How do you feel about the decision of the writers to make Barriss of all the characters the one to commit terrorism? Hear me out her being one of the few characters that cover her hair and is possibly Muslim-coded is definitely uncomfortable and problematic especially in the era the show was made. But the betrayal aspect and her relationship with Ahsoka and the way it fits in with her perfectionist tendencies the storyline makes sense. The pressures of war and being forced to break the code and see the Jedi become weapons could do this…
It's fun when I get these, because these are issues Barriss fans have pulled apart for ages (especially in the 11 years of waiting between TCW season 5 and TotE). But I am more than happy to share my thoughts on this.
First of all I'll give a gracious-to-the-creators answer. A lot of decisions were made on the fly, and with budget in mind. Why do the Mirialans wear modesty dress? Could be because they are Muslim-coded, could be so they could spare a few bucks not animating complicated hair models. That's certainly why Barriss's cape is so short in season 2. Also, I truly believe the reason Ahsoka is teamed up with Luminara in Cloak of Darkness was because they already made Lumi's model for the Clone Wars movie, but didn't have the budget for Barriss yet. George's choice to make that first four-episode arc into a theatrical film really screwed up their first season budget, and keep in mind they were a brand new animation studio back then. They had to retroactively explain that she was traumatized by First Battle of Geonosis and sat out the whole first year of the war. Probably because of budget reasons.
And I truly believe they chose Barriss to be the bomber because they forgot to write Ahsoka more friends, but needed a dramatic reveal. Which sucks, to be sure. I am not too conflicted about the choice, because what made me love Barriss so much is that banger confession speech. And I can't have that amazing speech without that catastrophically bad writing decision.
One thing I can take them to task about is that the Mirialan ladies defiantly have an Orientalist bent to their costuming, and they hired a Kenyan and Indo-Fijian actors to play them in Attack of the Clones. So they should have anticipated the Muslim-coding. Their costumes were actually taken from concept art of a Sith from The Phantom Menace, and those sketches were used for Ventress too.
And they should have anticipated it would be a bad look since so much of The Clone Wars 2008-2013 comments very heavily on the Iraq war and Bush administration politics. So giving the head covering girl a bombing plot just stands out all the more. I can give Dave props for not going with the original ending for that arc, Barriss was to consume the nano-droids herself and blow herself up in her prison. That's an atomic-level yikes for sure. It also shows they were a bit aware of the implications.
I also think they were aware of how abrupt the character choice was, because they've done a bit to kind of backfill her motivations. A Jedi's Duty is a wonderful short story they wrote about her, that explains her year away at the temple before Weapons Factory. It's one of my favorite Star Wars short stories, and it influences my fics quite a bit.
And at least they were consistent about her moral compass causing her to make big choices as we see in Tales of the Empire. It's frustrating that her "death" was pretty ambiguous, but really at this point I'm happy to have Dave leave the storytelling to us for a bit. Lord knows most of my work is filling in the blanks in The Wrong Jedi arc. It's okay if she belongs to her fans for a while. Maybe not another 11 years. If she shows up in Ahsoka Show and is written well I'll give Dave his flowers. But I doubt it. Dave seems to think Ahsoka's angst is all about Anakin for some reason.
For completeness I also must point out that she didn't always exclusively head cover in Legends. Check out the cover for Medstar I: Battle Surgeons, for instance. She still wears the cloak unless alone in the actual novel, however.
I think it's interesting that the first thing the Empire does after pardoning and drafting her is take her cowl away, only to give it back as an Inquisitor, which she then rejects altogether once she leaves.
Thank you for giving me another excuse to talk about my girl! <3
