Depa Billaba – ‘Star Wars’ Character Spotlight
Depa Billaba is the subject of this week’s _Star Wars_ Character Spotlight, a human Jedi Master during the prequel trilogy. Initially created as a background character on the Jedi Council in _The Phantom Menace_ , her story was expanded upon significantly in other stories. She is arguably best known as being the master for Caleb Dume, the Jedi who would eventually call himself Kanan Jarrus, and she was trained by Mace Windu.
She leaves a fairly small legacy in the wider galaxy, but those who were close to her were heavily influenced by her.
## **Discovered by the Jedi**
Reference books tell us that Depa Billaba was born on the planet Chalacta. She had a sister named Labooda (who may have become a Jedi herself before the reference book _Ultimate Star Wars_ claims that she died at the Battle of Geonosis) and the two of them were kidnapped by pirates when they were children.
Depa managed to broadcast a call for help, which was picked up by Mace Windu. The young Jedi answered the call and rescued the two sisters. Windu brought Depa into the Jedi Order and took her on as his own padawan until she passed the trials and became a Jedi Knight. By 40 BBY, she had become a Jedi Master who sat on the Jedi Council.
## **Jedi Master**
Depa Billaba’s earliest appearance in a _Star Wars_ story is in the _Master & Apprentice_ novel, though it’s only a minor role. As a member of the Jedi Council, she is present when Qui-Gon Jinn is offered a seat on the council, but turns it down.
While other council members were surprised when Qui-Gon initially asked for more time to consider, Depa joked that every council prospect should do so, to help them realize what they were getting themselves into. Perhaps this suggests that Depa didn’t love all the politcking that most council members had to do as part of their station.
She had a much larger role in _The Living Force_ novel, where she investigated some pirates in a section of the galaxy called The Slice after a Jedi she had tutored died while investigating them. After initially going undercover, she befriended a young girl and tried to get her out from under the pirates’ thumb. Eventually she was discovered and captured by the pirates.
Their leader tortured Depa for a long time, but she was eventually rescued by Mace Windu, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan Kenobi. She was recovering while the rest of the Jedi Council stopped the pirates’ attack on Kwenn.
Her final appearance pre-_The Phantom Menace_ is a brief one as she pops in the _Age of Republic Special_ comic, helping Plo Koon and Qui-Gon rescue Mace Windu from a warlord.
## **The Phantom Menace**
Depa Billaba was created specifically for _The Phantom Menace_ and is present in all scenes with the Jedi Council, though she never speaks. It is later stated that she met Padmé Amidala personally during the celebrations and funeral on Naboo at the end of the film.
Depa next appears in the novel _Queen’s Shadow_ , working as a Jedi representative on a Republic visit to the planet Bromlarch along with Padmé, Mina Bonteri and Rush Clovis. She participated in a relief mission on the planet after a groundquake occurred, and later protected Padmé’s ship from pirates in her own Jedi Starfighter.
While Depa Billaba can be seen on the Jedi Council in _Attack of the Clones_ when Obi-Wan is ordered to investigate the assassination attempt on Padmé, she is not present at the Battle of Geonosis, though her sister Labooda apparently was.
## **The Clone Wars**
Depa’s first appearance during the Clone Wars is in the _Queen’s Hope_ novel, where we discover that she did see action shortly after the Battle of Geonosis. In the novel, she attended a meeting between Jedi and members of the senate.
Barriss Offee also attended the meeting and confessed that she wished she could do more to stop the war. Depa advised her to be more open to possibilities in the future, which in hindsight seems unwise given Barriss’ turn towards terrorism and the dark side.
Her next appearance is in the _Tales of the Jedi_ episode where Anakin trains Ahsoka throughout the course of the war, as she watches a session with Caleb Dume (who is not yet her apprentice).
The novel _Shadows of the Sith_ also tells a story of Depa Billaba during the Clone Wars (despite taking place in the New Republic era). In this story, the assassin Ochi of Bestoon recollects his attempt to kill Depa and claim a Separatist bounty on her head, only to be stopped by Mace Windu right before he springs his ambush.
A lot of her remaining story is told in the _Kanan_ comics. During the war, Depa faced General Grievous on Haruun Kal and was utterly defeated. The cyborg nearly killed her and her battalion was decimated. She was sent into a coma and spent six months recovering in the Jedi Temple. At one point, the Jedi Council openly wondered if she would ever fully recover physically or mentally, but she proved herself and returned to the council.
It was shortly after her recovery that she took Caleb Dume as her own padawan, impressed by his inquisitive nature unlike other younglings. When a Separatist bomber detonated explosives outside her quarters in the Jedi Temple, Depa had to pursue Dume and save him when he attempted to take on the bomber himself. Once the bomber was dealt with, she officially took him on as her padawan.
The novel _A New Dawn_ reveals that Depa really valued Caleb’s mind for strategy, and often encouraged him to make use of it. She took Caleb to get his kyber crystal three weeks later.
The two of them went on many missions in the Clone Wars, but a more notable one was the third Battle of Mygeeto, in which Depa encountered General Grievous for the first time since her coma. This time she fared much better, severing two of his hands. Grievous also managed to wound her, but she held out long enough for Caleb and the clones to back her up and force the cyborg to retreat.
Depa also appears in the novel _Dark Disciple_ , reluctantly sanctioning a mission to assassinate Count Dooku.
## **Order 66**
At the end of the war, Depa Billaba and Caleb Dume were stationed on Kaller. They won their battle and defeated the Separatist forces there, leading to a moment of introspection between master and apprentice.
Depa felt that the war had forced her to neglect her padawan’s training so they spent hours practicing lightsaber forms. After that, she gave Caleb a holocron and encouraged him to use it to help develop his inquisitive mind.
It seems Depa felt that the Jedi Order was not immune from criticism and wanted Caleb to be comfortable with “peaceful dissent” when questioning the Order in future.
From here, the events of the comic have been retconned slightly, with the rest of Depa Billaba’s life depicted in the series premiere of _The Bad Batch_.
The Separatists rallied and Depa’s forces were pinned back by AATs. Caleb slipped away to contact reinforcements but unbeknownst to them, they’d already arrived. The Bad Batch cleared out the clankers and bought them some time, with their leader Hunter recommending a swift counter attack.
Caleb had begun to leave with the Bad Batch when Order 66 was issued. Depa spied Sidious’ hologram and sensed a huge disturbance in the Force just before the clones opened fire. Though Depa did well to defend herself, she quickly became overwhelmed. She yelled at Caleb to run just before she was shot down by the clones she had commanded.
## **Legacy**
Depa Billaba’s legacy is writ large on Caleb Dume, who managed to survive Order 66 and would go on to call himself Kanan Jarrus as he hid from the Empire. He became a key member of the Rebel Alliance and passed on his teachings to Ezra Bridger in _Star Wars Rebels_. It’s possible that the holocron she gave Caleb in the comics is the same one that Ezra uses in the show.
## **What next?**
Depa Billaba may well pop up again in the _Jedi Knights_ comic. There is plenty of scope to tell more stories with her, both during the Clone Wars and her time as Mace Windu’s padawan. It was only recently that she got her biggest role in _The Living Force_ , so perhaps her story is only just beginning to be told.
##### Josh Atkins
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Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
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