Thrawn (Force of Hope)

## Thrawn

**Grand Admiral**Mitth'raw'nuruodo "**Thrawn"** is a major villain in the *Star Wars universe*. He was Introduced in the 1991 Timothy Zahn novel Heir to the Empire, being Commander of the Galactic Empires remaining forces after the defeat if Palpatine at the hands of his former Apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader), where he faced off the Skywalker twins, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo. He is seemingly resurrected in the *Hand of Thrawn* duology (1997–98), and his backstory is explored in various other novels, short stories, comics, and video games in the Star Wars expanded universe.

Due to his popularity in the non-canon legends, he was re-introduced in the new Star Wars Canon as the main antagonist of the third and fourth and final seasons of *Star Wars Rebels* television series.

## Personality

Thrawn is 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 Free Ryloth Movement, 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.

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.

## *Star Wars Rebels*

### Season 4

In the series finale, Thrawn returns from Coruscant, ruining Ezra and his friends' plan in liberating Lothal from the Galactic Empire. he is contacted by Ezra, who confidentially tells Thrawn that he and the rebels have taken the Imperial dome prisoner. However, Thrawn is revealed to be one step ahead  of them and instead will only accept the young Jedi's surrender. When Ezra refuses, Thrawn orders a planetary bombardment and had sent Rukh to cause the rebels' shield generator to malfunction. unwilling to see his people suffer, Ezra is coerced into giving into Thrawn's demands. The Grand Admiral warns the young commander to come alone and not to attempt anything heroic or he would continue to bombard the city, unaware of Ezra's ultimate plan to save his homeworld.

When Ezra arrived on the *Chimaera* as promised, Thrawn had the captive Jedi brought into his office and began mocking him for what he stood for, even following his Jedi training.
His taunts only aggravated Ezra, who was appalled by Thrawn's art collection, including one of Sabine's works of art. The Grand Admiral revealed he was not destroying Lothal completely, even keeping several artwork he collected over the years. Ezra angrily confronted Thrawn, reprimanding him of taking things that did not belong to him and telling Thrawn he didn't deserve the artwork in his possession or Lothal.  The Grand Admiral refuted that power was what people should truly keep and told Ezra that the Jedi would not teach him that and instead would take him to someone who would. He brought Ezra before a hologram of the Emperor, who used his public image when conversing with Ezra.  Palpatine dismissed Thrawn, who left Ezra with  the Emperor and ordered his forces to resume the city bombardment. During the liberation of Lothal, Rukh was killed by Garazeb Orrelios after throwing him on the destroyed power generator.

When Thrawn attempted to contact his bodyguard, Zeb answered instead and informed him of the Noghri's death.Despite Thrawn being assured of victory, he was suddenly confronted by Ezra and was generally surprised to see the boy managed to escape capture. Though he only managed to wound the human with his blaster, Ezra used his connection with the Purrgil, who wrapped their tentacles around Thrawn, who was utterly horrified as the creatures disappeared into hyperspace, taking Ezra and Thrawn to parts unknown.