Filris Parbert's upbringing occurred on the planet Coruscant, where he became a war orphan due to the Clone Wars fought between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Later, amidst the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic, he journeyed across the war zones in the role of a holographer; however, a devastating injury resulted in his reliance on cybernetics. This injury reinforced his belief in the Alliance's destructive nature, leading him, after the Battle of Endor, to bring to life an idea proposed by Imperial chief informational officer Ferric Obdur: the creation of the propaganda poster Who's Pulling the Strings?. This poster accused the New Republic, which the Alliance had transformed into, of being in league with the criminal Hutt Clan.
The character of Filris Parbert initially appeared within the pages of Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy, a reference work authored by Pablo Hidalgo and made available to the public on October 25, 2016.