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- “There are things in the universe that are simply and purely evil. A warrior does not seek to understand them, or to compromise with them. He seeks only to obliterate them.”
- ―Thrawn[src]
Mitth'raw'nuruodo, more commonly known as Thrawn, was a male Chiss who served as a member in the Chiss Ascendancy and later naval officer who served in the Imperial Navy, holding the esteemed rank of Grand Admiral. Thrawn, who believed in the importance of understanding an enemy's culture, art, and philosophy to defeat them, was tasked with defeating the Rebellion, which later became the Alliance to Restore the Republic. After many battles with the Rebels, Thrawn and his fleet were defeated during the Liberation of Lothal by Ezra Bridger and the Purrgil. The Purrgil wrapped Thrawn in their tentacles and took him and Ezra through Hyperspace to parts unknown.
Biography
Early Life
Mitth'raw'nuruodo, better known as Thrawn, was a Chiss male who hailed from the ice-locked planet Csilla, in the Unknown Regions. During his time Thrawn rose through the ranks to become a well respected member of the Chiss Ascendancy.
At some point during his career within the Chiss Ascendancy, Thrawn was assigned to explore the Outer Rim of the galaxy. The Ascendancy had discovered a mysterious threat in the Unknown Regions, and wished to know if the Galactic Republic would be a suitable ally against the threat.[1]
Encounter in the Thrugii Asteroid Belt
Eventually, Thrawn's travels led him to the Thrugii Asteroid Belt where he met with Jedi General Anakin Skywalker who was there fighting a battle in the Clone Wars. Thrawn fought alongside Anakin in the battle, finding himself impressed with his courage and cunning. Anakin also found himself impressed with Thrawn, speaking highly of him to Chancellor Sheev Palpatine when he returned to Coruscant.[1]
Encounter with the Neimoidians
Nevertheless, Thrawn continued his exploration of the Outer Rim until, some time after the rise of the Galactic Empire he discovered a colony of refugee Neimoidians. The colonists warned him of the tyranny of the Empire, pleading with Thrawn to bring the full force of the Chiss Ascendancy against the Empire on Coruscant. Furthermore, they promised to help with the attack if it meant the revival of the Republic. Thrawn refused their offer, but returned to the Chiss intrigued.[1]
Faking his Exile
After his encounter with the Neimoidians, Thrawn returned to the Chiss Ascendancy seeking counsel. Growing increasingly worried about the threat in the Unknown Regions, the Ascendancy ruled that the time had come to judge whether or not the Empire would be a suitable ally. Thrawn was given his mission; he would infiltrate the Empire in order to either make them an ally or to weaken them as easy prey for the threat to attack instead of the Ascendancy. In order to carry out this mission, Thrawn proceeded to fake his exile.
With the help of the Ascendancy and Aristocra, Thrawn chose a planet in Wild Space and set up a hut designed to look as though Thrawn had been living in it for years. After several attempts and a few standard months, Thrawn finally managed to gain the attention of the Empire.[1]
Encounter with the Strikefast Crew
Thrawn was away from his encampment when the Venator-class Star Destroyer Strikefast led by Captain Voss Parck arrived at the planet searching for smugglers. As Parck, Colonel Mosh Barris, and Cadet Eli Vanto examined his encampment and the Sy Bisti markings on the crates around it in accordance with Imperial Unknown Alien protocols, Thrawn managed to crash a V-Wing Starfighter surveying the planet with carefully placed monofilament line. Thrawn managed to remove the pilot's body from his flight suit, steal the pilot's blaster, power packs, comlink, and Concussion Grenades, stuff the flight suit with grass, leaves, and fermented pyussh berries, and escape the crash site before Major Wyan arrived at the scene to investigate.
Once Wyan had brought the stuffed flight suit into the Imperial encampment for Parck, Barris, and Eli to see, Thrawn set his plan to board the Strikefast into motion. Hiding on the edge of the encampment, Thrawn removed the sturm dowels from his stolen blaster power packs and strapped them to the backs of small nocturnal creatures as improvised explosives. Drawn by the smell of the fermented berries, the creatures ran into the Imperial encampment, exploding and causing chaos within the base.
In response, Parck ordered another group of V-Wings to perform a grid search. Thrawn, realizing he would need to replace his stolen comm before they jammed it, managed to crash another V-Wing and swapped his stolen comm with the pilot's. Thrawn also stole the pilot's blaster, power packs, and concussion grenades, but did not remove the pilot's corpse from his flight suit. When Barris discovered that Thrawn had stolen the first pilot's comm he ordered that particular comm shut down. Barris did not, however, discover that Thrawn had swapped the first stolen comm with the second pilot's, so Thrawn was still able to eavesdrop on Imperial communications.
Thrawn attacked the navy troopers with explosives throughout the night, hoping to goad the Imperials into sending Stormtroopers into the forest to investigate. Once the Stormtroopers were sent out in search of Thrawn, he used another explosive to dispatch one in order to study the armor, jamming the Imperials' comms in order to distract from the sound of the explosion.
After the screeching of the comms subsided, Barris decided that he had had enough of Thrawn's attacks, deciding to take Thrawn's hut aboard the Strikefast to study it there. Knowing the time had come for him to return to his camp, Thrawn silently killed another Stormtrooper. Filling the Stormtrooper's armor with explosives, Thrawn snuck the armor into the encampment and propped it up by the transport with sticks. While the Imperials were distracted by the exploding armor, Thrawn hid himself in a power generator casing from his camp. The casing was then loaded into a transport and taken, with the rest of Thrawn's hut and crates, to the Strikefast.
Once Thrawn was aboard the Strikefast, he spent two hours waiting in the casing before leaving his hiding place. Moving swiftly, but not so swiftly that he wouldn't be seen, Thrawn crossed the hangar and boarded a Zeta-class Cargo Shuttle. When Parck sent troopers to intercept him, Thrawn allowed himself to be captured without resistance.
Once he had willingly surrendered himself, Thrawn was brought before Parck, Barris, and Eli. Using Eli as a translator, Parck asked whether Thrawn spoke Basic or Sy Bisti, to which Thrawn replied that he knew a fair bit of Basic but was far more comfortable with Sy Bisti. Eli served as Thrawn's translator for the remainder of the conversation as he told the Imperials of his exile and how he had crashed the V-Wings, attacked the camp unseen, and infiltrated the Strikefast. This conversation impressed Parck, to the point that he decided to present Thrawn to Emperor Palpatine himself.
Thrawn was sent to his temporary living quarters onboard the Strikefast, and a separate meeting was held between Parck and Eli. In this meeting it was determined that, due to his knowledge of the Chiss and Sy Bisti, Eli would serve as Thrawn's translator and basic teacher for the duration of the trip.[1]
Meeting at the Imperial Palace
For the rest of his passage to Coruscant aboard the Strikefast, Thrawn spent his time in the company of Eli. In addition to helping Thrawn with his basic, Eli told him the legend of the Chiss that he had heard growing up on Lysatra. Thrawn was amused by the legends, finding them interesting and informative but at times false or over-exaggerated. The two also discussed the Empire, particularly the Empire's social hierarchy and prejudices against aliens and those not from the Core.
Once the Strikefast reached Coruscant, Thrawn, Eli, Barris, Parck, and several navy troopers and Stormtroopers boarded a Lambda-class Shuttle for the flight to the Imperial Palace. Despite knowing the importance of the man he was about to meet, Thrawn did not feel daunted by the prospect of meeting the Emperor. Instead, Eli noticed, he looked maddeningly confident.
Upon deboarding the shuttle, Thrawn and the Imperials were guided by two of Palpatine's personal royal guardsmen to the throne room. Once they had arrived before the Emperor, Parck presented Thrawn as a gift to him. Thrawn, however, offered himself as not a gift but a resource. He informed Palpatine that the Ascendancy had discovered a mysterious threat in the Unknown Regions, offering his information on the threat in exchange for the Empire's help. In hope of convincing Palpatine that he was to be trusted, Thrawn offered the name of Skywalker as someone who could vouch for him, believing Anakin to be a servant to the Emperor. The Emperor informed Thrawn that Anakin had died at the end of the Clone Wars, but also that he had spoken highly of him before he had died. Accepting Thrawn's offer for information on the Unknown Regions, the Emperor offered something else in return: a role in the Imperial Navy. Thrawn accepted on the condition that he was allowed to keep Eli as his translator.
Wishing to discuss the threat in the Unknown Regions further, Palpatine guided Thrawn to the privacy of his throne room's interior garden. Thrawn was impressed by the artistry of the garden, believing it to be indicative of power, subtlety, and depth of thought. Once within the garden, Thrawn and Palpatine discussed Palpatine's personal interest in the mysteries of the Unknown Regions. Palpatine came to the decision that Thrawn did not need a translator, but agreed to give him Eli anyway.
Exiting the garden and returning to the main throne room, Thrawn was assigned three months of training at the Royal Imperial Academy with Eli by his side.[1]
Rising through the Ranks
Education at the Royal Imperial Academy
Upon arriving at the Royal Imperial Academy, Thrawn and Eli found their way to the office of Commandant Deenlark. Thrawn was met with hostility in Deenlark's office, Deenlark openly expressing contempt for the alien Thrawn and the fact that he had arrived in Deenlark's office by command of the Emperor himself. As the meeting with Deenlark drew to a close, Thrawn was informed that instead of graduating the academy as an Ensign like Eli, he would be graduating with the rank of Lieutenant. Thrawn was given his lieutenant's Rank plague, Deenlark secretly hoping that it would make Thrawn the target of bullying. On the way out of the office, Eli informed Thrawn of Deenlark's intent, and Thrawn took the opportunity to learn more about the social hierarchy within the academy. Ultimately, Thrawn decided not to wear his rank plaque until it proved convenient to him, masquerading as a normal cadet.
From the start of their term at Royal Imperial, Thrawn and Eli were plagued by incidences of bullying and harassment. Thrawn refused to give a response, however, hypothesizing that the lack of response would embolden the bullies to cross the line and commit a punishable act of bullying.
Thrawn's hypothesis proved true one month into the three month term when cadets Spenc Orbar and Rosita Turuy invited him and Eli to play a game of cards called Highland Challenge in the metallurgy lab. Thrawn was aware that the offer was a trap intended to get him and Eli caught gambling for credits in a lab they weren't authorized to be in, but chose to accept the offer anyway. Eli protested Thrawn's decision, but Thrawn felt confident that he could twist the trap in his favor.
Arriving in the lab at the appointed time, Thrawn and Eli were quick to turn down Orbar and Turuy's offer to play for credits. Turuy was upset with their decision, but decided not to push the matter. The four proceeded to play a tense game of Highland Challenge, Orbar and Thrawn discussing the topic of traps in the context of hands of cards. As the round drew to an end and Orbar activated his trap by discreetly calling in an instructor, Thrawn slipped on his lieutenant's rank plaque. The instructor, powerless to punish a lieutenant for being in the lab, was forced to reluctantly let Thrawn and Eli go, much to Orbar and Turuy's chagrin. Confident that he had dismantled the trap and embarrassed the two cadets enough, Thrawn set down his hand of card and declared that the game was over.
Thrawn and Eli walked back to their barracks, Eli expressing his admiration for Thrawn and how he had managed to subvert the trap with such precise timing. A moment later, however, Thrawn pushed Eli into the bushes as he was assailed by cadet Gimm and two other cadets who had been called to the scene by Orbar and Turuy. Thrawn fought off the assailants, allowing them to land a few hits in order to assess their combat skills before, with the help of a distraction from Eli, injuring one of the assailants and causing all three to scatter.
After the assailants had fled the scene, Thrawn and Eli returned to Deenlark's office to report the incident. Thrawn deduced that the attack had been masterminded by Orbar and Turuy, and informed Deenlark that the assailants were likely friends of the two cadets. When Deenlark protested that it would be impossible for him to punish the guilty cadets because of their influential parents, Thrawn suggested that rather than being punished Gimm and the assailants should be transferred to the Skystrike Academy for fighter pilot training. He explained that during the fight he had observed that all three had tremendous aptitude as fighter pilots and that it would be a waste of their potential if they weren't transferred to Skystrike. Furthermore, Thrawn argued that the punishment would be paranoia. Gimm and the assailants would live in fear that they would one day be punished and Orbar and Turuy would be frightened by the fact that their friends had disappeared so suddenly. Deenlark agreed to carry out Thrawn's suggestion, and the matter was closed.
Two months later, Thrawn graduated the academy as a lieutenant. On the day of his graduation, Thrawn received a second rank insignia plaque, Deenlark having forgotten that he gave Thrawn his plaque the day he arrived at the school. Thrawn held onto his spare plaque for later use if he ever needed it. After the graduation ceremony, Thrawn briefly met Eli's father and mother who both expressed subtle discomfort around him. As they left, the Vantos mentioned wishing they could use their beckon call, a technology that intrigued Thrawn greatly. After the Vantos were gone, Thrawn and Eli reported to Deenlark's office for the first assignments of their careers.
Thrawn was assigned to be Second Weapons Officer of the Gozanti-class Cruiser Blood Crow, and Eli was assigned the role of his aide. They boarded the transport and began their careers in the Imperial Navy.[1]
Service Aboard the Blood Crow
For the first eighteen months of his service aboard the Blood Crow, Thrawn served under Captain Rik Virgilio hunting smugglers, aiding distressed vessels, and defusing political situations in the Mid and Outer Rims. Thrawn enjoyed his service under Virgilio, facing little to no discrimination and enjoying a quick promotion to First Weapons Officer. Additionally, Virgilio granted Thrawn use of the Blood Crows previously unused Number Two storage bay for the storage of the collection of Clone Wars era technology that Thrawn was amassing. Thrawn was using the technology as a means to study the era and war, and by the end of the eighteen months, he had collected two Doonium-shelled Buzz Droids, a Droideka, half a STAP, and most of a Hyperdrive Ring. This was not to last, however, as Virgilio was replaced suddenly and without explanation by Captain Filia Rossi.
hrawn found himself at odds with Rossi not long after she first set foot aboard the Blood Crow. Discovering Thrawn's stache of Clone Wars technologies while surveying the ship with First Officer Senior Lieutenant Nels Deyland, Rossi demanded a meeting between the three of them in the storage bay. Rossi, eager to assert her dominance as Captain, demanded that Thrawn's collection be dumped or otherwise destroyed. Thrawn, still having plans for his collection, argued that he should be allowed to keep his collection due to the value of the pieces that he had accrued with his own credits. With the help of Deyland, Thrawn managed to argue Rossi down to a compromise. She told Thrawn that he was allowed to keep his collection until the Blood Crow reached Ansion. In that time he would be allowed to continue to attempt to get the Buzz Droids working again in order to bring them up to their maximum market value. At that point, the collection would be turned over to her and she would be allowed to sell it. Thrawn agreed to the compromise. Unbeknownst to Rossi, Thrawn had already managed to get the Buzz Droids back to full working order.
Thrawn found his service under Rossi notably more difficult than his service under Virgilio. Unlike Virgilio, Rossi was prejudiced against aliens and took offense to the fact that Thrawn was allowed an aide. As a result, Thrawn found himself assigned to every dirty, nasty, or undesirable job on the Blood Crow while working under Rossi.[1]
The Dromedar Incident
As a consequence of Rossi's tendency to assign him to the undesirable jobs, Thrawn was not surprised when he and Eli were assigned to investigate the distress call coming from the cargo freighter Dromedar. The freighter was carrying a valuable shipment of static-locked Tibanna Gas, a locking mechanism infamous for generating incredible amounts of dirt and dust. Once the Blood Crow reached the adrift Dromedar, Thrawn boarded a shuttle to the vessel alongside a boarding party which consisted of Eli, Ensign Merri Barlin, Electronics Tech Layneo, and Engineering Tech Jakeeb.
Once they had boarded the Dromedar, Thrawn assigned Eli, Layneo, and Jakeeb to investigate the engine section while he made his way to the bridge with Barlin. Several minutes later, Eli signaled Thrawn that he had found someone in the central passageway. Thrawn instructed Eli to return to the bridge with the prisoner.
It was at this moment that Thrawn met Nevil Cygni. Thrawn asked Cygni why he had threatened Eli, Layneo, and Jakeeb, to which he replied that he had mistaken them for pirates. He explained to Thrawn that the Dromedar had been attacked by pirates hoping to make off with the tibanna gas and that they had taken the crew of the freighter hostage while they returned to their base to get a slicer to help them restart the Dromedar's hyperdrive. Assessing the situation, Thrawn commanded Eli to contact Rossi and request a full operational team to either restart the hyperdrive or transfer the tibanna gas canisters to the Blood Crow. Eli protested that Rossi wouldn't like Thrawn's request, but Thrawn did not change his mind. Once Eli had gone to relay the message, Thrawn began a thorough examination of the ship.
As Eli had predicted, Thrawn was not granted his requested full operational team by Rossi. Instead, Thrawn was granted the supplies he needed and up to three crew members aside from Eli and himself. Additionally, they would be left to deal with the Dromedar situation on their own as the Blood Crow had been called to Moltok to deal with a Makurth boss' attack on a Ho'Din settlement. Thrawn was fine with this arrangement, remaining on the Dromedar with Eli, Barlin, Layneo, and Jakeeb as the Blood Crow voyaged to Moltok.
On the Dromedar's bridge, Thrawn oversaw Barlin and Layneo's attempts to find an asymmetric backdoor code that would get the ship up and running again. As they worked, Thrawn moved with Eli and Cygni to the cargo bay. There, Thrawn unpacked one of his crates of supplies from the Blood Crow, revealing one of his two Buzz Droids. Taking the Buzz Droid to where the tibanna canisters static-locked to the hull, Thrawn explained his plan to free the tibanna. The static-lock sealed the canisters, but only from the cargo bay side. Thrawn intended to use his Buzz Droid to cut through the hull and free the tibanna canisters. Cygni was impressed with the plan, shocked he hadn't come up with it himself and that people didn't use it more often. Thrawn admitted that his plan wasn't completely unheard of, but that it would require the sacrifice of one of the tibanna canisters, a sacrifice that many weren't willing to make. This plan was required unnecessary, however, when Barlin and Layneo got the hyperdrive working again.
When he turned back around to face Cygni, however, Thrawn found himself staring down the barrel of Cygni's second blaster. Calmly, Cygni requested that Thrawn order Barlin, Layneo, Jakeeb, and Eli to surrender so that no one would have to be harmed. Before Thrawn could give the order, however, he found himself, Eli, and Jakeeb surrounded by Angel and his pirate crew. Cygni gave Thrawn one more chance to surrender, and Thrawn obeyed, surrendering and commanding Barlin and Layneo to surrender via comlink.
Thrawn, Eli, Barlin, Layneo, and Jakeeb were then taken, with the Buzz Droid, to Angel's ship Marauder to be with the prisoners from the Dromedar. Cygni, only interested in the tibanna and Dromedar, demanded that Thrawn and the prisoners be dropped off unharmed at a predetermined rendezvous. Angel reluctantly agreed, locking up Thrawn and the Imperials with the Dromedar crew.
Once they were locked inside the cell, Thrawn proceeded to wait silently until Cygni and Angel had re-boarded the Dromedar and jumped to lightspeed. Once the Dromedar had left, Thrawn set his plan into action. He asked Layneo if she could isolate the bridge and fly the Marauder from the control panel in the room, to which she replied that she could as long as she could reach the panel. Pleased with Layneo's answer, Thrawn removed his insignia plaque, revealing that he had turned the spare plaque from graduation into a beckon call for the Buzz Droids. Using the beckon call, Thrawn guided the Buzz Droid to attack the prison cell's locking mechanism. Drawn by the commotion, three pirates entered the lockup and Thrawn redirected the Buzz Droid to attack them. While they were distracted with the Buzz Droid, Jakeeb kicked apart the damaged cell door and the imperials and prisoners rushed the pirates. The three pirates were subdued, and Thrawn directed his second Buzz Droid to cut the ship in half so that they wouldn't have to deal with the pirates in the forward portion of the vessel. Once Layneo had used the control panel to gain control of what remained of the ship, Thrawn took command of the Marauder.
Back aboard the Blood Crow, Thrawn and Eli were brought before Rossi to justify their actions aboard the Dromedar and Angel's ship. In this meeting, Thrawn revealed that he had realized Cygni was deceiving him, had anticipated his betrayal, and had allowed himself to be captured in hopes of finding the crew of the Dromedar. Rossi was unhappy with Thrawn's report, berating him for choosing the crew instead of the much more financially valuable tibanna gas. Thrawn was baffled by Rossi's assessment, believing that his decision to save the crew and capture some of the pirates was the correct one. Rossi, however, stuck by her original statement, believing the value of tibanna to outweigh the value of lives. As a punishment for Thrawn's failure in the eyes of High Command, Rossi sentenced Thrawn to suspension at Admiral Wiskovis' base on Ansion while she waited for a more official ruling from Coruscant. Seeing this as his opportunity to get the Dromedar back, Thrawn subtly manipulated Rossi into sentencing Eli to suspension along with him.
Once on Ansion, Thrawn managed to convince Wiskovis to allow him to interrogate the three pirates they had captured with Eli as witness to the interrogation. Correctly deducing that the pirates, who called themselves Culoss, were remnants from the crew of Queen Q'anah, Thrawn threatened the three prisoners with a visit from Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the man who had been responsible for the death of Q'anah and most of her crew. The pirates, frightened by the prospect of being turned over to Tarkin, allowed Thrawn to tell them his deal. In exchange for the location of Cygni, Angel, and the Dromedar, Thrawn offered the pirates safe transport out of the sector before Tarkin and the ISB arrived for additional interrogations. Hoping to trick Thrawn, the pirates had a short meeting in Sy Bisti where they planned to give Thrawn false information in order to secure their freedom. Speaking in Basic once more, the pirates told Thrawn that the Dromedar had been taken to Cartherston on Keitum.
Out of the interrogation room, Thrawn, Eli, and Wiskovis used the pirates' use of the slang words "trapo", "ub-dub", and "squalsh" to determine that the Dromedar had been taken to a trading post on the planet Uba in the Barsa Sector. Hoping to save Wiskovis from any of the career fallout that Thrawn feared might accompany his actions, Thrawn volunteered to take full responsibility for the operation to Uba to rescue the Dromedar. Interpreting this action as Thrawn attempting to hoard the glory, Wiskovis became angry and argued with Thrawn for several minutes before ultimately deciding to save the argument for later. Returning to the more pressing matter at hand, Thrawn and Wiskovis dispatched forces to Uba and Keitum to arrest the pirates and retake the tibanna gas. Hypothesizing that the stolen tibanna may be taken from Uba to the nearby tibanna producing planet Kril'Dor, Thrawn also ordered a force be sent there as part of the reclamation effort.[1]
Aftermath of the Dromedar Incident
Thanks to Thrawn's actions on Ansion, the Dromedar and its tibanna canisters were found and recovered although Cygni managed to evade capture. Once the tibanna canisters were checked, however, it was discovered that Cygni had managed to covertly steal the contents of twelve of the twenty canisters using a variation of the technique that Thrawn had suggested aboard the Dromedar. This partial defeat vexed Thrawn greatly, kicking off his obsession and rivalry with Cygni.
Despite the fact that the operation had been an arguable success, Thrawn found himself facing the threat of a court-martial from High Command due to his actions throughout the Dromedar Incident. As such, Thrawn spent the following Ascension Week and Empire Day on Coruscant, touring parties and mingling with the influential elite alongside Eli and ISB Colonel Wullf Yularen. Yularen believed that Thrawn's actions on Ansion had been justified and beneficial, and sought to aid Thrawn with the court marshal by introducing him to Senators and Ministers that he felt could be an asset against the investigation. It was at one such Ascension Week party, the party in the Alisandre Hotel's grand ballroom, where Thrawn met Arihnda Pryce, an aide to Lothal Senator Domus Renking. The two spoke briefly, Pryce correctly guessing Thrawn's purpose at the party, before Yularen, Thrawn, and Eli moved on to speak to another senator.
Thrawn and Yularen's party-going strategy ultimately paid off, Thrawn being cleared of all charges by the court-martial committee. Despite the fact that the committee's decision had closed the Dromedar incident officially, Thrawn continued to be bothered by the incident's outcome and Cygni's cunning. Additionally, he found Cygni's knowledge of the Buzz Droid's value intriguing, asking Eli if he could investigate doonium demand. Thrawn had begun to suspect that the Empire was working on a secret military project of some sort, and wished to discover the truth.
After the court-martial committee made their decision, Thrawn received new orders from High Command. He was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain and assigned the role of First Officer aboard the Imperial Light Cruiser Thunder Wasp with Eli still by his side. Thrawn was disappointed that Eli was not promoted, having recommended him for both a rank promotion and a combat position, but the two accepted their new assignments nonetheless.[1]
Hunting Down Pirates and Insurgents
After being assigned to the Thunder Wasp, Thrawn spent the next year hunting smugglers and pirates in the Mid Rim under the guidance of Commander Alfren Cheno. During this time, Thrawn also made five visits to Coruscant, traveling to the Imperial Palace to help Palpatine map the Unknown Regions. Thrawn also paid a visit to Yularen during each of his five visits to Coruscant, working with him on an investigation of Cygni and his activities in the galaxy.
Sometime towards the end of his first year of service aboard the Thunder Wasp, Thrawn noticed a sudden uptick in the value of Vulture Droids while shopping for his collection. Hoping to investigate, Thrawn purchased another Vulture Droid part, sneaking a glimpse at the Rodian salesman's order requests when the Rodian wasn't looking. It was on the order requests that Thrawn discovered that Cygni had purchased a large number of Vulture Droid parts and paid with iridium.
Not long after, Thrawn and Eli investigated and arrested a group of smugglers who had been smuggling iridium in the shells of Paklarn grist mollusks. Looking into the matter further, Thrawn deduced that the smuggling operation had been masterminded by Cygni and that Cygni had used the smuggled iridium to pay for large shipments of Vulture Droids. Pressing the captured smugglers for details, Thrawn discovered that Cygni had mentioned Umbara when he had been instructing the smugglers. Eli dismissed Umbara as a false lead, believing that Umbara wouldn't dare to try insurgency again after choosing to join the Separatists and being defeated during the Clone Wars. Thrawn, however, felt confident in his intuition and believed that an investigation of insurgent activity on Umbara was necessary.
Thrawn's intuition proved correct; insurgent activity was discovered on Umbara and the Thunder Wasp was dispatched to help put a stop to it with Admiral Carlou Gendling's task force.[1]
Battle over Umbara
Thrawn spent the entirety of the passage to Umbara locked away in his cabin. He used the solitude to immerse himself in Umbaran art, surrounding himself with holograms of Umbaran art through the ages. He noted the subtle differences between Republic and Imperial era art, using the similarities and differences to extrapolate details of modern Umbaran culture and military doctrine.
Thrawn was interrupted mid-thought when Eli entered his cabin to inform him that they had arrived at Umbara and that Cheno had requested his presence at the bridge. By the time Thrawn arrived at the bridge, the Thunder Wasp was in position and ready for battle, joined by Gendling's Imperial Star Destroyer Foremost and two Raider-class Corvettes. As they stood on the bridge, Cheno joked with Thrawn that he hoped the Umbarans would attack so that he and the Thunder Wasp could finally get some recognition. Thrawn, however, felt it was unlikely that the Umbarans would attack.
Thrawn watched from the bridge alongside Eli and Cheno as Gendling delivered his ultimatum to the Umbaran insurgents, demanding that they hand over their leaders within the hour or face reprisal. Even as Eli declared the matter finished after Gendling's ultimatum the battle erupted as four hundred Vulture Droids appeared from behind Umbara's outer moon.
As the battle began and Cheno commanded a counterattack against the Vulture Droids, Eli was quick to point out to Thrawn that he had been wrong. Thrawn, however, stood by his original statement, deducing that the attack was not by the Umbarans and that they were merely watching it in hopes of deciding whether or not to join in.
As the battle continued and the Thunder Wasp took more and more damage, Thrawn realized that Cheno was unable to command the battle and promptly seized control of the Thunder Wasp. Moving Senior Lieutenant Hammerly to a turbolaser station, Thrawn sat down with Eli at Hammerly's sensor station to study the attack patterns of the Vulture Droids. After watching the Vulture Droid attack patterns, Thrawn was able to deduce that the droids were not acting on their swarming programming but rather were being controlled directly by a transmitting base. Utilizing the transmission shadows where Vulture Droids relied on their swarming programming rather than the transmissions, Thrawn was able to pinpoint the location of the transmitting base on the surface of Umbara. His analytical work done, Thrawn called out to Cheno, telling him to contact Gendling to inform him of the location of the base. Gendling, however, felt that Thrawn's assessment was merely guesswork and disregarded the advice.
Frustrated with Gendling's ineptitude, Thrawn ordered the Communications Officer to signal the remaining ships to attack the Vulture Droids when they were flying through the transmission shadows. The other ships acknowledged Thrawn's strategy and shifted tactics, quickly turning the tide of the battle.
By the end of the battle, one of the corvettes had been destroyed and the remaining corvette, Thunder Wasp, and Foremost were all badly damaged, but the Vulture Droids had been destroyed and Umbara unconditionally surrendered.
Despite the fact that Thrawn's strategy had won what had begun to appear to be a losing battle, Gendling was furious with both Thrawn and Cheno for their roles in the battle. His pride bruised, Gendling promised Cheno that the battle would be the end of his career. When Gendling turned on Thrawn, however, Cheno stepped in to save his career. Once they were alone Cheno admitted that he believed Thrawn to be the future of the Imperial Navy, saying that it had been a privilege to be Thrawn's commander for even just a short time.
After departing from the meeting with Gendling and Cheno, Thrawn met with Eli to discuss the possibility of Cygni's involvement in the battle. By analyzing the value of Umbaran ore as well as the success rates of smugglers on Umbara versus smugglers on an Imperial-controlled planet, Thrawn was able to deduce that Cygni had orchestrated the events on Umbara in order to ensure that the Empire took over Umbara's mines in order to further his smuggling operations. Going even further, Thrawn concluded that Cygni had purposefully allowed the iridium smugglers to be caught in order to draw the Imperials to Umbara. Impressed, Thrawn admitted that he would be forced to wait until Cygni chose to resurface again.
As a result of the actions taken during the battle, Cheno was forced to retire by Gendling and High Command. This decision angered Thrawn greatly as he considered it nothing more or less than a foolish waste of resources. Surprised by Thrawn's reaction, Eli informed him that Cheno was neither the first navy career Thrawn had destroyed nor was it the last career he would destroy. Thrawn was vexed by this, but resigned himself to the reality of his situation and the Empire's military politics.[1]
Investigating Nightswan
Meeting with Yularen
Not long after learning Cheno's fate, Thrawn and Eli paid a visit to Yularen's Coruscant office to discuss the ongoing investigation of Cygni's activities. Yularen reported that the ISB had managed to connect Cygni to metal smuggling, antiques purchases, and political protests, but had not been able to determine the man's identity. Intrigued by the mention of political protesting, Thrawn asked Yularen to give him a list of the insurgent activities Cygni was associated with. Pursuing his inquiry further, Thrawn asked Yularen about insurgent activity on Coruscant. Yularen brushed off his theory, believing that political unrest in the lower levels would never be able to impact anything. Thrawn refused to relent, however, countering Yularen's disbelief by citing the protest in the Circle Bay mayor's office on Nubia. Yularen pointed out that the protest had only succeeded because the insurgents had managed to infiltrate the servant staff in the capital, and Thrawn deduced that insurgency on Coruscant could be equally effective if insurgents infiltrated the government via bodyguard training dojos. Yularen conceded that Thrawn had a point, and the three set off for an investigation of Coruscant's dojos.[1]
Visit to the Yinchom Dojo
Eventually, the investigation led Thrawn, Yularen, and Eli to the Yinchom Dojo, a senate guard training dojo owned by a Togorian named H'sishi. While waiting to speak with H'sishi, Thrawn once again found himself talking to Pryce, now working for Higher Skies Advocacy Group and at the dojo for self defense lessons and networking with senate guards.
After a brief conversation with Pryce, Thrawn spoke with H'sishi, obtaining records of the dojo's government contracts and trained guards. Seeking to learn more about the difficult to read Togorian in front of him, Thrawn challenged H'sishi to an advanced stick fighting duel under the guise of searching for an instructor for an urban combat unit. Just prior to the duel, Thrawn asked Pryce for the name of her advocacy group, paying attention to the reactions of those around him when Pryce revealed the name of her organization. As the two dueled, Thrawn observed not only H'sishi but also Pryce and her friend Juahir Madras, observing Madras' nervousness and H'sishi's single minded focus on combat. After the duel, Thrawn complimented H'sishi's Togorian-inspired style of stick fighting, expressing his interest in one day learning it from her.
Outside the dojo, Thrawn shared his findings with Eli and Yularen, reporting that he believed there was more to Higher Skies than met the eye and that while H'sishi was undoubtedly innocent, Madras was likely complicit. Thrawn wished to pursue the investigation further, but new orders from High Command prevented this wish from becoming a reality.
Thrawn had been commanded to spend the next four weeks while the Thunder Wasp was repaired at the Imperial Palace, charting the Unknown Regions with Palpatine. Once the repairs were finished, Thrawn was once again assigned to patrol the Mid Rim and Outer Rim, but he had been promoted to a commander and the captain of the Thunder Wasp following Cheno's firing.[1]
Covert Meeting with Pryce
Sometime during his four week stay at the Imperial Palace, Thrawn was called upon by Pryce to help her escape the trap that had been laid for her by Moff Ghadi. Wearing glasses and a hood to conceal his identity and masquerade as a Pantoran, Thrawn met Pryce in the Gilroy Plaza Diner to discuss Ghadi's trap and how to dismantle it. Pryce handed Thrawn a Datacard filled with evidence of Ghadi's corruption, requesting that he hand it along to Yularen and ensure that only Yularen knew that it came from her. Thrawn agreed to do as she asked, but refused to hand it over until the best possible moment, deducing that the longer it stayed in the ISB, the more likely it was that Ghadi would get his hands on it by way of an inside man. Pryce argued that she was unwilling to wait, attempting to bribe Thrawn to give it to Yularen as quickly as possible. The two discussed the politics of military promotions and ship repairs, Pryce offering to use her contacts to both speed up the repairs of the Thunder Wasp and to get Eli his long-awaited promotion. Thrawn was receptive to Pyrce's offers, placing a high value on Eli's promotion and his ship's repairs. As his end of the bargain, Thrawn offered Pryce some military advice; he advised her to use Ghadi's hatred of Tarkin to her advantage to either ally herself with Tarkin or use Tarkin to force Ghadi to ally himself with her.
Before he left the diner, Thrawn asked Pryce if she would be willing to turn on the Higher Skies group if it was discovered that they were involved in insurgent activity. Pryce replied that she would absolutely turn her back on them, and the meeting ended.[1]
Afe Clan Land Dispute
Some time after Thrawn returned to patrol duty as the captain of the Thunder Wasp, he was assigned, per his request, to investigate, mediate, and solve a land dispute on Cyphar between the native Cyphari and Human colonists. Thrawn had noticed an uptick in shellfish exports from Cyphar reminiscent of the Cygni-led smuggling operation that had led him to Umbara, and had deduced that the exports were an invitation from Cygni. Thrawn spent the passage to Cyphar discussing his Cygni theories with Eli, particularly his belief that Cygni was connected to the sharp increases in doonium theft, land disputes, and general unrest that spread the Empire's military thin.
Once on Cyphar, Thrawn and Eli attended a meeting to discuss the circumstances of the dispute with the Mayor of the human Hollenside Enclave colony Pord Benchel, Lenora Scath, Brigte Polcery, Clay Tanoo, and a small committee of other concerned citizens. The meeting was brief and hostile, Polcery and Scath in particular finding it ridiculous that Thrawn wished to hear both sides before making his determination. The dispute between the humans and the Cyphari Afe Clan was hardly Thrawn's top priority during the meeting, however. Thrawn had deduced that the entire land dispute was an elaborate cover up and spent the meeting studying Benchel, Scath, Polcery, and Tanoo for signs of guilt or innocence in the smuggling scheme that the dispute was designed to hide.
On the shuttle ride to meet Chief Joko of the Afe Clan, Thrawn discussed his findings with Eli. The two had come to the same conclusion; Scath, Polcery, and Tanoo were all involved in the smuggling activity, but Benchel was oblivious to everything besides what had been reported to him about the land dispute.
Next, Thrawn and Eli visited the mobile Afe Clan Meetinghouse to speak with Joko. Joko pleaded his case to Thrawn, telling him that the dispute had started when humans from the Hollenside Enclave had invaded Afe land and that all issues since then had either been self defense or acts of retaliation. Whilst in the meetinghouse, Thrawn subtly studied the artwork on the walls, ascertaining information on Afe culture and strategy.
Joko then showed Thrawn the grain field where the incursions had occurred, along with a Holo-Map of likely airspeeder travel paths and the sites of both the human attacks on the Afe lands and the Cyphari attacks on Hollenside. Thrawn studied both the damaged grain and the attack locations, quickly discerning patterns and developing a plan to combat the invaders. Thrawn cautioned Joko against attacking Hollenside again, promising Joko that the situation would be resolved that night if he followed Thrawn's orders. Thrawn resolved to spend the night at the meetinghouse with Eli, offering Joko Stormtroopers for protection and ordering him to evacuate the surrounding area. Joko was hesitant, but followed Thrawn's commands after Thrawn promised once more that he would resolve the situation in a single night. Thrawn was confident in his promise that he could fix it that night; he had deduced that the colonists would see that evening as their final chance to advance the smuggling operation until the investigation was closed.
That night, Thrawn and Eli observed from a distance as three landspeeders full of humans led by Tanoo arrived on Afe Clan land and began digging for ore. Thrawn immediately focused his attention on Tanoo, asking Eli to find him Tanoo's full record. Eli revealed that Tanoo had studied organic chemistry, and that his brother had been arrested for possession of spice derived from scarn. Thrawn found what he was looking for in the information about scarn, calling in Stormtroopers and a TIE escort led by Lieutenant Gimm to their location. Hoping to stop the perpetrators from escaping before they could be arrested, Thrawn drew his blaster and open fired, destroying the repulsorlifts of two of the landspeeders. After a short firefight, Thrawn and Eli managed to stun all of the perpetrators and arrest Tanoo, interrogating him at gunpoint in the speeder he had attempted to escape in. Tanoo admitted that Polcery had designed the scarn smuggling plot and that he had been forced to participate as the chemist. Thrawn was unsatisfied with his answer, however, pointing out to Tanoo that he could have easily changed the formula slightly to make a far less potent and illegal version of scarn that Polcery would never notice. Tanoo, trapped by Thrawn's logic, admitted that Thrawn was too clever for his lie but quickly added that he had done nothing that Thrawn had enough evidence to arrest him for. Thrawn then inquired about Cygni, and Tanoo admitted that Scath had brought him in to help the smuggling plan along.
Having nothing to charge Tanoo with but unwilling to accept defeat, Thrawn studied Tanoo's scarn sensor and quickly formulated a plan to end the scarn smuggling without arresting Tanoo. Meeting with Gimm, Thrawn delivered him the sensor and commanded him to fly close to the ground, using it to follow the underground scarn vein. As Gimm flew along the vein, Thrawn ordered Lieutenant Commander Osgoode to use the Thunder Wasp's turbolasers to obliterate the scarn vein behind him. Once the night was over, Thrawn's plan had succeeded and the scarn had been scorched out of existence.
Thrawn's plan, though successful, was met with backlash from both High Command on Coruscant and Joko on Cyphar. In a final confrontation with Joko before he departed, Thrawn was promised that Joko would appeal his actions in hopes of securing yet another court-martial for Thrawn. Thrawn expressed no regret for his actions, however, believing that he had done the best he possibly could have in the situation. He felt complete apathy towards High Command's disdain for him, believing that they wanted him to be a yes man but that there were some situations that could simply only be solved by his particular brand of strategy.[1]
Promotion to Commodore
After Thrawn was once again cleared of all charges of misconduct, he and the Thunder Wasp returned to hunting for smugglers and illicit activity connected to Cygni. Using Eli's knowledge of shipping and supplies, Thrawn was able to uncover and stamp out several doonium smuggling operations, at least two of which were connected to Cygni. Frustrated that Cygni was still slipping through the Empire's fingers, Thrawn contacted his fellow officers with warnings about Cygni, but his warnings were generally not taken seriously. Additionally, Thrawn continued to be perplexed by the Empire's excessively high demand for doonium, having still found no answers despite his and Eli's continued investigation.
Eventually, Thrawn and Eli were surprised by a summons from High Command on Coruscant. Once on Coruscant, Thrawn and Eli found themselves in the center of an award ceremony attended by various admirals and Tarkin. For his outstanding record of successes and his string of unusually fast promotions, Thrawn was promoted from commander to Commodore and was given command of the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera. Additionally, Eli was promoted from ensign to lieutenant commander, a decision that greatly pleased Thrawn. After the ceremony concluded, Thrawn briefly spoke with Tarkin, discussing Pryce's recent promotion to Governor of Lothal and subtly thanking Pryce for her role in Eli's promotion. After Tarkin had departed, Thrawn briefly exchanged a heartfelt congratulations with Eli before the two set off for their career aboard the Chimaera.[1]
Quelling Insurgency
Mission to aid the Sempre
Sometime into Thrawn's tenure as commander of the Chimaera, the Chimaera received a distress call from the Troop Carrier Sempre. Meeting on the bridge of the ship to discuss the mission with Eli, senior comm officer Lomar, Stormtrooper Commander Ayer, and his First Officer Karyn Faro, Thrawn discussed his belief that Cygni was behind the theft of the frigate Castilus and V-19 Starfighters that had attacked the Sempre but not behind the attack itself. Thrawn also called into question the motivation behind the attack, as Ayer revealed that the Sempre wasn't actually transporting Stormtroopers when it was attacked. Ayer refused to divulge more, firmly asserting that the mission of the Sempre was classified and that only he and his troopers would be allowed aboard to combat the threat. Thrawn took this news in stride, calmly commanding Faro to check the Chimaera's weapons and Vanto to ensure that they were going at the quickest possible speed.
Almost two hours later, Thrawn arrived at the site of the attack to discover that the crew of the Sempre had been completely massacred and that the Castilus and V-19s were long gone. Ayer's orders no longer relevant in the face of their failure to reach the Sempre in time, Thrawn and Eli boarded the Sempre to observe the carnage for themselves. Moving carefully through the ship, Thrawn observed that only a few of the dead had blaster burns while the rest appeared to have been brutally beaten to death. Studying the bloodstains on the walls, Thrawn noted several that appeared to have been written glyphs or attempts at words. Moving deeper into the ship, Thrawn found himself once more blocked by one of Ayer's men who was in charge of guarding the troop quarters. Curious what the Empire was hiding, Thrawn commanded the Stormtrooper to stand aside, asserting that seeing the contents of the troop quarters was necessary for him to deliver justice for the murdered soldiers. When the Stormtrooper continued to insist that the room's contents were classified, Thrawn raised his voice, shouting in what appeared to be anger for the Stormtrooper to step aside. Eli was surprised by Thrawn's uncharacteristic anger, but once inside the troop quarters, Thrawn explained that it had been a pragmatic choice to appear angry in order to cut the conversation short. Inside the room, Thrawn discovered what the Empire had been trying to hide; the Sempre had been used to transport slaves.
Back on the bridge of the Chimaera, Thrawn met once more with Eli, Faro, and Lomar to discuss the matter further. After Faro revealed that the attacking V-19s had destroyed the Sempres shield generators, hyperdrive, and sublight engines, Thrawn deduced that the intention of the attack had been to free the slaves, not to take command of the Sempre. Focusing instead on the slaves, Thrawn asked what species the ship had been transporting to which Lomar replied that he had used the ship's audio and the size of the restraints to determine that the slaves had been Wookiees. Utilizing Kashyyyk as a starting point and the Sempre's location as an ending point, Thrawn and Eli managed to pinpoint the location of the Empire's secret slave processing center as Lansend Twenty-Six, an old Separatist staging area from the Clone Wars. Identifying the blood marking on the wall as a Wookiee clan symbol signifying defiance, Thrawn deduced that there was a saboteur on Lansend Twenty-Six and that rescued Wookiees and freedom fighters would attack there next in an effort to free more of the Empire's slaves. Determined to succeed Lansend Twenty-Six where they had failed the Sempre, Thrawn commanded radio silence as the Chimaera approached the processing center.
When the Chimaera arrived at Lansend Twenty-Six, the station had already fallen under attack by the Castilus and its squadrons of V-19s. Thrawn quickly deployed a TIE squadron to deal with the threat, ordering them to disable the Castilus without destroying it. He also ordered a signal be sent to the nearby Baklek Base, asking for assistance. Contacting Colonel Zenoc of Lansend Twenty-Six next, Thrawn learned that the saboteur had already been captured and requested a holo-map of the station. Using the map to track the positions of the escaped slaves and attackers, Thrawn fired on the station, destroying sections of it to trap the escapees unharmed in section B-5. The threat within the station neutralized, Thrawn turned the Chimaera's attention back to what remained of the attacking frigate and V-19s.
As the battle drew to a close, Eli approached Thrawn, asking him what would happen to the Wookiee slaves. Thrawn replied that the Wookiee slaves would be left with Zenoc on Lansend, prompting Eli to express his discomfort with the idea of the Empire using slaves at all. Thrawn replied that it was entirely possible that they were actually indentured servants, prisoners, or had sold themselves into slavery voluntarily to pay off debts, but admitted that it was unlikely that the Wookiees were anything more or less than innocent captured slaves. In the end, he concluded that it didn't matter. In Thrawn's eyes, the Wookiees were now Imperial property and had to be treated as such.[1]
Botajef Insurgency
Sometime later, Thrawn and the Chimaera were called upon by Fleet Admiral Jok Donassius to put down an insurgency on Botajef. The planet, led by Governor Quesl, had declared independence from the Empire, and the Empire, fearing this might lead to another Separatists situation, commanded Thrawn to put down the revolt by any means necessary. Setting course for Botajef immediately, Thrawn turned to Eli, Faro, and Senior Lieutenant Pyrondi to discuss the matter further. Pyrondi offered her disbelief that Quesl would rebel alone with the knowledge that the full military might of the Chimaera alone could stop their rebellion dead in its tracks, to which Faro replied that she feared that Botajef may just be one of many worlds prepping to declare independence. Thrawn listened to their theories without offering any of his own, and listened intently as Pyrondi described to him the follower nature of the Jefi people. Carefully noting the Jefies' tendency to follow anyone who presented themselves as a capable leader, Thrawn suggested that the best overall strategy may be to overthrow Quesl in favor of a new, non-insurgent leader. The conversation ending, Thrawn retired to his quarters and left Faro in charge of the bridge.
Thrawn spent the rest of the fourteen hour long passage to Botajef in his quarters, studying Jefi artwork. He felt that the art reflected a self awareness; Thrawn felt that the low-contrast sculpts showed a self awareness of their shortcomings whereas their tressiles depicted their belief in the stability of their political system.
Two hours prior to the Chimaera's arrival at Botajef, Eli arrived in Thrawn's quarters to discuss his growing concerns about the mission. Eli feared that the mission was a set up by government officials and High Command designed to make Thrawn look bad by either painting him as a war crazed alien who wiped out a planet of innocent followers or as a coward unable to deal with Botajef's substantial planetary defense force and forced to retreat. Thrawn, however, felt confident as always that he would be able to avoid falling into such a trap. Shifting the conversation when Eli threatened that a mess up could mean being demoted to an ore carrier like Rossi's old assignment, Thrawn once again brought up their investigation into the Empire's secret military project. Sharing his most recent research with Eli, Thrawn revealed that he had deduced that it was a single large military project with a hyperdrive on a scale the Empire had never before seen. Thrawn admitted that he believed the product to be a foolish waste of resources, believing that it would be wiser for the Empire to pour their resources into a more flexible and mobile navy of capital ships and fighters. Hoping to check out the project for himself, Thrawn revealed to Eli that he had used the vectors from the Wookiee slave ships and Rossi's doonium transports from Socorro to discover the likely location of the secret project's construction site. Thrawn told Eli that once the opportunity presented itself, they would investigate it further. Shifting the conversation back to the present issue, Thrawn pulled up a hologram of Quesl delivering his declaration of independence from the Empire. Pointing out Quesl's mannerisms, Thrawn noted that he seemed to be daring the Empire to fight back against him and theorized that the capital would be heavily fortified and that the planetary defense force would be deployed to keep the Chimaera at a distance. Closing the hologram, Thrawn and Eli returned to the bridge to discuss strategy further.
Upon arriving at Botajef, Thrawn discovered that his theory about the planet's defenses had proved correct. The planet was defended from space by two Alderaan Cruisers as well as five squadrons of V-19s dispatched from the North-Polar Base and two squadrons from the South-Polar Base, and the governor's palace was fortified by five ground-based turbolasers. Confident in his ability to handle the situation, Thrawn ordered Starfighter Commander Yve to launch the Chimaera's TIEs to perform flybys past the cruisers and to form a screen between the Chimaera and the V-19s. A moment later, Thrawn received a call from Quesl telling him that he was invading Jefi space and was required to either vacate or be fired upon. Responding calmly as a means of buying himself time, Thrawn informed Quesl that his act of secession was in direct violation of a fictitious Clone Wars-era treaty signed by Botajef at the end of the war. As he spoke, Thrawn watched the TIE flybys, noting the slight twitch in the starboard cruiser and the lack of reaction from the portside cruiser. Having ascertained all the information he needed, Thrawn proceeded with his plan, ordering Yve's special unit of TIEs to destroy Quesl's turbolaser placements. As Thrawn distracted Quesl with his attack on the turbolasers, he navigated the Chimaera closer, capturing the starboard cruiser in the Star Destroyer's tractor beam. As he did, Quesl gasped and stumbled, confirming Thrawn's theory; Quesl and the valuable Jefi art were on the starboard Alderaan Cruiser. This information in hand, Thrawn correctly deduced that the insurrection had been staged to allow Quesl to steal and sell off the Jefies' valuable art collection. Quesl had intended for Thrawn to destroy the palace to cover the theft while Quesl slipped away during the ensuing battle. Thrawn also revealed to Quesl that the flyby had revealed that the starboard cruiser had a human crew while the portside cruiser had a Jefi crew; he had surmised that Quesl was on the human cruiser as it was unlikely that a Jefi crew would aid in the theft of their own art. Thrawn drew the cruiser in, promising Quesl he would face trial for his actions before cutting the transmission. Ordering that the prisoners be apprehended and the art be returned to the Jefi, Thrawn commanded Eli to inform High Command that the situation had been resolved.
For this and other successes, Thrawn was promoted to Admiral and Eli to Commander.[1]
Battle of Batoon
Prelude to the Battle
As insurgent activity began ramping up across the galaxy, Thrawn and Eli were invited to represent the 96th Task Force at a high security meeting by Donassius. Inside the meeting room, Thrawn was greeted by Yularen, Donassius, Admiral Durril of the 103rd Task Force, and Admiral Kinshara of the 125th. Also in attendance were governors Restos, Wistran, Estorn, and Pryce, representing the at risk planets of Batonn, Denash, Sammun, and Lothal respectively. Taking his seat at the table, Thrawn listened as Yularen described the situation; a series of coordinated insurgencies had sprung up on the represented planets, indicating the potential for Rebel Cell activity. Yularen moved forward to inform the admirals and governors that the Lothal insurgency was being handled by Admiral Kassius Konstantine, and that the rebel activity on Batonn's Scrim Island. Yularen explained that Scrim Island's Imperial Garrison had been overrun by insurgents who had taken hostages and seized control of the island's energy shield and Ion Cannons. Thrawn was assigned to Batonn and Scrim Island, but found the information provided by Yularen with regards to which cannons were operational to be inadequate to plan his assault. Asking for more time to study the situation and formulate a plan, Thrawn was sharply informed by Donassius that they had no time to simply study the situation without taking action. Refusing to take action that would risk innocent lives, Thrawn refused the assignment and was instead assigned the insurgency on Sammun while the duty of retaking Scrim Island was handed over to Durril and the 103rd.
After the meeting, Thrawn and Eli discussed the repercussions of Thrawn's decision to so openly disrespect the assignments of High Command. Thrawn asserted with confidence that while he may have soured High Command's perception of him in the time being, that would quickly change. He was confident that the attack on Scrim Island would go poorly for Durril and that he would, as always, be able to clean up the mess. Coldly disinterested in the impact this would have on Durril's career, Thrawn abruptly ended the conversation and spent the rest of the walk to the landing platform silently studying Sammuni art.
Arriving at the landing platform, Thrawn contacted Faro aboard the Chimaera. Thrawn directed her to take the Chimaera and the 96th Task Force to Sammun, verbally giving her a strategy to use to swiftly crush the Sammuni insurgency. Additionally, Thrawn requested that she dispatch the light cruiser Shyrack and Captain Brento to him for use in his plan. Faro agreed to Thrawn's directives, agreeing to contact him once the insurgency had been dealt with. Eli expressed concern with Thrawn's choice to stray once again from his assigned mission, but Thrawn was calm in the face of potential backlash from High Command. He confidently asserted once more that all would end up as planned, informing Eli that while Faro handled the Sammun job they would be observing Durril's attack on Scrim Island.
Boarding the nondescript light freighter Slipknot, Thrawn set course for Batonn.[1]
Studying Scrim Island
Arriving in space above Batonn, Thrawn positioned the Slipknot in a location where it could view both the Judicator and Scrim Island. From the Slipknot, Thrawn watched as the insurgents carried out their strategy and left Durril flailing. The insurgents, Thrawn observed, weathered Durril's attacks by hiding behind an island covering shield. In the time between attacks, the shield contracted, allowing the Scrim Island insurgents to use ion fire to incapacitate Durril's ships. Thrawn also observed eight small space freighters flying close to the sea between Scrim Island and Batonn's Main Continent to avoid detection. As he watched, seven of the freighters continued towards the continent while the eighth slipped off to space. Temporarily shifting his attention back to Scrim Island, Thrawn noted that the insurgents were in possession of a turbolaser that Yularen's intel had failed to mention.
His interest piqued by the freighter attempting to flee, Thrawn directed Eli to hail it with a tight comm signal before it could jump to lightspeed. Instructing Eli to use the pseudonym "Horatio Figg", Thrawn explained that he wanted Eli to convince the insurgents onboard that they were weapons smugglers in order to gain access to the insurgents' base. Once Eli received the coordinates, Thrawn commanded him to make the jump, leaving Durril and the 103rd to their fate. Eli expressed unease with Thrawn's choice, but Thrawn assured him that he had already sent out a distress call on Durril's behalf and that he had seen more than enough of the Scrim Island insurgents' strategy to formulate a strategy of his own.
Leaving Brento and the Shyrack to track the movements of the seven freighters remaining on Batonn, Thrawn jumped to the coordinates that the eight freighter had given Vanto.[1]
Infiltrating the Smugglers' Starship
At the coordinates, Thrawn discovered a large Clone Wars-era Nomad starship that the smugglers had set up as their mobile base of operations. Prepping Eli for the infiltration, Thrawn removed his uniform tunic and shot it to make it appear as though Eli had killed an Imperial Officer and stolen his uniform. Additionally, he had affixed his old rigged lieutenant's plaque to the uniform, telling Eli to press the tile closest to the center of his chest when the time comes. Promising to spend the time while Eli is gathering information engineering their escape, Thrawn sent Eli out to the smugglers and proceeded with his portion of the plan.
Once Eli had been brought to the insurgents' leader, Thrawn created a bomb out of gimmicked blaster packs like he'd done so many years ago to gain access to the Strikefast. Falsifying a radiation leak warning and hiding in the Slipknot's Escape Pods, Thrawn set off his bomb when a boarding party boarded the Slipknot to investigate the leak. Escaping the damaged ship in the confusion, Thrawn triggered the Nomad's abandon ship alarm. Reuniting with Eli in the frenzied chaos of the Nomad's repair bay, Thrawn led Eli into one of the insurgents' freighters.
Settling into the pilots seat, Thrawn explained to Eli that he hoped that by stealing one of the insurgents' freighters they would be able to gain any data that had been left on the ship's computer. Inquiring about Eli's time on the ship, Thrawn learned that he had surmised correctly that Eli had spoken to Cygni, and that Cygni was the man behind the Scrim Island Operation.
Having accomplished all that he could on the Nomad, Thrawn used the insurgent freighter to return to Batonn.[1]
Reassessing the Battle
Arriving back at Scrim Island, Thrawn discovered that Durril had survived and with the help of Brento and the Shyrack, had made it out of harm's way.
The battle paused, Thrawn met via holographic projection with Donassius, Kinshara, and Durril. During this meeting, Kinshara reported his success on Denash while Thrawn reported the 96th's success at Sammun. Displeased with Durril's loss at Scrim Island, Donassius ordered Durril to take the Judicator and 103rd to the Marleyvane Shipyards for repairs. Turning to Thrawn, Donassius asked how much longer Thrawn would need to study the insurgents before he could make an attack. Confident in his ability to handle the situation, Thrawn replied that he had already gathered the information he needed. With that, Donassius officially returned the Batonn Operation to Thrawn and the 96th.
His new mission in hand, Thrawn prepared the Chimaera for battle.[1]
Retaking Scrim Island
Moving into position around Scrim Island, Thrawn briefed Faro, Eli, and the commanders of the Shyrack, Flensor, and Tumnor on the strategy he had come up with to deal with the insurgents. Ordering the three light cruisers into position, Thrawn watched as they bombarded Scrim Island's shields before being disabled by the island's previous unseen fourth ion cannon. Thrawn, however, was not surprised by the fourth ion cannon and had built his strategy around it. Speaking to Captain Yelfis of the Tumnor, Thrawn learned that the cathtron tube of the fourth ion cannon was in the process of dying.
Moving forward with his strategy, Thrawn began the Chimaera's descent towards Scrim Island, using the partially disabled light cruisers as cover against the ion cannons. Once the Chimaera reached optimal firing position, Thrawn opened fire, shooting into the ocean off Scrim Island's shore. Thrawn's gambit worked, sending a tsunami crashing into the western shoreline of Scrim Island. Firing at a second target in the sea, the Chimaera created a second tsunami that managed to hit the turbolaser emplacement. Alternating fire between targets one and two, Thrawn slammed Scrim Island with tsunami after tsunami until the water shorted out the island's turbolasers. Contacting the island, Thrawn ordered them to either lower their shields or risk the death of those operating the shoreline defenses. When the shields did not lower, Thrawn sent two more tsunamis at Scrim Island.
Faced with destruction, the insurgents of Scrim Island lowered their shield and surrendered to Thrawn. Accepting their surrender with the terms that any further resistance would be met with lethal force, Thrawn directed Eli to send word of their victory at Scrim Island to Coruscant. Humble in the face of Faro's praise, however, Thrawn admitted that there was more to be done before the battle for Batonn was over. Asking Faro to inform him when the island had been secured, Thrawn retired to his cabin.[1]
Between the Battles
Sometime later that day, Thrawn hosted Pryce and Yularen aboard the Chimaera. Settling into the Star Destroyer's conference room with Eli and Faro, the group discussed the situation on Batonn's main continent. Thrawn revealed that he had discovered the location of the insurgents' stronghold to be the Creekpath Mining and Refining Complex outside Paeragosto City. Thrawn then informed Yularen and Pryce of his plan to invade the complex via ground troops as the complex was both shielded and home to 30,000 innocent civilians. Worried about her parents, Pryce suggested that she should go into the complex first to scope out the area and potentially take out the shield generator. Yularen explained further that Pryce would enter the complex with ISB Agent Gudry and tell her family that she was looking for a friend who got lost in the mines to gain access to the insurgent base. Thrawn was hesitant to accept Pryce's plan but ultimately conceded, knowing that he was likely unable to stop an Imperial governor backed by the ISB even as an admiral. Yularen went on to explain that they would send Pryce and Gudry in disguise to the planet Dennogra and have them take a planet hopper from there to Batonn. Though he was forced to accept the plan, Thrawn was vocal about his disapproval of it, thinking it to be both unsafe and dubiously effective. His feelings aside, Thrawn wished Pryce luck on her mission.
As repairs were conducted on the Tumnor, Flensor, and Shyrack, Thrawn positioned them in a wide equilateral triangle around a hundred kilometers away from the Chimaera, a strategic positioning that worried both Eli and Yularen.[1]
Parley with Nightswan
As twilight fell on Paeragosto City, Thrawn sat in his office aboard the Chimaera surrounded by holograms of Batonnese art. Even as he studied the art as always, Thrawn felt the pressure of each passing moment, knowing that his time with Cygni was rapidly approaching its end. Keying a comm frequency that he had discovered aboard the stolen freighter, Thrawn contacted the insurgents as requested to speak with Cygni. Once Cygni was on the comm, Thrawn requested a face to face meeting in the field two kilometers to the north of the Creekpath facility. Cygni met Thrawn's request with caution, prompting Thrawn to promise that his guards would stay out of firing distance. Additionally, Thrawn informed Cygni that he was valueless to Thrawn dead or captured. His interest piqued, Cygni asked Thrawn why he thought he wouldn't try to kill Thrawn, to which Thrawn replied that he knew that Cygni valued life too much to try to kill him. He asserted that his life was the only thing keeping the Imperials from destroying the Creekpath facility and killing the civilians inside because he was the only Imperial commander that would go out of his way to prevent casualties. Pained, Cygni admitted that he had never wanted civilians to endanger themselves by living within his base. Thrawn revealed that he felt the same drive to prevent the deaths of innocents. After a pause, Cygni agreed to Thrawn's invitation to parley in one hour.
When Thrawn arrived at the field an hour later, he found that Cygni was waiting for him. Cygni mused that Thrawn could kill him at any moment, leading Thrawn to reiterate that he had no use for Cygni dead. The two began discussing the Dromedar incident, Cygni revealing that he was the reason that Thrawn had a Buzz Droid that day and Thrawn countering by revealing that he had two Buzz Droids so even if Cygni hadn't helped he still would have escaped. Shifting the conversation, Thrawn revealed that he knew that Cygni was a part of the Mining Guild, having deduced it from Cygni's knowledge of precious metals and the fact that he had been to the Thrugii Asteroid Belt. In response, Cygni revealed that his activism had begun when the Imperial demand for metals had led to him joining a splinter group of the Mining Guild dedicated to helping out the small businesses hurt by the rapidly forming Imperial metal monopoly. He went on to tell Thrawn that the corruption had eventually spread to the splinter group so he had set off on his own and become the mercenary Thrawn had met on the Dromedar. Cygni closed his speech by telling Thrawn that once he heard rumors of the Imperials' secret military project, he'd joined the insurgents. His interest piqued by the mention of the Imperials' secret weapon, Thrawn demanded to know everything Cygni knew about the project. Cygni, however, refused to divulge unless Thrawn joined him. Changing the subject, Thrawn learned that Cygni had purposefully sabotaged the Cyphar scarn operation due to being strictly against spice and that Cygni had never approved of Higher Skies' attempted assassinations.
After another brief discussion about the military project, Thrawn complimented Cygni's talents as a leader and tactician. In response, Cygni revealed that he had tried to unit the rebel cells into a Rebel Alliance but distrust and infighting had prevented his plan from coming to fruition. Hoping for equal honesty from Thrawn, Cygni asked him why he was perpetuating the Empire's evils. In a moment of honesty Thrawn revealed the truth of his situation to Cygni, telling him about his meeting with the Neimoidians, the Chiss Ascendancy's plans for the Empire, and that he had completely faked his exile in order to infiltrate the Empire. Thrawn revealed that the Ascendancy had given him a single task; either use the Empire as an ally against the threats in the Unknown Regions or collapse them from the inside as easy prey. Discussing political ideals with Cygni, Thrawn revealed that he believed that the Empire's tyranny was necessary to keep the galaxy in a state of order rather than chaos. The rebellion, he believed, would bring about a dangerous chaos that could allow the threat in the Unknown Regions to overtake everything. Taking a more optimistic tone, Thrawn reminded Cygni that Palpatine would one day die and that when that day came there was hope that the Empire would choose a more tolerant and just leader.
Returning once more to Cygni's tactical prowess, Thrawn made Cygni an offer he hadn't expected; he asked Cygni to use his skills to aid the Chiss Ascendancy in their battle against the evils far worse than the Empire. Furthermore, he promised Cygni that if the people of Batonn put down their weapons, no harm would come to them. Believing Thrawn's promise to be impossible to keep, Cygni declined his offer. He believed that he and Thrawn had the same vision for the future, but vastly different paths to get there.
In a final effort to get Cygni on his side, Thrawn offered to take Cygni to his deduced construction site for the Imperial project so that they might investigate it together. Cygni was intrigued to the point of nearly agreeing, but once again found his obligation to the people of Creekpath forcing him to decline; he knew that surrendering would mean that the people would continue to suffer despite Thrawn's promises.
As he departed, Cygni admitted that he knew his stand at the Creekpath mine would fail. Thrawn promised to order the soldiers to capture him alive, but Cygni assured him that the soldiers would execute him anyway. Thrawn made one final attempt to save Cygni's life by arresting him then and there, but Cygni once more declined stating that he would hold to his ideals and protect his followers even if it led to his death.
As Thrawn watched him go, Yularen approached him from behind, threatening to shoot him as a traitor to the Empire.
Having overheard none of the conversation that had occurred between Thrawn and Cygni, Yularen demanded to know why the two had met alone in the field to talk. Thrawn was honest, openly admitting his intentions to recruit Cygni to the Chiss Ascendancy. Accepting Thrawn's answer, Yularen returned to the matter of Thrawn's unconventional light cruiser positioning, and Thrawn explained that he had positioned the cruisers as he had in hopes of deterring any attempts by the insurgents to steal them. With this, Yularen was satisfied and the two briefly discussed Pryce's mission.
No longer seeing a reason to remain on Batonn, Thrawn returned to the Chimaera to prepare for the remainder of the conflict.[1]
The Battle of Batonn
Once aboard the Chimaera, Thrawn stood at the bridge's forward viewport gazing down at the planet below, lost in thought. As time wore on and Pryce and Gudry failed to check in, Thrawn commanded Yularen to dispatch a special-duty squad to search Pryce's parents' house for Pryce, Gudry, or clues to find them.
The ground battle accounted for and suspecting that the space portion of the battle would begin at any moment, Thrawn ordered Faro to prepare the Chimaera for combat. Even as he did so, ten mid-sized ships emerged from hyperspace and moved at attack speed towards the Shyrack, followed shortly after by two more groups of eleven ships also targeting the cruisers. As the ships closed in on the cruisers, Thrawn calmly commanded the ground troops to send harassment fire in the direction of Creekpath.
As the ships reached the cruisers, however, they passed them by without firing, heading in the direction of the Chimaera. Thrawn remained placid in the face of the imminent attack, ordering the cruisers to free themselves from the repair barges so that the repair barges could release their stowed squadrons of TIE Fighters. Using a combination of the TIEs attacking from behind and the Chimaera's turbolasers, Thrawn easily neutralized the threat of the mid-sized insurgent ships.
Thrawn watched from the Chimaera's bridge as the explosion set off by Pryce in an attempt to cover up Gudry's death destroyed the Creekpath facility and consumed the civilian houses in the vicinity. Thrawn was disgusted and unnerved by the loss of civilian life, but strode to hide it, attempting to keep up a calm facade as he commanded the ground troops to enter Creekpath to act as a search and rescue team.
When Faro reminded Thrawn that a few mid-sized insurgent ships remained, he decided to let those that chose to flee go unharmed. Those that stayed to fight, he destroyed.[1]
Aftermath of Batonn
Dealing with Pryce
In the wake of the massacre at Creekpath, Thrawn held a meeting with Yularen, Pryce, and Eli to discuss the events that had transpired. Thrawn and Yularen interrogated Pryce, asking her to explain the events leading up to the explosion. Pressing further, Thrawn asked Yularen to confirm Cygni's death in the explosion. Yularen confirmed, and Thrawn silently reflected that the galaxy was worse off because of his death. Shifting the conversation, Pryce informed Thrawn that Palpatine was pleased with what had occurred at Batonn and, as if on cue, Faro signaled on the intercom that Palpatine requested his presence on Coruscant. The meeting over, Thrawn requested a word with Pryce once Eli and Yularen had departed from the room.
Quick to protect herself from the repercussions of her actions on Batonn, Pryce proposed a deal to Thrawn. In return for him dropping his Batonn suspicions and helping her with Phoenix Squadron on Lothal, she would guarantee him Fleet Admiral Sartan's job as the commander of the Seventh Fleet. Additionally, she promised to help him navigate politics, something that she considered to be his major weakness. Tempted by her offer, Thrawn agreed to consider it and allowed Pryce to depart the board room.[1]
Promotion to Grand Admiral
Arriving on Coruscant, Thrawn made his way once more to Palpatine's throne room. In the throne room, Palpatine presented Thrawn with a new uniform, a white one with gold shoulder bars and a silver collar insignia along with a rank insignia plaque indicating his promotion to Grand Admiral. Before he would take the promotion from the Palpatine himself, however, Thrawn demanded to know about the Death Star. Thrawn explained that his concerns with the Death Star were twofold; he feared that Palpatine might use it against the Chiss and he believed that Palpatine was diverting too many resources that would be better served elsewhere into a single military project. Palpatine assured Thrawn that he had no plans to use the Death Star on the Chiss, mentioning that he had noticed that Thrawn had left the locations of Chiss worlds and bases off his maps of the Unknown Regions. Additionally, he expressed complete confidence in the Death Star's ability to suppress all opposition, making it worth the cost. This said, Palpatine offered the Grand Admiral's rank plaque again and this time, Thrawn accepted.
As Thrawn accepted his rank insignia plaque, Darth Vader entered the throne room. Thrawn greeted him and exchanged formalities, oblivious to the fact that this was the same man that he had once fought beside in the Thrugii asteroid belt.[1]
Moving Forward
As he prepared to begin the campaign against the rebels of Phoenix Squadron, Thrawn decided it was finally time for he and Eli to part ways. Pleased with the progress Eli had made in the areas of tactics, leadership, and strategy, Thrawn believed that Eli would be a perfect candidate for the Chiss Ascendancy's army. Gifting Eli his journal, Thrawn directed Eli to a set of coordinates in the Unknown Regions. These coordinates would bring Eli to Admiral Ar'alani and the Chiss Defense Fleet, carrying with him greetings from Thrawn.
Freshly promoted and having given Eli the job he believed that Eli deserved, Thrawn set off to combat Phoenix Squadron and the rebel cells of Lothal.[1]
Fighting the Rebellion
First Encounter
Thrawn discussing his plan to destroy the Rebellion.
As soon as he arrived on Lothal, Thrawn began overseeing operations against the rebels. He attended a briefing with Pryce, Agent Alexsandr Kallus of the ISB, Konstantine and Tarkin, where they discussed that the rebels had attacked a Mining Guild convoy at the Sereeda Waypoint. Thrawn deduced that the rebels were planning an operation on Reklam Station in the Yarma System. Thrawn declared that he would pull the rebels apart piece by piece, ensuring that they would be the architects of their own destruction. The Imperial garrison there was alerted to the potential rebel threat.
Thrawn talking to Arihnda Pryce through hologram.
During the rebels' operations, they stole a number of Republic Y-Wing Starfighters that were left over from the Clone Wars. A convoy of rebel ships arrived to assist, and Thrawn allowed them to escape. While some officers, such as Konstantine, believed that these ships were the rebel fleet, both Thrawn and Pryce knew that there was a larger resistance movement growing in the galaxy and that these rebels could be the key to the Empire destroying them all.[2]
Occupation of Ryloth
- “War. It's all you've ever known, isn't it? You were so young when you survived the Clone War. No wonder you are equipped in spirit to fight us like you do. War is in your blood. I study the art of war. Work to perfect it. But you...You were forged by it.”
- ―Thrawn to Hera Syndulla[src]
Later, Thrawn fought against the Free Ryloth Movement led by Cham Syndulla. The Twi'lek, who had found previous success fighting against the Imperial occupation of Ryloth under Captain Slavin underestimated Thrawn's abilities and battle strategies. When combating the Twi'leks, Thrawn used far more precise tactics compared to other Imperial officers Cham had encountered. Thrawn established a base of operations on Ryloth in the Tann Province, where he spent time commanding Slavin's forces against the Twi'lek resistance fighters as well as studying their culture to better understand them.
Thrawn meeting Hera Syndulla for the first time.
Thrawn then spoke with Slavin in his headquarters inside the Syndulla residence about his security arrangements. However, Thrawn knew that Cham would come for his family's Kalikori. Thrawn and Slavin then ran into a servant who tried to steal the Kalikori. Thrawn, Slavin and several troopers then took her into questioning. There, Thrawn was able to deduce from the sentimental value of the Kalikori to a single Twi'lek family and the Syndulla family portrait that she was in fact Hera Syndulla, Cham's daughter and noted rebel. Thrawn was also able to see that the Scout Trooper on guard was actually Ezra Bridger and stunned him.
Thrawn grabbing Slavin by the tunic.
Leaving both rebels locked up, Thrawn asked Slavin to have the Kalikori transferred to his ship to which he derisively called it a "piece of Twi'lek trash". Enraged at the philistine remark, Thrawn seized the captain by the front of his tunic in an uncharacteristic display of emotion, but released him after a moment and apologized for forgetting that not everyone appreciated art like he did.
Thrawn letting the rebels escape.
Thrawn then went aboard an Imperial Light Cruiser and watched as Slavin did a prisoner exchange between Cham and his daughter. However, Cham and the Rebels were able to escape from Slavin's forces. Thrawn then allowed the rebels to have their victory, making no effort to prevent their escape.[3]
Testing Konstantine
- “No, Admiral, I want you to handle it yourself. A single light cruiser should be sufficient for a man of your talents."
"You would send me? In one ship?"
"Unless you're not...up to it"
"I will leave immediately.” - ―Thrawn dispatches Admiral Konstantine to Mykapo[src]
Thrawn, Admiral Konstantine and another officer discuss the events on Mykapo.
Thrawn was aboard the Chimaera above Lothal with the Seventh Fleet when Admiral Konstantine and another Imperial officer arrive to report on the imposition of martial law on Mykapo and the ongoing Imperial blockade of Synistahg. After learning that a local rebel cell called the Iron Squadron had attacked an Imperial patrol with the help of the Ghost, Thrawn deduced that the rebels were evacuating Mykapo's "treasonous" inhabitants. Curious about the Iron Squadron, Thrawn dispatched Admiral Konstantine to deal with the rebels there.
Thrawn orders Kassius Konstantine to Mykapo.
When Konstantine announced that he would depart with a full squadron, Thrawn insisted that the Admiral only deploy a single light cruiser. He reasoned that one ship would be sufficient for a man of his talents. The Admiral was unhappy but complied after Thrawn insinuated that he was not up to the challenge. Konstantine managed to damage the Iron Squadron's leader Mart Mattin and his ship Sato's Hammer and attempted to use him to lure his rebel rescuers into a trap. However, the Ghost Crew circumvented Konstantine's plan and managed to rescue Mart with the help of his uncle Commander Jun Sato. In desperation, Konstantine sent a call for reinforcements to Thrawn.
Thrawn talking to Kassius Konstantine after the latter's defeat.
Thrawn arrived in his Star Destroyer shortly after the rebels damaged Konstantine's light cruiser. The rebels narrowly collided with his ship but managed to flee under the ventral hangar. Speaking to Sato over the com, Thrawn vowed to meet him again. The Grand Admiral replied in a similar fashion and allowed the rebels to escape. Thrawn then turned his attention to Konstantine and asked whether he had contacted him for assistance. Konstantine tried to deny it by claiming he had called to report that he had driven the rebels from the system. However, Thrawn realized that Konstantine was lying after seeing his blazing cruiser and noted that the planet's "treasonous" inhabitants had already escaped.[4]
Hunting down Subversives
After a surge of defective vehicles at the Lothal Imperial Factory, the Imperial High Command dispatched Thrawn to investigate the presence of subversives at the factory. In fact, a small rebel cell led by the former Governor Ryder Azadi had been infiltrating the factory and sabotaging vehicles. Thrawn also initiated a new starfighter initiative to develop a TIE equipped with deflector shields and hyperdrives. Thrawn believed that this TIE would contribute to the Empire's counter-insurgency efforts against the Rebellion.
Thrawn addressing the Lothal factory workers.
The disillusioned Kallus leaked intelligence of the starfighter project to the Rebellion. While Kallus did not know the full details of the project, his information led the Phoenix Squadron to send Ezra, Kanan Jarrus and C1-10P to spy on the factory and link up with Ryder's cell. The rebel mission coincided with Thrawn's crackdown on the factory. After berating the workers for their poor craftsmanship, Thrawn forced the worker Morad Sumar to demonstrate how fast a 614-AvA Speeder Bike could reach maximum speed. Sumar had earlier inspected the vehicle.
Thrawn kills Morad Sumar.
The speeder bike began to overheat and Sumar begged Thrawn to end the simulation. However, Thrawn was not satisfied and set the speeder bike's engines to full speed. The faulty bike exploded and killed Sumar. Thrawn's actions horrified Ezra, Kanan, the workers, and even Kallus. Thrawn took this as an opportunity to warn the workers that they would be personally testing every vehicle they built. Thrawn then ordered Pryce, Kallus, and Lieutenant Yogar Lyste to question each of the workers. As a precaution, the Empire also jammed the factory's communication signals.
Thrawn speaking to Arihnda Pryce and Alexsandr Kallus.
However, Ezra and his team managed to slip away and reach Section A2, which stored the blueprints for Thrawn's weapon. Meanwhile, Thrawn reassured Pryce that he had secured the chamber by ordering the sentries to shoot anyone trying to enter the facility without his personal code on sight. When Kallus expressed skepticism that Thrawn's new fighter initiative would make a difference, Thrawn responded that victory and defeat depended on the smallest details. He then ordered another worker to demonstrate his All Terrain Defense Pod. When the walker collapsed, Thrawn gestured for the Stormtroopers to arrest the man.
Thrawn studying his enemies' art.
Thrawn later summoned Lyste and Kallus to his office. The office was decorated with holographic displays of the Ghost Crew. Thrawn then showed his subordinates one of Sabine's starbird graffiti paintings. While Lyste merely dismissed the painting as a retaining wall, the more perceptive Kallus recognized the starbird as a creature of light that had been re-appropriated as a symbol of the Rebellion. Thrawn speculated that the Ghost Crew had a special connection to Lothal.
Thrawn believes the Rebels are heading to Section A2.
When Thrawn inquired about their crackdown, Lyste informed him that two of the workers had disappeared following his speech and that they had left behind their uniforms. Kallus advised issuing an alert but Thrawn countered that the rebel infiltrators had already found new disguises and were after his secret project. Thrawn ordered Kallus and Lyste to secure Section A2 but the rebels managed to escape the factory with the help of Kallus. Kallus allowed the rebels to escape on an AT-DP walker at the east gate's hangar bay. The rebels' escape coincided with a diversionary attack launched by Ryder at the east gate.
Thrawn believes the Rebels have a mole within the Empire.
Reasoning that the Rebel infiltrators would take advantage of the attack to make their escape, Thrawn ordered the AT-AT Pilots aboard the AT-AT Walkers "271" and "414" to attack the Rebel's stolen AT-DP Walker. Despite the efforts of Thrawn, the Rebel infiltrators managed to escape with the stolen plans. Later, Thrawn heard a report on the skirmish from Lyste. Satisfied, he dismissed him and then turned to talk with Pryce and Kallus. Thrawn voiced his suspicions that the Empire had a mole within their ranks who was supplying the Rebellion with information. When Pryce suggested questioning all Imperial personnel, Thrawn suggested to set up a trap for the traitor.[5]
Strike on Lothal
- “Is Admiral Thrawn there."
"We have reports of an increase in capital ships, - but no confirmation” - ―Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla about Thrawn's pressence on Lothal[src]
Using the information stolen by Chopper, Ezra, and Kanan, Hera was able to plan a strike on the Lothal Imperial Factory. She planned to deploy a fraction of Phoenix Squadron and assigned Ezra to carry out reconnaissance work on Imperial military positions. When Sabine asked if Thrawn was there, Hera replied that there had been an increase in Imperial ships above Lothal but that they did not know for sure. Hera was forced to relieve Ezra of his duties after he experienced a Force vision of Maul and attacked a Rebel Crewman. While Ezra, Kanan, and Sabine stayed behind to deal with Maul, Hera proceeded with the mission.[6]
Continuing the Hunt
- “You seem, in surprisingly, good spirits, considering this loss."
"Loss you say? The rebels may have protected the location of their base for now, but, in doing so, they have narrowed my search. Before today, they could have been hiding in any of the thousand systems. But now, now I know they are, almost certainly, on one of the ninety-four planets surveyed by my infiltrators. The rebels have won this battle, but the war will be ours.” - ―Alexsandr Kallus and Thrawn discussing the outcome of the Imperial Infiltrator Droid sabotage[src]
Later, Thrawn embarked on a campaign to scour the Outer Rim for Chopper Base. Under his command, Imperial Infiltrator Droids were dispatched to Outer Rim worlds to search for the bases. One of these droids, EXD-9, stumbled upon Chopper Base and was adopted by Garazeb Orrelios and AP-5, who mistook him for a Protocol Droid. Kallus, as Fulcrum, managed to warn Zeb who disabled and reprogrammed the droid with the help of AP-5 and Chopper. The rebels then sent EXD-9 back to the Empire as an improvised bomb which destroyed a Star Destroyer.
Thrawn and Kallus discussing the loss of the EXD droids
Following the destruction of the Star Destroyer, Thrawn met with Kallus aboard the Chimaera. When Thrawn asked how the explosion happened, Kallus responded that he believed that the rebels had reprogrammed one of the Infiltrator Droids and programmed it to self-destruct back at its base. Despite the setback, Thrawn remained in good spirits because he had managed to narrow down the search for the rebel base to 94 planets.[7]
Discovering Fulcrum
Thrawn informing his fellow Imperials about his progress in locating the rebel base.
After Rebel successes, Thrawn uncovered that the rebel spy went by the codename "Fulcrum", and that it was the only reason for recent rebel successes. Kallus and Lyste were summoned to the Chimaera where they encountered Sector Command staff en route to Thrawn's Office. Kallus and Lyste encountered Thrawn as he was practicing hand-to-hand combat with a pair of Imperial Sentry Droids, and then continued to the office and met with Yularen and Konstantine. Thrawn then met with the group and, along with Yularen, briefed Konstantine, Lyste and Kallus about the danger posed by Fulcrum. During the meeting, Thrawn also revealed that he had narrowed down the search for the rebel base by analyzing Rebel attack patterns on Imperial installations and ships, and most importantly their proximity to the planet Lothal. When Lyste expressed his enthusiasm in hunting Fulcrum, Thrawn warned him that nobody was above suspicion.
Thrawn with Wullf Yularen.
After dismissing his guests, Thrawn met with Pryce, who had come to inquire about progress in determining the Rebel base's location and the identity of Fulcrum. Thrawn told her he had set a trap by asserting that the Rebel spy in question was present for the meeting and that they now needed to wait for the spy to pass on the information they learned. Yularen then informed Thrawn that a coded message had been beamed off the Chimaera following the transfer of the shuttle thief that Lyste had apprehended above Lothal. Thrawn decided to visit the prisoner for himself.
Thrawn with Wullf Yularen and Arihnda Pryce.
When Thrawn along with Pryce and Yularen arrived at the detention block, they discovered that the prisoner had escaped. After Yularen discovered that Lyste was the last person to access the detention block, Thrawn came to suspect that Lyste was the rebel agent Fulcrum.
Thrawn firing a blaster at his Imperial Sentry Droids.
Thrawn returned to his office and was informed by the Stormtrooper sentry outside that Lyste was waiting inside his office. Already suspicious, he beckoned for two Stormtrooper guards and cautiously entered his office. By this time, Fulcrum "Lyste" and Chopper had deleted the Atollon System from his charts and were hiding behind one of his exhibits to avoid detection. Meanwhile, Fulcrum reprogrammed two of Thrawn's sentry droids into assassin droids and set them to Thrawn's office. The droids entered the room and knocked out the guards. Thrawn attempted to disable the droids with the command "Override Code Rukh", but failed. Following a fierce struggle, Thrawn managed to destroy the droids by shooting them in their chests. Thrawn also caught sight of "Lyste" fleeing his office. Believing that Lyste had tried to assassinate him, Thrawn contacted Yularen and instructed him to proceed to the Chimaera's hangar bay.
Thrawn deduces that Alexsandr Kallus is Fulcrum.
The rebels managed to escape, but Lyste was arrested as Fulcrum. Following Lyste's arrest, Thrawn told Kallus, Pryce, and Konstantine that Fulcrum was apprehended, before dismissing the three. In private, Yularen expressed his dissatisfaction with how easy the conclusion was made and how Lyste was too inexperienced and naive to be capable of what he's been accused of. Thrawn agreed with Yularen's assessment. They then analyzed the helmet the shuttle thief had left behind, which was inscribed with an artistic depiction of a Loth-Cat. Thrawn recognized the art style as belonging to Sabine and identified Ezra as the owner of the helmet. When Yularen asked why Kallus did not report Ezra's capture, Thrawn concluded that Kallus was the real Fulcrum and had framed Lyste for the crime. Thrawn's plan was to manipulate Kallus into revealing the location of the rebel base in the Lothal Sector.[8]
Hunt for Mon Mothma
- “She could be our key to locating the true Rebel Fleet.”
- ―Thrawn on the possible capture of Mon Mothma[src]
Thrawn explaining his plan to capture Mon Mothma.
After Senator Mon Mothma resigned from the Imperial Senate and gave a fiery speech denouncing the Ghorman Massacre placing the blame upon Palpatine, Thrawn received intelligence that Mothma and the Ghost Crew were planning to travel through the Archeon Nebula to avoid Imperial detection. Based on his knowledge of Hera, Thrawn anticipated that she would be risky enough to travel through the Archeon Pass. In response, he deployed his prototype TIE Defender piloted by Imperial ace, Commander Vult Skerris, and escorted by two TIE Interceptors to flush the rebels out of the nebula. Thrawn also tasked Pryce and Konstantine with positioning two Star Destroyers outside of the Archeon Nebula to capture them when Skerris drove them out. Despite Thrawn's planning, Hera and the Ghost Crew managed to escape with Mothma and her entourage following a brief skirmish in the Archeon Nebula. Following her escape, Mothma and other rebel leaders formally established the Alliance to Restore the Republic above Dantooine.[9]
Spy Droids
- “I believe this C1 astromech is the droid infiltrator Grand Admiral Thrawn referenced in his memo about the rebels of Phoenix Squadron.”
- ―LT-319 on capturing Chopper[src]
As part of his counter-insurgency efforts, Thrawn also utilized the services of a team of Imperial Information Office intelligence officers based aboard an Imperial Listener Ship. This team was led by Controller LT-319 and were tasked with gathering intelligence and monitoring rebel activities. As part of their intelligence operations, these spies were tasked with keeping an eye out for rebel droids such as Chopper, who had taken part in numerous undercover missions.
During the Ghost Crew's mission to Killun Station, LT-319's team detected Chopper's presence at the Imperial Security Bureau base. Using a network terminal, the team reprogrammed Chopper into a double agent droid and tried to use him to discover the location of Chopper Base. As part of the operation, Chopper hijacked the Ghost and used a Computer Spike to transfer data from the ship's navigation computer to the surveillance vessel. Before the download could be completed, the rebels retook control of their ship and removed the Imperial programming from Chopper. Hera then destroyed the surveillance vessel by sending back their data feed, causing a data surge that blew the vessel apart.[10]
Battle of Atollon
Blockading Chopper Base
- “I do not require glory, only results for my Emperor.”
- ―Thrawn's response to Kallus after he derided Thrawn for holding his capital ships[src]
Thrawn arrives at the Imperial Complex flanked by his Death Trooper guards.
Later, Thrawn acquired the services of several elite Death Troopers. He flew to the Imperial Complex in Lothal's Capital City for a private meeting with Pryce and Konstantine. Inside the briefing room, Thrawn closed the blinds and warned them that they still had a traitor in their midst. He also initiated a hologram conversation with Tarkin and warned that the Phoenix Squadron and General Jan Dodonna's Massassi Group were planning to attack the TIE Defender factories on Lothal. While Thrawn had not determined the location of the rebel base yet, he vowed to capture the rebel leadership alive.
Thrawn deduces the rebel base is on Atollon.
Kallus was listening to Thrawn's conversation and traveled to Ezra's Tower which had a transmitter which he had used to send his Fulcrum transmissions to the rebels. Aware that the traitor had listened in on the briefing, Thrawn followed him. When Kallus tried to inform the rebels, Thrawn startled him and revealed a communications jammer in his hand. Following a fist fight, Thrawn managed to defeat the rogue agent, though Kallus destroyed his jammer and was able to warn the rebels. Kallus was taken captive by two Death Troopers and brought into the tower. Thrawn coolly stated to Kallus that by looking at both the trajectory of General Dodonna's fleet and Kallus' transmission, they pointed at a spot that was not shown on Imperial charts. Thrawn was aware that it was not on the charts, but by looking at the ancient art of the people in the sector, instantly knew that the rebel base was in the Atollon System.
Thrawn speaks to the rebel leaders via hologram.
Thrawn ordered Konstantine to blockade the Atollon System with the Seventh Fleet, cutting off any escape with two Interdictor Cruisers. He then traveled to Atollon aboard the Chimaera with Pryce and the captive Kallus in tow. Thrawn then issued a hologram transmission to Hera, Sato, and Dodonna, stating that negotiations were off the table and vowed to crush them. The rebel fleet tried to break the blockade but Thrawn's Star Destroyers and TIE Fighters inflicted heavy casualties. The rebels only managed to find a gap in Thrawn's blockade after Konstantine disobeyed orders and went to intercept Sato's Imperial Light Carrier Phoenix Nest. Sato rammed his ship into Konstantine's Interdictor Cruiser; destroying both vessels and allowing the Ezra and Chopper to flee on a Gauntlet Fighter into hyperspace. Thrawn witnessed the debacle and hoped that Konstatine's folly would not undermine his battle plan.
The Ground Assault
Thrawn prepares to lead the ground assault against the rebels.
Despite this setback, Thrawn's forces had inflicted heavy casualties on the two rebel groups. After forcing the rebels back on the ground, Thrawn ordered his fleet to bombard Chopper Base from orbit. However, the rebels had managed to activate Sabine's prototype deflector shield generator. To give the rebels the impression that their shields had stood up, Thrawn ceased the attack. He then delegated command of the Seventh Fleet to Pryce while he led the ground assault on Chopper Base. Thrawn deployed both AT-DP and AT-AT walkers for the ground assault.
Thrawn leads his Death Troopers into battle.
In order to learn the rebels' strength, Thrawn sent his AT-DP walkers into the canyon leading to Chopper Base first. The walkers were destroyed by Rex and Zebs' detonators and a rocket launcher. However, Thrawn then deployed several AT-AT walkers. These walkers destroyed the remaining detonators, forcing the rebels to retreat. Thrawn and his Death Troopers then entered the base. The Grand Admiral also ordered his ground forces to storm the base.
Thrawn cut off guard by the arrival of Bendu.
One of Thrawn's AT-AT walkers managed to destroy a GR-75 Medium Transport fleeing offworld. Thrawn and his troops then surrounded Hera, Dodonna and several rebels. When Hera refused to surrender, Thrawn threaten to kill them beginning with Kanan. However, Thrawn was interrupted by the mysterious Force entity known as Bendu, who embodied the balance in the Force. Bendu used lightning to destroy the base and strike down Thrawn's forxes. This gave the rebels the window needed to flee into space with their comrades
Thrawn shoots down Bendu.
Undaunted by the mystical Bendu, the Grand Admiral ordered his troops to concentrate fire on Bendu, which led to him falling down to the ground effectively ending his rampage. Meanwhile, Ezra and Sabine's Mandalorian forces were able to destroy the second Interdictor Cruiser. This allowed the tattered rebel remnants to flee into hyperspace. Despite failing to capture the rebel leadership and destroy the rebel forces completely, the Battle of Atollon ended as a victory for Thrawn.
Thrawn speaks to the fallen Bendu.
Following the battle, Thrawn confronted the fallen Bendu. When Thrawn asked Bendu what manner of creature he was, Bendu replied that he was beyond Thrawn's power to kill. The creature also predicted Thrawn's defeat, describing it as "many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace". Undaunted, Thrawn shot Bendu with his blaster. While the creature disappeared, he could still hear his laughter ringing.[11]
In the aftermath of the battle, the Rebel Alliance had come to believe, because of Thrawn's victory, that they weren't ready for open warfare against the Empire, and that their mission to free Lothal from the Empire would have to be postpone.[12][13]
Procuring Weapons
Civil War on Mandalore
- “You cannot make it work properly because you do not truly understand it.You need the weapon's creator. You need Sabine Wren.”
- ―Thrawn telling Tiber Saxon to capture Sabine Wren[src]
Shortly before Thrawn's victory against the rebels on Atollon, an uprising led by Clan Wren of Krownest against the Imperial-backed government of Mandalore had begun as a result of Sabine to return to her homeworld. This event saw the death of Governor Gar Saxon and all-out conflict engaged on Mandalore. Acting on the Emperor's behalf, Thrawn contacted Saxon's brother and successor as Governor, Tiber Saxon, instructing him to end the uprising as swiftly as possible. Saxon assured Thrawn that he would succeed in ending the conflict and promised that he would unveil a new weapon prototype that would prove invaluable to the Empire.
Thrawn speaks to Tiber Saxon.
A short time after the weapon had been tested for the first time during a battle with Clan Wren, Saxon showed Thrawn, present via hologram, the efficiency of the Arc Pulse Generator, also known as "The Duchess". Thrawn was shown the successful test of the Duchess against Clan Wren's warriors. Despite being impressed by the Duchess's abilities to target the Beskar metal in Mandalorian Armor, Thrawn expected the range to be greater. Though Tiber tried to defend that he had managed to rebuild the weapon from what fragment remained, Thrawn bluntly stated that Tiber couldn't use the Duchess to its fullest potential because he does not truly understand it. Thrawn then suggested to Tiber that he should capture the Duchess's creator, Sabine.[14]
Upgrading the TIE Defender
- “Good afternoon Commander. I'm eager to hear your opinion on the improvements made to the TIE Defender program.”
- ―Thrawn speaking to Vult Skerris about the upgrades to the TIE Defender[src]
Thrawn and Arihnda Pryce on Lothal.
Some time later Thrawn and Pryce, with an accompany of Death Troopers, visited an Imperial base on the plains of Lothal to see how his new prototype was faring. Upon arriving, he was greeted by Skerris, who promised to show him the fighter's capabilities. During the visit, a TIE Pilot caught Ezra off guard, causing him to be spotted by Thrawn and Pryce. Thrawn was surprised to see the rebels here, and ordered his Death Troopers to secure the prototype, before watching the young Jedi's antics with vague curiosity and responding to Ezra's casual greeting with a dry remark, sounding not surprised.
Thrawn preparing to shoot the TIE Defender Elite.
Ezra was merely distracting the Imperials for Sabine, as she was inside the Defender Elite attempting to steal its Flight Data Recorder. Seeing Ezra pinned down, she lifted off in the fighter and helped him inside before destroying most of the depot's parked fighters and even strafing the area where Thrawn was standing. Unfazed by the powerful bolts scorching the ground inches from him, Thrawn calmly stood his ground and fired up at the rogue fighter with his blaster even as his fellows scurried for cover until it went screaming over his head. The fighter then proceeded to blow up the shuttle Thrawn had arrived in and strafed the command tower before screeching off into the grasslands. Still calm, Thrawn dryly inquired if the debacle had been part of the aforementioned demonstration. Pryce offered to activate the Defender Elite's kill switch, but Thrawn instead saw a perfect opportunity to test the ship's combat abilities and ordered Skerris to deploy three TIE Interceptors in pursuit.
Thrawn observing the Rebels' progress.
After two of the Interceptors were destroyed in short order, Skerris surmised that Hera is piloting the Defender Elite. Thrawn states that it was unlikely, as he was aware of her piloting skills and that all three interceptors would have been destroyed by then if she was the pilot. When the Defender Elite's transponder was disabled, he notes that it has been done in record time and guesses that Sabine was also on the Defender Elite with Ezra. He then comments on the strength of the Defender Elite, as a novice pilot like Ezra was easily able to destroy the three TIE Interceptors. Thrawn then allowed Pryce to activate the kill switch. He promises her ground reinforcements in their attempt to find Ezra and Sabine, but they fail to find them, as a Loth-Wolf had already taken them to safety.[15]
Thrawn is angry that Hera Syndulla escaped.
Having secured the crash site, Pryce contacted Thrawn and informed him that both the flight data recorder and hyperdrive were missing from the wreckage. This lead Thrawn to deduce that they would try to get the data to Rebel Command, and so he dispatched his own personal agent, Rukh, to stop them. When Pryce protests that such help was not necessary, Thrawn points out that the rebels' presence on Lothal and the theft of the Elite are testaments to the contrary. Despite Rukh's efforts, the rebels nonetheless escape his grasp. Attaching the stolen hyperdrive to an aging U-Wing Starfighter, Hera escapes Thrawn's massive blockade by jumping to lightspeed through the hangar of an Imperial Construction Module. Thrawn was visibly annoyed when informed of this.[16]
After Hera returned to Yavin 4 with the data recorder, the rebel leaders were reluctant to commit to an attack because of Thrawn's tactical brilliance. Hera was however able to convince the reluctant leaders to show the galaxy that the Rebellion would not back down.[17]
Attack on Lothal
Thrawn commands his forces onboard the Chimaera.
Thrawn was later holding command on his flagship when he was informed of several rebel starfighters entering the system and realized that the long-awaited attack on Lothal was now commencing. Reasoning that the rebels would most likely target the TIE Defender factory and Lothal Fuel Depot in Capital City, Thrawn contacted Pryce and ordered her to shore up ground defenses. When the rebels already on Lothal managed to destroy the anti-air batteries on the ground, Thrawn ordered Skerris to join the fray and prevent any rebels from reaching the surface. Skerris, piloting a new TIE Defender Elite, destroyed two rebels in quick succession but was unable to resist pursuing Hera (newly promoted to General) after she revealed herself. Unable to match the Elite's speed, Hera instead headed straight for the Chimaera.
Thrawn commands Rukh to capture Hera Syndulla.
Realizing she was attempting to lead Skerris into a trap, Thrawn ordered him to cease his pursuit but was refused. Thrawn nonetheless ordered his gunners to open fire and the blasts struck both Skerris' Defender Elite and Hera's X-Wing Starfighter, disabling their shields. Hera then damaged the Chimaera's targeting array, briefly hid in the smoke produced by the subsequent explosion, and fired on Skerris' now vulnerable fighter, damaging its wing assembly and sending it spinning into an light cruiser. The crippled light cruiser in turn then crashed into a Star Destroyer and sheared through its bridge tower, allowing the strike force to make a break for the planet surface. Before they were able to reach their targets, Thrawn had ordered the second wave of TIE fighters to intercept them, and they managed to destroy the entire strike force. Upon being informed that by Woldar that several X-Wings crashed in and around the Capital City, Thrawn contacted Rukh on the ground and ordered him to locate and capture any survivors, particularly Hera. After a lengthy chase through the streets of Capital City, Rukh caught up with Hera and successfully captured her after a short fight.[18]
Threat to the Defender Project
- “Your TIE Defender program is at risk. Orson Krennic has been quite persuasive about diverting the funding to his own project: Stardust."
"The Emperor has assured me that he supports my project."
"In my view, Director Krennic's project has been nothing but expenses and excuses for years on end. If construction of the Defender is to continue, you must make your case directly to the Emperor himself. I have already arranged the meeting."
"I'll leave immediately, Moff Tarkin.” - ―Wilhuff Tarkin and Thrawn discuss the continued support for the TIE Defender program[src]
Thrawn interrogates Hera Syndulla in Pryce's Office.
While Pryce was torturing Hera , Grand Admiral Thrawn entered the Pryce's office and asked if Hera had revealed the location of the rebel fleet yet. Pryce responded that she had not begun questioning Hera yet. Thrawn questioned Hera but the rebel leader remained defiant. Thrawn then showed Hera her Kalikori and talked about the shapes on the Twi'lek artifact. When Thrawn questioned Hera about her lost brother, Hera responded that he was unworthy of holding it. Believing that the Kalikori would end with her, Thrawn promised that the Kalikori would be in good hands before leaving the room.
Thrawn discusses the TIE Defender Elite with Wilhuff Tarkin.
Due to the attack against the Lothal factory and the theft of the Defender Elite, Tarkin informed Thrawn that Orson Krennic, the Director of Advanced Weapons Research, had persuaded the Imperial authorities to divert further funding to his "Project Stardust" - the Death Star, which had been under development and construction for nearly two decades. Thrawn protested that the Emperor had already assured him that he supported the TIE Defender program, to which Tarkin replied that he had arranged an audience with the Emperor for Thrawn to plead his case. Thrawn immediately departed Lothal aboard the Chimaera to return to Coruscant.[19]
Thrawn lashes out at Arihnda Pryce for destroying the Lothal Fuel Depot and seizing his TIE Defender program.
While on Coruscant, Thrawn learned that Pryce had destroyed the fuel depot outside of Lothal's capital in an attempt to prevent the Rescue of Hera Syndulla. Though the resulting explosion had killed Kanan, it had also crippled the Imperials by destroying all of their fuel on the planet, bringing the Defender program screeching to an indefinite halt. Thrawn chastised the governor for having the audacity of holding a parade to hide the magnitude of the disaster. Cutting off her protests, the Grand Admiral coldly informed Pryce that he would deal with her upon his return to Lothal, but in the meantime, he felt that without Kanan's leadership, the rebels - particularly Ezra - would be aimless, and attack recklessly. To that end, he dispatched Rukh to eliminate them once they showed themselves.[20]
Pryce became afraid of what Thrawn would do to her when he returned, and resolved to capture the Rebels before he arrived.[21]
Fooling Scout Troopers
A hologram recording of Thrawn during the Battle of Atollon fooling two Scout Troopers.
Sometime later, the Ghost Crew attempted to infiltrate the Lothal Jedi Temple. Which was now under the Empire's control. To that end, Chopper displayed a hologram recording of Thrawn during the Battle of Atollon to distract two Scout Troopers long enough for Zeb to knock them out and give their armor to Ezra and Sabine.[22]
After Sabine was exposed and captured by Veris Hydan, Hydan informed the Mandalorian that the Grand Admiral admired her work and had amassed a collection of her artwork.[23]
Liberation of Lothal
- “Whatever happens next happens to both of us.”
- ―Thrawn to Ezra Bridger[src]
Thrawn brings Ezra Bridger before a hologram of Emperor Sheev Palpatine.
Thrawn returned from Coruscant to find that Ezra and his forces had captured Pryce and taken control of Imperial headquarters in the capital, falsely enacting Protocol 13 to lure the planet's garrison into the dome in order to remove them from the planet. The Chimaera positioned itself directly above the dome, so that the dome crashing into it would destroy Capital City, and Thrawn called Ezra's bluff by having Rukh disable the planetary shield before opening fire on the city itself. Seeking to prevent his people from being slaughtered, Ezra surrendered himself to Thrawn aboard the Chimaera, where Thrawn showed him the displays of art he had collected from Lothal, the intent being to preserve them before he destroyed the planet, a course of action he now deemed inevitable. Thrawn brought Ezra into a cargo hold which contained the remains of Lothal's Jedi Temple, and a hologram of Emperor Palpatine himself. Leaving Ezra in the presence of his Emperor, Thrawn returned to the bridge and ordered a full-scale bombardment.
Thrawn and Ezra Bridger travel through hyperspace to locations unknown.
Ezra managed to escape from the cargo hold and stormed the Chimaera's bridge, just as the rebel forces on the ground were able to raise Lothal's planetary shield. Thrawn attempted to contact Rukh, but found that Zeb answered instead, as Rukh was being electrocuted to death. As Ezra and Thrawn faced off, multiple unknown contacts emerged from hyperspace and destroyed Thrawn's blockade fleet in orbit: a flock of Purrgils, summoned by the Ghost at Ezra's instruction. The Purrgils wrapped their tentacles around the Chimaera, smashing their tentacles through the viewports and holding Thrawn and his crew in their grip. Though he wounded Ezra with his blaster, Thrawn was Force-pushed into the Purrgils' tentacles by the young Jedi, the "many arms" of the creatures holding him in their "cold embrace", just as the Bendu had foretold. The creatures carried the Chimaera — and Thrawn and Ezra — into hyperspace, leaving both Thrawn's and Bridger's fates unknown.[24]
Personality and Traits
Thrawn possessed a calm and collected demeanor. He was a brilliant military strategist, known for his anticipation of enemy attacks and his own tactical precision. Thrawn worked to perfect the art of war. He had respect for his enemies, believing that in order to defeat a worthy opponent, one must understand them in every aspect, including their history and philosophy. In particular, Thrawn had a strong appreciation for art, and he believed that studying it could allow him to delve into the psyche of the people of the cultures that the artists belonged to. Thrawn's calm demeanor and suave sophisticated mannerisms masked his ruthlessness. Thrawn rarely wavered in his generally cool temperament, though at one point, he furiously grabbed a fellow Imperial by his uniform after he insulted his enemy's artwork. He quickly regained his composure however and apologized to the officer for his emotional outburst.
Thrawn was also polite and respectful, even towards his enemies, whom he generally tended to admire. Even when interrogating Hera, he showed mannerly behavior despite their antagonistic relationship. Thrawn did not have a high opinion of Konstantine and once sent him on a mission to deal with the Iron Squadron in the Mykapo System. Thrawn set a test for Konstantine by ordering the Admiral to depart with only a light cruiser in order to test his mettle. Konstantine underestimated the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the rebels there. Thrawn was astute enough to discern that Konstantine was lying when the latter tried to save face by claiming to have driven the rebels from the system. In fact, Thrawn was aware that the rebels had already evacuated their sympathizers from the system.
As a tactician, Thrawn sponsored a new initiative to develop TIE Fighters that were equipped with deflector shields. He believed that this feature would give the Empire an edge over their rebel opponents. Thrawn had a low tolerance for incompetence and poor craftsmanship. He personally engineered the death of Sumar in order to send a warning to the Lothal Imperial factory workers. Thrawn was meticulous and ruthless in carrying out his mission to hunt subversives and detect "shoddy" craftsmanship at the Lothal Imperial Factory. Thus, Thrawn was willing to do anything to accomplish his goals.
Thrawn's appreciation for art and his determination to defeat the Rebellion led him to amass a vast collection of images and objects related to the Ghost Crew, who had outsmarted his predecessors. In addition, Thrawn's scrutiny of Lyste and Kallus' reports following the rebel infiltration of the Lothal Imperial Factory led him to realize that the Empire had a spy within their ranks. Thrawn believed that interrogating all Imperial personnel would alert the traitor. Instead, he advocated engineering a trap for the traitor that would turn them into an asset of the Empire.
Thrawn has shown greater patience in dealing with the Rebellion than other Imperial offers, being willing to allow them small victories of little strategic consequence in exchange for studying their methods in preparation for what he intends to be the destruction of the Rebellion as a whole.
Thrawn was willing to take high risks as shown when he dispatched Imperial Infiltrator Droids to hunt for Chopper Base. Despite the loss of a Star Destroyer, Thrawn comforted himself with the knowledge that he reduced the search for the rebel base to 94 worlds. Kallus later tried to elude Thrawn's hunt for Fulcrum by planting clues that incriminated Lyste. However, Thrawn discovered Kallus' deception and decided to manipulate the rogue ISB agent into helping him find the rebel base.
While other Imperial commanders overlooked the threat posed by rebel droids such as Chopper, Thrawn kept a catalog on these droids which he circulated to his intelligence operatives. This information enabled LT-319 to embark on an ambitious plot to hijack the Ghost and find the location of Chopper Base.
While generally calm and even respectful towards almost everyone around him, this belied Thrawn's ruthlessness and depravity, having been responsible for a large number of civilian deaths, which he simply shrugged off as collateral damage, to the subtle disgust of Kallus.
In an effort to find the location of Chopper Base, Thrawn set a trap for Kallus by revealing that his spies were aware that the rebels were planning to attack Lothal. Cross-referencing his knowledge of ancient Lothalian art with the trajectories of General Dodonna's Massassi Group and Kallus' Fulcrum transmissions, Thrawn deduced that Chopper Base was in the Atollon System. As a career officer, Thrawn was not interested in personal glory but was only concerned with yielding results for his Emperor. His interest in the bigger game irked Konstantine, who was only interested in personal glory. Thrawn was angered by Konstantine's desire for personal glory and realized that his subordinates actions jeopardized the Imperial offensive on Atollon.
Thrawn was also an excellent ground commander. To test the mettle of the rebels, he bombarded Chopper Base. In an effort to learn the enemy's strength, Thrawn was willing to sacrifice several AT-DP walkers in the first attack wave. Thrawn was skilled at coordinating both his ground and starfighter forces. Thrawn also preferred to lead his men from the front. As a scientifically-minded man, Thrawn was unperturbed by mystical threats like Bendu. He used the combined firepower of his troops and walkers to bring down the mystical Force-being. Thrawn was not intimidated by Bendu and tried to destroy the Force-wielding being by shooting him with his blaster, only to be surprised and unnerved by his sudden disappearance and mocking laughter.
Skills and Abilities
While Thrawn was a seasoned military commander and accomplished tactician, he was also known to use physical force when necessary. Thrawn was known to wield a blaster pistol. On one occasion, he stunned Ezra, who had disguised himself as a Scout Trooper. On another occasion, Thrawn grabbed Slavin by the scruff of his collar after the latter exasperated him with his arrogance and contempt for art. Thrawn also had considerable skill with hand-to-hand combat, often practicing with a pair of Sentry Droids. Thrawn used his combat skills to survive at least one assassination attempt by Kallus, who had reprogrammed his sentry droids.
Thrawn was physically fit and agile. He was adept at unarmed combat and was familiar with the limitations of Imperial Academy martial art. Thrawn managed to defeat Kallus in unarmed combat. As a Grand Admiral, Thrawn was familiar with the various rebel tactics including the Danaan formation. To prevent the rebels from escaping, he reinforced the center of the Seventh Fleet with Konstantine's Interdictor Cruiser. While this tactic prevented the rebels from escaping, it came undone when Konstantine ignored Thrawn's orders and decided to engage Phoenix Nest.
Relationships
Gallery
Appearances
Season Three
Season Four
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Books |
Trivia
- He and Darth Maul are the main antagonists of Seasons 3, while he and Arihnda Pryce are the main antagonists of Season 4, making him the only main antagonist to span more than one season.
- He is voiced by Lars Mikkelsen, who is the older brother of Mads Mikkelsen, who portrays Galen Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
- Thrawn first appeared in the Legends novel Heir to the Empire, the first novel in The Thrawn Trilogy, as the main antagonist. In Legends his full name is Mitth'raw'nuruodo, while Thrawn was his "core" name and is more commonly used. His full name was canonized in the novel Thrawn.
- His appearance in Star Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow marks his debut in the canonical Star Wars universe.
- He also appears in the canon book Thrawn, written by Timothy Zahn (the author of the Thrawn Trilogy and the creator of the character), which precedes the events of Season 3.
- The idea to bring Thrawn into Star Wars Rebels was discussed during early production of Season 1. Each of the producers suggested it to varying degrees at different times. Ultimately, Thrawn is such an important admiral that they felt it wouldn't make sense to introduce him back then: the Lothal rebel cell was just a small team with one ship on one local planet. They reasoned that Thrawn would only be brought in at a later stage when the rebellion had grown into a large enough coordinated military movement that it merited his response - essentially the same reason that they didn't introduce Darth Vader until Season Two. Their overall plan for the series was for the scale of the nascent rebellion to gradually intensify, and the Empire would react with incrementally more significant force appropriate responses.
- Thrawn is the second main antagonist to have survived an entire season, the first one being Kallus during season 1.
- As established in the Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy, which covers events between The Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, Thrawn's knowledge of the Unknown Regions inspired a contingency plan-eventually carried out by Rae Sloane-in which remnants of the Empire traveled into that region of space in order to rebuild, leading to the birth of the First Order.
- Thrawn was also one of the few Imperials that know Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader, along with Wilhuff Tarkin.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 Thrawn
- ↑ Star Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow
- ↑ Hera's Heroes
- ↑ Iron Squadron
- ↑ An Inside Man
- ↑ Visions and Voices
- ↑ Warhead
- ↑ Through Imperial Eyes
- ↑ Secret Cargo
- ↑ Double Agent Droid
- ↑ Zero Hour
- ↑ In the Name of the Rebellion
- ↑ The Occupation
- ↑ Star Wars Rebels: Heroes of Mandalore
- ↑ Flight of the Defender
- ↑ Kindred
- ↑ Crawler Commanders
- ↑ Rebel Assault
- ↑ Jedi Night
- ↑ DUME
- ↑ A Fool's Hope
- ↑ Wolves and a Door
- ↑ A World Between Worlds
- ↑ Family Reunion - and Farewell