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Star Wars character
Asajj Ventress
Position	Rogue Dark Jedi
Homeworld	Rattatak
Species	Rattatakian
Gender	Female
Height	1.8 meters
Affiliation	Confederacy of Independent Systems
Portrayed by	Grey DeLisle (voice)

Asajj Ventress is a fictional character from the Star Wars Expanded Universe. She is best known from her many appearances in the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series, in which she was Anakin Skywalker's chief nemesis. In that series, she was voiced by Grey DeLisle. She also appeared in many other Expanded Universe novels, comic books and video games.

Ventress was a Dark Jedi, and one of Count Dooku's Force-attuned apprentices. Ventress was a powerful warrior with exceptional combat abilities. More than anything else she longed to join the Sith order, though she never achieved this goal. She had many distinctive Sith tattoos and wielded twin red lightsabers, as she was a master of the Jar'Kai style of saber dueling.

Ventress' backstory was explained in "Last Stand on Jabiim", a story from issue #3 of the Clone Wars comic book series. She hailed from the planet of Rattatak, the daughter of farmers. From a young age, she endured cruel whippings that began when warlord Osika Kirske killed her parents. Ventress barely escaped with her life and encountered the Jedi Master Ky Narec, who crashed on Rattatak. Narec and Ventress were both hunted by Osika, and so he started training with her in the ways of the Jedi so they could defend themselves. The two quickly became heroes. Kirske killed Narec before Ventress could become a full-fledged Jedi, however. This was the last straw; from then on, she developed a hatred for the Jedi who had abandoned her mentor and ignored the bloodshed on her planet.

Ventress soon became a force of authority on her lawless homeworld, defeating most of the remaining warlords and getting her revenge on Kirske. She kept Narec's lightsaber as a memento.

A month after the Battle of Geonosis, in the Clone Wars series, Ventress appeared before Count Dooku when he arrived on Rattatak to add it to the Separatist movement. Ventress defeated every other combatant in an audition and claimed herself to be a Sith. Though impressed by her victory in the arena, Tyranus laughed aside the notion that she was a Sith. The enraged warrior tried to attack him, but he rendered her unconscious with a blast of Force lightning. After she awoke Dooku challenged her to a saber duel, which he quickly won. Despite his disdain for the Jar'Kai style, the Count was nonetheless pleased with Ventress' abilities, and he recruited her by appealing to her disgust with the Jedi and making her commander of his Separatist forces. He gave her a pair of lightsabers with his trademark curved hilts. Sith Lord Darth Sidious personally assigned Ventress to kill Anakin Skywalker; Sidious later told Dooku that, while her failure was certain, she would serve as a means to test the young Jedi's worth as a Sith apprentice.

Ten weeks into the war (as seen in Star Wars: Republic: The New Face of War), Ventress joined forces with the bounty hunter Durge on the invasion of the Naboo moon Ohma-D'un. Together they used swamp gas to wipe out the Gungan colony and were ready to launch a biological attack on Naboo. In the ensuing battle with Republic forces, Ventress made her first public appearance in the war. Ventress killed Jedi Master Glaive in the battle and cut off the left arm of his apprentice Zule. She engaged Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the pair were evenly matched. Ventress escaped with Durge after ARC Trooper Alpha destroyed their fueling station.

Three months into the war, in Star Wars: Jedi - Mace Windu, Count Dooku sent Ventress to Ruul to help frame Jedi Master Mace Windu. Ventress briefly confronted Sora Bulq, who had been secretly corrupted by Dooku, as a ruse. Ventress killed Mira in the battle and then engaged Sian Jeisel, K' Kruhk, and Rhad Tarn. Ventress single-handedly defeated the three Jedi. After framing Windu, Ventress engaged and corrupted Rhad Tarn. While Tarn fought against Jeisel, Ventress defeated K'Kruhk in combat. Windu's timely arrival saved the Jedi; Ventress found that she was ill-prepared to fight a Jedi of Windu's power, and was forced to flee.

Weeks later, as portrayed in the Clone Wars micro-series, Ventress engaged the Republic fighter forces in orbit of Muunilinst and lured Anakin Skywalker into a chase. Ventress and Skywalker went to Yavin IV, and the two fought a fierce battle from the forest to the Massassi temple. Though she initially gained the upper hand in the ensuing lightsaber duel, Anakin soon called upon his immense connection to the Force (and his intense anger) and brutally overpowered her. Only her fall into a deep crevasse saved her life.

In Star Wars: Republic - Blast Radius, Ventress and Durge again engaged the Jedi taskforce in a facility on Queyta. Ventress briefly fought aginst Kenobi and Fay. Durge was responsible for the deaths of Jon Antilles and Knol Ven'Nari. After an explosion killed Ven'nari, Durge pushed Antilles into a lava pit. Ventress used her lightsabers to collapse the cieling, seding a shower of lava onto Diath's head. Although the Separatists claimed a victory, Ventress spared Kenobi's life on orders from Dooku, though she impaled Fay in the chest with her lightsabers. Fay gave Kenobi the last of her strength to escape the facility.

A year into the war, in The Cestus Deception, Ventress appeared on Ord Cestus during the Bio-Droid Crisis. She was behind the X'Ting criminal Trillot's dealings with Kenobi. Ventress also destroyed the Republic Cruiser carrying Barrister Doolb Snoil returning to the Republic; however, Snoil survived. Ventress later challenged Kenobi and his fellow Jedi Master Kit Fisto to a duel. Ventress disarmed Fisto, but was then engaged by Kenobi. Their duel led them into an underwater chamber, and Ventress was forced to escape after Kenobi sliced her across her side. She let loose a smoke bomb and fled back to the Confederacy and Dooku.

In Star Wars: Republic - The Battle of Jabiim, Ventress captured Kenobi and Alpha from Jabiim and transported them to Rattatak for torture and interrogation. Kenobi and Alpha escaped, and the Jedi Master took Ky Narec's lightsaber away, making their animosity deeply personal.

In Star Wars: Republic - Dreadnaughts of Rendili, Ventress and another Dark Jedi, Tol Skorr, engaged Obi-Wan Kenobi and Quinlan Vos on Titavian IV. Kenobi unleashed a rancor to distract Ventress, but Ventress manipulated it via the Dark Side. Kenobi engaged Ventress after killing the rancor, but before the duel could settle, Kenobi escaped with Vos. General Grievous came to rescue the two Dark Jedi, shaming Ventress in the eyes of her master, Dooku.

Ventress then traveled to Coruscant to kill Vos and Kenobi. During the mission, she discovered Anakin Skywalker's secret marriage to Senator Padmé Amidala. Enraged, Anakin engaged Ventress. During the duel, Ventress scarred Skywalker's face, but she was once again overpowered and suffered another huge fall. Republic Intelligence assumed Ventress was killed.

Star Wars: Obsession marks her final appearance in Star Wars media. Ventress survived her encounter with Anakin Skywalker on Coruscant. She was sent to Boz Pity, where she was placed in a bacta tank by Count Dooku and given cybernetic modifications, which amplified her rage. One month later, Kenobi infiltrated the facility. Ventress woke up and subsequently attacked him. She fought against both Kenobi and Skywalker, only to be abandoned by Dooku, who ordered an IG-100 MagnaGuard to kill her as she ran towards Dooku's shuttle. Enraged and badly wounded, Ventress tried to kill Kenobi as he tried to help her, only to be mortally wounded by Skywalker, who slashed her from behind. As she lay dying, she told him the location of the Separatists' next target. Believing Ventress to be dead, Kenobi put her on a ship bound for Coruscant.

However, Ventress did not die; instead, she placed herself in a Sith trance. While on the shuttle, she emerged from her trance and ordered the pilots to take her as far away as possible from the war, Dooku, and the Jedi. It is then believed that she died in 29ABY in a planet shattering explosion, during the Yuuzhan Vong War.

• Before the character of Count Dooku was developed, the Art Department for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones developed a female Sith as the film's villain. The Expanded Universe resurrected the idea and created Ventress instead. Her concept art can be seen in The Art of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. Dark Horse comic converted the art into comic in Republic: Clone Wars - The New Face of War.

• She is a downloadable character in the Xbox version of the video game Star Wars Battlefront II.
• In the micro-series, Ventress has two curved lightsabers, one held in each hand. In Battlefront II, she has these two lightsabers, but they are connected by a fiber-cord; the character selection screen lists the weapon as "Linksabers". Ventress holds her weapon by the cord, and swings her lightsabers around like a nunchaku. In her comic book appearances, the lightsabers can be attached at the base to form a double-bladed lightsaber, similar to that of Darth Maul. This feature is duplicated in her action figure release.