Full Series Thrawn in Rebels

But who could have the "honor" to play such a role? Kallus? no thanks. I still do not understand why he openly critisizes a Grand Admiral in front of him without showing any respect and without being punished (when he said to Thrawn that there were more civilian casualties than the rest, at Batonn). Who does he think he is, talking like this to one of the most powerful high-ranking officers of the Empire?

He does not deserve to harm Thrawn in any way. I hope that Kallus will be discovered and punished one way or another.

 

If they are smart they use Thrawn to destroy the Rebellion they have built so far. Everything is going way to smoothly for them anyway. And them being truly on the run certainly would make for a much better story.

 

The first major victory the rebellion wins is Rogue One, that's the first major blow against the Empire that they truly strike, so I would think that the death or major defeat of a Grand Admiral would be pushing things. If anything, Imperial politics would be a good way to counter Thrawn. He could get the ball rolling with the destruction of the rebellion, only to incur the jealousy of Tarkin or Tagge, who might conspire against the upjumped "alien", resulting in them getting him chewed out and exiled from the Imperial Court to the Unknown Regions.

 

Define "smoothly" one of the rebellions leaders was killed or at least assumed dead by everyone. There ships are destroyed all the time.

 

They have losses but they win the propaganda war and gain a lot of support rather quickly. I'd say they have to lose their base, a lot of support/their entire fleet, and suffer a major blow - either Sato being killed, or one of the main characters. Kanan seems to be prepared to sacrifice himself eventually considering that he is now blind and effectively more a mentor-kind of guy than a leader/main hero. But I actually think killing Hera would be the larger blow.

Another interesting plot would be if they had an Imperial spy amongst their ranks, possibly some sort of brainwashed sleeper. Sabine would be an interesting character for such a thing considering that she was once an Imperial cadet and we have as of yet no idea how she met and joined the crew of the Ghost.

 

I believe that by the end of the season most of the fleet will be destroyed, but they are winning the propaganda war because a lot of people in the galaxy think the Empire stinks so thats why people join up. We have yet to see a normal imperial citizen who thought the empire was good.

 

Considering that the characters are still stuck in the Outer Rim's Lothal Sector as far as we know that is not surprising. Those planets and regions are exploited by the Empire. But one assumes a majority of the people in Core don't share that view.

 

Another great idea would be, instead of a brainwashed sleeper agent, one or more rebels being blackmailed into leaking secrets to the Empire. The suspicion and paranoia would make for a really intriguing storyline.

 

Sure, but for that to happen there must have been some consequences for a rebel to be actually captured. I mean, that has happened quite a few times by now yet there were no consequences of any sort.

The sleeper idea is based on the simple fact that the gang is far too trusting. They do not really check new recruits/people who defect to their side. One assumes that Imperial Intelligence could easily enough exploit that kind of thing. Especially in the setting of the series where we are talking about a local rebel movement.

Thinking about that - it would be rather great to meet a young Ysanne Isard as an undercover spy among the rebels.

 

I agree, the willing betrayal idea was just something that popped up into my head while I was thinking about what could happen during Thrawn's meeting with Hera in this week's upcoming episode. While yes, Hera betraying the Rebellion seems unlikely and even impossible, since Thrawn has been established in the season premiere as not caring for civilian casualties, I just can't get rid of the mental image of Thrawn preparing to DBZ Ryloth unless Hera tells him what he wants to know. Unlikely, I know, it's just what's stuck in my head.

 

Disney will turn Thrawn from Rommel to Himmler!

 

Isard's father is canon too (via the Tarkin novel), so it might not be a stretch to see her pop up somewhere.

 

I've seen "Hera's heroes".

I liked Thrawn in that episode in general, but when he gets angry, it just sounds out of character.

Spoiler

If the officer had destroyed an artwork in front of him, ok, but this? the officer just said that this piece of art was some "primitive trash", Thrawn should be used to people who do not know anything about art. He would never be physically aggressive with someone like this just because that person is not able to appreciate a piece of art. Or Pellaeon would have been dead a long time ago! so I thought that this "Thrawn angry moment" sounded off and misplaced. And he lets the Ghost crew escape AGAIN... I hope he will not do that in every episode, or it will get annoying.

 

Spoiler

Its not just about Slaven disrespecting the artwork. You have to look at the subtext. Slaven was being xenophobic, looking down on an alien species and their culture. Thrawn is not respectful toward Hera solely because he respects his enemies, but also because he can relate to her. Its why he refers to her as their host, because he sees Ryloth differently than how the usual Imperial officer would.

And I think that is one of the reasons why he lets things play out the way they did at the end of the episode. Thrawn knew something was going to happen and he let it happen, yes to learn about his enemies, but also because of his contempt towards Slaven.

 

I don't think so. Thrawn usually never complains about imperials being xenophobic, he just understands, because the Chiss are also like this: they look down on humans, they think they are superior, etc. (only Thrawn doesn't despise other species, but his people do)

Thrawn sees aliens as aliens, too. They are alien to him, all these other species, you know. That's what he said to Pellaeon when they arrived on Wayland. Pellaeon asked "Are these aliens hostile?" and Thrawn answered "Most aliens are." like if he considered them different from him as well.

He also used the noghri, even if they were aliens. So no, I don't think Thrawn is the kind of man to be "alien-friendly"

Spoiler

like "hey you're alien too, let's be friends! I'll let you escape because that stupid human was being racist."

Why did he stay until the end? to watch Slaven die? no. He did not even die anyway. He stayed until the end to see how Hera was operating: she said she would prefer to destroy her totem instead of seeing the Empire have it. So Thrawn wanted to see if she was going to destroy her house to prevent the Empire from having it. And she did. Thrawn says he's waiting for something, he is waiting for the explosion (so yes he lets the soldiers inside die and he doesn't seem to care, but they were incompetent anyway). And he seems satisfied at the end, because he has the totam, but also he now knows that Hera prefers to destroy things than let the Empire have it, and he will use that in the future.

For example: make her auto-destroy a whole rebel fleet because she thinks the empire will capture it, etc. It's totally his style to make his enemies destroy themselves (Lando destroying his own mining vessels is an example, in the books)

 

Spoiler

I can't remember exactly, but is there another time in which we see Thrawn in the presence of someone who is clearly quite xenophobic? There is a difference between understanding the situation with imperials and being directly confronted with it.

And I am not trying to say that he is being alien-friendly or benevolent in that way, as if because they are aliens that there is some sort of bond there. So I agree with most everything you are saying. By relating, I mean that he can see things in a situational manner. And having respect for the individuality of another species doesn't mean that he can't choose to manipulate them.

And I am also agreeing with you on why he stayed to see how Hera was operating. But just because that is one reason doesn't mean that it is the only one. He allowed them to have their victory and he also showed clear disregard for what would happen Slaven and his men. To me that speaks to there being more than just a sort of an adversarial respect or allowing her to leave as it is part of his bigger plan.

 

I really like this idea. The Rebellion as it stands now takes a major blow from Thrawn. They lose their carrier, Jun Sato, a number of big ships. Maybe Cham Syndulla and one of the main Ghost crew is killed as well, just to really humble them all.

And then when they're on the run, and Thrawn could easily end the Rebellion then and there, some Imperial politics crap happens. Thrawn has pulled some support in the Empire, and then is under threat from other jealous moffs/admirals/generals. There could even be a brief civil war within the Empire which would be really cool. Star Destroyers going up against Star Destroyers. Then Thrawn escapes or is captured and put on trial, but Palpatine recognizes his usefulness and ends up exiling him instead for some unknown purpose.

Very interested in seeing how things are handled by the end of the season.

 

IMHO when Thrawn left to "oversee an experiment" the experiment in question was what Hera, Cham and the rebels would do, and how Slavin and his men would react. I believe he expected that Slavin would screw it up royally... and he did. Thus confirming his analyses of both the rebels and Slavin. From here on he has a better idea how to handle the rebels, and he also knows with certainty that Slavin is an incompetent clown who can't be relied upon for anything.

 

I don't think it's as different from Legends Thrawn as we might think. After all, in Heir to the Empire, he had a crewman executed, not because of failure, because he failed to show initiative and blamed others for his failure. In a similar situation in The Last Command, while a subordinate failed as well, he promoted the officer because the officer showed initiative, and was willing to adapt to fluid situations.

 

In the books he asks Rukh to execute an incompetant soldier who refuses to take responsabilities of a failure. I don't see the link with Thrawn getting angry suddenly and loosing control of himself just because someone is stupid or incompetant. He does not lose his cool in the books, even in front of Niles Ferrier, who is the most stupid and annoying and incompetant man of the galaxy. Thrawn is annoyed by him but stays calm, threatens him, with a cold and distant attitude. He never takes someone by the collar and transforms into some kind of aggresive bulldog. Never.


Hmm, thinking about it, Hera did blow up the whole mansion with all the twi'leks in the kitchen. Right? and no regret about it apparently. Even if she knew it, because Slaven said in front of her that there were other twi'leks in the kitchen. So Rebels do not seem to care either about civil casualties, hmm? but oh, come on, they are the heroes, so no one complains about it.

 

He had Delak Krennel's right arm cut off when the man made to damage a piece of art, so I don't see the scene with Slaven as being radically different.

 

It would be interesting to really see that aspect of the Empire play out. There was some of it in the Darth Vader comic between Vader and Tagge, we're going to see some of it in Rogue One with Krennic and Vader, so it would be pretty cool to see how Thrawn deals with it. I think it's possible to read the scene from the recent episode as a hint that Thrawn is annoyed by the xenophobic practices of the Empire, so that could lead to some interesting scenes between him and Tarkin.

I doubt that the Vong will be utilised, but I could see someone like Nuso Esva posing a threat to the Empire and Palpatine using the courtly politics as an excuse to move Thrawn out to defend the Outer Rim/Unknown Regions.