death of her master, Ky Narec, taking up his lightsaber alongside her own. However, without Narec's guidance, she spiraled down the path of the dark side, and this showed in her bladework, which became furiously aggressive. She demonstrated her skills to Count Dooku during his visit to Rattatak, viciously killing off the competitors in the Cauldron in a furious display of bladework and raw power in the Force. During her subsequent duel with the Count, she fell on him in a blind fury, but was nonetheless defeated. However, she did impress the Count, and his Sith Master, Darth Sidious, with her skills. The Count awarded her with the twin curved-lightsabers of his former student, Komari Vosa.

Wielding these new lightsabers, Ventress developed her skills under Dooku's tutelage, applying her skills in dual-blade combat to Makashi, and began utilizing the paired function of the weapons, demonstrating impressive skill with the saberstaff, and occasionally joined the weapons together with a fibercord, flailing them about. Eventually, her prowess as a duelist allowed her to hold her own against up to three adversaries with little difficulty, as she demonstrated during her mission to Ruul. Her skills even advanced to the point where she was able to battle and defeat or at least hold her own against Council masters, something few of her contemporaries could do.

However, despite her skills, she was not without her weaknesses. During her earlier years, she lacked the major levels of physical strength to compensate for the inherent weaknesses of Jar'Kai; her blows lacked power, as shown by Dooku's casual defensive moves during their bout on Rattatak; and she was left vulnerable to power attacks, as shown by her retreat before Anakin Skywalker's offensive frenzy during their duel on Yavin IV. However, she eventually developed the physical strength necessary to compensate for this weakness, demonstrating the ability to hold up simultaneous bladelocks with both Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, both of whom were Form V practitioners. However, her technique still was not without its flaws; notably her usage of Makashi was criticized by Luminara Unduli as being "unrefined," "amateurish," and "sloppy." Ventress was also heavily reliant on her second blade, and was left at a disadvantage if deprived of it.

Force powers
"Master, all due respect, but Ventress is too powerful for any one Jedi to fight alone."

- Ahsoka Tano to Luminara Unduli

Though noted for her skill in physical combat, Ventress was in no means lacking Force strength; she was able to use telekinesis to a very high degree, as evidenced when she caused large sections of a roof to collapse during her initiation on Rattatak. In that same instance she demonstrated a mastery of Force speed. Ventress also displayed a great deal of aptitude with the Force Jump, performing it frequently during her duels.

Ventress was able to use the iconic dark side power of Force Grip, as witnessed when she telekinetically lifted Captain Rex, while simultaneously choking him. Shortly after this, Ventress demonstrated an aptitude for using the Affect Mind ability, when she used the Force to make Rex do her bidding. It is also possible that Ventress was capable of using the power Force Crush, as she attempted to use it to crush the heart of Jedi Master Fay during their confrontation.

It should also be noted that she had at least some of the more esoteric Force powers at her command. Ventress was able to easily command a Rancor in her and Tol Skorr's hunt for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Quinlan Vos, as well as apparently re-animate dead Gungans during the Battle of Ohma-D'un.

Behind the scenes
The design for Asajj Ventress comes from early Attack of the Clones brainstorming sketches by Dermot Power for the design of Palpatine's apprentice that would later become Dooku. The concept art can be seen in The Art of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. However, the character itself was created specifically for the Clone Wars multimedia project. Note that the concept art was later converted into comic content of the character in Star Wars: Republic: The New Face of War.

Leland Chee suggested to use "Asajj" as the first name for Ventress, naming her after the character Asaji from Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood. She originally was to be named Juno Eclipse, but that name was changed as the name didn't sound "villainy enough".

There is a notable discrepancy regarding Ventress' lightsabers. They look different in their official picture in The New Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology than they do in the video game Bounty Hunter, when they belong to Komari Vosa. Their appearance continues to vary throughout the Clone Wars period, changing again in the Clone Wars animated miniseries and the Clone Wars TV series.

Through the Star Wars: Battlefront II Xbox Live content, Asajj Ventress is available to download to the game. In the game, her lightsabers are connected together by a fibercord at the hilt. She also threw starblades.

In the Wii, PS2, and PSP versions of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game, if you enter ACOLYTE as a cheat code, you can play as Asajj Ventress.

Portrayal
Ventress was voiced by Grey DeLisle in the 2003 series Star Wars: Clone Wars. She was voiced by Nika Futterman in the 2008 series Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well as the homonymous film.

Non-canon appearances

 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Orders are orders
 * Sith make the best pancakes
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2-D2 game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2-D2 film
 * Path of the Jedi
 * Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron
 * Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game