Full Series Thrawn in Rebels

Well if that were so, it would at least explain why s4 is the last season, since such a scene would send the ratings for subsequent episodes off a cliff in disgust.

 

Thrawn on the Eclipse rumors? What is that about?

SyndicThrass: I don't mean that Zahn would be upset to see the Noghri becoming official, I say that he would be dissapointed to see Thrawn die so early in season 4, before he could use him in more books etc.

 

Spoiler

It's mentioned in Aftermath:Empire's End that Thrawn was vital in charting out the unkown regions . Rae Sloane and other imperials find the Eclipse there. It's not revealed who commands it though.

 

Man, if I could like this post twice I would! My thoughts exactly. Thrawn is a very established figure in canon now. They just gave him a tremendous victory over the Rebels, so successful it reminded me of Vader´s victory on Hoth. I´m reading Thrawn´s novel and I´ve really, really liked it so far. He´s just a great character, both in legends and canon, and I just don´t see anyone within Lucasfilm working against that...

 

So I wonder if Rukh was in Thrawn's employ before Season 3? He was the name for a password which might have just started as an Easter Egg that now they can retcon and say was forshadowing.

Maybe he was assigned some other top secret mission by Thrawn and as a result was sent away. Now Thrawn brings him back for extra protection and backup as he takes into the consideration the Bendu's warning which he is probably still analysing and trying to figure out.

While Thrawn wouldn't show it he would be paranoid about a possible defeat and if there's a way to stop it before it happens he will find it and being analytical and logical he'll try and figure it out in every possible way. But sometimes you're hit with the unexpected which even then he tries to prepare for. The Rebels will sometimes come up with these plans that they think "Oh he'll never see this one coming" but then Thrawn does. He uses this himself but they can't see it coming like he does so that's why they get beaten until eventually he's outsmarted because you can't win everything. His manoeuvre from Heir to the Empire which they used in Clone Wars is basic but that's why they wouldn't expect it because it's so easy you wouldn't think of it at first and to use it so nobody expects it.

 

The book was about the period before season 3 and he didn't recruit the Noghri in the book, so it must happen in the series... What is strange is the override code already in season 3...

 

Maybe that introduction to Vader:

Spoiler

(they hardly say anything, but Thrawn notes Vader's great confidence - and is possibly deducing that Vader is Anakin in that moment) - carries on "offscreen" and ends with Vader handing over command of the Noghri to Thrawn?

Alternatively - Rukh could be a word in Cheunh, rather than the being's "true name" - with Thrawn choosing to call him that. Perhaps the name is long and complicated like Thrawn's own.

 

Zahn did mention he wanted to do a book that went more into Thrawn and Vader, maybe it would be detail the Noghri there. Alternatively, Filoni did say at the press conference for Season 4 that Vader could be a presence in this season, so it might be that we'll see Rukh with Vader first and then have him introduced to Thrawn.

 

That trailer was not as impressive as the one of Season 3. How was the reaction of the fans at Celebration? And the Zahn panel?

 

Yeah I don't think the reintroduction of Rukh is a coincidence, especially after Bendu basically prophesied his death in the season finale.

 

Still hoping this is a red herring (or at least a temporary reprieve).
I mean the Bendu was already a bit rich - really, you are telling us an Imperial lead character is going to be defeated eventually? We never would have expected that...

And then add Rukh to that. Not even Rebels should be that predictable. And somehow I don't think Dave Filoni is going for something this obvious.

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I'll say this: Rebels does not do red herrings, historically. Things that seem obvious are true.

Maul was looking for Obi-Wan
Kallus was Fulcrum
The "unexpected help" was Sabine and her clan.

 

Gee, thanks. Forewarned is forearmed I guess.

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Still, it would be such a waste to kill off a character like Thrawn just after 2 seasons of a kids tv show. He deserves so much more. Ok there is a book, but to develop his potential, only one book is not enough. There is so much more to tell about him and his crusade in the Unknown regions.

Why would they bring him back to kill him so quickly... that's not logical.

 

I think bringing in Rukh does put an expiration date on Thrawn, though it need not be in this season. Depending on how far in advance Filoni has been planning everything, he could be introducing all of these elements of Thrawn's mythology to have them in place should he decide to utilise Thrawn in the (currently rumoured but almost certainly going to happen) post-RotJ show. If he were to do that, then he could play out more of that Legends storyline and maybe get the whole Skywalker element with the Noghri and Thrawn more of a big bad.

That said, he could also be killed at the end of this season and while that would be unfortunate I trust that they would do it in a way that honours Timothy Zahn. One of the best things about that Rebels panel for me was how much reverence Filoni paid to Zahn and how much he's done for the Star Wars franchise.

 

I would not want Thrawn to have the same fate as Legends

 

After a bit of a Thrawn / Star Wars overdose the last week I finally went back to the book I was reading before "Thrawn". Also to help me think of something else than the implication of Rukh being canonised... ;-)

Said book is an excellent biography of Julius Caesar (about half-way through). Was reading about him and Pompey facing off in their fight for supremacy when I remembered how the story ends for Caesar...
Maybe I should read something else!

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True, now that I think of it, I was not entirely satisfied with his death, because everyone saw it coming except him and it's not really logical for someone like Thrawn to keep a Noghri as bodyguard even if he knows the Noghri have a loyalty problem, and are highly suspicious and could discover the truth about the droids anytime. I know Zahn needed him to lose somehow, and I like the idea of Thrawn NOT being outsmarted in a tactical space battle, because no one can outsmart him, the idea of assassination in the middle of a huge battle is cool, "but"... someone as clever as Thrawn keeping a highly suspicious creature who could betray him anytime sounds more like the need to have the villain killed at the end than real logic.

So, as this death is anyway predictable, I wish to see another death for Thrawn. Something brilliant and letting him die with honor. Like, I don't know, an honorable sacrifice of the Chimaera to save all the rest of the fleet or something, and him as the "captain" staying in the ship until the end.

 

What I liked about the death in The Last Command, and why I hope that Rukh's inclusion is more a prelude to the event in a Post-RotJ series rather than an adaptation of the event itself, is that Thrawn didn't see it coming because he had no idea Luke and Leia were Darth Vader's children. Rukh was always very creepy and he seemed to enjoy antagonising Pellaeon, but Thrawn seemed secure with the knowledge that the Noghri were too honourable to turn against the Empire because of their devotion to Vader. Thrawn had absolutely no way of possibly knowing that Vader had children, let alone that Leia was his daughter. He really couldn't have seen it all coming, and the timing in which Rukh struck was so perfect as to disarm the Battle of Bilbringi. "Artistically done."

 

Thrawn's entire character is that he considers creatures such as the Noghri to be so utterly primitive and unintelligent that they're beneath him. Thrawn's death is completely foreshadowed by his heavy reliance on the Noghri, whom he secretly enslaves and manipulates. In the end, this cold and cruel manipulation is his downfall, as one of his pawns discovers how he has been used, and at the most opportune moment, takes revenge. Thrawn dies because of his dishonorable treatment with the Noghri. If he'd treated them with the honor and respect that is the cornerstone of their culture, Rukh wouldn't have turned on him.

Having a dishonorable character die with honor goes against their entire character development. Legends Thrawn had no honor and he died without honor.

The very reason the Noghri turn against the Empire is because Leia exposes the Empire's utter lack of honor. Khabarakh aids Leia because she's the daughter of Darth Vader. The Noghri Clan Dynasts decide unanimously to turn on the Empire not because Leia is the Mal'aryush but because they realize that the Empire has been using them since the start, slowly poisoning their world and sending their children away to die for a "cure" for their poisoned planet.

 

Yes, but they'd have never discovered what the Empire did if they had just killed Leia right off the bat. The only reason she lived long enough to expose that was because they recognised she was Darth Vader's daughter and made the effort to hear her out.

 

- Vialco: And Thrawn was not the 100% evil butcher/monster/worst man of the galaxy you pretend he is, but well, impossible to argue with you as you seem blinded by your hate for the character.

Of course using the Noghri and lying to them is "bad" but Thrawn did not create the lie, it was Vader, he did not start enslaving the Noghri, again it's Vader who did that. Thrawn had so few ships, manpower and ressources when he came back from the Unknown regions that he had to use whatever he had at the moment, and could not afford playing the good prince and give back their freedom to the noghri when he needed them the most. AND even if he told them the truth, the land was already poisoned and it was too late for the planet, and even if Thrawn told them the truth, the Noghri would have wanted revenge anyway because for them, Thrawn = the Empire = one of the bad guys who lied to them.

He could have said it was Vader who did that, the Noghri wouldn't listen to him, because they worshipped Vader so much.

So he had real reasons to do that, he didn't do that for the fun or the pleasure of enslaving people. I don't think he enjoyed all this very much. He even sent Niles Ferrier capture the Dreadnaughts of Bel Iblis because he said he didn't have enough manpower to send to search for them. He was reduced to hire and use various people he clearly didn't want to work with, but had no other choice.


Leia manipulated the Noghri too, I'm reading that passage in Dark Force rising right now: she does everything to hide the truth about Vader, asking C3PO not to tell the truth about Vader being responsible of that, about Vader being evil, asking him to instead make the Noghri think that Vader was a hero, a good man who was manipulated by the Emperor and who finally killed the Emperor.

- SyndicThrass: no, Thrawn could have seen it coming: when he found out that Kabarakh lied, that he had hidden the truth and has wookie hair in his ship, he clearly said that the Noghri were not so loyal and that he had to go to the planet Honoghr to remind them who they have to be loyal to. He wouldn't say that if he was so sure that they were 100% loyal...

 

He knew they were acting weird, but considering their culture is based around honour and loyalty and that Thrawn prides himself on being able to understand the cultures of different species, he had no reason to assume that they were (from his POV) actively planning to throw aside all of that and betray him, as it would have gone against their culture. He makes a few assumptions about what the cause of their behaviour might be, but he had no reason to think that they would have encountered someone who would challenge him as the one they were honour-bound to. The Noghri's behaviour is consistent with their culture, but unless someone had the full facts their actions at the time would seem odd and not a precursor to betrayal.

 

Nah, the worst man in the Galaxy was Thrawn's Master. Darth Sidious.

Thrawn was just his servant. Not an evil monster, but he certainly served one. Still, Vader died in 4 ABY, Thrawn kept the Noghri enslaved until he died in 9 ABY. He had five years to release the Noghri and cleanse their world. He didn't. So I'm not sure how you can call him as an honourable man.

I don't hate the character of Thrawn. In fact I like him, to a degree. His cunning and strategic thinking is unique among Imperial Officers. I just don't see him as a heroic figure in any way.

 

He's not heroic, but at least in the new canon he admits that the empire is evil.