While most Star Wars fans know that Ahsoka Tano left the Jedi Order, those who haven’t watched Star Wars: The Clone Wars might not know the circumstances that led to her decision. Those circumstances involved the disillusioned Padawan learner Barriss Offee, who framed Ahsoka for crimes against the Jedi. But there’s more to Barriss than the attacks she orchestrated against the Jedi Order.

While she may not play a huge role in Star Wars series or films post-Clone Wars, her actions propelled Ahsoka onto the path she now walks. So, who was Barriss Offee before her betrayal of both Ahsoka Tano and the Jedi? And what happened to her in the aftermath of her attacks?

RELATED: Amy Hennig's Star Wars Project Should Make Anakin the Protagonist

Who Was Barriss Offee?

barriss-offee-headshot-star-wars-clone-wars

Barriss Offee, the Padawan learner of Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, was there when the Clone Wars began. During the First Battle of Geonosis, which is chronicled in Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones, Barriss fights alongside Luminara, Mace Windu, and the other Jedi who come to the aid of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala.

Unlike her friend Ahsoka Tano, Barriss preferred studying the Force and ancient Jedi texts to combat training. Even when Master Unduli was made a general in the Clone Wars, Barriss opted to avoid the fighting, preferring to tend to the wounded at the Jedi Temple.

Eventually, Barriss returns to the battlefield with Luminara to aid Anakin and his Padawan, Ahsoka. Although Barriss’ authoritative demeanor gets on Ahsoka’s nerves, the two end up joining forces, sneaking away to launch a surprise attack on the Geonosians. After a series of ups and downs, the Padawans decide to sacrifice themselves in order to destroy a Geonosian reactor.

Thankfully, both Ahsoka and Barriss survive, and become closer through their shared (and truly harrowing) experience. Not long after, the two team up again for a supply run, only to encounter Geonosian brain worms. The creatures are known to inhabit a host, and turn them hostile. Ahsoka manages to save an infected Barriss, solidifying their ongoing friendship through the Clone Wars.

How Did Barriss Offee Betray the Jedi Order?

barriss-offee-fights-anakin-skywalker-in-star-wars-clone-wars

Eventually, Barriss becomes a Jedi Knight, and earns the wartime rank of General. Given her dislike for combat, the new position had Barriss feeling rather conflicted, and she spent a good deal of time meditating on her role in the war. Toward the end of the Clone Wars, she can no longer hide how jaded she feels. In Barriss’ view, the Jedi have lost their way, abandoning their peace-keeping tendencies and embracing their more militant, wartime approach.

Eager to take a stand against the Jedi Order, Barriss came into contact with a Coruscanti local, Letta Turmond, who held similar views on the Jedi involvement in the war. Barriss uses Turmond, and her husband and Jedi Temple munitions expert Jackar Bowmani, to plot an attack. On Barriss’ instruction, Turmond feeds Bowmani nano-droids, which explode when he enters the Jedi Temple, killing several Jedi, clone troopers, and temple workers.

Anakin and Ahsoka are called back to Coruscant to help investigate the bombing on the Jedi Temple. The Jedi Council expresses a deep-seated fear: that one of their own orchestrated the attack. While Ahsoka is questioning Turmond, Barriss Force chokes the Coruscanti to death, so that her own involvement in the bombing isn’t revealed. Barriss allows Ahsoka to take the blame for killing the bombing suspect.

Thanks to Anakin, Ahsoka manages to escape incarceration, but she’s unsure of how to prove her innocence. To make matters worse, her lightsabers have been planted at the scene of another crime, which involves the deaths of several clone troopers. Fleeing into Coruscant’s underworld, Ahsoka begrudgingly teams up with her long-time nemesis, the former Sith and Nightsister Asajj Ventress. Meanwhile, Barriss reaches out to Ahsoka via her comlink, pretending to be her ally. She tells Ahsoka to investigate an abandoned warehouse — one that’s full of nano-droids — and attempts to frame Ahsoka again. This time, Barriss dresses as Asajj and duels Ahsoka. In the end, clone troopers discover Ahsoka in the nano-droid-filled warehouse, and capture her.

barriss-offee-confesses-at-ahsoka-trial-star-wars-clone-wars

Wilhuff Tarkin, who later becomes Grand Moff Tarkin in the days of the Empire, suggests that Ahsoka be tried in military court. Even though Obi-Wan Kenobi argues against this suggestion, the Jedi Council agrees with Tarkin, and expels Ahsoka from the Jedi Order. A furious Anakin sets off to find Asajj, who reveals her lightsabers were stolen.

Determined to prove Ahsoka’s innocence, Anakin trusts his suspicions about Barriss and confronts her. Barriss reveals that she does, in fact, have Asajj’s lightsabers, and tries to fight off Anakin. She tells him she has learned that trust is overrated, and that the Jedi council now stands for violence instead of peace. Anakin manages to defeat Barriss and detain her, just in time to bring her to Ahsoka’s ongoing trial for a confession. There, Barriss tells the court:

“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 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.”

What Happened To Barriss Offee After Her Betrayal?

barriss-offee-with-asajj-ventress-lightsabers-star-wars-clone-wars

Barriss Offee’s confession clears Ahsoka of all charges, and even encourages the Jedi to welcome Anakin’s Padawan back. Understandably hurt and betrayed by the Jedi — her found family and mentors — Ahsoka declines the offer, and leaves the Jedi Order behind to forge her own path. Not only does Barriss’ attack on the Jedi reshape Ahsoka’s story, but, given Ahsoka’s departure, fuels Anakin’s own disillusionment with the Jedi Council. Reflecting on Barriss Offee’s betrayal of the Jedi Order, Ahsoka says:

"Barriss Offee was wrong about a lot of things. She let her anger cloud her judgment [...] 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. [...] 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."

When it comes to Barriss’ fate, not much is known in Star Wars Canon. Before her character was fleshed out in The Clone Wars, Barriss was originally meant to be killed during Order 66. In a deleted scene from Revenge of the Sith, a Republic All Terrain Tactical Enforcer (AT-TE) approaches Barriss as she takes down a cluster of battle droids. Instead of aiding her, the AT-TE fires on her at point-blank range. While the bolt no doubt kills Barriss, the AT-TE proceeds to crush her body. It’s a brutal way to go, but it isn’t Canon.

It’s not known whether Barriss Offee survived Order 66. Presumably, she was ousted from the Jedi Order in the wake of her confession, and being held captive by the Republic. Was she able to escape — and did the clone troopers even aim to kill the expelled Jedi? For now, fans are without answers, but, if she did survive, it seems fitting that Barriss might make her live-action return in the Ahsoka series.

More: 'Star Wars' Voice Actor Teases Anakin Skywalker's Return To Animation