Flim Flim was a con artist who was hired by Moff Vilim Disra in 19 ABY to play the role of a resurrected Grand Admiral Thrawn . In this capacity , he — under the directions of Disra and fellow triumvirate member Grodin Tierce — successfully convinced several officials within the Imperial Starfleet to follow his authority in a plan to cause a civil war within the New Republic . While Flim pretended to be the Grand Admiral , Tierce was the military man who came up with the battle plans . Biography . The plan called for the exploitation of the Caamas Document Crisis in which Imperial agents spread rumors that the Bothans were guilty of the massacre on Caamas many decades prior . Though some Bothans were to blame for the Caamas incident , the rumors spread made certain that all facts were exaggerated , which prompted a military stand - down between factions within the New Republic in orbit over Bothawui . Flim spent hours studying Thrawn ' s history to learn all he could to keep the scheme intact . Even Captain Dorja of the Star Destroyer " Relentless " , an officer who had served under Thrawn ' s command , was convinced it was really Thrawn . Shortly after allying himself with Disra and Tierce , Flim revealed himself to Lando Calrissian and Diamal Senator Porolo Miatamia . After this was revealed to the Senate , turmoil ensued . Many did not believe the reports , although some , such as Han Solo and his wife , High Councilor Leia Organa Solo believed it all too well . Few Imperials were told that Thrawn had " returned " . When Gilad Pellaeon heard of these rumors , he was unsure if they were true , as he had been present when Rukh had killed his mentor a decade before . Believing that Thrawn was indeed back several star systems began to join the Imperial Remnant , the first of which was the Unified Factions . Disra ' s plot was working , and he believed that soon the New Republic would collapse and the Empire would rise . Eventually though , the plan unraveled . Supreme Commander Gilad Pellaeon , on a visit to Bastion to accuse Moff Disra of treason along with other crimes against the Empire , discovered a set of datacards in the Moff ' s desk when left alone in his office . He decrypted these and later met with Talon Karrde , who gave him a datacard that he had been given by Jorj Car ' das . Along with the ones he took from Disra , they revealed the truth about Flim and Tierce . On Karrde ' s ship , the " Wild Karrde " , he traveled to confront Flim , Disra and Tierce at Yaga Minor , where they were battling the " Errant Venture " . Pellaeon revealed that Flim was an impostor , that Tierce was a clone , and that Disra was indeed guilty of many crimes , including plotting to overthow the Supreme Commander and funneling of money to suit his own purposes . Tierce was killed , and Flim surrendered both himself and his " command " without a fight — indeed , he expressed relief that the affair was over . Flim was not a Chiss like Thrawn , but a Human or very similar Near - Human who disguised himself using blue makeup , hair dye , and glowing red contact lenses . He demonstrated to Major Tierce and Moff Disra his ability to quickly remove these lenses during a meeting on Yaga Minor .