Grand Admiral Thrawn
Thrawn was a
Chiss, a species of aliens from the
Unknown Regions. He was a brilliant military strategist and commanded the remnants of the Imperial Fleet in a series of stunning victories against the
New Republic. His study of his enemies'
artwork gave him insight into their thought processes and cultures, allowing him to create highly effective tailor-made strategies.
Grand Admiral Thrawn is described as a tall, solidly built humanoid with blue skin and glowing red eyes. Despite the Empire's prejudice against non-humans, he became the only non-human to reach the
Imperial Navy's highest rank – that of
Grand Admiral. Not surprisingly, Thrawn's promotion was long kept secret by
Emperor Palpatine, and as late as five years after the
Battle of Endor the New Republic appeared to be entirely unaware of his identity, or even his existence. He was also the last Grand Admiral promoted by the Emperor; he earned the rank because of his instrumental role in stopping
Grand Admiral Zaarin's attempted
coup, receiving the late Zaarin's rank and position as a reward. As a Grand Admiral, he wore the white uniform befitting his rank. This is distinguished from the standard charcoal grey or olive colored uniforms that Imperial officers wore, as shown in the classic
Star Wars trilogy.
Thrawn was considered a true warrior by those who served under him. If a battle Thrawn planned could not be won, Thrawn preferred not to waste troops and equipment in futile displays of power; he would withdraw and adjust his plans. He also encouraged Captain
Gilad Pellaeon to voice his ideas, because, unlike many egotistical Imperial commanders, Thrawn could accept valid ideas even if they were not his own. Thrawn was not concerned with his own personal glory, only with winning the fight against the New Republic. It was later postulated that Thrawn did not support the Empire
per se, but rather wanted to establish order in the known
galaxy in preparation to combat as-yet unknown threats he had discovered during his time in the
Outer Rim (probably early scouts of the
Yuuzhan Vong).
Thrawn was more tolerant of the failures of those under his command than other Imperial officials, who were known for their lethal reaction to the most minimal of failures. Unlike
Darth Vader, Thrawn would usually not kill a person under his command simply for failure, instead judging whether or not the individual in question deserved death. He did have a crew member responsible for operating the tractor beams killed when
Luke Skywalker escaped a trap he set, but only because he thought the crew member so small-minded that he could not adjust to changing situations. Later, when Skywalker escaped a similar trap, the man running the tractor beams had tried an innovative solution in an attempt to capture him. Instead of having the man killed, Thrawn recognized the man's innovation by promoting him to Lieutenant.
Ironically, Thrawn was also personally responsible for one of the greatest setbacks to the Imperial cause. His ruthless persecution of
smuggler Talon Karrde estranged former
Emperor's Hand Mara Jade and led directly to her decision to aid the
Rebel Alliance. Mara's support proved decisive in the campaign to destroy the Empire's
cloning facilities at Mt. Tantiss: in the final confrontation with
insane Jedi Master
Joruus C'Baoth, she landed the killing blow.
Thrawn is known for a supremely unique command style. He would view the native art of a given species or planet to understand them better as a race or planet, and so too, gain insight into their military style. He believed the study of this art would somehow give him an advantage in battle, since it provided him with information on the psyche of his opponents and informed him of psychological blind spots in his opponents. Examples include the invasion of Ukio, where he determined that the defenders had a strong superstitious fear of the unknown and the unexplained. Therefore, his attack with cloaked vessels frightened them into submission when a more adventurous people might have continued to resist. His immediate subordinate, Pellaeon, voices the opinion that Thrawn's analysis of art was merely a cover for his true military analyses, which he would want to keep secret to stymie enemy spies. He was known as one of the most brilliant military commanders in the
Star Wars universe and seemed equal, if not superior, to
Admiral Ackbar of the Rebel Alliance.
Unlike the Emperor, Thrawn had a distinct grasp of his economic situation. He preferred to use existing technologies in novel ways rather than spend billions of credits on super weapons that might or might not have worked (like the Death Star, Eye of Palpatine or even the Darksaber). Thrawn turned medium-sized capital ships like Carrack cruisers and Victory-class Star Destroyers into formidable weapons.
Outbound Flight Project
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Mitth'raw'nuruodo during Outbound Flight Incident |
Palpatine was first alerted to Thrawn's tactical
genius even before he assumed the title of Emperor. The
Outbound Flight Project, a
Jedi expedition into deep space, was to be intercepted and destroyed by Palpatine's forces, but before this could occur, they themselves were ambushed and nearly annihilated by Thrawn's border patrol on the edge of the Unknown Regions. That a squadron of
the Republic's most elite fighter pilots could not only be defeated, but also annihilated by the rudimentary defenses of a backwater planet was a credit to Thrawn's spectacular strategic skills. Thrawn was then persuaded by Kinman Doriana, one of Palpatine's most trusted advisors and a survivor of the ambush, to destroy the Project himself. The Chiss would not accept the concept of a preemptive strike, and they
exiled Thrawn, who then joined the Empire.
Thrawn was not afraid to tell the Emperor the truth. Despite being thought a fool, or someone tired of living, he refused to engage a task force in a battle that could not be won. The Emperor relieved him of command — until the task force was destroyed, just as Thrawn predicted.
Early Imperial career
Thrawn's early Imperial career has been described in several
Star Wars stories. Thrawn was originally a Captain of the
Victory-class Star Destroyer
Stalwart and commanded several deep space expeditions. He was then promoted to Rear Admiral and Vice Admiral, respectively, and was in charge of a forward deployed fleet. He also played a hand in Research and Development.
In the
Star Wars computer game
TIE Fighter, an early campaign (Tour of Duty 3) showed how Thrawn established order to an unpacified system at the frontiers of the Empire. Thrawn foiled a coup attempt against the Emperor by the renegade
Grand Admiral Zaarin with the aid of his top pilot
Maarek Stele. Thrawn and Stele afterwards helped to nullify Zaarin's
TIE Defenders by developing the
Missile Gunboat. As a result of his efforts, he was promoted to Grand Admiral. Although Thrawn and Zaarin were very much tactical equals, Thrawn eventually outsmarted and defeated his nemesis for good.
Opponents and Unknown Regions
Thrawn did have enemies within Imperial loyalist circles. Prince-Admiral Delak Krennel (who briefly collaborated with
Ysanne Isard in
X-Wing: Isard's Revenge) formerly served under Thrawn, but Krennel's career with the Imperial Navy was almost ruined after Thrawn dismissed him. Captain Dorja of the ISD
Relentless was openly critical of Thrawn and Gilad Pellaeon, even when his Destroyer was part of Thrawn's personal squadron.
During the
Dark Horse Star Wars comic, "The Making of Baron Fel",
Baron Soontir Fel was an ace pilot with the 181st Imperial fighter division who distinguished himself during the ambush of a Rebel convoy. That operation was planned by Thrawn, although
Darth Vader gave the orders. The Baron noted that an alien (such as Thrawn) in such a high position of command was very unusual, given the Empire's extreme
xenophobia. Perhaps due to xenophobia or the maneuvering of Isard, the Imperial intelligence director, Thrawn went unrewarded after the successful ambush.
Thrawn would become involved in Imperial court politics, as Mara Jade would later reminisce; all thought that his exile was due to his political defeat by
Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus. He was reassigned to the
Unknown Regions. Thrawn spent most of his time pacifying the Unknown Regions. After the Rebellion successfully dethroned the Empire at the Battle of Endor, Thrawn returned from the Unknown Regions. Thrawn assumed command of the Empire and took the Star Destroyer
Chimaera as his command ship.
Heir to the Empire
Thrawn was
assassinated at the end of
The Last Command, the final novel in the Zahn trilogy. His bodyguard,
Rukh, discovered the
betrayal of the
Noghri race by Darth Vader, the Emperor and Thrawn, and took
vengeance against the only one he could, stabbing him aboard his flagship the
Chimaera in the middle of the
climactic Battle of Bilbringi. Thrawn's last words were simply: "But…it was so artistically done."
About ten years later, Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade discovered that Thrawn had created a clone of himself. Although they were forced to destroy the clone immediately in order to survive, it was later speculated by Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker that there was another Thrawn clone loose somewhere in the galaxy who had arranged the Vagaari attack in Chiss space at the remains of the Outbound Flight Project - however, it is more likely that this was
Jorj Car'das, either by himself or in conjunction with Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano.
It has been suggested Thrawn was planning to unite the Galaxy aganist the Youuzhan before they arrived, although how he knew this is a mystery. It's possible that as a powerful millitary leader he knew the Galaxy was in a weak state and an invasion force was inveitable. This would suggest although he didn't know about the Youuzhan Vong, he suspected a threat would come from somewhere before to long, so he decided he must unite the Galaxy to save it.
At the time of the Hand of Thrawn incident, the high-ranking Moff Disra employed a con artist known as Flim to impersonate Grand Admiral Thrawn. Flim was a talented mimic, able to imitate Thrawn's voice and mannerisms, and an excellent actor - he studied Thrawn's biography and career points so that he would not be caught out by questions for which he had not prepared.
Disra's intention in hiring Flim was to rebuild the Empire using Thrawn's reputation to frighten or impress worlds and systems into joining him. The
New Republic would do nothing to stop this, as their member's charter allowed member worlds to exit at any time. However, Disra was being manipulated by his aide, Major
Grodin Tierce, a cloned
Royal Guardsman with all of Thrawn's tactical genius but lacking his political vision. Tierce also wanted revenge on the New Republic for the destruction of the Empire, and it was this desire that led to the
triumvirate's downfall.
When General
Garm Bel Iblis of the New Republic attacked the Ubiqtorate Base on
Yaga Minor,
Talon Karrde and Admiral Pellaeon – who wanted peace between the Empire and the New Republic – were able to foil Disra and Tierce's scheme by revealing Flim's identity, thanks to a datacard given to Karrde by
Jorj Car'das. Once revealed to be an imposter, Flim surrendered to
Admiral Pellaeon and was taken into custody. The ultimate fate of Flim is not known.
*
The Thrawn trilogy*
The Hand of Thrawn duology"Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals".
Star Wars Insider #66, 2003. Pena, Abel G. and Daniel Wallace.
The Essential Chronology, 1st edition.
Kevin J. Anderson,
Daniel Wallace, ISBN 034-543439-0. p. 72
Star Wars, The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002.
Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, New York: Del Rey. ISBN 034-544900-2
*
Star Wars Databank entry
*
The Imperial Grand Admirals
