Sandbox / Star Wars – Asajj Ventress

Asajj Ventress

Species: Zabrak (Dathomirian)

Homeworld: Dathomir

"Do you think you'll still be able to call on the Force even after I've separated your head from your body?"

"Remember... you always have a choice to be better. You always have a choice to... to pick the right path. Even if that choice comes a little late."

Voiced by: Nika Futterman, Orlagh Cassidy (Dooku: Jedi Lost)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Jessica Ortiz

Voiced in Japanese by: Masako Isobe

Appearances: Dooku: Jedi Lost | Brotherhood | Adventures | Age of Republic | The Clone Wars | Kindred Spirits | Dark Disciple

"Now you fall. As all Jedi must."

As an infant from Dathomir, Asajj Ventress was given over to a slaver from Rattatak to spare the rest of the Nightsister tribe from a similar fate. After the slaver was killed in a pirate attack, Ventress discovered her strength in the Force and was taken under the wing of a Jedi Master named Ky Narec. After Narec was killed, Ventress succumbed to the Dark Side, eventually becoming a Sith apprentice and loyal assassin to Count Dooku and serving him during the Clone Wars. However, late in the Clone Wars, Darth Sidious grew concerned by Ventress's growing strength and ordered Dooku to kill her, to which the Count reluctantly complied. Ventress survived the attack and returned to Dathomir, seeking aid in avenging the Sith Lord's betrayal. After a complex series of events that saw the creation (and rebellion) of the monstrous Savage Opress, Dooku ordered an assault that all but destroyed the Nightsisters, leaving Ventress to fend for herself in the galaxy.

She later tried to atone for her actions, getting close to Jedi Master Quinlan Vos, but was tragically killed by her old master.

---

A-M

• Ace Pilot: While not to the skills of her Legends counterpart, she does manage to be a pretty skilled pilot, eliminating Obi-wan's ship rather easily.
• Adaptational Alternate Ending: In Legends, she remains a loyal Separatist agent until near the end of the Clone Wars, when she is crippled by Anakin, turned into a cyborg in an attempt to rebuild her, and ultimately discarded by Dooku, after which she fakes her death and drops out from the war to an unknown fate. In The Clone Wars, and by extension in the canon, she is betrayed in midst of the conflict, joins the Dathomirian Nightsisters, becomes a Bounty Hunter, and gets killed as an Anti-Hero after saving her lover Quinlan Vos.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Her character designs in Legends often highlighted her creepiest, most inhuman traits, with the non-canon micro-series even giving her Prophet Eyes and a shrieking voice. In The Clone Wars, and by extension the canon, she looks considerably more attractive. Her final story arc in the canon even allows her to grow her hair back and adopt a more attractive, conventionally feminine appearance.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Originally in Legends, Ventress' was raised by parents who tried to rally an army against an invading warlord on Rattatak. This was retconned in The Clone Wars when she was instead taken from Dathomir as a child and raised as a slave on Rattatak.
• Adaptational Badass: While she might not be as adapt in Sith magic or piloting as her Legends counterpart, she does manage to nearly kill Luminara, briefly overpower Anakin and Obi-Wan at the same time, and fend off Darth Maul for a while. She's also quite skilled in hand-to-hand combat, which she never showed before.
• Adaptational Job Change: Prior to The Clone Wars, she was originally a Dark Acolyte in Legends, one of the Force sensitives trained by Dooku to fulfill many functions of intelligence, military command, and Jedi affairs. However, since this faction doesn't exist in The Clone Wars (and by extension the canon), Ventress is instead referred by everyone as merely "Dooku's assassin". The difference is mostly semantic, as she still does these kind of missions aside from assassinating people, but it also extends to the aesthetics, wearing Spy Catsuit-like attires, using traps and explosives, and acting generally more like a special forces operative than a regular Sith.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • In Legends' Dark Horse comics, she remained with the Separatists until she was betrayed by Dooku, which resulted in her faking her death and dropping out near the end of the war. In The Clone Wars, she is betrayed a lot sooner and gradually turns into an Anti-Hero Bounty Hunter after the destruction of the Nightsisters. This Continuity Snarl was partially patched by Leland Chee, who stated her fate in the comics wasn't canon in Legends anymore (explicitly applying Broad Strokes to the Obsession comic, where the only canon events remaining, according to Chee, are that there was a battle in Boz Pity and that Durge was defeated in Maramere). The canon built over this.
  • Even more so within canon, as she pulls a full-on Heel–Face Turn, whereas her pre-The Clone Wars self merely ran away from the war, and her post-The Clone Wars self never was followed on due to the Disney buyout (though it would have presumably ended up as portrayed in Dark Disciple, which was made after abandoned scripts).
• Adaptational Intelligence: Downplayed. The canonical Ventress is much less eloquent and philosophical than her Legends version, but she is also much less likely to bite off more than she can chew, and never suffers any kind of Worf Barrage at the hands of Grievous, Anakin, and Dooku. The opponents she fights are ones she comes very close to killing, and those who are above her skill level she plays out plans to weaken or gain the advantage.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed and later subverted. Her appearances in The Clone Wars and the canon portray her as a complete Aloof Ally within the Separatists, as her onscreen missions are almost always solo, she routinely antagonizes her underlings, and part of her Character Development is precisely about becoming more of a team player. In contrast, while her Legends version was admittedly not a party animal either, she regularly teamed up with Durge and had a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with him, was also surprisingly close to her Rattataki lieuetenant Aidus, and got often sent to missions along with other Dark Acolytes. As none of those characters appear with her in canon, she doesn't have a chance to show her social side until she is betrayed and forced to leave the Separatist Alliance, and it is still mostly limited to tagalongs like Ahsoka and Quinlan Vos.
• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. Ventress remains one of the most dangerous Force users during the Clone Wars in canon, but the de-canonization of the Expanded Universe cut out several of the great feats she had in Legends, like defeating Plo Koon while half-armed, going toe to toe with Anakin of all people in a starfighter battle, being a nightmare to many Jedi in her missions, and eliminating the remnants of Darth Plagueis' dangerous Echani Sun Guard. Ventress in Legends also had the uncanny ability to reanimate dead through Sith alchemy, which she lacks in canon.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: Inverted. In Legends, her twin lightsabers used to belong to Komari Vosa, a rebellious former Padawan of Dooku who was hunted down by Jango Fett. In the canon, Vosa doesn't exist, and the lightsabers were presumably built by Ventress herself. Also, in Legends Ventress was recruited as a (failed) replacement for another acolyte of Dooku, Sev'rance Tann, who is similarly absent from the canon.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Since Ventress in the canon is an assassin and informal apprentice rather than a full-fledged Dark Acolyte, her personality is toned down in accord, becoming cold and reserved and only hamming up when really spurred. In comparison, her personality in Legends was almost the exact opposite: she tended to be loquacious and unhinged, in the classical Sith tradition, and only dialed it down when feigning serenity or if genuinely moved by something.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Her Foe Romance Subtext with Obi-Wan from Legends gets mostly excised in The Clone Wars, and by extension the canon. In Legends, the two had multiple suggestive moments, Obi-Wan became downright obsessed with the possibility of redeeming her and she with that of corrupting him (their mutual attraction is even explicitly likened to that of Anakin and Padmé), and Asajj had even an instance of What Is This Feeling? after one of their encounters. Her fake death and desertion also felt as a possible Sequel Hook, implying they might meet again someday (and although they did not, Obi-Wan was mentioned in another Legends work as having been reminded of her by some flowers he found in Tatooine). In canon, Obi-Wan and Ventress do like to invoke romantic subtext during their fights, but this is clearly treated by both as just a twisted joke without any real attraction; Obi-Wan only has eyes for Satine, and Ventress later has her true Love Interest in Quinlan Vos.
  • She's an Unknown Rival to Grievous in canon, which makes her duel with him on Dathomir in "Massacre" more of a business affair that was more personal to him than her. In Legends, she had already faced him along with Durge in the Trenchant space station, a secret test designed by Dooku to prove whether Grievous was worthy or not to lead his army. The encounter ended up on Grievous wiping the floor with both opponents and leaving Ventress in a brief Villainous BSoD, which was implied to play a role in her posterior revenge and defeat of him in Dathomir.
  • She's essentially Dooku's surrogate daughter in canon, having found her when she was young and then trained and molded her for quite some years as his personal apprentice, even having grown strong enough attachment to push back against Sidious slightly. In Legends, she was simply one of his many henchmen, someone he discarded without blinking when she failed him one too many times.
  • In canon, Ventress has no relationship with Durge, who was re-introduced as a Empire-era bounty hunter unrelated to the CIS. In Legends, they were partners in crime during the Clone Wars (and several scenes implied they were somewhat close).
• Adaptation Species Change: Again, within Legends. In the Legends comic books she originally appeared in, she was a member of the planet Rattatak's indigenous people called Rattataki. In The Clone Wars, she was born as a Nightsister of Dathomir who grew up on Rattatak. The Rattataki themselves would later be re-canonized in the book Star Wars: Resistance Reborn by virtue of being mentioned in the novel.
• Affably Evil: After abandoning the Separatists, the affability she does show (concern for the other Nightsisters, empathy for Ahsoka, and ultimately her love for Quinlan Vos) appears to be genuine.
• Anti-Hero: She evolved into one of these after the annihilation of the Nightsisters.
  Obi-Wan: When did you become the good guy?
  Ventress: Don't insult me.
• The Apprentice: She is Count Dooku's, although she is not an official Sith apprentice. Darth Sidious suspects Dooku might make her one as she becomes more powerful and thus orders Dooku to kill her.
• "Ass" in Ambassador: When she was sent to bring Toydaria into the Confederacy, Ventress ends up threatening to kill King Katuunko after Yoda survives her ambush.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: She is Dooku's apprentice and one of the Separatists' high-ranking commanders, and when she's required to be on the battlefield, she can hold her own against Anakin and Obi-Wan. In fact, after her powers grew as sensed by Sidious, she managed to actually overpower them at once with Force choking in their last battle, only losing when she was distracted by their ship's shaking.
• Bald of Evil: Flashbacks revealed that she's not naturally hairless, and only shaved her hair after the death of Ky Narec. It was confirmed by Filoni that she chose this as a way to express her allegiance to the Dark Side and to the Sith and, after leaving Dooku and becoming a bounty hunter, she decided to let her hair grow out. Between that and the destruction of the Nightsisters, she has been slowly turning to good.
• The Baroness: When she was still part of the Separatists serving under Count Dooku before he betrayed her.
• Being Evil Sucks: She seems to realize that all her hatred and plots of revenge have only cost her happiness and her family, largely deciding to become a bounty hunter rather than participate in the Clone War any further. She would have stayed that way, had it not been for Quinlan Vos and Dooku.
• Berserk Button: Insulting or downplaying her skills. Doing so nearly got Luminara killed, and earned Captain Argyus a lightsaber through the back.
• Bifurcated Weapon: In the pilot movie, as in the Legends comics, her lightsabers could be joined at the hilt to form a double-bladed one. Obi-Wan sliced through the hilt to separate them and she's never used the technique since.
• Break the Cutie: She started out as a girl sold to a slaver as an infant. Then, her owner, who is implied to have been a "decent" one, got killed, and she was taken in and happily adopted by a Jedi Master... then he got murdered. Alone and driven mad with grief, she turned to the Dark Side and then became an apprentice and assassin to Count Dooku. Then, Dooku betrays and tries to kill her at the behest of his master. Then, her clan is wiped out in retribution for her surviving the assassination attempt and proceeding to try and pay Dooku back in kind.
• Bounty Hunter: She temporarily joins Boba Fett's group in "Bounty" and becomes a full-time bounty hunter afterwards.
• Canon Immigrant: She originated from Legends' Clone Wars micro-series and Republic comics before becoming a character in the Canon as a result of her appearances in The Clone Wars.
• Catch and Return: When she tests the Nightbrother competitors in battle, she catches a spear one of them had thrown at her and throws it back at him, impaling him on it.
• Character Development: Over the course of seasons three through five, she develops from being Dooku's somewhat underdeveloped and psychotic dragon into a tragic and complex character who can relate to the plight of others. She even delivers a What the Hell, Hero? to Anakin on Ahsoka's behalf when the Jedi Order abandoned her.
• Character Exaggeration: Her portrayal in The Clone Wars, and by extension in the canon, focuses mostly on a single aspect of her Legends character, namely her job as Dooku's special operations woman. Other facets of her personality, like her role as The Corrupter towards other Jedi, her aspirations to become a Sith lady, her iron hand reign over Rattatak, and her feelings towards Obi-Wan, are either de-emphasized or downright Adapted Out. Even her personality gets adjusted to this change, making her taciturn and gloomy, whereas her previous versions could be incredibly talkative and theatrical.
• Cleavage Window: Her first and second outfits have this.
• The Coats Are Off: She often removes the skirt of her first outfit, as well as her robe if she wears it.
• Combat Pragmatist: Ventress does NOT fight fair, which is part of what makes her such a deadly opponent, as Luminara Unduli almost fatally found out.
• Composite Character: Ventress has elements associated with some characters from Legends.
  • In The Clone Wars, Ventress is effectively conflated with Saato, a fellow female Dark Acolyte who was a Dathomirian Nightsister before being recruited by Dooku. Before that, Legends had established Ventress was a full-blooded Rattataki with no relation to Dathomir.
  • Ventress now being Co-Dragons to Dooku along with Grievous gives her echoes of Sev'rance Tann, another female Human Alien Dark Acolyte from Legends who was supreme commander of the droid army before Grievous came along. In fact, the Legends Ventress was actually recruited by Dooku to serve as a replacement for Tann, but lost this job to Grievous when the latter defeated her and Durge in a test battle. Now in canon, this battle never took place and Ventress is effectively at even ground with him.
  • Also, her role of being Quinlan Vos' lover and later redeeming him through love appears to be inspired by the Legends character Khaleen Hentz.
• Cool Helmet: She gets one in the fifth season so she can operate in Republic space without being arrested for war crimes.
• Cool Sword: Her two curved-hilt red lightsabers are no doubt very cool as it allows for more precision and finesse in lightsaber combat. After they get stolen by Barriss Offee, she purchases a standard lightsaber with a rare yellow blade to continue her work as a bounty hunter.
• Corporate Samurai: She works for a conglomerate of corporations and her character is officially inspired by samurai/ninja culture. She wears a hakama and ninja-like inner clothes, uses complex bladework and kicks, sports a shaven haircut, is fanatically loyal to a master, her lightsabers can be used as a light-nunchaku, and her name comes from Asaji of Throne of Blood (and if this is not enough, her appearance in Legends' Xbox Star Wars: Battlefront II Live came equipped with light-shurikens).
• Create Your Own Villain: Savage Opress, whom she used to try to avenge Count Dooku's betrayal, turned against her after he had enough of her abuse. This also lead to Savage seeking out his brother, Darth Maul, and bringing him back as a threat to the Galaxy.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • In "Ambush", Yoda is able to take her lightsabers using the Force, with no effort.
  • In "Monster", she dishes one out to the Nightbrother competitors, but Savage Opress was the only one to come close to matching her.
  • In "Witches of the Mist", after Savage turns against her during their lightsaber duel against Count Dooku, she tries to fight her former Master on her own, but she is defeated. Count Dooku even warns her that without the aid of Savage, she's no match for him.
• Dark Action Girl: She's very sinister and quite dangerous, at least until the end of season four, where she becomes more of a neutral figure (although she's no less dangerous).
• Dark and Troubled Past: It's shown in a Troubled Backstory Flashback that Ventress was given away to a slaver while she was just a toddler. While this alone would be tragic enough, the guy seemed to have been at least decent to her as she seemed quite upset when she found his dead body. Then, Jedi Master Ky Narec, who found her, raised her, and taught her to use the Force, was killed before her eyes.
• Dark Magical Girl: She fits the description to a T: she fights for the Separatists to gain Count Dooku's approval, her greatest fear is being left with nothing, and gradually turns away from the Dark Side after Dooku abandoned her. She even helps Ahsoka, her own Good Counterpart, in exchange for Ahsoka getting her a full pardon, although this ends up being the last time they worked together.
• Deadpan Snarker: She has quite a sarcastic streak, which she takes up a few notches during the fourth season.
• Death by Adaptation: In Legends, prior the retcons made by The Clone Wars, Ventress faked her death before disappearing from the galactic scene altogether near the end of the war; even after said retcons, her fate was still left unrevealed, assuming she didn't simply live the rest of her life as a bounty hunter. In the Canon (which is revealed via Dark Disciple, the conclusion of her storyline which was meant to be for The Clone Wars), she legitimately dies as a result of doing a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Delinquent Hair: By the time of Dark Disciple, Ventress has grown a mohawk since her previous appearance in The Clone Wars. In contrast to her brown hair in her Troubled Back Story Flashback in The Clone Wars, it's white-blond in the novel. However, it is unclear which one is her original hair color and which one was dyed.
• Deuteragonist: Downplayed, as she's more of a tetragonist on The Clone Wars. She has the most extensive character arc besides Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: She dies in Quinlan Vos' arms after saving him, physically and spiritually, from Dooku.
• The Dragon: To Dooku, prior to his betrayal.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Following the decimation of the Nightsisters, when arriving on Tatooine, Ventress goes straight to a bar, where she orders a short drink, gulps it down at once, and immediately orders another.
• Dual Wielding: She uses twin lightsabers.
• Enemy Mine: She teams up with Obi-Wan to fight Savage and Darth Maul.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The death of Ky Narec sent her into the Dark Side of the Force. After deciding to fully join the Nightsisters, Ventress comes the closest she has ever been to being happy and having a family since Narec's death. The Nightsister massacre hits her hard and unlike any other time, Ventress fully blames herself. Oddly, this leads her to becoming more good than evil.
• Even Evil Has Standards: She is appalled when she realizes that the "cargo" she was set to deliver on Quarzite was actually a slave girl. She could relate to the slave and worked to set her free... while ensuring she still received profits from both faking her delivery to Otua Blank and honestly giving her back to her brother.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • To Anakin. They both used to be slaves on a remote Crapsack World, have been rescued by a Jedi who were considered somewhat "rogues" by others, and became the apprentices of a Sith Lord. While Anakin started slipping closer and closer to the Dark Side during the fourth season, Asajj seems to have started to work on a Heel–Face Turn at the end of the same season. They also both die in a similar manner: they're killed by Force lightning in order to save someone they love from their former master.
  • She's a counterpart to Ahsoka as well: both of their Masters were Jedi who turned to Dark Side, they both started by using a single green-bladed lightsaber and picked up Dual Wielding later, and the way the Jedi Council abandoned Ahsoka under pressure from the Senate eerily resembles how Dooku betrayed Ventress on Sidous' orders. They even came to realize that they had rather similar experiences during the fifth season.
• Evil Laugh: She lets out a pretty impressive cackle while fighting Ahsoka and Luminara in "Cloak of Darkness", as well as while ambushing Maul and Savage in "Revenge".
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Ventress has a very low, raspy, and sinister voice.
• Evil Versus Evil: Her grudge against Count Dooku, as well as her lasting enmity with Savage Opress.
• Fallen Hero: Ventress was once a Jedi Padawan who fought to free Rattatak from gangs of ruthless criminals. She turned to the Dark Side after her Jedi Master Ky Narec was killed and she sought revenge.
• Fantastic Racism: She hates Weequays for being responsible for the deaths of Hal'Sted and Ky Narec.
• Faux Affably Evil: Usually, whenever she acts polite, it is a façade that is meant to either mock or deceive.
• Femme Fatale: She is a sultry, gloomy Separatist agent who wears sexy outfits, flirts with her enemies, and is ultimately morally complex.
• Foe Romance Subtext: She has some chemistry with Obi-Wan, with a lot of mock-romantic dialogue during their battles, although unlike their relationship in Legends, this is more joking than true attraction.
• Fragile Speedster: She's very fast in combat, especially with her acrobatic abilities, but she's far from the most durable force user around.
• Freudian Excuse: Given her Dark and Troubled Past mentioned above, it's really no wonder Dooku was able to turn her to his side so easily.
• Gladiator Games: Dooku: Jedi Lost shows that she spent time as a gladiator on Rattatak sometime after the death of her master. That would be where Dooku would eventually discover her.
• Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed. She has this during the fourth season, although it's less of a change in morality and more of a choice to stop actively opposing the heroes. She later has a full-on, though it sadly ends with Redemption Equals Death.
• Heroic Sacrifice: She chooses a path that she knows will likely lead to her death in order to redeem Quinlan Vos.
• High-Voltage Death: Ventress gets blasted to death with Dooku's Force lightning meant for Quinlan Vos.
• Hypocrite: She refers to Savage as a monster, even though she was responsible for his transformation, and treated him poorly.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Her eyes are a very pale shade of blue, although she can be quite hot-blooded and aggressive at times.
• Important Hair Cut: Inverted. Word of God said that Ventress shaved her hair as a way of showing her allegiance to the Sith. By Dark Disciple, she stopped doing so as a way of showing that — at least partially — she'd turned away from the Sith teachings.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Implied, especially in her duel against Luminara Unduli in "Cloak of Darkness". When the Jedi master compares her to Dooku, Ventress looks satisfied for a second, clearly rejoicing at the connection, but when Unduli then adds that she is actually a sloppy version of Dooku, she loses the smile and goes ballistic.
• Informed Ability: Partway through the Clone Wars, Ventress is said to be growing so powerful in her abilities that even Darth Sidious is beginning to feel threatened by her. But in almost every episode, she fails at her goals, mostly because of the Foregone Conclusion of events that have already happened in Revenge of the Sith. Even throughout the three-part story arc where this is first mentioned she is shown to be vastly inferior to Dooku's own powers, requiring help from allies in order to even be able to force him to a draw.
• In the Hood: Her early appearances in The Clone Wears, including her introduction in the pilot movie, have Ventress wearing an ample robe with a hood over her face. She drops this over time.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Post-Heel–Face Turn. Ventress is still a jerk, but Anakin couldn't argue with her over how her comparison of how the Jedi Council coldly abandoning Ahsoka with little hesitation was the same of how Dooku abandoned her.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While she starts out as a murderous assassin, Ventress develops into a snarky and aggressive yet generally alright individual who's willing to help and empathize with others.
• Kick Chick: Though not as her main strategy, she often uses kicks in her fights, even when wearing her ankle-length hakama.
• Kick the Dog: Her treatment of Savage during the Nightsisters and Brothers arc. Having him transformed and brainwashed, forcing him to kill his own brother (who Savage had given himself up to protect), handing him over to Count Dooku for Sith training, and constantly berating him when he proves to be no match for Dooku. After all this, it's really no surprise that Savage wants to kill her.
• Laser Blade: She wields two curved-hilt red-bladed lightsabers. Later, after they were stolen by Barriss Offee, Ventress wields a new yellow-bladed lightsaber she acquired from the black market. In the flashback in the "Nightsisters" episode she had a green-bladed lightsaber as a Padawan and used her master green-bladed as well. In the same episode, she also used a blue-bladed lightsaber to try to kill Dooku.
• Last-Name Basis: She's usually addressed as "Ventress" by everyone, including allies.
• Last of Her Kind: In "Massacre", Grievous's army decimated the Nightsisters, leaving — ironically — Ventress and Talzin, the primary targets of the attack, the sole survivors. After Dark Disciple, both her and Talzin are dead.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The fact that Asajj Ventress is a creepy bald woman seems meant to be a sort of surprise in the pilot movie of The Clone Wars, given that she is introduced with a heavy hood (something that she rarely wears in any medium or continuity) and doesn't lose it until it is time to whip out her lightsabers. However, for those who had read the Star Wars: Republic comics or watched Star Wars: Clone Wars, where she had first appeared years before, this could hardly be a revelation.
• Lean and Mean: She's very thin, to the point her character design in The Clone Wars looks slightly like a non-Human Alien, but is no less dangerous for it.
• Lima Syndrome:
  • In "Bounty", she comes to sympathize with Pluma Sodi when she realizes how similar their circumstances are and decides to fool her contractor along with letting the girl and her brother go — for some extra money.
  • In "To Catch a Jedi", she also comes to realize how much she has in common with Ahsoka and in exchange for Ahsoka getting her a pardon for her involvement with the Separatists, she helps the girl prove her innocence.
• Made a Slave: She was given up at birth to a criminal. However, the man who purchased her apparently treated her well as she seemed genuinely saddened by his death.
• Master Swordswoman: She's one of only two characters who managed to best General Grievous in a lightsaber duel without resorting to using the Force against him. She was, however, no match for Count Dooku in a straight fight.
• Meaningful Name: Asajj might come from the Sanskrit "assajan", which means wicked, crooked and sinful, all of which fits her role and personality prior to her Character Development. Officially, it's also a Shout-Out to Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, where Asaji is the name of the film's version of Lady Macbeth. It can also be derived from the Japanese "asahi", meaning "morning sun", reflecting her turning away from the Dark Side.
• Meditation Powerup: During her battle against Anakin and Obi-Wan in Christophsis, she allows herself to reposition and wait for them sitting serenely cross-legged, implying this. It gets subverted, though, because it's revealed she only sat like that to goad them in and then destroy the floor under them with her lightsabers. (The whole stunt might be a reference to her usage of Quey'tek meditation in Legends.)
• Mind over Matter: Just like the rest of the Force-users in the canon, Ventress is telekinetic.
• Misery Builds Character: Not that her previous life had been a paradise, but Ventress becomes a much better person after her life takes a massive turn for the worse.
• Misplaced Retribution: She admits that she blamed the Jedi for "abandoning" Ky Narec when it's possible that they simply didn't know that he was alive. To be fair, Dooku wanted her on his side so he was probably manipulating her emotions.
• Mugged for Disguise: She is attacked by Barriss Offee, who steals Ventress's helmet and lightsabers to pose as her while attacking Ahsoka.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Ventress is able to beat the ever-loving crap out of several Nightbrothers, all of whom have at least fifty pounds of muscle on her, while fighting hand-to-hand.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After the Nightsisters are destroyed by Grievous' army, she completely breaks down and blames herself for dragging the clan into her quest for vengeance.

M-W

• Never My Fault:
  • In "Nightsisters", after their defeat at Dooku's hands, Ventress irritably remarked that she had warned the other Nightsisters of Dooku's power, ignoring that she had been defeated by her former master as well.
  • In "Witches of the Mist", she blamed Savage for their combined inability to defeat Dooku, ignoring that she wasn't doing much better against the Count herself.
  • In "Massacre", she claims that Savage "rejected [her] guidance". In reality, Savage lashed out at Ventress for her abusive treatment and for continually berating him due to his inability to defeat Dooku. Averted twice later in the same episode, where she blames herself for not only General Grievous' army coming to Dathomir since it was her quest for vengeance against Dooku that led him to seek retribution, but for the annihilation of the Nightsisters.
• Opposites Attract: Quinlan Vos' fun and friendly personality is one of the things that win him the no-nonsense yet usually cold and distant Ventress's love.
• Parental Abandonment: Her own mother handed her over to a slaver (albeit reluctantly) when she was a toddler and her father was most likely killed according to the tradition, just like the father of Savage and Maul.
• Pet the Dog: She returns a girl who had been kidnapped as a bride for a warlord to her brother, though Ventress did insist on being paid for her troubles.
• Rapid Hair Growth: She grew her hair back pretty quickly after taking up bounty hunting, if the cover of Dark Disciple is any indication.
• Run or Die: Twice.
  • First after Savage turned against her during their duel against Dooku, she tried to kill her former Master on her own. Ultimately, she was forced to abandon the fight.
  • During the Battle of Dathomir, she was shot by a super battle droid and forced to run to save her life.
• Serendipitous Survival: In "Ambush", Yoda spares her and lets her go free despite having her cornered. Naturally, she goes on to kill more people, but as the installment goes on, she ultimately finds her own way and becomes a Spanner in the Works, as written below.
• She-Fu: Her unarmed combat style includes lots of acrobatic stunts.
• Ship Tease: With Obi-Wan, as mentioned in Foe Romance Subtext above.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: During her brief team-up with Obi-Wan in "Revenge".
  [Asajj tosses one of her lightsabers to Obi-Wan]
  Asajj: I want that back.
  Obi-Wan: That's fine. Red's not my color.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: She often speaks in a gentle, almost purring tone, although it can become harsh and snarling at the drop of a hat and she later drops the "sadist" part (mostly).
• Spanner in the Works:
  • She ruins Darth Maul's first attempt at vengeance on Obi-Wan, which obviously allows Obi-Wan to do everything important he does later on.
  • She also ruins Barriss's plot to frame Ahsoka for the bombing of the Jedi Temple hangar, while also indirectly encouraging Ahsoka to follow her own path now that she's been thrown aside by the people she thought she could trust. as she knows from personal experience... which ultimately leads to Ahsoka doing everything important she does later on, like becoming an important figure to the Rebellion.
• Spy Catsuit: Her suits, often underneath her robe and skirts, tend to be of this type, only with skin-baring patches.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Quinlan Vos.
• Start of Darkness: She had a pretty rough life, but the death of her master and father figure, Ky Narec, seems to have been the last straw.
• Statuesque Stunner: Ventress has a height of 1.79 cm/5'10 and is considered rather attractive by multiple characters. She's also one of the female characters that are fanservice in The Clone Wars.
• Stealth Expert: Aside from her skill in lightsaber combat and Force usage, Ventress is also really good at being sneaky, making her an excellent spy, saboteur, and assassin.
• Sexy Backless Outfit: Her first attire.
• Surrounded by Idiots: The battle droids are nowhere near as intelligent as Ventress and sometimes serve as a source of her irritation.
• Tattooed Crook: She has tattoos on her face and head, and is never what you would call a law-abiding citizen.
• Together in Death: With the other Nightsisters.
• Took a Level in Badass: During the first season, Ahsoka and Luminara together were able to match her and Sidious had no trust in her abilities at all. By time of the third season, she's become strong enough to match Obi-Wan and Anakin despite being injured and for Sidious to consider her a threat.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After recommitting herself to the Nightsisters and becoming a bounty hunter, Ventress is much more at peace with herself, changing from a vicious villainess to more of a morally neutral Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Training from Hell: Dooku subjected her to one.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • She severely misjudges how strong Yoda is, and is given such a humiliating defeat it makes her look like barely even a threat in the first place.
  • Luminara similarly underestimates Asajj, and thinks she's simply a weak assassin. She nearly loses her life in that very same fight.
• Unknown Rival: Grievous considers Ventress to be his rival, and gives her some level of respect while they both serve Dooku, which only turns to hate once she seemingly defects. Ventress for her part, doesn't share the sentiment, though she finds the thought of them being equals amusing.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Luminara Unduli calls her Form II amateurish and sloppy, only for Ventress to fire up and defeat her convincingly. Assuming Luminara was not trying to make her lose her focus or just being your typical Jedi ass, her analysis implies Ventress' superb lightsaber skills are a result of sheer Force sensitivity rather than technique, even despite her Training from Hell.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her quest for vengeance against Dooku resulted in unleashing Savage Opress into the Galaxy, which ultimately led to the fall of Duchess Satine's pacifist New Mandalorian government.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Her Troubled Backstory Flashback revealed that she was indeed a sweet kid until her parental figure Ky Narec was murdered.
• The Vamp: Ventress knows that most humanoids find her attractive. By the time of Dark Disciple, she has no qualms about using this as a weapon while working on a job. She even has two different tactics: the "nod-and-wink" is supposedly more subtle (although it's not shown), whereas the "full-on gambit" is flat-out active seduction and unsubtle flirtation.
• Vapor Wear: Her Sexy Backless Outfit strongly implies this.
• Villain Protagonist: She begins to become this during the third season and it's played up in the fourth season.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: The main reason for her siding with the Separatists seems to have been her desire to prove herself to Count Dooku as a worthy apprentice.
• Whip Sword: She uses a Sinister Scythe-on-a-chain during the second test of the Nightbrother "competitors" in "Monster".
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Though she starts off seeming like your typical villainess, it's revealed that she was this all along. She becomes especially sympathetic after Count Dooku, the man who trained her in the ways of the Dark Side and was essentially her surrogate father, betrayed her.
• Worf Effect: She's beaten offscreen by Bariss for her sabers, though this was largely through a sneak attack.