Quest to find Ezra Bridger
The undertaking to locate Ezra Bridger, alternatively referred to as the search for Ezra or the search for Grand Admiral Thrawn, was an expedition embarked upon to find the Jedi Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn during the New Republic Era. During the campaign launched to free the planet Lothal from the grasp of the Galactic Empire, the crew of the Ghost concluded their mission with Bridger's vanishing alongside Thrawn. The young Jedi had utilized the star whales recognized as the purrgil to overcome him in the Battle of Lothal, which resulted in both of them being in exile and presumed dead. Years later, following the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War, Sabine Wren and former Jedi Ahsoka Tano initiated a search not only for Ezra but also to prevent Thrawn's potential resurgence as the Empire's heir.
In the years that followed the disappearance of Ezra Bridger and Thrawn, the once-unbeatable Empire started to crumble, the small Rebellion grew bolder, and the reign of terror of Emperor Palpatine in the galaxy ended with the decisive victory in the battle of Endor. Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano set out to locate the missing Bridger, while the former Jedi and Professor Huyang also instructed Wren in Jedi practices before they separated. Wren chose to remain on Lothal to safeguard the planet and the people Bridger cared deeply for, residing in LothalNet comm tower E-272, which was Bridger's former secret location, where she dwelled for several years after the war. Even though the Empire had fallen and a New Republic had risen to take its place, nefarious agents of the Imperial Remnants were actively working on a scheme to locate the missing Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn and bring him back from his exile. Despite his vanishing and the lack of confirmation of his death at Lothal years earlier, Ahsoka Tano began to hear rumors about Thrawn's impending return and initiated a search for the last missing Grand Admiral in 9 ABY, which resulted in the capture of Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth, Thrawn's ally and a Nightsister witch. Through Elsbeth, Tano discovered a clandestine map that held great importance for their plans.
While being transported to the New Republic for her trial, Morgan Elsbeth broke free from prisoner custody with assistance from the mercenary Baylan Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati. After Ahsoka Tano found the map on Arcana, she reunited with Sabine Wren on Lothal to seek answers, but Hati managed to retrieve the map and defeat Wren in a lightsaber duel. Following a discovery at New Republic shipyards, General Hera Syndulla faced New Republic politics and risked her career to aid her companions, with senators responding to the search for Bridger and the perceived threat of Grand Admiral Thrawn's return with considerable skepticism. In the meantime, Tano and Wren journeyed to Seatos, where they confronted Hati and Skoll in both a space battle and lightsaber combat. However, Wren surrendered the map to Skoll, who pledged to reunite Wren with Bridger, enabling Elsbeth's forces to utilize the map and the Eye of Sion to complete an extragalactic voyage beyond the galaxy. Tano made use of the purrgil to pursue them as the quest reached the planet Peridea.
Even with the efforts of Ahsoka Tano, Sabine Wren, and Ezra Bridger to prevent it, Grand Admiral Thrawn successfully escaped his exile on his Star Destroyer, the Chimaera, aided by Morgan Elsbeth, the Great Mothers, and their dark magick. Having broken free from his exile, Thrawn and the Great Mothers journeyed to the Nightsister homeworld of Dathomir. However, unbeknownst to Thrawn, Bridger had also escaped aboard the Chimaera, while Tano and Wren were left stranded on Peridea.
Prelude
Early in the Rebellion, Grand Admiral Thrawn was given the assignment of suppressing the tenacious rebels located in the Lothal sector. The Grand Admiral crushed Phoenix Cell during the Battle of Atollon. Nevertheless, the Lothal rebels—Captain Hera Syndulla, Lasat Garazeb Orrelios, Mandalorian [Sabine Wren](/article/sabine_wren], and Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus alongside his Padawan [Ezra Bridger](/article/ezra_bridger]—managed to escape and regroup with the Rebel Alliance. Subsequently, they broke away to join the local resistance under the leadership of Ryder Azadi to offer assistance in the liberation of Bridger's homeworld of Lothal from Thrawn.
Both Jarrus and Bridger ultimately sacrificed themselves to defeat the Galactic Empire on Lothal. During the Battle of Lothal, Bridger summoned a group of purrgil to attach to Thrawn's Star Destroyer and propel them into hyperspace toward the vastness of space. In the years that followed, the Rebel Alliance proceeded to declare a New Republic and vanquish the Empire across the galaxy, while the protracted disappearance of Bridger and Thrawn resulted in them being presumed deceased.
While Syndulla achieved the rank of general within the New Republic, Wren chose to remain on Lothal to oversee Bridger's people. Eventually, she was joined by the former Jedi and rebel spymaster Ahsoka Tano, who Bridger had once saved from her own former master, Darth Vader. Tano accepted Wren as her own Padawan, and together they came to the belief that Bridger was still alive, prompting them to initiate a search for him. Around the same time, however, Imperial loyalists had also commenced their own search for Thrawn.
In the years subsequent to the Battle of Jakku, the New Republic disregarded the threat presented by the Imperial Remnants, considering them to be dispersed and broken. Unbeknownst to them, many of these remnants had reorganized into a new Shadow Council with the aim of reinstating Imperial rule in the galaxy. Rumors began to circulate among both the New Republic and Imperial remnants that Grand Admiral Thrawn's return was imminent. Council members, including Captain Gilad Pellaeon, who had served Thrawn during the Galactic Civil War, and Commandant Brendol Hux, believed that the Grand Admiral's return would lead to the resurgence of the Imperial military and endeavored to keep it as secretive as possible. While only a few rumors about Thrawn spread, others, such as Moff Gideon, expressed doubt regarding the former's return to the galaxy and resolved to seize leadership.
Despite the efforts of Pellaeon and the Shadow Council to maintain the secrecy of Thrawn's return, this information eventually reached New Republic allies, such as Ahsoka Tano, who set out to prevent the Grand Admiral's allies and subordinates from facilitating his return.
The search
Master and apprentice
Wren and Tano initiated their search for Bridger around 5 ABY, five years after Tano's commitment to Bridger that she would locate him upon her return. It was during this period that Tano accepted Wren, who wielded Ezra's second lightsaber, as her Padawan. As part of their endeavors, the pair journeyed into the Unknown Regions. However, their relationship was strained, and they eventually parted ways. Wren returned to Lothal, while Tano continued to traverse the galaxy.
The Elsbeth lead
By 9 ABY, Tano had caught wind of rumors indicating that Thrawn was still alive and that Imperial loyalists were actively searching for him. She pursued a lead in her quest for Thrawn to the planet Corvus, where she sought out Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth, a Nightsister witch from Dathomir and an ally of Thrawn's during Imperial rule. On Corvus, she also encountered the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin, who arrived with his ward Grogu with the hope that Tano could train the Child after being directed to Tano by her old friend and former Mand'alor Bo-Katan Kryze, who was in the midst of her own search for the Darksaber. With Djarin's assistance, Tano liberated the city of Calodan, apprehended Elsbeth, and handed her over to her old ally, General Hera Syndulla. She also declined to train Grogu, despite Djarin's warning about how he was being hunted by Gideon's Imperial remnant, with Tano instead suggesting he take the Child to the seeing stone to reach out to any Jedi who could take on the youngling.
Tano's interrogation of Elsbeth led her to a Nightsister stronghold on the planet Arcana, where she retrieved an ancient compass from the temple. However, Tano was accosted by five of Elsbeth's HK-87 assassin droids, which destroyed the temple via self-destruct after failing to prevent her from taking the map. Meanwhile, during Tano's search, Elsbeth was liberated from New Republic imprisonment by former Jedi Knight Baylan Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati, who worked for the witch as mercenaries alongside the former Imperial Inquisitor Marrok. At Syndulla's suggestion, Tano returned to Lothal aboard her T-6 shuttle to enlist Wren's help in her search for Thrawn. Wren unlocked the compass, which displayed a star map, but before she could inform Tano, she was attacked by Hati, who reclaimed the compass.
One of the droids captured from Elsbeth led Tano and Syndulla to a facility in the Santhe Shipyards on Corellia, where they discovered that Elsbeth's operations were still ongoing through Imperial loyalists. Although Republic forces arrived to shut down Elsbeth's operation, Imperial loyalists managed to transport one final hyperdrive offworld while Marrok held off Tano in a lightsaber duel. Syndulla's droid C1-10P "Chopper" attached a homing beacon to the transport, which they tracked to the planet Seatos in the Denab system.
At a henge on Seatos, Elsbeth unlocked the compass, revealing a star map of the legendary Pathway to Peridea that led to another galaxy, where she believed Thrawn had been banished by Bridger. As part of their efforts to recover Thrawn, Elsbeth oversaw the construction of the Eye of Sion, a massive hyperspace transport ring where numerous hyperdrive cores were installed, including the final one from Corellia.
From Seatos to Peridea
After Wren's recovery, Tano returned to Lothal, finding her by the Spectres mural and reflecting on the history of her rebel family. Tano brought Wren aboard her ship, where she and Huyang continued Wren's Jedi training en route to the Denab system. Upon exiting hyperspace outside of Seatos, their shuttle was set upon by starfighter squadrons led by Hati and Marrok. Elsbeth's forces disabled their shuttle, but Wren was able to bring it back online while Tano defended her from outside the ship in space. Huyang scanned the Eye of Sion, discovering it to be a hyperspace ring. Tano and Wren then lost Hati and Marrok by maneuvering through purrgil in Seatos' atmosphere and landing in the planet's forest, where they powered down. As a result, Skoll deployed scout guards and assassin droids to hunt them down.
After being attacked by scout guards, Tano and Wren pursued Elsbeth's forces into the forest, where they encountered Marrok and Hati waiting for them. As Hati and Wren dueled, Tano killed Marrok and continued to the henge, where she faced Baylan Skoll. Skoll overpowered Tano, knocking her down a cliff, but Wren arrived and seized the compass, threatening to destroy it. However, Skoll convinced Wren to hand over the compass so that she could reunite with Ezra. Upon the completion of the hyperspace calculations, Skoll and Hati brought Wren on board the Eye of Sion with Elsbeth and jumped to hyperspace.
Acting without authorization, General Syndulla arrived in the Denab system on the Ghost with a squadron of New Republic pilots, but they were unable to intercept the Eye of Sion. The survivors landed on Seatos, where, with the help of Jacen Syndulla, they were able to recover Tano from Seatos' sea. Three Defender-class cruisers commanded by Captain Girard arrived to apprehend the rogue pilots. However, Carson Teva was able to stall Girard long enough for Tano and Huyang to escape into hyperspace inside a purrgil, with the hope it would take them to Elsbeth's destination.
Behind the scenes
The quest for Ezra Bridger involving Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano was first presented in the 2018 series finale of Star Wars Rebels, titled "Family Reunion – and Farewell." When Donald Faison inquired about a potential "Sabine Wren Ahsoka Tano show," Dave Filoni, the executive producer of Rebels, declined to provide any answers. A year after the Rebels finale, Filoni shared an image on Twitter depicting Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano during their search. The expedition was initially identified as the "search for Ezra" in the 2018 issue of Star Wars Helmet Collection 74 and the 2019 reference book Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition. The storyline was subsequently continued in the 2023 television series Ahsoka, which centered on the search for Ezra and Grand Admiral Thrawn. The phrase "quest for Ezra Bridger" first appeared onscreen in "Part Three: Time to Fly" by Hamato Xiono. The title "search for Grand Admiral Thrawn" was employed in the 2023 issue of Star Wars Insider 218 and the episode description for "Part Six: Far, Far Away" on Disney+.
The 2018 reference book Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy initially placed the scene from Rebels around 5 ABY. The "Part Two: Toil and Trouble", the second episode of Ahsoka, later depicted the same scene with some minor differences and continued the storyline, moving the scene to around 9 ABY instead. The 2023 reference book Star Wars: Timelines still provides a "circa 5 ABY" start date for the search, but does not explicitly say this date refers to the moment from Rebels. Therefore, this article assumes the following: Tano and Wren began their search around 5 ABY, only to go their separate ways, as described in Ahsoka. In circa 9 ABY, they resumed their search. This article assumes the Ahsoka depiction of the Rebels epilogue as canonical due to being the most recent depiction.
The search for Thrawn was satirized in the "The Light Side" comic strip from the Launchpad section in Star Wars Insider 203. In this strip, Tano finally manages to corner Thrawn, only to become enraged when she discovers that Thrawn has concealed himself among a group of blue aliens and droids.