Television
Tales of the Empire and why it matters to Star Wars as a whole
On May 4th, the followup to a short but decent Star Wars animated series, Tales of the Jedi, was released. This article will contain spoilers for the series so if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you do before reading this.
Tales of the Empire blows all my expectations from the first series out of the water. While Tales of the Jedi was good, it was throwaway and mostly consisted of some fun facts and cool fight scenes and some neat Dooku exposition.
Tales of the Empire, on the other hand, is a detailed exploration of corruption, desperation, and conformity which adheres to themes of war and strife that make Star Wars that much more meaningful.
The first three episodes are alright and don’t touch on anything really meaningful. They feature a nightsister we have already seen before, Morgan Elsbeth, and her rise to power, which these episodes mostly rehash from either The Mandalorian or Ahsoka.
However, the final three episodes are full of incredible depictions of hardship and choice. What do we do when the enemy closes in on all sides? Do we give up? Do we fold and join the enemy? Or do we fight to our last breaths?
Let’s set the stage:
Our protagonist, Barriss Offee, is a traitor to the Jedi order, and is locked in a Republic prison. When the Clone Wars end, she is freed by the Empire and trained to become a Jedi-killing war machine.
However, the more expeditions she goes on, the more she loses herself, realizing that the Inquisitor order is just as bad if not worse than the Jedi order she turned on. She becomes increasingly disillusioned with the empire, even though she was already hesitant. Eventually, she decides to go all in and attack her superior, Lyn.
After this incident, Barriss decides she’s done with galactic struggles and politics. She retreats to an icy planet and becomes a “wise woman” of sorts, helping the citizens with their struggles and providing advice.
However, when a force sensitive baby is brought to her, she is compelled to once again step into the ring. With Inquisitors on her tail, she smuggles the family and the force sensitive child through a cave strong in the force. Barriss must once again confront Lyn, who is blinded by her hatred. Her hate makes her predictable, and she runs into the cave after the child, only to get lost in the labyrinth of ice, the force not letting her leave.
Barriss attempts to guide her back to the light and free her from the cave, and she succeeds, at the cost of her own life. In a blinded rage, Lyn’s final blow accidentally strikes Barriss down. Lyn, redeemed, exits the cave carrying Barriss’ heavily injured body, vowing to save her.
Tales of the Empire is an incredibly character driven narrative. In fact, many comparisons can be drawn between this and the other Star Wars political drama, Andor. That series focuses on the rebel fighter Cassian Andor before the events of Rogue One.
Cassian experiences hardship, death, and often comments that he is unequipped for the war to come, and did not want the duty of rebellion to come to him. Andor attempts to leave, stating he is unable to sacrifice anything else for the Rebel alliance.
But it’s not that easy. Luthen is unwilling to let him go from their rebel squad, and replies with a burst of fury, a far cry from his calm and calculating personality, stating that he’s sacrificed his entire life for the alliance, and no one is ever ready for the cost of war. Without others to shoulder that burden, Luthen states that the alliance would collapse under the weight of that duress, stressing that he needs Andor on his side.
Tales of the Empire deals with this in a much more nuanced way, through the simple act of rebellion, sparking a complete departure from Barriss’ status quo.
This rebellion is excellently built up through the events of the past episodes, with Barriss complying in the murder of her friend to complete her Inquisitor training, standing idly by while Lyn slaughters an entire village, and even carrying out countless acts of violence against her enemies, her Inquisitor allies and the empire as a whole preventing her from even protesting.
This building pressure and unease culminates in a clash where a Jedi states he is tired of running and Barriss reaches out a hand, to help, but Lyn stabs him in the back. Barriss, having enough of the violence, strikes Lyn off the cliff and descends into the wilderness to live in peace until their fateful encounter, years later.
In this encounter, Barriss has fully turned back to the light, convincing Lyn to return to the light with her.
Both Barriss and Andor are bystanders, refusing to take action, until a cataclysmic event forces them to change their minds. Tales of the Empire reminds us that no heroes are made by choice. We are forced to step into these roles, and no matter how scary, fighting for what we believe is right is not just important for the world around you and for the wellbeing of those you fight for. It’s integral to you as a person.
Barriss shows that by following your beliefs, you are able to break the cycle of the struggles that are taking your life apart in a hot streak of rebellion.
Tales of the Empire doesn’t romanticize this concept as much as I or other “kids franchises” do. It in fact does the opposite. It shows that it isn’t easy whatsoever. Barriss complies for years, yet when faced with life and death, chooses the option she really cares about. It’s a long, hard path, and this is the beauty of this series:
Tales of the Empire follows Andor in showing that Star Wars can be something more. It can be a character-driven narrative that means something. It doesn’t have to be action, dogfights, or complicated lore. A lifelike character choosing to be better can be just as important and gripping.
