Jul 182016
Over the weekend, many Star Wars fans exploded in glee over a character announced for Star Wars Rebels. If you never read the old Expanded Universe novels (now Star Wars Legends), you might wonder why. Who is Grand Admiral Thrawn?
I’ve never watched Star Wars Rebels. I don’t know much about it. But Thrawn showing up in Season Three matters to me.
When I talked about the Witcher movie, I said I was relieved my favorite Star Wars Expanded Universe character was no longer canon, because I’d never have to worry about an adaptation ruining him.
But in truth, it’s the one thing that disappointed me the most about the old Expanded Universe being declared non-canon. As I sat in the theater to watch The Force Awakens, I felt… sad. When the opening text faded, I wouldn’t see Captain Pellaeon on the Star Destroyer, and he wouldn’t report to Grand Admiral Thrawn.
I’d never seen Thrawn’s strategies and machinations brought to life on the big screen.
Then I heard rumors that Thrawn might be part of the new canon after all, and I dreamed of the day he’d be dramatically revealed. Now, in the trailer for Star Wars Rebels Season Three, it finally happened.
Best of all, Timothy Zahn has written a new Star Wars book titled Thrawn.
Pre-orders should be available soon, and you better believe I’ll be first in line.
Timothy Zahn wrote the original Thrawn Trilogy, considered by many fans to be the best the Star Wars Expanded Universe had to offer. When I read the first book in the trilogy, Heir to the Empire, I was amazed that not only were there Star Wars novels, but they were good!
The Thrawn Trilogy isn’t perfect, but it has a lot of great moments and characters. And the greatest is Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Thrawn, whose full name is Mitth’raw’nuruodo, belongs to an alien race known as the Chiss. He is the only nonhuman to achieve such a high rank, because the Emperor couldn’t pass up such a valuable strategist even with the Empire’s anti-alien philosophies.
He can out-maneuver almost anyone, and he has a great love of art… which also plays into his strategies. He studies the art, architecture, and culture of his enemies to gain a better understanding of how they think and make his plans accordingly.
Being a brilliant, ruthless, and deadly strategist makes Thrawn an exciting villain, but there’s more to him than that. He’s not the pure evil sort of villain you see so often (especially among the Imperials).
If Thrawn thinks he can’t win a battle, he pulls back rather than waste lives. He encourages his subordinates to present advice and ideas. In one memorable scene, an ensign develops a creative solution to capture Luke… which fails. But while someone like Darth Vader would kill the ensign for failing, Thrawn promotes him for his quick thinking and willingness to learn from mistakes.
(In contrast, he executed someone earlier who refused to admit his mistake.)
He’s an excellent character and my personal favorite. So, will the new Star Wars universe do him justice? I believe it will, for two reasons:
- The Star Wars Rebels trailer shows him surrounded by art, saying suitably Thrawn-like things.
- Timothy Zahn is handling the novel. Who better to write Thrawn than the author who created him?
I can’t wait.
While we wait for Thrawn pre-orders to go live, let me know your thoughts on Mitth’raw’nuruodo and his return to canon in the comments below.