Star Wars Just Broke an Extremely Problematic Jedi and Sith Trend

The Star Wars animated series, Tales of the Empire, finally answers a question fans have been asking since the fifth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars — what happened to Barriss Offee? The young Jedi Padawan, Barriss Offee, was a peer and close friend of Ahsoka Tano, the Padawan of Anakin Skywalker. However, Season 5 of The Clone Wars revealed that Barriss had betrayed the Jedi and framed Ahsoka for her attack on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. While Barriss’ last-minute capture and confession saw her friend walk free, her betrayal and the Jedi Council’s subsequent lack of faith in Ahsoka saw Anakin’s Padawan refuse to return to the Jedi Order.

“The Wrong Jedi” is the episode that saw Barriss Offee unveiled as the Jedi Temple’s true attacker and marked the end of Ahsoka’s and Barriss’ time as Jedi. While Ahsoka’s story has been continued in Season 7 of The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels and Ahsoka, among other series, Barriss Offee’s fate after she was imprisoned for her attack on the Jedi Temple had remained a mystery until the release of Tales of the Empire. Many fans suspected Barriss would become an Inquisitor, potentially meeting her end at the hand of Darth Vader or even Ahsoka herself. However, Tales of the Empire revealed an unexpected twist in her story, giving her a unique relationship with the Force that has so far been under-explored in Star Wars media.

Updated by Alex Roush on November 5, 2024: Tales of the Empire, sequel to Tales of Jedi, is an animated Star Wars series released earlier this year. The series helps solve many unanswered questions and fill in some missing backstories of Barriss Offee and Morgan Elsbeth. This article has been updated to include more information on the series, enhance the reader experience, and adhere to CBR formatting guidelines.

Tales of the Empire Is the Successor to Tales of the Jedi

Barriss Offee Is One of Two Main Characters

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire premiered on May 4, 2024, over a year after its predecessor, Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi. Both series share a unique set-up, alternating between the stories of two main characters. Tales of the Empire follows former Jedi Barriss Offee and young Nightsister witch Morgan Elsbeth during different periods of the Galactic Empire. Tales of the Empire confirmed one major fan theory about Barriss Offee: following the fall of the Jedi Order and the Republic’s transformation into the Empire, she became an Inquisitor.

Related

10 Things Fans Want to See From the New Star Wars Animated Project

There are countless stories ripe for adaptation into Star Wars animation – these are the ten that fans are most interested in seeing come to life.

With her past disdain for the Jedi and her expulsion from the Jedi Order making her an ideal candidate, the Inquisitorius sent Barriss’ fellow former Jedi, Lyn Rakish (now the Fourth Sister), to recruit Barriss to their ranks. Tales of the Empire, Episode 4, “Devoted,” chronicled Barriss’ initial trials and training as an Inquisitor. At first, she showed a natural flair for this new role. Soon, however, it became clear that a life in the Inquisitorius was not a path to which Barriss Offee was well suited.

Barriss Offee Returned to the Light Side, But Not the Jedi Order

She Eventually Realized the Truth About the Inquisitorius

Episode 5 of Tales of the Empire, “Realization,” saw Barriss accompanying the Fourth Sister on a mission to hunt down a Jedi. Barriss had been fed an idealistic version of the Inquisitors’ mission by Lyn and believed the Inquisitors were protecting the galaxy from the supposedly traitorous Jedi. She was therefore alarmed by the brutality with which the Fourth Sister treated the locals they were questioning about the Jedi’s location. When the Fourth Sister cut down villagers who had refused to reveal the Jedi’s whereabouts, Barriss’ faith was shaken. Later, when the Fourth Sister killed the Jedi as they were about to surrender, Barriss turned against her and the Inquisitorius.

When Barriss renounced the Inquisitorius at the end of “Realization,” she identified herself as a Jedi once more. However, with no Jedi Order left in the galaxy, Barriss ended up on a different path from what most Star Wars fans would recognize as a Jedi. The final episode of Tales of the Empire, “The Way Out,” revealed what became of Barriss after she left the Inquisitorius. Having settled on a remote, snowy planet, Barriss became a reclusive mystic, known to locals only as “the healer.” She was seen helping a family trying to protect their Force-sensitive child from the Empire. The episode ended with a reunion between Barriss and Lyn. Barriss could lure the Inquisitor to a cave, where she helped Lyn find her way back to the light.

Related

Star Wars Already Has the Perfect Series For Omega’s Next Appearance

Omega is the breakout character of The Bad Batch and fans are eager to see her jump to live-action and one new series is the perfect opportunity.

Barriss’ new role in “The Way Out” is noteworthy, as it marks a rare instance of a Force-wielder using the light side without adhering to the ways of the Jedi. While a few dark side traditions have emerged outside the Sith in Star Wars, such as the Inquisitors, it is rare to see a character who follows the light and uses the Force but is not a Jedi. In many ways, Barriss still adheres to the principles of the Jedi Order in “The Way Out,” but she is far more pacifistic than the Jedi Knights, no longer carrying a lightsaber and acting as a healer and guide, rather than a warrior. As the Star Wars franchise continues to grow under Disney, stories about characters like Barriss who exist beyond the familiar philosophies of the Jedi could help the saga evolve.

Barriss Offee Goes Beyond Ahsoka Tano’s Example

Both Identify as Non-Jedi Light-Side Force Users

Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano left the Jedi Order at the same time, though both went on to continue using the Force to help others. In many ways, their stories run parallel to one another, their lives after Order 66 being shaped by Barriss’ betrayal. After Barriss turned her back on the Inquisitorius, she and Ahsoka continued to adhere to the core principles of the Jedi Order, but neither was truly a Jedi anymore. Ahsoka even infamously proclaimed when facing Darth Vader on Star Wars Rebels, “I am no Jedi.” However, while Ahsoka may have renounced the Jedi in name, Barriss is a greater example of a light-side user who is truly something other than a Jedi.

Ahsoka has always continued to act like a Jedi, despite no longer calling herself one after she left the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars. This was pointed out to her by Trace and Rafa Martez in Season 7 of The Clone Wars and by Bail Organa in E.K. Johnston’s novel, Ahsoka. Although she left the Order and the title of Jedi behind, Ahsoka continued to wield lightsabers and rejoined the fight against tyranny when the Empire rose to power, allying herself with the Rebellion’s efforts to bring peace to the galaxy. Like a Jedi, Ahsoka Tano remained a warrior fighting to end the conflict and free the galaxy from darkness.

Related

Star Wars: Ahsoka Season 2 Gets Production Update

The next season of Disney+’s Ahsoka has gotten a filming update.

By contrast, Ahsoka’s friend Barriss Offee left the fight behind after she left the Inquisitorius. “The Way Out” revealed that Barriss still had some ties to the conflict that had gripped the galaxy, sending the parents who came to visit her and their Force-sensitive child to “an old friend” — possibly Ahsoka — who would be able to help them evade the Empire. However, while Barriss helps those who come to her seeking healing or guidance, she is not part of the Rebellion, nor a direct part of the fight against the Empire in any significant capacity. She has adopted a lonelier and more peaceful way of life, living in seclusion, as if in penance for her past sins.

Barriss’ new life as a healer embodies the essence of the light side of the Force. While the Jedi understood the need to fight against the darkness to ensure peace, violence and conflict are more inherently connected to the dark side of the Force. By only acting compassionately, in aid of those who need it, Barriss is a pure expression of the nature of the light side. As a healer, she demonstrates a way in which a Force-sensitive individual might utilize their abilities and connection to the Force without practicing the ways of the Jedi or falling to the influence of the Force’s dark side. Barriss’ story establishes that light-side traditions outside the Jedi Order can exist in the Star Wars galaxy and could offer a fresh perspective on the Force.

Star Wars Force Traditions Outside the Jedi and the Sith

There Are Several Force-Sensitive Factions

While Barriss Offee’s new path at the end of Tales of the Empire is a departure from what has been seen in Star Wars before, she and Ahsoka Tano are not the only Force-wielders to have been introduced who are neither Jedi nor Sith. What makes Barriss stand out is that she is one of the only Force-wielders who is significantly distinct from the Jedi but is not a dark-side user. With the possible exception of the Guardians of the Whills, as seen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (who follow the teachings of the Force, but cannot wield it as explicitly as the Jedi), almost all Force traditions outside the Jedi and the Sith that have previously been seen have been aligned with the dark side.

These various Force-sensitive factions include the Inquisitors, who are former Jedi, turned into instruments of the Sith; the Knights of Ren, seen in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, who act as enforcers of Kylo Ren; and the Nightsisters of Dathomir, who tap into the dark side to use their own magic. Ahsoka introduced Baylan Skoll as a former Jedi who had fallen to the dark side but had not become a Sith. Instead, Baylan founded his own ideology, which remains as yet unnamed, and trained Shin Hati as his apprentice.

Beyond these factions, the most significant Force-wielders in Star Wars canon who do not follow the ways of the Jedi or Sith are the Mortis Gods. These three otherworldly apparitions each embodied a different aspect of the Force — the Daughter was the light, the Son was the dark side and the Father was balance — though all three were killed during the Son’s attempt to escape Mortis in The Clone Wars. In a similar vein, Season 6 of The Clone Wars introduced the Force priestess encountered by Yoda in his quest for the secrets of immortality, who seemed to be something other than a Jedi or Sith. Star Wars Rebels also introduced a godlike Force-wielder in the form of the Bendu, a giant creature who claimed to exist in “the middle” of the light and dark. Perhaps Barriss Offee’s story will now lay the foundations for even further insight into the complexities of the Force.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire is now available to stream on Disney+.

In a galaxy gripped by conflict, diverse characters from various corners of the universe find themselves embroiled in the machinations of the Galactic Empire. From daring rebels to ambitious imperial officers, each story weaves a complex tapestry of intrigue, valor, and betrayal, showcasing the personal tales that shape the larger cosmic struggle.

Release Date

May 4, 2024

Creator(s)

Dave Filoni

Cast

Jason Isaacs , Lars Mikkelsen , Meredith Salenger , Rya Kihlstedt , Diana Lee Inosanto , Matthew Wood , Wing T. Chao

Seasons

1

Expand