Why wasn’t Emperor Palpatine able to convince Ezra Bridger to join his parents in Star Wars
Rebels?
We know he’s the master of manipulation.
For a lot of Star Wars fans, it doesn’t make sense.
I mean, Palpatine was able to burrow deep into the mind of Anakin Skywalker, and Emperor
Palpatine helped transform Anakin from the most powerful Jedi of his time to one of the
most murderous, hate filled beings the galaxy had ever known.
Anakin Skywalker…the chosen one!
Emperor Palpatine was so good at his manipulations that he even turned an entire galaxy against
the Jedi…well at least the representatives of that galaxy.
So, why wasn’t Emperor Palpatine able to get Ezra Bridger to leave the rebellion to
be with his long dead parents?
Today, I’m going to figure out why he failed at manipulating Ezra Bridger but was successful
at turning Anakin Skywalker.
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From the time we meet Ezra Bridger in Star Wars Rebels, it’s abundantly clear that
his missing parents weighs heavily on the young Force sensitive.
And Ezra Bridger wants nothing more than to be with them.
But throughout the three years or so that Star Wars Rebels takes place, Ezra Bridger
learns something…his parents are dead, killed by the Empire.
Ezra is now all alone…with no family.
But Ezra discovers something meaningful.
He DOES have a family.
And this family is the rag tag group that took him from his home on Lothal to be a part
of something bigger…the rebellion.
Not only is Ezra Bridger now a rebel with a new family that cares for him, but he’s
also discovered that his Force sensitivity is rare and has been learning the ways of
the Jedi from his father figure, Kanan Jarrus.
But neither fighting for the rebellion, nor learning how to cope with the loss of his
parents is easy.
All this while trying to learn to be a good Jedi.
It’s a rough road and Ezra Bridger’s parents are always on his mind.
Even though he has this newfound family, Ezra’s parents are a huge part of his motivation…and
he will always miss them.
On the other side of the fight, Emperor Palpatine has given one of his best warriors to combat
Ezra Bridger and the other rebels on Lothal…Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Thrawn’s mission was to eliminate the threat posed to the Empire, but it wasn’t going
well.
So, Emperor Palpatine intervened.
Thrawn’s task was to capture Ezra Bridger and bring him to Emperor Palpatine…or rather
a hologram of the Emperor.
The meeting place was what was left of the Jedi temple on Lothal, and in it was a piece
of the World Between Worlds.
A place where time could be viewed and learned from…past and future.
Emperor Palpatine’s proposal to Ezra Bridger was simple, enter the portal and go back to
be with his parents in a alternate reality where they are still alive.
This offer WAS tempting for Ezra.
He missed his parents.
But the only thing he wanted more than to be with them was to stop the Empire from doing
the same thing they did to Ezra’s parents to anyone else.
Ezra Bridger refuses the proposal and runs from the site.
The temple collapses and Ezra rejoins his adoptive family in the fight against the Empire.
Almost two decades before Ezra Bridger’s story in Star Wars Rebels, Chancellor Palpatine
was able to dig deep into the mind of Anakin Skywalker.
A promising Jedi knight who had lost his mother, and now has visions of losing his wife.
Palpatine promises to help Anakin save Padme and teach him to be more powerful than any
other Jedi.
But where Ezra Bridger had refused the proposal, Anakin Skywalker did not.
Committing atrocities and earning the name Darth Vader sent the apprentice of Darth Sidious
down a path of hate and destruction for more than 20 years.
So, how was Emperor Palpatine so successful with Anakin Skywalker but failed with Ezra
Bridger?
Well, it’s easy for some to just write it off as bad writing in Star Wars Rebels.
But that really isn’t fully justified.
No!
Star Wars Rebels is actually well-written.
And it’s fairly easy to sum up why Palpatine was unsuccessful with Ezra.
The simple answer is that Anakin Skywalker had been molded and mentored by Palpatine
from a very early age, Ezra had not.
But that isn’t the whole of the story.
We have to look at a lot of other key factors.
One of those is Count Dooku.
Okay…what does he have to do with any of this?
Pretty simple really, Count Dooku was also manipulated by Palpatine and turned to the
dark side.
Once a Jedi, Count Dooku had not been manipulated by Palpatine from an early age the way Anakin
was.
It seemed fairly easy to turn the Jedi master to the dark side and enlist him into his grand
plans of galactic domination.
Where Anakin Skywalker was an emotional mess, Count Dooku was intelligent.
But he was a product of his time.
Seeing that the Jedi Order and the Republic had no interest in smaller worlds, Count Dooku
left the order, and the Republic to help the planets left to fend for themselves.
So, when Palpatine offered Dooku a chance at succeeding from the Republic, he took it.
Because Palpatine knew Dooku’s weakness was his political idealism.
He was there for the decline of the Jedi Orde as they became more and more involved with
galactic politics, and less involved with what their actual role should have been…helping
defend those who couldn’t defend themselves and peace and justice.
Anakin Skywalker was active during this same time and saw much of the same things as Count
Dooku.
The Jedi were becoming lost.
The galaxy was in turmoil because of it.
Ezra Bridger, on the other hand, had lost his parents to the Empire.
Ran by the same Emperor Palpatine that was promising him another chance at being with
his parents.
But that isn’t the whole story either.
Ezra Bridger had been trained in the Force by a Jedi.
A Jedi who was now romanticizing the Jedi Order in his teachings to Ezra.
Ezra didn’t get to see the arrogance, hubris, and faults of the Jedi Order before their
collapse.
Only what he was told by Kanan Jarrus and Ahsoka Tano, in her limited moments with Ezra.
Things like, Anakin Skywalker was a great Jedi with a big heart, and so on.
But Ezra wasn’t only deterred from dealing with Emperor Palpatine because of his outlook
on the Jedi.
He saw what the Empire was doing.
He was raised in it.
His home planet was being turned from a peaceful world into an industrialized slave camp.
And now that Ezra had been around the galaxy, he had seen it on other worlds as well.
So, when Emperor Palpatine approached Ezra Bridger with an offer most people couldn’t
refuse, it was easy for Ezra to say no.
During this time there was a clear line between good and evil.
And everything Ezra Bridger saw of Emperor Palpatine was pure evil.
Not the blurred lines that came with the Clone Wars.
Who was good?
Who was bad?
In that war, there was no clear definition of who was right and who was wrong.
During the Galactic Civil War that Ezra witnessed, and later joined as a rebel, there was a clear
line…the Empire was evil.
So, when we want to discount some aspects of Star Wars storytelling as bad writing,
there are other things to consider.
Now, I’m not saying every bit of Star Wars Rebels is amazing, it has its faults.
But the way Ezra Bridger’s interctions with Emperor Palpatine was written is a sign that
the Emperor isn’t all powerful.
That sometimes he fails and eventually, it could lead to smaller worlds slipping through
his fingers.
But let me know what you think in the comments.
I really enjoy what you have to say.
I do read them all and try to respond to as many as time permits.
But that’s all I have for today.
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Until the next video, This is Gerald, a Star Wars Fanatic signing off.
Wishing you all great health, happiness, and peace.
thank you all for watching, and remember, this is the way…and positivity in the Star
Wars fandom is the only way!