Tales of the Empire Full Breakdown and Review 

Leave it to Filoni to answer, "What happened to Bariss?" with "What happened to Bariss?"

The animation quality of when Morgan punched the ground was CRAZY. Like each grain of sand moved and looked so realistic.

I love everything Barriss says to the little boy and the jedi because these are all classic villain lying to you lines, but with the context of Barriss I think she honestly meant it

Barris saying “old friend” at least to me seems to give the implication that her and Ahsoka probably reconciled at some point.

To everyone who sees this comment, May the 4th be with you, always

Good news everyone! After a decade of waiting, we now know that Barriss Offee’s fate was ambiguous!

The transition from "You're holding back. It makes you so predictable," to "Your anger makes you so predictable" has to be one of the best. From the time I saw Bariss in the trailer for this series, I knew Bariss would turn to the light again. Hearing her tell the Jedi, "I won't let you die, you aren't alone" confirmed my thoughts. Such a great character!

The whole "Barriss looking older than she actually should be" is especially notable considering the High Republic multimedia project had just revealed that Mirialans can live at least twice as long as humans.

This ''Tales of the'' series should continue. Animation and story telling is S tier.

“Not trapped by the cave, trapped by your mind” -Yoda, Star Wars the clone wars.

Came for Barriss, stayed for the Fourth Sister. I thought she was great, which really surprised me. Scary at times, and of course we love a redemption arc.

I recall a lot of people complaining that Filoni turned Barris into a terrorist in the lead up to Tales of the Empire's release, since she was a healer in Legends. I personally always liked the story he told, but I love how he is able to keep the essence of how the character was originally written while also telling a completely new story.

the animation team was just flexing with this one, the shots of Barris an the 4th sister climbing, the shot of Morgan punching the ground, also grievous his mechanical laughter was so ominous and creepy

Morgan burning Caladan, okay, long live the spice

The Fourth Sister's turn was a pleasant surprise. The way the show made her look despicable in episode 5 and then show up to confront an *older* Barriss, truly made me think it was going to be the end for her. I thought she was supposed to be like a sneaky foil to Barriss that would be overcame, and also a way for the show to get rid of a loose-ended inquisitor.

You didn't mention how ridiculously good the combat scenes were. I want live action combat to look that good.

I also thought Barriss looked too old, I mean she and Ahsoka have the same age and the 3rd episode takes place around 'Rebels', where Ahsoka is a young adult. And I thought the same thing, Barriss have been giving her life force away to heal others, that's why she looked older and that's why this technique it's not used so often by the Jedi, because it's kinda dangerous to use but Barriss take the risk to atone for her sins.

I love how Bariss's Inquisitorius helmet takes some design cues from Asajj's Bounty Hunter helmet. It hearkens back to her initial fall but her willingness to take it off and use her face to connect with others shows that she's not truly gone.

A little odd that Pellaeon has already met Thrawn before he was Grand Admiral, but I guess that adds to Thrawn: Treason that Thrawn knew Pellaeon personally rather than assuming how the captain would act

Darth Vader looked sooo good ! Especially at the side angle, it almost looked real.

7:03 I'd say that, in fact, what Morgan wants isn't revenge against someone in particular (nor a particular group), but rather, the *desire* to get revenge against anyone, the revenge she didn't get when her trauma was fresh. It's kinda common for people like her (I think, my knowledge in psychology is very basic) who went through something similar to redirect all that anger and lust for revenge against everyone around her simply because that sense of no closure doesn't let them live peacefully, and so, hurting others in similar forms is a way for her to try to fix that in herself, although, she'll never get it

I was REALLY hoping for Barriss to die to Vader, wouldve been a poetic ending

I loved it. The animation is stellar and the story was amazing, especially bariss’s. Seeing the fourth sister more was cool, and Barriss was amazing. Morgan was also pretty cool, seeing her becoming corrupted and having her connect with Thrawn. Morgans episodes weren’t as good as Barris’s but I don’t think anyone expected them to be. I literally gasped when barriss was stabbed. It was unexpected. I assumed barriss would be killed by Vader or something. Once again we must ask of what happened to barriss. Despite the line saying “ I won’t let you die” I imagine barriss died in the fourth sisters arms, just as they exited the caves.

Tales of the Empire was really good, but now I want a Tales of the Sith. I wanna see Palpatine kill Plagueis and I REALLY hope that it's like the original novel by James Luceno. Also, would be nice to see Dooku building up the Separatists and training Grievous (and also Grievous's own backstory, not sure how much of it is the same/different in canon compared to legends tho)

I watched the Morgan Elsbeth story and immediately rewatched the Mando episode with her. It gives so much context to a character who desperately needed it

It was cool to see Captain Pellaeon, but I *really* would have loved an on-screen appearance from Eli Vanto!

Let’s vote on the next tales series: Separatists: trench and grievous Bounty hunters: jango, embo, bossk, dengar Underground: hutts, pykes Background: Dexter Jettster and the death sticks guy

We see Morgan’s journey as a survivor of the nightsister massacre to a vengeful, tyrannical magistrate We see Barriss’ brutal training as an inquisitor to a healer returning to the light helping others from other Jedi survivors to even inquisitors

"This story isn't about trivia." Damn, I feel super called out right now.

I hoped that they would show more Thrawn, Marrok and Inquisitor from Tales Of The Jedi, but overral pretty good show 8/10

"what was her inquisitor name" i'm guessing she didn't get one because she was an inquisitor for all of about 35 seconds.

To quote Palpatine from Star Wars Darth Vader | Legacy's End regarding Barriss' own quote about Lyn's anger : "My friend, at times I think you might kill every being in the galaxy. With the Jedi gone, very few opponents remain who are worthy of our skill and power. It can be... deadening, I know. We are surrounded by lesser beings, who deserve only our hate, our contempt. I feel these things too, Lord Vader, and this is good. These emotions open a door to the great power of the dark side. Nothing is more natural than surrendering to that power. Death, pain, rage... these are the tools of the Sith. But I offer a warning. Fall too deep, and the relationship turns. You become the tool, and they... Your masters".

That R8 droid had more sense than whoever sent those troops to detain Morgan. They sent pistol-wielding New Republic soldiers behind enemy lines to detain a well-defended magistrate. New Republic incompetence at its best.

I was way more into the Barriss episodes. I enjoyed the first episode of Morgan's but 2 & 3 weren't as interesting to me

I’m like 70% sure that the final episode takes place on Illum. The landscape are VERY reminiscent of the big wall surrounding the temple in Fallen Order, it explains the weird voices Lyn hears, and it also just makes sense for Barriss to be there. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I feel like it’s plausible.

I thought Barris looking older than Lyn was a way of showing that Barris was accepting the will of the Force, since aging is part of life and natural. Lyn looking the same was a way of showing how she was against that. Or maybe I'm overanalyzing it.

The only problem with the ‘tales of’ series is that they aren’t longer. They’re just so good in every aspect that I want more. Top tier Star Wars material.

A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.

Also, i love that the Way Out of fear is to stop being afraid for yourself and start being motivated to help others.

I was a little disappointed by the Barriss episodes. Not because she didn't confront Vader or have some epic blowout with Ahsoka, but because I feel like there was so much more to explore here. We never really get a moment to see Barriss recognise just how horrible what she did to the Jedi Temple was or how she betrayed someone who trusted her. Regardless of how right her reasoning was, she still did terrible things, particularly to Ahsoka. There was so much potential to explore why she did the things she did and what she thinks of them now that she's attempting to be better. Ultimately, this arc for her, while on paper being what I was hoping, fell flat for me simply due to the fact that I honestly think it was rushed. There was a lot to be explored here surrounding the psychology and principles of Barriss and ultimately what we got was a shadow of what could've been.

11 years of waiting payed off. Also that last episode gave me Avatar Last Airbender vibes.

The Morgan Elsbeth episodes were just okay for me. But I really enjoyed the Barriss episodes

I really enjoyed. Some people say they are disappointed with the potential, but I view as people having too much high hopes. If it tells the story well, then it is good enough for me. I will say that the Tales of the series could be an opportunity to enlighten certain characters that we know very little about or visit certain moments that we never got to see. One of the possible ideas for this series is a Tale of The Bounty Hunter season. It can focus on other bounty hunters but there is one character that comes to mind: Boba. It was ashamed that we never got to see the boba and cad arc from the clone wars. This could be an opportunity for that arc to be revived. I can only pray to the force. Happy May the 4 to everyone and may the force be with you all

Would have loved if they showed us the visions/voices Morgan heard of Peridea - to show her obsession with bringing the Dathomiri back and how everything else was a means to an end.

I looooved the 6th episode and the way Bariss handles everything there. That story specifically is one of my favourites, possibly ever!

I might be in the minority here but I preferred the Morgan Elsbeth episodes to the Barriss Offee episodes.

The way I'd describe Morgan's arc is that in each episode, she found herself in the company of other people than her own, and each time she never felt at home or feeling any kind of attachement to others, just like she said in The Path of Anger : "These are not my people, how could they ever be?" Meaning that since her people died, she hasn't been able to call anywhere else home, to truly be part of another goup of people and share their beliefs than her own. Being ostracized from the Mountain Clan for her actions, gaining the distrust and contempt of the people she ruled over on Corvus after "failing " to convince the Empire to collaborate with her, refusing to be part of the New Republic, or even siding with the Empire and in the end, when Thrawn said in Ahsoka : "For the Empire" she whispered : "For Dathomir". Because she never truly believed in the Empire, it was just a means to an end to help her own and only people, and her history is determined by everything she has done when it only benefited her people and no one else, or even at others' expense with pain and suffering.

I welled up and was in tears at the end of Barris' final episode. The writing was impeccable and the use of metaphor brilliant. This was Masterful Storytelling.

*[1]* I love that Thrawn had his forehead bumps. I imagine they were excluded in _Ahsoka_ so that Lars Mikkelson could move his brow, but they make the character look more alien. *[2]* It's a shame that Barriss didn't also recognise the Grand Inquisitor, so she could name him too. *[3]* Marrok looks even more like a knight with that half-cloak. *[4]* I loved all the ideological back-and-forth between Barriss and the Fourth Sister, as well as their different methods of getting information. *[5]* Barriss coaxing the child was uncomfortable not only because it was so evil, but because I wasn't certain if she was deliberately manipulating or just trying to get through a child's fear (removing her helmet reminded me of when Waxer took off his helmet to show Numa that him and Boil weren't droids). *[6]* I was surprised to see the child hug Barriss, but it offered some solid, silent characterisation. Barriss almost puts herself between the child and the Fourrh Sister, but not quite. She tells him to not look, but doesn't comfort or apologise, or even say something like "I didn't know she'd do that." She's got some compassion, but she's still an Inquisitor, and not supposed to comfort children. I totally expected the Fourth Sister to kill him too, but she doesn't. She's definitely evil, but she won't kill a kid, so there's still some good in her - foreshadowing her apparent return to the Light Side in the next short. *[7]* It's a brief moment, but Bariss warns the Fourth Sister of the rockfall, and the Fourth Sister doesn't catch or wait for Barriss when she's hit by it. *[8]* I was totally expecting one of the other Inquisitor contenders, or the Jedi hiding in the mountains, to be a youngling from _The Clone Wars'_ youngling arc. A missed opportunity, I think. *[9]* Non-binary representation? Both the village child and Barriss refer to the unnamed Jedi with they/them pronouns. *[10]* Seeing some lines on Barriss Offee's face relieved me, because it made me think she's been a healer for a long time; she doesn't leave the Inquisitorious only to die a few months later. *[11]* The description _"A shadow from Barriss' past catches up with her"_ made me think that Luminara or Ahsoka might appear in the third short, and confronting her would snap Barriss out of the Inquisitorious. When I got a second look at the approaching figure, the cape made me think it was Vader. But it was probably best to have a consistent presence across all three shorts (and I don't think Vader cares about how she hurt Ahsoka, or that a Luminara/Barriss relationship could be re-established well in just one short). *[12]* I expected Barriss to fight the Fourth Sister with white lightsabers, since she is a healer - maybe still in the same hilt. But it's better, as a Jedi and a healer, for her to just evade attacks rather than return in kind. It's also a good flip on the Grand Inquisitor's first lesson. *[13]* When the Fourth Sister shouts "Barriss!" and she responds "I'm here," the sound effect when the former strikes the ground is from Exogol, when Kylo Ren meets Palpatine. *[14]* Barriss saying "I forgive you" after getting stabbed is about the most Light Side thing she could say, and a complete 180° on her previously writing off the Jedi Order for their violence. *[15]* The shot of Lyn leaving her lightsaber behind reminded me of the final shot of _Victory And Death,_ with Vader walking away from the clone helmet in the snow. *[16]* With Lyn mirroring Barriss' words to the unnamed Jedi, we get another parallel. These three shorts really like parallels, and I am not complaining. It's like poetry, they rhyme.

I’m glad that Barriss was wounded but not outright killed, and then carried away by Lyn, presumably to somewhere safe. I feel like that was a good middle ground between killing her and just letting her escape unscathed.

The Morgan shorts explain why Captain Pallaeon is so loyal to Thrawn, before this they had only just met like a few days before the end of Rebels, but now we know that Pallaeon served under Thrawn for a time beforehand, which is why he has such a high admiration for him.

Barris facing an enraged Lyn without a lightsaber so she may stall for others to escape reminded me a lot of Luke and Kylo at the end of The Last Jedi.

Can't believe I felt sad at Bariss death... DAMN YOU FILONI!!!

Random fact: in Ep.4, Dante (the fallen Jedi who fought Barriss) was played by Nicolas Cantu, who was the VA for Rowan Freemaker. Always good to see actors return to the Star Wars galaxy!

Really enjoyed this, the Empire, Thrawn and Nightsisters are the most fascinating pieces for me afterall

We had to wait 11 years but finally we got to see Bariss's journey continue. And it was worth the wait.

One thing I wondered after Morgan's power faded: if she lost her powers, how did Merrin keep hers?

I want Tales of Scoundrels next year.

I have been looking forward for this

The last 3 episodes were great

Q&A: Since we did saw the epilogue ending of Omega leaves the Bad Batch and Pabu for joining the Rebellion as a Pilot. What if The Mandalorian Season Finale, The Mandalorian and Grogu Film, or the upcoming Vs. Thrawn Film will do the similar thing like they showed an Epilogue for Din Djarin and Grogu that Grogu becomes a Teenager (or Adult) in a Time Jump to closer to the Sequel Trilogy era to have him join the Resistance to stop the First Order and might going to say Good Bye to Din Djarin (since he's pretty much an old man in that era) or possibly the first look of the era in the upcoming Rey's new Jedi Order film might going to have Grogu join the similar faction will be established in the Rey film and Grogu might say good bye to Din Djarin in the grave site? (We pretty much know Grogu would be around 100 years old in that era and I don't think Din Djarin will be around in that era.)

The current fleet-mixing trend in animation with the Venator/Imp 1 mixes are awesome and are nice nod towards how the early Imp(erator at that time) would have been used in the last months of the Clone War.

Tales of the empire Morgan and barris was amazing episodes but Morgan was the back story for Ashoka and mandalorian season 2

Regardless of the in-universe explanation, Barriss looking old while Lyn looks identical it works quite well symbolically - Barriss has matured, while Lyn, who Barriss previously looked up to, hasn't changed at all.

Thanks for the review. Will watch the series this month.

I say, Bariss still lives.

I like the subtle shift in Lyn's character between Realization and The Way Out. She seems a bit more tired, jaded, and resigned, like the years of darkness have taken their toll. She seems almost disillusioned, somehow. The fact that she doesn't attack Barris right away and actually tries to get her to stand aside before swinging is some really subtle and compelling character development.

Brilliant video thank You

We really liked this season. We are very happy that they gave Bariss an ending. Hopefully next we get the arc where Thrawn meets Anakin during the Clone Wars.

The Way out mirrored Return of the Jedi in that it is a selfless act that gets you back. These shorts like the Tales of the Jedi ones were so well done and so powerful, and also have imo so much truth in them. Fantastic

The episodes were awesome

Thank you for this video.

I like how Barriss’ inquisitor helmet has a similar design aesthetic to the one she stole from Ventress.

Man I hadn't thought about the life force thing for Barriss' aging. Love that!

As Barriss mentioned her old friend Ahoska which led me to assume she made up with her in between these time which I really hope so, and the fact that she may also know about the hidden path

That old friend that Barris refers to when she sends that family away from Lyn, was that one Jedi that she helps after Lyn almost kills her.

The labyrinth with Barris was so awesome! Give us more Barris!!

I CRIED. Bariss deserverd that amazing ending.

I enjoyed these shorts a lot, and will be interested to revisit them. Agreed on the music; that was strong throughout. Barriss' story was effective, though I appreciated the Morgan episodes a little more -- both for understanding her better, and for the connections therein. I didn't expect Pellaeon and Rukh to play a part, and Thrawn himself was awesome. The most emotional parts for me were bookend moments: the death of Morgan's mother (interestingly and fittingly voiced by Diana Lee Inosanto) and Lyn's moment of commitment to help Barriss. The contrast in those two is partly what makes me think Barriss is alive.

Absolutely loved them!

Here are my thoughts. Ep. 1: very good, love the irony in Elsbeth’s own fear of the droids returning causing the droids to return. Also, new Commando Droid blaster? Ep. 2: while I like it, I don’t love how it glosses over the events of the Thrawn and Thrawn Treason novels. Pellaeon was good but Eli would have been better, and I didn’t like how it was Morgan who came up with the Defender Ep. 3: while the episode was kinda meh, her speech at the end was fascinating from a psychology perspective Ep. 4: probably my favorite, both visually and content wise. It honestly felt like a fever dream, what with the colors, and I think that’s super fitting Ep. 5: another good one. My god was Lyn brutal. Ep. 6: goddammit Barriss’ story ends on another cliffhanger. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, especially with the call back to Barriss’ healing ability

I love it now please make more more more

Great breakdown

I really like that all the "Tales of..." arcs have revolved partially at least around how to galactic powers can totally neglect or outright dominate and destroy the outer rim planets with less influence. We got to see a lot of what life is like on impoverished less important planets, and I think it's thematically important that in the time of the Empire, thats where Jedi make their home. Stark contrast to the corrupt and tone deaf Jedi of the prequels.

Force healing works so well here. Bariss probably has regrets and her way of coping with it is literally giving part of her life to save others.

The Morgan arc really shows how in getting revenge, she was actually causing just more destruction like the Separatists. Another thing I liked is how a dark sider shows Barriss the way into the Empire and Barriss shows the dark sider the way out of the Empire.

I'm obsessed with this show!!!

7:35 burns the forest around Caladan? Like the planet name from dune?

So with my memory and some added help from people in the comments (Feel free to reply with any info I missed or if I got something wrong), we have a timeline for TOTE. Episode 1: Around 20 BBY. Episode 2: Between 14 BBY & 2 BBY. Episode 3: Sometime around or before 9 ABY. Episode 4: Around 19 BBY. Episode 5: Sometime after 19 BBY. Episode6: Sometime after 19 BBY.

Needed more episodes to explore the characters. The fights were incredible!

Love it

SECRET TUNNEL! The way out of the cave is with love!

I always had a crush on Barris. I couldn’t believe Luminaras apprentice would kill people. I feel like a bit of Ashoka’s influence is what contributed to her bombing the Jedi temple. But at heart she brought herself back to what she knew was right

Happy May the 4th be With you !!

Thank you and May the Fourth be with you!🩵 I'll be watching Tales of the Empire! And for the next crossover story is a Techno-Organic War between the Yushan Vong vs the Reapers (Star Wars Legends vs Mass Effect)

Happy Star Wars day everyone

I really liked the updated looks for Rukh and the Grand Inquisitor.

Excellent review Alex. I more or less agree with you - redemption all round in Barris and tragedy and the ingratitude of the townspeople leads Morgan to anger and evil. Cheers.

My feeling about 'Tales from the Empire' is generally positive but...well...I had little interest in Morgan's story and I've been waiting for the continuation of Bariss's tale since what feels like forever. Here, the Morgan episodes were really good and Bariss' were good but missing something. Especially at the end. Incomplete. Not 100% percent satisfying. Again, all good but not all I was hoping for.

Venators were still in use during the OT era, really not that weird.