Full Series Asajj Ventress in the Clone Wars discussion thread

Because Darth Maul is far superior to Dooku or Ventress or Talzin. TCW/SOD alone showed that Maul was more than hitman,lol.






Adolescent Maul's story has already began to unfold. In many ways he's not unlike Anakin, usually naturally strong and connected to the Force, but instead of a Jedi finding him, which Maul did want as he wanted to be a Jedi like Anakin, a Sith Lord did. Instead of his mom being a slave, his mother was a powerful Nightsister witch, but in ways also slave herself to Sidious' will and dominance. Maul was already remarkable and naturally strong in the Force and even without professional training or guidance on Dathomir his abilities were beginning to manifest themselves and caught the attention of Darth Sidious as he visited his mother. Maul could tell that Sidious was evil and a user, but his mother failed in listening to the boy and eventually it cost her. Maul had already on his own began to control and use his powers . Without training he Force choked his Nightbrother enemies to death like a Sith Lord. Sidious would choose Maul over Talzin, because he was stronger and more powerful than her. He saw in the child, what even his mother could not at the time as she was blinded by her own greed and lust for power, and thus so Darth Sidious found his Sith Apprentice.


"I see that you have taken to your lessons well. A most promising start. The force is strong in you, and so, too, is the fire of hate. You, child, shall serve as my apprentice.”

(...)

"the boy has inherited your talents… and so much more. You have done well to provide me with such a remarkable candidate."- Darth Sidious

- - An Unwilling Apprentice Written by George Mann

 

But at the end of the day, Maul was still a disappointment to Sidious since he still lost to Kenobi. I find it hard to believe that Maul was superior to Talzin by any stretch. He took on Sidious with Savage and still was just outmatched by him. Talzin, on the other hand, was pretty evenly matched with Sidious. Maybe if it wasn't for a cheap-shot by Grievious to stab her off-guard when she was protecting Maul from Sidious (SOD), she could've beaten him. Who knows?

Spoiler

I'm not saying Ventress is on Talzin's level either; but IMO she'd still have put up a good fight with Maul. If you think about it, Ventress was trained by Dooku, who trained Qui-Gon who trained Obi-Wan who beat Maul.

 

Obi-Wan didn't beat Maul, he defeated Maul via cheap-shotting.

Defeating someone in a duel and defeating someone with different methods are two different things.

Maul took both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, he separated Obi-Wan from Qui-Gon with a kick, then finished Qui-Gon, then outdueled Obi-Wan too, disarmed him. In a sparring match between the Jedi, that's the end of the fight when you disarmed your opponent, they yield because that's pretty much the end of the fight, one has a blade and the other has not, especially in a sparring match, you don't continue and you yield. Unless some miracle happens and you need to let that happen to lose in that situation, Maul let that miracle happen by starting toy with Obi-Wan after beating him, he was making fun with Obi-Wan instead of finishing him. Then Obi-Wan surprised Maul with pulling Qui-Gon's lightsaber and cut him. All Maul had to do was using another Force push to finish Obi-Wan or pick up Qui-Gon's saber and destroy it as well. It was almost the same against Ahsoka, after disarming her, Maul was still trying to turn her to the dark side instead of finishing her with a Force push, he was overconfident and he let that happen.

Maul and Ventress dueled before and Maul was winning, Ventress and Obi-Wan ran from Maul and Savage.

 

Considering the fight included Savage's brute strength, and Ventress took him on more than she did with Maul, you can't blame them for running away. And no, I didn't actually see how Maul completely overmatched her in the brief time that they dueled; it lasted what, 5 seconds?

 

It's Asajj Ventressday today.

 

I really had no idea how under-utilized Ventress was until recently going back through TCW. It's such a shame, found her so interesting, like the polar opposite of Ahsoka. They should have made these two have more of a growing rivalry that they develop as a slow-burner across the seasons. I haven't read Dark Disciple yet and I'm sure Ventress has also appeared in tons of canon comics, so I'm looking forward to more exploration of her character.

 

I really liked Asajj's character development in TCW. I believe they captured the "lost girl trying to find her way" accurately. I really liked it when she and Ahsoka had to work together in the final episodes of Season Five. Having said that, I am a fan of the darker Asajj Ventress from the original Clone Wars Multimedia Project, and I definitely prefer her ending in that series over Dark Disciple. It seems in character for Dooku to capture her and trying to force her to serve him once again, if only for a short while. While I hate the idea of her being turned into a cyborg, I do like the fact that she got to live in that storyline.

 

If I'm counting correctly on Wookiepedia, she's only in 13 of the 133 episodes. And a few of those are minor appearances. I know she's in the movie and was going to be in at least two cancelled arcs (adapted to Dark Disciple), but still. She's also completely absent from Seasons 2, 6, and 7.
TCW is a great show, but I felt its focus was misplaced at times. The lack of Ventress and a lot of the Jedi Council members is around the top of that.

I love Asajj in both, but I do agree that I prefer a good deal of her Legends characterization. Or at the very least, I prefer her fate.