Books Thrawn Alliances Book - Summer 2018

Thrawn is too smart to be indoctrinated by anyone! If he sides with the Empire's view on Jedi, it's because he chooses to do so. Thrawn himself would tell you this.

Besides, I'm sure the Emperor tried to indoctrinate Thrawn into thinking the Death Star was a good idea in both canons, and it didn't work.

 

It's a little far-fetched how Vader mentioned both the Bendu and Kanan.
But nonetheless I need the book NOW!!!

 

Why? They're pretty relevant to Thrawn, and Vader's taking some jabs at him.

 

So this story is set between S3 and S4 which makes sense considering how Rebels ended. I wonder if there will be a sequel set after S4.

 

Thrawn and Vader team-up and mysterious shenanigans in the Unknown Regions? Yup, I'm down for that.

Though given the planet they're going to...

Spoiler

I have the sudden urge to picture them going to Disneyland.

 

Fanart, please.

 

this actually explains why Kanan and Ezra haven't had Vader breathing down their necks this whole time since Season 2. Palpatine was letting Thrawn deal with them while keeping Vader leashed.

 

That doesn't remotely make sense in-universe. No matter how talented Thrawn is, Palpatine sends Vader to deal with Jedi.

 

For the same reasons he didn't appear much in season 2.
1) The writers didn't want Vader to look like an idiot against 2 wannabees Jedi.
2) Vader getting seriously involved means that the show wouldn't have lasted longer like we see in SoL and TotA and since Ahsoka was out of the picture, they would have an even lower chance of surviving another confrontation.
3) Apparently animating Vader's cape was expensive.

 

Palpatine does whatever he wants. He knew the Jedi would return to Lothal. Vader might have tried to gain access to the World Between Worlds if he remained on Lothal, which is something Palpatine had to prevent.

 

I wonder if somehow Palpatine's silver lining with the Lothal desaster is that Thrawn is out of the picture; he can't oppose the Death Star anymore after all. The book excerpt stated:

Spoiler

"So far Thrawn’s opposition had not reached the level of open resistance, but the Emperor knew it was only a matter of time."

But yes, he really should have sent Vader - but it would have been even less logical for the Ghost team to pull off a victory against Vader than it was against Thrawn - however much he has advanced, Ezra is no match fot the Dark Lord. I guess Palpatine miscalculated.

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I'm curious about the line about Vader favoring the Death Star considering his distaste of the project both in R1 and ANH.

 

This is probably the only reason why Palpatine sent Thrawn that makes sense to me--to not let Vader get access to time travel.

 

Vader wasn't even aware of such a thing, let alone that he needed the temple to access it. Palpatine is the one who is obsessed about ancient things, Vader seems to be more concerned about taking care of the rebels.

 

Vader's opinion likely aligned with the Emperor's on this matter. If they had a new method of instilling loyalty through fear, the sith could then use their free time to explore the mysteries of the force.

Vader knew about the temple and was the one who informed Palpatine of its discovery. We don't know how long he spent going through the temple or what he found before telling his master about it.

 

Well in the horrific A New Hope retelling, the Princess, the Scoundrel and the whatever, Vader is taking Leia to the Death Star and he sees her staring at it, and says that that is power. Of course, he could just be doing it to rattle Leia and crush her resolve, but it annoys me that Vader is depicted talking favorably about the Death Star. My only conclusion is that Vader's mental illness makes him extremely erratic and hypocritical at times.


That being said, the Thrawn: Alliances excerpt was phenomenal. Zahn might redeem himself with this book as I felt the 2017 Thrawn book was a huge disappointment.

 

Doesn't really mesh well with his lines in R1 and ANH where he mocked the Death Star.

 

I agree, but I see how they can get around it. He only criticized its initial use in R1 and in ANH he took offense when Motti claimed the Death Star was the "ultimate power" in the universe. He never really gives us what he thinks about the station itself.

 

So, I've seen this comment in several places, but Vader "favoring" the DS in this excerpt doesn't contradict his thoughts about it in R1 or even ANH.
In R1, his comments to Krennic are specifically about the bungling of the test ("there is no Death Star") and he even pointedly remarks that Krennic needs to provide assurances that "Galen Erso has not compromised this weapon in any way." His issue is not with the station itself, but with the politics around it, and of course the idea that anyone would think the DS could be more powerful than the Force. Which brings us to ANH...

His objection in ANH was that Motti believed the DS to be the "ultimate power in the universe", putting it above the Force. Seeing the Force as superior to the DS doesn't mean he disregards the DS.

And his favoring of the DS here is in direct relation to the Tie Defender program. A program that to this point hasn't shown any true results and politically, is entering a similar situation that the DS eventually would. Lots of squabbling over resource allocations, production timelines, etc. You know, all stuff Vader loves.

In simply balancing the two projects, Vader chooses the DS. And,really, if you think about it, a Sith would value the DS. The DS is representative of the Rule of 2's "embodying the power" and foundation on centralization. Rather than having it diffused throughout a large organization - something that Thrawn would likely prefer in terms of a massive fleet.

And of course, the biggest thing to remember is that Vader's "favoring" is not something told to us by Vader himself, or even through spoken dialogue. That comment is being relayed to you the reader by Palpatine, via internal monologue. If anyone's point of view were ever up for scrutiny, it's old Sheev's. This is one of those places where I think, reactions are that we've had a concrete written in stone fact being contradicted. When actually, it's merely one character telling us another character's opinion without much evidence.

But then again, Sheev is gonna Sheev.

 

To be fair doesn't this book take place before those 2 movies? There's still time for Vader to change his mind.

 

Since when Vader is in favor of death star?

Looks decent so far, but I admit that it made me lower my expectations.

 

Orson Krennic:I delivered the weapon the Emperor requested. I deserve an audience to make certain he understands its remarkable... potential
Darth Vader: Its power to create problems has certainly been confirmed. A city destroyed... an Imperial facility openly attacked.


I think this pretty much tells us his opinion on the Death Star very succinctly.

 

*Internous explains why this isn't an issue*
*The following three posts completely ignore said explanation*

Not sure why I'm even surprised.

 

Be nice. I was writing the same time Internous was (see the time stamps). I didn't see his post.