a New Hero
written by
pablo hidalgo
Illustrations are concept art developed for
Star Wars Rebels by
the Lucasfilm
Animation Art Department
Note: This book features illustrations created by the team that makes the Star Wars Rebels animated
series. This art was used to determine the look and feel of the characters and environments in the
early stages of the show’s creation. Some designs and details will be different from what appears in
the finished series.
Copyright © 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or TM. All rights reserved. Published by Disney • Lucasfilm
Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For
information address Disney • Lucasfilm Press, 1101 Flower Street, Glendale, California 91201.
ISBN 978-1-4847-0945-0
Visit www.starwars.com
My name is Ezra Bridger.
I lived alone on the planet Lothal. I know what you’re
thinking—Where are his parents? The truth is I don’t know.
But that’s just fine. I live my life the way I want to. Or try to,
anyway. It isn’t always easy, and it’s gotten a whole lot more
complicated lately.
I’ve lived my whole life on this planet. I know the ins and outs
of this world and how to avoid the wrong kinds of attention.
These are important things to know, because this planet isn’t
the easiest place to live on these days.
Lothal is such a tiny speck
in such a great big galaxy that it’s hard to imagine
it being the center of anyone’s attention. We’re way
out on the edge; fly past us and before long you’ll
run out of galaxy. That’s how deep this planet is in
the Outer Rim Territories.
This sounds like an astronomy lesson, right? I wouldn’t know. I didn’t learn my lessons in
a classroom. I learned everything I know from the spacers who come into town and from
overhearing people talk in the marketplaces. I’ve taught myself what I need to survive by
keeping my eyes and ears open.
Most of Lothal is just seemingly endless grasslands. The most excitement you’ll find in
these parts is a Loth-cat chasing down a Loth-rat for a quick snack. Walk far enough
and you’ll see the grasslands broken up by huge old stones sticking straight up from
the ground. Where these rocks crowd together makes a good place to hide and lie low.
Remember that, because it’s good to have hiding places these days.
In the grasslands, farmers and ranchers make a living
through hard, honest work. They’re good people, but
I’ve never been one for farming.
Capital City is where you’ll find the most people on this world.
It’s where people run the businesses of Lothal. Besides farming,
this planet’s business is in minerals. Lothal is lucky enough to
have a trove of valuable gems and ores in its rock. But it’s also
unlucky, because that’s what drew the Galactic Empire here.
When they think it’s safe and no Imperials are listening, the old pilots at the spaceport
talk about a time when there wasn’t an Empire. I don’t know anything about that. Seems
to me the Imperials have always been around. But lately they’ve become a lot harder to
ignore. Even out in the grasslands, where there’s nothing around, you might see Imperial
ships soar by.
You always hear them first.
Twin ion engines make TIE fighters howl as they fly by
on patrols, looking for trouble. I’m too small to show
up on their scopes, and that’s fine by me.
The city is filling up with soldiers in
white armor. They call themselves
stormtroopers, and the
Empire uses them to keep order on Lothal.
They say they’re here to protect us. What
they’re really here to protect are the factories,
farms, and mines—to profit the Empire. They
don’t care about Lothal, or the people who
work hard. They only care about what they’re
taking out of Lothal.
What makes it worse is that, underneath
black TIE fighter pilot helmets, a lot of the
Imperials actually come from here. There are
training academies set up now that turn good
Lothal folks into soldiers of the Empire.
I guess a lot of people here, being so used to living out
on the edge of nowhere, signed up because they wanted
to connect to something bigger. Can’t they see what
they’re signing up for?
The Empire only wants power. It’s the
biggest bully in the galaxy. It wants to
tell people how to live and what to think.
And if you disagree with the Empire,
you disappear. No one is safe. So people
on Lothal just go through their days,
pretending that life is okay and normal,
even though they’re really afraid.
Imperial ships keep appearing in the skies
over Lothal. Somebody in the Empire has
decided that Lothal and its minerals are
worth guarding. Huge Star Destroyers—
ships bigger than you can imagine—fly
overhead. You can’t help feeling small
against ships that big.
And you certainly don’t feel safe.
Me, I avoided the Empire by living outside Capital
City. I’ve made myself a little roost at the top of an
old communications tower. These towers used to
serve a purpose here. They were used to guide the
few visitors who came to Lothal to the spaceports.
That was before the Empire. Now the Empire
controls most of the traffic in and out, and it has
left these old towers empty. That’s how Imperial
progress works. Throw away the old. I won’t let this
one go to waste, though.
From here, I can see Capital City. I can see the smoke coughed out by the factories
where a lot of Lothal people work, slaving away to make more and more TIE fighters for
the Empire. It’s hard to imagine a worse way to spend a beautiful Lothal day. It’s easier
to imagine what Lothal might have been like if its people hadn’t been so quick to let the
Empire settle here.
I can imagine what this planet might be like without the Empire, with people who weren’t
afraid all the time and didn’t have anyone breathing down their necks.
I thought I was the only one who thought
like that. I thought nobody would be brave
enough to take the fight to the Empire.
It’d be hopeless, right? Countless Imperial
troops, endless TIE fighters, and warships
that can fill up the sky—who would dare to
take a stand against all that?
Someti
mes the galaxy finds just the right
mix of crazy and brave. That’s where my
new friends come in. I didn’t know they
were out there, trying to do right. They
flew around in their starship, the Ghost,
doing what they could to rebel against the
Empire. From slowing down Imperial cargo
ships to stealing Imperial supplies, the crew
of the Ghost specialized in making things a
lot more complicated for the Empire.
When I met them, they were a tight-knit
crew of five, each with their own grudge
against the Empire. They all have their
own strengths and can fight together like
a team. Keeping a low profile is important
to them. They operate with code names
like Spectre-1 and Spectre-2 so the Empire
can’t find out their true identities. I can
appreciate that. With the Empire around,
you have to keep some secrets.
Their ship’s name, the Ghost, and their
Spectre code names reflect how they
vanish. The Empire can feel their presence
but can’t grab them before they disappear.
Maybe it’s time for the Imperials to feel
spooked for a change.
I’ve been on my own for most of my life.
I survive on the streets by taking what
I need. I’m not hurting anyone, just the
Empire and its stooges. Besides, the
Empire’s not going to miss a few scraps of
food and the odd piece of tech.
I made the mistake of thinking there were
some new stooges in town. They didn’t
look like they were from Lothal, which fit
my plans. I figured if they were leaving the
planet soon, they wouldn’t waste too much
time chasing down a street kid who nicked
a bit of their cargo. They probably had
bigger, brighter places to be than Lothal,
after all.
That’s what I was thinking when I stole from
them. It’s what I do best, but that day I
guess I wasn’t at my best, because I forgot
one of my most important rules.
Not to lecture you, but one of Ezra Bridger’s most important rules of life on the streets
of Lothal is this: Looks can be deceiving. I count on that. That’s why the Empire is always
underestimating me. I’m not what it thinks. I’m not just a street kid who’s afraid of a
stormtrooper like everyone else on Lothal is. When people assume that, they turn their
backs on me and let down their guard. But that day in the marketplace, I was the one
doing the underestimating. I misjudged this crew.
I noticed that they were thieves like me. Their supplies were stolen from the Empire.
I knew because I had been eyeing the goods. It turned out they had no intention of
keeping the loot for themselves. No, this crew was going to give away those stolen
Imperial supplies (Can you imagine that? Just give them away!) to the poor farmers
of Lothal that the Empire had pushed around. I didn’t see that coming, and I’m usually
pretty good at seeing things coming.
So while Imperial stormtroopers were chasing them, this crew started chasing me to get
back what I’d stolen. I guess I made a memorable first impression.
That’s how I met Kanan.
He was the one who caught up with me. It
was instantly clear that Kanan was in charge of
the group, that he was the guy who called the
shots. He’s smart, like some sort of battlefield
general. He’s a crack-shot gunslinger and a born
leader. And trust me, he’s nearly impossible to
shake when he’s chasing you! So we outran the
Imperials together.
Kanan invited me to be part of his team. He
said he saw something special in me. He knew
something about me that I’ve never told anyone.
The truth is sometimes I can see things
before they happen. It’s not like clear pictures
or in ways I can describe. . . . It’s like my body
knows what’s going to happen next and
moves me out of the way. Kanan knew I could
do this. He told me it’s because I can sense
something called the Force.
Once aboard the Ghost, I met Kanan’s crew. I’ve never seen a better pilot than Hera.
The Ghost is her ship and she knows every bolt and plate of it. She’s great at getting us
out of trouble, which I’m quickly finding out happens a lot!
She’s a Twi’lek from the planet Ryloth. I
hear the Empire hasn’t been too kind to
Ryloth, so I figure that’s why she’s fighting
back. Though, now that I think of it, she
doesn’t talk much about her past, or herself.
Hera seems more interested in finding out
how others are doing, and how she can
help. That took some getting used to.
This junky little astromech droid keeps
the Ghost running. Lucky for him he’s
good at it, because he is a pain. His name
is Chopper, and he’s a patched-
together, creaky-jointed antique. He’s
always cranky about something and bleeps
and blarps his complaints nonstop. They
don’t pull out his batteries because he’s
useful. The Ghost is so modified and
powered up that it needs an expert to keep
it in top shape, and Chopper’s the one to
do it.
Sabine is the weapons expert of the team. She’s a real
know-it-all and not afraid to show it. She’s an artist, and
that’s someone you don’t meet every day on Lothal. She’s
really talented, too. It’s like the Empire wants to paint over
everything with its boring shades of gray, black, and white.
Sabine puts the color back. I think TIE fighters look a lot
better after one of her paint bombs has gone off.
Yeah, I guess you can say I really admire her.
That is, I admire her work. Let’s be clear: she’s
gifted. I mean, anyone with a good eye would
say so, right? I have no idea what she thinks
of me. Not that I care. . . . Anyway, let’s move
on to Zeb.
Zeb is the muscle of the group. He’s great
at smashing things, including things he
doesn’t mean to smash. He’s good to have
in a fight, but he gets carried away. For a tall
guy, he’s got a short temper—which is why it’s
so much fun to get him going. Chopper and
I take turns seeing who can get him riled up
the most. Are all Lasat this touchy? I don’t
know because I’ve never seen another Lasat.
It turns out not many people have.
This is the Ghost. On the outside, it can pass for just any old
freighter, going about its business of moving cargo from one star
system to another. But remember that Ezra Bridger lesson about
looks being deceiving? On the inside, the Ghost has many surprises.
Hera and Chopper have installed a device so that the Ghost never
shows up on Imperial ships as the same ship twice. It can’t disappear;
no ship this small has a cloaking device.
But it can disguise itself from scanners, so those thick-headed
Imperials d
on’t realize that the sensor blip that left the system in
a hurry is the same one that’s later arriving at a leisurely pace. It’s
like the Ghost grew up on the same streets I did—stealthily slipping
under the radar and never afraid to return for more action.
Another great surprise the Ghost packs is
the Phantom. It’s a starfighter that’s hidden,
in plain sight, on the back of the Ghost.
The Phantom is small and fast and packs a
punch with its double laser cannons, and it’s
gotten us out of a few tight spots, because
two ships are better than one.
I had never before been in space until that day Kanan brought me aboard the Ghost.
Now I can’t imagine life without outrunning or outshooting Imperial TIE fighters. Maybe
someday I’ll get a chance to pilot us out of trouble.
I’ll admit it: it took me a while to get used to operating with a team. You’ve got to
remember, on Lothal I worked alone. So on our first mission together, which involved
freeing Wookiee prisoners from the Empire, there were times I was thinking about
myself first. It’s what had always kept me alive and out of Imperial hands, after all.
I thought the crew of the Ghost would leave me behind on Lothal when we finished
our mission. I needed to make sure I got something worthwhile for my troubles. I
figured that laser sword that Kanan carried would fetch a few credits or maybe come
in handy in a scrap. So I took it.
Kanan knew. But he wasn’t mad. Getting mad is not the Jedi way.
See, I found out that Kanan is a Jedi.
Jedi Knights were guardians
of peace and justice before the Empire
nearly wiped all of them out. And now it’s
a very dangerous time to be a Jedi, but
Kanan is one because the galaxy needs
people to fight for those who can’t. He