Why Google Is Convinced Star Wars Rebels' Ezra Bridger Is Actually Darth Revan

By Sean Morrison

Published Jun 1, 2024

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Thread 4

Custom image by Debanjana Chowdhury

Summary

Google falsely suggested that Ezra Bridger became the Sith Lord Darth Revan after the finale of Star Wars Rebels.
Recent changes to Google's algorithm have prioritized human-created content, including non-canon fan fiction like the story that made Ezra related to Revan.
In both Star Wars canon and Legends, Ezra and Revan have no connection; that story was completely made up by a fan.

the most powerful Sith Lords in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which took place in 3,956 BBY. The two were very different characters, but some recent misinformation has placed them surprisingly close together.

Recently, when s searched for "Ezra Bridger" on Google, one of the suggested options under the "people also ask" section was "How did Ezra Bridger become Darth Revan?". Google answered that question with a dubious story of what happened to Ezra after Rebels' ending. Given the fact that they had never been associated before, Google's suggestion came as quite a surprise. It turns out there's a very simple reason Google seemed to think Ezra became Darth Revan, though the mixup was easily avoidable and should never have happened in the first place.

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Ezra Bridger's Darth Revan Connection Is A Total Fanfic

The idea that Ezra grew up to take on Revan's title and armor originated entirely from a fan fiction and has no basis in any continuity of Star Wars. That fan fiction was posted to Star Wars fanon, a website that serves as an encyclopedia for fan fiction writers. The fan fiction that started the idea that Ezra and Revan were related built off of Ezra's disappearance at the end of Rebels. It suggested he could have found Revan's grave, discovered his relationship to the Sith Lord, and decided to live up to the dark side of his ancestor's legacy.

Ezra Bridger

Created By: Dave Filoni
Cast: Taylor Gray, Eman Esfandi
First Appearance: Star Wars Rebels
Alliance: Rebel Alliance, Jedi
Alias: Morgan, Lando Calrissian, Jabba the Hutt
Franchise: Star Wars

Hailing from the planet Lothal, Ezra Bridger's Force potential was discovered by Order 66 survivor Kanan Jarrus. Ezra became Kanan's apprentice, working as a key asset in the Lothal rebel cell. He sacrificed himself in a desperate gambit to defeat Grand iral Thrawn, becoming stranded for years in a distant galaxy on the planet Peridea. Ezra has now returned, thanks to the efforts of his friend Sabine Wren.

While the site makes it clear that not all the information on each page is canon, Ezra's page was especially confusing. Most of the information on his page was canon and shown in Rebels, but the part about his relation to Revan was not marked as fan fiction, as most other articles are. That led several of the site's s to believe that he really did become a Sith Lord reborn in official Star Wars canon, and it even fooled Google.

Google's Recent Algorithm Changes Have Boosted This Story

Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger in Star Wars, edited over Ezra and the purrgil in Star Wars Rebels — Custom Image by Debanjana Chowdhury

Google has recently been the subject of criticism due to some changes it implemented to its ranking algorithm for search results. According to the Google blog, it favored content written by humans over pages created by generative AI. That made information from wikis and other -created databases, like Star Wars fanon, rank higher than other sources. That meant that the fan fiction about Ezra becoming Revan was given more priority than it previously had, so Google then erroneously took that fan fiction as a reliable source. Then, on the search page for Ezra, Google suggested others wanted to know how he became a Sith Lord.

Since Google put the fictional connection between Ezra and Revan in its "people also ask" section, it led many to wonder if they had missed a massive part of Ezra's backstory. Since so many people were clicking on that result, it boosted the fan fiction even more, which led to a cyclical effect. That result has since been removed from the general Ezra Bridger search page, but it is still being promoted on some variations of that search, such as "how did Ezra Bridger become..."

No, Ezra Bridger Doesn't Have A Darth Revan Connection In Canon

In both Star Wars canon and Legends, Ezra and Revan have absolutely no connection to one another. Ezra never existed in Legends, and while Revan was brought into Star Wars canon, the two were not related. It's possible that some connection between the two could be established in the future, as Revan did eventually have a child, Vaner Shan, but he lived over 3,000 years before Rebels. Ezra also briefly flirted with the dark side, but emphatically chose the light. Those facts mean it would be incredibly unlikely for Ezra to become Revan in canon, and there's currently no evidence of that at all.

The idea that Ezra Bridger is Darth Revan was completely borne out of a fan's imagination, even though Google took it to be true.

Adding to the overwhelming evidence that Ezra is not related to Revan is the fact that Ahsoka has already explained what happened to Ezra after his disappearance at the end of Rebels. Rather than becoming a Sith Lord, Ezra was stranded on Peridea with Grand iral Thrawn, and he was very much so still a Jedi when Ahsoka and Sabine found him years later. He never found Revan's grave, and he never took on his armor and name. The idea that Ezra Bridger is Darth Revan was completely borne out of a fan's imagination, even though Google took it to be true.

Source: Google blog