The Hand of Thrawn The Hand of Thrawn was a datacard stored in Emperor Palpatine ' s private Mount Tantiss storehouse on the planet Wayland . The title of the datacard connected it with Grand Admiral Thrawn ' s fortress on the planet Nirauan , but all the data was destroyed by ten years of exposure to natural elements . It was among seven datacards that Devaronian treasure hunter Lak Jit discovered in 19 ABY , but Jit was forced to hand over his discovery to New Republic Chief of State Leia Organa Solo . The New Republic nearly tore itself apart over the discovery of another datacard that Jit found , the Caamas Document , but knowledge about the existence of " The Hand of Thrawn " remained limited to select individuals in the New Republic hierarchy and their closest associates . History . " The Hand of Thrawn " datacard was created at some point during Emperor Palpatine ' s rule of the Galactic Empire and was included in the private files he kept in his Mount Tantiss storehouse on the planet Wayland . When the warehouse was destroyed in 9 ABY , the datacard was exposed to the elements and remained buried in the ground for ten years , which left the card unreadable . The Devaronian treasure hunter Lak Jit discovered the datacard along with six others — one of which was known as the Caamas Document — in 19 ABY , when he was digging in the storehouse ' s ruins . When members of the Noghri species who had settled near the mountain discovered Jit on the remains of Mount Tantiss , they forced him to hand over the datacards to New Republic Chief of State Leia Organa Solo . The datacard ' s reference to the late Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn , who once nearly destroyed the New Republic , unnerved Organa Solo enough for her to risk damage to her datapad trying to read the card before cleaning it properly , though she could not understand why the name affected her so strongly . Organa Solo discovered that the information stored on the datacard had become completely corrupted . While the crisis caused by the Caamas Document , which revealed that a group of Bothans were responsible for sabotaging Caamas planetary shields , dominated the public attention and threatened to tear apart the New Republic , the galactic government took steps to learn what the Hand of Thrawn meant . Corran Horn — a Rogue Squadron pilot and son - in - law of smuggler Booster Terrik — was sent to the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer - turned - smuggling vessel " Errant Venture " in hopes that Terrik would be familiar with the term . A group of smugglers , including Terrik , Talon Karrde , and Mara Jade , wondered if the datacard had held information about an agent similar to an Emperor ' s Hand , or if it was possibly a superweapon , but Jade did not believe in either option . Finally , Jade decided to track a strange ship , which had sent a message to the " Errant Venture " mentioning Thrawn , to the Nirauan system in the Gradilis sector . The information on the datacard was closely guarded , and even the largest libraries in the Empire , located on Bastion and the Ubiqtorate base on Yaga Minor , did not contain a copy of it . Members of the Sinister Triumvirate — Moff Vilim Disra , con artist Flim , and tactically brilliant stormtrooper clone Grodin Tierce , who attempted to ruin Imperial Admiral Pellaeon ' s peace initiative with New Republic General Garm Bel Iblis — were also seeking information about the Hand of Thrawn , but despite having decryption codes for special files sections , they found no reference to the term . Their theories on the meaning were similar to those of the members of the New Republic , but they also wondered if it might be a strategy plan that would lead to Imperial victory . When Pellaeon confronted the members of the Triumvirate , Tierce revealed his belief that he was the Hand , but Pellaeon ' s information about Tierce ' s background proved that theory wrong . During their trip to Nirauan , Jade and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker , who knew about " The Hand of Thrawn " datacard , discovered the true meaning of the term when they found a fortress resembling a hand on the planet . In addition to huge databanks protected inside , the fortress housed several brilliant military minds , including Admiral Voss Parck and General Baron Soontir Fel . After their return to the New Republic , Skywalker and Jade were hesitant to reveal their discoveries even to their closest friends . Behind the scenes . " The Hand of Thrawn " datacard first appeared in " Specter of the Past " , a 1997 novel written by Timothy Zahn . It was later mentioned in the second part of " The Hand of Thrawn Duology " , " Vision of the Future " , published in 1998 . The datacard was also mentioned in the 2012 reference book " The Essential Reader ' s Companion " , but it offered no further insights into the data stored on the device .