Barriss Offee

> "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 admitting to bombing the Jedi Temple
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**Barriss Offee** was a Force-sensitive female Mirialan who trained as a Jedi Padawan during the Clone Wars. She carried a blue lightsaber and trained under Jedi Master Luminara Unduli. Offee was a survivor of the First Battle of Geonosis and was originally loyal to her Jedi Master. Offee preferred studying ancient Jedi texts to fighting, and was also proficient in the ability of Force healing. During her time as a Jedi Padawan, Offee struck up a friendship with Ahsoka Tano, the Padawan learner of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, and Jarik Shan, the Padawan learner of High Counil Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Though rather different in personality from the two, she bonded with them through shared experience in combat.

As the Clone Wars continued, Offee grew disillusioned with the Jedi's role in the wars, believing they had lost their way from the ideals that the Jedi Order was supposed to represent, and was wary of the Jedi Council in particular. Deciding to act on her concerns, she orchestrated the bombing of the Jedi Temple as a means to foment further distrust of the Jedi, as clone troopers were killed during the attack. Despite their previous friendship, she allowed Tano to be framed for orchestrating the bombing, but ultimately confessed after being confronted by Anakin Skywalker. Just before Tano was about to be convicted of the crime, Offee shared her views of the Jedi being corrupted by the dark side before being taken away.

A few months later during Operation: Knightfall, Offee was released from her imprisonment under the Jedi Temple by clone troopers and brought before the newly declared "Emperor Palpatine," who was secretly Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Seeking to use Offee's conflicted soul to his advantage, Sidious used the dark side to forcefully dominate her mind so that she would serve as the first of the Inquisitorius, a group of dark side adepts who would serve the Sith. Offee was then sent with Skywalker, newly anointed as Sith Lord Darth Vader, to wipe out the Separatist leaders on Mustafar. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jarik Shan would later confront the two on Mustafar, with Skywalker battling Kenobi while Offee fought against Shan. During their fight, Shan managed to help free Offee from Sidious's influence, redeeming her from the dark side. However at that moment the platform they were on began to collapse over a river of lava, and Offee gave her life in order to save Shan, thanking him for redeeming her moments before she fell.

Nearly two decades after her death, Shan would encounter a Loth-wolf that shared some form of a connection to Offee. Shan and Tano would later name their daughter Talia "Barriss" Shan in honor of Offee.

## **Personality and traits**

> "You never bombed the Temple for Sidious. You bombed it because you were upset by what the Order had become. But no matter how horrible that was, I saw in your eyes the moment you confessed that you would never, ever kill others for a Sith!"
> — Jarik Shan, to Barriss Offee
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Barriss Offee was a Mirialan female who had brown-blackish hair and tattoos, blue eyes, olive skin and a height of 1.66 meters.

Offee was considered a seemingly ideal example of a Jedi Padawan by some members of the Order, and 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. This made her a daring, but also studious, individual, able to memorize the entire layout of the system of Geonosian catacombs when her master asked her to. 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 disenfranchised. She was also quite selfless, as she was willing to sacrifice her own life in order to save other lives.

However, as the Clone War dragged on, Offee grew to believe that the Republic and Jedi Order were the ones responsible, viewing the latter's role in the war as a betrayal of the Order's ideals. Her growing disillusionment eventually led her to bomb the Jedi Temple, killing several civilians, clones and fellow Jedi, including her friend Tutso Mara. She even murdered her co-conspirator Letta Turmond to keep her betrayal a secret and framed her closest friend, Ahsoka Tano, for the deed. In doing all of this, however, she fell to the influence of the dark side; during her duel with Anakin Skywalker, he chastised her for not getting rid of Ventress' red lightsabers, to which she snidely responded, "I think they suit me." When taken before the court, Offee finally confessed her crimes, thereby acquitting Tano, but nevertheless maintained her belief that the Jedi and the Republic had lost their way.

Following her imprisonment, Offee would be freed months later by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who forcefully amplified her negative emotions in order to better serve him. As a result, Offee became crueler and more ruthless than ever before, gleefully participating in the slaughter of the Separatist Council alongside Sidious' new apprentice, Darth Vader—formerly Anakin Skywalker. However, Offee would end up turning back to the light side after Jarik Shan saw through Sidious' influence over her, helping her to break free of his control, after which she gave her life to ensure his safety.

## **Powers and abilities**

> "I've seen Ventress' fighting style back when we rescued you from Maul, and she used Makashi. Sloppy, but still clearly Makashi. This person... they didn't use Makashi."
> — Jarik Shan
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Barriss Offee had the ability to use Force healing and became a skilled Jedi Healer as a result, which proved a very useful skill to have during the Clone Wars.

Like her Master, Luminara Unduli, 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. She was able to successfully take on both Jarik Shan and Ahsoka Tano simultaneously, who were a formidable team themselves, while under the guise of Ventress, though would have likely been defeated by Shan had he not been caught up in his feelings of rage at the time. Shan would later recognize that she was not actually Ventress, determining this by her different fighting style despite having never dueled Vntress himself.

Offee showed considerable skill in Jar'Kai, being able to even hold her own against Anakin Skywalker, slicing her own lightsaber which Skywalker was using against her in half, despite the fact that she was wielding unfamiliar lightsabers.

## **Appearances**

* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 1: Beginnings* — "Chapter 3: Meeting the Council"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 2: Legacy of Terror" (first mentioned)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 3: Brain Invaders" (first appearance)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 5: Grievous Intrigue"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 10: Break at the Temple"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 14: Time Change in the War" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 28: Overcoming Guilt" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 39: A War on Two Fronts" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 66: Battle of Devaron" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 53: Sabotage"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 54: The Jedi Who Knew Too Much"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 55: To Catch a Jedi"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 56: The Wrong Jedi"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 57: The Council's Arrogance" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 63: Ahsoka Alone" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 69: Unfinished Business" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 70: Getting in a Mess" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 71: The Pyke Investigation" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 3: Revenge of the Sith* — "Chapter 12: The Aftermath"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 3: Revenge of the Sith* — "Chapter 14: Heartbroken" (indirect mention only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 3: Revenge of the Sith* — "Chapter 15: Confronting the Sith"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 3: Revenge of the Sith* — "Chapter 16: Battle of the Heroes"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 3: Revenge of the Sith* — "Chapter 17: The Twins" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 3: Revenge of the Sith* — "Chapter 18: A New Hope" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 3: Skirmish on Mandalore" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 25: Return to Berk" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 36: Delving Deeper in Mystery" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 52: Preparing a Rescue" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 63: The Truth" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 65: The Lost Commanders" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 66: Remembering the Past" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 73: Friends Long Lost" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 87: Destiny is Confusing" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 93: The Mystery of Chopper Base" (mentioned only)
* *Sun and Moon* — "The Pyramid" (illusion only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 69: Wolves of Dume Pt 2" (indirect mention only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 70: Wolves of Dume Pt 3" (mentioned only)