Star Wars: The Clone Wars introduced Ahsoka Tano as a typical kid sidekick only to grow and expand the character throughout the franchise into a complicated adult with a rich history of conflict and relationships. As the character's visibility boosts more than ever with the move to The Mandalorian's live-action setting, there is doubtless more of Ahsoka to come, but along the way, fans shouldn't forget one of the most formative relationships in Ahsoka's life: Barriss Offee. In fact, Barriss's story is almost as rich as Ahsoka's own.
Introduced as a foil to Ahsoka's relationship with Anakin, Barriss Offee was the padawan to Jedi Master Luminara Unduli. Both Barriss and Luminara were Mirialans, notable for their green skin and freckled appearances. The conservative manner they dressed in reflected each Jedi's academic and studious nature, and even after first meeting Ahsoka, Barriss made it explicit that she preferred studying ancient Jedi texts to fighting in grand battles. That difference between a love for learning and for the thrill of adventure marked a major difference between the Jedi pairings of Barriss and Luminara as opposed to Ahsoka and Anakin.
Despite said differences, Ahsoka quickly discovered a friend in Barriss and the two padawans survived together their own brushes with death. Barriss participated in both the first and the second Battles of Geonosis and overall embodied the ideal of what a padawan should be. But what lurked under the surface was a conflict that gave the character unparalleled depth and which would rock Ahsoka's own philosophy for decades to come.
In her studies of ancient Jedi texts and as the Clone Wars wore on, Barriss became convinced that the Jedi of her era lost their way. With a view of the Jedi as perpetuating the war rather than defending the Galaxy as peacekeepers, Barriss believed that they became far more like the Sith they sought to destroy than any of those around her would care to admit. In harboring her suspicions, Barriss's own heart darkened, and she eventually hatched a plot that would take several lives and frame one of her closest friends for the deed.
Barriss staged a bombing of the Jedi Temple that killed several people and set up Ahsoka to take the fall for it. In seeking to plant discontent and distrust among the Jedi, Barriss embodied much the same darkness she sought to fight against, and it was only after Anakin narrowly captured her following Ahsoka's banishment from the Order that the truth came out. Still, Ahsoka's faith in the Jedi was forever shaken and she left the Order even after her name was cleared. Barriss was imprisoned and unseen in the canon since then, while Ahsoka was left to reflect on just how substantial Barriss's points may have been.
Though her methods were extreme, there is no doubting that the Jedi made many mistakes throughout the war. Indeed, she was not alone in raising concern that they became overly entrenched in warfare as generals. Given that Barriss's death has never been explicitly confirmed, and there is such a rich well of story potential between her character and Ahsoka's, there is almost certain to be further exploration of the matter in the future Ahsoka Disney+ series. It may be easy to cast her as the evil Ahsoka Tano, but what's perhaps most fascinating about the character is that nothing is ever that black and white.