Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Legends

"This one is constantly thinking, analyzing, strategizing. He showed no fear, but was curious, studying me in turn."

- Emperor Palpatine

Grand Admiral Thrawn (&mdash;9 ABY) was a male Chiss military officer and an Imperial Grand Admiral. His full name was Mitth'raw'nuruodo, but for its ease of pronunciation went by his core name, “Thrawn”.

A brilliant military strategist and the last great military commander of the Galactic Empire, Thrawn led the remnants of the Imperial Starfleet in a campaign of victories against the New Republic in the years after the disastrous Battle of Endor and reign of Ysanne Isard.

Early life


A son of the Nuruodo bloodline, Thrawn was born into a military life. Nuruodo held the responsibility of commanding the Expeditionary Defense Fleet, a task which Thrawn proved himself most competent as Syndic of his phalanx.

While on patrol sometime around 27 BBY, Thrawn encountered a fleet of fifteen Galactic Republic starships sent by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to intercept and destroy Outbound Flight. Thrawn decimated the Republic fleet down to one ship. Aboard the surviving ship, Kinman Doriana, one of Palpatine’s most trusted advisors, sued Thrawn for parlay. After accepting Doriana’s request, the silver-tongued advisor convinced Thrawn that the Jedi aboard Outbound Flight posed a threat to the Chiss Ascendancy, and that if allowed to pass, would be the harbingers of many others to come. Thrawn allowed Doriana to escape, who brought word back to Palpatine of the alien commander’s tactical prowess.

When the massive exploratory ship arrived, Thrawn preemptively engaged it, leaving it a burning hulk. Thrawn returned to Csilla with news of his work to find his overseers displeased. At the time, the Chiss would not accept the concept of a preemptive strike, and they punished Thrawn. After several unacceptable decisions, the Chiss chose to exile Thrawn, despite his victories.

Imperial command
Around the years of the formation of the Galactic Empire, Captain Voss Parck discovered Thrawn on a remote planetoid at the edge of the Outer Rim near the Unknown Regions. After disabling an advanced landing force with primitive tools and traps, Parck convinced Thrawn to join him aboard Steadfast, and the ship made way for Coruscant. Upon arrival, Parck presented Thrawn to Palpatine, who was most pleased to have the commander responsible for Outbound Flight's destruction before him.

Parck began training Thrawn, but the student quickly surpassed the master, and Thrawn engaged in a long period of private tutoring with the Empire’s greatest minds. Thrawn climbed through the ranks of the Imperial Navy, much to the chagrin and in spite of the xenophobia exhibited by many of its human officers.

Thrawn rapidly attained the rank of Captain and took command of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Vengeance. There, Thrawn had the loathsome task of ferrying the Dark Jedi Jerec on his quests for the Emperor and later almost perished in the S’krrr incident that destroyed Vengeance.

Admiralty
3 ABY was a busy year for Thrawn. Shortly after the Battle of Hoth, Thrawn returned to the Empire proper and was promoted to Vice Admiral for his successes. With a full fleet at his command, including three Imperial-class Star Destroyers and his flagship, Grey Wolf, Navy command tasked him with pacifying the Pakuuni system, an area plagued with Rebel and pirate activity. With typical style, Thrawn led a decisive campaign that crushed the Alliance forces in the system and oversaw the construction of NL-1 to ensure continued Pakuuni obedience. Thrawn also dabbled in Imperial research and development, and was essential in the design of the XM-1 Missile Boat. Thrawn received yet another promotion to the rank of full Admiral, the fourth highest rank in the Imperial Navy.



This would not end the promotions. Before long, Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin engaged in open rebellion against the Emperor, using many of the technologies he had developed for the Navy against loyal forces. Thrawn used the forces at his command to crush Zaarin’s forces and the Alliance fleet that attempted to aid him. For his actions, Thrawn was promoted to Grand Admiral by the Emperor in the Eva-T system. This was an informal promotion that was later solidified in a private ceremony on Coruscant.

Thrawn stayed on Coruscant and engaged in the politics that accompanied his new rank as vigorously as any battle. He took quickly to appearing in the Emperor’s Court and standing alongside the Emperor and Darth Vader at publicized events, such as the commissioning of Executor. This inevitably brought Thrawn into conflict with Rufaan Tigellinus, a power hunger fellow Grand Admiral. Vader’s departure to accompany Death Squadron to the Outer Rim removed Tigellinus’ primary concern, allowing him to focus on Thrawn. Despite Tigellinus’ efforts, Thrawn continued to climb the ranks of Coruscant society without the aid of strong political factions. The apex of his ascent came on 1:13 of 3 ABY, when Thrawn was inducted into the elite Order of the Canted Circle by the Emperor’s personal invitation and support. Thrawn became a trusted commander in Palpatine’s fold, even going so far as to refuse orders to engage in battles he deemed impossible to win on several occasions. On each of them, Palpatine stripped Thrawn of his rank and sent another commander in his stead, but saw his loyal commander reinstated when the Imperial force was destroyed as he had predicted.

But Thrawn’s time on Coruscant was to be short. Palpatine engineered a social gaff in the court that thrust Thrawn out of the limelight, and used the opportunity as an excuse to dispatch Thrawn to the Unknown Regions. The Emperor’s true intentions was not to punish Thrawn, but to send his most able commander to explore the Unknown Regions and nullify or exploit any potential threats he encountered.

Thrawn transferred his flag to the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Admonitor and took to his task. While there, Thrawn reestablished contacts with former Chiss command and learned of developing threats such as the expansionary Ssi-ruuvi and the oncoming Yuuzhan Vong. Concerned, Thrawn established the Hand of Thrawn on Nirauan and staffed it with Chiss loyal to him, forming the core of an organization known as the Empire of the Hand. Setting back to his task, Thrawn mapped out large swathes of the region and defeated minor potential threats like the Ebruchi.

A side trip to Corellia found Thrawn masquerading as Jodo Kast in an operation that led to the fall of Zekka Thyne and the discovery of an Alliance base on Derra IV. Vader, pleased that Xizor’s Black Sun was injured, transferred command of his secret army of Noghri commandos to Thrawn. Thrawn planned the Imperial raid on Derra IV, and then returned to the Unknown Regions.

Final campaign
Main article: Thrawn campaign

The death of the Emperor saw the New Order spiral into chaos. Isolated in the Unknown Regions, Thrawn went unaware of Palpatine’s death until nearly three years later. Thrawn then took command of the Imperial fleet, gained the support of powerful self-proclaimed warlords, and began a series of border raids against the New Republic. He chose the Chimaera as his flagship, and Captain Gilad Pellaeon became his second in command. The raids progressed into an all out campaign to destroy the New Republic using information he had collected during his mapping duty.



Thrawn used his tactical skills to effectively employ a relatively small fleet in a series of decisive victories, causing a deep wound to the New Republic. The successes of Thrawn’s campaign bolstered waning Imperial morale and temporarily ceased the squabbling of Imperial warlords, a problem that had plagued the Empire since the death of Palpatine.

Thrawn, acknowledging the potential for his defeat, also sent a single Spaarti cylinder to his facility on Nirauan to produce a single, unaccelerated clone of himself.

Thrawn died during the climactic Battle of Bilbringi at the hands of his Noghri bodyguard, Rukh, who had discovered the duplicitous oppression of Honoghr of which Thrawn was responsible. Rukh snuck up behind Thawn as he was sitting in his command chair and stabbed him through the chest from behind the chair.

Command style
Appalled by the “Vader style” of command that so many of his contemporaries supported, Thrawn preferred to promote creativity in his crew, rather than merely punish their failures. This was perhaps best exemplified in a pair of incidents surrounding the tractor beam control pit. During his campaign against the New Republic, a tractor beam operator aboard Chimaera responsible for allowing Luke Skywalker to escape capture, was, by his order, executed at his post in a rather brutal fashion by Rukh. On the other hand, when Skywalker escaped a similar trap again, he rewarded the new tractor beam operator with a promotion to Lieutenant, because he had employed creative thinking in his attempt. In addition, Thrawn encouraged his senior officers to express their own ideas and gave them reasoned consideration rather than ignore any outside ideas, as many an Imperial commander had done during the height of the Empire. The sharp contrast between Thrawn's style and that of megalomaniac and sadistic Imperial leaders heightened the Thrawn's ability to lead.

Thrawn’s command boosted the morale of his crew through victories, but also through his clear dedication to the Empire. Officers and crewmen serving under Thrawn admired his lack of concern for personal glory, only the defeat of the Empire’s enemies and the establishment of order. It was later postulated that Thrawn did not support the Empire per se, but rather wanted to establish order in the known Galaxy in preparation to combat as-yet-unknown threats he had discovered during his time in the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy.

Finally, Thrawn was willing to admit defeat. Rather than stand proud and fight a losing battle, Thrawn knew when it was time to retreat, although those instances were few and far between.

Technique
While a master of military tactics, Thrawn was more than an adept commander. His use of knowledge and intelligence in conjunction with stunning tactics proved Thrawn to be one of the galaxy’s most remarkable military commanders.

The precise application of intelligence allowed Thrawn to win countless victories over a numerically superior force. Thrawn believed that he could understand the psychological and tactical limitations of his adversaries through the examining of their art, and thus exploit their weaknesses.

An attention to small details also played a major role in Thrawn’s technique. By scouring large collections of data and intelligence, Thrawn was able to piece together small details that alone were merely trivia, but together formed a powerful variable. Additionally, his collection of information and near encyclopedia knowledge of topics gave Thrawn an eerie aura of omniscience.

Finally, Thrawn laid out complex campaigns in advance of his attacks. By following a carefully planned campaign, Thrawn was able to keep his enemies guessing. In the time it took his enemies to understand one phase of his plan, Thrawn had already moved on to the next. In this, Thrawn was always a step ahead of his foes.

Behind the scenes
Grand Admiral Thrawn first appeared in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, the first book of the Thrawn Trilogy named for him. The trilogy is considered the dawn of a new era in the Expanded Universe, and Thrawn's character is considered a contributing factor.

Appearances

 * Outbound Flight
 * Mist Encounter
 * Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire
 * TIE Fighter
 * The Making of Baron Fel (flashback)
 * Side Trip
 * Tatooine Ghost
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command