Somehow Ventress Returned: The Complicated Story of Asajj Ventress 

Disney: didn’t we kill her off? Also Disney: nah it was in a book and nobody reads those. The fans won’t notice. Do it!

Poor Christie Golden. She tried her best to give Ventress a memorable ending in the "Dark Disciple" book, only for Disney to sayy "I am gonna pretend I didn't see that"

At one point Ventress was a true anomaly. Now, she's cool.

Bro, Filoni really can’t just let some characters have a satisfying ending and not letting them overstay their welcome.

It's nice to see her being updated, but I feel like she doesn't fit into the Bad Batch. Remember guys how many times Shaak Ti died more than once?

I never liked dark disciple she is wasted to be killed off like that I’m okay that she back.

I guess she already "died" a number of times in EU. Yavin IV, Coruscant, Boz Pity.

She could very easily have survived through Nightsister magic. I really like that she's back. Not just because she's a cool character, but also because i like a proper female badass force user. I like Ahsoka but not really Sabine or Rey so i love to see it

They’re searching for force sensitive clones? Ayo Jek 14 where you at

Now we need Ventress to meet up with another Nightsister survivor. 😷 😷 Merrin

I loved the Dark Disciple book, however i must admit i wasnt mad she returned when Vos and Obiwan buried her they put her in a pond on Dothomir which coumdve revived her plus her body was put in Stasis before burial so i wouldnt hate her return using that explanation

I'm not very familiar with novelizations. From my point of view, Asajj simply disappeared from the clone wars, became a bounty hunter, and is now babytraining on the side. But I understand retconning popular works draws ire, seeing as what few novels I am a fan of are all designated Legends. However, I have an idea of what Filoni is planning with some of these projects and how they're probably going to tie together down the line. Asajj returning here seems mildly warranted in the name of that idea.

They didn't explain how she survived in the episode maybe we will get an explanation if she returns later this season. It's possible ventress used the same sith healing trance that she used in legends or something else.

What is the point of Disney making Legends material non-canon if they're just going to keep retconning their own canon novels and tie-ins? At least with Legends there seemed to be a mutual respect among the different writers, like they were working together to build this universe and these characters, always iterating upon previous works and ensuring contradictions were kept to a minimum. Filoni doesn't give a damn about his fellow Star Wars creators and will rewrite their work to suit his story. Because at the end of the day, his story is the only one that matters in his head.

Ngl, it's pretty crazy that Ventress never died in Legends and escaped into Unknown Space before Episode III. Imagine if she lived enough to fight the Yuuzhan Vong and meet Luke Skywalker

Fuck it, just make star wars into an scp style choose your own canon universe/multiverse thing

Ventress: Whoa where the heck am I? Palpatine: Welcome to the CWND! Ventress: What? Palpatine: Character Who Never Die club! Let’s talk to everyone else then! Ahsoka: Hey Ventress. Ventress: Well aren’t you an oldie now? Vitiate: If anyone is old it’s me! I’m like 1400 years old! Ventress: No one asked you! Who are you anyway? Vitiate: Seriously? Maul: You! Ventress: You! Krayt: Who’s this noob? Palpatine: Out of the way faker! R2-D2: Bleep boop beep! Ventress: What did this pain in my back droid just say? Palpatine: You don’t want to know. Boba: I hate you! Ventress: Who doesn’t? Who are you again? Boba: Let me give you a hint. You threw me in a box to be delivered to a king as a bride. Ventress: Ahhhh. I see now. Palpatine: Everyone be quiet! The Queen is coming! Ventress: Since when do you bow- Palpatine: Quiet! Shaak Ti: Shut up! Ventress: What have I stumbled into?

He didn’t completely override the dark disciple he stated in an interview that he planned to stay true to dark disciple only changing a couple things to make the waters resurrect her

It's a Decent Surprise to me to see That Ventress Lives wouldn't she Still Pose a problem for The Empire if Palpatine knew she was Still Alive wouldn't Palpatine have Put a Bounty on Her As Well Well Resurrection is Not Unheard Of

I've got to the point that if l want to enjoy the star wars universe l have to just accept nobody ever is actually permanently dead. It degrades the story telling overall, but as long as Lucasfilm decides this is the path they want to take, no amount of complaining will change that and we the fans need to adopt to it or just move on to something else.

Screen > book in canon hierarchy. Who would you have preferred to talk to Omega about the force? If it was a Jedi, you'd have complained about too many surviving order 66

Nothing hAs been overwritten lnaoooooo The outline of the story is canon Each medium is a dramatisation Like a historical report If you don’t like that I don’t know what While legends had tiers with so much m information being over written and being made s canon

Somehow Ventress survived

I’m glad she’s not a zombie But still not ideal

Night sister magic is an obvious reason and she referenced subtly at the end of the episode of having multiple lives, thus the cheating death element that Palpatine wanted.

Luckily she returned. I hated that comic book ending, was way to kitschy.

Filoni is a straight-up hack he just takes other stories and never kills off characters he likes

Question: How do you guys think Ventress feel about having a hand in the destruction of the Nightsisters? She was the one who caused it by attempting to take Count Dooku's life after all.

As far as her being alive, I'm personally going with the idea that whatever is on-screen is the only reliable material to treat as canon because that's been a mostly consistent pattern. As far as her actually being part of this particular story, her personality shift doesn't conflict with her last appearance and the implied life changes, and she makes a level of sense showing up because bounty hunting is a natural direction for her. It would also make sense if she had a particular dislike of seeing a girl get potentially exploited like she was or anything similar, so if she transitions into just being a kind of teacher for Omega and displays strong self-interested motivations simultaneously, it would still work with how she'd probably think at that point in time. They might even give a clear answer as to what happened to her in this version post-war. The big question that needs to be asked with her being around in early imperial years and surely having plenty of natural lifespan left, what happens to Ventress in this era? I think it's most likely she either dies on this show, or goes into hiding and doesn't become especially active again until the New Republic is formed and she no longer has much authority to worry about. Maybe she just ends up bounty hunting until a job goes wrong or eventually tries to find some method of retirement like Boba Fett.

Something I hate about people who liked Ventress' return is that many of them call those who didn't like it hypocrites, stating that they didn't complain as much when Maul returned in TCW despite his obvious death in Episode I. Either these fans are very young or have a very selective memory, since there were MANY fans who at the time considered Maul's resurrection absurd and forced. God, I hate these stupid fights in the fandom 🤦‍♂️

Wacky night sister magic 😅

“I have a few lives left” just feels like a spit in the face. I enjoyed this episode and I love Ventress but damn I really liked her arc in Dark Disciple more.

I'm ok with retconing if it makes sense. As much as I like her, Asajj Ventress coming back doesn't make sense.

In the Disney Star Wars Universe, death is cheap and easily overcome,

I think that the book left it open that she could return. Yes it definitely was odd to include her in the Bad Batch but i dont think it was misplaced

_Dave Filoni not retconning Star Wars books for what basically amounts to cameos _*_IMPOSSIBLE LEVEL CHALLENGE_*

The coolest intro I've seen to ventress.

"Written by Dave Filoni"

I've always liked her and glad she was in today's episode. Plus she had some funny lines.

While he didn’t name her or even design her or place her into Star Wars, I think this version of Ventress is Filoni’s character. Or at least, his show has *his* version of Ventress. The character we all enjoy is unique in this version of Star Wars. In my honest opinion, while the other story was a beautiful end to a tragic life, we can still enjoy it while also enjoying the character that he wrote. I feel the same way about Maul btw

Thank you for the video. I was neither. I only know she was retconned by other fans as I had not read the books and I treated them as Star Trek books (grew up a Trekkie) where Paramount ignored them. This whole idea of books and comics as canon intrigues me though and I can see how they could add so much lore and expand a setting. Again, thank you for the video, it is good to see things in perspective.

Never liked that comic where she died, i always thought it was a really predictable ending, like "we don't know hiw to finish, kill her" and i never liked Vos neither, i'm really glad that Filoni bring her back, she a survivor, she had a desastrous life and deserve better than a sacrifice death for one egoist man

I really enjoy having an animated Star Wars show again. I don’t always like everything they do (like inquisitors flying with their sabers spinning like helicopters) but I really like Bad Batch way more than I expected to.

To be fair, this is the only return that has even the smallest actual chance of happening based specifically on the characters' history and strength in the force. I'm not mad at this one.

Vader’s gonna kill her

Dark Disciple was based on scripts that were written for a story arc that would have been in seasons 7 and 8 of The Clone Wars had it not been cancelled.

As it turns out, the Nightsisters have a Lazarus Pit.

I've largely disavowed Disney Canon. Legends wasn't perfect, but it was surprisingly more consistent across the board lol.

I really enjoyed the return of Ventress, night sister magic brought her back. Hope we see her again in another episode.

Maul came back. Since then, I just go with the show.

Someone from LucasFilm said that her appearance doesn't retcon Dark Diciple. And she said "I still got a couple of lives left. Implying that she indeed died before. And we know that Nightsisters are into necromancy and stuff. So I guess it's more part of the annoying resurrection problem that Star Wars has than it's retconning problem.

Y’all are mad about Ventress being alive, yet you also insist Tech is alive, cope seethe mald and cry about it

Two things I want to get out of the way. 1. it is very likely that filoni did not in fact come up with this idea and that it is actually yet another idea that came from the Disney overlords. Disney hates and fears the concept of death. They are infamous for it, so much so there are two entire tropes named for it. As a result, they try to avoid it wherever they can… Unless that is, it’s more profitable to kill a character off than keep them alive (cough, Luke Skywalker, cough) Theoni does have a part to play in it, but not a big one, this is especially the case, considering we recently got to see the death of one of his favorite characters (cad bane) on screen… And this one is now confirmed to have stuck. Filoni maybe trying to stick it to Disney, by forcing them to acknowledge a character, death, by putting it on screen like he did with Cad bane. This leads me to. 2. It is very likely that ventress is actually being used to fulfill a roll, that was unwittingly given to ahsoka initially, but then they remembered that she’s in hiding so they couldn’t use her. While this is not an ideal substitute. It’s still better than breaking the continuity entirely. Not to mention the obsession micro series as you mentioned here, established the tendency for ventress to escape death. So this is not as infeasible as it sounds, and has some preccident to work with.

Who else wants Omega to be trained in the ways of the force or at least show some force potential. Because I know I would.

I don't like it either but I have to admit I enjoyed seeing her. Brought back good memories of the clone wars days way back.

OG legends Ventress was ruthless, powerful and beautiful. The new canon version just didn't do it for me

This isn't actually a retcon the dark disciple is still Canon and all of its events still happened. This was directly stated in an interview with the director and the actress who plays her . It just seems as though her death wasn't final. It's likely being laid to rest in the waters of her Homeworld brought her back. More than likely she is still in contact with her former lover and is helping the path which would explain why she was specifically interested in M count Target bounties

I was frustrated when they revealed her survival, but then they announced that her appearance here wouldn't conflict with Dark Disciple. And honestly, I can see how that might be. Considering that she is a Nightsister and was literally laid to rest on Dathomir (where their power is the strongest), they could probably just bullshit a reason for her resurrection and still have it make sense.

Id like to point out many fans like me didn't get to see her arc fully, I was only vaguely aware of it cuz of this Chanelle but thats not the same as seeing it play out, Faloni decided to put a new ark for her to the screen and I think thats awesome, though she's also my second favorite clone wars character after Ashoka so I may be biased Also the line, "I have a few lives left" seems to be hinting hard, I think either shes gotten a glimpse at her future so she knows she lives on to end up changing to a few other people, without the influence of an order Or some sort of magic unique to her people, we know their magic is potentially if not already confirmed to be something else than the force and we've seen someone submit themselves to that magic so maybe she bargained since she'd hate what we see happen in the Ashoka show, so that she was free but still helping her clan

I wish they would have left Ventress alone. They have revived her too many times. Yes, I was so confused when the Clone Wars came out and saw Ventress in episode 1. She died in the Star Wars Volume 1&2 Collection during a heavy battle with anakin. Now she is back in the series after the Dark Disciple.

man idc what u say i want a ventress clone wars or real life style her storys always good and just honestly never truly been a bad person just a normal person put in bad situations

You Kick Ass! Thank you Sir!

At this point it is what it is. Groups of fans are either to like that she's back, hate or be apathetic to it. For all we know this could've been the only episode of BB that she's in and thats it given that (as far as we currently know) this is the last season of the show.

I agree. Why can’t the stories connect and be more cohesive? Doesn’t matter. I was a big fan of the novels and comics and since issues like this keep occurring, Disney doesn’t have to worry about me buying comics or novels again. EVER.

I super happy to see her again she is going to be a great asset in the story I believe

I think that Disney SERIOUSLY needs to bring back the Canon Tier system from The Clone Wars' airing.

Should have gone the Into the Spider-Verse isekai route of Multiversally transferring the Legends iteration, who survived the Obsession comics, into the Alt-universe shortly after the latter's iteration perished. Bonus if they had let Grey DeLisle-Griffin be her voice and not Nika Futterman. Would have made people instantly suspicious, you know.

I like she’s alive but they who’ve just written it into the book….

Legends is a pool to start new stories!

her coming back is one thing, but if she was to come back i refuse to believe she wouldn't be looking for quinlan. they loved each other and were going to run away and start a new life together

Some of the most meaningful worldbuilding and Character developement came from Novels and comics, yet there are always thrown away like disposable tie in material. I'm sadly at the point when I ask myself: why bother investing time reading any Star Wars novel or Cómic if Everyone, even the people at the helm of this Franchise, keeps disregarding them?

characters need to stay dead for a series to matter, this is why people don't take comic books serious.

Dark Disciple was an adaptation of Filoni’s scripts for an arc of the Clone Wars. He’s not retconning someone else’s work. He’s retconning an adaptation of his own work. For all we know, her death was never meant to be permanent. And even if it was, it’s still HIS story, not the author of Dark Disciple, Christie Golden’s. She was adapting someone else’s story to a novel. Saying Dave Filoni is retconning someone else’s work is either incorrect if you didn’t know that, or disingenuous if you did

Not mad at her reappearance but kinda interested to see how they'd explain her survival

Most books aren't canon in the first place so dave didn't do anything wrong. I prefer seeing ventress again and having her onscreen presence continue, rather than being killed off-screen in a legends book. It does take away from the lore a little bit if all the characters that were thought dead return like this but ventress is great and im excited to see more of her

I would love to show Ventress to my kids when I’m married

Ventress, stuffed into a fridge so foolish jedi could return to the order. Terrible ending to one of the franchises best dark siders. So glad she is back.

Since people still seem to ignore this fact: Filoni was effectively Lucas' protégé on Clone Wars, and as such can be reasonably expected to emulate him. Filoni has been quoted from an interview as saying that George did not consider anything outside of the movies to be canon when they started on Clone Wars, and therefore the loss of the EU with Disney's acquisition never really mattered to them. EU was effectively equivalent to fan fiction. It has been made clear, as you bordered on pointing out, that he still considers that to be the case: the movies and shows are the highest tier of canon, and the comics + novels are the lowest. So....yeah, idk why people continue to care about what happens in the comics.

Star Wars confirmed that Dark Disciple remians canon and that we will see how she survived in a future story. My guess is that we will ser it in Tales of thr Jedi season 2.

TBH I'm quite happy to see Ventress back. And so want to see more episodes with her in it. Despite popular opinion stating that she should've stayed gone.

I was a little mad that they retconned Ventress death, but only because I wrote a fanfic of the Siege of Saleucami, to try and fit it into the new Canon, and Vetress death is mentioned a few times as a driving force for Vos and also used by Dooku's agents to tempt him to join the Dark Side by saying he will fail Aayla, Thomle, and the others like he did Ventress because without the Dark Side he isn't strong enough. I mean I suppose I could rewrite the story, since it's already finished but I don't plan to upload it until 2025 because I'm weird and I like to get way ahead so I have time to rewrite those parts, but I'm also lazy and focused on other stuff right now so I don't want to do that. However, I can't be too mad at Ventress being brought back for three reason. One, I love Ventress and I'm glad to see her again and I'm very hyped to see more of her, plus with The Loud House on hiatus right now I wouldn't be able hear Nikka Futterman's great voice without Ventress. Two, it would be very hypocritical of me to be mad at this retcon considering what I do in my own fanfics when I combind Canon, Legends, and my own ideas together to make what I consider canon. Heck, I did this with Thomle in the Siege of Saleucami fanfic I just mentioned, he was apart of that battle in Legends, but in Canon he was killed by Ventress early in the war long before that battle, so I just retconned in my fanfic that he survived the fight with Ventress by using that technique he learned from the Anzati to fake his death in Legends. And three, this now will make it easier on me when getting someone new into Star Wars, because I would have them watch episodes 4 and 5 first, so as to not spoil the Ddarth Vader is Luke's father reveal, then we wouldn't watch episode 6 until after watching most of the other stuff that happen before the Original Triology first, so episodes 1, 2, the Clone Wars, episode 3, Bad Batch and so on, however, becuase of the Clone Wars not getting a full 8 seasons like it was suppose to I would have to explain all the stuff that happened between seasons 6 and 7, such as how Maul escaped Sidious, Boba Fett and Cad Bane's duel, and so on, but now at least I can skip over explaining Ventress final story because the person I'm hypothtically getting into Star Wars in this scenario will see her again when we get to Bad Batch right after episode 3.

To be honest I'm not that mad mainly because I thought she was still alive cause the last time we saw Ventress was when she helped Ahsoka trying to clear her name, and I didn't read the book and didn't even know there was a book and I thought after that she went back to bounty hunting and after the war ended she just went into hiding.But I can understand where people are coming from being frustrated.

I am just happy to see her back : 😀

If they’re not going to consider the books canon, then what’s the point of even reading them?

I love seeing Ventress. I read Dark Disciple and it was good but idc at all, I'd rather have her kickin ass in new stuff. She is awesome and has a ton of experience. I am sick of Disney dodging the question of why Omega is so important.

To be honest l love her return. With her new hair. ❤ and l dont care about the book at all. This episode was so chill and relaxing 10/10

nah she's pretty much full evil. She literally impaled a clone using the force with her lightsaber, and then kissed the dying clone on the cheek as a form of mockery.

Ha ha, they retconned their own retcon.

Still unsure whether or not to put my copy of Dark Disciple in my personal "dead canon" sin bin. We need more explanation Lucasfilm

Though I scratch my head about retconning, I can't help to like seeing her again. Better her than the Martez sisters 😅 Since her failed revenge against Dooku, she's grown in her character.

Ok, now do a video on all of Shaak Ti's deaths

Filoni's involvement in the Bad Batch is very limited

i have always separated the written media and the screen, as long the show runners don't do a her a disserves im okay with this

So, what if it’s not really a retcon? So in legends, she went into the trance and healed herself. What if it was something similar in this case?

I'm literally in the middle of reading Dark Disciple right now and I am very tempted to stop reading it after watching this episode.

I got to be honest I'm still annoyed that they retconed her to be a nightsister for no reason just so that they wouldn't have to think of a clever or interesting reason the nightsisters would be helping her get revenge on Dooku, it's unbelievably contrived and totally at odds with her existing backstory and it adds nothing new she doesn't really have any meaningful interactions with the other nightsisters beyond retrieving tools to get revenge on Dooku

gotta love how canon is suffering more from what the legends detractors claim always happened.

Woulda been something IF she'd made it to the shows/movies... THIS return ONLY works if makes sense an proves to be WELL thought out an makes sense. If not if totally screws up the Voss storyline just mentioned as she was on her way, basically, back to the Light by her mutual love of Voss pulling her back. So.. if her great sacrifice ending being "well.. " it HAS to make sense since pretty much she's gonna have to play Wild Card and/or FULL New hero turn having lived long enough to turn such from a villain if not followed narrated in this video. However... that now raises future questions now as.. over time going on WHY would she not over time get stronger an help join up to kick Empire/Sith ass in one rhe prequel shows an/or movies?? Why was she absent when the Rebels/Resistance/etc.. depending on any Era she coulda appeared in right when a powerful friend an ally was needed most... someone like her.. an yet was nowhere to be found. No one prior to now EVER in the lore since her "death" ever brought up the... "Hey COULD maybe one the other enemies... like Ventress.. maybe NOT be dead after all..." sorta thing. In ANY show or movie till now so if Filloni gonna do this an get away with it he's gonna have to do it right.. if recall hasn't he tried stuff like this an do to NOT doin such said screwed it up ROYALLY before???

I hate Filoni's inability to play well with others too, but in WHAT UNIVERSE was getting fridged in some obscure novel for some d list character a good sendoff for Ventures?

I don’t think this video was made in good faith. I like the channel, but Brad Rau literally said his work would respect the book, and it’s most likely playing on the scene where Obi wan and Vos put her back in the Dathomir coven pool near where the water monster that Quinlan Voss slew lived-this episode even mirrored that; her using the force to tame animals, an ability common in light side Jedi on the run. This is called subtle storytelling, it’s not supposed to be obvious. It seems most of the resurrections for characters that are the biggest-Darth Maul and Ventress are centered around Nightsister resurrection magic. They should outline these rules more, similar to how resurrection works in D&D and is part of the story-