When T'Bar Ricair was a child, her parents worked as contractors to large corporations that oversaw space station overhauls, which brought them financial comfort but left them little time to spend with their daughter. Between two jobs, however, they would sometimes take her to Black Spire Outpost on Batuu for a vacation. There, Ricair's used to hang out at Oga Garra's Cantina, while her mother told her stories about the planet, many of which revolved around the extinct Jedi Order.
Eventually, Ricair grew up to become a smuggler. Around the time of the Hosnian Cataclysm in 34 ABY, she had been with a smuggling crew for several months. Upon hearing the news of the Cataclysm on the HoloNet, Ricair decided to part ways with the crew and find a place to lay low while the situation between the New Republic and the First Order settled down.
Having fond recollections of her childhood vacations, Ricair decided to make a stopover at Blackspire Outpost. There, she visited her favorite petrified tree, which she said housed a cave where Jedi Padawans of old went to discover their greatest fears through the Force. She then visited Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities, where she indulged in the purchase of a Jedi holocron and a purple kyber crystal. As she passed Docking Bay 7, Ricair saw a YT-1300 light freighter, which she thought might have been the famous Millennium Falcon—or, more probably, one of a great many knock-offs.
On the recommendation of a sympathetic local, she then headed to the Milk Stand. However, she was halted in her tracks by a group of First Order stormtroopers on the lookout for members of the Resistance. When they finally let her go, Ricair had a blue milk at the stand, and learned from the merchant that the YT-1300 was indeed the Millennium Falcon, and that its famous co-pilot, the Wookiee Chewbacca, had been seen.
As she wandered through the shopping district, Ricair noticed a woman in orange flight jacket trying to hide in the shadows. Suspecting that she was a member of the Resistance, Ricair decided to help her rather than report her to the First Order. Ricair stepped between the woman and a stormtrooper that walked by, blocking the soldier's line of sight. Before heading off towards the forest at the edge of the outpost, the mysterious woman gave her a mysterious look, an invitation to follow her. Hesitating, the smuggler held back.
Later on, Ricair learned of the atrocities Supreme Leader Kylo Ren of the First Order committed when he visited Batuu, which prompted her to join the Resistance after all.
T'Bar Ricair first appeared in "Life on the Edge," a short story written by Tricia Barr that appeared in Star Wars Insider 192 in 2019. The story chronicles Barr's visit to the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge theme park in Anaheim, California through the eyes of Ricair, a character she invented for the visit. Ricair's name is an anagram of Barr's.