Animated Shorts Tales of the Empire (Spoilers allowed)

The Barriss arc was good, but the ending painted the rest negatively. It was far too abrupt a cliffhanger. Especially one which won’t be resolved for like 2 years. I am sure she’ll appear in the Ahsoka show but come on. That cliffhanger was far to much of a cliffhanger for my liking

I couldn’t get that attached to Morgan’s story I don’t know why.

 

I don’t know that any of the episodes were as good as “The Sith Lord” but I think I preferred almost all of these ones to the Ahsoka trio we got with TotJ. So, that’s progress.

 

Yes I agree with that but the Dooku ones were on another level so it made TOTJ better overall.

 

I think the last Dooku episode was that. But I’ll be honest, I got more enjoyment out of Thrawn and Pellaeon’s scenes with Morgan or Lyn’s redemption than I did Dooku and Mace’s whole thing.

 

Also in before people start bitching about how TOTE contradicts the Thrawn novels. Which it very much does. But I am tired of that argument.

basically Palleon and Thrawn don’t work together before the events of rebels. It isn’t the biggest contradiction ever.

 

The first Barris one created a timeline issue with the 2017 Vader comic.

So the Emperor moves the Inquisitors off of Coruscant to Nur in 14 BBY. Which is when Vader takes Mustafar. Therefore it doesn't make sense why they would have their base set up right after order 66

 

Palpatine did not tell that he moves Inquisitors to that place because it is near Vader's future castle, no contradiction here.

 

Not only is it not a contradiction, it actually compliments Thrawn Treason rather well. Considering that the climax of that novel was Thrawn mocking Savit for thinking that Pellaeon was loyal to him and with there being no internal POV for Thrawn or Pellaeon, it can very much be read as Pellaeon being Thrawn’s agent all along and him having Savit checked well in advance.

 

Maybe I just need to reread Thrawn again. But I could have sworn it was written like that. Again I don’t really care at all one way or another

 

Pellaeon’s role in that book is basically just a voice over from his Star Destroyer at the end announcing that he believes Faro/Thrawn that Savit has gone rogue and turning on him.

He’s part of Savit’s third fleet and at the end of the book goes over to the Seventh, but Thrawn implies that he’s already familiar with Pellaeon and that he knows he’ll not side with Savit in their battle.

 

Oh this was disappointing as heck. I liked Tales of the Jedi but not this. Exposition and pointless scenes instead of story and substance. No Ahsoka, no Luminara, no explanation how Morgan became imperial or starfighter designer. Nothing. Just boring pointless stuff with characters that were not that interesting to begin with. There was so much potential and it went completely wasted.

These episodes were pointless and bland. Idea of Barriss story was good but didn't expect it would be that bad. What happened? Did they went into complete bankruptcy of ideas now?

This was the worst than Kenobi now. Filoni has lost his touch...

He walks and then... sits.... no talk or nothing... pointless.

 

Started watching this, finished first three episodes. I have to say, it’s not as good as TotJ, the animation feels lower quality. Thrawn’s intro was good though

 

He walks and then... sits.... no talk nothing...

I think animation was good. Battles were good. Plot was bad and pointless though. Didn't like this at all really. Too bad they wasted time animating this crap...

 

Spoiler

Couple the TOTE Barriss arc with the reveal of Ventress Lives! from BB3, and all I can say, it feels like the Force is telling me LFL is leading up to a “Protectors of the Path” series starring Quilan Vos and Asajj Ventress with special guest stars Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bail Organa, Caleb Dume, Cal Kestis, Kelleran Beq, and Gungi!

Always in motion is the future!

 

This episode takes place in 9BBY at the latest if there is a Ventress show it will take place in like 18-17 BBY

 

I realise I'm probably in a minority of one when I say this, but I actually preferred Morgan's episodes.

Don't get me wrong, all six were superb (the animation, composition, pacing, voice acting, music... holy heck, it's better than ever) but Barriss has never been a priority for me. Her little arc was beautiful and sad and classic Star Wars, but having it confirmed felt a tad obligatory. I've been shown a satisfactory answer to a decade-old question I'd largely forgotten about. She died redeemed; bravo. Good for her. Loose end sufficiently tied off. Let's move on.

Maybe I'll watch 'em again during my next journey through The Clone Wars, and append them to the Season 5 finale. They might work better that way.

But I was enthralled by Morgan's backstory. It was necessary and immediate, an essential part of "current" Star Wars storytelling that fleshed out one of my recent favourites (a little too late perhaps, but hey, this franchise can't even count to six in the right order) and revealed her to be a much larger part of schemes past. Her descent into darkness was well-charted and compelling. I now have a firm grasp on her motivations, which is something I don't think I ever got (and still haven't gotten) with Barriss. I'm definitely gonna watch 'em again; they'll slot very neatly between Rebels and 'Chapter 13: The Jedi' when tracking the whole story.

10/10 for the first three, 9/10 for the second. I'd call that a very special treat on May the Fourth.

 

So certain are you?

 

I thought the friend she was speaking of was Ashoka

 

Considering Barriss Offee's age i think its closer to ANH. Barriss Offee be in late 30's to 40.

Most likley yes.

 

Overall, taken by themselves, I enjoyed these (though they weren't nearly as good as the Dooku parts of TotJ). The animation keeps improving. They kind of felt weightless, though; they didn't add anything to the overall lore. There wasn't anything of importance we learned about Morgan Elsbeth (who was killed off too soon anyway), and I didn't care what happened to Barriss.

I did really like the visuals (and music) with the Maze episode.

I did not like seeing Lyn fall from a great height and easily surviving (again). Maybe she sabercoptered away?

Why would Bo-Katan, of all people, receive the emergency transmission? Didn't the New Republic send someone themselves?

The timeline in the Barriss story is unclear to me. Was she transported to the Fortress Inquisitorius right after Palpatine declared the Empire? If so, how come the fortress was so far along in its construction already--when did the Empire start building that? When did the inquisition start, anyway, and how did it begin? I didn't expect the inquisition (INSERT JOKE HERE) right after the Empire was declared--so, I'm guessing it took a a while. Barriss sat in her cell for a while (a year? Two years?), then got transported to the Fortress?
Given this, maybe a backstory of the Grand Inquisitor, and how the inquisition was formed, would've been a better and more interesting topic for a Tales short?

BTW, they should be careful giving us too many redemption stories. "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Except for Barriss Offee, and Lyn--the fourth sister, I think? And also that chick from the Kenobi show."

 

@clonegeek @Count Yubnub

I actually think this does line up with the rest of Canon, since both Fallen Order and Rise of the Red Blade implied that the Fortress already existed shortly after Order 66, since that was where Trilla and Iskat were taken. The Fortress wasn't the main headquarters of the Inquisitorius yet and they still had a headquarters on Coruscant until 14 BBY.

The Darth Vader comics also revealed that the Inquisitorius already existed shortly after the events of Revenge of the Sith, since on Coruscant Vader was introduced to a group consisting of the Sixth Brother, the Fifth Brother, the Seventh Sister, the Eighth Brother, and the Ninth Sister. So Barriss being recruited by the Fourth Sister while the events of Revenge could be still going on (the rain makes me think it is right after Mustafar) isn't that unbelievable, especially since it has been implied for a while that Palpatine created the Inquisitorius very early on, perhaps even as early as during the Clone Wars, finding Jedi who could be turned and poaching them from the Order. It's possible that construction on Nur began even earlier than we realized as well.

Also, the fact that the group of Inquisitors we see on Nur don't include any of the Inquisitors we see on Coruscant in the Vader run gives more evidence that there are two Inquisitor facilities. The Inquisitors that Vader met on Coruscant were likely the Inquisitors who were already inducted, while Jedi who had yet to become full-fledged Inquisitors were brought to Nur first before moving to Coruscant.

 

I think there was someone else you're forgetting.

Spoiler

Point being that everyone could have that ounce of redemption kryptonite that shows them back to the light. Frankly I think it was appropriate that Barriss didn't have someone like Ahsoka or another friend from her past who brought her back to the good side. She had a conscience all this time. Of course she had her qualms with the Jedi, but she wasn't going to be going around slaughtering innocent civilians in cold blood just because someone says so. She had her motives for what happened before on Coruscant, as an Inquisitor it's essentially just giving her purpose and not much more.

 

But that particular individual hadn't had redemption yet when Yoda did his "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny" thing.

All that's interesting but wouldn't made for a much better topic for a set of animated shorts, IMO.

 

How do you know? Do we know at which point we see the obviously much older Barriss in that final episode?