Deenlark Deenlark was a male Commandant and President of the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant during the Age of the Empire . As a human hailing from the Core Worlds , Deenlark despised alien s and regarded people from Wild Space as " backward yokels . " Deenlark had links to several prominent Coruscanti families that served as the Academy ' s benefactors . In the years leading up to the Galactic Civil War , Deenlark urged his Imperial cadet s to put their allegiance to the Galactic Empire over their loyalties to their homeworlds and families . Several of Deenlark ' s students later went on to serve in the Imperial Navy including Grand Admiral Thrawn , Eli Vanto , Thane Kyrell , and Ciena Ree . Biography . Thrawn and Eli . During the early years of the reign of the Galactic Empire , Deenlark served as the Commandant and President of the prestigious Royal Imperial Academy on the Imperial capital Coruscant . The Academy supplied cadets to the Imperial Navy . He gave a hostile reception to the Chiss warrior Thrawn and the Wild Space cadet Eli Vanto , who served as Thrawn ' s translator . Deenlark asked if their assignment was Admiral Foss ' s idea of a joke . When Vanto replied that the Emperor Palpatine had sent them , Deenlark mocked the Wild Spacer about having complicated words like " rhetorical . " After deriding Thrawn for being an " alien " , Deenlark told Thrawn that he was lucky that the Emperor had taken a fancy to him . Deenlark then informed Thrawn that Foss had assigned him to an orientation course to acquaint the Chiss officer with Imperial procedure , equipment , and terminology . While this course normally took six months , Vanto was due to graduate in three months before commissioning . He gave Thrawn three months to complete the course and warned him that failure would get him kicked out of the course . When Thrawn replied that the Emperor would disagree , Deenlark responded that the Emperor had charged the Imperial Academies with producing officers worthy of Imperial service . Before dismissing the pair , Deenlark informed Thrawn that Foss had assigned him the rank of lieutenant and handed him a lieutenant ' s rank insignia plaque . Deenlark then assigned a mouse droid to lead Thrawn and Vanto to their quarters at Barracks Two . Despite the hostility and snobbishness of the predominantly Core Worlds student body , Thrawn and Vanto excelled in their Academy studies . After Thrawn bested Spenc Orbar and Rosita Turuy in a game of cards , the two cadets hired three of their mates to attack Thrawn and Vanto . Thrawn and Vanto reported the incident to Deenlark . Despite Vanto and Thrawn presenting evidence that Orbar and Turuy had used comlink s to contact the assailants , Deenlark was reluctant to take disciplinary action against the ringleaders since Orbar ' s family dominated Coruscanti society . Realizing that Deenlark was not interested in justice , Thrawn instead proposed transferring the three assailants to the Skystrike Academy . Thrawn argued that the attackers displayed the aptitude and aura necessary for starfighter pilot s . While the assailants would not see it as a punishment , Thrawn reasoned that their abrupt disappearance would startle Orbar and Turuy and convince them to behave . Since this would avoid antagonizing the cadets ' parent s or organizing a court - martial , Deenlark agreed to Thrawn ' s plan . After departing Deenlark ' s office , Thrawn recalled that he had seen a flatsculp on the left side wall of Deenlark ' s office . Vanto recalled that the flatsculp depicted a warship sailing on ocean waves . Thrawn concluded that the flatsculp was gift from a powerful Coruscanti family . Eli deduced that the Royal Imperial Academy was beholden to these families which meant that it was in Deenlark ' s interests to avoid a public confrontation . Despite Deenlark ' s disdain for Thrawn and Vanto , two cadets graduated from the Royal Imperial Academy second and third place . Thrawn would later become a Grand Admiral in the Imperial Navy while Eli became a Lieutenant Commander who served as the Empire ' s attache to the Chiss Ascendancy . Thane and Ciena . About four years before the Battle of Yavin , Deenlark presided over a welcoming ceremony that was attended by 8 , 000 cadets from all over the galaxy . Among the cadets were the cadets Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree , who had come from the Outer Rim world of Jelucan . During the ceremony , Deenlark delivered a speech urging the cadets to think of themselves as citizens and soldier s of the Empire . He also urged the cadets to put their loyalty to the Empire above their allegiances to their homeworld s . He also urged the cadets to put the Empire over their families and compatriots . Despite Deenlark ' s words , Ciena and Thane resolved to continue their friendship . Eventually the Academy ' s Office of Student Outcomes grew concerned about the close relationship between Ciena and Thane . They sabotaged Thane ' s TIE fighter ' s laser cannon and planted evidence implicating Ciena . When Commander Harn sent Ciena to Deenlark ' s office , Deenlark disbelieved Ciena ' s protestations of innocence and claimed that Thane was her only competitor for the top rank in their class . Shortly later , Harn arrived in his office with the cadet Jude Edivon , who presented evidence that the data logs had been tampered with . Deenlark refused to believe Jude ' s theory and demanded evidence . Jude then suggested that Thane had staged the incident in order to tarnish Ciena . Deenlark then summoned Thane to his office and proceeded to give the two cadets a " dressing down . " Deenlark told the two cadets that the first layer of data suggested that Ciena was the culprit while the second layer implicated Thane . When Thane protested his innocence , Deenlark harshly responded that his specialists could not determine which was the falsified layer of data . Since he could not determine who was the culprit , Deenlark decided to punish the cadets by failing their laser cannon assignment . While such a violation would merit a disciplinary hearing and potential expulsions , Deenlark decided to instead show " grace " to the two aspiring pilots by giving them a second chance . He allowed them to continue as cadets but warned that any future incidents would lead to immediate and permanent expulsion . Thane and Ciena accepted Deenlark ' s chastisement but resolved to clear their names . Jude later uncovered evidence that the incident had been perpetrated by the Office of Student Outcomes . While Thane wanted to clear their names , Ciena refused to fight against their benefactors . This dispute strained their relationship for the next two and a half years . Thane and Ciena reconciled prior to their graduation . Personality and traits . Deenlark was a male human who was very tall and had bushy eyebrows . He served as the Commandant and President of the Royal Imperial Academy . Hailing from the Core Worlds , Deenlark despised aliens like Thrawn and regarded people from Wild Space such as Eli Vanto as backwater yokels . Since the Royal Imperial Academy was beholden to several wealthy Coruscant families , he was unwilling to take disciplinary action against three Core World cadets who assaulted Thrawn . However , Thrawn managed to appeal to Deenlark ' s self - interest by convincing him to send the troublesome cadets to the Skystrike Academy . Deenlark was known to keep a flatsculp of a sailing ship in his office , which was a gift from a prominent Coruscanti family . He believed that Imperial cadets should abandon local familial and planetary loyalties in favor of pledging their full allegiance to the Galactic Empire . Deenlark was unsympathetic to Thane and Ciena and suspected that one of them had perpetrated the " laser cannon incident . " While Deenlark recognized that the two were gifted pilots , he warned that further incidents would lead to expulsion . Behind the scenes . Deenlark first appeared as a supporting character in the novel " Lost Stars " , which was written by Claudia Gray and released in 2015 . He later appeared as a supporting character in Timothy Zahn ' s 2017 novel " Thrawn " , which serves as a canon origins story of the eponymous character . While Deenlark ' s species is not identified in the " Lost Stars " , the " Thrawn " novel heavily implied that he was human , based on his disdain for aliens . Deenlark was confirmed to be human in the Lost Stars webcomic .