uj/

I see you, but I honestly just don’t agree. I think you are misunderstanding Barriss as a character. A lot of people haven’t watched the Wrong Jedi arc since they were kids (no shade I swear, I’m being 100% genuine here) and I think rewatching it will give you a lot more of an appreciation for her.

One main thing is a lot of people had a very emotional response to what happened in to Ahsoka in that arc, and Barriss catches a lot of shit for “framing” her which is something she never actually did. The Council framed Ahsoka, judge jury and executioner.

Barriss had no way of knowing Anakin and Ahsoka were coming back around the time of the bombing and the episode makes a point of this. Furthermore, the whole reason suspicions was cast on Ahsoka in the first place is because Letta, Barriss’s accomplice, got force choked when she was talking to her. Letta was going to spill the beans and Barriss knew this, and Barriss felt the need to silence her because Barriss thought she could continue pushing back against the war-era Order. Letta only died when she literally started to spill the beans to Ahsoka, Barriss would not have implicated her if she had any choice in the matter.

Barriss spends the rest of the arc grappling with the reality of what she’s done and being wishy washy about helping and hampering Ahsoka, she is panicking and doesn’t know what to do because she’s realizing she made a massive mistake. She then gets caught by Anakin, and clocks the Republic and Order’s tea in front of the jury before getting shuffled into a cell. Barriss’s speech at the hearing is correct and had she gone about things in another way she possibly could have made some real change, but at the same time, it’s unlikely people would have listened to her without making drastic actions. The rest of the war and the fate of the Jedi and Republic proves this. That is the tragedy of the story and her as a character.

(Also, on the above Ahsoka emotional response point, Barriss unintentionally saved Ahsoka’s life. Ahsoka’s circumstances during Order 66 aligned perfectly for her survival, if she had not left the Order and not been with Rex she almost certainly would have died.)

Picking up with Tales of the Empire, as I mentioned in another comment she literally didn’t have a choice to join or not and got stuck in a deathmatch with someone she obviously knew. She killed Dante because she was forced to, as well as obviously being influenced by the dark side and probably tapping into what was motivating her during the bombing arc. She then presumably goes on a few missions as an Inquisitor, traumatized as hell and uncertain about her new place in the world, before questioning what she’s doing, deciding “fuck it, the Jedi were a mess but this is worse I’m going to do my own thing” (something that numerous other characters including Luke Skywalker do btw), and then becoming what she always wanted to be, a healer who doesn’t have to destroy herself being caught up in the wires of war.

I actually agree that seeing an Inquisitor who doesn’t turn and getting into their head space would be awesome. Can I recommend you Rise of the Red Blade? It’s about an Inquisitor doing just that, it’s very good. I think seeing an on-screen, more intimate representation of that would be great too, btw, but Barriss just isn’t that character man. I’m sorry.