Thrawn panel at dragoncon – Thrawn books and Rebels stuff from Timothy Zahn and Henry Gilroy
– Thrawn knows Hera and Kaman are #spacemarried
– Thrawn lets the rebels get away a lot so he can observe them and figure out their tactics before confronting them properly.
– Mystical vs military threats in show – Inquisitors and Vader and Maul were mystical threats, Thrawn balance them out by being a military threat.
– When Zahn was coming up with Thrawn (it’s a coincidence that they rhyme btw) he wanted to create an opponent that was different from the main villains of the original movies, so while the emperor and Vader ruled through fear Thrawn rules through loyalty, where the other Imperials treated their troops as cannon fodder Thrawn made their safety a priority over everything else, and since the emperor hated non-humans Thrawn became an alien.
– The Rebels writers were toying with the idea of having a character named Zahn Timo that Thrawn would kick out an airlock or something because in star wars characters always murder their father.
– Thrawn is effective because you have no idea what’s going on in his head.
– Thrawn is aware of the force, but doesn’t like force because he can’t control, predict or analyze it logically.
– One thing Thrawn is not good at is normal cut-throat politics.
– Possible future story idea/flashback – Thrawn met Anakin at some point? And maybe respects him/Vader over the Emperor?
– In Rebels, did Thrawn push Kallus into realizing how ruthless the Imperials really are and defecting? Maybe. (Makes Kallus think there’s a reason I keep getting beat, does some of it have to do with myself? Am I on the right side?)
– Thrawn chose to side with the Empire because he saw how much of a mess the Republic was during the Clone Wars, wanted allies who could help protect the galaxy from bad outside stuff.
– Things that set Thrawn apart from other Imperials and why he’s so interesting: he has a moral center, his agenda is safety first for his people, he prefers to defeat his enemies in the most bloodless way possible – wants to protect art not blow up everything.
– He would not call them “rebel scum”, more like “I understand and respect you but you are my enemy and I will destroy you if I have to.”
– The reason that Thrawn is in the new canon right now but not others (like Mara Jade): if you start bringing too many people into a space it doesn’t work, you have to wait until it makes sense in context for that person to be there.
– People mentioned liking Thrawn’s mentorly relationship with his Watson’s, someone who is a master is always looking for someone who can be taught. (also bring back Pellaeon plz)
– Zahn has lots of ideas and two current proposals for future Thrawn books, his kid suggested he should do four books this time so it’s not another trilogy and people won’t get confused. Lucasfilms is being slow with evaluating stuff right now though.
– Thrawn always wants to see the best that his opponent can give him when they face off. He approaches combat with manners.
– He mostly follows Chiss rules or his own personal rules over imperial rules but gets away with it because he wins.
– General talk about their being grey characters in imperials and rebels, not just bad versus good guys. Probably a lot of people who signed up for the Imperials wanted to be bullies but as it goes on they realize they’ve been dragged into being the bad guys – like Kallus.
A primer to me. Hope it works for some #StarWars fans. Thank you for these notes, @spam-monster