Oh yeah, Thrawn. People want to make him out as a good guy? Or imply he’s not that bad. And really people, yikes. He’s bad and no, he has no excuses. He:
– Steals art from oppressed cultures. (White privilege!)
– Tortures people.
– Drains a planet of it’s resources for a pet project.
To name a few. He isn’t excusable. And no, I don’t care what his “reasons” are. He steals art and claims it’s culture and hurts civilians. And no, he and Ezra aren’t having “buddy adventures.” Cut that out.
He’s not a “good guy” and he never will be, hells he wasn’t one even in his own novel as a protagonist. I don’t think anyone really wants him to be good (fanfics and aus don’t count, I’m talking about in canon), we want to see more of him because he’s so damn INTERESTING.
Yes Thrawn does a lot of horrible things, but he did it because he’s loyal to his people. Does that excuse the deeds and make him good? Hell no! But it’s more complexity in a Star Wars villain than many others. He studies and learns from other culture’s art, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he stole them (though I wouldn’t say it’s narratively just about white privilege, I like to think it’s about colonialism as a whole). The conclusions and deductions he draws are so smart we just want to see more. He’s smart enough to see the wrongs of the empire, but he actively chooses to stay with it – again, for his people.
In a way I think, just like Eli, if Thrawn were to become “good” and leave the Empire that’d remove a lot of what makes them so interesting as characters. We want to understand Thrawn, but understanding someone’s motives does not mean agreeing with them.
For example, Thrawn collects art to study them, that’s different from some generic villain taking a culture’s art as trophies. Does knowing what he does with the art make us think it’s okay he took it? No. Does it give us an insight into his character? Yes. I know some of his other reasonings might be seen as justifications for his actions, but really is how he justify what he does to himself, which adds more depth. I’m repeating myself at this point, but basically that’s what I mean.
I, for one, would hate it if Thrawn (or Eli) leaves the empire/joins the rebellion.
(also as for the Thrawn and Ezra adventure in the unknown regions. Tell me you don’t like the hero forced to cooperate with villain trope. It’s the PERFECT setup for amazing character development, interactions, and growth! )
Why even spend time talking to an obvious anti.
“White privilege”.
They mean that blue-eyed guy with red eyes, right?
White Privilege in the vague sense. More like colonolism. He steals art that doesn’t belong to him. Including personal, private things so he can “study” it. You know there’s irl conflict about stolen art in British and American museums that were taken from their people? You sound like the idiot that says, “But it should be in that museum so people can see it!”
1. The practice is called colonialism, not colonolism. Hopefully, that was just a typo.
2. Fuck Filoni and his interpretation of Thrawn. He took a character created by another person and twisted it to fit his agenda without any reagard to original. Seems similar to the stolen art in those museums you criticize, doesn’t it?
Anyway, this practice of “stealing” art is not exclusive to Britain and America and Western Europe. Every state that had a possibility to lay hands an anothers treasure did it.
3. You are far too rude for someone so self-righteous.
1. No. And Filoni fucked over his own characters.
2. How an I rude when you fucking disregard my argument? Fuck off.
What argument?
“White Privilege in the vague sense. More like colonolism.”
Welcome to the world outside North America, colonialism was not an
exclusively “white thing”. There have been non-white Empires, and some
of them even
had white-populated colonies. For instance, Ottoman Empire conquered the Balkans and
the territory of modern Ukraine. Took slaves, murdered lots of people, slole their posessions, destroyed their shrines, that sort of thing.>How an I rude
>Fuck off.
You are very funny.
FACT: My creator developed me because it was a challenge to be fun. He said as much. The Thrawn Trilogy was written in the context of what Star Wars was in 1991.
Then Dave Filoni contacted Timothy Zahn to have an impact on writing screenplays for me in the context of Star Wars Rebels because a lot of Star Wars fans wanted to GET THRAWN IN STAR WARS and Rebels was an easy touchpoint. It started in 2014 and the active campaign ended in 2016-ish. Then several fans took my presentation to a different level without considering the Legends canon.
I know this fact because Filoni stopped by my Star Wars Celebration booth in Anaheim in 2015. We had a “commercial” with the voice work done by Tom Kane (the voice of Yoda and Yularen). We had shown Abel Pena our work and how we debated with Disney about why they have neglected art and artistry for children especially in Star Wars. A review on my two blogs show Lucasfilm contacted up in 2015 on specifically requesting me and the look we wanted, versus a sloppy crazy looking me after doing too much spice they’ve been known to do. Seriously. http://thrawnstarwars.wordpress.com
I get why some fans see me as a hero. From the Imperial perspective, I am a hero. Because the Imperials were failing to quell the terrorist attacks by the Rebels and criminal randomness of attacks. Fascism does that. The Chiss Ascendancy is a totalitarian regime, but they are not full of fascists. While I am in two military organizations, one of which I get exiled from, my home is not fascist.
I am a villain for the guilty. But do you really think I care about that fact?
Here’s the issue, most of the art I review have been utterly neglected and forgotten. Most of the native peoples do not know what these items are or care about these times. I love art. It is my internal life’s joy. Even villains must have emotional outlets as much as a Chiss is permitted. This one is mine. Calling it “white privilege” is a HUMAN SUPREMACIST ARROGANCE MENTALITY – it’s actually PERSONIFYING ME and I take offense to that. I AM NOT HUMAN. I AM CHISS. And, to be honest, I am a CHISS SUPREMACIST and I see humans as emotionally defensive creatures that require too much neurology devoted to emotion to drive quintessential decisions that are best spent on INFORMATION, CALCULATIONS and DATA.
If you hate me because you hate Disney, and you prefer Legends, well, you will never change your mind despite what I say. You will never give me a chance. You also don’t participate to change the system within. And you fail to do your part in what the FANDOM tries to do. I’m not saying one is perfect over the other. What I am asking is, what are you doing to CHANGE what you see besides complaining? Are you writing letters? Are you attending and paying nearly $10,000 USD for booths at Star Wars Celebration? Are you doing the kind of fan art to be promoted? Are you having fun? Are you cosplaying me? What are you doing other than complaining? Because complaints are only as useful as the asses they come out of…
I am about fun. I’m about writing my own stuff and being cool that it will never be canon. I’m about enjoying my own fandom on social media. If you’re about that, then you’d be cool in my book. I see one person here is about that. But if you choose an assholic fucked bitch fandom, well we know why the fandom is toxic and bitches like you will get trounched at some point. You know who you are.
Fandom on the surface of Star Wars is always boring. Dive deep into the blue iceberg. If I am not your character, find another one and absorb yourself into that rather than bashing Star Wars and its fans.