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Topic:
Characterizing Thrawn
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Battlehymn_Republic
Registered:
Oct '07
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Date Posted:
1/21 10:48pm
Subject:
Characterizing Thrawn
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I'm kind of tired of reading Thrawn as a blue-skinned Napoleon-Sherlock-Freud. Does anyone have any idea what his motivation in life was besides establishing an ordered galaxy that would be strong enough to defeat the Far Outsiders? Just what did he want to create? I ask this because I'm trying to think of any scenarios that would have him not supporting the Empire, or perhaps just being against Palpatine or a Sith Emperor.
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Jade_Max
Registered:
Jun '02
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Date Posted:
1/21 11:36pm
Subject:
RE: Characterizing Thrawn
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I'll take a crack at this...
I ask this because I'm trying to think of any scenarios that would have him not supporting the Empire, or perhaps just being against Palpatine or a Sith Emperor.
My view on Thrawn is that he's a pragmatist.
He knows when to fold and when to call. He knows when to compromise and when to retreat. He's a patient person who sees the whole picture of a conflict with eerie clarity and knows how to use the cracks to his advantage. Thrawn doesn't strike me as a moral person but a practical one. One that believes in the ends justify the means, if you will.
While I'm not certain of his motivation, I don't think Thrawn would have looked at the Palpatine situation and seen a way to win except to join him. It would have been a master stroke to work from the inside, while under suspicion (he is an alien after all), and being promoted to the very highest order of the Empire's ranks while all the time planning its downfall.
It's rumored Thrawn was exiled because Palpatine feared his abilities. Maybe that's what you should start.
If I was going to write Thrawn in the context you suggest, I would write him as above. The schemer and planner; the patient mole who gives lip service to a leader, but dedicates himself to the cause. I can't see him openly challenging the Emperor or the Empire - it's against the nature we see in the Thrawn trilogy - but it's already been proven he was a master of the covert - the misdirection.
I hope that makes sense.
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Katana_Geldar
Title: Former CR Tasmania, AU
Registered:
Mar '03
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Date Posted:
1/22 3:57pm
Subject:
RE: Characterizing Thrawn
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Well Thrawn managed to outlast Palpatine and not get involved in the mess that was the Galactic Navy immediately after Endor, and that's saying something about him without ever saying much at all.
Zahn himself said that Thrawn was a mixture of a lot of historical commanders, but his appreciation of art was Zahn's own doing. I think the key to his character is in Outbound Flight, as we can see Car'das discovering Thrawn's character as he gets to know him better. Some of the things that Thrawn does in that novel convinced me that if wasn't a militart man, he would have been a fantastic magician. And he would also be an excellent chess/dejarik player.
Thrawn may be pragmatic, but you can say that about Piett. Thrawn not knows how to win, but blow everyone away with astonishment while he does it.
I always thought that Palpatine kept him in the shadows because Thrawn wasn't human. And remember, Thrawn was the only one who told Palpatine he was wrong and lived to tell the tale.
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HyperionRising
Registered:
Sep '07
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Date Posted:
1/22 4:31pm
Subject:
RE: Characterizing Thrawn
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I'd like to say that I think Thrawn does have a morality, though I sure don't know what it is. He just isn't a psychopath. On the other hand, he's plainly not constrained by the morality of the culture he grew up in (the whole "first strike" thing). He also doesn't strike me as being in it for himself, which raises the question of who he is in it for? Maybe everyone, in a cold "more lives equals good and screw the rest of it" sort of way.
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The Shattered Galaxy: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=27470222&brd=10477&start=27470240 Adventure. Romance. AU. A depressing lack of Ewoks. Padawan of SIthGirl132 Proud Master of thesporkbewithyou
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Battlehymn_Republic
Registered:
Oct '07
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Date Posted:
1/22 6:59pm
Subject:
RE: Characterizing Thrawn
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I'm just wondering what he could possibly live for after the threat of the Far Outsiders is gone from the galaxy. Also, if he is intrinsically a supporter of the Empire, and of the Sith, or if he would be against the Sith if there was a viable opposition once the Far Outsiders are no longer a threat.
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JadeSolo
Title: NSF managing NSWFF
Registered:
Sep '02
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Date Posted:
1/22 10:34pm
Subject:
RE: Characterizing Thrawn
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I think it was in Last Command where Thrawn, instead of killing an officer for failing at a task, promoted him and told him to keep working on a solution. Thrawn then said he wasn't Vader, and that he didn't waste lives. To me that says Thrawn is both practical and a bit to the "good" side of the spectrum - he's willing to take chances on people, where Vader and Palpatine would just have them killed. So I don't think he would've sided with the Sith - someone like Crazy C'baoth, or Palpatine himself, they would've been wild cards in Thrawn's eyes. Assuming he could predict their actions, he'd see too much self-involvement - neither was willing to concede defeat, and Thrawn knew the value of retreat.
On the other hand, Palpatine did manage to wait a very long time before revealing himself as a Sith. I think Thrawn would've admired that patience. But again the practical side - I think Thrawn more than anyone knew how to rally people behind him while keeping them under control, but not to the point of ruling with an iron fist a la Palpatine.
As for the Empire, I think he genuinely supported the Empire, inasmuch as it could serve his purposes. Plus I think the structure and general philosophy of the Empire was more to his liking - lots of discipline, matter-of-factness, seriousness, no frivolous arguing in the Senate, etc.
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