Star Wars Rebels’ Ezra Bridger played a vital role in the downfall of the Empire, and it extends further than the liberation of Lothal. Ezra Bridger was born on Empire Day in 19BBY and was eventually left to fend for himself on his home planet of Lothal after his parents were imprisoned for their public criticism of the Empire. Then, in 5BBY, Ezra met Star Wars Rebels’ Ghost Crew, and the rest is history. Ezra became an important member of the Rebellion as one of the few Jedi they had at their disposal and was pivotal in the destruction of the Imperial forces and industrial factories on his homeworld. Ezra Bridger had more reason to hate the Empire than most, especially after he learned that his parents were killed in a prison riot, and he channeled that energy for the good of the galaxy, eventually liberating Lothal from the Empire’s clutches with the help of his friends.
Ezra’s actions as part of Star Wars Rebels’ Ghost Crew went further than that, however. The liberation of Lothal was successful because Ezra hatched an ingenious plan to defeat Grand Admiral Thrawn once and for all with the help of some Purrgil he had befriended earlier in the series. Grand Admiral Thrawn was one of, if not the best tactician that the Empire had within its ranks, and his loss was a crushing blow to the Empire’s power structure. Additionally, though Ezra often struggled with the pull to the dark side, his grief for his parents and his grief for his master, he overcame those issues when it was needed the most, and ensured that Emperor Palpatine wouldn’t be able to use the most dangerous weapon of all: time travel. Without Ezra’s intervention, the Empire might have succeeded against the Rebels in the original Star Wars trilogy, and the galaxy might look very different from what audiences know today.
Thrawn Would've Made Star Wars' OT Very Different (If Ezra Hadn't Beat Him)
Grand Admiral Thrawn was the commander of the Seventh Fleet and one of the Star Wars Empire’s greatest tactical minds. He took the time to understand his enemies’ culture, politics, philosophies, and art, using this knowledge against his opponents to great effect. He was able to get under their skin and predict his enemy’s movements before they could strike, ruining several important Rebellion missions. He was assigned to locate and defeat the Lothal Rebel cell, comprised of the Ghost Crew and Phoenix Squadron, and he very nearly managed to do so. After many battles between Thrawn and the Lothal Rebels, Ezra finally succeeded in defeating Thrawn as they disappeared into unknown space with the help of the Purrgil at the end of Star Wars Rebels season 4.
If Thrawn had still been present during the time of the original Star Wars trilogy, however, the Rebellion’s uprising might have turned out very differently. Given his track record, it’s a safe assumption that the Rebel Alliance would have had a much harder time defeating the Empire during various battles if Thrawn was in command. If, for instance, Thrawn’s Seventh Fleet had been in charge of defending the forest moon of Endor, and by extension, the nearly completed Death Star, the Rebels might not have had such an easy time destroying the shield generator that protected the Death Star or indeed succeeded at all. There’s no telling what damage Thrawn might have been capable of had he been allowed to continue serving the Empire, but luckily, due to Ezra’s intervention in Star Wars Rebels, the Rebellion never had to find out.
Ezra Prevented Palpatine From Using His Most Powerful Potential Weapon
Star Wars Rebels examined the Force like few other Star Wars properties before or since, and one of its most memorable moments was the introduction of The World Between Worlds. In the season 4 Star Wars Rebels episode “A World Between Worlds,” Ezra Bridger enters a Jedi temple on Lothal that is under the control of the Empire. There, he discovers a dark void, a mystical plane within the Force that brings together all moments in time. Doorways and bridges link important moments within the Star Wars timeline, and there, Ezra even manages to save Ahsoka Tano after her Star Wars Rebels season 2 battle with Darth Vader. It is an incomprehensible place of power, and to no one’s surprise, Palpatine himself wanted to take control of it. He tried to use Ahsoka and Ezra Bridger to enter, but they managed to evade him long enough to escape. Ezra destroyed the portal by closing it, causing Lothal’s Jedi temple to collapse, blocking Palpatine from ever using it for his own personal gain.
The consequences of Palpatine having entered The World Between Worlds first would have been disastrous. The power of time travel, at his fingertips, would have meant that he could alter the course of any battle and any conflict at a whim. Any Rebellion victory could be overturned with very little effort. The uprising wouldn’t have stood a chance against such power. Though it pained Ezra to destroy that which could have potentially prevented his master Kanan Jarrus’ death, he knew it was the right thing to do and saved the galaxy from ruin in the process.
Ezra Bridger’s upcoming live-action debut in Ahsoka will finally provide the answer as to where he and Grand Admiral Thrawn have been all this time. The galaxy undoubtedly changed for the better since Ezra’s successful missions on Lothal. As one of Star Wars Rebels’ greatest heroes, he deserves to see the fruits of his labor and enjoy the freedom of his homeworld that he helped to fight for.