Barriss Offee/Legends

Barriss Offee, a Force-sensitive Mirialan female, was a Jedi healer who ascended to Jedi Knighthood during the Clone Wars. Born in 40 BBY to parents she would never again see, Offee was discovered by the Jedi Order during infancy and was brought to the Jedi Temple on the galactic capital of Coruscant. When it came time for her to start training as a Jedi Padawan, she embarked under the tutelage of Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, another Mirialan, who instructed her in the ways of the Force and also in the traditions of their shared heritage. In 22 BBY, during the escalating Separatist Crisis, Offee joined Unduli in helping Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, settle a border dispute on Ansion. Their efforts resulted in an accord between the Unity of Community and the native Alwari tribes, preventing the key backwater world from seceding from the Galactic Republic.
Offee was thereafter part of the Jedi task force that went to rescue Kenobi, Skywalker, and Senator Padmé Amidala from Geonosis, where the Confederacy of Independent Systems had sentenced them to execution. The ensuing Battle of Geonosis sparked the Clone Wars, in which Offee became a Jedi Commander, leading clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic alongside her Master. Besides defending the Jedi Order's Crystal Caves of Ilum and employing her healing skills on New Holstice and Null, Offee formed a friendship with fellow Padawan Ahsoka Tano, the Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, during the Second Battle of Geonosis. That campaign saw Offee and Tano obliterate a major Geonosian battle droid foundry and they quelled a following outbreak of mind-controlling Geonosian brain worms. In 20 BBY, Offee was assigned to the crew of Republic Mobile Surgical Unit 7 on Drongar. Despite the growing temptation of the dark side Offee passed the trial and graduated to Jedi Knight.
Believing that the Jedi had fallen from the light as a result of their heightened militancy in fighting the Clone Wars, she worked with activist Letta Turmond to orchestrate a bombing of the Jedi Temple as a demonstration of her misgivings. Offee then framed her friend Tano for the bombing, as well as for her subsequent murder of Turmond. Although Offee posed as ex-Separatist bounty hunter Asajj Ventress to further manipulate Tano and ensure her friend's arrest, Skywalker discovered the truth. After Skywalker defeated her, Offee confessed to her crimes at Tano's trial before being taken into Republic custody. At some point near the end of the war, Offee was released and took Zonder as her padawan. While on Felucia, she was leading a squad until she was killed when Order 66 was issued by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, marking her a victim of the Great Jedi Purge.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Born on a starliner in deep space, Offee was brought to the Jedi Temple, where she would spend her early years in study of the Force. When she was three or four years old, Offee had been playing with a blue ball in one of the Jedi Temple antechambers. When the ball rolled beyond her reach into one of the giant main chambers, Offee, instead of going after it, used the Force to pull the ball back to her for the first time. As she picked it up, Grand Master Yoda was standing behind her in the far entrance of the antechamber, impressed with what he had seen.
===Luminara Unduli's Padawan===
====Beginning the career====
At some point, Offee became a Padawan to the Jedi Master Luminara Unduli. At the beginning of her training, she visited Mirial,Power of the Jedi Sourcebook the homeworld of her species. When she reached sixteen years of age, she built her lightsaber.MedStar II: Jedi Healer During this time, Offee learned the correct lightsaber hand grip from Tutso Mara, who further assisted her in honing her combat techniques as time went on.Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Episode Guide Furthermore, she occasionally trained with Anakin Skywalker, but they never spoke with each other.
====A levitation drill====
At some point after a long hand-to-hand combat workout, Offee practiced with the lightsaber, which left her arms sore and burning. After the practice, Offee and her Master moved to a high-walled balcony, two hundred flights above the ground level. There, Unduli instructed Offee to do the Floating Meditation, observe the small bakery across the way, and tell her how many pastries she sees in the window. As she tried to lift herself from the floor, Unduli reprimanded her that the Jedi do not limit themselves by "trying," to which Offee agreed. As she continued her practice, Offee had not been able to levitate, and her continued attempts made her rear and thighs numb from the cold ferrocrete.
Hours later, Unduli returned to the balcony, and Offee felt she had failed the task, but her Master retorted that one could fail at the task but still learn the lesson. She recalled her time learning the Floating Meditation and told Barriss the story of the old man's river crossing, and asked if she understood it. Offee immediately felt incredibly stupid for not understanding the task, as she could have simply stood up and look over the wall to count the pastries.
====Dark side in the morning====
One morning sometime after the levitation drill, Offee and her Master visited a four-hundred-year-old blackneedle tree at the Oa Park on Coruscant. In the middle of laughing people at the park, Offee thought for a moment that the dark side of the Force was far away from her. But, as they stood in the tree's shade, Unduli warned her that it was always a threat. Even after hearing about it many times, Offee did not exactly understood what her Master meant, as they moved to the grassy spot in the park to practice a Salutation to the Force. Unduli explained to her that every action she made required choice.
As they practiced the Laser Pose and the Arch Pose of the Salutation, Unduli and Offee discussed her past training with the training remotes, and if she ever felt like destroying the remote instead of stopping the bolts. Unduli warned her Padawan that destroying the remote out of anger, pain, or fear meant reaching for the dark side, against which she should be vigilant. As she assumed the Rocker Pose, Offee asked her Master if she ever felt the dark side. Unduli replied that in a moment of weakness and pain, she did, and it allowed her to survive, but that she would never do that again. She insisted to Offee that if it ever happened to her she must recognize and resist it, because it would feel empowering, fulfilling and satisfying.
===Mission to Ansion===
Shortly before the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Offee and Unduli—along with Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker—were sent to Ansion to prevent the government of the planet from voting to join the Separatists. However there were many beings set upon making sure the Jedi's mission was a failure, one of them being the Hutt Soergg Vosadii Bezhin who had been hired by Shu Mai to stop them.
The Jedi were allowed to talk to the Unity of Community. Unduli made a deal to the Unity: The Jedi would put an end to a conflict between the 'city-folk' and the Alwari natives if Ansion agreed to stay within the Galactic Republic and abide by their rules. The conflict was over land, so Unduli also said that they would get the Alwari to agree to share half or more of their land. The Unity agreed and the Jedi left.
Before the Jedi could set off on their mission, two Alwari named Kyakhta and Bulgan were hired by Soergg to capture one of the Padawans. They caught Offee and held her prisoner, however both the Alwari were mentally impaired and so Offee managed to gain their trust by healing them. After this Kyakhta and Bulgan agreed to act as guides for the Jedi, as to secure the treaty with the Alwari, they would first have to find them—specifically, the Borokii overclan. The Jedi left the city shortly after, riding suubatar. They shortly had more trouble with gairks in a stream but overcame this as well.
Eventually the Jedi managed to meet with the Yiwa—a lesser though not unimportant clan of the Alwari Qiemo Adrangar tribal faction. At first, the Yiwa were mistrustful of the Jedi, and the Highborn clan leader, Mazong, requested that they each give a performance that would demonstrate that, beyond ability, they also possessed "inner essence, unlike the representatives of the great but soulless Senate", and that after this, the Yiwa would decide whether or not to tell the Jedi where the overclan was. Offee performed a compass dance, an acrobatics display of movement and light (using her lightsaber), which greatly impressed the Alwari, as well as Skywalker. After the other Jedi had given their presentationst, the Yiwa told them where the overclan could be found, and they set off again.
Later, the Jedi came across a group of Gwurran. After humoring the pygmy-like creatures' intense curiosity concerning the strange "outlanders," the Jedi left, but Tooqui—a Gwurran—came with them. It was shortly after that the Jedi met with a non-traditional clan of traders called the Qulun. The Jedi and their Ansionian guides were offered food and accepted into their camp. The clan leader Baiuntu, however, was working for Soergg, and managed to capture the Jedi. Luckily, Tooqui got away, and shortly after rescued the six of them.
The Jedi soon came upon the Borokii overclan, to whom they gave their proposal. The Borokii agreed, but only on the grounds that the Jedi settle a conflict that existed between the Borokii and their longtime rival, the Januul, another overclan. The Jedi agreed and ultimately managed to settle the conflict diplomatically. They then returned to the capital city, Cuipernam, where they were again delayed by Soergg, who had hired thugs to dispatch them. However the Jedi managed to make it to the gathering of the Unity, which was in the process of voting on the matter of secession. Due to the fact that the Jedi had settled the border dispute, the Unity voted to stay within the Republic. The Jedi's mission was a success.
===Clone Wars===
====Battle of Geonosis====
When Offee and Unduli returned to Coruscant, they were dispatched by Mace Windu to Geonosis as part of the strike team to rescue Kenobi, Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. Although Offee was not in the final circle that was picked up by Yoda's gunships, she did find a way out of the Petranaki arena along with several other Jedi, including Pablo-Jill, Roan Shryne and Bairdon Jace.
====Skirmish on Ilum====
Later on during the Clone Wars, Offee and Unduli ventured to the ice-world Ilum. From this planet, the crystals needed in the construction of a lightsaber could be found. In a secret Jedi temple, Offee rebuilt her lightsaber.
As she constructed her lightsaber, the location of the temple was compromised. Separatist chameleon droids had infiltrated the mines and placed explosive charges in the tunnels. Offee and Unduli fought them off, but were trapped in the resulting cave-in using the Force to stop hold up the roof. This disturbance in the Force reached Yoda and the diminutive Jedi Master rescued them.
====Mission to Geonosis====
While her Master guarded Nute Gunray on the Tranquility, Offee oversaw a mission to Geonosis.
====Second Battle of Geonosis====
Offee and her master were sent to the planet Geonosis to aid Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, in helping destroy the weapons factory, headed by Poggle the Lesser. Tano and Offee were sent under to the catacombs, while Skywalker and Unduli acted as decoys. The Padawans made it to their destination, however they had been spotted and were attacked by the new Confederate super tank, as well as Geonosians, and the bombs they had planted were removed while the two were distracted.
While Tano was stunned, Offee cut a hole through the top of the tank with her lightsaber and entered as the pilots fled. Opening the hatch, she invited the now-conscious Ahsoka into the cockpit. Ahsoka came to the conclusion that the only way to destroy the factory would be to use the tank's weapons to fire upon the reactor, even though they believed it likely they would not survive the explosion.
Neither knew just how good the shielding on the tank was, though, which protected the two Padawans from the explosion. Afterward they were buried under a large amount of debris. Worried they would die from lack of air, Tano pulled a power cell apart, activating her comlink so their masters could find them. Skywalker picked up the signal, and he and Luminara tracked it to their location and used their Force telekinesis to remove the debris and free their Padawans.
====Skirmish aboard TB-73====
Offee and Tano were transporting a supply ship to the Ord Cestus medical station. The Padawans decided to get some sleep but none would come to Tano, so the two decided to go get something to eat. Unknown to them, a clone trooper was leaving the brain worm eggs to spread across the ship. While Tano and Offee were eating, two clones tried to kill them, which they incapacitated. Later in the ship, Trap tried to infect them with the worms; Offee was forced to kill him.
After discovering the clones upon their ship were being controlled by brain worms, Offee and Tano separated. Offee was heading to the engineering section to disable the ship's engines when she walked into a trap set by the clones. She was unable to resist as the clones exposed her to a brain worm, and then succumbed to the worm's influence. When she found Tano, the two began a duel. Tano tried to convince Offee to resist being controlled, and was ignored as Offee continued the attack. Later on, after Tano released coolant that affected the brain worms' control, Offee confronted her in the cockpit. After having super-cooled air blown onto her face, she was able to regain enough control to beg Tano to kill her, ensuring the worm's death. Tano refused. When the worm tried to flee Offee's body and enter Tano's directly, Tano sliced the worm in half, releasing Offee from its mind control.
====Capture of Eeth Koth====
Offee was present in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant when General Grievous sent a message to the Jedi, informing of his capture of Eeth Koth. Offee witnessed the brutal torturing of the captured Koth. When Master Yoda ordered the younglings taken out of the room, Offee accompanied them and some other Jedi.
====Battle of Umbara====
Commander Offee, with the assistance of Commander Tano, managed to blast through the blockade over the shadow planet of Umbara allowing clone and Jedi forces onto the planet in an effort to capture it. Offee piloted a Delta-7B light interceptor to complete this task.
====Coruscant Insurrection====
During the Invasion of Coruscant, Offee commanded a squad of clone troopers in the fight against Separatist droid forces. In the underlevels of the city, her squad was overrun by battle droids, including the new C-B3 cortosis battle droids that were resistant to her lightsaber. Just in time, young Anakin Skywalker arrived at the scene and managed to push back the droid forces.Star Wars: The New Droid Army
====Mission to Drongar====
Afterward, Offee was sent to the planet Drongar; her first mission without her master. Drongar was the home to a valuable plant, bota, which was a miracle cure for almost anything and for any race, prized by both the Galactic Republic and the Separatists. Offee, a gifted healer, assisted one of the medical units on the planet. Unknown to her, a spy was sneaking around the camp and several corrupt Republic representatives were shipping off bota illegally for their own profit. Offee also met the deadly martial arts instructor, Phow Ji, who despised the Jedi. Ji tested Offee to her limit, but she did not give in to the dark side. He was eventually killed in a suicidal attack. Offee also suffered the loss of Zan Yant, a Zabrak surgeon who had been a friend of hers.
In a turn of events, she accidentally injected herself with bota, and the natural drug opened up the Force in new and powerful ways. Offee found this quick way to power to be too addictive and knew that it would lead her towards the dark side of the Force, but she resisted its luring pull. Once she had overcome the inner battle of resisting the dark side, she felt that she had earned the rank of Jedi Knight and General.
====Temple bombing====
Offee's view space on the Jedi Order had changed towards the end of the war. She arranged the bombing of the Jedi Temple Hangar, and Ahsoka Tano became the one blamed. Whilst many thought Tano was guilty of murdering Letta Turmond, a woman suspected of bombing the Jedi Temple, there were others who believed Tano to have been set up, such as Offee. Offee 'helped' Tano in hiding and was secretly involved with giving her instructions. Tano contacted Offee through a public comlink so that the clones could not track her or Offee. Offee led Tano to a warehouse so that Tano would be able to find out who set her up, when someone with Ventress's lightsabers and mask engaged Tano in a duel, which ended when Tano fell off a balcony and landed near crates of nano-droids—similar to those used in the bombing—and was found by the clones.
While Tano's trial was taking place, Skywalker found Ventress, who told him that someone other than herself was behind it, someone who took her weapons and mask. She also told him that Tano had been in contact with Offee. Skywalker decided to question Offee, who revealed ultimately that the bombing was her work. She engaged Skywalker in a heated duel which ended when Skywalker wounded her and used the Force to capture her.
As Tano was about to be pronounced guilty, Skywalker burst in with Offee, who told the truth to the court, stating that she felt that the Jedi were corrupt, and that they should be the ones on trial. Ahsoka was given an apology and an offer to come back into the Jedi Order. Feeling betrayed because they had not believed her before, she refused.
===Order 66===
Offee remained in the Jedi Order and in partnership with her former Master until the end of the Clone Wars. Despite her attack upon the Temple, she found redemption and took Zonder as her padawan. Dispatched to Felucia to serve as a healer with her new apprentice, they were captured by Gossam Commandos working for the Confederacy of Independent Systems and thrown in prison. They were later rescued by the Jedi Aayla Secura and Ekria, as well as the clone trooper lieutenant Galle. It was later revealed that Presidente Shu Mai of the Commerce Guild had arranged to poison Felucia's water supply, and so Offee and Secura sought to save the planet.
Following Lieutenant Galle, Offee took a squad to Har Gau while Secura and Commander Bly went to Niango.Reversal of Fortune When Offee's group arrived at their site, they saw that the defenders consisted mostly of sentients, rather than droids, and realized they could not simply blast their way into the center. Padawan Drake Lo'gaan, who had accompanied Secura to the planet, enlisted Galle's help for his plan. In order for the Padawans to infiltrate the water plant, Zonder drew the attention of the Gossam Commandos, while Galle and the Padawans attacked, striking down the droids. The Padawans then detached from Galle's squad, moving into position near the center. Lo'gaan commed Galle, ordering him to activate the next phase of the plan, and Galle called for a retreat. The defenders pursued, leaving the way wide open for the Padawans to infiltrate the plant and stop the toxins.
As Galle fell back, Bly received an encrypted message from Coruscant, ordering him to execute Order 66, a contingency order that demanded the deaths of all Jedi. Galle and his squad rendezvoused with Offee, who was fighting off a number of battle droids. Galle came to a halt, and Offee ordered him to fire. The lieutenant complied; he ordered an AT-TE to open fire on Offee, blowing her remains to ashes. As Offee died, lightyears away, her former master perished also.Republic 82 Galle filed the details of Offee's death in an incident report #890-F, that would later be included in an Order 66 report compiled by Moff Marcellin Wessel and presented to Emperor Palpatine.
===Legacy===
When the Galactic Empire emerged, the official records, which were modified by Imperial Advisor Sate Pestage from the casualty report of Order 66, stated that Offee and Secura were both executed because they were plotting to poison Felucia's water supply. Three months after Offee's death, she was remembered by her friends from Drongar, Den Dhur and I-5YQ. In a conversation with the Jedi Knight Jax Pavan, who had sensed her die through the Force, Den Dhur had come to terms with her death. Furthermore, I-Five realized that he was self-aware thanks to the help of his friends, including Offee. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi remembered Barriss Offee alongside Ali-Alann as he exiled himself to watch over young Luke Skywalker on Tatooine.The Last of the Jedi: The Desperate Mission
==Personality and traits==
Barriss Offee was a thoughtful and observant person. She was generally reserved by nature but couldn't be intimidated easily. As a Padawan, she had a slightly impulsive streak which was frowned upon by some elder Jedi. She had also mentioned once that she would prefer negotiations with a lightsaber over diplomacy to settle differences as she felt it was much more straightforward.
Padawan Offee also demonstrated, however, in her growing gift as a healer, a very compassionate side—especially towards the galaxy's disenfranchized, such as the clanless Ansonians Kyakhta and Bulgan, both of whom she healed from mental infirmities, and the derrided Gwurran Tooqui, whom she befriended.
Offee was also selfless and was willing to sacrifice her own life to save other lives. This was proven when she and Ahsoka Tano blew up a droid factory from the inside in the Second Battle of Geonosis, even with the full knowledge that they would probably be destroyed along with it.Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia Fortunately, they both survived because they were inside a heavily armored tank. Offee became friends with Tano during the mission. Shortly after this incident, while escorting a medical frigate, Offee was infected by one of the Geonosian brain worms which had taken over the ship. While dueling Tano, she managed to resist the worm's influence for a moment—only to plead with Tano to kill her as she believed that was the only way to stop the parasites. This showed that she had a strong will.
Offee was originally loyal to her master Luminara Unduli and was almost always by Unduli's side while apprenticed to her. After being made a Jedi Knight, Offee was still uncertain if she deserved to be granted this rank, but after resisting the lure of the dark side during a mission on Drongar, she became more confident about her promotion. Offee was known to have an somewhat unorthodox view of the Force as she believed that the light side and the dark side were only words and the Force was neither good nor evil, whereas most Jedi believed the light side was good and the dark side was evil.
However, she began to doubt the Jedi Order's role as peacekeepers and eventually came to the conclusion that the Jedi Council only believed in violence. Offee decided that the Council were nothing more than arrogant, violent tyrants, and was determined to bring down the Order since she became convinced that it had become corrupt. However, Offee's change of heart shaped her into a zealot who was prepared to allow her friend Ahsoka Tano to almost be executed, and to kill innocents such as Letta Turmond as well as many clone troopers.
Offee also manipulated and lied to the Order, allowing Tano to be blamed for the bombing. Nevertheless, when Anakin Skywalker took her in custody, Offee did confess. When placed on trial, Offee stated defiantly that the Jedi Order were pawns of the dark side. However, the aggression she displayed in her duels with Tano and Skywalker proved that Barriss had ultimately become the very thing she intended to destroy, in attempting to fight against the corruption of the Jedi, she herself had become corrupted.
==Powers and abilities==
Barriss Offee had the ability to use Floating Meditation and was a skilled Jedi Healer which came in handy during the Clone Wars. On Ilum, she displayed the ability to use telekinesis to a high degree and along with her master she was able to hold up the roof of the cave they were trapped in until Yoda arrived to rescue them. She also used this ability to transfer explosive charges onto the chameleon droid intruders and crush a few more by bringing the roof down on them.
After turning against the Jedi Order, Offee became considerably more powerful, being able to Force Choke Letta Turmond to death without being in the same room, or even needing a live feed to focus. She also showed an impressive talent for stealth being able to evade the Force senses of both Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress, both of whom had considerable Force senses. Offee was able to stun Ventress, a well known Jedi killer who had previously slain even Jedi Masters, effortlessly by ambushing her and telekinetically hurling debris at her before slamming her over the head with a pipe.
Like her Master, Offee practiced the Soresu fighting style and her ability with her lightsaber was great enough for her to survive the ferocious battle of Geonosis, even though she wasn't on the gunships that rescued the Jedi. She was skilled in tandem fighting where her movements would be in sync with her partners in battle. This could be seen clearly when fighting alongside her Master—together she and Unduli were a formidable team in combat.
After turning to the dark side, Offee's fighting style grew more ferocious and she seemed to mirror Asajj Ventress' aggressive technique as noted by Ahsoka Tano who thought she was dueling Ventress when Offee attacked her, although this was more because of the fact that Offee was using Ventress' lightsabers rather than her fighting style. However, having dueled Ventress several times, Tano would probably have noticed if Offee was using a different style, so it is heavily implied that Offee was trained in the use of Makashi as well as Soresu. Offee showed skill in Jar'Kai, being able to overwhelm Tano and even hold her own against Anakin Skywalker (though he eventually captured her by placing her in a Force grip), despite the fact that she was wielding unfamiliar lightsabers.
==Behind the scenes==
===Portrayal===
Offee was portrayed in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones by Nalini Krishan. She was voiced by Tatyana Yassukovich in the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon and Meredith Salenger in the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series. Offee was introduced in the novel The Approaching Storm, which was written by Alan Dean Foster. It was a tie-in to Attack of the Clones released several months later. The Ansion dispute from the novel was mentioned in Attack of the Clones, in which Offee also had a cameo in Chancellor Palpatine's office and at the Battle of Geonosis.
===Continuity===
Offee was originally supposed to be in the Order 66 sequence but was cut along with the deaths of Luminara Unduli and Shaak Ti. Unused footage from Attack of the Clones was going to be used for this appearance.
The New Essential Guide to Characters as well as The Approaching Storm identify Offee as Human. However, Mirialans are Near-Human and thus not part of the Human species.
In the Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary, it is stated that Barriss Offee's tattoos are Chalactan in nature. In the MedStar Duology, however, this fact has been corrected. Officially, Offee's tattoos are traditionally Mirialan.
Because of Offee's actions in the Season 5 finale "The Wrong Jedi," her fate later into the Clone Wars, specifically her being a victim to Order 66 as well as her involvement in the MedStar books, has been left ambiguous. Leland Chee hasn't commented much on resolving the issue, although he has stated that it wasn't necessarily stated that she was still a Padawan in the episode regarding the stance on MedStar, thus leaving it open to interpretation.
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
*LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles book
==Sources==
===Non-canon sources===
*LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars: Prima Official Game Guide
*LEGO Star Wars: The Dark Side
==Notes and references==
Category:Females
Category:Individuals with she/her pronouns
Category:Jedi assault team members
Category:Jedi Commanders
Category:Jedi Generals
Category:Jedi Guardians
Category:Jedi healers
Category:Jedi Purge victims
Category:Mirialans
Category:Post-Ruusan Jedi Knights
Category:Redeemed Jedi