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 Dark Jedi and one of Count Dooku's Force-sensitive Dark Acolytes. As a child, she was trained as a Jedi on her homeworld of Rattatak by Jedi Knight Ky Narec, but she gave into her anger when he was slain and started down the path to the dark side.

After taking up the lightsaber of her dead master in addition to her own, she became a user of the Niman/Jar'Kai form of lightsaber combat, and she slew all of the warlords on her homeworld. Eventually, her 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. During the Clone Wars, Ventress had several run-ins with both Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, but after suffering a severe injury inflicted by Skywalker, she grew weary of fighting and disappeared into the unknown.

Early life
"You are no Jedi, girl. You are simply hatred and bile given form."

- Jedi Master Fay



Asajj Ventress hailed from the barbaric planet of Rattatak. Her parents were local warlords who had been assembling a large army on Rattatak's southern hemisphere to challenge another warlord, Osika Kirske, when Asajj was a child. They were defeated and killed by a coalition of other warlords under Kirske. Ventress, alone on a harsh, unforgiving world, would have died had it not been for the timely arrival of a Jedi Knight named Ky Narec. Narec had become stranded upon Rattatak, and sensed Asajj's connection to the Force. Although Narec was cut off from the rest of the Jedi Order, he decided to train Ventress as his Padawan.

The two Jedi quickly became favored by the people, except for those who feared the power the two Jedi wielded. Tragically, Narec was killed by Osika Kirske before Asajj could learn mastery over her emotions. Asajj soon became a force of authority on her lawless homeworld, defeating most of the remaining twelve Rattataki warlords and getting her revenge on Kirske.

When her first master died, she had tattooed her hairless head and left her girlhood 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. Asajj 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. Her bitterness and lust for revenge sent Asajj spiraling down the path of the dark side.

Initiation


"Impressive. You mask your presence well. Flawless timing, perfect control, you have great skill in infiltration. My host would applaud your abilities, posthumously. However, I'm not looking for a spy."

- Dooku

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 went in search of a new Dark 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 Giant Flog.



"The dark side is strong in me, for I am Sith.''" "''A bold claim, but you are not Sith. You wear the trappings of the Sith, you fight like the Sith, but this can be imitated, however. You lack a vital quality found in all Sith. Sith have no fear, and I sense much fear in you."

- Asajj Ventress and Count Dooku

Dooku was impressed with Asajj's talents, but she then went too far by declaring herself a Sith, and 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 beating her in a sparring duel, Dooku presented her to Darth Sidious, who made Ventress a commander in the Separatist forces, and ordered her to kill a certain Jedi&mdash;Anakin Skywalker. After her departure, Sidious told Dooku that it was irrelevant whether or not Ventress succeeded. This suggests the assignment was yet another of Sidious's double-edged schemes. If Anakin lived, his anger during the battle would likely bring him closer to the Dark Side as Sidious groomed him to replace Dooku. If Anakin died, it would mean Asajj was a better replacement for Dooku than Anakin. Either way, Palpatine won. In fact, events turned out better than even he had planned. Not only did Anakin draw on his rage, but Asajj survived and the Sith gained a valuable assassin.

"Consider these a gift."

- Dooku presenting Komari Vosa's lightsabers to Ventress.



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 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
"She will be more than a match for young Skywalker." "It matters not. She is merely an instrument to bring forth the eradication of the Jedi."

- Dooku and Sidious

Obi-Wan and Anakin 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. She and Durge ambushed Kenobi's team; during the fight, Ventress decapitated Glaive, injured his Padawan, Zule Xiss, and nearly killed Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, the arrival of Skywalker and Alpha-17 forced the Separatists to retreat&mdash;though now the Jedi would undoubtedly remember the new face of war.

Ruul


Ventress trained at Dooku's fortress on Kohlma, and, three months after the Battle of Geonosis, she was sent to Ruul, where Mace Windu was to meet with the Jedi dissidents led by Sora Bulq. Bulq had been converted to the dark side by Dooku 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 had been hired by Windu. The Korun Master eventually uncovered the truth, though not before Ventress killed Mira and wounded K'Kruhk. Though Ventress briefly dueled Mace Windu, she realized she was no match for his skill&mdash;even using her deadly saberstaff&mdash;and fled Ruul in a solar sailer.

Queyta
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. Ventress eventually yielded the antidote to Kenobi after she and Durge wiped out his strike force, though with her parting words, Ventress promised to kill Obi-Wan at their next meeting. It is probably for this reason that she developed a vendetta against Kenobi.

Darrus Jeht
Some time after that, Asajj battled the Jedi Master Darrus Jeht in a jungle locale where, after stabbing Darrus in the chest with her lightsabers, Darrus tormented her with Force lightning before being rescued by clone troopers. She contacted Dooku, who told her she had done well in her "exercise," that he would reward her with one day to recover, and that she was to move on to her primary target after that.

Yavin IV


So recover she did, and, four standard months after the Battle of Geonosis, Ventress traveled to Muunilinst 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.

"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

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 temples. The duel ended when Anakin gave in to his rage, and knocked Ventress from the pinnacle of the temple. Anakin escaped, and Ventress, wounded but alive, limped back to her Masters to lick her wounds. Ironically, she would later become obsessed with Anakin's Master rather than Anakin himself.



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

Ventress's 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. She and Kenobi squared off at Ord Cestus after she incapacitated Kit Fisto, but she was defeated by the Jedi Master. However, during the Battle of Jabiim, Ventress finally managed to capture Kenobi, and transported him to her castle on Rattatak for interrogation and torture, to show the Count how worthless the Jedi Knight was. However, Kenobi escaped with Alpha-17, and again fought Ventress before leaving. 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. Asajj later met up with both Anakin and Obi-Wan on the planet Vjun, but turned tail when faced with the task of fighting them both.

Two Ambushes
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 Asajj and Tol Skorr to eliminate him. Asajj and Obi-Wan battled yet again, though this time Asajj felt assured of victory, riding a ferocious rancor in pursuit of her nemesis. Obi-Wan and Quinlan escaped, but Asajj followed them back to Coruscant.



Upon her arrival, Asajj was unable to get at either Kenobi or Vos, as both were within the Jedi Temple. Instead she settled on Anakin Skywalker, ambushing and engaging him in a duel in the upper underlevels of one of Galactic City's industrial sectors. Unable to defeat Anakin blade to blade, as proven by their previous encounter, Ventress instead preyed upon the young Jedi's fears, and during the battle, she left a scar down the side of Anakin's face. However, when she taunted Skywalker with thoughts of killing his wife, Anakin again used his anger to defeat Ventress. He entwined her body in thick electric cables, then sent her plummeting down into the murky lower levels. As on Yavin IV, Asajj barely survived her fall, but was this time too weak to continue fighting without assistance.

Redemption and 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, Obi-Wan had learned more and more of Ventress's past. He concluded that Asajj was misled, not evil, and took it upon himself to find her and bring her back to the light. Anakin was convinced he had killed her on Coruscant, and that Obi-Wan 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, Obi-Wan 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 Anakin, only to be unexpectedly abandoned by Dooku, who did not want her to delay his escape. 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 Obi-Wan the location of the Separatists' next target, and finally let go of her anger and rage. Perhaps, she mused, Obi-Wan 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.

Mysterious Reappearance
Oddly, Asajj fought in the Battle of Xagobah on the Confederacy's side roughly a month after she had defected. Anakin Skywalker and a young Boba Fett engaged in a dogfight with Ventress's Ginivex-class starfighter over Xagobah. She was protecting Techno Union Foreman Wat Tambor despite claiming that she would get away from the war and the galaxy at large.

Powers and abilities
"The child's skill with a lightsaber is most impressive. You have found a promising disciple, my apprentice. She shall serve us well."

- Darth Sidious to Dooku



As a Jedi Padawan under Ky Narec, Ventress was trained as a Jedi Guardian. She was probably tutored in the conventional styles of the Jedi Order, but after his death, she built a second lightsaber and became adept at Jar'Kai. When Count Dooku defeated her and destroyed her original sabers, gifting her with Komari Vosa's twin curved lightsabers, the Dark Jedi's skill only grew. Utilizing their paired function, she became adept at saberstaff combat, and she occasionally joined them together with a fibercord.

Ventress's expertise at lightsaber combat was such that she easily slaughtered many Jedi and nearly defeated Anakin Skywalker on two occasions. Her skill with the saberstaff was also impressive, but not enough to defeat seasoned Jedi such as Obi-Wan Kenobi or Mace Windu.

Audio clips
[[Media:asajj.ogg|Hear Asajj Ventress]]

Behind the scenes
Asajj Ventress was voiced by Grey DeLisle in Star Wars: Clone Wars.

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.

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.