Asajj Ventress

"You've told me your existence has been nothing but pain and loss. Never feeling secure. Never having a home. You deserve so much, and I can get it for us. The life we'll be able to have together once&mdash;''" "What kind of life will that be, Quinlan? The kind where we're slaves to our hatred? Our rage? That's what the dark side made me. That's what it does''. Nothing is ever enough. You get more, and more, but you're never happy. It's a trap baited with all the things you want most in life&mdash;and it's not worth living. I already left that behind."

- Quinlan Vos and Asajj Ventress

Asajj Ventress was a Dathomirian female who, at various points throughout her life, was a Jedi Padawan, a Sith apprentice, a Nightsister, and a bounty hunter. In the final decades of the Galactic Republic's reign, Ventress was born into a clan of Nightsisters led by Mother Talzin on the planet Dathomir. Early in her life, her coven of Force-sensitive witches were forced to surrender the infant Ventress to the criminal Hal'Sted, who was threatening the Nightsisters and demanded a tribute from Talzin in exchange for the safety of her people. Ventress was spirited away from her sisters to the war-torn world of Rattatak, where she was raised as a slave in Hal'Sted's service. She was orphaned when her master was killed by Weequay pirates, but was soon discovered by the Jedi Knight Ky Narec, who was stranded on Rattatak and waging a fight against the pirate marauders. Narec cared for Ventress and taught her to use the Force in the ways of the Jedi Order, and together the two protected the people of Rattatak and fought back against the predatory attacks of pirates and warlords. After a decade of helping the local population with her Master, Ventress was orphaned once more when Ky Narec was killed by pirates seeking to end the Jedi's crusade on their world. Enraged by the loss and bereft of guidance, Ventress embraced the dark side of the Force, deposing the local warlords and ruling in their stead. She was eventually discovered by the Sith Lord Count Dooku and fell under his guidance and tutelage as an apprentice and aspiring Dark Lord.

When the pan-galactic Clone Wars erupted between the Galactic Republic and Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems, Ventress became a commander in her Master's Separatist droid military and an assassin in the employ of the Sith. Her exploits brought her into conflict with the Jedi Order and she became renown for her skill and cruelty as she waged war against the Republic. She frequently crossed lightsabers with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, heroes of the Republic who were often assigned to counter Ventress’s efforts. Although she was highly talented and saw success in the kidnapping of Rotta the Hutt, the rescue of Nute Gunray, and the infiltration of the Republic fortress world of Kamino, Ventress was forced to compete for her Master’s favor against Confederate military leader General Grievous.

Despite Dooku’s aspirations to unseat his own Master, Darth Sidious, by training an apprentice of his own, the Count declined to immerse Ventress in the teachings of the Sith and&mdash;unbeknown to her&mdash;never embraced her as a partner in power. Thus, when Sidious became aware of Ventress’s growing strength and ordered Dooku to kill her, the Confederate leader complied. During the Battle of Sullust, Dooku betrayed his apprentice and ordered her own forces to execute her; although he believed himself successful, Ventress survived and clawed her way back to her homeworld of Dathomir to seek refuge and revenge. Mother Talzin and her coven welcomed Ventress back to their sisterhood and embraced her as a Nightsister once more, and together they conspired to kill Dooku. After a failed attempt to assassinate the Count, Ventress and Talzin decided their best option was to install a pawn of theirs close to Dooku as his new assassin and apprentice. To that end, Ventress selected the Zabrak Nightbrother Savage Opress to be gifted to Dooku and eventually to aid her in his murder. This plan also went awry after Opress rejected both Ventress and Dooku and nearly killed them both.

Ventress wandered for some time before returning to Dathomir, where she was baptised into her coven and resolved to make a new life for herself. To her great anguish, Dooku sought to punish the Nightsisters for harboring Ventress, and so dispatched General Grievous and his droid army to massacre the Dathomirian witches. Mother Talzin and Ventress were the only survivors of the slaughter and both were forced to flee Dathomir separately to escape Dooku’s wrath. Ventress was deeply hurt by the loss of her newfound family and so took to wandering the galaxy in search of a purpose. She ultimately fell into the profession of a bounty hunter and found a good measure of success in that role. Her work led her to adopt unexpectedly shifting alliances&mdash;she rescued Obi-Wan Kenobi from the clutches of Opress and his brother, Darth Maul, and worked alongside Skywalker’s apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, when she was falsely accused of bombing the Jedi Temple.

A final unexpected alliance came in the form of Quinlan Vos, a Jedi Master tasked with assassinating Count Dooku to end the war. Knowing Ventress’s history, Vos partnered with her under the guise of a fellow bounty hunter but ultimately revealed his identity and purpose after the two fell in love. Despite Ventress training Vos in the dark side, their attempt to kill the Count failed and she was forced to flee while he was taken into Confederate custody. She eventually worked with Kenobi and Skywalker to rescue Vos, but months of torture at Dooku’s hand had turned the Jedi Master to the dark side. Although Ventress sensed his fall, Vos refused to believe his own darkness and was again sent to kill Dooku by the Jedi Council. She again joined him on this final mission, but it proved to be an abject failure. Vos gave himself fully to the dark side and saved the Count’s life multiple times, forcing his lover to aid him in fleeing from Jedi pursuit and keeping Dooku alive. Although he insisted that he was simply trying to ensure they could make a life together, free of the Jedi and the Sith, Ventress knew her former master’s penchant for treachery and refused to join Vos. Instead, she sacrificed herself when Dooku attempted to kill her lover with Force lightning, absorbing the blast and saving Vos. Her death finally motivated Vos to renounce the dark side and she was honored for her sacrifice by the Jedi Council. Her body was later laid to rest in the waters of her clan’s village on Dathomir.

An orphan's upbringing
"I remember the day we were forced to give you up in order to protect the clan. Your sacrifice has never been forgotten."

- Mother Talzin

The Dathomirian female Asajj Ventress was born on the planet Dathomir in the latter years of the Galactic Republic's reign as the preeminent governing body in the galaxy. Dathomir, which was outside of Republic territory, was ruled by the Nightsisters, a clan of witches that used the Force in the form of Magick to manipulate nature around them and control their male counterparts, the Nightbrothers. Ventress's mother belonged to the coven under the leadership of Mother Talzin, a powerful spellcaster and former associate of the Sith Order. While Ventress was still an infant, Talzin's clan came under a threat associated with the Siniteen criminal Hal'sted. In order to ensure her people's safety, Talzin arranged for Ventress's mother to surrender the young girl to Hal'Sted, who took her away from Dathomir as a slave. The Siniteen ferried his new possession to the war-torn world of Rattatak, where Ventress lived with him for several years and appreciated his surprising kindness as a master.

Her new homeworld was a violent land, ruled by warlords and wracked by repeated raids fromWeequay pirate bands. Hal'Sted was killed in one such raid, leaving Ventress&mdash;still a young child&mdash;orphaned during the attack. She discovered her master's body and grieved over her loss, but was became distracted by the arrival of Ky Narec, a Jedi Knight who had been stranded on Rattatak and resolved to combat the pirate menace. When he too was attacked by a Weequay, Ventress called upon previously untapped Force power to throw the pirate into the air and across several homes. Recognizing her potential, Narec took the child into his care and made her his Jedi Padawan.

For ten years Narec trained the young Dathomirian in the ways of the Jedi Order. Together they worked to protect the people of Rattatak from the pirates and warlords that preyed on them, becoming heroes to many and enemies of those who would visit violence on the local people. Narec tutored his apprentice in lightsaber combat and the use of the Force, and although she was very skilled, Ventress was ultimately unable to avoid being orphaned once more. While the two were battling yet more Weequay pirates, Narec was shot in the back and killed. The loss devastated the adolescent Ventress, and she took up her fallen Master's lightsaber and killed Narec's assailants. Bereft of guidance and with only an introductory training of the power of the Force, the young Dathomirian embraced the dark side and waged a war of vengeance against the pirates and warlords that controlled Rattatak. She ultimately deposed all of the planet's warmongers and ruled in their place, claiming the world as her own. Her power in the dark side eventually attracted the attention of an offworlder&mdash;the Serreno noble Count Dooku. Dooku was himself a former member of the Jedi Order who had abandoned his brethren to join the Sith Order as Darth Tyrannus, a Dark Lord under the command of his Master, Darth Sidious. The ambitious Count plotted to find a Sith apprentice with whom he could overthrow Sidious and claim the mantle of Master, and so recruited Ventress to his side as a student and assassin. She still blamed the Jedi for abandoning Narec on Rattatak, and so joined Dooku to eagerly kill Jedi and embrace the power offered by the Sith.

At the Count's command
"I hated the Jedi for abandoning my Master, and Dooku wanted an apprentice as filled with hatred as he was. It was a good match."

- Asajj Ventress

After meeting the Count on Rattatak, Ventress pledged herself to Dooku at his palace on Serenno, agreeing to serve at his side in exchange for Sith teachings. He was impressed with her strength in the Force and educated her in new and brutal lightsaber combat methods. She adopted the use of twin red-bladed lightsabers, for which she became renown. An additional responsibility of her apprenticeship to the Sith Lord was a command role in the newly established Confederacy of Independent Systems, Dooku's anti-Republic separatist rebellion movement. She was installed as a high-ranking commander in the Separatist military and fought for the Confederacy on the battlefields of the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars. Her brutality and ruthlessness in battle against the clone armies of the Republic and Jedi Order garnered her a fearsome reputation.

Early in the war she fought on the frontlines of a major battle against the Republic forces under the command of Jedi Master Tholme. The Confederacy had broadly won the contest, but in a final large skirmish, Ventress engaged Tholme in personal combat and quickly overwhelmed the Jedi, disarming him and forcing a surrender. Ignoring Dooku's command that she spare Tholme's life, Ventress claimed victory by executing him on the battlefield. She later delivered the Jedi Master's lightsaber to the Count as a trophy. Ventress also became familiar with two Jedi adversaries early in the war&mdash;the human Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. The two were considered some of the Republic's greatest heroes and Ventress came to savor opportunities to trade verbal barbs with Kenobi and saber strikes with Skywalker.

Enemy of the Republic
Shortly after the start of the war at the Battle of Geonosis, the Confederacy moved to seize control of major hyperspace routes to separate the Republic's Core Worlds from the bulk of its forces in the Outer Rim Territories. Dooku and Sidious, eager to exploit their advantage and weaken the Jedi's position, hatched a plot to turn Jabba the Hutt, leader of the Grand Hutt Council and the crime families of the Hutt Clan, against the Jedi and the Republic. The first objective of the scheme was to ensure the Jedi were embroiled in long, drawn-out campaigns in the Outer Rim and unable to combat the ostensibly everyday injustices that were once their focus. Ventress led one such effort on Christophsis, a resource-rich crystalline planet allied with the Republic. With Separatist military leaders General Whorm Loathsom and Admiral Trench at her side, she led her battle droid forces in an invasion of the world, attacking the local population and laying waste to a major city. The humanitarian crisis prompted the Republic's Senator Bail Organa to launch relief effort for Christophsian people, but he too came under assault from the Confederacy.

Trench's blockade of Christophsis was eventually broken by a fleet led by Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, who launched a counter-campaign on the surface to beat back the Separatist armies. To confound their efforts, Ventress bribed the clone trooper Sergeant Slick, promising him wealth and freedom from servitude in exchange for divulging Republic movements and strategy on the planet. His information was fruitful and resulted in many losses for the Jedi-led task force. The existence of a security breach was realized by the generals and their lieutenants after finding classified intelligence in the memory of the captured T-series tactical droid TJ-55. Slick learned of their discovery and informed Ventress that the Jedi were heading behind enemy lines to search for information on the breach; he meanwhile went into hiding at the Republic base while arranging to sabotage its munitions depot.

Ventress ordered her forces to stand down and allow the Jedi to infiltrate the Confederate headquarters, which occupied a large tower in the central city. To distract the Jedi while a massive army of droid reinforcements landed on Christophsis and Slick sabotaged their base, she confronted Kenobi and Skywalker in the upper floors of the tower and engaged them in an aggressive lightsaber duel. She taunted the two about the existence of her informant before fleeing into an adjacent room where she used the Force to hurl numerous books and rubble at her opponents. The Jedi telekinetically turned the attack against her, pelting Ventress with the projectiles and apparently forcing a surrender. Confident that her forces were in positon and that Slick had done his duty, she deactivated her weapons and sat on the floor. As Kenobi and Skywalker approached, she reactivated her blades into the floor, opening a hole that Skywalker and Kenobi fell into. She mocked the two before bursting out of a window and fleeing through to perch atop an Octuparra tri-droid that was scaling the tower. Before her, numerous C-9979 landing craft were delivering her invasion force into the city. The pursuing Jedi were shocked by the Separatist reinforcements but still managed to escape after severing the legs of Ventress's Octuparra droid.

Ventress left the remainder of the battle in the hands of General Loathsom, who was ordered to march on the city and keep the Jedi occupied while she executed the next part of her Masters' plan: the kidnapping of Rotta, son of Jabba the Hutt. She travelled to Jabba's throneworld of Tatooine in a Trident-class assault ship and hunted down the young Huttlet. She ambushed Rotta's sail barge and its escort skiffs in the desert, destroying one of them before abducting the barge. With Rotta in tow, she fled to the abandoned B'omarr Order Monastery on Teth in Wild Space, far from the frontlines of the war. News of Rotta's kidnapping at the hands of "renegades" spread quickly as Jabba hired bounty hunters to retrieve his kin and reached out to the Republic Senate and Jedi Council for aid in exchange for clear passage through Hutt Space. On Teth, Ventress locked Rotta in the monastery dungeons before contacting Count Dooku and Lord Sidious, who praised her work. Dooku asked Ventress to guard the child but allow for the inevitable Republic rescue force to find and seize him; the Count required footage of the Jedi with the Huttlet to deceive Jabba into believing that the Jedi were behind the kidnapping.

The monastery was first discovered by Jabba's bounty hunters, but Ventress defeated and decapitated every one of them, sending their heads back to the Hutt in mockery. Republic reconnaissance forces had also discovered the location of Rotta's prison, but took longer to mobilize a rescue mission because the only available Jedi were Skywalker and Kenobi, who were still occupied with General Loathsom on Christophsis. They ultimately won that battle and Skywalker and his new Padawan, the Togruta Ahsoka Tano, were sent to Teth to find and recover Rotta. Ventress arranged for a small droid force to defend the monastery landing platform, preventing the Republic from landing there directly and instead forcing the enemy into a costly battle to scale the mesa on which the monastery was built. Skywalker, Tano, and their forces succeeded in reaching the summit, at which point Ventress sent the protocol droid 4-A7 to guide them into the dungeons.

She meanwhile contacted Dooku to update her progress. Although she insisted that she could kill both the Master and Padawan at that moment, the Count cautioned patience and promised an opportunity to hunt the Jedi once she had record of them with the Huttlet. Once they retrieved Rotta and brought him back to the monastery courtyard, Skywalker and Tano discovered he was sick, and so put him into a backpack for transport to their cruiser. This was the footage that Ventress and 4-A7 collected&mdash;a recording of the Jedi manhandling the child while Skywalker discussed his general distaste for Hutts. The data was sent to Dooku on Tatooine, who instructed his apprentice that she was now to recover the Huttlet and return him to Jabba. The goal to cast the Jedi as treacherous enemies of the Hutt clan and the Confederacy as an ally to Jabba and his family was successful, and Jabba agreed to join the Confederacy if Ventress returned his son unharmed.

To ensure success, she was reinforced with two landing crafts carrying hundreds of droids and squadrons of Vulture-class droid starfighters. At her command, the army attacked the small Republic unit occupying the monastery and forced the Jedi and clones to retreat into the structure and seal themselves in. Although Ventress believed them to be trapped, Skywalker and Tano discovered a secondary landing platform while the droids struggled with getting through the monastery's sealed outer blast door. The Sith apprentice quickly lost her patience and simply cut through the controls, releasing the lock and opening the doors to the main entrance hall. The Jedi had already fled deeper into the monastery, but their clone troopers remained behind to delay the Separatists forces for as long as possible. After a short battle only a few clones lived; Captain CT-7567, also known as "Rex", attempted to kill Ventress but managed only to destroy a command droid. The Dathomirian deflected all of his blaster bolts and seized his windpipe in a telekinetic Force grip, lifting the captain into the air and demanding to know Skywalker's whereabouts. Rex refused to divulge the general's location, so Ventress dropped him to the floor and used to Force mind controlling techniques to make him contact Skywalker and give the all-clear.

While she continued the search for the Jedi in the monastery, Ventress was informed by her droids that Republic reinforcements had arrived. Recognizing the need to accelerate her plans, she ordered her fighters and droids to engage the new Republic forces and buy her enough time to complete the mission. She soon discovered the Jedi attempting to flee from a rear landing pad, but their astromech droid R2-D2 sealed a blast door in front of her, halting her advance. Ventress began cutting through the barrier while dwarf spider droids climbing the mesa below hammered the exterior platform with blaster fire. By the time she made it outside, Skywalker was nowhere to be found; Ventress and the new Padawan Tano engaged in a brief duel, but the Dathomirian easily overpowered the Togruta and threw her to the ground. Upon demanding to know where Skywalker had run to, the Sith apprentice was attacked by the Jedi General and the giant insectoid can-cell he was riding. The beast threw Ventress back towards the monastery just as the spider droid's sustained fire caused the platform to break apart and fall from the cliffside. Skywalker and Tano escaped the mesa on the can-cell's back, leaving Ventress with a B1 battle droid that informed her Dooku was demanding an update. In a rage, she threw the droid off the mesa before contacting the Sith Lord.

She was met with disappointment and veiled threats from her Master, who was still on Tatooine attempting to parley with Jabba. While Dooku reminded her of the stakes of their conspiracy, she was distracted by the arrival of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was leading the Republic reinforcements. Ventress retreated into an antechamber in the monastery, luring Kenobi into a one-on-one battle in the darkness. Although she lurked about in the upper reaches of the monastery for a time, Kenobi's prodding and taunting eventually drew her down to engage the Jedi on a level field. The duel saw both combatants enjoy the advantage for a time, but ultimately Kenobi found command of the conflict when he led the Sith apprentice to a catwalk outside the monastery. It was there that they both sensed through the Force that Skywalker and Tano had escaped Teth with the Huttlet, signifying her mission's failure. Although she attempted to continue the attack, Ventress was disarmed of one of her lightsabers and forced to retreat aboard a Vulture-class droid starfighter.

In failure, Ventress was forced to contact Dooku and explain before him and Jabba the Hutt that Skywalker had managed to kill Rotta before she could intervene. Although Dooku had hoped she at least managed to kill the Jedi after losing control of the Huttlet, she admitted that Skywalker had escaped and was now on his way to Tatooine&mdash;ostensibly to kill Jabba, but in reality to return the crime lord's son. Dooku endeavored to kill the Jedi himself, but was also foiled in his attempts to intercept the Huttlet. Ultimately, Skywalker and Tano managed to deliver Rotta back to Jabba's Palace, convincing the elder Hutt that Dooku and the Confederacy had been deceiving him. The debacle resulted in the Republic and Hutt clan establishing a treaty of cooperation, a significant setback for the Separatist cause.

Ambassador and assassin
"Gunray's capture could be a serious threat to us, my friend. The viceroy will not last long under Jedi interrogation.''" "''I have already put a plan into action, my Lord. My best agent, Asajj Ventress, will infiltrate the Jedi ship, and either free Gunray, or silence him."

- Darth Sidious and Darth Tyranus

Early in the war, after the outbreak of the Battle of Ryloth, Dooku's spies learned that the Republic sought to establish an agreement with the Toydarian people that would allow for the building of a supply depot in their territory. The Toydarians, previously neutral in the conflict, agreed to engage in secret negotiations on the neutral moon of Rugosa between Jedi Grand Master Yoda and King Katuunko of Toydaria. With this information, Dooku sent Ventress to Rugosa with a significant military detachment to convince Katuunko that the Toydarians should join the Confederacy of Independent Systems instead of the Republic. The Sith apprentice arrived on Rugosa before either the Jedi or the king to jam communications and positioned two Munificent-class star frigates not far from the moon. She confronted Katuunko upon his arrival to the meeting location, and although he was wary of her presence, Ventress assured him that she was there merely as a messenger for Count Dooku. While the Count explained the intrusion to the king via holographic transmission, the two Munificent-class frigates jumped into the star system and engaged the recently-arrived Republic frigate that was ferrying Yoda to the moon. The Confederate warships quickly overwhelmed the Jedi Master's, but he was able to make it to the surface with three clone troopers aboard an escape pod.

When the Republic frigate fled the system, Ventress insisted to Katuunko that it was a clear sign of the Jedi's inferiority; however, he did not yet believe her and was relieved when Yoda contacted him from the escape pod's crash site. The Toydarian had been eager to do business with the Grand Master and was clearly displeased with Ventress's intrusion, but the Sith apprentice piqued his interest with an offer to perform a show of force: she suggested that she could prove the Confederate's superiority by sending her forces to capture the Jedi Master. If Yoda were to escape her grip and arrive at the rendezvous by nightfall, the king could consider himself free to join the Republic; if not, she expected him to consider an alliance with the Separatists. Although the king found the idea of pushing his guest into a test of battle distasteful, Yoda accepted the terms and Ventress agreed to give the diminutive Jedi a fair fight.

However, a fair fight was never intended. After contacting Dooku, Ventress oversaw the deployment of a full battalion consisting of B1 battle droids, B2 super battle droids, and Armored Assault Tanks and tasked her droid commander, 224, with hunting down and killing Yoda and his retinue. Ventress remained alongside King Katuunko as they monitored the Jedi's progress through Rugosa's coral forests. 224 regularly updated the Dathomirian on the droids' progress, eventually reporting that their forces had engaged the Yoda and forced him into retreat. Katuunko was clearly rooting for the Jedi's success and contacted Yoda to confirm his survival, but Ventress seized his communicator from him and crushed it with her bare hands, vowing to win the contest. 224 contacted her again later in the day, claiming that the Jedi had been found by the Confederate forces and was simply sitting in the wilderness before a column of droids and assault tanks. Ventress insisted that they kill the Jedi immediately, Yoda managed to destroy all of the tanks and droids, creating a scene of smoke a destruction visible from the rendezvous point. The Sith apprentice attempted once more to contact 224, but was informed by another droid that her commander had been destroyed by Yoda. Katuunko took this as a sign of victory, but Ventress refused to surrender and dispatched a large group of droidekas to finish the job.

Even without knowing the outcome of the contest, Katuunko made his decision and contacted Dooku to reject his offer, claiming that Ventress ignored the terms of their deal and refused to give Yoda a fair fight. The Count would not allow for Toydaria to fall to the Republic, so ordered his apprentice to kill the king and make way for a pro-Separatist monarch. She nearly succeeded in the task, but her lightsaber blades were halted mid-strike by Master Yoda's telekinetic intervention. The Jedi threw Ventress back and taunted her Force prowess, seizing her lightsabers from her and suggesting surrender. Yoda allowed her to take her weapons back, but Ventress refused surrender and instead detonated bombs she had planted near Katuunko's starship on the ridge above. The explosion and falling rubble distracted the Jedi and his clones, giving the Sith apprentice an opportunity to escape aboard her Punworcca 116-class interstellar sloop. Dooku was disappointed in his assassin and developed a grudge against Katuunko in light of the mission's failure.

In the early days of the Clone Wars, Dooku and his military commander, the cyborg General Grievous, placed the capture of the planet Kamino as one of their highest priorities. Kamino was the site of the Republic's cloning facilities, where clone troopers were churned out at accelerated rates to join the fight against the Confederacy. In an early attempt to destroy the cloning resources, Dooku and Grievous plotted to invade the world by way of the Rishi system. Because Republic space was monitored by an interconnected network of listening posts, Grievous's fleet was unable to travel directly to the Kamino system lest the Republic be warned of the incoming attack by the station on the moon of Rishi. While the general oversaw a plan to disable the listening post, Ventress was dispatched to Kamino alone to engage in espionage and prepare for the arrival of the Separatist fleet. Her efforts were successful and she contacted Grievous to inform him of her readiness, but his plans had yet to see fruition; his fleet was still hiding from Republic detection while he waited for his forces to take the Rishi station. Ultimately Ventress's efforts were for naught, as a small force of clones repelled Grievous's droids and alerted their command to the presence of the Confederate fleet. Grievous was forced to abandon the mission and Ventress escaped Kamino without a battle ever occurring.

In spite of her public failures at Teth and Rugosa, Ventress retained Dooku's confidence and her role as his right hand. After the destruction of the Confederate listening post Skytop Station, Darth Sidious and Darth Tyranus faced a crisis when Nute Gunray, Viceroy of the Trade Federation and a leading member of the Separatist Council, was taken into custody on Rodia while attempting to kill Republic Senator Padmé Amidala. Gunray was a long-time co-conspirator to the Sith and had knowledge of Dooku's machinations and Sidious's involvement in the war. Recognizing the damage the Neimoidian could do if he divulged his secrets under Jedi interrogation, Sidious ordered that Dooku see to it that Gunray be saved or silenced. To that end, Dooku assigned Ventress the task of travelling to Rodia with a contingent of battle droids to intercept and infiltrate the Tranquility, the Venator-class Star Destroyer that was transporting the viceroy back to the Republic capital world of Coruscant. She would be assisted in her mission by Captain Argyus, Republic Senate Commando who had covertly turned traitor and was now in service to the Count. He was in charge of the viceroy's Senate security detail on the Tranquility and arranged an intricate extraction plan with Ventress prior to her arrival.

After meeting with her Master on his Munificent-class frigate, Ventress set off for Rodia in one of several Droch-class boarding ships dispatched to the planet alongside Vulture droid starfighters. The vessels ambushed the Star Destroyer before it could leave the system and aimed directly at the Tranquility, the boarding ships slamming into the hull and penetrating the Venator main hangar to disgorge dozens of super battle droids. After the droids wiped out the first wave of clone defenders and moved onto other regions of the ship, Ventress leaped out of her vessel and beheaded the last remaining clone trooper before he could warn his commanders of her presence. She pilfered his gauntlet-mounted comlink so she could listen in on Republic chatter and proceeded to cut her way into the Tranquility ventilation ducts and navigate towards the Star Destroyer's engine room. Within, she evaded the notice of the maintenance droid 327-T while stealthily planting time-delayed thermal detonators throughout the room. Avoiding capture by patrolling clone troopers, Ventress slipped back into the ventilation shafts and made her way to the detention center, where Gunray was being held.

As the battle droids were cut down and their invasion of the Tranquility defeated, Ventress found the detention center and cut her way into its control room from the ceiling above. The assassin quickly dispatched two Senate Commandos before being confronted by Ahsoka Tano, Skywalker's Padawan who had been assigned to guard Gunray. The two briefly dueled and Tano was ostensibly aided by Captain Argyus, who shot at Ventress to maintain their ruse. Nevertheless, Ventress easily overcame them both and released Gunray from his detention cell before luring Tano into the cell herself. Gunray sealed the Padawan behind the prison's energy shield, but his freedom was short-lived; Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, who was overseeing the prisoner transfer, returned from battling the droids with her Clone Commander, CC-1004 and engaged Ventress. Using the Force, Unduli released Tano from her prison and together the two Jedi attacked Ventress, who appeared to quickly surrender. However, the surrender was also a ruse, as at that exact moment, the timed detonators that the assassin had planted in the engine room blew, crippling the ship and throwing the crew and combatants into chaos. Ventress used the opportunity to throw Unduli to the ground and leap over her, escaping past the Jedi Master and her troops into a now-malfunctioning turbolift. Plunging her lightsabers into the wall of the lift to control her descent, the assassin fled into the bowels of the ship in an attempt to lure Unduli away from the viceroy, leaving a trail of dead clones in her wake.

The scheme worked, and the Jedi Master tracked Ventress alone into the Tranquility now-ruined and burning engine room. The Dathomirian ambushed Unduli and struck at the Jedi, instead slicing open an exposed pipe on the wall that immediately blasted gas into her opponent's face. Unduli's left eye was injured in the attack but the two continued their duel throughout the upper levels of the room, with Ventress growing more enraged at the Jedi when she criticized the assassin for sloppy lightsaber combat discipline. After they both attempted to Force-push one another off of the engine platforms, Ventress lunged at Unduli and kicked her in the face, disarming her throwing the Jedi to the ground far below. Before descending to finish off her opponent, the Dathomirian leaped to the ceiling and severed several large pipes, sending them crashing down atop Unduli below. The Jedi Master was trapped beneath one of the pipes when Ventress reached her, but before the killing blow could be made, she was interrupted by Ahsoka Tano, who used the Force to throw her backwards into one of the recently severed pipes. Tano freed Unduli and returned her lightsaber in time for them both to defend against Ventress, who attacked them simultaneously.

The assassin again fled into the upper levels of the engine room after a short duel, this time to keep the Jedi occupied while she signaled to Argyus via the pilfered gauntlet that it was again time to free Gunray. While the Jedi searched for the assassin, believing her to be the only threat, Argyus killed his own commandos and released the Neimoidian, absconding with the viceroy to a docked Republic frigate. When CC-1004 contacted the Jedi to inform them of Argyus's betrayal, their rush back to the detention level was halted by Ventress, who used the Force to pelt them with pieces of piping and debris. She was able to combat both the Jedi but ultimately had to give ground until Argyus signaled to her that the mission had been completed. Ventress then quickly fled the scene, leaping onto a reactor and into an overlooking ventilation duct and covering her final escape by lobbing a primed thermal detonator behind her at Tano as the Padawan gave chase. The Jedi were left behind as Ventress made her way to the Tranquility escape pod bay, where she slew two clones before boarding a pod and departing the crippled Star Destroyer. Her pod rendezvoused with Gunray and Argyus's stolen frigate a short distance from the Tranquility, where she found the Senate Captain boasting about his success and claiming credit for the mission. Seeing that he planned to downplay her role to Count Dooku, Ventress stabbed Argyus through the chest, killing her confidant before ferrying Viceroy Gunray to safety herself.

The Battle of Kamino
"Keep playing with your droids. I'll handle breaking into the DNA room." "Shall I provide you with a droid escort?" "My dear General, there's nothing you have that I could want."

- Ventress and Grievous during the assault on Tipoca City

Later during the war, Ventress and General Grievous were assigned to attack the cloning factories of Kamino and steal the clone DNA, which would make the creation of more clones impossible for the Republic. Grievous arrived in the capital city of Tipoca with a fleet, while Ventress arrived underwater in a trident drill. Once in the city, Ventress and Grievous went over the plan- Grievous and his droids would invade the city, causing the Jedi and the clones to focus on them, while Ventress would steal the DNA undiscovered.

Ventress assured Grievous disrespectfully that she needed no help and will succeed. Indeed, she managed to steal the DNA, but was intercepted by Anakin Skywalker, leading to a lightsaber duel. Finally, Skywalker managed to retrieve the DNA, and Ventress was surrounded by clones, but she managed to escape along with Grievous in a spaceship, and the pair was forced to leave unsuccessful.

The Battle of Sullust
"You have failed me for the last time. You are no longer my apprentice. And now, you shall die."

- Dooku

However, Sidious became aware of Ventress' growing power, and ordered Dooku to kill her to prove his loyalty. While Ventress was engaging Kenobi and Skywalker in battle over Sullust, Dooku appeared via hologram to inform her that he had grown tired of her failures, and ordered the troops under her command to bombard the ship she was dueling the Jedi on to eliminate her. Ventress escaped in her damaged starfighter. She was found unconscious inside it by a salvage team, and she commandeered their ship by Force choking the crew.

Return to Dathomir
Flying to Dathomir, she was welcomed by Mother Talzin, who assuaged the other Nightsisters' concern about the "stranger". Talzin learned of Ventress's experiences through the Water of Life, and offered her help in gaining revenge on Dooku. Ventress, Naa'leth and Karis underwent a ritual to become invisible, and were armed with lightsabers and poison darts to assassinate Dooku. Infiltrating his palace on Serenno, the Nightsisters fired a dart into Dooku's neck, clouding his vision, but even in a drugged state, he proved to be a formidable opponent. The assassins managed to disarm him, but Dooku simply used Force lightning to throw them through a window and over a cliff. Ventress used the Force to save her sisters, and they returned home, dejected.

The Nightbrother
Mother Talzin conceived a new plan, to provide Dooku with a new apprentice from the Nightbrothers, who would betray him to Ventress at an opportune moment. Dooku agreed to Talzin's offer, and Ventress set about selecting their agent, putting the Nightbrothers through brutal tests of strength and skill. Savage impressed her the most, and she took him to Talzin to be transformed into a hulking brute loyal only to her. She tested out her new power by having Savage kill his own brother, Feral.

Talzin took the newly christened Savage Opress to Dooku, who accepted him as his new apprentice. However, with his mind enslaved by the Nightsisters, he proved little more than a dimwitted beast. While Dooku berated him over accidentally killing King Katuunko of Toydaria, Ventress arrived on their ship and ordered Opress to help her kill him. As Dooku continually outmatched them in combat, Opress grew frustrated and Force choked both of them. Exhausted, Ventress fled in an escape pod.

Dooku's revenge
After some time alone, contemplating her next course of action, Ventress returned to Dathomir, just as Dooku sent General Grievous to lead a revenge attack. The severely outnumbered Nightsisters were slaughtered: the only survivors were Ventress and Talzin, who disappeared, leaving Ventress alone and feeling uncertain once more.

A life alone
"These are strange times."

- Ventress to Ahsoka Tano

The Quarzite job
"None of this was my choice. I never asked to be ripped away from my home. From&hellip;my family. You'll never know what it's like.''" "''I wish I didn't, but I do."

- Pluma Sodi and Asajj Ventress

Finding herself at the cantina in Mos Eisley on Tatooine, Ventress had an altercation with the bounty hunter Oked, whom she killed. His fellow bounty hunters Bossk and Latts Razzi, impressed, invited her to replace him on their mission to Quarzite. Although she was unimpressed by their leader, Boba Fett, due to his age, she agreed to join them.

Their mission was to guard a large chest to be delivered to the planet's ruler, Otua Blank via subtram. Ventress helped fend off Kage Warriors who came to steal the chest, but relented when she discovered it held a captive girl named Pluma Sodi, whom Blank had kidnapped and intended to marry. Ventress turned on her fellow bounty hunters and tied up Fett, placing him in the box instead. She delivered the chest, received her payment and left before Blank opened it, and returned Pluma to her brother, the Kage Warrior leader Krismo. She then met up with the other bounty hunters to drop off their share of the payment.

Unexpected alliances
"At first I admit I was just interested in the money and a little bit of revenge, but then I realized your fallen Padawan and I had a lot in common." "How dare you compare yourself to Ahsoka." "It's true! My master abandoned me, and that's exactly what you did to her. You and your precious Jedi Order."

- Ventress, interrogated by Anakin Skywalker

Afterwards, Ventress learned Opress had joined his brother Darth Maul in a massacre on Raydonia. Taking the bounty on Opress, Ventress flew to Raydonia, watching them capture Kenobi, and snuck aboard their Turtle Tanker. She revealed herself, and Maul ordered she be destroyed. She slipped away and reemerged to untie Kenobi, and the former enemies dueled Maul and Opress. Overwhelmed, they fled to the command module and used the escape pod before Maul and Opress cut through the airlock with their lightsabers. Ventress reemerged in the Coruscant underworld, where she donned a helmet to conceal her identity. She encountered Ahsoka Tano, Skywalker's Padawan who was on the run after being framed for murder. Ventress was going to turn her in for the bounty, but began to sympathize with her betrayal, and decided to help her find the real killer. After helping her, Ventress left, only to be knocked out by a hooded assailant, who took her lightsabers and helmet. The assailant ambushed Tano, who was then arrested by arriving clone troopers.

Subsequently, Skywalker ventured into the underworld and tracked down Ventress. She explained what happened, pointing out her lightsabers had been stolen. She noted Tano had contacted her friend Barriss Offee, leading Skywalker to find Ventress's lightsabers in her room and discovering she had framed Tano.

Successful hunter
"I guess the bald banshee is stealing everybody's gigs these days." "That woman is trouble!"

- Quinlan Vos and Bossk

Joining her sisters
Towards the end of the Clone War the Jedi Council decided to assassinate Count Dooku to hasten the end of the war. It sent Quinlan Vos under the guise of a bounty hunter to recruit Ventress, who previously came close to killing Dooku and knew much about him, to aid him in the assassination. She soon figured out he was a Jedi, but worked with him anyway as a bounty hunter until he proposed killing Dooku and disclosed his identity. She also lied about Dooku killing Vos' former mentor Master Tholme, when she had actually been the one who killed Tholme. During their time together they fell in love and Ventress began teaching Vos to use the Dark Side without being controlled by it by taking him to her home on Dathomir. Their first attempt on Dooku ended in failure with Vos being captured.

While Dooku's prisoner, Vos learnt that it had been Ventress who killed Tholme, pushing him further into the Dark Side. Ventress teamed up with Boba Fett's syndicate to try to rescue Vos but failed. She later teamed up with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and succeeded in rescuing him. Ventress realized that he was still under the influence of the Dark Side, but the Jedi did not sense it. Vos rejoined the Jedi but was secretly sabotaging them. Vos then recruited Ventress again to finish the plan to kill Dooku. Vos' overall plan was to rescue Dooku only to be led to Darth Sidious and to kill both Sith, but that plan failed when Vos, Dooku, and Ventress crashed on Christophsis. Pursued by the Jedi, Dooku learned of Vos' plan and tried to kill him with Force lightning, but Ventress stood in the way and saved Quinlan's life, getting mortally wounded. After Dooku escaped, Ventress' sacrifice helped Vos break the dark side's grip on him completely.

Ventress died in Vos' arms, and he and Obi-Wan took her body back to Dathomir where she was laid to rest in the waters of her village.

Aspiring Sith
"Ventress was a fair apprentice. However, as she became more powerful, her lust for bloodshed could not be sated. She grew ever more violent and unpredictable."

- Count Dooku

The bounty business
"Hey Boba, this guys is looking for No Name, the rookie." "Rookie? Don't you believe it. That woman knows exactly what she's doing."

- Bossk and Boba Fett

Lover and savior
"She didn't just save his life. She saved Quinlan. And&hellip;I believe she may have saved us."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

As a child she was kind and caring, but became dark and brooding after the death of her master, Ky Narec. Giving into rage and resentment, she subsequently spiralled into darkness. Known to be quick to anger, Ventress could easily be infuriated, such as when her formidable lightsaber skills were described to her as those of an amateur by Luminara Unduli. Despite her quick temper, she was very cunning and swift, allowing her to outsmart most foes.

Ventress could also be vindictive and inconsiderate. After being betrayed, abandoned and nearly killed by Dooku, Ventress desired to kill him and went to the Nightsisters to find a way to defeat her former Master. She recruited Savage Opress and treated him like a slave which ultimately caused him to turn against her.

After becoming a bounty hunter, her attitude had softened somewhat, as seen when she allowed Pluma Sodi to return to her people. Likewise, she had lost interest in killing some of her former enemies, including Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano. In fact, she rescued Kenobi from Darth Maul and Oppress, more interested in the latter's bounty reward than her previous enmity with the Jedi Master. On the other hand, she helped Tano, as she empathized with the Padawan's situation, likening it to her own with Count Dooku. She also incapacitated a group of clones without seriously harming any of them, and implied that not killing people was her new modus operandi.

Near the end of the war, as she traveled with Quinlan Vos to assassinate Count Dooku, her more compassionate and trusting side was even more strengthened - to the point of her developing a romantic attraction to him.

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

Force abilities
Though noted for her skill in physical combat, Ventress was by no means lacking in Force strength. Darth Sidious himself noted that she was powerful, and feared that Count Dooku would use her to help overthrow him as Dark Lord of the Sith.

Ventress displayed a great deal of aptitude with Force-enhanced jumps, frequently doing so during her duels. She was also skilled with telekinesis, as witnessed when she lifted Captain Rex in the air, while simultaneously choking him. Later, the Dark Jedi proved herself capable of Force choking and telekinetically levitating Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, both of whom were very powerful Jedi, at the same time. Ventress demonstrated an aptitude for using mind tricks, though Rex was able to avoid her influence when contacting Skywalker.

Lightsaber prowess
"Do you think you'll still be able to call on the Force once I've separated your head from your body?''" "''Even with my vision clouded, I recognize the fighting style of Count Dooku. Your version is unrefined, amateurish, sloppy."

- Ventress and Luminara Unduli

Asajj Ventress was a master of Jar'Kai, a style she acquired after the death of her first master, Ky Narec, taking up his lightsaber alongside her own.

Under the tutelage of Count Dooku, Ventress developed a fighting style very similar to that of her master. However, her technique still was not without its flaws; notably her version was criticized by a temporarily-blinded Luminara Unduli as being "unrefined," "amateurish," and "sloppy." By the time of their duel, Ventress had already developed a physical strength to hold up simultaneous bladelocks with multiple duelists at a time, and Ahsoka Tano recognized her as "too powerful for any one Jedi to fight alone." She was even able to contend with Grievous, whom she was able to defeat.

Hunting skill
Ventress also displayed considerable skill in unarmed combat, notably being able to easily fight a group of Nightbrothers when she was looking for a suitable servant on Dathomir. Her hand-to-hand combat skills were later displayed when she fought Savage Opress and Darth Maul alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, dodging Opress's aggressive blows and striking back with a flurry of punches and kicks until Kenobi returned her lightsaber to her.

Behind the scenes
Ventress was created for the Legends animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars, and reappeared in the second, canonical  The Clone Wars series, where she was voiced by Nika Futterman.

Her design comes from early Attack of the Clones brainstorming sketches by Dermot Power for the design of Palpatine's apprentice that would later become Dooku. He wanted her earlier designs to look almost as if she was a samurai. The concept art can be seen in The Art of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

The 2015 novel focusing on Ventress is based on episodes planned for the unproduced seventh season of The Clone Wars: the first illustration revealing she grew out her hair was also developed for the series. Dave Filoni explained Ventress' shaved head symbolized her loyalty to the Sith philosophy.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Defense
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars film
 * Dark Disciple
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