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An in-depth look at: Grand Admiral Thrawn


Aurbere

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"I am Grand Admiral Thrawn, Warlord of the Empire, servant of the Emperor."- Grand Admiral Thrawn

 

Mitth'raw'nurodo, commonly known by his core name Thrawn, served as Grand Admiral in the Galactic Empire. If not for an unforeseen early death, Thrawn would have brought an end to the New Republic.

 

Thrawn lived, alongside his brother Mitth'ras'safis, as a commoner in Chiss society. They lived as simple people among the lowest levels of Chiss society. When the two came of age, they were adopted into the eigth ruling family: Mitth. From here they were free to choose their own paths. Thrass chose a promising political career, while Thrawn joined the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force.

 

Thrawn climbed the military ladder quickly, becoming the youngest Force Commander in the Defense Force. Thrawn was given a dozen Picket-class ships to command with which he used to intervene in a battle between a Hutt and a Corellian smuggler. The Hutt was utterly crushed and the smuggler crew taken as prisoners.

 

The smugglers: Dubrak Qennto, Maris Ferasi, and Jorj Car'das, although captive aboard Thrawn's command vessel, were not prisoners. Thrawn used them as strategic pawns and treasure troves of information. From them he learned Basic, as well as teaching the smugglers the Chiss language.

 

During this time, Thrawn's military actions were scrutinized by Chiss Ruling families. Thrawn was openly defying Chiss protocols to engage possible enemies. During one of his patrols, Thrawn's fleet came upon a Vagaari attack on the Geroon homeworld. He noted their use of gravity well technology and saw an opening for him to steal it. Thrawn made a micro-jump towards the Vagaari fleet and used the gravity field to position himself right next to their gravity well and surprised the enemy fleet. The Vagaari were defeated and the technology stolen.

 

Shortly after this, Thrawn took his picket force to investigate a disturbance in the form of an unknown task force. He had come across a Trade Federation attack group. The two fleets engaged with Thrawn emerging the victor, leaving the Trade Federation flagship intact to glean the reasons for this disturbance from the Nemoidian Viceroy: Siv Kav. From the Viceroy, Thrawn learned that the Trade Federation had been sent by a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious to destroy an expeditionary task force sent by the Republic to explore the Unknown Regions. The Sith Lord believed that the task force could fall into the hands of the Far Outsiders, or Yuuzhan Vong.

 

Thrawn knew of the Vong, for the Chiss had already engaged these creatures in battle before. Thrawn elected to take care of this 'Outbound Flight' personally. He positioned his fleet in an ambush position in Chiss space. Shortly after their trap was sprung, remnants of the Vagaari fleet reappeared to engage Thrawn. The Outbound Flight was caught in the middle of the battle, as Thrawn maneuvered his forces to close in on the Republic vessel.

 

After the Vagaari fleet was wiped out, Thrawn and the leader of The Outbound Flight project, Jorus C'baoth, engaged in battle, with Thrawn's ships proving victorious by disabling The Outbound Flight's weapon systems. At the end of the battle, C'baoth fell to the Dark Side and Force Choked Thrawn from across space. A second attack from Thrawn's forces broke C'baoth's concentration.

 

Meanwhile, Thrawn's brother boarded The Outbound Flight and sent it into hyperspace. The ship crashed on a remote planet and was lost for nearly fifty years. Although Thrawn stepped out of line by engaging the Vagaari and The Outbound Flight, he was commended by his superiors for defeating Vagaari menace.

 

Over the next ten years, Darth Sidious made several attempts to recruit Thrawn to aid the Galactic Republic, especially in the Clone Wars conflict. Thrawn was honor bound to stay at his post so he had to respectfully decline the Sith Lord's offer. However, Thrawn's superiors in the ruling families were working against him. After several military campaigns, Thrawn was exiled for breaking Chiss engagement protocols. Rumors spread amongst the Chiss that Thrawn had engineered his exile so that he may join Darth Sidious.

 

During his exile, Thrawn was found by an Imperial fleet on the planet in the Outer Rim. Thrawn used primitive weapons and traps to make quick work of the Imperial forces. This impressed the leader of the Imperial fleet, Colonel Barris. Thrawn was brought back to the galaxy and taken to the Empire. Thrawn was given an audience with the Galactic Emperor and placed in the Imperial fleet, the Imperial anti-alien policies preventing Thrawn from being too ambitious. But that wouldn't stop him.

 

Thrawn quickly rose through the ranks of the Imperial Academy, much to the dismay of Human officers. The Human officers were quickly brought in line when confronted with Thrawn's tactical genius. Thrawn quickly rose through the ranks until he held a teaching position at the Imperial Academy. One of his students, Tyber Zann, was suspected by Thrawn of weapons theft. Though Thrawn had no real evidence, Zann was expelled from the Academy.

 

Once again, Thrawn climbed the ranks to become a close ally of The Emperor. When Emperor Palpatine commanded Thrawn to engage in a battle that Thrawn deemed an impossible victory, he stripped the Chiss of his rank and sent a different commander to the battle. As Thrawn predicted, the battle was a complete failure. Humbled by the tactical genius, Palpatine reinstated Thrawn's military position and relied heavily on Thrawn's word.

 

Sharing the same belief that enemies from the Unknown Regions could threaten the Empire, Palpatine sent Thrawn into the Unknown Regions to make pre-emptive strikes to prevent invasion and be on the lookout for a possible Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Using the incredible technology of the Empire, Thrawn mapped out the Unknown Regions and conquered several systems to create the Empire of the Hand. The capital of the Hand was located on the planet Nirauan, his fortress known as The Hand of Thrawn.

 

From his fortress, Thrawn brought many different species into his personal Empire. He had even made contact with the Chiss Ascendancy, but the Chiss ruling families still distrusted him. In spite of this, several Chiss aristocrats supported Thrawn.

 

Months after the Battle of Yavin, Thrawn was engaged with an alien warlord whose tactical genius rivaled that of Thrawn's. Thrawn was vastly outnumbered, requiring more Star Destroyers to engage the warlord's massive fleet. To get these Star Destroyers, Thrawn visited the Emperor and Darth Vader on Endor. After getting a new Star Destroyer, The Chimaera, Thrawn was lured into a trap by the alien warlord who disabled the Chimaera's most of the ship's systems.

 

However, Thrawn used his remaining tractor beam systems to maneuver away from the warlord's fleet. The warlord then called for the rest of his fleet to aid him in battle. However, Thrawn predicted this and called Darth Vader and his Death Squadron to engage. Death Squadron utterly crushed the alien fleet.

 

A few months later, Thrawn returned to the galaxy and was posted by Palpatine on the Star Destroyer Vengeance to watch over Imperial Inquisitor Jerec, whom Palpatine suspected of trying to seize the position of Emperor from him. After watching Jerec for a few months, Thrawn was convinced that Jerec would pose little threat to the Emperor. He was then publicly promoted to Vice Admiral. However, The Emperor secretly promoted him to Grand Admiral only two years after the Battle of Yavin.

 

While Thrawn played politics on Coruscant, his rivals were closing in on him. To protect his most trusted commander and satisfy his desire to explore the Unknown Regions, Palpatine sent Thrawn back into the Unknown Regions. During his time in the Unknown Regions, Thrawn pacified several alien warlords through a complex series of traps that utterly crushed these aliens.

 

Thrawn returned to the Core Worlds after his time in the Unknown Regions to assist the Empire in their military struggles. His military genius assisted Darth Vader in dealing with the Black Sun, as well as serving him in the Battle of Derra IV. Though the battle costed the Empire a renegade flight of X-Wing fighters, Thrawn was rewarded with command over the Noghri Death Commando's.

 

After another brief visit to the Unknown Regions, Thrawn returned after the Battle of Hoth to deal with Rebel activity in the Pakuuni sector. Thrawn utterly defeated the rebels and established the NL-1 space station to maintain order in the Pakuuni sector.

 

When Grand Admiral Zaarin attempted a coup against the Empire, Palpatine dispatched Thrawn to deal with him. Zaarin was disgraced by the Empire and the Emperor publicly promoted Thrawn to fill the vacant space left by Zaarin. Thrawn used Zaarin's obsession with advanced technology to his advantage. During their skirmishes, Thrawn had an unstable cloaking device created to lure the elusive Admiral into a trap. The cloaking device had been placed on a corvette class ship. The Admiral follishly took this bait and was trapped. Thrawn was defeating Zaarin's forces, but when the rogue attempted to flee in the experimental corvette, the ship exploded, putting an end to the traitor.

 

Once again, Thrawn was sent to the Unknown Regions to continue mapping it and dealing with the enemies of his own Empire. However, shortly after Thrawn left, the Empire was defeated at Endor and Vader and the Emperor were killed. Thrawn continued his campaigns in the Unknown Regions until his final return to the galaxy.

 

Upon his return, Thrawn gathered as many Imperial commanders as he could to his side. Thrawn's armada began a series of raids against the New Republic that outmaneuvered the former rebels. These raids were meant as scouting raids, meant to fell out the New Republic and determine their strength.

 

During one of these scout raids, Thrawn came upon Wayland and found three things: a cloaking device, the clone of the presumed dead Jedi Jorus C'baoth, and Spaarti Clone Cylinders. The clone was not pleased with having to serve Thrawn and demanded that Thrawn retrieve the Solo twins for him to raise them as apprentices.

 

Thrawn instead focused on recovery, gathering more forces. He used the Spaarti cloning cylinders to produce warriors incredibly quickly to bolster his ranks. He then stole a large majority of the Katana Fleet before the New Republic intervened.

 

Using these weapons, Thrawn gained several victories even going so far as blockading Coruscant with cloaked asteroids. He continued to gain countless victories until he was defeated. At the critical Battle of Bilbringi, his Noghri bodyguard had discovered the Empire's treachery on Honoghr and assassinated the Grand Admiral. Without their commander, Thrawn's second in command, Gilad Pallaeon, signaled a retreat.

 

Ten years later, Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker found an incubating clone of Thrawn. They quickly destroyed the clone as well as the cloning facility, putting an end to the threat posed by Grand Admiral Thrawn.

 

Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic struck several worlds as he conquered nearly one-third of the galaxy. Had an unforeseen series of events never occurred, Thrawn would have successfully outwitted and outmaneuvered the New Republic and reinstated the Galactic Empire.

 

As a military commander, Thrawn promoted creativity amongst his ranks, much like he did during his time with the CEDF. His presence during battle greatly boosted the morale of his allies and pushed them to do great things. He also knew when he was defeated. As a commander, he did not stay to fight a losing battle, instead he would retreat to reassess the situation and devise tactics to gain victory.

 

Thrawn also studied art. Something that would lead to his victories in his final campaign. His study of art allowed him to see the weaknesses of his enemies and exploit them. While he was an incredible tactician, this method proved successful countless times during his final campaign.

 

He also had an incredible attention to detail. He would collect seemingly insignificant pieces of data that would prove to be invaluable. He had collected a near encyclopedic amount of data that gave him a sense of omniscience. However, this led to a couple of defeats when he assumed that his enemies knew more than they actually did.

 

Thrawn was also a great planner, laying out complex plans that allowed him to literally stay one step ahead of his enemies. While his enemies were still trying to figure out what exactly he was up to, he had already moved on to the next phase of his campaign. During his final campaign, Thrawn had laid out the path to victory. If not for his Noghri bodyguard, his plans would have come to fruition and he would have taken control of the galaxy.

 

Thrawn is remembered as one of, if not, the greatest military tactician of all time.

 

Next I will move on to character recommendations. I am already working on two so if you have a recommendation, post them below or PM me.

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Another great post, sums up everything to know about Thrawn. Just think how things would have turned out if he was at Yavin, Hoth, and Endor at the time of those battles.

 

If he wasn't in the Unknown Regions, the rebels would have been utterly crushed. Perhaps the Emperor thought he could deal with the rebels without Thrawn? If I were him, I would have brought Thrawn back ASAP.

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My second favorite character and favorite non-force user! Awesome post, I feel you really hit the nail on the head with this one.

 

I just learned a whole bunch from this post about one of my favorite characters and that's what I love about your posts. Just when you think you know it all, BAM! Aurbere pops in to teach you a bit more.

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My second favorite character and favorite non-force user! Awesome post, I feel you really hit the nail on the head with this one.

 

I just learned a whole bunch from this post about one of my favorite characters and that's what I love about your posts. Just when you think you know it all, BAM! Aurbere pops in to teach you a bit more.

 

Well thank you very much. :)

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  • 1 month later...
My second favorite character and favorite non-force user! Awesome post, I feel you really hit the nail on the head with this one.

 

I just learned a whole bunch from this post about one of my favorite characters and that's what I love about your posts. Just when you think you know it all, BAM! Aurbere pops in to teach you a bit more.

 

I was re-reading this and was about to post this!

 

Thrawn is second only to Kyle Katarn as my favorite character. I wish he hadn't died as I would have loved to see a universe under his rule. I have a feeling it would have been the most stable galactic government that ever was.

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I was re-reading this and was about to post this!

 

Thrawn is second only to Kyle Katarn as my favorite character. I wish he hadn't died as I would have loved to see a universe under his rule. I have a feeling it would have been the most stable galactic government that ever was.

 

Unfortunately, Reborn Palpatine would have assumed command of Thrawn's New Empire had he been successful (let's face it, Thrawn was going to win if not for the Noghri).

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Query: What were these 'unforeseen events' exactly. I know Palpatine somehow undermined Thrawn out of spite but I have no real idea why...

 

Oh and the reason that Thrawn was 'conveniently' dispatched to the Unknown Regions when the Battle of Yavin, Hoth and Endor happened was because if Thrawn had been their the Rebels would never have won the war and half of the entire Star Wars saga would have been rendered obsolete. A mere plot device.

 

But great post.

 

May as well make a suggestion for a future post. Perhaps Asajj Ventress? I really like the character but only know her from TCW series. If you know anything about her that would be interesting, but play to your strengths. :D

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Query: What were these 'unforeseen events' exactly. I know Palpatine somehow undermined Thrawn out of spite but I have no real idea why...

 

Oh and the reason that Thrawn was 'conveniently' dispatched to the Unknown Regions when the Battle of Yavin, Hoth and Endor happened was because if Thrawn had been their the Rebels would never have won the war and half of the entire Star Wars saga would have been rendered obsolete. A mere plot device.

 

But great post.

 

May as well make a suggestion for a future post. Perhaps Asajj Ventress? I really like the character but only know her from TCW series. If you know anything about her that would be interesting, but play to your strengths. :D

 

Leia's involvement with the Noghri was a major one (as it led to his bodyguard killing him). The loss of the clones and the insane Jedi C'Boath crippled his production capabilities. And the Smuggler's Alliance with Rogue Squadron breached his defenses (after his untimely death).

 

He literally had everything the New Republic could throw at him in his final battle. Victory at Bilbringi would have cemented his conquest of the galaxy. Thrawn never expected Leia to help the Noghri, and didn't think Wayland could be breached.

 

Palpatine severely hampered Thrawn's efforts. He consolidated Imperial power at Byss, making a majority of the fleeting Empire ignore Thrawn. It is conceivable that he thought Thrawn was a threat to his return, but he really wasn't. Had Palpatine actually contributed to Thrawn's Campaign, the New Republic would have been beaten sooner (provided Thrawn didn't make a too complicated plan). But even without the full backing of the Empire, Thrawn was still winning.

 

 

Ventress? I would have to wait until TCW ends. I don't want to post a thread and then have to update it later (hence my ignoring the Clone Wars in the Dooku and Plo Koon threads).

 

Edit: On a side-note, I will be doing a thread on the Thrawn Campaign.

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Interesting... I look forward to the Thrawn Campaign.

 

Didn't Thrawn also have a pet ysalamiri? Look like a boss and be immune to Force attacks - utter genius. :D

 

Yes. Yes he did. He certainly did look like a boss with that thing. :D

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Thrawn is a great character, it makes me sad that he will probably always be restricted to the EU.

 

Probably, but it would be nice to see Thrawn in a Star Wars movie. Unfortunately, I don't think the movies will take place around that time.

 

STILL waiting on Wedge Antllies...but hey gotta say my fav Imp...Grand Admiral Thrawn.

 

It was awesome in Star Wars Tie Fighter you got to fly under his command.

 

"Patience! Soon, you will be with him." :csw_yoda:

 

Wedge is coming soon.

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  • 1 month later...

My favorite character as well. I will never forgive Timothy Zahn for killing him :)

I created my own Thrawn in game as well... Chiss Sniper... it's a lot of fun to play with quest choices to make them the most Thrawn-like :)

Makes playing the game so much more exciting :)

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Thrawn also studied art. Something that would lead to his victories in his final campaign. His study of art allowed him to see the weaknesses of his enemies and exploit them. While he was an incredible tactician, this method proved successful countless times during his final campaign.

Care to elaborate on this a little bit? I'm all for appreciating the arts, but in my experience no one has given me sagely advice along the lines of "Study great works of art, you'll learn to better perceive the flow of battles."

 

He also had an incredible attention to detail. He would collect seemingly insignificant pieces of data that would prove to be invaluable. He had collected a near encyclopedic amount of data that gave him a sense of omniscience. However, this led to a couple of defeats when he assumed that his enemies knew more than they actually did.

 

Thrawn was also a great planner, laying out complex plans that allowed him to literally stay one step ahead of his enemies. While his enemies were still trying to figure out what exactly he was up to, he had already moved on to the next phase of his campaign. During his final campaign, Thrawn had laid out the path to victory. If not for his Noghri bodyguard, his plans would have come to fruition and he would have taken control of the galaxy.

This sounds like Thrawn had a weakness for over-thinking his plans. Complex plans are generally bad ones, especially on the battlefield. Envisioning the path to Galactic dominance and actually achieving it are worlds apart.

 

Nonetheless, interesting character. It's great to see some military commanders being shown as competent, and it's also refreshing to see some good military action.

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Care to elaborate on this a little bit? I'm all for appreciating the arts, but in my experience no one has given me sagely advice along the lines of "Study great works of art, you'll learn to better perceive the flow of battles."

 

 

This sounds like Thrawn had a weakness for over-thinking his plans. Complex plans are generally bad ones, especially on the battlefield. Envisioning the path to Galactic dominance and actually achieving it are worlds apart.

 

Nonetheless, interesting character. It's great to see some military commanders being shown as competent, and it's also refreshing to see some good military action.

 

No actually he didn't. Cause he allowed for slippage and things to change and adapt. He just had contingency plans for contingency plans. Cause he understood the first rule of warfare. No plan ever survives first contact. He didn't become wed to a plan that he rode it down in flames.

 

He was a tactician and a strategist who could adapt on the fly.

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