It’s
been
16
years
since
Asajj
Ventress
stalked
her
way
into
Star
Wars
canon—five
years
after
her
actual
debut,
in
2003's
Star
Wars:
Clone
Wars—and
the
Clone
Wars
3DCG
series.
Since
then,
she
has
walked
many
paths
along
the
road
to
the
one
we
found
her
in
this
week,
when
she
returned
in
The
Bad
Batch
for
a
new
chapter
of
her
life.
As
one
of
the
most
fascinating—and
long
lived—veterans
of
the
Clone
War,
her
new
life
presents
a
chance
to
look
back
at
the
chapters
that
shaped
her.
Ventress
was
born
on
Dathomir
to
the
Nightsisters
that
called
the
world
home
(or
perhaps,
as
we
now
know
more
accurately
after
Ahsoka,
a
second
home
within
Star
Wars’
primary
galaxy),
but
she
was
not
raised
among
them.
While
still
a
child,
Ventress
was
part
of
a
deal
between
the
Nightsister
matriarch
Mother
Talzin
and
a
crime
lord
named
Hal’Sted—exchanging
Asajj
into
a
life
of
slavery
for
peace
between
the
Nightsisters
and
Hal’Sted’s
forces.
Brought
to
Rattatak,
Ventress
was
torn
away
from
the
home
she
never
knew—and
given
a
gilded
cage
in
Hal’Sted’s
protection
from
the
world’s
tumultuous
warring
factions.
But
Hal’Sted
couldn’t
protect
Ventress
for
long.
Killed
during
a
raid
on
his
holdings
by
rival
pirates,
Ventress
was
rescued
by
a
similarly
stranded
soul
on
Rattatak:
the
Jedi
Knight
Ky
Narec,
who
had
traveled
to
the
Outer
Rim
in
the
hopes
of
combatting
the
growing
piracy
and
criminal
elements
on
the
Republic’s
fringes.
Narec
sensed
Ventress’
connection
to
the
Force,
and
began
training
the
child
in
the
ways
of
the
Jedi.
Although
Ventress
served
as
Narec’s
student
for
two
decades,
her
training
was
far
from
traditional
by
Jedi
standards—less
master
and
apprentice,
more
sheriffs
and
partners,
protecting
the
innocents
of
Rattatak
from
piracy
and
warlordism.
Ventress’
apprenticeship
wouldn’t
last,
either.
Narec
was
killed
by
pirates
in
a
skirmish,
and
with
her
training
still
so
nascent,
Ventress
found
herself
giving
in
to
the
grief
and
rage
that
filled
her
in
her
master’s
death:
not
just
striking
down
his
murderers,
but
transforming
herself
into
a
Rattataki
warlord
in
her
own
right,
ruling
by
strength
and
fear.
But
even
that
unguided
rage
couldn’t
stop
forces
moving
against
her.
Captured
after
failing
to
assassinate
her
final
rival,
Ventress
was
forced
to
fight
for
her
life
in
gladitorial
combat—until
a
visiting
Count
Dooku
saw
her
prowess
in
the
arena
and
heard
the
tale
of
her
power.
Killing
the
final
warlord
himself
and
freeing
Ventress,
he
offered
her
the
chance
that
Narec
had
once
given
her:
to
learn
how
to
control
her
power.
Image:
Penguin
Random
House
Ventress’
early
days
with
Dooku
are
cloaked
in
shadow,
as
an
agent
tasked
with
cleaning
up
the
Count’s
past
as
he
laid
the
groundwork
for
his
own
master’s
machinations
from
within
the
Republic.
It
was
Ventress
that
was
tasked
with
seeking
out
Dooku’s
sister,
the
Lady
Jenza,
before
she
could
expose
his
history
and
family
secrets
to
Republic
Intelligence,
and
it
was
she
he
prepared
to
serve
as
a
leading
commander
in
the
nascent
Separatist
movement.
But
it
wasn’t
all
cloak
and
dagger.
Ventress
aligned
herself
with
Dooku
not
just
to
learn
how
to
control
the
Dark
Side
she
had
embraced,
but
to
strike
back
against
the
evil
she
blamed
for
the
death
of
her
first
master:
the
Jedi
Order
itself,
which
she
believed
had
abandoned
Narec
on
Rattatak
and
left
him
to
fight
back
against
piracy
on
his
own.
Given
the
Sith’s
own
tradition
of
only
keeping
two
of
their
kind
in
existence,
Ventress’
apprenticeship
to
Dooku,
although
established
early
on
in
their
relationship
with
each
other,
remained
a
secret,
to
keep
Dooku’s
plans
to
use
her
to
strike
out
against
Darth
Sidious
under
wraps.
By
the
time
the
Clone
Wars
began,
however,
Ventress
was
ready
to
step
out
from
the
shadows
that
had
shaped
her.
She
didn’t
just
become
Dooku’s
right
hand,
but
a
leading
commander
in
the
Confederacy
of
Independent
Systems,
commanding
droid
armies
on
a
series
of
fronts.
From
Teth
to
Kamino,
to
smaller
operations
like
the
rescue
of
Nemoidian
Viceroy
Nute
Gunray,
Ventress
was
a
key
player
in
the
early
days
of
the
conflict—even
as
she
found
her
plans
foiled
regularly
by
the
Jedi
she
had
come
to
hate.
Although
Ventress
regularly
escaped
her
failures
in
one
piece,
eventually
her
public
star
waned,
and
Dooku
could
no
longer
protect
Ventress’
status
as
his
Dark
Acolyte
from
Sidious.
As
she
and
her
forces
engaged
the
Republic
over
the
planet
Sullust,
Dooku
moved
to
betray
his
agent,
leaving
her
to
her
seeming
death
in
exchange
for
avoiding
Sidious’
ire.
Nearly
beaten
as
the
Republic
turned
the
tide,
Ventress
escaped
Sullust
and
found
herself
in
a
position
she’d
already
held
many
times
in
her
life:
alone,
and
eager
for
revenge.
It
was
only
then
that
Ventress
found
herself
returning
to
her
roots.
Secreting
her
way
back
to
the
planet
Dathomir,
Ventress
began
to
explore
her
connections
to
the
Nightsisters,
all
the
while
plotting
her
revenge
against
Dooku.
Ventress
became
an
assassin
once
more,
re-embraced
by
the
Nightsisters
and
taught
in
their
ways
and
Force
magicks—first
as
a
warrior
in
her
own
right,
and
then
as
the
shaper
of
the
Nightbrother
agent
Savage
Oppress,
a
would-be
agent
offered
to
Dooku
but
in
reality
intended
to
betray
him
to
the
Nightsisters
and
Ventress.
Although
Ventress
and
the
Nightsisters’
multiple
attempts
to
assassinate
Dooku
failed,
she
still
found
kinship
on
Dathomir,
formally
going
through
the
baptismal
rituals
to
join
Talzin’s
coven—a
rebirth
years
in
the
making,
after
she
was
whisked
away
from
her
home
as
a
child.
But
Ventress’
peace
among
her
kind
would
be
short-lived.
Moving
to
eliminate
Talzin
after
the
multiple
attempts
on
his
life,
Dooku
sent
General
Grievous
to
Dathomir
to
exterminate
the
coven,
forcing
Ventress,
Talzin,
and
other
survivors
of
the
battle
into
hiding.
Again,
Ventress
found
herself
a
wanderer
without
purpose—but
instead
of
seeking
it
in
others,
this
time
she
would
make
a
name
for
herself.
Ventress
found
that
selfish
purpose
in
a
path
that
took
her
away
from
the
Jedi,
Sith,
Republic,
Separatists,
and
their
war—and
in
many
ways,
back
to
the
kind
of
life
she
had
lived
in
her
unorthodox
Jedi
tutelage.
As
a
bounty
hunter,
Ventress
flitted
around
the
galaxy
as
a
solo
operative
and
as
a
team
player,
crossing
paths
with
old
foes
and
allies
alike
as
she
distanced
herself
from
the
machinations
of
the
Clone
Wars,
from
the
likes
of
Obi-Wan
Kenobi
to
Ahsoka
Tano.
Basing
herself
out
of
Coruscant,
Ventress
used
her
abilities,
as
brutal
as
they
were,
to
not
just
make
a
living
but
protect
people
from
harm
in
the
city-planet’s
underlevels.
Image:
Penguin
Random
House
Ventress
once
again
began
making
her
reputation
known
further
beyond
the
core
as
a
Bounty
Hunter—even
claiming
a
new
lightsaber
with
a
yellow
blade
for
herself
after
losing
her
Sith
blades
to
the
turncoat
padawan
Barriss
Offee.
But
it
wasn’t
much
longer
until
she
found
herself
inadvertently
worked
into
the
plans
of
others
once
again:
tasked
by
the
Jedi
Order
on
a
controversial
mission
to
assassinate
Count
Dooku
in
the
name
of
the
Republic,
Jedi
Master
Quinlan
Vos
infiltrated
the
criminal
underworld
and
worked
his
way
into
a
partnership
with
Ventress,
hoping
to
learn
from
her
history
with
Dooku
to
get
close
to
the
Separatist
mastermind.
Together
the
two
formed
a
formidable
alliance,
working
against
the
Black
Sun
crime
syndicate—but
burgeoning
feelings
between
the
two
blossomed
into
the
messy
exposure
of
Vos’
true
purpose,
and
pushed
Ventress
back
closer
to
her
former
path
as
a
Dark
Acolyte—agreeing
to
help
Vos
get
revenge
on
Dooku,
and
training
him
in
the
same
dark
arts
she
had
learned
from
her
former
master.
Although
the
duo’s
dark
partnership
first
resulted
in
a
failed
attempt
to
kill
Dooku
on
the
planet
Raxus,
Ventress
came
to
Vos’
aide
and
rescued
him
from
Dooku’s
capture
on
Serenno,
the
Count’s
homeworld,
after
working
with
Anakin
Skywalker
and
Obi-Wan
Kenobi
to
infiltrate
the
Separatist
stronghold.
But
with
Vos’
return—and
his
seeming
conflict
over
falling
to
the
Dark
Side
wholly
in
the
wake
of
his
capture—Ventress
found
herself
alone
once
more,
albeit
now
with
a
pardon
from
the
Jedi
Order
for
her
past
as
a
Separatist
agent.
Eventually,
Ventress
reunited
with
Vos
in
secret,
unable
to
avoid
the
connection
they
had
forged
together,
and
she
rejoined
him
in
a
final
effort
to
assassinate
Dooku—taking
her
back
to
one
of
the
earliest
fronts
of
the
Clone
War
on
the
planet
Christophsis.
Engaging
the
count
in
a
duel
to
the
death,
while
Republic
Forces
assaulted
the
Separatist
armies
on
the
world,
Ventress
found
herself
taking
a
blast
of
Force
lightning
intended
for
Vos
after
he
found
himself
unable
to
commit
to
killing
Dooku—and
falling
to
the
Dark
Side
entirely.
Dying
in
his
arms,
Ventress’
sacrifice
redeemed
Vos
in
the
light,
at
the
cost
of
her
own
life,
and
her
body
was
returned
to
the
waters
of
Dathomir
for
eternal
rest.
Or,
at
least,
rest
enough.
“Harbinger,”
the
ninth
episode
of
The
Bad
Batch’s
third
and
final
season,
presents
us
with
an
Asajj
filled
with
many
questions,
but
little
in
the
way
of
answers.
She
is
alive
once
more—and
even
jokes
to
the
Batch
at
one
point
that
she
has
a
few
more
lives
left
in
her
still—and
once
again
operating
in
the
world
of
hunters
and
bounties.
But
something
has
changed
in
Ventress
as
we
see
her
cross
paths
with
the
Clones
and
Omega
on
Pabu.
A
survivor
of
the
Rise
of
the
Empire
thus
far,
this
is
no
longer
a
woman
consumed
by
vengeance,
pushed
and
pulled
by
the
machinations
of
sides
seeking
to
manipulate
her:
this
is,
at
last,
a
Ventress
who
has
made
her
own
path,
free
from
the
clutches
of
galactic
events,
and
content
to
live
her
life
in
shadows
of
her
own
making.
And
yet,
it’s
also
a
Ventress
that
we
see
coalescing
all
those
lessons
of
her
past
into
a
character
of
balance.
She
is
still
a
furious
warrior
in
her
own
right,
but
she’s
also
a
woman
who
uses
her
connection
to
the
Force
to
understand,
rather
than
dominate.
In
testing
Omega’s
own
Force
sensitivity,
we
see
both
the
legacy
of
the
Jedi
training
that
shaped
her
early
life,
and
the
sharp
senses
that
honed
her
career
as
an
assassin—and
beyond
that,
a
personal
sense
of
justice
that
sees
her
willing
to
try
and
protect
Omega
from
her
own
potential
future,
in
the
name
of
keeping
her
close
to
the
people
that
care
for
her
the
most.
All
it
took
was
a
lifetime
of
changed
hands,
of
deaths
and
rebirths
both
literal
and
philosophical,
but
at
long
last
Asajj
Ventress
has
found
a
path
of
her
own
choosing—one
that
leaves
her
Star
Wars
future
wide
open
and
brimming
with
potential
once
more.
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