PicoBlog

I put off reading Star Wars Dark Disciple for a long time because I didn’t watch enough of The Clone Wars to properly understand (or appreciate) the character of Asajj Ventress. Friends and people who enjoy Star Wars-novels speak highly of Christie Golden’s book but I didn’t feel confident in the lore to read and/or appreciate what it had to offer. 

Over the last couple of months I decided to watch all 130+ episodes of The Clone Wars. I had already enjoyed Rebels and The Bad Batch but felt too far behind with The Clone Wars to work up the stamina to hang with Ahsoka and Anakin but I'm so glad I finally did. 

What’s remarkable about The Clone Wars is that it starts off as a great kids show and slowly morphs over the course of several seasons into high-caliber Star Wars-fiction that tackles big questions about the Republic and its characters as well as adding new twists (Mortis Arc? WOW). 

To recap quickly, The Clones Wars fills in the gap between Episode 2 and Episode 3 (and a little after). The show focuses on the Republic's war against the Separatists with Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka at the center. There are lots of stories told through different characters but the arcs of those figures are the most important (at least to me). 

The show started in 2008 and was canceled in 2013 when Disney purchased the license. Due to the cancellation, the show didn’t close off every arc and story Lucas and Dave Filoni wanted to tell. The show did come back for one final season on Disney+ in 2020 but only tied up the main characters. 

With the cancellation, the untold Clone Wars stories were told via comics and books. One of those books is Dark Disciple by Christie Golden (another nerd-fiction queen). Dark Disciple, published in 2015, is a novel adaptation of the scripts written by Katie Lucas who gives closure to Asajj Ventress’ story arc. Ventress is the sith assassin turned anti-hero after her downfall with Separatist leader, Count Dooku. In The Clone Wars, Ventriss tries to kill Dooku with her witchy Nightsisters from Dathomir. After a failed assassination attempt, Dooku launches a massacre on her coven and Ventress goes into the galaxy as a bounty hunter/mercenary but we never really find out what happened to Ventriss. 

That’s where Dark Disciple comes into play. 

In the forward of Dark Disciple, Katie Lucas writes:

I’ve always been drawn to resilient female characters having grown up obsessively watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Ventress was the punk warrior witch of my dreams. Her strength and vulnerability resonated profoundly with me. I was thrilled to be assigned the Dark Disciple episodes and had a hell of a time writing them. I was in the throes of a bad breakup, and writing for Ventress and Vos was incredibly cathartic for me.

I will reveal plot elements of The Clone Wars but will avoid giving too much away from Dark Disciple. 

Dark Disciple is about a “hail mary” attempt by the Jedi Council to assassinate Count Dooku as the Clone Wars rage on. The Council recruits the Jedi Quinlan Vos for the mission and his task is to get close to Ventress and coerce her to kill Dooku with him. Vos takes on bounty missions with Ventress and the two bond, become lovers and commit to killing Dooku. Vos doesn’t have a ton of screen time in The Clone Wars but he becomes an integral part of the story with the inclusion of this book. 

I’m not going to spoil what happens because this is a book I think every SW fan should read and the twists and turns are executed well. I know I talk in depth about other books but this is such a treat that I would feel awful to rob anyone of this experience. 

But I do want to talk about Ventress and how much sympathy I developed for her over the course of the show and Dark Disciple.

At a young age, Ventress was taken from Dathomir and her Nightsisters. She was orphaned and found by a jedi named Ky Narac who trained her in the way of the force. Narac was killed and it sent Ventress into a murderous rage and she allowed the dark side to take over. At this point she became an apprentice/assassin for Count Dooku. As I stated above, she was betrayed by Dooku and fell into the world of bounty hunting before running into Vos. 

Ventress is portrayed as a straight villain in The Clone Wars when you first start watching the show. I didn’t expect there to be any depth or growth from her. I just figured she would be cut down by one of the Jedi at some point. 

When Dooku left her for dead after a failed mission, I felt for her a bit but was sorta like “well, well, well - consequences of your own actions, my dear.” 

It wasn’t until the Dathormir massacre arc that I turned my sympathy on for Ventress and felt like she was someone I wanted to see get their revenge.

Ventress does help Ahsoka when Ahsoka is accused of murder and we see another side of Ventress that is complicated. Maybe even good? While Ventress won’t win light points, she is the perfect anti-hero who is a character of her circumstances and not evil at heart. 

Dark Disciple starts where Season 6 of The Clone Wars ends (at least in the timeline). Lucas and Golden take on the task of vilifying a jedi and redeeming a former sith. Ventress is given pardon for her past actions by the Jedi which means everything and nothing to her. Ventress no longer has a home, family or anything to be attached to. It feels too little, too late for her. What is always complicated about the Jedi Council is that they only give when they know they can get - they are not always selfless. Dark Disciple shines a light on the Council and how they navigate their politics as well. It’s too easy to just assume they are the good guys. 

In this review of Dark Disciple, Charles Hanckel of YouTini said this:

Golden also made a great decision to write from several different characters’ perspectives. The reader is allowed to crawl into the consciousness of Vos as he questions how far he is willing to go for a mission, of Ventress as she doubts if she deserves a happy future in spite of her murderous past, and of Kenobi as he desperately tries to manage the entire situation for the Council, which he believes is treading dangerously close to the dark side itself.

At the end of the novel we are faced with a bittersweet feeling of redemption, loss and closure. I wasn’t expecting to feel as emotional as I did when I closed this book but it hit me hard. I also wasn’t sure if I agreed with the Jedi Council and their actions throughout this entire story. I mean the more you spend time in the fiction of Star Wars, the Jedi make more bad calls then good ones, it seems. 

Star Wars usually cuts a line between good and evil/light and dark/jedi and sith. Dark Disciple complicates presumed feelings about what we are supposed to know. I’m not saying Star Wars is ALWAYS black and white with morality, but this novel doesn’t care about your expectations. 

I am glad I didn’t spoil this book for myself after all these years and I’m also glad it was one of the reasons to watch The Clone Wars which is incredible television. I hope we do get a film version of this book one day - it would be perfect for the format. 

And may we give Ventress the love she never had. 

Share Damage Per Second

P.S. - can we just take a minute to appreciate this bad ass photo of Christie Golden?

Queen!

ncG1vNJzZmiilajApq7Aq6uepF6owqO%2F05qapGaTpLpwvI6sq5qqXayus7%2BMnZiro12ZtrSvyKmjnmWjrrqxrdOhsA%3D%3D