Thursday, April 25, 2013

Ventress is a villain I can really cozy up to

Asajj Ventress is pictured above wielding one red lightsaber, but more often than not, she is found with two in hand (see picture below). Remember in one of the Star Wars movies when Yoda said that, "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny?" Well that little line fed to Luke doesn't appear to be true at all.

Correction, maybe it was true for Darth Sidious, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, and Darth Tyrannus, but it never was for Ventress. She always did what she wanted to do. To be fair though, she never got the "Darth" title either, which may have something to do with her ability to just walk the line as far as good and bad goes. I have no idea if that's because she's just got a really strong mind, or if it's because she's a woman. Maybe Yoda just didn't get it right because he was a dude. Something to think on, eh? If I recall details from the Star Wars extended universe, there are other women who used the Dark Side who also ended up coming back from it too. Was Mara Jade one? I hope someone can weigh-in on the comments below with regard to my theory of "women being particularly resistant to the dark side."
For awhile, Asajj Ventress worked for the Separatist army and their endless droids.
Anyway, Asajj got recognized as a child when she was given away for training among the Jedi. Her master taught her some and her strength in the force grew. Unfortunately for her though, that all ended when her master got killed.

Ventress' story is replete with tragedy.  Recognized for being a Force prodigy, Ventress wound up at some point training with Count Dooku who took her rudimentary training and turned it into a formidable weapon that he and his Separatist army could rely upon.

Fearless in battle, Asajj Ventress wasn't afraid to take on Obi-Wan and other Jedi. She even fought him alongside Anakin, and it made for some of the greatest lightsaber combats. Despite the fact that Ventress always lost, she always got away too. That's a sign of a good villain. Ventress always had a reliable escape plan at the ready if things ever went sour.

At some point in season 3 of The Clone Wars, Ventress got so powerful that she created a "disturbance in the force." Darth Sidious contacted Darth Tyrannus (Count Dooku) and ordered him to kill Ventress, because she'd gotten too powerful. Dooku whined some because he really liked her, but acquiesced and tried to have her killed by blowing up the starship she was on. Of course, Ventress escaped and went home to the Nightsisters (her family) to plot her revenge on Dooku.

That "revenge" didn't go well. It ended up destroying the Nightsisters clan leaving her alone in the universe. At that point, Ventress wasn't "sith" anymore or necessarily a "nightsister." She was a free agent doing whatever she wanted to do.

Surprisingly, Ventress came to the rescue of Obi-Wan, helping him to fight Savage Opress and Darth Maul when he got cornered and overwhelmed. And in the series finale, she proved instrumental by allying with Ahsoka Tano and Anakin to oust Barriss Offee as the Jedi responsible for framing Ahsoka in the bombing of the Jedi temple.
The actress who played Barriss Offee in the second movie. The
quote is from the 2003 Clone Wars shorts from Cartoon Network.
Barriss Offee was the student of Master Luminara Undulee
In the clip below is a great scene of Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano fighting in the streets of Coruscant. Now, Barriss at this point is disguised as Asajj Ventress. Barriss is extremely powerful and overwhelmed Asajj and took her lightsabers to complete the disguise. Asajj never had the kind of telekinesis that Barriss wields and neither did anyone else. I think Barriss (as I've said before) was probably the most powerful telekinetic to have ever lived in the Star Wars universe. If you watch carefully, you'll see what I'm talking about. She doesn't even have to visualize objects to hurl them around (she can be behind corners). My original post on Barriss can be found HERE. And yeah, Ahsoka (even though she's basically a Jedi Knight at this point) doesn't stand a chance. I'm a little miffed with The Clone Wars being canceled because I want to know what happened with Barriss, Asajj, and Ahsoka. These are three very interesting women whose storylines are basically just "cut off" with no resolution in the series finale. It's enough to make me say "arrrggghhh!" Enjoy the clip.
And below is a second (extremely short clip) showing a deleted scene from the original Clone Wars episode because it was too "controversial." Watch it and see the personality of Ventress in full force (another reason I really liked her).

26 comments:

  1. I'm beginning to think that Yoda had no idea what he was talking about.

    mood
    Moody Writing

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  2. It's true! The best villains always have an escape hatch waiting for them -- at least for the first three quarters of the story.

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  3. You're right. Cobra Commander and Megatron always had a great escape plan. It usually consisted of yelling "Retreat!" and running away.

    Hooray only 4 more days of this shit!

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  4. Not familiar with this character, but I like her fiercness

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  5. It had nothing to do with being a woman, and "dominating your destiny" doesn't actually mean you wind up on the Dark Side. It just means there will be a constant struggle.
    Ventress, despite some good acts, never got away from the Dark Side dominating her life.

    Vader turned from the Dark at the end.
    Luke became Palpatine's apprentice for a while (I can't remember if he earned the Sith title or not) but came back to the Light. [Dark Empire series]

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  6. I think you're right Mara Jade was an Imperial Guard or something.

    I'll go along with your theory that women are just stronger mentally! hahaha!

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  7. I remember her from the original cartoon

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  8. I've got nothing but mad respect for a girl who can wield not one, but two light sabars at the same time. Rock on!

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  9. She'd get my attention any day. I'm not too sure about your theory concerning women and the dark side. They might be resistant to a point, but once converted, look out.

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  10. I can only imagine how you keep all of these characters straight in your head.

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  11. You, sir, have an award to pick up over at The Squid.

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  12. There is so much to the SW universe I'm unfamiliar with, not having read or watched much about the clone wars.

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  13. In the books (those I read) Mara Jade had some Force ability but the Emperor never trained her as a Sith. Later Luke trains her to be a Jedi and I guess they get married and stuff but I'd stopped reading by then.

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  14. I always found science fiction characters interesting.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  15. Asajj is pretty sweet in the video games too.

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  16. Ventress sounds like an awesome villain! And women can change their minds. That's why they can dwell both with the light and dark sides. ;)

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  17. The one thing I did not like about the original movies was the lack of women, which is more than made up for here in The Clone Wars.

    And I do hate when story lines are cut off.

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  18. I always thought one of the biggest weaknesses in Star Wars movies was the way Jedi=good and Sith=bad. Nothing is ever absolute and I really think it opens up the story with grey jedi/sith.

    The computer games, books, and other forms of entertainment in this universe have been plagued by this restriction. It is good to see it changing slowly and now that Lucas is no longer in charge perhaps it will open up even more in the future.

    As a point of reference I played the MMO SW:The Old Republic and this is part of what killed the franchise. Every story was so cliche because the writers had to stick to the script.

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  19. Wow, that last scene was something. Violent!

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  20. Ventress is quite a villain. Glad she saved Obi-Wan.

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  21. Very well-written article, Michael! I really enjoy your style and realize how much I've missed out on by not following any of the new Star Wars movies or animation.

    This villain awesome she sounds.

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  22. Oh yeah, giving a kiss to the guy before she makes him drop dead at her feet - that is cold. But she has a good side also? Don't think so. But she's so fiercely independent she'll switch sides -- that I can see.

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  23. Her eyes are fierce.

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  24. Why do the women always have to be morally ambiguous?

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