Thrawn was a male Chiss born on the planet
Csilla a few decades before the start of the Clone Wars. He grew up within the Chiss Ascendancy, a
territory within the Unknown Regions controlled by the Chiss. When he was old enough, he joined the Chiss
Expansionary Defense Force, the military branch of the Chiss Ascendancy. He soon reached the rank of Commander, becoming
the youngest Chiss to obtain such rank. As a commander, Thrawn had many achievements
to his name. He was the first Chiss to make contact with
Humans, with one of them being Corellian smuggler Jorj Car'das. Through this contact, Thrawn learned Galactic
Basic, the standard language of the Star Wars Universe. He also was told about the Jedi and droids,
two things that were unheard of to the Chiss. About 5 years before the clone wars, Thrawn
would make contact with a small fleet of trade federation ships commanded by Kinman Doriana,
a trusted aid of Palpatine who was sent on a secret mission by the secret sith lord to
destroy Outbound Flight and its escort. The Outbound flight was on a mission to explore
the unknown regions and to reach the edges of the galaxy and make contact with possible
alien species outside the galaxy. Palpatine’s motivation for destroying the
outbound flight was to prevent them from discovering the Yuuzhan Vong, also known as the far outlanders,
as had they done so, the galaxy would have gone into sheer chaos at the threat of a massive
intergalactic invasion force preparing to attack the entire republic, and such chaos
would have hurt Palpatine’s plans for securing the galaxy for himself. Also there were 20 Jedi onboard Outbound flight,
so Palpatine also wanted to take them out as well. After destroying most of the trade federation
fleet, Thrawn boarded the enemy flagship and confronted Kinman. During their meeting, Kinman explained his
mission to destroy Outbound flight and told him how the Jedi on it posed a threat to Thrawn
and his people. Thrawn listened, but was unimpressed, and
before he could continue his interrogation, he was summoned to a meeting with another
Chiss admiral who had just won a costly battle against an unknown alien force on the edge
of the galaxy, which unknown to the chiss at the time, was the Yuuzhan Vong. Worried about this unknown dangerous force
and also not wanting to start a conflict in which the Chiss would have to fight multiple
wars, Thrawn made a deal with Kinman that he would help him, but only if he told him
the full story of his mission. Reluctantly agreeing, Kinman explained how
he was an advisor to Palpatine, who was the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. He went on to tell him that Palpatine had
information on a group only known by them as the “far outlanders”, who were massing
an invasion force at the edge of the galaxy, and that Palpatine was preparing the republic
to be able to repel such invasion. Kinman explained how if the Outbound flight
reached its destination, it would lead the far outlanders, the Yuuzhan Vong, back the
the Republic, and that’s why it needed to be destroyed. After explaining his mission, Kinman contacted
Palpatine by hologram to confirm his story. Palpatine was impressed with how easily Thrawn
was able to defeat Kinman’s fleet. Palpatine then ordered Kinman to provide all
the known reports and information on the far outlanders to Thrawn. After reviewing said data, Thrawn concluded
that these so called far outlanders were the same forces that his fellow Chiss admiral
had fought against earlier. Realizing the threat they posed to his people,
Thrawn accepted the mission to destroy Outbound flight. Satisfied with his decision, Palpatine gave
crucial information on the Outbound flight and warned Thrawn of the Jedi on board, informing
him of how they were capable of using the force in combat. When Thrawn confronted Outbound flight and
its escort, he initially wanted a peaceful resolution to the conflict and started a negotiation
with the Jedi on board to have them return back to the Republic unharmed. But the stubborn leader of the expedition,
Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth, refused to retreat and instigated a battle between the two fleets,
with at one point C’baoth almost killing Thrawn by force choking him from his own ship. However, Thrawn was able to win the battle
swiftly and was successful in ending Outbound flight's expedition. Afterwords, Thrawn’s career in the Chiss
Expansionary Defense Forces didn’t last long, as he was soon exiled by the Chiss government
over his overly aggressive tactics and pre-emptive strikes on unknown forces that he believed
were a threat to his people. They sent him alone onto an uncolonized world
for him to live out the rest of his life. However, Thrawn didn’t stay there long,
as about a week after the formation of the Galactic Empire, a group of Imperials would
be dispatched to Thrawn’s planet in search of a smuggler. Instead they would make contact with Thrawn,
who initially tried to steal an Imperial shuttle to use to get back home, but he failed and
was instead captured. Under Imperial custody, Thrawn was taken by
captain Voss Parck to Coruscant to be personally presented to Emperor Palpatine. Pleased to have the genius behind the destruction
of Outbound flight from years earlier before him, Palpatine was able to convince Thrawn
to use his superb tactical abilities for the Empire. He did so by telling Thrawn that the Empire
was the best chance the galaxy had in defeating the imminent invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong. After accepting to join the empire, Thrawn
was privately trained by Parck and soon quickly rose through the ranks, becoming one of the
very few non-human officers in the Imperial Navy. Thrawn achieved many victories and accomplishments
in his early career in the Imperial Navy, including conquering numerous worlds for the
Emperor as well as initiating cooperation between the Galactic Empire and the Chiss
Ascendancy to produce Chiss designed Imperial Nssis-class Clawcrafts. As a result, Thrawn became one of the most
valuable commanders in the Imperial Military. About a year and a half after the destruction
of the first Death Star, Thrawn was promoted to grand admiral by Emperor Palpatine. But due to Thrawn being non-human, this promotion
was kept out of the public and was known only by a few. Along with the promotion and ceremonial title
of Warlord of the Empire, Thrawn also gained deep trust and respect from Palpatine. Despite being praised by the Emperor himself,
most of the other high ranking Imperials looked down upon Thrawn solely due to fact that he
wasn’t Human. Eventually Palpatine gave Thrawn permission
to go beyond the Empire’s borders in the Unknown regions and to start building up defenses
for potential outside threats to the Empire. In less than a year Thrawn conjured much of
the Unknown Regions and was able to establish multiple defensive bases. For his successes, he was summoned back to
Coruscant and was invited by Palpatine to join the Order of the Canted Circle, one the
highest and most exclusive social orders on Coruscant. Such an invitation shocked the public, as
prior only Humans were invited to join under the Imperial reign. Before his return to the Unknown Regions,
Thrawn assisted Darth Vader in his campaign against Prince Xizor and his criminal organization
the Black Sun. Doing so, Thrawn went undercover disguised
as mandalorian bounty hunter Jodo Kast. As a reward for his help, Thrawn was given
full control over the Noghri, a species who were excellent as assassins and bodyguards. After the battle of Hoth, Thrawn began to
engage the scattered rebels and was later assigned missions to hunt down Imperial admirals
who had either defected to the rebellion or sought to take the Imperial throne from Palpatine. By the time of the battle of Endor, Thrawn
was back continuing his work in the Outer rim. After both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader
were killed, the empire went into chaos, with numerous high ranking Imperials all trying
to take control of the remaining empire. This disarray let the New Republic have the
advantage in the continued war, which followed in the New Republic eventually capturing Coruscant,
the capital of the Empire. 4 years later, Thrawn would return back to
the remaining Galactic Empire, a crumbling regime that only had a quarter of its former
territory left. As the last Grand Admiral that was still alive
and loyal to the Empire, Thrawn was easily able to recruit remaining loyal Imperials
to his service, including Captain Gilad Pellaeon, a survivor of the Battle of Endor. Gilad Pellaeon soon became Thrawn’s second
in command. Before he engaged with the New Republic, Thrawn
needed to require resources, including obtaining the ysalamiri, a species that were capable
of repealing the force, and recruiting the dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth, who was a clone
of Jedi Master Joruus C’baoth many decades prior. He also went on to create some clones to fill
his depleted ranks and he recruited a Noghri named Rukh to serve as his personal bodyguard. When he started to attack the New Republic,
Thrawn implemented the stateless strategy, in which he would quickly strike the New Republic
then retreat, forcing the New Republic forces to overstretch and thin out their defenses
trying to defend everything. An ironic strategy, as the Rebel Alliance
employed similar attack patterns against the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil
War. With each battle, Thrawn got closer and closer
to completely destroying the New Republic. However, his campaign came to a halt at the
Battle of Bilbringi, when amidst the conflict, Thrawn was killed by his bodyguard, Rukh,
who after learned that the empire was secretly poisoning his people, decided to assassinate
Thrawn. It is said that had Thrawn not been assassinated
by Rukh, that he would have steamrolled the remaining New Republic forces and would have
taken control of all the lost Imperial territory. Thrawn did have a clone of himself stored
in his secret complex, but it was indirectly destroyed by Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade
after they discovered it. Grand Admiral Thrawn was noted for his exceptional
leadership and naval commanding abilities. As a leader, rather than punishing those that
failed him, like many of his Imperial colleagues did, he instead had his men learn from their
mistakes and awarded them when they improved or showed creativity in their success. He also rarely ever killed those under his
leadership, only doing so if they showed obvious disloyalty or complete disregard of their
actions. He also listened to what both his advisors
and men had to say and took their opinions into consideration before making his next
move. His men did not fear him, but respected him
and were proud to serve him. Thrawn also wasn’t overconfident or arrogant
with his attacks, and would retreat and admit defeat when necessary rather than not and
lose men to as a result just to sustain his ego. When it came to tactics, Thrawn was an absolute
genius, being able to outmaneuver and defeat literally anyone in a fair even battle. He did this by not only studying his enemy's
battle tactics, but also studying their culture, their arts. Learning who they are as a people, and learning
not only how they act, but how they would react to certain situations, giving him the
ability to predict his opponent's’ moves with ease. Thrawn had a very analytical mind, resulting
in him basing his decisions on logic rather than emotion. Thrawn’s greatest, probably only motivation
for serving the Empire, was that he believed it was the best bet the galaxy had against
the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. He believed that a unified galaxy under a
strong leader, a leader that was willing to do anything to achieve victory, would be unstoppable
and could protect his people from outside threats. Although he respected and was loyal to Emperor
Palpatine, he did share many disagreements with him, including the Emperor’s decision
of building massive and expansive superweapons rather than investing in the Imperial Navy
to include thousands of more star destroyers and super star destroyers. Although Thrawn didn’t show much emotion,
he did have great concern for his men and their well being. Despite this, Thrawn was not above doing evil
acts, such as when he orchestrated a genocide on a planet that wouldn’t obey his rule
in the Unknown regions or when he accepted to kidnap Leia’s children in exchange for
the dark Jedi Joruus C’baoth’s service. But he did these things because he felt they
were necessary for the greater good of the galaxy, and he didn’t gain any personal
pleasure when carrying them out.
The greatest example of what our Empire allows. A true meritocracy that lets an individual come from obscurity to domination.
First time I've learned about this wonderful man. Such a tragedy he was taken from us too soon.
One of the finest tacticians the galaxy has ever seen. It's a shame he was killed.
A great man. He loved his troops to the edge of the galaxy and back. It was shame how he was taken from us.
He's definitely a very quiet man. I got a chance to debrief him on the upgrades for his flagship - the Chimera - and he really say much to me. For the most part, he just thanked me for the debriefing and left. However, I have heard of his battle prowess and am impressed in his composure, especially in comparison to other Grand Admirals.