The storyline of Star Wars: Clone Wars is one of the most popular parts of the entire Star Wars storyline because it introduced new characters, plots, and events that all contributed to the overall development of the greater story. As such, Ahsoka Tano’s story in Clone Wars is one many fans have followed since she was first introduced as a character. We also know that she was framed for the bombing of the Jedi Temple, which eventually made her want to leave the Jedi Order. So, who framed Ahsoka for the bombing?
Barriss Offee, Ahsoka’s good friend, was the one who framed her for the bombing of the Jedi Temple. She decided to frame Ahsoka because she needed a fall guy that could take the blame. And Barriss decided to bomb the Jedi Temple because she had lost her belief in what the Jedi had become during the war.
The fact that Barriss was a disillusioned Jedi isn’t new to the Star Wars world because many former Jedi also lost belief in the Jedi Order due to how rigid the belief system of the Jedi had become. In that regard, Barriss didn’t have a choice but to betray her friend, as Ahsoka was the one that made the most sense for her to designate as the fall guy for her actions. Now, let’s look into Barriss Offee’s betrayal closely.
Barriss Framed Ahsoka for the Jedi Temple Bombing
One of the characters that fans have learned to love due to the masterful storytelling of Star Wars: Clone Wars is Ahsoka Tano. She was introduced as an annoying and immature young Padawan to a mature and wise Force user that had understood the Force in a way that some of the other Jedi could not. In that regard, her story in Clone Wars was something that fans needed to truly explore and observe to see what kind of a character Ahsoka is.
During the closing months of the Clone Wars, Ahsoka had become quite wise and was already wiser than some people would be at her age. Her experiences in the war and the things that she and her master, Anakin Skywalker, went through changed her and allowed her to see things differently. And while she was yet to become a Jedi Knight, Ahsoka had already seen through some of the flaws of the Jedi Order and was not totally convinced that the way of the Jedi was the one true way.
In the last year of the war, an unknown assailant bombed the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Ahsoka and Anakin were called by the Jedi Order to investigate the bombing, but the Jedi Council believed there was a good chance that the one that bombed the temple was actually a Jedi. That was when Ahsoka and her master started investigating the matter.
At that time, Ahsoka’s good friend, Barriss Offee, was on Coruscant as she had spent most of the last year on the capital planet of the Republic. It was during the time that she was on Coruscant that she was promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight. Because she was Ahsoka’s best friend among the young Jedi in the Jedi Order, Barriss decided to assist her in her investigation.
During the investigation, Ahsoka encountered a figure that seemed to be the Sith assassin named Asajj Ventress. It was during this scene wherein Ahsoka ended up fighting the mysterious assassin and discovering an abandoned explosive warehouse full of the nano-droids that were used to bomb the temple that made her the number one suspect for the bombing.
The clones discovered Ahsoka, as she was blamed for the bombing of the temple. She was put under containment and was expelled by the Jedi Order for her actions. Anakin, however, continued to investigate the truth behind the matter because he didn’t believe that Ahsoka would be capable of the act that she was accused of.
Anakin found Asajj Ventress, who no longer worked for Count Dooku or the Separatists. She told the Jedi Knight that someone had stolen her lightsabers. That was when Anakin became suspicious of the one person Ahsoka was in contact with during her investigation.
As such, Skywalker decided to visit Barriss in her chambers in the Jedi Temple. He attacked Barriss using her own lightsaber, and that was when it was revealed that she had hidden Ventress’ lightsabers, which she used to defend herself against Anakin’s attack. That was when it was clear that she was the one that bombed the Jedi Temple and had set Ahsoka up as the fall guy that she needed to stay away from the eyes of the Jedi Council.
Barriss Offee could stand her ground against Anakin for a while but was eventually defeated by the stronger Jedi Knight. Anakin burst in during Ahsoka’s trial to reveal the truth behind the incident. Barriss was accompanied by Jedi Temple Guards, one of who would eventually become the Grand Inquisitor. That was when Skywalker demanded that Barriss tell the truth in front of everyone in the trial.
Why Did Barriss Frame Ahsoka?
Barriss Offee not only admitted that she was behind the bombing but also that she had been awakened by the war and had seen the Jedi Order for what it truly was. Her contemplation period while on Coruscant allowed her to see how the Jedi and the Republic had fallen into something that no longer resembled what they stood for.
Offee claimed that the Jedi and the Sith were not too different from one another. She also made the bold claim that the Jedi were the ones that were responsible for the war. In short, she betrayed the Jedi and Ahsoka because she wanted to state how the Jedi Order had become a shell of its former self and was no longer the same Jedi Order that once stood for peace and justice.
Of course, Barriss framed Ahsoka because she was the best person to frame. Like Barriss, Ahsoka had seen some of the flaws of the Jedi Order during the different missions she undertook while the war was going on. As such, some of Ahsoka’s opinions differed from those of the Jedi Council, as this was never new due to how Qui-Gon Jinn was once a renegade Jedi who also had his own opinions. That was why Ahsoka was the best target for Barriss to use as the fall guy for her betrayal.
But while the Jedi Council was ready to bring Ahsoka back into the order, Tano decided to leave the Jedi Order on her own because she thought that Barriss Offee’s words made sense. Ahsoka felt betrayed by the fact that the council was more political and unwilling to listen to her story before expelling her from the order.
Ahsoka also started thinking that the Jedi Order shouldn’t have been so rigid with how her case was handled and that the council should have tried to hear the sides of those disillusioned, including Barriss Offee herself.
“Barriss Offee was wrong about a lot of things. She let her anger cloud her judgment, and she tried to justify her actions without considering their wider effects. She was afraid of the war, and she didn’t trust people she should’ve listened to. 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. Barriss should’ve done something else. 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.”
Ahsoka Tano on Barriss Offee’s Betrayal
In a way, Barriss’ betrayal was the stepping stone that Ahsoka needed to free herself from the rigid beliefs of the Jedi. While she was loyal to the Jedi Order despite its many flaws, she didn’t feel the same loyalty from the Jedi Council. And it was probably that she left the order that she was able to survive to Order 66 and understand the Force in a manner that some Jedi weren’t able to understand due to how rigid the Jedi Order was.
