Barriss Offee: Bio, Origin & History

Real Name: Barriss Offee

First Appearance: Star Wars: The Approaching Storm

Powers: A Force-sensitive Mirialan capable of utilizing both Force Push and telekinesis.

Affiliation:

Enemies: Jedi

Love Interests: N/A

Did You Know: Offee was just one of many Jedi to become disillusioned by the Jedi ways

A Little History

During her shortened period as a Jedi Padawan, Barriss Offee befriended the usually cheerful Ahsoka Tano. Unfortunately, as we will see, this friendship was not unbreakable.

Sent along with Master Unduli, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano to Geonosis to break into and put a stop to a large Droid Factory, Offee and company soon realized that things weren’t meant to go as planned. As the battle became heated, the two Padawans left their Masters in an effort to plant explosives from within the walls of the Geonisis Hive. Sadly, the two were discovered by Poggle The Lesser and placed in a less than desirable situation.

Held captive and the only way out was to explode the grenades thereby ending their own lives, the two Padawans armed the explosives. Luckily, the tank in which they were held in had walls thick enough to withstand an explosion and the two survived.

The two Padawans would once again unite to work together. This time, unlike the last, they were asked to assist in a medical run. What they didn’t realize was that they ship they were escorting had been infiltrated by some Geonosian Brain Worms. Barriss Offee wound up being one of the infected and before it was over, begged her friend to kill her. This, of course, did not happen and the two were rescued.

These events, coupled with many more caused Offee to become disillusioned with the Jedi. As a consequence, she bombed the Jedi Temple and framed Ahsoka Tano for it. After Tano was cleared of the wrongdoing and Offee prosecuted, she explained her actions in this manner:

“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.“

To which Ahsoka said this:

“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.“

The effect that Barriss Offee had on the Star Wars Universe cannot be understated. She will go down as one of the most important characters during the Clone Wars.