By George & Josh Bate
Fan favorite Asajj Ventress made her grand return in this week’s episode of The Bad Batch. Ventress’ involvement in the episode entails various easter eggs and references throughout “The Harbinger.” Read below for all the easter eggs & hidden details we noticed in The Bad Batch Season 3 Episode 9.
Obviously, first and foremost, there is Ventress herself. You can read more about the entire backstory of the character here, but, to recap, she first appeared in canon in The Clone Wars as an assassin for Count Dooku. After being disregarded by the Sith Lord, she became a bounty hunter and eventually teamed up with Quinlan Vos to kill Dooku, as depicted in Christie Golden’s novel Dark Disciple. This mission didn’t go to plan, however, as Ventress died…at least, that’s what we thought.
Ventress’ return from the dead isn’t explained in “The Harbinger,” but there’s some hints about what she’s been up to. Ventress has seemingly had some run-ins with the Empire since Dark Disciple, as she warns the Bad Batch of the dangers of the Empire.
In an interview with StarWars.com, Ventress voice actress Nika Futterman and others discussed the return of the fan favorite character. Futterman remarked regarding the character’s return, “It was really surprising and very exciting. She’s fun, interesting, and multi-layered. She’s all these things that I wanted to continue on doing. So, of course, I was like, ‘Yeah, baby! What is next?’” Futterman continued, “They found a way to continue her story. I think they must have discovered that the fans really love this character and they want her around, which makes me very happy because I love her, too.”
The StarWars.com article reveals that Ventress coming back was actually Dave Filoni’s idea. Executive producer / head writer Jennifer Corbett commented about possible continuity issues with The Bad Batch and the novel Dark Disciple. “We had several discussions about the book and how her story could continue,” Corbett stated. “How she survived will be revealed in future content, but for this story, we were thrilled to include her and explore her unique connection to, and compassion for, Omega.”
Back to the easter eggs…
This is not the first time Asajj Ventress has came back from the dead. In the Legends comic Star Wars Obsession 5, Ventress was resurrected from the dead.
Asajj Ventress appears in The Bad Batch – Season 3, Episode 9. Quinlan Vos, the man who Ventress falls in love with in Dark Disciple, appears in The Clone Wars – Season 3, Episode 9. An interesting, probably unintentional, easter egg.
Ventress’ hair style in this episode is similar to her hair in a flashback in The Clone Wars. It’s possible her hair symbolizes her alignment to the light side of the Force.
The black snake symbol on Ventress’ arm first appeared in The Clone Wars. This was chosen as, like Ventress, snakes are often misunderstood creatures.
Ventress finally uses the word “midichlorian” to describe M-count. Her description of midichlorians is similar to how Qui-Gon explains the concept to Anakin in The Phantom Menace.
Ventress states that she “knows some of the Jedi ways.” This is a reference to her training under Ky Narec as a Jedi padawan. This was depicted in the audio drama Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott and a flashback in The Clone Wars.
Ventress says that she and the Bad Batch were pawns of the same war. This implies that Ventress knows that the Clone Wars was manipulated by Palpatine, who pitted the Republic against the Separatists in order to gain emergency powers and, eventually, turn the Republic into his personal Empire.
In “The Harbinger,” Ventress tests Omega to see if she is Force sensitive. The initial training involving Omega balancing on a rock has some great visual callbacks to Luke training Rey on Ahch-To in The Last Jedi. Luke and Ventress were both attempting to test the Force potential of a young woman, and happened to be on an isolated island.
Ventress uses a yellow lightsaber in the episode. She joins Rey Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and Marchion Ro as some of the characters who have wielded a blade with a yellow kyber crystal.
Omega gets frustrated at Ventress during her training in a manner very similar to Luke getting frustrated at Yoda during his training in The Empire Strikes Back.
This is far from the first time a big monster has challenged the Bad Batch. Wrecker even made a remark about the frequency in which they come across big monsters this season in “The Return.” The creature in The Bad Batch is called a Vrathean, and you can see some concept art of the creature by Dawn Carlos below.
Ventress uses the Force to calm down the massive sea creature in a manner very similar to how Ahsoka used the Force to communicate with the purrgil in Ahsoka.
Ventress tells Hunter and Crosshair that, if Omega is Force sensitive, she would have to be trained, which would entail leaving her team behind. This dilemma of staying with one’s found family or training in the Force came up in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett as Grogu left and eventually returned to Din Djarin after training to be a Jedi with Luke Skywalker. This is also what happened when Anakin left his mother Shmi to train with the Jedi.
At the end of the episode, Ventress makes a remark about having “a few more lives left,” implying that she has died and came back from the dead in the past. Is it possible some kind of Nighsister / dark side magick was used to revive Ventress? In the StarWars.com interview, voice actress Nika Futterman teased that this is not the last we’ve seen of Ventress. She stated, “I think we’re going to find out a lot of things about a lot of things. And I think we’re going to have all kinds of fun adventures.”
Check out our full spoiler review and analysis of The Bad Batch – Season 3, Episode 9: “The Harbinger” below. And stay tuned to The HoloFiles and Star Wars Holocron for continued coverage of the final season of The Bad Batch.