Star Wars Repeats The Last Jedi"s Most Controversial Luke Skywalker Scene... With Ezra Bridger

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Ahsoka episode 7.
Summary

• Like Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, Ezra Bridger rejects taking back his old lightsaber, showing his growth as a character.
• Ezra's refusal to use a lightsaber demonstrates his reliance on the Force and his development into a more spiritual Jedi.
• Unlike Luke, who lost hope in the Jedi and everything else, Ezra still holds onto hope and eagerly wants to return as a Jedi.

Ahsoka episode 7 pulls a familiar move with Ezra Bridger, one shared with Luke Skywalker himself - but it's proved less controversial with Star Wars viewers. Played in live-action by Eman Esfandi, Ezra Bridger has been missing for at least nine years. But when Ezra Bridger finds him living amond a race of diminutive natives known as the Noti, she learns Ezra Bridger has changed a great deal.
Many viewers paralleled Ezra with Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars sequel trilogy; Both were popular Jedi in exile, sought after by young female potential Jedi. Ahsoka episode 6 even ended on the same cliffhanger with Sabine finding Ezra, just like Star Wars: The Force Awakens' cliffhanger with Rey and Luke. But this is not where the similarities end; in Ahsoka episode 7, Ezra exhibits the same kind of reaction when he's offered back his old lightsaber. Even more surprisingly, Ahsoka episode 7 built on this parallel - but made it a whole lot less controverisla.
Your browser does not support the video tag. Ezra Rejects Taking His Lightsaber Back - Like Luke Did In The Last Jedi During their slow pilgrimage across the wastelands of Peridea, Sabine catches Ezra up on all the things he missed during his absence. But soon after, the Noti caravan is ambushed by native mercenary raiders who are led by the constant thorn of Baylan's apprentice Shin Hati. To combat this threat, Sabine offers Ezra back his lightsaber, but he refuses. Ezra says he wants to use the Force as his ally rather than his old saber, which he officially gives to Sabine.
There's a sense in which this parallels Luke Skywalker. When Rey gave Luke his old lightsaber back in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, he didn't want it - and showed a visceral dislike of it, tossing it aside. Both Jedi exiles have decided they don't want to use a lightsaber, albeit for very different reasons.
Ezra's Rejection Of The Lightsaber Shows How Much He's Changed (Like It Did With Luke) Ezra Bridger's decision not to accept the lightsaber shows his character growth, because he was originally an action-oriented hero who loved to have a weapon. In Star Wars Rebels' finale, Ezra gave Sabine his lightsaber and chose to rely on the Force alone to defeat Grand Admiral Thrawn. Ezra now leans so far into that the Force that he chooses not to use a lightsaber at all, preferring to depend on the Force.