“ | There are things in the universe that are simply and purely evil. A warrior does not seek to understand them, or to compromise with them. He seeks only to obliterate them. | „ |
~ Grand Admiral Thrawn on the concept of evil. |
“ | To defeat an enemy, you must know them. Not simply their battle tactics, but their history, philosophy, art. | „ |
~ Thrawn on how to beat an adversary. |
“ | Ahsoka Tano, allow me to commend you on your efforts today. You've been quite a worthy opponent. I regret we haven't met face to face, and perhaps now we never shall. Still... I know you because I knew your Master. I concluded your strategies would be similar. One wonders... just how similar you might become. Perhaps this is where a ronin such as you belongs. Today, victory is mine. Long live the Empire. | „ |
~ Thrawn as he succeeds in escaping his exile. |
Grand Admiral Thrawn (born Kivu'raw'nuru with his previous core name Vurawn), also known by his real name Mitth'raw'nuruodo and initially known as Mitth'raw'nuru in his past military career, is a major antagonist in the Star Wars franchise.
He is a brilliant military leader who originated from the Csilla system, home of the Chiss Ascendancy, and served in the Chiss fleet. Thrawn later served as a high-ranking officer within the Galactic Empire's naval forces, being personally promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral by Emperor Palpatine. Known for his strategic intellect and tactical brilliance, Thrawn returns 9 years later after the Battle of Endor, having amassed an army of his own to take over the galaxy. He is also the arch-nemesis of Hera Syndulla and Ezra Bridger.
In Rebels and Ahsoka, he was voiced and is portrayed respectively by Lars Mikkelsen, who also played Charles Augustus Magnussen in Sherlock and Volcazar in Ronal the Barbarian. In Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption, he was voiced by Robin Atkin Downes. In the audiobook version of the novel Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire, he was voiced by Tim Russell. In Star Wars: TIE Fighter, he was voiced by Tris King. In the audiobook versions of most of his novel appearances, he was voiced by Marc Thompson.
Personality[]
Thrawn was a master strategist who could compose very complex plans. He also maintained a high level of interest in artwork, and his study of artwork gave him an understanding of both species and individuals. Thrawn was able to use this ability to adapt plans to the species he was engaged in a battle against, and was often able to defeat these species by picking up obscure clues that were represented in their artwork. Thrawn was also noted for being not only accomplished in the arts of leadership, but also a supportive and reasonable commander, his style as a leader far different from the "Vader Style" of leadership that many in the Empire's military practiced where subordinates would be killed for the most minor of mistakes and ideas were ignored because they had not come from the correct people.
He was famous and well-regarded for having constantly providing great support without being requested to for both his subordinates and even superiors whenever they needed it, and his care for those under his command even allowed him to stand up to Vader without hesitation in their defense, as he would never allow his subordinates or allies to take the burden of his failure, while happily sharing credit and acclaim with them. Thrawn has repeatedly shown himself to be quite fair and open-minded, demanding results but never perfection, and despite his own genius meaning his tactics were usually correct, he was fully willing to accept ideas from his subordinates and put them into practice if they were good enough ideas.
He recognized talent to an extent where if a subordinate showed creative thinking in dealing with problems, he would not punish them even for failure. This was the case with Ensign Mitthel, who used creative thinking while trying to use a tractor beam to apprehend Luke Skywalker. The attempt failed because Skywalker used a covert shroud to escape, but Thrawn was pleased with how fast Mitthel thought on his feet and promoted the man to Lieutenant. He would, however, not tolerate those who would not accept responsibility for their actions and who would try to shift the blame onto others. Thrawn had a tractor beam operator who failed at an earlier attempt to capture Skywalker killed after the man tried to blame another person for the attack and showed an inability to deal with unexpected situations.
Thrawn also had little patience for overzealous officers who only cared about glory. While he almost never deliberately killed his own men like most other high-ranking Imperials were willing to, he was willing to let them die if they disobeyed his orders and made their own mistakes. When Kassius Konstantine attempted to intercept Jun Sato’s ship, Thrawn ordered him to return to position, but Konstantine ignored the order, wanting the honor of killing Sato himself. When Sato then flew his ship directly at Konstantine’s in a suicide maneuver, Konstantine realized his mistake. Fed up, Thrawn refused to waste further men to save Konstantine and let him and his crew die.
This later happened again during the Battle of Lothal, during which Vult Skerris went after Hera Syndulla. Thrawn ordered Skerris to break off his attack so he could get a clear shot at Hera, but Skerris refused. Annoyed but willing to shoot down Skerris if it meant getting a hit on Hera too, Thrawn told his men to aim at Hera’s X-wing even with Skerris in the line of fire. His ship’s turbolasers destroyed Skerris’ TIE Defender’s shields, allowing Hera to kill him. He also berated Arihinda Pryce for her half-successful attempt to kill Kanan by obliterating Lothal's fuel supply that he needed for his TIE Defender project, vowing to have her executed due to the magnitude of her blunder.
Additionally, Thrawn was not a mere soldier, but a true warrior who was unconcerned with personal glory. On the few occasions where Thrawn was defeated, he would not waste men, ships, or material in a display of false and futile heroics, but would simply decide to retreat and adjust his plans. He rarely (if ever) lost battles due to any fault of his own; his defeats were largely due to either the incompetence or disobedience of his underlings. While Thrawn had a sharpened mind, ruthless personality, and relentlessly sought to defeat the enemy, he was almost perpetually cordial towards his own men and even towards his enemies, referring to prisoners as guests. Thrawn is highly cultured and gentlemanly, and had an eye for high standards, expecting fellow troops to meet them and show disdain towards them if they were rude or failed to appreciate art. Occasionally, he would display anger, though this was perhaps carefully calculated on his part, as a means to get the message across he wasn't to be trifled with and to respect his rectitude. He had a low, deep growl to his voice, but always spoke in a calm, soothing, and gentle tone.
In later years, Thrawn became increasingly cruel and ruthless. During the liberation of Lothal, he was shown to have no issue with killing innocent people simply to hurt Ezra Bridger. In 9 ABY he had his subordinates rule over Calodan with an iron fist, torturing and killing civilians for no clear reason. Upon discovering that Ahsoka Tano was looking for him, he had his subordinates go to great lengths in their attempts to kill her to prevent her from finding him.
During his exile on Peridea, Thrawn developed a deep personal hatred of all Jedi, current and former, likely as a result of one having exiled him. He aligned himself with the Great Mothers who came to serve him faithfully after he woke them and had asked to use their dark magicks. He was dismissive of Baylan Skoll, deeming him “flawed” on the grounds that he was a former Jedi, and as such Thrawn had no problem with the possibility of having to abandon him. After Skoll deserted, Thrawn quickly abandoned Skoll’s now-former apprentice Shin Hati at the first opportunity.
Powers and Abilities[]
Clever and intelligent, Thrawn was a brilliant military strategist, being able to anticipate any of his enemies moves and learn his enemies' battle tactics. He mostly did this by studying their art and philosophy. During the rescue of Agent Kallus, he figured out that Kallus was the true rebel spy because he protected the identity of their then-prisoner, Ezra Bridger and because things fell into place. Thrawn was also able to narrow his search for Chopper Base to ninety-four systems among thousands.
He could also tell who Hera (who was posing as a Twi'lek slave) was just by looking at her portrait with her father. The Grand Admiral could also deduce that Nightswan was a Pirate when they first met and trying to deceive them. He was also an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, having easily beaten Kallus in a fist fight, killed many clones before he was taken in by the Empire and survived fighting two droids that the rebels hacked. Despite his preference for brains over brawn, he can still use his skills whenever he personally feels like it, and was not afraid to use his blaster pistol.
However, despite his great knowledge of battle tactics, he can still be outsmarted by cunning opponents, as he was outwitted by Ezra Bridger during the liberation of Lothal when he summoned a group of Purrgil to take him and Thrawn to parts unknown. His Legends counterpart also wasn't able to predict Rukh's betrayal in The Last Command.
Appearances[]
Appearances |
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Books[]
Star Wars Rebels[]
The Mandalorian[]
Ahsoka[]
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Quotes[]
Canon[]
“ | A great tactician creates plans. A good tactician recognizes the soundness of a plan presented to him. A fair tactician must see the plan succeed before offering approval. Those with no tactical ability at all may never understand or accept it. Nor will such people understand or accept the tactician. To those without that ability, those who posses it are a mystery. And when a mind is too deficient in understanding, the resulting gap is often filled with with resentment. | „ |
~ Thrawn on tactics and strategy. |
“ | War is primarily a game of skill. It is a contest of mind matched against mind, tactics matched against tactics. But there is also an element of chance that is more suited to games of cards or dice. A wise tactician studies those games, as well, and learns from them. The first lesson of card games is that the cards cannot be played in random order. Only when laid down properly can victory be achieved. In this case, there were but three cards. The first was played at the encampment. The result was entrance to the Strikefast. The second was played aboard ship. The result was promise of passage to Coruscant, and the assignment of Cadet Vanto as my translator. The third was a name: Anakin Skywalker. | „ |
~ Thrawn on the concept of war. |
“ | A friend need not be kept either within sight or within reach. A friend must be allowed the freedom to find and follow his own path. If one is fortunate, those paths will for a time join. But if the paths separate, it is comforting to know that a friend still graces the universe with his skills, and his viewpoint, and his presence. For if one is remembered by a friend, one is never truly gone. | „ |
~ Thrawn on the strength of friendship. |
“ | Some people will not respond to reason. Others refuse to consider alternatives to their normal pattern of behavior. In such cases, an unexpected breaking of one’s own patterns can be an effective tool. | „ |
~ Thrawn on the benefits of behavioral change. |
“ | Leadership and obedience are the two legs on which a warrior’s life is balanced. Without both, victory cannot be achieved. Leadership depends on information and comprehension. Not so obedience. Sometimes a commander may choose to share details of his plan. Often he may not. In either case, obedience must be instant and complete. Such automatic response relies on trust between commander and those commanded. And that trust can only be obtained through leadership. | „ |
~ Thrawn on the value of leadership. |
“ | A life path may change because of important decisions or events. Those were what drove my current path. But sometimes the smallest event can also drive a turn. In the case of Eli Vanto, that force was a single, overheard word. Chiss. Where had Cadet Vanto heard that name? What did it mean to him? He had already spoken one reason, but there might well be others. Indeed, the full truth might have several layers. But what were they? On a ship as large as this, there was only one practical way to find out. Thus did my path take yet another turn. As, certainly, did his. | „ |
~ Thrawn on changes in one's journey and livelihood. |
“ | Thrawn: Because, Colonel Yularen, Kallus is the Rebel spy, Fulcrum. He used Lyste's cylinder to impersonate and implicate him. And more importantly, he used the young Jedi's power to gain access to my office, and reprogram my droids. Very skillfully, I might add. Yularen: I would never have suspected one of my best students was capable of this betrayal. Thrawn: And that is why you and so many others have been deceived. I believe Agent Fulcrum will prove far more useful to the Empire than Kallus ever was. |
„ |
~ Thrawn revealing to Wulff Yularen that Agent Kallus is Fulcrum. |
“ | The Bendu: You cannot see... but I can. Thrawn: What? What do you see? The Bendu: I see your defeat. Like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace. |
„ |
~ The Bendu foreseeing Thrawn's fate. |
“ | Thrawn: It was a wise decision for you to surrender. Ezra: I didn't have much choice. Thrawn: Oh nonsense. You could have chosen to let your people die. However, you chose to be a Jedi. Predictable. You follow a long history written by the Jedi, where they choose what they believe to be morally correct, instead of what is strategically sound. Ezra: And yet, the Jedi have survived. Thrawn: Hmm, the Jedi once numbered in the thousands. What's left are a scattered, frightened lot, mostly beaten and in hiding, or poorly trained children, like... yourself. I must admit, the mysteries of the Force are an enigma to me. But for all those abilities, all the power, the Jedi lacked the vision for how to wield it. Ezra: The Force isn't a weapon, but you'll never understand that. Thrawn: Oh, I don't have to. It was not my intention to utterly destroy Lothal, but that is inevitable now. These are a few of the artifacts I've gathered from your homeworld. I saved what I could. I have even taken some of Sabine Wren's work. She's quite talented. Or was quite talented. Ezra: You think you can take whatever you want. Things you didn't make, didn't earn, things you don't even understand! You don't deserve to have this art or Lothal. Thrawn: Who deserves what is irrelevant. What matters is who has power. But that is something the Jedi won't teach you, so I'll take you to someone who will. |
„ |
~ Thrawn's conversation with Ezra following the latter's surrender during the Liberation of Lothal. |
“ | What was first just a dream has become a frightening reality... for those who may oppose us. | „ |
~ Thrawn's declaration to his allies as he makes his return. |
Legends[]
“ | We've lost this particular prize, Captain. But that's all we lost. I will not waste ships and men trying to change that which cannot be changed. | „ |
~ Thrawn reassuring Pellaeon about their failure. |
“ | But... it was so artistically done. | „ |
~ Thrawn's last words after being fatally impaled by Rukh. |
Trivia[]
- Thrawn originally appeared in Star Wars Legends after the original trilogy and was created by Timothy Zahn for his series of books known as The Thrawn Trilogy which include the following books, Heir to the Empire (1991), Dark Force Rising (1992) and The Last Command (1993). His popularity with the Star Wars fanbase sparked his introduction into the new Star Wars canon continuity. Zahn had approved of Thrawn's inclusion into Star Wars Rebels and wrote a book titled Thrawn, which was then published in 2017 to expand upon his inclusion into the series and the overall new canon timeline. The novel eventually extended into a whole series of Thrawn novels.
- Timothy Zahn, the author of The Thrawn Trilogy, has also written several other Star Wars books outside of the trilogy itself, but have some reference to Thrawn or an appearance of him as well. Those include Specter of the Past (1997), Vision of the Future (1998), Fool's Bargain (February 1, 2004), Survivor's Quest (2004), Outbound Flight (2006), Allegiance (2007), Choices of One (2011), Scoundrels (January 2013), 2 graphic novels involving Mara Jade (another one of Zahn's creations who was first introduced in The Thrawn Trilogy), a multitude of short stories. Because of these stories, Thrawn is considered to be a popular Star Wars Legends character.
- It should be noted that when The Thrawn Trilogy was released back in the early 1990s, these books caused a resurgence in the public's interest in the Star Wars franchise for the first time since the 1983 premiere of Return of the Jedi. Thus, many fans cite Thrawn as the character who essentially saved the franchise when it was in danger of dying, as the public's interest on it was already fading away to the extent that even Marvel Comics refused to do more Star Wars comic books due to the franchise's declining popularity.
- Lars Mikkelsen, Thrawn's actor, is the brother of Mads Mikkelsen, who played Galen Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
- Thrawn is one of two named Chiss to appear in the new Star Wars canon (the other being a Chiss Admiral from the book Thrawn) , with Thrawn himself bringing his species back into the new Canon itself.
- In Star Wars Legends, Thrawn gains the rank of Grand Admiral after stopping a rogue Grand Admiral and taking his place. In Star Wars Rebels, he gains the rank when he takes the credit for Arihnda Pryce stopping a rebel insurgency by detonating explosives on a planet, killing all of the rebels on the planet but along with most of the planet's population.
- Thrawn is the second chief Star War Rebels villain to have survived an entire season, the first one being Alexsandr Kallus during season 1. However, Kallus reforms and joins the Rebellion in season 3. The villains on the show who were in the original trilogy do not count. Thrawn is notably also the only villain to survive the entire series without turning good.
- The idea to bring Thrawn into Star Wars Rebels was discussed during early production of Season 1. Each of the producers suggested it to varying degrees at different times. Ultimately, Thrawn is such an important admiral that they felt it wouldn't make sense to introduce him back then: the Lothal rebel cell was just a small team with one ship on one local planet. They reasoned that Thrawn would only be brought in at a later stage when the rebellion had grown into a large enough coordinated military movement that it merited his response - essentially the same reason that they didn't introduce Darth Vader until Season Two. Their overall plan for the series was for the scale of the nascent rebellion to gradually intensify, and the Empire would react with incrementally more significant forces as appropriate responses.
- As prophesied by The Bendu, Thrawn's defeat did come true, being defeated by "many arms in a cold embrace", as during the Liberation of Lothal, Ezra Bridger summoned the Purrgil; the "many arms" that attacked his fleet that blockaded the planet in the "cold embrace" of space.
- The novel Thrawn: Alliances revealed that he was able to figure out Vader's true identity Anakin Skywalker. This makes him one of the two Imperials to deduce it, along with Grand Moff Tarkin.
- Thrawn was mentioned in The Mandalorian Chapter 13: The Jedi when Ahsoka Tano inquired from the defeated Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth the whereabouts of the missing Imperial Grand Admiral, meaning that he and Ezra Bridger were still alive following the five-year time-jump at the end of the Star Wars Rebels series finale "Family Reunion" - and "Farewell".
- Thrawn is actually one of the Emperor's four highest officers to survive the fall of the Empire (before the rise of The First Order). The others are Moff Gideon, Gilad Pellaeon and Brendol Hux.
- With the deaths of the Emperor and Vader in Return of the Jedi, Thrawn is likely the highest Imperial official to survive the Empire's fall.
- Thrawn was teased in the second and third seasons of The Mandalorian to set up his live-action debut in the upcoming Ahsoka series. Additionally, he was constantly rumored to appear in the latter prior to official confirmation of his involvement.
- Ray Stevenson, who voiced Gar Saxon in the third season of Rebels in 2016 and the seventh season of The Clone Wars in 2020, was announced to be part of the cast for the Ahsoka series in addition to the fact that he will portray a "villainous admiral".
- Lars Mikkelsen, who previously voiced the character in Rebels, was alleged to reprise the role, not only to voice him, but also to portray him and don the character's iconic Grand Admiral uniform, according to reports from various sources. Mikkelsen initially denied the reports claiming that he would return to reprise his role as Thrawn.
- At Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, the panel revolving around the upcoming series premiered, confirming Thrawn's return, Mikkelsen's reprisal of the role, and Stevenson's role as Baylan Skoll.
- With Thrawn being mentioned as the head of the Shadow Council in the third season of The Mandalorian, he can be considered the overarching antagonist of the show.
External Links[]
- Grand Admiral Thrawn on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
- Grand Admiral Thrawn on the Star Wars Wiki
- Grand Admiral Thrawn (Legends) on the Star Wars Wiki
- Grand Admiral Thrawn on the Disney Wiki
- Grand Admiral Thrawn on the Wikipedia