#imperial ezra bridger

[peachblossom-odyssey]

Can’t stop thinking about an au where Luke is the Imperial prince and Ezra fell to the Dark side because of a trick by [insert villain here], he was made to believe his family had abandoned him, thrown him aside, and the despair got to him. In this world, he and Imperial Prince Luke Skywalker knew each other as enemies, often clashing on the battlefield, but they grudgingly respected one another’s skills and intelligence and even made each other grin a few times, so after the ‘betrayal’ Luke happens to come across Ezra sobbing (“What are you doing here? Come to laugh at the failed Jedi? Go on then, laugh!”) and manages to pry the story from him, and he can admit he’s furious at those stupid rebels. He’s Ezra’s enemy, but even he knows the man is a powerful adversary with unique skills who inspires hope in even the most downtrodden, and he had seen firsthand how much Ezra’s family meant to him, how much this had clearly shattered him.

It’s not even a decision really, to reach over and take Ezra’s face in his hands, thumbing his tears away and asking if Ezra has anywhere to go, if he needs a place to lay low for a bit. Ezra snarls that he’s not going to fall into an Imperial’s arms just from a little worldshaking tragedy, but he’s trembling at the gentle touch, the genuine anger in those yellow eyes, anger on his behalf. He knew that there was some sliver of good in Prince Skywalker, had seen it in the way he interacted with children and maintained a sense of honor, and it’s these things plus the pure honesty he senses in the Force that make him feel just safe enough to take Luke’s hand.

That and those fierce golden eyes that looked at him like he was worth a damn.

Time passes, they talk, they get to know each other, Ezra finds himself growing protective of Luke, finds himself naturally taking on the role of bodyguard and right hand, having a severe crisis of identity as he realizes that his feelings for Luke are becoming a problem. Likewise, what Luke first saw as an opportunity has swiftly become a turning point in his life because now he can no longer imagine a world without Ezra Bridger at his side, laughing and joking and lightening the heavy burdens that came with being the son of Darth Vader. It all comes to a head one day when Ezra kills a rebel or four to protect Luke, and as he stands there in horror realizing just how far he’s fallen, Luke cups his face with a big warm sincere smile and tells him he did good, that he saved his life, that’s he’s so proud of him, that Ezra is so so good and Luke is so lucky to have found him.

Luke asks Ezra to officially become his right hand, his personal Inquisitor, free to be whoever he wants, answering to no one but Luke. The only rule being to stay by his side forever.

Ezra accepts.

There’s no going back after that, not for Luke, and certainly not for Ezra. Kanan didn’t want him, his family chose Kanan over him, he didn’t really have any other friends, he’d never really fit the mold of a Jedi… might as well give himself over to the Dark. To Luke. At least he could have affection and love, even if unreciprocated. (It’s absolutely reciprocated, Luke is literally crazy about him, possessive and obsessed and completely adoring, but Ezra doesn’t know that)

Years later Luke is quickly gaining power and Ezra is an ever-present shadow at his side, always ready with an easy smile and a sly glint in his blue-yellow eyes, the only one who has the Imperial Prince’s complete and absolute trust. He lounges in the rafters and vents while Luke does important Empire business, he sits on the edge of Luke’s throne and sharpens knives when Luke is negotiating, he props his feet up in Luke’s lap and laughs at the shock and outrage it earns him, especially from Luke’s family. If Ezra isn’t there, Luke is always visibly more quiet and tetchy, to the point where petitioners will call ahead to ask if the Prince’s strange little shadow will be present before coming in.

Ezra takes a special sort of joy in disrupting the plans of the Ghost crew, taunting them and challenging them and getting really angry whenever they ‘pretend’ to have no idea why he suddenly turned to the Dark side, why he turned against them. They want Ezra back so badly, they think Luke did something to him, corrupted his mind or something, why else would he be so loyal? Why else would he say things like “Guess you shouldn’t have thrown me away” and “If I wasn’t enough for you, that’s your problem, not mine”.

Also a side plot where a near death experience has Luke paranoid about Ezra’s safety and he ends up hiring Din Djarin to guard him, much to Ezra’s annoyance. It starts off with Din being stoically silent and Ezra constantly needling him, but the relationship softens as Din takes his job seriously and starts to look after Ezra’s health and sanity instead of just his body, as Ezra starts to make a game out of getting any kind of reaction from Din (“Oooh, a slight exhale, that’s practically a guffaw from you, Din!”) and Luke starts taking a personal interest in keeping Din happy and loyal while also taking time to train his adorable kid, and maybe at first he’s jealous of Din for making Ezra so happy, for edging in on what they have, but then Ezra insists on them getting to know each other and Luke finds that Din is actually very pleasant company and they bond over their affection for Ezra, and Din finds out that the coldly beautiful prince has a kind heart and genuine desire to make the galaxy a better place, even with the Empire’s methods.

The three of them end up as The power trio of the Empire and also a polycule and Grogu gets three dads for the price of one

[stealingpotatoes]

@turinturambarr kofi requested Ezra showing Anakin the gunsaber! (and wondered if he knew about Ezra's crush on Luke loll)

(ko-fi requests are open!!)

[jessicas-pi]

AU where Bo-Katan randomly winds up on Lothal shortly after Ezra's parents are taken and finds him and, well, she may not be one of those weirdo traditionalists but she still respects the ancient creed when it comes to foundlings so... guess she's responsible for raising a small child now! wait his parents are possibly alive? well now she's gotta go find them if they're still living and reunite him with them! but she can't bring a defenseless foundling on such a dangerous mission! who could she possibly trust to take care of him? wait doesn't her old bestie from her terrorist phase have a couple kids his age? heyyyyy, ursa, girl! long time no see! can you watch this kid for me for a little while thanks byeeee~~

and then the AU is just Bo-Katan's hunt for Ezra's parents, interspersed with increasingly frantic and/or furious comms from Ursa about how the half-starved traumatized nonverbal foundling is manifesting wizard powers. bo this is not funny. get back here and get your telekinetic hellion. he's helping my daughter put paint on the ceilings.

alternate endings include (1) Ephraim and Mira are alive and Bo rescues them and everyone lives happily ever after, (2) Ephraim and Mira are not alive and now Bo-Katan has to hunt down a Jedi to raise the boy and she ends up locating Kanan, (3) Ephraim and Mira are not alive and Bo-Katan decides that her best bet for Jedi Most Likely To Have Survived The Purge is obi-wan and so she goes looking for him, darth vader encounter shenanigans optional, and (4) Ephraim and Mira are not alive and Bo-Katan cares for Ezra herself and somewhere along the way he gets the Darksaber and well apparently bo is raising tarre vizsla 2 electric boogaloo. this should be good.

[mayawakening]

The beginning of 'Through Imperial Eyes' is wild when you realize the REASON Kallus gets woken up out of a dead sleep by alarms is literally because of Ezra and his whack-ass extraction mission that no one informed Kallus of.

Gives some context for why he sounds EXTRA pissy when he talks to Ezra alone 😆

Poor guy probably only got like four hours of sleep and didn't even get to have his morning caf.

Babygirl is exhausted and cranky. 🤭

[madds990]

Theres a phase one clone trooper helmet in the bar on Lothal !!

(Season 1, episode 8)

[jedi-nurse]

No thoughts just *Imperial Supercommandos*

[goth-pixie-princess]

I don't know why I put Ezra and not Maul. I was even thinking Maul but had just added Kanan so my mind went to Ezra. My bad. 🤦🏻‍♀️

[kashasenpai]

Chopper ready to throw hands with that senator is a mood.

[flight0fthenavigat0r]

“I’ve watched many an Imperial officer make the same assumptions about the Rebellion.”

[2stepadmiral]

THE FREAKING CHIMAERA!!!!!! THRAWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: THAT is how you do a villain introduction. The percussion buildup as something large approaches (nice touch hinting for a moment that the citadel was shaking because of Sabine’s attempt to use the Force), the pan up reveal of the Chimaera (I freaking love that A. She’s still in service and B. She has the scars from the Battle of Lothal), the slow descent to docking position over the citadel (nice visual cue that Thrawn is taking over as main antagonist), the chanting of his forces (I love that Thrawn’s crew and soldiers are fanatically loyal to him, it hearkens back to the fierce loyalty Thrawn inspires in his subordinates from the EU that you never really see in Rebels), the FREAKING awesome design of Thrawn’s Stormtroopers (the rugged repair jobs were likely a necessity, but the gold pieces were beautiful additions likely hinting at Thrawn’s appreciation for art, potentially even it spreading down the ranks), the contrast between the troopers’ rugged and dirt covered armor and their perfect military form, the restrained eagerness in their tone hinting at their angry desperation to return to the Empire, and the distant looks at Thrawn from behind and the side as he marches toward his allies, the slow zoom in from the front to his small, satisfied smile (I’ve long wished that Thrawn’s eyes were glowing and without pupils like in the EU, and I love how from a distance, his eyes almost look that way, and I think the pupils in live action actually convey that cold emotionless feel that the EU version had). Not to mention that his first line of dialogue had the distinctive Thrawn flavor of poetry that could have come right out of the Thrawn trilogy itself.

[inquisitor-apologist]

Thinking of another Star War AU I Will Not Write. This time, it’s an Imperial Ghost Crew one:

Sabine Wren fails to escape the Imperial Academy, and is, for some reason, forced into a mentorship program with Hera Syndulla, an extremely competent and talented new ISB agent coming out of a decorated career in the Imperial Navy. Sabine hates her on sight. She attempts to run away at least five times a day (Hera always seems to know where she is), and makes no secret of how much she wants to join the rebel terrorists they are currently hunting. The only upside to the situation is Agent Syndulla's ancient, borderline illegal droid (he doesn't want to go through Imperial reprogramming, and Hera won't make him) who lives for chaos and is absolutely willing to hack into a Star Destroyer’s comm system to blast the Republic anthem and smuggle in smoke bombs.

Hera Syndulla was captured in an Imperial raid when she was a kid (11-12) and placed in an Imperial reeducation facility. She graduated top of her class at the Imperial Fighter Academy and served as one of the Empire's most talented TIE pilots until she was promoted to the ISB. And now she has to wrangle a teenage Mandalorian whose favorite hobbies are high treason and vandalism. Sabine's relentless rebellion starts to change her mind on the Rebellion, especially when Sabine tells her about the Duchess and what the Empire's done to Mandalore.

Chopper, of course, goes where Hera goes, even though the Empire is far too orderly for his tastes. He somehow found her after her capture and reeeducation, and covertly replaced her astromech at the Fighter Academy. He commands an army of Mouse Droids on the Star Destroyer, and takes great pleasure in using them to sneak bugs and smoke bombs into Officer's quarters. In his opinion, Sabine is the best thing that's ever happened to him--she's an excellent gunner, a fellow chaos lover, and she's gotten Hera to loosen up a bit, so it's easier than ever to sneak off with her codes to prank the Admiral.

Ezra was captured with his parents on Lothal and put into Project Harvester, where he was eventually transferred into the Inquisitorius as a Junior Inquisitor. As such, he is extremely repressed. Sabine takes one look at him and decides he's her new best friend, and by the Force she is going to radicalize him. They become fast friends, and are soon the bane of every Senior Officer's existence. But no one can track the mysterious disappearance of all of Admiral Konstantine's pants back to them, of course. They bond over shared Imperial Trauma and eventually decide that they need to get out of here as fast as fucking possible.

Kanan was captured after Order 66 and was tortured into the Inquisitorius, so he's even more emotionally constipated than Ezra. He is Struggling with attempting to parent a teenager because Vader and the Grand Inquisitor's solution to everything was torture, and for some strange reason, he doesn't want to do that with Ezra. Also, he's extremely confused whenever he looks at Hera because he gets Feelings other?? than unquenchable rage??? and he does not know how to process this At All. He ends up covering for Ezra and Sabine's shenanigans because they're just kids and he doesn't want to see them punished. So no, Admiral Konstantine, he has no idea how all the security tapes for your room on the night your pants were stolen disappeared, it's a complete mystery.

Zeb and Kallus are the leaders of the Rebel cell they're trying to capture, because there's absolutely no way Zeb would ever be Imperial. Kallus and Hera were friends back at the Imperial Academy so they've got that best friends to enemies dynamic, and Zeb and Kanan have a really old rivalry--Zeb has a habit of sneaking Force Sensitive kids out of the Empire's reach, and Kanan's been halfheartedly hunting him for years. They are absolutely kriffing, and keep asking Hera and Kanan when they're going to finally do it. Kanan is so embarrassed he can't speak, and Hera looks straight down for so long that the rebels make their getaway unchallenged.

[celestialsun123]

Ezra-gets-left-behind AU

exactly what it sounds like lol. I bet at least 4 other people have made an AU like this, but here's my take on it.

For context, in the middle of episode 2 of Rebels, Ezra gets captured by Agent Kallus. After that, Kanan ends up being the deciding vote for whether the Specters go back for Ezra or not. Eventually they decide to go back, because at the end of the day, they're heroes and that's what they do.

In the EGLB AU (new name pending), it goes down differently. Instead of Kanan being the deciding vote, it ends up being Sabine. (Zeb and Chopper voted to leave Ezra, Kanan and Hera voted to go back for him.) Sabine ends up agreeing with Zeb and Chopper. (It's possible that Kanan and Hera go in the Phantom to try and rescue Ezra, but it seems unlikely.) Ezra does still end up escaping from his cell and all events that aren't caused or related to the Ghost crew still happen.

If Kanan and Hera go back for Ezra, he will still tell them about the Wookies being taken to Kessel and he may end up going with them. If he does, Kanan will still reveal himself as a jedi and Ezra will still save that Wookie child (I forget his name), but he won't end up going permanently with the Ghost crew and will end up deciding to keep Kanan's lightsaber.

If Kanan and Hera can't/don't go back for Ezra, he'll either end up negotiating with Kallus (some deal where he gets to go free and maybe help out) or he'll end up just ditching and running off somewhere (probably to the nearest planet). He may still go to the spice mines, but I doubt he would bc this Ezra will be hurt (even though he expected it) over being left behind. He doesn't trust anyone but himself now and the only lesson he learned was that risking himself for others is super costly. He may have learned that it feels good to help people though, so all hope isn't lost for the child.

Past the events of episode 2, Ezra will still run into the Ghost crew (if he has Kanan's lightsaber that becomes a minor fighting/banter point for them) when they stop by Lothal and if Ezra decides to cause problems for the imperials, they'll accidentally cross paths then. Ezra also definitely holds a grudge against Zeb, and may hold an even more severe grudge against those who decided not to go back for him. (This would include Kanan and Hera if they didn't try to rescue him)

[locitapurplepink]

Ezra wearing an imperial pilot helmet

Bonus :

[whatsername26-3]

It’s been almost a full week and that little Imperial March sting at the end of Ahsoka Episode 4 still has me on edge. I’m equal parts excited and not even remotely prepared for what Filoni has in store for us this week.

[kanerallels]

For the first line game :D:

"Do you ever stop the brain to mouth connection?"

“Do you ever stop the brain to mouth connection?”

Rolling his eyes, Ezra said, “Do you ever stop the stupid to action connection?”

“You are acting like a child,” the Imperial informed him— Ezra still hadn’t gotten his name, as they were a little busy not dying.

Tugging on the cable again, he replied, “Jokes on you, I am a child. Now come check and see if this rope is gonna hold you on the way down— what?”

The man was staring at him oddly. “Nothing. I suppose I didn’t realize— nothing. We should keep moving— there’s no telling what these tentacled monsters of yours will do next.”

“And yet, that still hasn’t prevented your boss from trying to kill me,” Ezra said. “Cause. Ya know. Stupid.”

“Well you won’t hear me arguing there,” the Imperial muttered.

[aroayr-shuk]

Imperial!Ezra ends up on the ISD Chimaera, found family with dads/mentors Eli Vanto and Thrawn.