Okay So I Just Finished The First Thrawn Book Right? And Like All Of It Is Making Me Feel Insane And

It’s more that like the six new Thrawn novels recontextualised him so that a lot of people who read them don’t see him as a real villain anymore, understand that what he is doing is necessary for the greater good, and although the narrative of Rebels had him as a villain, objectively viewing what he actually did against what he threatened to do, he really seems to be not bad on his own merits. Just when following other’s orders is it when he seems evil, like Boba Fett did originally. Personally, I think that the live-action will start off with Thrawn still being the villain, then reveal Ezra to be now allied with him against the Grysk of those novels, have him be training those Chiss children Thrawn kept bringing up. Like if those Grogu experiments from The Mandalorian turned out to be not to give regular people Force powers like people thought, but allow Chiss children to not lose their abilities growing up?

oh boy. honestly (and leaving aside the fact that the post that prompted you to send this ask had a different point) i usually don't answer asks about this topic anymore because it's one of those things where everyone thinks they're right and the discussion just goes in circles because nobody ever wants to admit that the other side might have a point (including myself. i know i'm right. period. jdfhdfh) but i'm in a Mood today lmao.

just so you don’t misunderstand me (because that’s happened so many times i have to say it), no matter how hard i argue for him being a villain, i literally love him so much. he’s one of my favorite characters, if not the favorite character. my #1 blorbo. my glup shitto. and i love when he’s being an asshole. it sounds crass but i love when he has rukh, idk, murder a tractor technician (rest in peace king) or blows up people or bombards innocent civilians. like, people love vader because he’s so iconic right? it’d be boring as hell if he just didn’t mow down rebels on the regular during his Empire Prime Era(TM) yeah? that’s how i feel about thrawn. oof

objectively viewing what he actually did against what he threatened to do, he really seems to be not bad on his own merits. Just when following other’s orders is it when he seems evil

i'm assuming you're talking about book!thrawn? i'm not quite sure what you mean by 'what he threatened to do' but i am saying that maybe he isn't ~evil~ on, like, palpatine levels, but he definitely isn't a good person. i’ll even give you textual evidence to support that claim! since people are so adamant that new canon thrawn is the only valid characterization!

he murders at least two troopers and causes v-wing crashes with casualties to get onto the strikefast

he condones slavery (”imperial assets”) and i literally don’t care if he’s just saying that because he needs to keep his rank or whatever because he could’ve said so much more in that scene (like. “look vanto that fucking sucks but we can’t do anything about it because we’ll get shot” or whatever hsdhf)

he thinks dictatorships are cool and fun, effectively expressing the same views anakin did in aotc (literal quotes: “quick and utter ruthlessness is necessary when the galaxy is continually threatened by chaos” or “the Republic was weak and fragmented [...] The Empire, in contrast, is unified under a single man and a single vision”)

according to thalias, he’d resort to “straight-up, coldhearted murder“ to get out of getting captured

in the ascendancy he does seem to value non-chiss lives in contrast to most of his fellow chiss (and if that isn’t worth thinking about, nudge nudge, the ascendancy doesn’t seem too different to the empire in many respects does it?) but only as long as they’re useful/non-threatening to him (“He cares about non-Chiss lives.” - “Yes, he does. You threaten his people, and see how fast that changes.”)

^ that last point is literally, literally in relation to samakro ordering an orbital bombardment, which. that’s poetic as fuck, my dude.

the whole “i see people as assets” conversation with ar’alani

i could find more but i think i’ve made my point 😶 lesser evil characterizes him as very sympathetic, obviously, but there’s literally quotes like “If you lie to me, I will eventually know that. Do you wish me to explain what would happen then?“ (god i needed to include this quote because hnnn WHAT A GOOD QUOTE)

who does that sound like? that sounds like it’s the same thrawn as in legends and rebels, imo. [happy sigh]

zahn even said that if disney were to make alllll the old shit canon again, he wants the character and story in the canon novels to line up and make sense with the legends novels. i can’t find a source for that now, though, which is regrettable. maybe i dreamed it.

but! from an interview with the verge:

as for your theory about live-action thrawn: noooo way. there’s no way filoni or favreau or whoever writes it actually reads the novels and includes that material in one or more of the upcoming shows. especially stuff about the sky-walkers. or the grysks. i’d be SO HAPPY, even overjoyed to be wrong in this instance but everything we’ve seen so far points to them going in direction of referencing the heir to the empire trilogy. there’s statues of ysalamiri in thrawn’s office in rebels. they canonized mount tantiss on wayland in the bad batch. the mandalorian is set in 9ABY which is exactly when htte is set kshdfdh

look i’d literally love for him and ezra to be allies and fight the grysks and for sky-walker rights and shit but anon. it’s very, very unrealistic that that’s gonna happen :/

You know, I don’t think I’ve seen any fandom hate the target of their fanning like the Thrawn fandom. And I don’t mean comments like “you magnificent bastard, you!” (because if there’s anyone deserving of the moniker, it’s Thrawn, lol) I mean things like “he’s an arrogant piece of crap and deserves to be mocked” or “I hope Filoni humiliates him” or “he’s a moron and I hate him.”

I think part of what’s happening is that he’s a morally complex character in a time where moral nuance is deeply unpopular. People see the world in terms of heroes and villains. Good and evil. Luke Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine. There’s no space for someone who isn’t exactly good but isn’t entirely evil, either (which is not only more reflective of how human beings actually work, but was the entire POINT of Thrawn in the first place, lol). He works for the empire? He’s evil. 100%. His reasons for doing what he does don’t matter, he’s scum.

That and people really just don’t “get” him. It makes sense—within Jungian typology he’s the archetypal INTJ, leading with subjective, seeminingly mystical and otherworldly visions/ideals only he understands; he uses impersonal and unfeeling logic as his main tool; he refuses or is unable to understand/acquiesce to societal pressure; and his emotions, motives, and values are very private. I suppose it’s no surprise, then, that fans gravitate toward conventional, familiar, “safe,” ISTJ Everyman characters like Eli and Samakro. Even if they share Thrawn’s values, even if they ALSO work for authoritarian regimes, the ever-important S groundedness is going to make their motives make more “sense” to most readers (hence their placement as audience surrogates).

And lastly there’s also the assertion that he’s “just a male power fantasy” for “obnoxious nerds,” as though there aren’t women (like myself) who find him inspiring, too.

Artwork by Aalma do Luar (Aalma's Artville)

Thank you for the tag 😬 @i-want-to-marry-cedf-officer !

However, y’all are getting the female anime version of my demon OC because that’s the only thing in my brain right now ! ❤️‍🔥 😄 ❤️‍🔥

Next up: @handbaskethell @cyber-glitch85 @pigonart @jadesabre83

just found this on picrew! anime star wars. what would you look like in the star wars universe?

tagging: @mysticalgalaxysalad :D

Commission for precious @cyber-glitch85

Instagram @ forever_42

He wasn’t ready for more I guess

🌺💜SEND THIS TO OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING 💜🌺

I am, of course, very grateful for any attention anyone gives me! 😬 so THANK YOU SO MUCH to these mutuals who continue to support me in all of my very random endeavors!!!

@cai-yue ! @blackmonitor ! @guestiguess ! @anastasiiaosypova ! @ele-millennial-weirdo ! @i-want-to-marry-cedf-officer ! @owlpartytime ! @hobbit0fhobbiton ! @mysticalgalaxysalad ! @myevilmouse ! @empress-violetlight !

I see you and you all are wonderful !

💎🫂

I had to look up the second emoji.

Apparently it’s a hug. So, HUGZ