Thrawn

Grand Admiral Thrawn is the main antagonist of the third and fourth season of Star Wars Rebels who is the arch-nemesis of Hera Syndulla and Ezra Bridger.
== Biography ==
=== Background ===
Kivu'raw'nuru was born on the planet Rentor sometime before the Clone Wars & the invasion of Naboo. He had a Force-sensitive older sister who was two years older than him and one he was rather close toThrawn: Ascendancy – Chaos Rising. At three years old, he remembered his sister had become a Sky-walker, a group of Force-sensitive Chiss girls who were used on navigational missions for their abilities. They were used due to the Chiss' lack of navigational systems on their freighter, but Chiss girls noticeably lost their abilities when they matured Thrawn: Alliances. Despite Thrawn asking parents of his sister's fate, they never had an answer and all believed that she had died. It was not until he reached the rank of bridge officer, he learned that his sister was part of the Skywalkers and believed she disappeared shortly after her service was over. 
He attended an academy of Rentor and became a merit adoptive of the Mitth family after attracting the attention of the family's patriarch. Instead of being called Vurawn, he gained a new name, Mitth'raw'nuru "Thrawn." He rose to the ranks and became well liked from some of his colleagues in the Chiss Ascendancy, but was disliked by politicians and members of the military. Eventually gaining his current name, Mitth'raw'nurodo, Thrawn worked closely with Anakin Skywalker and his wife, Padmé Amidala, during the Clone Wars sometime after Ahsoka Tano left the Jedi Order.Thrawn
===Thrawn===
Eventually feigning his exile on an uninhabited planet, he worked there until he gained the attention of the Empire, and was found by Captain Voss Parch. One of the crew members, Eli Vanto was aware of the Chiss' secret language and stayed as Thrawn's aid. He spoke with the Emperor, who was aware of Thrawn's identity because Anakin Skywalker (who was now known as Darth Vader), once told Palpatine of his mission with Thrawn, who Anakin spoke highly of to the Emperor. He attended the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant for three months, with Vanto staying on as his aide.
=== Season 3 ===
Annoyed by the recent rebel activity going on at Lothal, Arihnda Pryce approaches Grand Moff Tarkin and requests for the assistance from someone who sees a "bigger picture" about bring about the downfall of the rebels and requests for the Seventh Fleet led by Grand Admiral Thrawn.  While some officers, such as Konstantine, believed that these ships were the rebel fleet, Thrawn and Pryce actually both believed that this group of rebels were the key for the Empire to destroy the Rebellion before it begun. Pryce revealed Thrawn just didn't want to concern himself with just Phoenix Squadron, but the Rebel Alliance as a whole, starting with the rebel cell. 
In his first major appearance, "Hera's Heroes," Thrawn moved his plans to capture rebels to Hera Syndulla's homeworld, Ryloth, where he helped the Captain in command, Slavin, on how to outsmart Cham Syndulla and the Rylothian resistance. During his visit to Syndulla's house, he had a battalion of stormtroopers move up to the Syndulla building. Slavin saw the new tactics unnecesary, believing the battle was no where nere here, but Thrawn assured that the battle was in that very building. They came across Twi'lek Hera Syndulla trying to escape with her companion, Ezra Bridger until she was brought back to her father's office while posing as a refugee. However, Thrawn was able to tell who Hera was while Ezra was a scout trooper in disguise. He stunned Ezra and had both rebels locked away. Taking the Kalikori as a trophy, Thrawn acknowledged his respect for Hera and left Slavin to deal with the rebel prisoners, seeing how the rebels would react to rescuing one of their own. After witnessing enough, he allowed the rebels to escape.
In "Iron Squadron," during a plot to lure Jun Sato out of hiding, he had Imperial forces attack his homeworld of Mykapo. He sent Admiral Konstantine to stop the Rebels from freeing their rebel sympathizers in one ship after learning about Iron Squadron. His plan worked and Thrawn arrived on Mykapo after being contacted by Konstantine, where he had seen his plan to get Commander Sato out of hiding. Welcoming the commander's return, Thrawn and Sato swore to meet again before the rebels and Iron Squadron made it to hyperspace. The grand admiral contacted Konstantine, who had called fit assistance but covered up his excuses by changing it to report that the rebels escaped. However, Thrawn could see through Konstantine's bluff and easily surmised the rebels didn't just evade capture, but with their sympathizers as well.
Following the insurgency of Mykapo, in "An Inside Man," Thrawn returned to the TIE Defender factory on Lothal. During his visit, he killed Morad Sumar (without knowing he was allied with rebels) through a demonstration of a speeder bike that they had rigged. Capturing the rebels was imperative to Thrawn, who wanted to make sure that his TIE defender project was not compromised, which is why he made sure that Section A2 was heavily guarded and those without the proper clearance be killed on sight. Thrawn studied his enemies' art after summoning Lyste and Kallus to his office, including holographic displays of the Spectres, Sabine's art, and a Jedi Temple Guard's helmet and showed Lyste and Kallus Sabine's Starbird painting. While Lyste was dismissive of the artwork, Kallus was able to tell that the graffiti was Phoenix Squadron's symbol. Remembering the spectres he encountered on Ryloth, he could speculate that the Ghost crew were connected to Lothal. Based on Lyste's report that two workers went missing after Grand Admiral Thrawn's speech, he was able to tell that the rebels have infiltrated his Imperial factory (Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus and their droid, Chopper); however, Ezra, Kanan and Chopper escaped with help from Kallus and attempted to escape on the AT-AT walkers until Thrawn told the other drives to fire at the ones controlled by Rebels. However, they escaped when Ryder Azadi and Marida Sumar. At the end, as Thrawn spoke with Kallus and Pryce and dismissed Lyste, Thrawn was able to tell that there was a mole in the Empire. Governor Pryce proclaimed that they must find the traitor. However, Thrawn told her to remain patient when she asked about questioning all Imperial personnel, and that they would set a trap for their Rebel spy.
He is briefly mentioned by Sabine Wren in "Visions and Voices" when she asks if Thrawn is there, but Hera reveals that they have no confirmation. Ezra was going to lead the attack, but was relieved of duties after seeing visions of Maul. Kanan and Sabine remained with Ezra to deal with the former Sith Lord.
In "Warhead," Thrawn planned to find out where the rebels were located and had E-XD infiltrator droids deployed to corners of the Galaxy. One found its way to Chopper base on Atollon but it was defeated by Zeb Orrelios, Chopper and AP-5. Fallowing the destruction of the Star Destroyer, Thrawn met with Kallus, who reported with the Grand Admiral how he suspected the rebels were able to foil Thrawn's plans with the infiltrator droids. However, the Grand Admiral remained in high spirits, Kallus was surprised by his superior's response. Thrawn revealed that the incident greatly narrowed down the planets from a thousand planets to ninety-four. Thrawn proclaimed the war would be theirs, as Kallus was left with worry his allies would be discovered.
=== Season 4 ===
== Personality ==
Star Wars Rebels presents Thrawn as a cold-blooded Imperial and one of the Rebels' most dangerous adversaries. He was highly intelligent, calm, level-headed, and observant, as he believes that understanding an enemy's culture, history, philosophy, and art is crucial in order to discern their tactics and ultimately defeat them in battle. He is tactically superior to many other Imperial leaders who often used the same strategies, and, as a result, were defeated by the Rebels. When Thrawn is dispatched to fight Cham Syndulla and his followers, the latter does not expect his adversary's attacks to be as precise and devastating as they turned out to be. He also used situations to his advantage and could formulate creative strategies in his head that could be achieved without error. Unlike most other Imperial officers, Thrawn is not a particularly cruel or malicious individual. As a matter of fact, he is quite gentlemanly, being polite and cordial with even his own enemies. Thrawn is also very patient, preferring to study the tactics of his enemies rather than to instantly become the aggressor, even if it means allowing them to escape. However, Thrawn's patience does have its limits, as he sometimes becomes annoyed or enraged when others either question his views or fail to understand his appreciation of art. Additionally, Thrawn had an affection for the Sky-walkers, young Chiss girls who were Force-sensitive and sent on navigations because the Chiss lacked a navigation system in their vehicles. This was mostly because he had an older sister who was one as well, but she was never seen nor heard from again and Thrawn's parents never told him what happened to her.
Although antagonistic and quite ruthless, Thrawn is not pure evil. He generally preferred to avoid causing collateral damage, as was demonstrated during the Battle of Batonn, where he attempted to negotiate with the enemy. However, although reluctantly, Thrawn sometimes condoned civilian casualties if it meant a sure victory, as shown during the Liberation of Lothal.Even though he never told anyone, not even his most trusted friend, Eli Vanto, Thrawn despised the oppressive, racist, and corrupt Imperial culture, viewing many of his fellow officers as either evil or downright stupid. He was also one of the few within the Empire to realize how evil the Emperor is, even going as far to speculate that he could be in touch with the Force. Being a pragmatist, he believed the Empire to be a necessary evil and that serving it is the best way to defend his people. Ironically, he managed to obtain the rank of Grand Admiral, meaning that he is one of the highest-ranking members of a civilization he neither adores nor originally comes from. Even so, the fact that he purposefully infiltrated the Imperial hierarchy means that he must follow Imperial directives, meaning that, in order to fit in, he comes across as far crueler than he is on a moral level. He believes in the ends justifying the means, which is evident when he practically kills a mechanic to set an example. Finally, Thrawn inspires loyalty from his men. Where people like Darth Vader and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin seek to punish those who fail, Thrawn sees those failures as opportunities, so that his men can learn to do better and succeed. He views death as a means of punishing soldiers as being wasteful.
Like all Star Wars villains, Thrawn was arrogant as he underestimated most of his enemies, such as Hera Syndulla and Ezra Bridger, a young Jedi who managed to take out his entire fleet with help from the Purrgil. 
== Relationships ==
===Eli Vanto====
Eli was a loyal friend and follower of Thrawn's, especially acting as his translator whenever Thrawn struggled to speak the Galactic Basic. Vanto helped Thrawn integrate into the galactic society; in return, Thrawn admired Vanto for hisi understanding in Throughout the beginnings of his career, Eli was initially angry that he was turned over promotion and instead, put under Thrawn's services. However, over time, Eli grew loyal to Thrawn. The Chiss grew to see Eli a friend and a confident, but never revealed anything personal from his past. He tried everything to ensure his aid gained promotion within the Galactic Empire. When he was offered to leave Thrawn's services, Vanto refused out of loyalty towards his friend.
In Thrawn's personal diary, he did consider Vanto a friend and knew that his friend's skill would prove to be a valuable asset to the Chiss Ascendancy. 
===Hera Syndulla===
Hera immediately disliked Thrawn upon meeting him because he took her Kalikori in order to mock her. Despite this, Thrawn treated her with amicable and hospitality despite her being an enemy. Hera's Heroes He often spoke well of her piloting skills and met her again during Pryce's interrogation. Jedi Night
===Ezra Bridger===
Because Ezra is a member of the Rebellion, Ezra is an enemy. He first encountered the Jedi when he and Hera were trying to take her Kalikori from Cham's office. Thrawn dismissed Ezra as nothing more than a boy lost in a war, believing him to be a lesser opponent than any of the other rebels he had faced. When they finally came face-to-face, Thrawn mocked Ezra of following the same paths of a Jedi. Ezra was disgusted by Thrawn's collection of artwork in his office, that was part of Sabine's artwork and some from Lothal. However, Thrawn never expected to be outsmarted by Ezra when he called the Purrgil and had them take them both to parts unknownFamily Reunion - and Farewell.
===Arihnda Pryce===
Grand Admiral Thrawn and Arihnda originally had a mutal respect for one another, as Thrawn had immediately answered to her request in dealing with Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla and the rest of the rebels. He appeared to hold her in the highest regard, as their relationship dated back ten years before the events of the series, where Arihnda saught advice from Grand Admiral Thrawn on how to deal with a traitorous senator. She agreed with him that the rebels were continually going and later, Grand Admiral Thrawn left her in charge of the Chimaera Zero Hour. The alliance fell through when Pryce ordered the fuel depot in the TIE defender project and all respect Thrawn had for Pryce disappeared, as he promised to deal with her when he returned. DUME
She tried capturing Ezra and the other rebels to please Thrawn, but they instead, trapped her because Ezra knew that while they could not trick Thrawn, they could fool her. A Fool's Hope
== Gallery ==
==References==
==External Links==
* Thrawn on Disney Wiki
* Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Thrawn on Wookieepedia
* Thrawn on Star Wars Rebels Wiki
* Thrawn on Villains Wiki
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