Depa Billaba

Many years prior to the [Clone Wars](/article/clone_wars], Depa Billaba was born on the planet Chalacta. She had a sister named Sar Labooda. During her childhood, she was captured by space pirates who killed her parents. However, she successfully sent an encrypted distress signal, which was intercepted by Mace Windu, a member of the Jedi Order. Windu decrypted the message, rescued Billaba, and brought her into the Order, where she eventually trained under the Jedi Master to learn the ways of the Force.

While training under Windu, she studied as a Consular Jedi but was also permitted to study the Vaapad variant of Form VII. She accompanied her master to various locations, including Dallenor, where he taught her how to use munitions such as smoke bombs. She eventually became a Jedi Knight, known for her lightsaber skills and preference for Form III when teaching other Jedi. After her training with Windu, Billaba traveled to Chalacta to explore her heritage, which broadened her perspective on Jedi philosophy. She also tutored initiates in meditation techniques, including Xaran Raal, with whom she developed a close bond.

By 40 BBY, Billaba had risen to the Jedi High Council, the governing body of the Jedi Order. Billaba was among the Jedi Masters present when the Council offered Qui-Gon Jinn the seat of retiring Master Poli Dapatian, believing they would benefit from Jinn's unique perspective. She also joked when Jinn requested time to consider the offer, suggesting that all prospective members should, lest they be unaware of what they were getting into.

In 33 BBY, after witnessing Xaran's knighting, she tasked him with investigating piracy in the Slice, particularly the Riftwalkers, but was saddened to learn of his murder later. Determined to solve the case and understand the planet's situation, Billaba took over Xaran's anti-piracy assignment, going undercover as the thief "Hotwire" and befriending the Riftwalker courier Kylah Lohmata. Billaba discovered that the Riftwalkers' leader, Zilastra, was involved in Xaran's death, the assassination of other pirates, and a plot to target the Jedi Council. Captured by Zilastra, Billaba learned that the pirate's hatred of the Jedi stemmed from Sifo-Dyas' past recruitment violations. With Kylah's help, Billaba and her allies thwarted Zilastra's plot, leading to the pirate's incarceration. Afterward, Kylah became a cadet on the Assurance, commanded by Pell Baylo.

Windu was dispatched to Oosalon to locate and save the abducted children following the abduction of several kids by the warlord Guattako. Windu ultimately prevailed over all of Guattako's army. Guattako struck Windu unconscious during their duel with his staff. As Guattako prepared to kill Windu, a child shot and killed him. Shortly after, Billaba, Plo Koon, and Qui-Gon Jinn came to his aid.

During the Invasion of Naboo, she was present in the Council chambers of the Jedi Temple when Jinn recounted his encounter with Darth Maul on Tatooine, and his belief that Maul was a Sith Lord; Maul had been trying to capture Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo. The Jedi Master also revealed that he had found Anakin Skywalker, a young slave he had freed on the desert planet, and that he believed the boy was the Chosen One destined to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force. The Council was skeptical of both claims but nonetheless agreed to test the boy and investigate Darth Maul. Despite being impressed with Skywalker's abilities, the Council initially rejected Jinn's request that the boy be admitted into the Jedi Order, on the basis that Skywalker was too old to begin Jedi training. Instead, they instructed Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to travel to Naboo to protect Queen Amidala, who was returning to her planet to fight back against the Trade Federation invasion.

The Federation's invasion and occupation ended during a battle to retake the planet. Maul mortally wounded Jinn in lightsaber combat, before Kenobi gravely wounded the Sith Lord; Maul went into exile and would not be heard from again for many years. Jinn's dying wish was that Kenobi train Skywalker as a Jedi, a wish that the Council agreed to. Billaba and other members of the Jedi Council traveled to Naboo and attended Jinn's funeral, before taking part in a ceremony marking a newfound peace between the humans and Gungans of Naboo; the Federation, as a common enemy, brought the once-feuding peoples together.

In 28 BBY, Master Billaba served as the Jedi representative on the Republic's survey of the planet Bromlarch, alongside Senators Mina Bonteri, Rush Clovis, and Amidala. They traveled with the planet's representative, Caelor Gaans, to assess the damage to the aqueducts following a devastating groundquake. Billaba joined their ship for an orbital review. When a relief mission was finally dispatched, Billaba was part of the auditing team. The Jedi made sure to speak with Amidala, whom she had met after the Invasion of Naboo four years earlier. Shortly afterward, Billaba flew a Delta-7 starfighter as an escort for a supply run, using the callsign Hazard Three. She provided interference for the convoy and Amidala's starship against attacking pirates before they managed to escape.

Six years later, the Secessionist Movement plunged the Galactic Republic into a political crisis, with thousands of star systems seceding from the Republic and joining the Confederacy of Independent Systems. This conflict was orchestrated by Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith publicly known as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, as part of a plot to destroy the Jedi Order and seize control of the galaxy. Billaba was present on the Jedi Council when the body instructed Kenobi to investigate the plot to assassinate now-Senator Amidala, an outspoken opponent of the Military Creation Act that would have allowed the Republic to raise an army to combat the Separatists. Skywalker was further ordered to travel with Amidala to Naboo so she could be protected from harm. These events led Kenobi to discover a clone army built for the Republic in secret on Kamino and the Galactic Senate to grant Chancellor Palpatine emergency executive power. The Chancellor enlisted the clones as the Grand Army of the Republic, and they were put to use in the First Battle of Geonosis, which sparked the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatists—just as Sidious had intended.

Her sister, Labooda, was killed during the battle. Billaba did not take part in the opening battle of the war, but did not escape the fighting. By the time of several weeks into the war, she had seen action, which she spoke about with Sabé, Amidala's former handmaiden who was disguised as her, at a meeting between the Jedi Order and members of the Senate at the Jedi Temple. Billaba was accompanied by Barriss Offee, who had participated in the battle and seen firsthand how it was affecting the Jedi, especially the younger ones. Sabé shared her own experience with witnessing the horrors of war and Offee expressed that she wished she could do more. To this, Billaba advised her to be open to possibilities in the future.

Billaba and Jedi youngling Caleb Dume were present during Padawan Ahsoka Tano's training test in the Jedi Temple's dojo. After the test ended, Billaba and Dume spoke with each other while exiting the dojo.

At some point during the Clone Wars, Billaba participated in the battle on Malenko, fighting alongside Windu and a detachment of clone troopers against Separatist droid forces led by General Kazameer.

During the Clone Wars, Billaba undertook a mission to Malathon IX. Windu accompanied her to the village starport before departing. Over the next five days, Billaba carried out her mission. Meanwhile, an assassin named Ochi of Bestoon had been tracking her since her arrival, intending to claim the Separatist bounty on her. On the fifth day, Ochi prepared to kill her. He observed Billaba conversing with four clone troopers before approaching the tree where Ochi was hiding. As Ochi launched his ambush, Windu unexpectedly intervened, disarming him, having tracked Ochi the entire time.

Billaba attended a Council meeting where they viewed a live holographic recording of the devastating Separatist attack on Mahranee, the homeworld of the Mahran species. Following the attack, Windu convinced Billaba and the rest of the council on a secret mission to assassinate Count Dooku. At the suggestion of Kenobi, the Council recruited Quinlan Vos, who was experienced in undercover work, and Dooku's former apprentice Asajj Ventress for this sensitive operation. Ventress agreed to assist Vos with the mission but insisted that the Jedi could only overcome Dooku by training in the ways of the dark side.

On Haruun Kal, General Billaba and her troops faced General Grievous, a Kaleesh cyborg who was the Supreme Commander of the Droid Army. Grievous brutally defeated Billaba, nearly ending her life. Her battalion suffered ninety percent casualties that day. Billaba was severely injured, falling into a coma. After six months of care at the Jedi temple's infirmary, she awoke, seemingly fully recovered physically. However, the senior members of the Jedi High Council were concerned about her mental and emotional state. Consequently, Billaba underwent a full fitness assessment. After she appeared to have fully recovered, Billaba was allowed to resume her position in the High Council.

Following her reinstatement, Billaba took an interest in Caleb Dume, whom she had met before. His questioning nature caught her attention. She was impressed by Dume's questions about how Jedi Knights chose their Padawans when she and Windu were in the Jedi Archives. Billaba then instructed Dume, Sammo Quid, and Tai Uzuma in Form III defensive poses.

Billaba was present during a group training session in which Kenobi, now a Jedi Master and a member of the Jedi Council, told a group of younglings, including Dume, about a beacon in the Jedi Temple's central security station that could call all Jedi back to Coruscant in times of great crisis. Dume asked the Jedi Master if it could be used to warn Jedi away from Coruscant, a thought that Kenobi had never entertained, and that caused concern and commotion amongst the assembled younglings. Billaba attempted to stop Dume from his line of questioning, but Kenobi encouraged him and speculated that the beacon could indeed be used to warn Jedi away in times of unexpected peril. Billaba saw Dume, as she had in the past, as having a mind for strategy, and at the end of the session, Billaba was once again impressed by him.

Despite her recovery and her reinstatement to the High Council, some of the clone troopers started spreading the word that General Billaba was "damaged goods." This rumor reached Caleb Dume who decided to directly ask the Jedi Master. The two were discussing whether she was "damaged goods" despite her recovery, but their discussion was interrupted when they sensed something and saw thermal detonators outside her quarters.

When the bombs detonated, Billaba fled her quarters with Dume. Initially wanting to hide and gather information, Billaba pursued Dume when he confronted the bomber, CIS Captain Rackham Sear. Billaba saved Dume and prevented Sear from detonating his bombs. When Sear refused to surrender, they fought until he jumped off the roof and threw bombs at them. She survived and decided to take Dume as her Padawan.

She trained him in the ways of the Force, as well as in lightsaber combat. Billaba valued Dume's strategic mind and encouraged him to put it to good use. At some point, Billaba brought Dume to one of the thousands of Jedi Temples in the galaxy in order to undergo a rite of passage in which he would need to face and overcome his greatest fears. Three weeks after the Jedi temple bombing, Billaba took Dume to get a Kyber crystal and construct his lightsaber.

Near the war's end, Billaba and Dume were dispatched to Kardoa to assume command of a battalion comprised of survivors from her previous battalion, including Commander Grey, Captain Styles, Sergeant Soot, and Corporal Big-Mouth. Their mission was to confirm any Separatist presence. While leading her battalion through canyons, they were attacked by Coburn Sear and his droids, whom Billaba forced to retreat, although Dume was injured.

Billaba and her battalion were then sent to Mygeeto to clear the southern mesas of battle droids. Despite being outnumbered, Billaba, Styles, Dume, and Stance succeeded in clearing the mesas. During another attack, they were surrounded, and Billaba requested an extraction from Grey. They fought the droids until Skull Leader Fenn Rau and Skull Squadron arrived, providing them with time to evacuate. However, Billaba never had the opportunity to personally thank Fenn Rau for saving their lives.

Billaba returned to the base camp. However, the camp came under attack by battle droids led by Colonel Sear and General Grievous. Billaba fought Grievous, severing two of his hands. However, Grievous managed to wound her. Despite this, she continued fighting until Dume, Styles, and Grey came to her aid. Grievous and his forces retreated. Billaba was placed in a bacta tank to heal from her wounds sustained in the fight.

Billaba, along with her apprentice Dume, accompanied by Grey and Styles, engaged in combat on Kaller against General Kleeve's Separatist forces. Billaba and her troops successfully defeated Kleeve's forces, causing him to retreat. Following this victory, Billaba spoke with Gamut Key, reassuring him that his village would no longer be forced to provide supplies and labor. Billaba and her soldiers then set up camp outside Key's village.

Later that evening, Billaba took Dume aside for a training session, expressing regret for neglecting his training. After practicing Form III until after sunset, Billaba gave her Padawan a holocron, instructing him to use it to explore and satisfy his curiosity. They returned to the camp and relaxed by a fire with Grey, Styles, and the other soldiers. They discussed the role of questions in relation to orders and the Jedi Order, leading Billaba to present Dume with another holocron. He was tasked to use it to "study the role of questions" and "peaceful dissent" within the Order.

Following the crucial Battle of Coruscant, General Grievous and the Separatists initiated a widespread offensive across numerous star systems, including Kaller. Billaba and her soldiers found themselves trapped by Armored Assault Tanks outside the snowy woodlands, while Dume departed to request reinforcements. Clone Force 99 came to the rescue of Billaba and her men. Hunter, the leader of Clone Force 99, suggested a counter-attack, which Billaba approved. She gathered her soldiers to move out, allowing Dume to proceed with Hunter and his squad.

Shortly after this, Sidious's plan reached its climax as he initiated Order 66, an order sent to all clone troopers, including Grey, activating their behavioral modification biochips to designate the Jedi as traitors and eliminate them. As Billaba's soldiers organized, they began to surround her and open fire. Billaba was overwhelmed, and as her Padawan realized what was happening and turned back to help her, she instead instructed Dume to flee. Billaba valiantly stood her ground as Dume watched in horror, and after losing her lightsaber when a trooper shot it from her hand, she was quickly killed. Dume escaped into the woods, unaware that most of Clone Force 99 were equally confused about what was happening. Billaba's soldiers then began to pursue Dume.

Billaba's sacrifice enabled Dume to evade the clone troopers. Sidious declared himself Emperor and transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire, labeling the Jedi as enemies of the state. After viewing a message from Master Kenobi—a message broadcast over the Jedi beacon, warning Jedi to avoid Coruscant, just as Dume had foreseen. Grey later apprehended Dume. Dume pleaded with Grey and the other clones to remember their service to Billaba, but they remained unmoved. However, after Dume broke free, Grey began to question why he and the clones blindly obeyed Order 66, which ultimately led to him sacrificing himself and saving Dume[/article/rescue_of_caleb_dume].

Dume went into hiding and changed his name to Kanan Jarrus. He kept his identity as a Jedi secret to avoid execution, and he abandoned the Jedi path for many years. Jarrus eventually joined Hera Syndulla, a Twi'lek resistance fighter, and formed a rebel cell that operated on and around the Outer Rim planet of Lothal. He remained haunted by Billaba's final words, knowing that he ran away while she gave her life.

Shortly after the Battle of Fortress Vader, Darth Vader entered a portal created by Darth Momin to resurrect his wife Padmé Amidala. While navigating through visions, he encountered Billaba along with many Jedi with their lightsabers prepared to fight him. However, Vader killed all the illusions, slashing Billaba's throat as the words "Let the past die" echoed in his mind.

During their rebellion on Lothal, Jarrus took on his own Padawan, Ezra Bridger, who helped him reconnect with the Jedi path. Some of Jarrus' own teachings were recollections of what Billaba had taught him, such as when Jarrus brought his student to a hidden Jedi Temple on Lothal in order to confront and overcome his fears. Jarrus himself also had to face his own fear of being an inadequate teacher, due to his training under Master Billaba having been cut short by the end of the Clone Wars.

Her death left Jarrus with a deep mistrust towards clone troopers, which Jarrus explained to Bridger after meeting Captain Rex and two other clone soldiers, recounting how she had been gunned down by the same men that had fought beside her for years.

The records of the Jedi Temple, which included information about Billaba, also remained after the fall of the Jedi Order, and after the Temple was transformed into the Imperial Palace. The Grand Inquisitor, a dark side adept tasked with hunting down and eliminating Jedi who had survived the Clone Wars, was aware of Billaba from the Temple records. During a confrontation with Jarrus, the Inquisitor correctly deduced that Jarrus had been trained by Billaba due to his preference for Form III.

Eventually, in 0 BBY, Jarrus was killed when he saved his friends from an explosion caused by Governor Arihnda Pryce's walker, being engulfed by the flames after the Spectres escaped to safety. Through his sacrifice, the Specters and the other Lothal rebels were able to continue to fight, and soon afterward liberate Lothal from the Empire.

Depa Billaba was a human female with tan skin, and she adorned jewels on her forehead and brow. She also displayed the Chalactan marks of Illumination. She wore the simple, traditional garb of the Jedi Order, including a brown robe and a light tan tunic.

She was regarded as a wise and spiritual Jedi who possessed a glib sense of humor. Her tutelage under Windu and her knowledge of Chalactan philosophy provided her with both emotional control and the ability to let go of attachments, believing that emotions are both valuable and not to be suppressed but erred against letting them overtake one in preserving them. Jarrus remembered her as being a stricter teacher than he was but was not overly serious.

During her time as a general, she believed that the Jedi Order made a crucial error in accepting military titles in the Clone Wars, considering that was not a matter of leadership, but of role and rank. Billaba was particularly aware of the irony that a noble, peace-loving order like the Jedi were the military leaders in a galaxy-wide conflict and contemplated the will of the Force as the galaxy further slid into turmoil and war.

One of her significant bonds were with her former master. When she was a Padawan, she developed a close bond with Mace Windu and her master held her in high regard, considering her ascension to the Council among the most proudest moments in his Jedi career. He often protected her from both emotional and physical dangers. Caring deeply for him in return, Billaba wasn't above reminding her former master of her own independence, status, and confidence in her personal decisions in the wake of moments of grief and pain.

Billaba was also close to Xaran Raal, an initiate Billaba tutored. Windu once believed was a prospective candidate for serving as a Padawan under her and noted their closeness. Following his death shortly after becoming a Jedi Knight, she admitted she took his anti-piracy assignment in part of wanting to solve his murder. While she grieved and was sadden by his death, following bringing his killer to justice, the ordeal made her more open to the idea of having a Padawan.

Eventually, Billaba would take in Caleb Dume (later known as Kanan Jarrus) as her apprentice. As his master, she imparted what teachings she could onto Caleb Dume before she was killed during the fall of the Jedi Order. Jarrus survived the ensuing Jedi purge and eventually became a rebel leader, using the strategic mind that Billaba helped cultivate in order to fight against the Galactic Empire. He also remembered many of her teachings and passed them on to Ezra Bridger when he took the boy as his own Padawan. One such lesson was Billaba's belief that Jedi had to be willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others (which she herself carried out with her death), a lesson Jarrus himself did not fully understand until he allowed himself to be captured by the Empire on Lothal so the other rebels could escape. Prior to her death, she sometimes gently teased him about his habit of asking many questions but at times of mortal danger, she was greatly protective of him.

Billaba bonded with Kylah Lohmata, a twelve year old orphan courier of the Riftwalkers gang whom she met while undercover as "Hotwire." Acting as her bodyguard, Billaba was disturbed of her lifestyle and particular of her relationship with Zilastra, a pirate leader who was Kylah's surrogate parent. Even undercover and withholding her status as a Jedi, she took Kylah truths of her life regarding Chalacta. While her revelation as a Jedi stained their bond for atime, Kylah helped saved Billaba once realizing Zilastra would use her to achieve vengeance on the Jedi Council, even at the expense of her life. After stopping Zilastra, with Windu's help, she arranged for Kylah to become a cadet on the Assurance for a stable lifestyle with peers her own age but promised to help her should things not work out.

During the Clone Wars, her personal nemesis was General Grievous; however, by the time of the Third Battle of Mygeeto she had been able to learn to live with regret and was fine that Grievous escaped at the end of the battle.

As a member of the Jedi High Council and Jedi Master, Depa Billaba was considered exceptional in lightsaber combat. Billaba was most notable for being proficient in Form III, being her preference in close quarters combat and was a rare master of the Vapaad variant of Form VII, which was taught to her by Jedi Master Mace Windu. Her dueling skills allowed her to hold her own against General Grievous on separate occasions, though both times she was ultimately bested by the cyborg.

Billaba was also known for possessing a deep connection to the Force, skilled in techniques such as telekinesis in which her control was specific enough to alt a small bomb from going off by preventing chemicals inside the bomb mixing with one another. Other Force abilities she could perform include blocking laser shots with the Force, see through the Force without the usage of her eyes, and possessed acute senses that could alert her to disturbances in the Force.

During her lifetime, she studied as a Consular Jedi but learned numerous skills for field work in the galaxy, including armed and unarmed combat, starfighter piloting, thievery, slicing, and was a skilled in adopting disguises. These abilities helped her adopted various roles during undercover assignments, some which included bodyguards, thief-for-hire, or a hired driver. Despite her personal doubts and defeats, she was also considered a capable military strategist and leader.

As a highly-trained combatant taught by legendary Jedi Master Mace Windu, Billaba wielded a blue-bladed lightsaber during her lifetime as a Jedi in which consisted of solid metal cylinder ending in a tapered pommel and a multi-ringed emitter, the latter of which was enveloped by a diamond-shaped metal segment that wrapped entirely around the hilt. Billaba often wore a standard brown Jedi robe that concealed a fighting tunic underneath, which contained a belt and pouches for common Jedi gear such as a commlink, grappling hooks, holoprojector, and a rebreather.

Depa Billaba was based on an early design of a Jedi Council member for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace that had a spiritually inspired design. Billaba was portrayed by actress Dipika O'Neill Joti in the 1999 film and voiced by actress Archie Panjabi in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

The character appeared again in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, but Joti did not film any new footage. Instead, stock footage from The Phantom Menace was used for her appearance as a Jedi Council member in Attack of the Clones. The character was slated to appear in the "Crystal Crisis on Utapau" arc in the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was revealed in concept art released on StarWars.com as part of The Clone Wars Legacy. In this concept art, she was mislabeled as "Deepa Billaba." Ultimately the character did not appear in the episodes, which were released in story reel form on StarWars.com. Billaba holographically appeared in the 2015 novel Dark Disciple, which was based on unproduced episodes of The Clone Wars for the seventh and eight seasons of the series.

Despite effectively being a background character, with no lines in either The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones, Billaba was the focus of a number of now-non-canon Star Wars Legends stories. These stories included the 2004 novel Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover, which revealed she was the former Padawan of Mace Windu and chronicled her fall to the dark side of the Force. Some elements of her backstory, such as her culture, homeworld, and tutelage under Mace Windu, have since become part of the official canon. She was first depicted in the new stories of the official Star Wars canon in the 2014 novel A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller, in which it was revealed she was the master of Kanan Jarrus, one of the main characters of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels. She has since been mentioned in a number of the show's episodes.

There had been some confusion as to what Billaba's species was. According to the Databank, Billaba was a "Chalactan." But according to the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded, her species was "Human." Pablo Hidalgo clarified in a tweet that "Chalactan is a culture and heritage. She is biologically human."

In the Star Wars: Kanan comic series, published in 2015, Billaba wields a green lightsaber, but in "Aftermath," her lightsaber has been changed to blue. The 2020 reference book Star Wars: The Lightsaber Collection also shows Billaba's blade being blue.

Order 66 is also portrayed differently in both the comic and the episode. In the comic, Billaba was ambushed at their encampment during nighttime, whereas in "Aftermath," Billaba was betrayed in the daylight promptly after a battle where she and her men were aided by the Bad Batch.