The trailer for the upcoming Disney Plus release of Star Wars: Tales of the Empire was just released. Previously, we had the series Tales of the Jedi, released in 2022, which told the behind-the-scenes stories of Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku. These new Empire stories seem to focus on another set of two characters: Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee. Both names are familiar to Star Wars fans who have watched The Clone Wars and the Ahsoka series.
The series will be released on May 4, 2024. What a way to celebrate May the 4th!
You can watch the trailer for Tales of the Empire below:
Although each character has something important to bring to the table, one of their stories is infinitely more important and is shrouded in more mystery than the other. Let’s dive into the stories of Barriss Offee and Morgan Elsbeth and see what it is about these characters and their backstories that are important to Star Wars.
We first meet Morgan Elsbeth in The Mandalorian season 2 episode 6, entitled “The Jedi,” where we meet live-action Ahsoka. Morgan Elsbeth has taken over a small town and is running it with a brutal form of government. The town cowers in fear and is treated harshly for every single misstep they take.
Other than her knowledge of where Grand Admiral Thrawn is, we have no knowledge of who she is, where she came from, or anything else about her. Those items would not come to light until season 1 of Ahsoka. In the Ahsoka series, we find out that she is from Dathomir and is a Nightsister. Yes, the very same Dathomir that we know of because of characters such as Mother Talzin, Darth Maul, Savage Opress, and Asajj Ventress.
We learn that the Nightsisters have a deal in place with Admiral Thrawn, but we don’t know what it is or what the result of their partnership is expected to be. In fact, the whole relationship is questionable due to Dooku’s attack on the Nightsisters during The Clone Wars series, essentially wiping them out of existence. Morgan Elsbeth mentions this but doesn’t explain why what’s left of her Nightsisters would ever trust the Empire or even take sides with them.
So, in Tales of the Empire, I expect to learn why Morgan Elsbeth and the Nightsisters, who hesitated to trust the Republic, would now trust its replacement government, The Galactic Empire. I expect us to be shown the relationship with Thrawn and how that progressed. And I expect some filler detail about her after the attack on Dathomir. To be honest, there isn’t much else left to learn about a character who was killed off in season 1 of Ahsoka. But we could be wrong.
The last we see of Barriss Offee is during The Clone Wars season 5 finale. Barris has framed fellow padawan Ahsoka Tano for the bombing of the Jedi Temple. Barriss had begun to take the Anakin path before Anakin finally made his way into the Dark Side of the Force and became Darth Vader. Barriss felt that the Jedi were responsible for the wars and deaths in the galaxy and that their way of handling affairs was unfair. So, instead of just leaving, she attacked the Jedi at their temple and framed her former friend for her deeds. The last we know of Barriss is her finally admitting to the council that was attempting to convict Ahsoka that she was the one responsible for the attacks, not Ahsoka. We don’t know what happened after that point, canonically.
There are some stories that confuse the matter of what happened to Barriss Offee past the point of this military council she was facing. Was she only jailed? Was she executed for treason? Or are there other stories to consider?
One story has the padawan of Luminara Unduli surviving the tribunal and being reformed to the point of restoration inside the Jedi order. According to one storyline, she becomes the padawan of a Selonian Jedi named Zonder. She would later die on Felucia during the execution of Order 66.
These confusing storylines surrounding Barriss will be resolved during this show. We should expect the story shown in the Tales of the Empire series to be the canonical answer to what happened to Barriss and where she went after the end of The Clone Wars season 5.
Personally, I have always expected that Barriss was taken from the military council and sent to Palpatine’s Island to become an Inquisitor under the direction of the soon-to-be Darth Vader. Her admitted distaste and hatred for the Jedi would make her a natural for hunting the Jedi, and surely Palpatine had to have noticed the potential.
In previous writings, I have suggested that Barriss Offee became Marrok from the Ahsoka series. Until proven differently, I still hold to this theory. Marrok has a humanoid form and speaks only through a voice manipulator, so we are left with no real clues as to who it is. But being a Star Wars fan, this hasn’t stopped me from making theories!
The progression from Barriss to Marrok would make sense. In fact, if you look at the image shared by Disney / Lucasfilms for the upcoming show, you will see Marrok, or at least what looks like Marrok, on the image. It leads one to think that they are steering into this storyline.
If they do, then this allows them to not only have an Ahsoka tie-in, but with the death of Marrok and the green Nightsister mist leaving the body, we have a Morgan Elsbeth tie-in. It would be a great way to tie this all up and explain the missing history of an often wondered-about Star Wars character.
Barriss has been kept alive in the minds of Star Wars fans since the end of season 5 of The Clone Wars, and we are about to find out why.
The Holy Filoni (Dave Filoni) has been stirring up the pot of Star Wars for the past few years, ensuring that we are getting good content that ties into past, current, and future works in the Star Wars universe.
This show will tie The Clone Wars era to the Ahsoka and Mandalorian Era, which connects us to the Sequel Era. The thing that helped many enjoy the Prequel Era more was additional shows and information about what led to them. The Clone Wars animated series made me look at the Prequel era in an entirely different light.
I think that this show will help get us into the mindset of being more open to sequel-era movies and characters. This won’t fix the issues of the trilogy, but I think it can help set the table for that to happen. The issues of that trilogy can’t be tackled with one series of shorts. Still, better and consistent storytelling can help redeem the stories and issues of the trilogy, which is exactly what Filoni and company did for the Prequel series through series like The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.
This show will be a step in the right direction. And if nothing else, more animation from Lucasfilm for the Star Wars universe is always good.
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