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Ok so no surprise there are spoilers hear so be warned.

So my thoughts of Thrawn is... it is superb probably one of if not the best novel of the new canon. Timothy Zahn knocks it out of the park yet again with a Thrawn that is just right.

Now for the technical and lore bits I'm going to have Star Wars Explained videos because I'm tired of typing word for word quotes strait from the book if you guys have an easier suggestion let me no. So what are your thoughts on Thrawn as well as technical details you thought interesting and or significant.

Maybe I just ready it too quickly but I felt that Thrawn's rise up the ranks was a bit meh. Like every chapter was 'he is now rank x because reasons'.

Surprised that Parck got an appearance, but Pellaeon didn't.

Pelranius wrote:Surprised that Parck got an appearance, but Pellaeon didn't.

Well, time-wise, Parck would be more likely to be there than Pellaeon. At this point in time Pellaeon would have been a relatively junior bridge officer (junior in rank, but not necessarily in age). Parck on the other hand was a line captain and apparently known to Emperor Palpatine (hence his ability to present Thrawn to Palpatine personally and be rewarded for that act).

I'm more interested to see whether or not Disney decides to kill off Thrawn in Rebels. I hope they don't, because I'd love to see him post-Endor.


Another point: I'm surprised that they changed the Strikefast from a Victory-class to a Venator-class Star Destroyer. It's a bit disappointing, actually.

Ever since reading Aftermath: Empire's End...
Spoiler

Galvatron wrote:Ever since reading Aftermath: Empire's End...
Spoiler

...I've been fully expecting for them to reveal that Thrawn was given command of the SSD Eclipse and sent to the Unknown Regions as part of the contingency. Hell, for all we know, "Snoke" is just a hand puppet or alter ego for Thrawn himself.

Just in case, I'll cover my own response.
Spoiler
Hope that worked...

Abacus wrote:

Galvatron wrote:Ever since reading Aftermath: Empire's End...
Spoiler

...I've been fully expecting for them to reveal that Thrawn was given command of the SSD Eclipse and sent to the Unknown Regions as part of the contingency. Hell, for all we know, "Snoke" is just a hand puppet or alter ego for Thrawn himself.

Just in case, I'll cover my own response.
Spoiler

Considering Thrawn's distaste for the waste of resources in the creation of super weapons, I find it hard to believe that he'd allow them to create an even bigger version of the Death Star (aka, Starkiller Base).

Hope that worked...

Quotes will break all spoilers, even if there isn't a spoiler in the quote. Better to not quote anything if you want the spoiler to work.

EDIT: Okay, first spoiler still works, but second spoiler broke the quote-box and formatting. Either way: Don't mix spoilers and quotes.

Since this thread is about the Thrawn novel, I'm going to quote it without spoiler tags...

“Tell me about the Death Star.”

The amusement vanishes. The malice grows. “When and how did you hear of that project?”

“I learned the name from unguarded dispatches,” Thrawn said. “I deduced the size and power from resource allocations. I now wish to learn from you its purpose.”

The amusement reappears, mixed now with understanding and triumph. “Ah,” he said, lowering his hand to his side. “Your thoughts are laid bare, Mitth’raw’nuruodo. You fear that, once I have dealt with the rebels within my borders, I will turn my unstoppable weapon against your Chiss. Is that your concern?”

“That is part of it,” Thrawn said. “I would certainly not wish to see my aid to you and your Empire subverted into conquest or destruction. But I would also warn against diverting too many of the Empire’s resources from a flexible navy of capital ships and starfighters to massive projects that can bring the Imperial presence to only one system at a time.”

“Allow me to allay your fears,” the Emperor said. “I have no designs against your people. Indeed, I have noted that despite your assistance in mapping the Unknown Region hyperspace routes you have kept the location of Chiss worlds and bases secret. That is acceptable. I don’t begrudge you the defense of your people. As to Imperial resources—”

He smiles again, the triumph growing and turning strangely brittle.

“—there will soon be no need to spread the Imperial presence across the galaxy. Once the Death Star is fully operational, its very existence will suppress all opposition. And so…?”

He raises his arm, again holding out the rank plaque. This time, Thrawn took it.

“Good,” the Emperor said. His smile again holds satisfaction. The malice fades, but never entirely disappears.

Note the bolded part. Unlike the Death Star, Starkiller Base has seemingly limitless firing range. Thus, it could theoretically project the First Order's presence to any system in the galaxy and only needed to move from star to star in order to refuel.

Is such a weapon really a waste of resources? After all, it did obliterate both the New Republic government and its fleet with one salvo.

One of things I think Zahn or his editors misunderstood was the difference between tactics and strategy, the latter of which is where I believe Thrawn's true genius rests.

In legends Thrawn was a strategic mastermind to the point where as a mid-level officer he was able to arrange events and implement a plan which allowed him to destroy an entire alien war-machine with a couple of frigate sized ships and a handful of fighters. He's tactically adept as well, his fight against the Trade Federation Task Force shows that , but I took the former event to be the more impressive. (Outbound Flight)

In the Thrawn trilogy he managed to reunite the scattered and often rival forces of the galactic empire, among them the remnants of empire proper under the Ruling Council, the Pentastar Alignment, the Ciutric Hegemony and various other rouge warlord states. Then he managed to conduct raids against the Republic that while appearing to be simple harassment managed to provide his starfleet experience, impress his allies, test New Republic defenses and reactions and further set up the Sluis Van raid. This eventually led up to him launching and leading a galactic scale fight against the Republic, most likely the largest campaign since the Imperial Reunification of the Rim, post Clone Wars, which despite being outnumbered and less trained and experienced personal managed to keep his enemies off balance and dancing to his tone at nearly every turn return the empire to primacy before his death.

In the book Thrawn seemed more like a detective novel more than anything else to the point where this version might have been better off if he had accepted the offer to be an ISB agent. He was brilliant in his deductions but we never got to see the brilliant warlord and fleet commander we saw in legends. Even in Rebels we never actually got to see him conducting fleet actions like fighting a full scale war like his Legends counterpart did. Again he was playing more detective than military officer. Though I suppose the situation the show put him in couldn't show him waging a war as the rebellion didn't have enough forces to actually be a military threat to any fleet Thrawn could command but still

Still I think in the book they overemphasized the Sherlock Holmes aspect and left out the Erwin Rommel, Robert E. Lee, Hannibal Barca, Alexander the Great influence on his character. Hopefully we get to see an Unknown Regions campaign like the one mentioned by never seen in legends which will allow him to show his strategic brilliance and allow him to show his prowess as a Fleet commander.

New novel by Timothy Zahn:

Thrawn: Alliances

Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader ally against a threat to the Empire in this new novel from bestselling author Timothy Zahn.

The sequel to New York Times bestseller Thrawn, Thrawn: Alliances will continue to follow the rise of Grand Admiral Thrawn to the heights of Imperial power—and accompany him into the past, witnessing his first encounter with the man who will one day become Darth Vader.

to be released (according to amazon.de) June 26th, 2018.

Seems he will survive Rebels Season 4.

Let's hope the new novel will allow a greater expansion upon his strategic and warlord-esque abilities instead of focusing upon his Holmes aspect. I wouldn't be surprised if we might see Vader and Thrawn teaming up in Rebels Season 4, as a precursor to this book.

EDIT: As for the first novel itself, I agree with the following:

1) His promotions lacked real meaning and seemed more like, "Oh, he did [x] then bump him up to rank [y]."

2) The focus on his detective skills was far too heavy.

3) It is definitely in the top three of the recent, new canon novels to be released. Due to lack of fighting it goes underneath the top spot which is held by Battlefront: Twilight Company, but above Tarkin and the Lords of the Sith novels.

Raesene wrote: ↑2017-11-01 05:44pm Seems he will survive Rebels Season 4.

Are we certain that this novel is set afterwards?