star wars rebels – Page 27

Ezra’s Duel with Danger by Michael Kogge

I AM CRYING AT HOW MUCH I LOVED THE NOVELIZATION OF THIS SCENE. The entire trip into the Jedi Temple on Lothal is explicitly about facing fears–for both Ezra and Kanan.

Yoda connects to them through the Temple, asks pointed questions of Kanan, which seem so disapproving because Kanan fears disapproval and that he’s not meant to do this.

And by the end of it, he realizes, oh.

That’s the point that Yoda’s been nudging him towards.

To face his fears. That it’s a lifelong struggle, that that’s what Yoda was helping him with. His questions were designed to make Kanan really think about it! He does the exact same thing with Ezra, asks him why he wants to be a Jedi, is revenge what your Master is teaching you?, tells Ezra that there’s a lot of fear in him.

Ezra faces the fears that have been building in him this whole time–the fears that latched onto the fynocks and made them attack just a day or two ago, because Ezra couldn’t keep it under control–and comes through the other side, all these pointed remarks helping him parse the truth about himself.

And when he does that, Yoda’s voice comes to him again, “A Jedi you may yet be.”

That’s why the Jedi are set on the path of going to these Temples and caves, why they always have, not to deny their fear, but instead to look it in the face, accept it, work through it, and realize the core of themselves. To come out stronger for it. They’ll have to do it again and again, all throughout their lives, it’s a lifelong struggle. But it’s such an incredibly meaningful one!

In a lot of ways this is the same thing that happened with Anakin when he first came to Coruscant and they sensed much fear in him. Not one person in that scene ever says to him that having fear in the first place is bad or not understandable, they never once say or indicate that he’s a bad person for being afraid. What they’re saying is what Yoda’s saying here–if you can’t look at that fear, can’t acknowledge that it’s there, if you can’t work through it, then being a Jedi is maybe not the path for you. It’s not bad to be that way, just that the power and responsibility given to a Jedi means that it’s much more vital to keep it in control.

Ezra manages it–and that’s why it’s important to look at Ezra’s story in the context of Anakin’s story as well, that Star Wars is structured in echoes and rhymes, Ezra’s challenges are often a mirror of Anakin’s (x), his choice to burn down the galaxy because he’s handing power to Palpatine but he’ll save his family OR let them go and do the right thing? A DELIBERATE PARALLEL–he answers the questions, How does this make you feel? Why are you doing this? What do you fear?, he considers himself and his motivations and is responded to with:

Face all of that and find the good in yourself, and you might just be a Jedi yet.

AND I JUST LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH FOR THAT.