Where does Tales of the Empire land on the Star Wars timeline?

Like Tales of the Jedi, Star Wars series Tales of the Empire also recounts untold chronicles of two characters in their respective group’s history. The former detailed earlier anecdotes of Ahsoka and Count Dooku (while he was still a Jedi) and even explores Dooku’s turn to the dark side. Tales of the Empire tells the stories of Morgan Elsbeth and Barriss Offee.

Similar to Dooku, Barriss was once a member of the Jedi order, but his "tales" focused on that time period of his life, while all other film and television Dooku narratives situated him in the empire. On the contrary, Barriss was primarily seen as a Jedi ally during her Clone Wars campaigns, until she was disillusioned and betrayed her friends. Therefore, her tale (out of all four) is the only one succeeding her previously depicted storylines.

The Tales of the Empire premiere, “The Path of Fear”, centers on a young Morgan Elsbeth, on her home planet of Dathomir. General Grievous led an attack against Morgan’s Nightsister clan. This event coincides with the plot of The Clone Wars where Count Dooku and Assaj Ventress feud and the Sith leader orders Grievous to eradicate the witches of Dathomir. This storyline unfolds toward the end of the fourth season of the animated series and now we witness the massacre from Morgan’s perspective, setting her on a path to evil.

“The Path of Anger” jumps to the Empire’s reign where Elsbeth first encounters Thrawn (and his animalistic assassin Rukh). Thrawn is referred to as Admiral, not yet Grand Admiral, which alludes that this rendezvous precedes his tenure on Star Wars Rebels. Thrawn entered the series in its tertiary season, setting him up as the main villain for the show's ending. This could pinpoint “The Path of Anger” right smack in the middle of Rebels, but the only guarantee is that it comes before Season 3. The tale also places Elsbeth in her Corvus setting.

Elsbeth remains on the planet for “The Path of Hate”, although this final Elsbeth segment occurs years later, after the Empire has fallen. With the New Republic sending out a distress signal to help liberate Corvus from Elsbeth’s rule, this clearly is meant to lead right into The Mandalorian’s second season. In the chapter entitled “The Jedi”, Ahsoka is the hero that ultimately answers the call, and she teams up with Din Djarin to defeat Elsbeth.

The latter half of Tales of the Empire switches from Morgan Elsbeth to Barriss Offee. “Devotion” sort of picks up where her story left off in The Clone Wars series, after she framed Ahsoka for her bombing on the Jedi temple. She is now imprisoned, but is informed of the Empire's impending victory. With Barriss’ recruitment by the Grand Inquisitor and her initiation as one of Vader’s underlings, this episode takes place shortly after Revenge of the Sith on the timeline.

Barriss’ arc satisfactorily pushes forward in “Realization” and concludes in “The Way Out”. Her plotlines continue to play out following the Clone Wars, however there is not as many touchstones for this story to interrupt Star Wars continuity, save for the Fourth Sister, who was featured in the Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series. The fifth chapter most likely falls years before Obi-Wan Kenobi, while the final installment lands sometime after that show, considering Barriss' Inquisitor colleague seemingly walks away from the dark side.

Currently, this is how the Star Wars chronology roughly lines up:

• Tales of the Jedi - Life and Death,
• Justice, and Choices, The Phantom Menace
• Tales of the Jedi - The Sith Lord
• Attack of the Clones
• The Clone Wars - Seasons 1-4
• Tales of the Empire – The Path of Fear
• The Clone Wars - Seasons 5-7
• Tales of the Jedi - Practice Makes Perfect
• Revenge of the Sith
• Tales of the Empire – Devoted
• Tales of the Jedi – Resolve
• The Bad Batch
• Tales of the Empire – Realization
• Solo
• Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Tales of the Empire – The Way Out
• Rebels - Seasons 1-2
• Tales of the Empire – The Path of Anger
• Rebels - Seasons 3-4
• Andor
• Rogue One
• A New Hope
• The Empire Strikes Back
• Return of the Jedi
• The Mandalorian - Season 1
• Tales of the Empire – The Path of Hate
• The Mandalorian - Season 2
• The Book of Boba Fett
• The Mandalorian - Season 3
• Ahsoka
• Resistance - Season 1
• The Force Awakens
• The Last Jedi
• Resistance - Season 2
• The Rise of Skywalker

The biggest difference between Jedi and Empire is that the firstTales season itself followed chronological order, which effectively led to Dooku's chapters breaking up Ahoka's. Here, the first half is specifically reserved for Morgan Elsbeth and the second sticks with Barriss, regardless of timing to each other.

Morgan’s episodes are spread across the various stages of galactic leadership, from Republic/Jedi command during the Clone Wars, to Imperial rule, to post-Empire New Republic. This positions her first tale as Empire’s earliest with her last tale being the latest, and the entirety of Barriss’ narrative lands somewhere in between.