Star Wars: Rebels

[Abacus]

What Thrawn is like as a member of the Empire at it's strength is as much a part of his character as he is leading the Imperial Remnant.

And it's worth pointing out that Legends Thrawn didn't crush the rebellion during the Empire's height either.

To be fair, Gal, he was never given that responsibility. He was always sent into the Unknown Regions, conquering and fending off unknown threats to the wider galaxy. There were a few missions where he would dip into the main galaxy from time to time, but overall it was a task never set for him; not until he was the sole ruling voice of the Empire.

[Galvatron]

God, the old EU was silly. You've got an existential threat to the Empire in the form of an internal rebellion and you don't task your best military commanders with crushing them?

[Burak Gazan]

Yeah, sounds even stupider when you lay it out like that, don't it? Plus, when you included retards like Daala allowed to have a frapping JOB, never mind just strapped to an ejection chair for quality-control body damage testing by the LOW bidders..... It's almost as if the ones "writing" things were complete clueless morons, at every level imaginable. Don't it?

[ray245]

God, the old EU was silly. You've got an existential threat to the Empire in the form of an internal rebellion and you don't task your best military commanders with crushing them?

It's an explanation used by authors to justify why the empire failed to crush the rebellion. If all of those top commanders were involved in crushing the rebellion, the nature of the story would mean they failed to do the job despite having more resources at hand.

[Galvatron]

That doesn't make it any less stupid. To make matters even worse, the old EU claimed that the Empire had twelve other grand admirals (all of whom were supposedly military geniuses on par with Thrawn himself).

Where were they during the Galactic Civil War? There wasn't some other war raging against some external threat or you'd think it would have been mentioned at some point, so why didn't the Emperor task one or more of them with crushing the rebels instead?

Bah, I just wish the entire concept of "brilliant Imperial grand admirals" was left in the dustbin of apocryphal Star Wars Legends where it belongs...

[Burak Gazan]

Just think of all the screaming and wailing from the FANGURLZ who have
SO!
MUCH!!
INVESTED!!!
In their widdle super-human heroz....
Frankly, there is no easy fix. Short of actual Fahrenheit 451-stuff for real. And that seems a bit extreme

[Gandalf]

Thrawn is worth money as a property. He's popular and somehow avoids the being associated with the space Naziism of the Empire. Why not have ten of him, with various archetypes so all market sectors are sated?

[eMeM]

I don't like the idea od people that high in imperial hierarchy being not-really-space-nazis.
Thanfully the Rebels version of Thrawn seems to be devoted to the Emperor.

[Galvatron]

When Zahn invented Thrawn, he was probably under the assumption that the Clone Wars produced a lot of battle-hardened, non-clone veterans who wound up being capable military commanders for the Empire. However, the prequels showed us that the Clone Wars were not about the Old Republic versus armies of insane clones after all.

Thus, it seems more likely that the Imperial military leadership was largely composed of fat and lazy peacetime officers who lacked the battlefield experience necessary to efficiently deal with a highly motivated insurgent force like the Rebel Alliance. This could reasonably account for their constant bumbling and fumbling in the OT.

[The Romulan Republic]

Their should still have been a fair number of veterans of the Clone Wars to serve under the Empire- Clone veterans, for one (though they don't seem to have used them for the top echelons of officers, and they would be mostly dead of old age or very elderly by the OT). And we do see that they used some non-Jedi, non-Clone officers (like Yularen, who did go on to serve the Empire). Plus all the people in local planetary security forces/militias/etc. on Republic/Imperial-loyalist worlds.

[Batman]

Why would the clones be dead of old age or very elderly by the OT? Even if we assume the clones started out at Temuera Morrison's age at the time of filming and assume the Clone Wars lasted a decade (which is dubious given Anakin doesn't seem to have aged noticeably between Ep 2 and 3) they'd be in their 70s. That's hardly dead already/death's door with modern medicine, leave alone what the Wars universe has available.
Going with the more likely 20-30 (because aging clone soldiers PAST their physical prime would be supremely stupid) they'd be in their 50s to 60s.
Not full of vim and vigor, but hardly at death's door.

[Lord Revan]

IIRC it's stated in canon that Clone wars lasted only 3 years from 22 BBY until 19 BBY

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, maybe not dead of old age, but certainly getting up to "retirement age".

We see some surviving Clones in Rebels, and they're... not yet decrepit, but definitely past their prime. And this is still several years before the OT starts, which mans that with their accelerated aging, they're going to age about another decade. Another couple of decades by the Thrawn Trilogy period.

If construction of the army started ten years before AotC, and the Clone Wars ran three years, ending nineteen years before ANH, then by ANH, the oldest clones would be in their early-mid 60s. By the end of the OT, closing in on 70.

On that note, is it no longer canon that the Clone Wars ran three years?

Edit: As to the accelerated aging continuing past their prime, that may simply be a side effect of the technology, that for whatever reason they cannot turn it off at an arbitrary point.

Also, while Star Wars medical tech. should realistically lead to longer life spans and slower aging than in the modern world, it doesn't really seem to, or at least not by a great deal.

I actually have a theory that their medical technology in certain fields has atrophied due to over-reliance on bacta.

[Galvatron]

Have we seen even one Jango Fett clone serving the Empire yet? You'd think we'd see them serving as generals and admirals during the OT if the Empire allowed them to.

[Shroom Man 777]

That doesn't make it any less stupid. To make matters even worse, the old EU claimed that the Empire had twelve other grand admirals (all of whom were supposedly military geniuses on par with Thrawn himself).

Where were they during the Galactic Civil War? There wasn't some other war raging against some external threat or you'd think it would have been mentioned at some point, so why didn't the Emperor task one or more of them with crushing the rebels instead?

They got abducted and placed inside Dash Rendar's shoulderpads...

Bah, I just wish the entire concept of "brilliant Imperial grand admirals" was left in the dustbin of apocryphal Star Wars Legends where it belongs...

Thrawn is worth money as a property. He's popular and somehow avoids the being associated with the space Naziism of the Empire. Why not have ten of him, with various archetypes so all market sectors are sated?

Grand Admiral Scrawn who Crix Madine bullied back in space school. Grand Admiral Brawn who does Crossfit. Grand Admiral Prawn, fookin eatin' catfood with Sharlto Copley for a Neill Blomkamp-directed tie in... Grand Admiral Frown who has Disney-Pixar Inside Out related internal emotional characters guiding him on a voyage to self-discovery, Grand Admiral Lawn for the eco-friendly types who joined the Empire's counter-insurgency ops when Rebel scum accidentally ruined his flower bed... Grand Admiral Yawn who is a Snorlax who plans to sit on the Rebels and sleep on them, but it turns out the Snorlax is a decoy and the true Grand Admiral Yawn is a Jigglypuff...

Help me out here.

[Thanas]

God, the old EU was silly. You've got an existential threat to the Empire in the form of an internal rebellion and you don't task your best military commanders with crushing them?

You mean like numerous real life empires did?

As a feudal empire/dictatorship you do not sent your best commanders into battle with rebels because they might get ideas to try out their own rebellion or join them. That is why the best troops in such nations are often commanded by utter incompetents while good officers go to waste on the frontiers.

[Burak Gazan]

Except, the GALACTIC Empire isn't composed of medievals and morons who barely capable of comprehending which end of a SPOON to use. There's glory and money enough for all. Palpatine also has that Dark Side thing on his side, along with an Apprentice who tends to keep the unruly and power-seeking graspers in line. it's just lousy writing. It always was, and remains so

[Galvatron]

I suppose one could argue that the Emperor did task his best warriors with crushing the rebels and that's why Tarkin and Vader were the ones leading the hunt for them in the OT.

Maybe they felt like it was their "baby" and didn't want some hotshot grand admiral in a fancy white uniform stealing their thunder and their favored position in the Emperor's circle.

[Burak Gazan]

So out of a galaxy-spanning Empire, there are 2-3 COMPETENT individuals total??
No
That FAILS even worse

[Galvatron]

On the contrary, there could be any number of competent individuals, but the ones with the most power (e.g. Tarkin and Vader) sidelined the others via more byzantine methods.

This sort of thing is even more apparent in the Vader comic series.

[RogueIce]

Have we seen even one Jango Fett clone serving the Empire yet? You'd think we'd see them serving as generals and admirals during the OT if the Empire allowed them to.

Battlefront: Twilight Company has one. He's serving as a stormtrooper noncom.

[The Romulan Republic]

On the contrary, there could be any number of competent individuals, but the ones with the most power (e.g. Tarkin and Vader) sidelined the others via more byzantine methods.

This sort of thing is even more apparent in the Vader comic series.

Yes. Simply put, the Galactic Empire is probably not the sort of government which encourages the best to rise to the top (unless they've already risen far enough to be noticed and hand-picked by Vader or the Emperor), but rather one which encourages ideologues with the "right" political views, and those who are accomplished at brown-nosing and playing politics, to rise to the top.

[FaxModem1]

I would have much preferred Thrawn to be having small victories over season 3, making the Rebels being bled dry, contributing to how dangerous the stakes were for them, with the season finale being his loss due to not knowing about Bendu.

That said, we have what we have. Going forward, I would like to see if Thrawn does anything with Bendu's body. Maybe it'll be a trophy on his ship somewhere? Also, we really need Pallaeon, or a substitution for him. Yularen and Kallus did this, and it made Thrawn much more engaging as a character.

With Phoenix Squadron, we're nearing the point where Rogue One starts, so they'll probably start tying more into that film. Maybe we'll see Saw Guerrera get exiled from the Alliance for his unethical and extreme behavior.

[The Romulan Republic]

I believe I read somewhere that the series finale is supposed to be Rogue One from the point of view of the series characters, but I don't know if that's accurate.

If so, it lends credence to the "everyone dies" theory about how the show will end, though I hope that that's not the case.

[Darth Tanner]

I would like to see if Thrawn does anything with Bendu's body

He doesnt have it, it disappeared, either to become one with the force or didnt exist in the first place.

we're nearing the point where Rogue One starts

Are we? Luke looked much younger on Tattoine than he should if thats the case...

Also, we really need Pallaeon

Well with Constantine dead and Kallus with the rebels it would be a good opportunity to introduce him... assuming Thrawn is going to stay around. We will be short on Imperial characters otherwise.

I'm guessing from the promo piece we will see Thrawn ending the Mandalorian civil war... maybe Sabine will be the first to go or it might just be Ren gets knocked off.