Ventress
The Clone Wars introduces the assassin Asajj Ventress, an apprentice of Count Dooku who fights against the Jedi before her master’s betrayal in “Nightsisters” (The Clone Wars 3.12) sends her back to her people, the Nightsisters of Dathomir. The surname “Ventress” overtly recalls the Latin word “ventris,” meaning “belly,” “stomach,” or “womb.”
Throughout Star Wars, the dark side is associated with the part of the soul that C.S. Lewis refers to in The Abolition of Man as “the belly” – the source of intense, visceral appetites and passions such as greed, fear, and anger. As Anakin Skywalker says in Revenge of the Sith, “The Sith rely on their passion for their strength.” This is true of Ventress as well. As a practitioner of the dark side, she is driven by her powerful “gut feelings,” from the fear of failure instilled in her by Dooku to her furious craving for vengeance when her dark master turns against her.
Moreover, the fact that “ventris” means “womb” underlines Ventress’ connections to the matriarchal Nightsisters. When Ventress returns to Dathomir after Dooku’s betrayal, she is taken in by the witch Mother Talzin and inducted into the Nightsisters’ coven. In essence, she is reborn as a “sister of the night” under a new mother.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Asajj Ventress / Mother Talzin
Shows: The Clone Wars
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: anger / birth / fear / mothers / names / revenge / passion
Interpretive Tools: Tripartite Soul Theory
READ MORE ABOUT…
Follow The Jedi Archives on…