On January 22 Lucasfilm released the two-minute trailer for the third season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Offering a sneak-peak into the series’ final season, the trailer had several exciting reveals, including the return of Count Dooku’s old apprentice, Asajj Ventress.
A Nightsister from Dathomir, Ventress first appeared in S1:E1 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but has been left off screen since 2013, last appearing during S5:E20 of The Clone Wars. After a brief encounter with Anakin Skywalker in the back alleys of Coruscant, Ventress’ story was put on-hold indefinitely until 2015 with the release of Christie Golden’s novel Star Wars Dark Disciple. A fantastic Star Wars story, Golden’s novel is particularly relevant for two reasons, Ventress dies – and – it’s canon, leaving fans confused and some worried that Lucasfilm could be retconning a fan-favourite novel.
But are they?
Apparently not. In a statement to StarWars.com, the supervising director and executive producer of The Bad Batch, Brad Rau all but confirmed that Dark Disciple will remain cannon, saying:
“We don’t want to spoil anything, but want fans to know that any new storytelling with Ventress will align with the events of Star Wars Dark Disciple.”
While this might seem impossible given Ventress’ death in the novel, some cheeky story telling by Golden may offer some explanations as to how the former sith managed to survive.
At the end of Dark Disciple, Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos takes Ventress’ body back to her home planet of Dathomir, placing her in a dark pool of water near the village of the “Nightsisters”. When Ventress’ body enters the water, the pool turns green (the colour of Nightsister magic) and Vos hears the voices of fallen Sisters as Ventress slowly sinks into the water.
Vos assumes the voices are the Nightsisters welcoming their fallen sister into the afterlife, but it’s possible that isn’t the case.
A Dark Magic
Fans of The Clone Wars will remember, the Nightsisters have a history of resurrecting their fallen siblings. During the battle of Dathomir in S4:E19, the oldest and wisest Nightsister “Daka” performs a resurrection chant, raising an army of undead Nightsisters/brothers to fight off the incursion of General Grievous and his droid army. Although their resurrection was only temporary, fading when Grievous later kills Daka, the Nightsisters clearly have some capacity to resurrect the dead. If Rau’s comments are true and Dark Disciple isn’t being retconned, the Nightsisters resurrecting Ventress’ would be a logical explanation for her reappearance in The Bad Batch.
Regardless of how Lucasfilm spins it, it looks like Ventress is back from the dead, and if she is, it could be more than simple fan-fare.
Ventress is now the third Nightsister to appear in a recent Star Wars production, a trend which started with the introduction of Morgen Elsbeth in The Mandalorian and her reappearance in Ahsoka. Also appearing in Ahsoka are three new Nightsisters known as “The Great Mothers” whom we find accompanying Grand Admiral Thrawn on Peridia, a planet in a distant galaxy which we also learn is the Nightsisters’ home.
Ventress’ return could be a coincidence, but as the old saying goes: once is by chance, twice is a coincidence, but three is a pattern, and as Lucasfilm continues to fill-in the gap between the original trilogy and the sequels, the reintroduction of a powerful and mysterious order of evil witches could open a lot of exciting plot opportunities.