| “ | Barriss Offee was wrong about a lot of things. She let her anger cloud her judgement and she tried to justify her actions without considering their wider effects. She was afraid of the war and she didn't trust people she should've listened to. But she had a point about the Republic and the Jedi. There was something wrong with them, and we were too locked into our traditions to see what it was. Barriss should've done something else. She shouldn't have killed anyone, and she definitely shouldn't have framed me for it, but if we'd listened to her, really listened, we might have been able to stop Palpatine before he took power. | „ |
| ~ Ahsoka Tano expressing her feelings over Barriss Offee's actions. |
Barriss Offee is a major character in the Star Wars franchise. She was a former Mirialan Jedi Knight, General, and Healer. She carried a blue lightsaber (later Asajj Ventress's two red lightsabers) and was once a friend to Ahsoka Tano.
She was portrayed by Nalini Krishan in Attack of the Clones and voiced by Meredith Salenger in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series and Tales of the Empire.
History[]
The Clone Wars[]
Barriss was once the loyal Jedi Padawan of Luminara Unduli and a skilled healer. In the period of the Clone Wars, she earned the rank of Jedi Knight and General. However, as she was fighting in this galactic conflict, she slowly realized how bad it truly was and came to blame the Jedi Order for causing it in the first place. This led her to secretly turn to the dark side.
Fueled by delusion and immorality, to show her protest, she launched a secret bombing on the Jedi Temple. She forced Letta Turmond to feed explosive nano-droids to her husband, Jackar Bowmani, who worked in the Jedi Temple as a munitions expert. The next day in the hanger, nano-droids blew up, killing Jackar and six Jedi as well as clone troopers. All evidence led to Letta and she is sent to the prison. When Ahsoka Tano came to see her, Letta was Force-choked to death by Offee, but it was Ahsoka who ended up in the prison for "killing" her.
Offee later entered the prison, killed several guards and helped Ahsoka to escape, with her believing it was her master, Anakin Skywalker, who helped her. Unfortunately, Ahsoka was blamed for killing the guards and had to flee and attempt to prove her innocence. She contacted Offee, who pretended to help her and led Ahsoka to a warehouse. She then knocked off Asajj Ventress, stole her mask and lightsabers, and attacked the Togruta, disguised as Ventress with a hooded cloak. Their duel ended when Ahsoka fell off a balcony, landed near crates of nano-droids, and was arrested by the clones. Shortly afterward, Ahsoka was brought before the Jedi Council, who proceeded to expel her from the Jedi Order, stripping her of her rank, title, and battlefield privileges, and turned her over to the Republic military courts so she could receive more "impartial' judgment.
However, Anakin was the only one who correctly believed Ahsoka was innocent and hunted for proof of the real culprit. He questioned Ventress who told him that Ahsoka was in contact with Offee, making him suspicious. He came to the Mirialan's quarters where he talked to her about his investigation. Realizing that Anakin was onto her, and was about to attack her with his lightsaber, Barriss decided to drop her cover by pulling out Ventress' blades with her mind to defend herself. They fought throughout the temple, during which, Anakin chastised her for betraying Ahsoka, only Barriss to respond by saying that trust is overrated and that violence is what the Jedi believe in anymore. Their fight took to the courtyard, where Barriss was finally defeated and captured.
Anakin then brought Offee to Ahsoka's trial, thus saving his Padawan from capital punishment. Offee fiercely stated what she believed to the entire court: She felt that the Jedi had grown corrupt and were the ones truly responsible for the Clone Wars; that they are the real villains, the real ones to be put on trial. Barriss also stated that it was only a matter of time before they and the entire Galactic Republic would fall. Afterward, she was imprisoned while all charges against Ahsoka were dropped. The young Togruta was personally invited by the Jedi Council to rejoin the Order, but she refused and left, having lost faith in the Council for not believing in her.
Barriss breaking the partnership between Anakin and Ahsoka lead to unknown consequences and possibilities. Anakin had lost his Padawan, who had served as a humbling and compassionate bond, but losing this meant there was one less obstacle to his decline into becoming Darth Vader. Ahsoka may have been saved in the long-term, since she was able to build connections that she would later use in service of the future Rebellion, which she couldn't have done if she remained within the Jedi Order.
Barris' prediction about the moral decay of the Galactic Republic would come to fruition as Darth Sidious transitioned it into the Galactic Empire, initiating the Jedi Purge in the process. Her former master, Luminara Unduli was betrayed and killed. Unduli's bones were later used by The Grand Inquisitor to lure the Jedi who survived Order 66 from their exile.
Tales of the Empire[]
During Order 66, Barriss was in her cell, from which she could see the Jedi Temple in flames; she asked the guards what was happening, one of two clone troopers responds sardonically that she should consider herself lucky to no longer be a Jedi as their era is over, and another is rising. Sometime after the rise of the Empire, Barriss is met by a Jedi Master she knew as Lyn, the latter offering her an opportunity, but not explaining it, regardless, Barriss accepted the offer.
Lyn escorts Barriss to planet Nur, into the under construction, yet functional Fortress Inquisitorius. Barriss is escorted to a throne room, where she meets two fellow former Padawans, one of whom was her friend Ahmar, while the other Dante shows disdain for her terrorist activities before the fall of the Republic. The Grand Inquisitor explains that the Jedi were corrupt, thus were destroyed, however, there needs to be something to replace them to be the *real* protectors of the galaxy under the new Galactic Empire.
The three young candidates are escorted to wait in a small barracks until ordered otherwise. Dante refuses to partake in the obvious indoctrination, so prepares to flee; Barriss warns him against it, while the other candidate brings up the danger the deserter's absence will bring to them, but Dante doesn't care. Barriss and her friend Ahmar are brought to an armory before the Grand Inquisitor, who congratulates them on their sensibility, while revealing the deserter had been caught and executed.
The Grand Inquisitor takes Barriss alone into a deeper chamber; he presents her with a lightsaber, ordering her to attack him. She is initially reluctant, since he is unarmed, however, he claims it won't matter. Barriss attacks the Grand Inquisitor, however, can't land a hit; he criticises her for fighting "like a Jedi," trying to drive her to tap into her rage. She managed to scrape the armour around his shoulder, which he complimented before knocking her away with the Force, causing injury to her nose, making it bleed. In response, Barriss similarly used the Force to push him to wall, leaving him with a similar nosebleed. Afterwards he declares the lesson over and a success.
The final lesson sets Barriss against her friend, Ahmar, with the Grand Inquisitor providing only one lightsaber, along with the offer that they can choose to not fight, but instead of one, both would die; the competing candidates are trapped within a slowly compressing ray shield, while a pit steals most of the remaining space. Barriss tries to avoid conflict, by trying to reason that they don't need to fight; her friend, however, rejects this, taking the lightsaber and attempting to kill her. While Barriss doesn't retaliate, only dodging, once she suffers an intense burn from the ray shield against her back, she finally counterattacks; she Force chokes her friend until snapping his neck, then tosses his body into the pit. The Grand Inquisitor proudly declares her the winner.
After some time, Barriss accompanies Lyn, now known as the Fourth Sister and recruited into the Inquisitorius, a group of Force-sensitive Jedi hunters; both donned in Inquisitorial armour, and Barriss has a masked helmet. In the throne room, they are joined by the Grand Inquisitor, Marrok, First Brother. They are introduced to their master, Darth Vader, who sits upon the throne, compelling the gathered to kneel before him; while Barriss seems much less fanatical than the others, she bows nonetheless - also, she appeared to be unaware that Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, the man who had foiled her misguided revolutionary plot.
Barriss and the Fourth Sister are sent to a destitute planet, which Barriss doubts the logic behind searching, while Fourth dismissed her doubts, declaring that the Grand Inquisitor is never wrong. Upon seeing the famine-stricken people, Barriss is disturbed and upset that the Empire would do this to people, but Fourth callously counters that only total obedience to the Empire will allow aid.
While Fourth Sister interrogates the villagers - mainly the village elder - with questions and implied threats, Barriss noticed a boy retreat to an alley. Barriss reaches the boy and gently questions him; seeing his fear, she removes her masked helmet to reassure him. The boy confesses that the Jedi is hiding in the mountains; Barriss takes the information to Fourth, who becomes irate upon confirmation that she was deceived, thus she massacres the village. Barriss hides the boy's sight from the slaughter, and afterwards softly escorts him from the village, blocking the path so he can't see the carnage.
Barriss criticizes Fourth Sister, noting that Inquisitors are meant to bring order not chaos, but the latter denies the accusation, claiming that when the Empire's enemies are all dead, then there will be order. The inquisitors climb up the mountain, before reaching the top, a tactical mass of boulders falls down; Barriss warns Fourth, who dodges it, while Barriss herself - with less time - navigates through the small avalanche.
Upon reaching the top, Fourth Sister is already engaged in combat with the Jedi, but she is defeated, with Barriss saving her with her lightsaber to block the Jedi's own. Barriss essentially defeats the Jedi; she reasons with him, noting that she also felt betrayed by the Jedi Order, and observing that they must be exhausted from all the running and fighting, but they aren't alone, as together, they can find peace in something new. As the Jedi drops their guard, about to agree, they are struck down by Fourth Sister; Barriss is horrified, but notices the Jedi is still alive, if barely. Barriss condemns her partner for her cruelty, noting that the Jedi had surrendered, however, Fourth retorts that their work isn't done until the Jedi are all gone; Barriss affirms herself to be another Jedi to be destroyed, and as Fourth attacks her, Barriss Force pushes her off the mountaintop; she also removed her Inquisitor helmet, dropping it from the cliff to reinforce her rejection of the group. Barriss lifts the Jedi, and presumably sees them to recovery.
At some point afterwards, Barriss established herself as the Wise Mother, a sage and healer located on some isolated ice planet.
Many years later, after the events of Obi-Wan Kenobi season 1, a couple and their baby are traveling through a thick snowstorm; they are found by a guide, who takes them to a hut in the middle of the tundra. The guide introduced the couple and child to the Wise Mother. She requests to know the baby's ailment, but the parents answer she doesn't have one, rather some Imperial forces were testing blood of their people, and found something in their baby that made the Empire pursue her.
Wise Mother explains how the baby is Force sensitive, as she once was herself; she relays that the Jedi found her, and adopted her into their ranks to train her to use her full Force potential; she expresses nostalgia for that time, as well as deep regret for how it ended, especially damning her actions in a short-sighted endeavour to amend a flawed system, yet merely did nothing but cause suffering. The parents ask if that means their baby is a Jedi, however, Wise Mother notes the baby only has the potential, which can no longer be fulfilled without the Jedi Order, and the Empire's goals would be malevolent and harmful. In spite of the danger, Wise Mother calms them by explaining that she can send them to an old friend (implied to be Ahsoka), who will deliver them to safety.
The guide alerts that someone is coming; Barriss directs the guide to take the couple and baby to her ship and take off, while she delays the Imperial. The hunting inquisitor is the Fourth Sister, who is amused by the irony that she only now finds Barriss when not actually looking for her. Barriss addresses her as "Lyn," but Fourth irritably rejects the name; she demands to know where the baby is, but Barriss cryptically warns her to be wary of her own fate. Despite being unarmed, Barriss easily dodges Fourth's lightsaber swings, over and over, until only slightly fighting back with a Force push. Angered, Fourth again demands to know where the baby is now.
Barriss, feeling as she had stalled enough, allows Fourth Sister to chase the baby through the ice hills; however, the ice hills are a maze that can't be navigated without foreknowledge, and are especially challenging for those clouded by the dark side. The guide, couple, and baby manage to flee in a ship, driving Fourth into a rage. Barriss communicates with her through echoes, continuing to call her by her light side name, Lyn, while also continuing to try to reason with her about hate and the Empire only leading to more tragedy. Angered by Barriss' misdirection and theatrics, Fourth claimed to be an ally of fear, but Barriss corrected her that fear was actually her master.
Fourth Sister strikes at the reflections of the ice walls, as Barriss' reasoning and compassion undermine her indoctrination. Fourth turns and stabs, managing to impale Barriss through the chest, however, instead of triumphant, Fourth or rather Lyn, is distressed and mournful. While wounded, Barriss continues to comfort her, and assuring her it is possible to atone from a horrible mistake. Lyn lifts Barriss to carry her, and now unclouded by the dark side, is able to swiftly find a way out of the ice maze. It isn't known whether Barriss received medical care in time, but it is clear that she had repented and redeemed for her past errors, and had ended up as a hero.
Personality[]
Barriss was at first an average young Padawan, aiming to be a Jedi, holding a strong sense of compassion and justice. However, her Master, Luminara Unduli's meditatively detached persona meant that Barriss was not properly informed about the horrors of war; when the Clone Wars began, she had a vague understanding of its dangers, yet lacked the teaching to either reassure or merely inform her. Upon entering her first significant battle on Geonosis, she was joined by fellow Padawan, Ahsoka Tano; the girls became fast friends, largely due to predominantly spending their time with people who aren't in their age group. Due to Anakin's more straightforward training, Ahsoka's own experiences, and Ahsoka's inherently strong-willed nature, she was of immense support to Barriss.
When Barriss and Ahsoka were buried alive, they were presumed dead. Luminara, believing in the transitory nature of life, accepted that they had moved on into the Force, whereas Anakin refused to give up, the latter leading a successful rescue. Learning that her Master was willing to accept her death without protest made Barriss feel as though she didn't matter, shaking her sense of self-worth and faith in the Jedi. Before she could process this, a Geonosian parasite had infested several clones and her, leading them to be puppets into retaliation for the planet's invasion. Barriss was freed from the parasite, but this added to her trauma.
Barriss and Ahsoka parted ways due to different duties, but they would reunite on Coruscant. Barriss, having been traumatized by the war and becoming disillusioned about the Jedi commitment to peace yet seeing their hypocrisy in still engaging in the Clone Wars, instigated a terrorist plot against the Jedi Temple, in some misguided attempt to protest it; ironically, not seeing her own hypocrisy in using violence to protest violence.
Despite their friendship, Barriss framed Ahsoka, causing the latter to go on the run; Ahsoka sought her help, yet Barriss callously gave her a false lead that would end in Ahsoka's arrest. After Ahsoka's arrest, Anakin's faith in his Padawan's innocence motivates him to investigate himself; he interrogates Asajj Ventress (also framed by Barriss) who told him that Ahsoka was in contact with Barriss, which lead a suspicious Anakin to her. Feeling cornered, Barriss pulled out lightsabers she had stolen from Ventress, thus proving her guilt. but was swiftly defeated and taken into custody by the Jedi Knight.
Barriss was moved by Anakin into the tribunal that was sentencing Ahsoka. Seeing no more use in subterfuge, Barriss admits her crimes, which exonerates Ahsoka, but Barriss goes on to blame the Jedi Order for causing her actions; she condemns the Jedi for - what she believed - prolonging the war despite the oath to keep peace. Barriss confessed her fear that the Jedi and Republic were close to becoming the very thing of corruption and cruelty that they are meant to fight against. As Barriss and Ahsoka part for the final time, Barriss has a solemn expression, indicating that she had enough awareness left to feel guilt at betraying and ruining the life of one of her only friends.
Barriss was still in custody when the flawed Galactic Republic was reformed into the tyrannical Galactic Empire, thus proving most of her paranoia about the Republic true. Due to being dismissed from the Jedi and being a prisoner, Barriss was not a victim of Order 66; regardless of her animosity towards the Jedi Order, she was unnerved and saddened to see the Jedi Temple in flames, thus indicating a hint of returning to her original sense of compassion.
Despite being enlisted into the Inquisitorius, she displayed strong reluctance at every step, merely following a path of least resistance. When it was demanded that she kill a rival to progress, she at first rejects taking the test, trying to convince her opponent to do the same; however, he chose self-interest, thus attempted to kill her. Even then, Barriss only responded with violence when driven into a corner, using a Force choke, which displayed that while she wasn't convinced of the validity of the Inquisitors, she still had a lingering connection to the dark side, but also she didn't immediately resort to violence anymore.
During her first Jedi hunt, she attempted to approach the populace of a village with kindness, as she was likely deceiving herself that the Empire was a just replacement for the corrupt Republic, rather than something worse. Barriss was gentle in questioning a child, genuinely trying to be a protector of the innocent again; when Fourth Sister's anger at the village's deception drove her to slaughter them, Barriss shielded the child from it and its aftermath. Barriss was disgusted at the display of brutality, arguing that the point of the Inquisitors was to protect the people, albeit Fourth spitefully noted that liars are traitors and only the loyal deserve protection, and the loyal only become such through subservience.
After Fourth Sister nearly murdered the defeated Jedi they found, Barriss reached an epiphany, realizing that her condemnation of the Jedi was likely wrong, or at the very least an incorrect conclusion, judging how the usurping Inquisitors were so much worse than she had seen the Jedi. After abandoning the Inquisitorius, Barriss adopted a life of peace, compassion, and healing; she cunningly avoided Imperial detection for decades, yet still made herself accessible to people in need of healing or guidance.
It is implied that at some point Barriss restored her friendship with Ahsoka, which is understandable for Ahsoka as she was once a close friend and could be forgiving when it is a sincere attempt at atonement, which therefore suggests that Barriss was capable of returning to a sincere, kind person that Ahsoka would forgive. Along that line, Barriss confessed intense remorse for cruelty and evil that she had committed in the past, thus showing that she was able to introspect and understand that her terrorism wasn't justice, but only more violence.
Contrary to her self-righteousness during the declining years of the Clone Wars, upon reuniting with the Fourth Sister, who she knew formerly as Jedi, Lyn, Barriss displayed no judgement over her violent, former associate, possibly because Barriss' own descent into murdering the innocent made her empathize with Lynn, since she personally knew how easy it was to fall into unforgivable deeds due to misguided or misinformed influences. With the wisdom of age, Barriss never directly counterattacked Lyn, with her most *aggressive* move being a slight Force push to shift her away.
Barriss could have avoided any danger that attention from the Empire would bring to her, yet instead risked her life for decades to help numerous strangers, most of whom she'd never see again. While Barriss had once been willing to sacrifice essentially her best friend's life to spare her own, years later, she was willing to wager her own life to save an enemy. She used her own fall and redemption to understand that she could save Lynn, a once good person turned vicious and vile, but could be restored to her original decent self, and as such Barriss persisted in reasoning with her, until suffering a possibly fatal injury, since her belief in peace and compassion had become her true attributes once again.
Killed Victims[]
- 5 Jedi (killed in a bombing)
- Tutso Mara (killed in a bombing)
- Letta Turmond (Force-choked to death, successfully framing Ahsoka in the process)
- 3 clone troopers (slashed with a lightsaber)
- Dante (Force-choked to death in self-defense)
Quotes[]
| “ | Anakin: "Ahsoka trusted you and you betrayed her!" Bariss: "I've learned that 'trust' is overrated. The only thing the Jedi Council believes in is violence!" |
„ |
| ~ Barriss Offee expressing her views. |
| “ | I did it. Because I've come to realize what many people in the Republic have come to realize, that the Jedi are the ones responsible for this war. That we've so lost our way that we have become villains in this conflict, that we are the ones that should be put on trial! All of us! And my attack on the Temple was an attack on what the Jedi have become: an army fighting for the dark side, fallen from the light that we once held so dear. This Republic is failing! It's only a matter of time. | „ |
| ~ Barriss Offee's confession. |
| “ | The Jedi are gone. They paid for their hubris, but you don't have to. Set down your weapon, come with me. | „ |
| ~ Barriss gradually returning to her good heart, although still clinging to remnants of her judgemental opinion of the Jedi Order |
| “ | I know what it is like to be lied to, to be deceived, but that's over now. Turn yourself in, you have a chance for a new life! | „ |
| ~ As an Inquisitor, Barriss still held onto to her resentment of the Jedi Order, but had become centered enough to offer mercy to a runaway Jedi |
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Barriss Offee's final fate in Canon Continuity was unknown. Some believed that Barris Offee joined the Inquisitorius of the Galactic Empire after the war, like many other former Jedi. It has now been confirmed that she did become an Inquisitor, however, was hesitant to join, and ultimately abandoned the group due to disgust over how it operated, which also made her regret her own murderous actions. Her fate is unknown after she was gravely injured by the Fourth Sister but she brings back her to the Light side. Barriss is taken away by the former Inquisitor to be healed.
- Ironically, as she became an Inquisitor, she would have been trained and led by the very same man who exposed and captured her: Anakin Skywalker, who later became Darth Vader.
- Many people have claimed that the Seventh Sister was Barriss Offee due to their similar appearances, but Filoni confirmed that they are two different characters.
- Ironically, as she became an Inquisitor, she would have been trained and led by the very same man who exposed and captured her: Anakin Skywalker, who later became Darth Vader.
- Barriss and Marrok were the only the known Inquisitors to not have their sibling title revealed.
- She was originally supposed to die in the season 5 finale but was spared since Dave Filoni said he had plans for the character.
- Despite this, Barriss hasn't appeared in any form of Star Wars media for the next 11 years, until her return in "Tales of the Empire" where she becomes an Inquisitor.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode director Giancarlo Volpe originally pushed for Barriss Offee to have a romantic relationship with Ahsoka Tano in "Weapons Factory", only for his idea to be ignored likely due to how conservative children's television shows used to be back then in the 2000s. The later episode "The Jedi Who Knew Too Much" would suggest she had feelings for Tutso Mara, a male Jedi Knight. In the Legends Continuity novel MedStar I: Battle Surgeons, Jos Vondar feels attracted to Barriss and thinks about how she may look like under her robes, but it's unknown if Barriss felt anything similar for him in return.
