Why Asajj Ventress Is One Of The Best Characters In ‘Star Wars’
Image Source: IMDb
Asajj Ventress is the least talked-about major character in all of Star Wars. She was first introduced to fans in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and has since appeared in Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld. She is not only one of the most dynamic characters in the franchise, but she also has the best character evolution. It is disappointing that she isn’t utilized more, and I genuinely hope that Disney and Lucasfilm will listen to Nika Futterman when she says that she wants to continue voicing the character. Let’s take a look at why Ventress is one of the best characters in the franchise. WARNING: Contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld!!
Most of the characters in Star Wars have pretty cut-and-dry origin stories. They were brought to the Jedi Temple as children, trained as Jedi, and then went on to be a protector, or they found themselves working with the Sith or on the streets of the underworld of Coruscant. Ventress was born on Dathomir as a Nightsister, which already makes her story unique. She was given up as a child and found herself working as a slave before she was rescued by Jedi Master Ky Narec, who began training her as a Jedi Padawan. After he was killed, she began to lean into the dark side of the force and was eventually found by Count Dooku, who turned her into the Sith that we meet in The Clone Wars. Her backstory is as complex as she is and gives her a unique edge that no other character in the franchise has. She is easily the most original character in the franchise, and that is mostly thanks to how unique her upbringing was.
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Image Source: IMDb
It is no secret that the women of Star Wars are the strongest and most interesting characters in the franchise, and Ventress is by far the best of them all. I love Padme and Ahsoka, but their stories are fully shaped by the men in their lives, which is true for many of the women in Star Wars. Although they are unique and have their strengths and weaknesses, their stories are almost always shaped by what they can do for the men they are surrounded by. At the beginning, Ventress suffers from this same dynamic, having her entire story shaped by Count Dooku and Darth Sidious. This begins to change for her after she watches the massacre of her people, and we really see her change after she is resurrected in the opening scene of Tales from the Underworld. In this series and The Bad Batch, her actions are fueled by a desire to undo the harm she did when she was a Sith. She helps those that she can, regardless of what personal price she might have to pay. This is a unique take on a female character in Star Wars and one that I hope we will get to see more of in future content.
Character evolutions in Star Wars are hit or miss, but most of them are shaped by the actions of someone else. Ahsoka’s evolution is shaped by her need to learn what happened to Anakin and then to stop him, Sabine Wren’s is shaped by her desire to find and save Ezra, Mon Mothma’s is shaped by Luthen and Cassian, and Obi-Wan’s is shaped by a desire to make amends for failing Anakin. Regardless of gender or stage of the franchise when the character was introduced, their evolution is directly shaped by someone else. Ventress breaks away from this mold once she gives up on Count Dooku. She is lost and has no idea what to do, where to go, or what she wants out of life. Because of this, she can have a more genuine evolution that is shaped only by the situations that she finds herself in and her desire to undo the harm that she caused when she was working for Dooku. Never once does Ventress consider herself a hero, and that is why she is such a strong character during her later appearances. She is one of the only characters in Star Wars who does not exile themselves because they made mistakes, and instead actually tries to do something about it (I’m looking at you, Yoda!).
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld are available to stream on Disney+.
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