Barriss Offee/Legends

"It's not the size of the Jedi or the amount of power running through her lightsaber, but the strength of her heart."

- Barriss Offee

Barriss Offee, a Mirialan female, was a talented 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 commence training as a Jedi Padawan, she embarked under the tutelage of Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, who not only instructed her in the ways of the Force but also in the traditions of their shared Mirialan heritage. Specializing in the art of Force healing, Offee gained a reputation for discipline and dependability over the years, particularly as a student of her strict Master. Nevertheless, she at times exhibited overconfidence and recklessness as a Padawan. 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 200-strong 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 sacred Crystal Caves of Ilum and employing her healing skills on New Holstice and Null, Offee formed a friendship with fellow Padawan Ahsoka Tano, the student of the newly Knighted Skywalker, during the Second Battle of Geonosis. That campaign saw Offee and Tano obliterate a major Geonosian battle droid foundry nearly at the cost of their own lives, and they quelled a following outbreak of mind-controlling Geonosian brain worms. 20 BBY, the third year of conflict, saw Offee assigned to the crew of Republic Mobile Surgical Unit 7 on the battle-torn world of Drongar. Despite the growing temptation of the dark side, manifested in her brief addiction to bota, Offee passed the trial and graduated to Knighthood.

Everything was to soon change for Offee, as her faith in the Jedi Order and the Republic ultimately eroded. Believing that the Jedi had fallen from the light as a result of their heightened militancy in fighting the Clone Wars, she worked with like-minded 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.

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. A loyal Padawan to the powerful Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, Offee spent most of her time by her side, whether during important meetings with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine or in combat such as the First Battle of Geonosis. When she reached sixteen years of age, she built her first lightsaber.

Mission to Ansion
"And that, my young Padawan, was a demonstration of what is known as dynamic diplomacy."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Shortly before the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Offee and Unduli&mdash;along with Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker&mdash;were sent to Ansion to prevent the government of the planet from voting to join the Separatists. The mission was important because, although Ansion itself was not very important, if it chose to join the CIS then many other planets would follow. 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&mdash;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&mdash;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 gave an astonishing 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 presentations (Skywalker sang a moving, melancholic Tatooine ballad taught to him by his mother; Kenobi enraptured his listeners with a hero's tale; Unduli, in a mesmerizing display of the Force, manipulated native particles of sand that swirled around her in another fascinating dance of light), 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&mdash;a Gwurran&mdash;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 effectively settled the border dispute, the Unity voted to stay within the Republic. The Jedi's mission was a success.

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
"Barriss Offee, your training is complete."

- Luminara Unduli, to Barriss Offee

Later on during the Clone Wars, Offee and Unduli ventured to the ice-world Ilum. From this barren planet, the crystals needed in the construction of a lightsaber could be found. In a secret Jedi temple, Offee built herself a new lightsaber with a crystal of her choice.

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.

Brain worms
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.

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
"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, and explaining, her actions to the court

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&mdash;similar to those used in the bombing&mdash;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 offered to come back into the Jedi Order. Feeling betrayed because they had not believed her before, she refused.

Order 66
For reasons unexplained, 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. Dispatched to Felucia to serve as a healer with her new Padawan Zonder, 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. 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 planet, 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 and ordered 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.

When the Galactic Empire emerged, official records compiled by Sate Pestage stated that Offee and Secura were both executed because they were plotting to poison Felucia's water supply.

Personality and traits
"I've learned that 'trust' is overrated. The only thing the Jedi Council believes in is violence!"

- Barriss Offee, expressing her views

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&mdash;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. 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&mdash;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, Offee did confess eventually. 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
"It's an honor to face you. I hope to learn much from our combat."

- Barriss Offee, to a Jedi Knight

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&mdash;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, slicing her own lightsaber which Skywalker was using against her in half, despite the fact that she was wielding unfamiliar lightsabers.

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 Episode II released several months later. The Ansion dispute from the novel was mentioned in Episode II, in which Offee also had a cameo in Chancellor Palpatine's office and at the Battle of Geonosis.

Continuity
Offee was supposed originally 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.