Warning! This article contains spoilers for Ahsoka episode 8.
Dave Filoni has changed one of his most mystical additions to Star Wars lore in the Ahsoka finale. A lot happened in the final episode of Ahsoka, including Ezra Bridger building a new lightsaber from scratch on Huyang and Ahsoka’s ship. Ezra had been without a lightsaber for years after defeating Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels and ending up stranded on Peridea, and while he utilized the Force expertly against Shin Hati and Thrawn’s Night Troopers in Ahsoka episode 7, he wisely realized he’d need more in the fight against Thrawn and his forces as he, Sabine, and Ahsoka stormed the Great Mothers’ fortress.
Now, Ezra once again has a blue lightsaber, just like his first lightsaber in Rebels, with the touching addition of an emitter identical to the one used by his Master, the fallen Jedi Kanan Jarrus. However, the scene in which Ezra builds his third lightsaber is wildly different from a scene in Dave Filoni’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which depicts a group of younglings crafting their very first lightsabers after finding their kyber crystals on the planet Ilum. Ezra’s lightsaber construction scene in the Ahsoka finale is decidedly less spiritual.
The Clone Wars Portrayed Making A Lightsaber As A Mystical Experience
In Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 5, episode 7 “A Test of Strength,” a group of younglings construct their very first lightsabers. Huyang, who is introduced in this episode, guides them through the process of picking out their materials and the general construction methods that are needed to build a sufficient lightsaber. What the episode also shows, though, is that building a lightsaber is not just about finding some spare parts in a drawer and putting them together, but that a Jedi must connect with their crystals, feeling the weight and shape of the blade in their hand before they’ve even begun looking for materials and using the Force to slowly, meticulously bring each part together to build the perfect lightsaber. In The Clone Wars, building a lightsaber is a mystical and spiritual process.
Ezra Bridger’s Haste Makes Creating A Lightsaber So Much Less Impressive
In Ahsoka, however, Ezra seems to rummage through some drawers, putting the parts together hastily before Huyang gives him the final piece he’s looking for: the emitter. Except for his gratitude towards Huyang for keeping an identical version of the emitter Kanan used to use, the whole process of Ezra building his lightsaber feels very practical and, frankly, unremarkable. Ezra’s been without a lightsaber for so long – wouldn’t he have to reacquaint himself with the materials he needs or take some time to imagine the shape he wants to build? And, for that matter, where did Ezra and Huyang find another kyber crystal? Wouldn’t Ezra need to feel that it was truly his, just as he did when he found his first kyber crystal in the Jedi Temple on Lothal in Rebels?
There’s nothing spiritual about the process of building a lightsaber in the Ahsoka finale. Granted, this is Ezra’s third lightsaber, so he will have more knowledge than most when it comes to what he wants and what kind of weapon works for him, but this should have been a monumental moment. He gifted his last lightsaber to Sabine, and now, just before he’s set to go home again, he builds a new one, a symbol of the start of this new phase of his life. Ezra building his lightsaber in the Ahsoka finale could have been a much more emotionally resonant moment, as proven by Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
All episodes of Ahsoka are streaming now on Disney+.
