Who questions Thrawn's evilness?

Ok this is the way I see it.Thrawn was Zahn's number 1 bad guy in the Trilogy right?But I never really saw what made him so evil.In Zahn's interview on the TF.N he touched a but on this saying that he was evil because he viewed the galaxy as one big chess board and did'ent look past that to the people of it.But then again if he was still alive I could see him taking up arms againest the Vong because it would be the right thing to do.In other words is the duty he was devoted to evil?Thoughts?

 

i don't really think he was evil persay.... he was never vicious to the ppl under the empire and he always did what was best for the people, usually........... i don't think he was evil. look at what he set up in the Unknown regions to protect the people there, and the people of the universe.

 

I never considered him evil but I can see how others would. He subjugated several worlds and intended to do the same to others and he had a crewer aboard the Chimera sumarily executed for failing in a task that he wasn't trained well enough to carry out. Thinking about it Zahn's comments make a lot of sense.

 

He was definitly evil, someone who openly supported the Emperor's order like that was. He just wasn't so malicious as others, example Lord Vader etc, were about it.

 

Grand Admiral Thrawn was evil because in general he viewed himself and the galaxy as a whole in terms of efficency and his own particular inclinations towards politics. Were Grand Admiral Thrawn to have conquered the galaxy he'd have been viewed more in terms of Napoleon and Julius Caesar however than the Emperor's Adolf Hitler and Darth Vader's Ghenghis Kahn.

I don't doubt however that Julius Caesar or Napoleon were evil men either and they did half of what Thrawn did. For moral indictments against Grand Admiral Thrawn one needs to only do this...

* He admits to utterly destroying a species because he couldn't understand how their minds worked

* He attempted to give away two babies to an insane Jedi Master who would have tortured, corrupted, if not killed them

* He enslaved the Noghri using a false "crisis" rather than trusting their own sense of honor

* He made no attempt to warn the Republic of the comming danger of the Vong/Unknown Region threat and instead tried to crush them utterly so the Empire's dictatorship would be there

* He murdered an officer who was bias towards conscripts in order to instill in the former Imperials that they be treated with the same respect as others

 

Nothing proves that Thrawn knew of the Vong.

 

Thrawn was not evil.

 

I would call Thrawn machiavellian before I'd call him evil.

 

Thrawn was not evil by definition, although he held different standerds and thought them right.

 

I think he was evil by definition, for the reasons Charlemagne stated.

I think, Chissdude, that you refuse to accept a member of a species that you admire was EVIL.

 

On the contrary, Darth_Guy I'd think that someone who is admired should be evil. Because evil characters are just so much more fun.

 

Yeah, I guess so.

EDIT: sorry, thought I was making a good point. Thrawn did commit genocide.

 

Difference between a character and real life. That wasn't amusing at all.

 

I admire the species too, and I think Thrawn wasn't evil. He did what he thought was best for the galaxy. If he had taken control of the galaxy and sent a powerful Empire against the Vong, they wouldn't have had such an easy time of it. Some things that he did could be considered "evil" (wiping out the one race, etc.) but he himself was not evil.

 

How is one who commits genocide for a very idiotic reason not evil?

 

It never really gets into details about it. It just says that Thrawn couldn't comprehend their art. As a passing remark to Pellaeon, he says basically "Oh, I wiped them out" (parapharising) We don't know the whole story behind it.

 

He could have wiped them out in battle, not by genocide?

I mean, what happened to the Yevetha? And the Ssi-Ruuk? Wheren't they all but wiped out?

 

The Ssi-Ruuk were defeated at Bakura by the Alliance, then they were pushed further back by the Chiss. The Yethevan, I don't know.

 

Strictly speaking, I don't think Thrawn was evil ("Evil" being deliberately choosing to do what you know is wrong). He was unethical, and, by many terrestrial human standards, immoral.

 

The Yevetha had their space fleet utterly annhilated by the New Republic and all of their stolen Imperial ships taken away to join the Republic. Quite simply it would take an incredible amount of resources to rebuild their thrust ships and I can't imagine that they have the resources to even attempt rebuilding the black fleet.

I don't know whether the New Republic chose to scuttle their shipyards though my guess is that they likely would.

Furthermore Wanted by Cracken seems to indicate that immediately following the Viceroy's capture and (for all we know) execution, the Yevetha went into a civil war regarding his position. My guess is that the utter annhiliation of the Hostile to Aliens party's forces will most likely result in some cultural changes though they will be gradual....

No one likes a loser.

The Ssiruuk's arm of space was attacked by the Chiss and the Republic then attacked their inferior ships with their own and managed to inflict significant damage on their forces. Given the utter devastation that was wrecked on their fleets and the ease it would appear they were slaughtered then my guess is that the Ssirruuk due to their religious prohibitions are most likely going to not try expansion for some time.

Also it is likely again cultural change may occur regarding the place of other races in the galaxy.

MOPPT is also the Chiss being generally ruthless individuals most likely attacked their infrastructure as well and the Ssiruuk may be decades if not centuries in recovery, including factionalizing.

 

Actually I believe that is incorrect. In this case Thrawn blamed the superior officer because the young man's training was inadequate....a much more fair punishment.

Nevertheless he killed someone for failure.

Oh well.

 

* He admits to utterly destroying a species because he couldn't understand how their minds worked


The text seems to point towards the idea that he destroyed them due to incorrect analysis.

That may be how you read the text, but it's certainly not how I see it. Thrawn merely comments that he thinks he's starting to understand the art, and then comments to Pellaeon that it won't be helpful now, as he destroyed the species.

I frankly don't see anything suggesting why Thrawn did what he did. His motivation is irrelevant. I just find it interesting that he opted to destroy the species, and not subjugate them, per standard Imperial policy. Just because he couldn't magically read their minds doesn't mean that it was instantly necessary to wipe out an entire species, but then, I guess that's what happens when the commander-in-chief is a racist.

Remember how the Chiss have a "cultured contempt" for other species, and feel they have a culturally-instilled mandate to impose order on a lawless and barbaric galaxy? Boy, it's a good thing they don't need living space or breathing room, eh?

* He murdered an officer who was bias towards conscripts in order to instill in the former Imperials that they be treated with the same respect as others

Incorrect. If memory serves, Ensign Colcalzure was not killed. The idiot Cadet was.

Idiot? Hardly. You seem to be forgetting that there really was little that could have been done in the situation.

Yes, tractor beam operator Cris Pieterson was summarily executed. Let's not forget that Gamer #5 states plainly that if Pieterson had been a Chiss, he most probably wouldn't have been executed.

Y'know, you're right. If we executed an enlisted-rating for something that wasn't really his fault, it wouldn't be reprehensible enough. We'd have to make sure his skin was a different colour or something, so we could be racist while we were being despotic and tyrannical. Oh, and can't forget, we'd have to pompously claim we're not at all like Vader, because he executed people for no reason. We'd get to have the private satisfaction of eliminating racially inferior trash. Isn't being like Thrawn great?

Star Wars is great. Like a wise man once said, you've got blue lightsabres, blue milk, and blue Stalinists.

 

Minor point; Thrawn does not say he committed genocide. He says he destroyed their planet; it's not necessarily the same thing.

 

Some of us are going to have to break out their Thrawn books because we've got alot of contradictory statements.

I think Thrawn destroyed the species not their planet.

In any case I do point out Thrawn as an outsider to the Empire had to maintain control over the humans underneath his command and thus he probably was "making an example of someone" so the savage humans would learn some respect.

Chiss=British
Humans=Native Americans during French and Indian War