are the Chiss Oriental?

As Tenel Ka would say: Fact.

Plus the strong spiritual/religious symbolism of the sword. the swords of medievil knights were deliberately made in the shape of crosses - and you know the significance of a jedi lightsaber...



edit3: removed all thet rubbish - got confused there!

 

Well, what I meant was that the Samuria were knights in medievil Japan. So in that way they were medievil knights.

But you all said some good stuff to.

 

IMO the eastern cultural resemblance lies in the Chiss' Warrior ethics. The simple fact that Thrawn was a tactical and strategic genius was that he had a natural aptitude for assessing the psychologicalo blindspots of a species and tailoring his attacks to that blindspot. After all he was put into extensive military command training after joining the Empire(HOT).

Also his refusal to waste men and resources on a foolish campaign and his prefernce to capture world without the need for major bloodshed sets him apart from the rest of the Imperial military command.

IMHO Thrawn and the Chiss do share one common trait, they both want order. The Chiss wanted to stop the aggressive species in the Unknown Region, and Thrawn wanted to restore a system that he felt would maintain order and prepare the galaxy for trials to come. Perhaps he meant the Vong?