#thrawn lit info

[danger-xylophones]

Hi! If you’re still taking request, could you write a thrass x reader fic where the reader, his wife, find thrass staying up late at night trying to find info on Thrawn’s sister.

warnings: reader is referred to as 'wife, this plays with the idea that most syndics don't know about the skywalker program at all

..........................................

It was cold, you noticed immediately. The satin sheets meant to comfort you in your sleep had become irritating and frigid against your exposed skin.

With an irritated huff, you reached out a hand to your lover - hoping to find and sidle up next to him to siphon some heat. But your hand met an empty bed. Empty, freezing cold sheets encased the top and bottom of your hand. You creaked an eye open just to confirm what you'd already expected and soon found yourself irritated for an entirely different reason. "Thrass..." you groaned into your pillow.

You didn't need to look at the chrono to know that it was way too late for him to still be up and yet, most likely, he was. Still seated at his desk you'd left him at hours ago. A part of you wanted to just forget it and go back to sleep. Thrass hadn't gone to bed at a reasonable hour in almost three weeks. For the first week, you'd tried tirelessly to get him into bed with you before midnight but he'd always get up after a few hours to go back to his desk. You'd eventually given up, hoping instead that your annoyance would shine through and Thrass would get the hint and remember that sleep was important for his well-being.

But now here you were again. And unfortunately, your concern for his well-being won. Sighing explosively, you rose from the bed and slipped your feet into some slippers. As you stood, the sheets fell from you like cascading water, reaching out like grasping hands to lure you back to bed. You ignored their silver call in search of your husband, the very man who made the sheets all the more inviting.

You padded through the halls - each step quieter than snowfall - as you crept to the only lit room in the small house you'd taken up residence in on Avidich. Thrass's office was alight with soft amber coming from the one lamp on perched on his desk. It spilled out into the hall from beneath the door like a dying beacon calling you to the man locked within.

This time, you didn't bother knocking.

The door slid open with a soft hiss and you readied a hiss of your own, a loving bereavement of Thrass's unhealthy habit. Only to find it wasn't needed.

Thrass had passed out at his desk, his figure slumped over on the desk mounted questis. His head pressed into the keys and you stifled a laugh at the thought of the small squares leaving imprints on his face.

"Oh Thrass, "you sighed, "you silly, silly man."

Approaching his desk, you reached a hand out to his shoulder to gently shake the man awake.

With a snort and a jolt, the syndic sat up and looked around the room almost wildly before his gaze finally settled on you and he relaxed. "Oh, good morning, ch'acah," he yawned, bringing a fist to his mouth to hide it. "Would you like me to get started on breakfast?"

You simpered at him, "no, darling," you rubbed his shoulder, "it's still much too early for that."

His face pulled into a confused pout and he looked away from you to the chrono on his desk. "Oh..." His beautiful carmine eyes returned to yours, "then, what are you doing up?"

You had to fight not to roll your eyes and settled instead for an unimpressed frown. "You never came to bed..."

"Oh..." he repeated more sheepishly than before. "I'm sorry, ch'acah. I lost track of time and-"

"You've been 'losing track of time' for weeks now, Thrass." You cut him off. "What has you so bothered?"

Thrass fell silent for awhile, his eyes drifting from your face to the still illuminated screen before him. You stayed quiet, your hand drifting down his arm - creating goosebumps beneath his blue skin in your light grasp's wake - till it settled atop his in Thrass's lap. Without looking at you, he turned his hand over to hold yours, bringing it close to his chest as he finally sighed and looked at you once again. "I told you about my last luncheon with Thrawn, yes?"

You nodded and Thrass turned his body back to the questis, still keeping your hand in his though. Without a word, you followed the movement and found yourself perched on the edge of his desk. "He said something I found odd - for him, I should clarify." Your lips briefly twitched into a small grin. "We somehow started talking about philosophy and it lead to the impact of grief. And Thrawn told me that he'd once had a sister."

"Had?" You clarified, tightening your grip on his hand. Thrass nodded, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized the screen before him. He lowered your joined hands to his lap before he continued.

"He had a sister but he didn't say she'd died. She'd simply...disappeared one day. And he wouldn't tell me more." Your head tilted to the side - odd indeed. "So, I started to look into it."

"And?" you pressed.

"And I managed to track down her birth record - she was born as Kivu'rik'ardoc on Rentor and she was a bit older than Thrawn. I have her enrollment record too from when she started schooling. And then - nothing. Everything stopped after she turned five. It's like she vanished from the galaxy." He frowned. "Until years later an adoption record for her pops up. Or at least I think it's her. The core name is close enough - Rik'ardok - and she was adopted by the Irizi's." He looked to you, his expression pointed.

"My family?" You queried more to yourself than him. And then, taking a moment to really consider it, you tilted your head up as if the ceiling might reveal some hidden memory to you. "I can't say I remember welcoming any 'Zirika' to the family - what year would she have-?"

Thrass retracted his hand from yours to pivot his screen to you, letting you read her adoption record for yourself. You frowned. "I was active then, yes. But only just starting out..."

Thrass sighed, returning the monitor to it's place. "I was afraid you would say that." He fell silent, a downcast look darkening his face.

Your frown grew heavier at the sight of Thrass looking so defeated. Bringing your hands up, you took his face into them. "That doesn't mean I can't get access to them though."

His frown twisted from saddened to annoyed. "Ch'acah, how likely are they to hand over documents to the wife of someone from their rival family?"

You shrugged one shoulder, "They'd be more willing if they thought I was compiling my records to help an up and coming Irizi syndic."

Thrass blinked at you in disbelief. "I can't ask you to lie to your family, ch'acah just to help me."

"You're my family now, Thrass," you ran your thumb over his cheek for emphasis, "I would do anything for you."

His gaze softened and soon his hands came up to grasp yours. Bringing them away from his face, he brought them to his lips. "Please," he sighed, breath warming your knuckles, "I want to give Thrawn some closure."

You held his hands tight and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "I will help you, my love." You leaned your forehead against his and spoke with a soft voice. "But you have to promise me you'll stop staying up till the whisperbirds start calling."

Thrass laughed, a choppy, startled sound that shook his whole body. "I promise," he sighed, retracting a hand to turn off his desk mounted questis, "no more."

With a quiet 'thank you', you pressed a fleeting kiss to his lips before pulling him up to his feet. "Come on, let's go to bed."

He happily let you tow him along without letting go of your hand. And when you got back to your shared room, he was more than happy to let you help him into his pajamas. He only separated from you to finish his nightly routine in the refresher and in the meantime you settled back into bed. The sheets were even colder than before and you found yourself shivering against them until Thrass finally joined you and pulled you close.

With your face tucked into his neck, you finally let out a sigh of relief and soon joined him in sleep.

[elivanto]

Hi! So I’m trying to write Thrawn and I want to get his characterisation down better, since I’ve only seen Rebels and haven’t had the chance to read the books yet. I was wondering - are there any moral lines he wouldn’t cross, either in war or in general life?

oh boy that’s difficult. hm. he has no problems kicking people’s asses if the situation requires it (1) and he also doesn’t mind shooting on civilians, even though he does it reluctantly, if he deems it necessary to reach his goals (2).

here’s an interesting quote by him (one of my favorites) from lesser evil (2021), chapter 10:

"My job—the sole reason for my existence—is to defend the Chiss Ascendancy and protect my people. I will do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal, and I will allow nothing and no one to stand in my way. Do you understand?"

he also condones slavery in the sense of “these beings are assets of the empire and i serve the empire so it is what it is” (3) and he favors dictatorships over democracy (4).

however we do see in the books that he generally doesn’t like to take lives when he can avoid it (5), and he opposes the construction and deployment of the death star (though, to be fair, rather from a standpoint of military tactics LMAO) (6).

so the only thing i can really think of in terms of “things that are immoral that thrawn would never even consider doing”—and this is crass, sorry—is any kind of sexual harassment or assault, because boy is as asexual as they come and uninterested in pursuing romantic relationships (7).

if anyone has something to add, feel free to reply/reblog :)

i added sources in case anyone’s like eXcUsE mE tHaT’s NoT wHaT tHe TeXt SaYs!!!:

(1) his fight with kallus in rebels zero hour part 1; lesser evil (2021), memories iv

(2) orbital bombardment of lothal in the rebels s4 finale

(3) thrawn (2017), chapter 20, his converation with eli at the end of the chapter

(4) thrawn (2017), chapter 27, talking to nightswan; lesser evil (2021), chapter 29 when he’s talking to ba’kif and ar’alani about his exile

(5) “i regret the loss of life” thrawn (2017), him valuing alien lives in the ascendancy trilogy in contrast to like 85% of his fellow chiss, trying to get nightswan to surrender without fighting, “it was not my intention to utterly destroy lothal” etc.

(6) thrawn: treason (2019), chapter 1, “[project stardust] represents a strategically shortsighted approach to both offensive and defensive warfare”

(7) literally every literary piece by timothy zahn that contains thrawn. it’s never said explicitly but he’s very much uninterested in sexual or romantic relationships.

[elivanto]

eli’s highest rank in the imperial navy is commander, not lieutenant commander: the receipts

i’ve wanted to make this post for a while, because i see people being confused about it every now and again, as well as loads of inaccuracies in fic (and some of my older posts, for that matter). and it’s a perfect distraction from the Lesser Evil Depression(TM), so let’s do this >:)

i know it’s a little tricky, because thrawn calls eli ‘commander’ while he’s still a lieutenant commander (understandably, because whew, what a mouthful). however, i’m 90% sure that eli’s promotion happens before the chimaera is deployed to botajef in chapter 22 of thrawn. my reasoning: in previous chapters, thrawn calls his crew members by their full rank when he’s issuing a bunch of orders at the same time.

an example from chapter 20:

“I’m sure we will be informed at the appropriate time,” Thrawn said. “Until then, our task is to reach the Sempre before it is completely overwhelmed. Commander Faro, you will run a complete check on the weapons and weapons crews. We are to be ready for combat the moment we reach the scene of the attack. Lieutenant Commander Vanto, contact engineering. If there is a way to increase the Chimaera’s speed, you will implement it.”

in chapter 22, however, he doesn’t call him lieutenant at all anymore. and look here:

“Senior Lieutenant Lomar, contact the chief of the Botajef Defense Force and explain the situation. I’m sure he’ll want proof; you may invite him aboard at his convenience. Commander Faro, bring the governor’s corvette into the hangar bay. Major Ayer, your stormtroopers will board as soon as the vessel is secure. Take care with the prisoners; take even better care with the artwork. Senior Lieutenant Yve, bring Special Unit One back to screen position with the other TIEs. Inform all pilots they are to remain alert, but that no further combat is anticipated.” He looked at Eli, and Eli thought he could detect a small smile on the Chiss’s lips. “Commander Vanto, you will contact the High Command on Coruscant. Inform them that the situation on Botajef has been resolved.”

(jesus christ that man can say a lot of words in one go lmao.)

second reasoning: according to wookieepedia, botajef takes place around 2bby, and it definitely makes sense that eli has received another promotion by then. imagine how annoyed he’d be if he were 30+ years old and still a wee lieutenant commander?

anyway. more evidence coming right up.

shortly before batonn (chapter 23), eli and thrawn have to authorize themselves with their code cylinders to get to an official meeting with other task force leaders. the lady who verifies their code cylinders is a little suspicious of them, most probably because thrawn’s a non-human, and i’m sure she wouldn’t call eli by anything but his proper rank in a formal situation like that:

“Code cylinders, please,” the door warden said. Her voice is brisk and formal, but her face shows suspicion. “Here,” Vanto said, handing over both his cylinder and Thrawn’s.The warden takes the first and slips it into the ID reader. The confirmation procedure takes longer than usual. Perhaps she doesn’t believe that the IDs are genuine. Vanto notices the delay, as well. “Is there a problem, Warrant Officer?” “No problem, Commander.” Her face still holds suspicion as she returns the cylinders. But she does not hold enough doubt to summon assistance. “You’re cleared to enter, Commander Vanto.” Another brief but noticeable hesitation. “As are you, Admiral Thrawn.”

next, eli’s conversation with nightswan in chapter 24. nightswan literally, explicitly says that he’s seen an announcement for eli’s promotion, so it can’t have been too long ago, right?

“I’m glad that Admiral Thrawn sent you to seek me out, by the way. [...]” He frowned, his gaze dropping to the tunic’s insignia plaque. “You are a commander, aren’t you? I saw the announcement. You haven’t been demoted, have you?” “No, I’m still a commander,” Eli confirmed [...]. “This is just part of the camouflage.”

there’s another little part in their conversation where eli mentions he’s a commander, but that’d be overkill to add tbh. still, i like to be thorough. so: ON TO THRAWN: TREASON.

during haveland and savit’s polite little conversation about thrawn (chapter 3):

“Intriguing,” Savit said. “I don’t suppose you have an actual name for this unsung genius.” A hint of uncertainty touched the edge of Haveland’s indignation. “There are several possibles,” she said. “Commander Alfren Cheno, Commander Eli Vanto, Admiral Plor Wiskovis—” “And therein lies the unraveling,” Savit said. “Multiple names and widely variant details are the hallmarks of unfounded rumors.”

during eli’s musings about being treated so unfairly by admiral ar’alani (sorry, i do love to make just a little fun of him. affectionately.) (also chapter 3):

His first act aboard the Steadfast was to receive demotion from Imperial commander to Chiss Defense Fleet lieutenant.

there’s one or two more mentions in treason, but i guess this’ll suffice. one more thing i’d like to add is a panel from the thrawn comic that was released in 2018. even though i kind of hate to add it. but in this case it supports the textual evidence, and we don’t really care about how rank plaques are depicted (yes we do) because everyone does what they want anyway in star wars, so here we go:

this is at the battle of scrim island on batonn. note that karyn and eli are wearing the same combination of rank insignia plaque & code cylinders (look at their faces dsbfsdh my poor little meow meows). and we know for a fact that karyn is an actual commander at this point. ta-da! (never mind that i’m pretty sure two rows of four tiles red & blue is the rank of commodore, or something, and commander should be, like, three tiles of each probably. but i digress. 😔)

[elivanto]

was anakin then able to sky walk the way the chiss kids were or was his power limited? i can’t think of a time he actually maneuvered a ship and sky walked through space (i don’t know if that happened in any books tho) but if he did it’s very cool to give such a literal meaning to his name, with him being the chosen one and all it’s got that predestined side of it

he did that in thrawn: alliances, as vader! it's a great scene so i'll put it under a cut for those who haven't read the book and don't want to see spoilers 🙊

timothy zahn's galaxy brain 👌👌👌 you should read the thrawn novels, there's so much good shit in there wink wink nudge nudge

Vader looked down at the console from the command walkway. He listened to Thrawn’s explanation of what he wanted.

And he wondered if the grand admiral had gone insane.

“There is no other way,” Thrawn said. If he sensed Vader’s displeasure, he gave no sign of it. “The Grysks have a long lead on us. But they must rely on the Chiss children to navigate them back to their base.”

“Children who have done this many times before,” Vader reminded him. “We have such children aboard. Why can they not serve us as they served the Grysks?”

“Because those aboard the Chimaera are no stronger in the Force than the children currently in Grysk hands,” Thrawn said. “We must arrive at the base before the Grysks, and our Chiss navigators cannot achieve that.”

“Yet you believe I can?”

“The children are not as strong in the Force as you are,” Thrawn said. “You have their same precognition ability, but you have more strength and stamina.” He gestured at the crew pit. “You should be able to sufficiently outstrip the enemy’s speed.”

The bridge crew had gone very quiet. The helm was studiously not looking up at Vader and his admiral. Commodore Faro was carefully not joining into the conversation. The rest of the crew was looking like they would very much prefer to be elsewhere. “And if you are wrong?”

“Then we arrive behind the Grysks,” Thrawn said. “We will still engage them to the fullest, but we will have lost the element of surprise.”

“Or we shall arrive so late that they will have escaped?”

Thrawn’s glowing red eyes shifted to the viewport and the starfield glittering across the darkness. “Yes,” he said quietly.

“Yet you still ask me to do this instead of using navigators of proven ability.”

“Yes.”

Vader stretched out to the Force. He had never attempted anything like this. In fact, the idea of navigating without a nav computer or an astromech droid had never even occurred to him.

Thrawn was asking him to try it, with the Chimaera and every Imperial asset aboard at risk.

The bridge was still silent. Did they think he would defy their admiral’s order and refuse? Did they think he wouldn’t do it?

Did they think he couldn’t do it?

He squared his shoulders beneath his armor. “How will I know our destination?”

“You have touched the minds of the children who have been there,” Thrawn said. There was no gloating in his voice, no hint of satisfaction at having won out over Vader’s resistance. All Vader could sense was relief, perhaps even gratitude. “That knowledge, plus the guidance of the Force, should show you where the other children are being taken. For the rest, your skill and power in the Force will guide you along the quickest and safest path.”

“Very well,” Vader said. Sweeping his cloak behind him, he walked back along the walkway to the stairs leading down into the crew pit.

The crewers pressed themselves closer to their consoles as he passed by. The helmsman was already out of his chair, backing away to give the Dark Lord plenty of room. Vader reached the helm console and lowered himself into the chair.

The chair that had already been adjusted for his height. Either the helmsman had reset it while Vader was on his way, or Thrawn had already had it preset for the taller soon-to-be occupant.

Vader scowled. Yet more of the Chiss’s abundant self-confidence.

Or maybe it was his confidence in Vader.

He reached for the ship’s controls. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that Thrawn needed something, and Vader could supply it, and the Empire would benefit from his actions.

At least, the Empire had better benefit by it.

“Stand by to go to lightspeed,” Thrawn called from the command walkway. “Systems clear.”

Vader listened to the familiar cadence as the various stations confirmed their readiness. It wasn’t much different from the countdowns The Jedi had heard aboard Republic attack cruisers during the Clone Wars. Capital warships were capital warships, no matter who commanded them.

There was a flicker in Thrawn’s sense. Vader looked up, to see a small smile on his face. “Do you find this amusing, Admiral?” he challenged.

“No, not at all, my lord,” Thrawn hastened to assure him. “I was simply recalling a memory. I told you the Chiss call this talent Third Sight. What I hadn’t yet spoken of is the title these navigators are given once they take their posts.”

“Which is?”

“The Cheunh word is ozyly-esehembo,” Thrawn said. “In Basic, it translates to ‘sky-walker.’ ” Another small smile. “You can imagine my momentary confusion when I first encountered General Anakin Skywalker.”

Vader nodded. He’d forgotten that The Jedi, too, had wondered about Thrawn’s reaction at that meeting. A small mystery, now put to rest.

The recitation ended. “Lord Vader, the Chimaera awaits your guidance,” Thrawn said.

That one, at least, was new. Stretching out to the Force, Vader keyed the hyperdrive.

Double vision: a cometary object approaching the starboard bow—

Not seriously dangerous, but a tweak of the course heading avoided any potential trouble. Ahead, he sensed the boundary of the Mokivj system as the Chimaera once more entered interstellar space.

Double vision: a large, star-sized object above the ship—

Again, a small touch on the drive avoided the risk of collision. Two more stars flashed past, without triggering any warning.

Double vision: the ship angling to portside—

The correct direction to take them to the Grysk base? Vader let his mind sink deeper into the Force, seeking confirmation.

Double vision: the ship angling to portside—

He touched the controls again, realigning the Chimaera onto the vector in his vision.

He’d never done this before. But it seemed he could indeed do it.

Trust me, Thrawn had again pleaded with him. Have I ever failed you?

Double vision: a white dwarf star directly ahead—

Once again, he adjusted course, and settled in for the long journey ahead.

[elivanto]

so.........ive been looking for a new star wars book and im thinking of starting the thrawn novels (purely bc of your thrawn posting). but the only thing i know about thrawn is from rebels and im havin a hard time convinving myself that i can get invested in a series about handsome squidward. but i figured if anyone can convince me to take the plunge it would be you<3. so in your own words.......why do u love the thrawn novels?

kinda suspicious of you nonnie (“handsome squidward”??? 😭) but i’m just gonna pretend i don’t feel like you’re making fun of me dihdjdhd ANYWAY.

thrawn novels. as in the 2017 canon trilogy, yeah?

well i can definitely tell you that i never would’ve thought in a million years i’d enjoy reading about thrawn—i knew him only from rebels, too, and i found him too scary, too calculating, too unemotional. i talked to at least two of my mutuals about sw novels and they were like ‘oh you gotta read the thrawn novels! so good!’ and i just thought ‘okay someone actually wrote a book about that guy and people enjoy it? don’t make me laugh’ and look at my dumb ass now lmao

the three things that ultimately made me start reading were 1) i, just like you, was out of sw books to read and looking for a new one, 2) the fact that there’s a couple mentions of anakin in the first book and a WHOLE anakin and a whole vader in the second, and 3) this fanart (caution: shippy & pda lmao).

convinced yet? no? okay. regarding the thrawntent content, the first novel especially deals with the recurring theme of xenophobia against thrawn as he rises through the ranks in the imperial navy. from fellow imps, government officials, uhhh his aide’s family (tiny little screech i’m not gonna bring out the big guns just yet) etc. it’s so interesting to see everything from a different perspective and how thrawn deals with it (he outsmarts everyone) and how the elite imps react to that (they hate it).

it’s also kind of hilarious that you know that the characters you read about—i’m talking about vanto, faro, hammerly etc. in particular here—are technically part of the big, bad, fascist empire but fuck if they don’t become great characters that you’d do anything for in the end.

and NOW i’m bringing out the big guns: eli vanto. i’m very biased here but, you know, you just gotta love him. he’s a tiny ball of barely restrained anger and yet he’s very polite, he’s relatable as FUCK, and thrawn sees him and thinks he’s a spy or some shit so he wants to keep an eye on him is like “i’m gonna keep this small, uncomfortable looking man with the funny accent” and they spend 10-ish years in the imperial navy together :) much to eli’s chagrin, at the beginning jfbdjdg

there’s some other stuff—arihnda pryce’s story in the first book, what REALLY happened at batonn (before thrawn was promoted to grand admiral), the whole [gestures vaguely] chiss situation, palpatine questioning thrawn’s loyalty, hilarious thrawn & vader shenanigans in which vader is always two seconds away from force-strangling thrawn etc. etc.—but i’ve really talked enough and if you’re not convinced to start reading the novels now i doubt you ever will be 😂

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK

[elivanto]

hey! are you familiar with the concept of sky walking that zahn talked ab in one his books and was it ab anakin?

hi! 1) yes and 2) no. well, i guess everything in star wars ultimately comes back to anakin, doesn't it? 🙊 but it's a chiss concept - the cheunh word ozyly-esehembo translates to sky-walker in basic. it's used for kids that can navigate ships through hyperspace using the force.

here have a few quotes from thrawn: alliances that explain the concept more thoroughly, beware of spoilers etc.

“We do not have nav computers able to plot safe paths through the chaos of the Unknown Regions hyperspace,” Thrawn said. “Nor do the Chiss produce appreciable numbers of Force-sensitives, though we call their gift Third Sight. But when such rare individuals are born, they come to us with but one ability, that of precognition.” And suddenly Vader understood. The same ability that allowed him to peer into the future far enough to know when and where an attack was coming was being used by the Chiss to sense dangers looming ahead of a ship in time to avoid them. “They navigate and pilot your ships,” he said. “Finding and mapping temporary hyperlanes even as they steer new paths along them.”

[...]

“Why children?” Vader asked. “And are they all female?” “The ability unfortunately fades with time,” Thrawn said. “No level of training or practice can change that. Young adults retain perhaps half of their childhood strength; older adults only a small fraction. Only children have enough precognitive power to safely guide our ships at the speeds the Aristocras demand. As to their gender—” He hunched his shoulders slightly. “Those with the gift are nearly always female. There are exceptions, but that is the general rule. No one knows why.”

[...]

There was a flicker in Thrawn’s sense. Vader looked up, to see a small smile on his face. “Do you find this amusing, Admiral?” he challenged. “No, not at all, my lord,” Thrawn hastened to assure him. “I was simply recalling a memory. I told you the Chiss call this talent Third Sight. What I hadn’t yet spoken of is the title these navigators are given once they take their posts.” “Which is?” “The Cheunh word is ozyly-esehembo,” Thrawn said. “In Basic, it translates to ‘sky-walker.’ ” Another small smile. “You can imagine my momentary confusion when I first encountered General Anakin Skywalker.”

[elivanto]

hello.. so im new to the star wars fandom and this sounds incredibly dumb but.. could you tell me who eli vanto is and is it canon? i still dont understand much things.. thank u

it doesn’t sound dumb at all!! the star wars universe is so vast and there’s so many eras and characters that you learn something new every day (and some things you never even wanted to know lmao) even when you’ve been in the fandom for years. and eli is a character who only appears in two of timothy zahn’s books and a comic, so he’s not that well known.

first of all: he and the stories he appears in are canon! he’s a fairly new character, too, compared to some of the other characters zahn created for his novels.

um, i don’t know if you’re familiar with thrawn but i’m just gonna assume you are (if not feel free to come back and ask about him sksksk, or just watch star wars: rebels! that’s something i’d recommend doing anyway 😜)

eli appears in:

thrawn (2017)

thrawn: treason (2019)

the comic released by marvel in 2018 that is based on the first book

he’s mentioned exactly once (1) in the second novel of the canon thrawn trilogy, thrawn: alliances (2018).

that’s eli in the comic:

he’s a very lovely, very relatable character. basically he was initially trained to become an imperial supply officer but thrawn came along (as he does) and decided to keep him lmao. and in the end eli served as thrawn’s ‘aide and protégé’ in the imperial navy for about ten years—until shortly before thrawn appears in star wars: rebels, actually.

if you’re interested in reading the books, i’d suggest you check out this post or this tag (blatant self-promotion, i know)

here is eli’s wookieepedia page (big spoiler warning for the novels!)

[elivanto]

Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me the order in which to read the Thrawn trilogy? I just finished the Ascendancy trilogy and will be getting copies of the other books today. I'm just a little confused lol. Thanks!

omg you read the ascendancy trilogy first? how was it, did you get into the plot and characters quickly?

for the canon thrawn trilogy it's thrawn (2017), thrawn: alliances (2018), thrawn: treason (2019)

or were you asking about the legends novels?

i have a complete chronological timeline here, but at the end of the day the order you read the legends novels in is pretty irrelevant.

[elivanto]

I've been trying to read the Thrawn novel (and really enjoying it!) but I keep losing my focus so I was wondering in your professional Thrawn and Eli opinion if the comic adaptation would be a good substitute in the meantime to read or would I be missing on a lot of the ✨experience✨?

heyyyyy!

well in my professional ✨thrawn and eli✨ opinion you might miss some gems (for example: a pirate calling eli 'pretty boy' or thrawn's tunic being, i quote, 'definitely two sizes too big' for eli) BUT other than that the comic should be a good substitute? the pacing's a bit weird sometimes but it definitely gets the story across, and eli's little frowny faces are a delight to look at fbhdffd

so yeah go for it! maybe it'll even be easier to get into the book after that? 💙

i hope you'll have fun! 😌

[elivanto]

oh my god help me please i'm so confused right now

I just bought the thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire and others) but researching I saw that there are other books that would also be the thrawn trilogy wtf

do you know the order of reading or if Heir to the Empire has been "replaced" by the new trilogy??

SKHDJSGD OKAY SO. i’m putting most of my answer under a cut. it’s SO much text, i’m sorry, because my brain decided to make it into a small essay about all legends + canon books that deal with thrawn lmao. i included a little chronological overview further down.

i hope it clears the whole thing up a little and doesn’t cause more confusion for you?? if you have further questions or if anyone has something to add (or if i’ve spouted complete bullshit), please feel free to send me an ask or reply/reblog!!

regarding your question: basically, heir to the empire, dark force rising and the last command haven’t really been replaced by the new trilogy, they’re just the old legends books that TECHNICALLY* aren’t in the new disney canon anymore. they were published between 1991 and 1993.

they’re set after the original 1977 star wars trilogy and its main characters are among others luke and mara jade, and thrawn (plus the imperials that survived the war/escaped capture by the new republic) is the antagonist.

then there’s the hand of thrawn duology, specter of the past and vision of the future, that deals with some of the… ramifications, i guess, of the first three books. thrawn himself isn’t actually in this one, though.

two other legends books thrawn is in are outbound flight and choices of one, which are basically (some of the) prequels to the above mentioned books. another book, survivor’s quest, takes place 50 years after outbound flight with luke and mara as its main characters again, as well as some cool chiss characters and some mentions of thrawn. still legends, though.

THEN in 2017 the thrawn novel was published, which is official disney canon, followed by thrawn: alliances in 2018 and thrawn: treason in 2019. that’s the trilogy i’m talking about most of the time. it takes place shortly before and during star wars: rebels, so still before the original star wars trilogy, and references some of the events in rebels. this is also the trilogy eli is in. ;)

the most recent thrawn books are of the ascendancy trilogy which is canon too, and they’re prequels to the 2017-19 trilogy. they’re about some of thrawn’s time and military career in the chiss ascendancy before thrawn came to the empire (AND THEY’RE REALLY GOOD). chaos rising, the first novel, was published in 2020, greater good and lesser evil were both published in 2021.

*i said at the beginning that the legends books technically aren’t canon anymore, according to disney. BUT timothy zahn said in some interviews that if someone at lucasfilm were to decide that the old books are canon again, they’d fit into the timeline with the new ones, since they all take place during different stages of thrawn’s life.

the events of outbound flight (which i very much recommend reading), for example, are referenced several times in the new ascendancy novels. tim also said that thrawn’s characterization is overall consistent spanning all legends and canon novels, which i have come to agree with, but it’s not really a prevalent opinion. i think.

—

the chronological order is basically:

outbound flight (legends)

chaos rising, greater good, lesser evil (canon)

thrawn, thrawn: alliances, thrawn: treason (canon)

choices of one (legends) (thank you emma for figuring this out!!)

heir to the empire, dark force rising, the last command (legends)

specter of the past, vision of the future (legends)

survivor’s quest (legends)

—

most of the thrawn people i follow have only read the 2017 trilogy, or that one and the ascendancy trilogy. i do recommend reading the legends ones though, if you’re interested in the post-empire/new republic era (and because i love gilad pellaeon) and if you have enough time on your hands to read them :D

i answered an ask about the reading order of the canon books here, but all in all the reading order is relatively irrelevant. and if you’re interested in getting the ebooks for free, just send me a dm and i’ll link you to a site where you can dl them!

[elivanto]

First off, happy birthday! Secondly, I started reading the Canon Thrawn novels last year, but only got about a fifth of the way through the first book before I got too busy to read. Finally picked it up again a couple weeks ago after seeing how much you talk about it and have been loving it. Zahn still gets Thrawn better than anyone else. I did have one question about the book I was curious if you knew an answer to though. How old are Thrawn and Vance supposed to be in the first book, and how long before Rebels S3 does it take place? Only bit of definitive mention of time I've come across so far is Eli mentioning he's been working with Thawn for 4 years so far. Thanks!

hi! thank you! and i am so glad you asked. please picture me rubbing my little hands together like a very round, gleeful raccoon.

let me link you to two amazing posts by @mayhaps-a-blog, one about thrawn's age and one about the thrawn novel timeline. and here have another post i found through google about eli's age.

tldr; it's a little complicated, since the novel takes place over, like, ten years? at the beginning of the novel eli should be no older than 22 (he's probably a bit younger, though) and thrawn should be no younger than 39....... if i did my math correctly. add ~10 years to that and you've got their ages at the end of the novel.

edit: another great post by @/mayhaps-a-blog about eli’s age here!

regarding rebels s3, the last few chapters take place shortly before thrawn is introduced in rebels. he mentions his "victory at batonn" in 3.01 when konstantine asks him about his promotion, right? zahn writes about what actually happened at batonn, and the scene in which palps promotes thrawn to grand admiral is in the last chapter of the novel, so it's basically a "smooth transition" between book and tv show.

i hope that clears things up a bit! 💙

[elivanto]

I think you've answered this before (sorry if you have) but what order do I read the Thrawn books in? Your posts have me interested

hi!! it’s fine!

you’re talking about the canon novels right? chronologically, the ascendancy trilogy takes place before the thrawn trilogy, but i’d read the thrawn trilogy first. i don’t think i’d have been interested in the ascendancy that much if i hadn’t read the other trilogy beforehand.

so:

thrawn (2017) - thrawn: alliances (2018) - thrawn: treason (2019)

and then thrawn ascendancy:

chaos rising (2020) - greater good (2021) - lesser evil (will come out november 2021)

i’ve heard you can do it both ways though, if you’d rather read them chronologically! (...minus lesser evil of course)

this is just my preferred version 😌

[elivanto]

Okay I see your posts all the time with little awesome book snippets and you seem like the person to ask so I am sorry if you get asked this a lot, but:

The only Thrawn book I have read is Thrawn by T. Zahn.

Which Thrawn novels do I need to read to get to Lesser Evil? Because you're posts have made me invested in characters I don't even know and I would like. To meet Che'ri and Ar'Alani and maybe see Vanto again.

But it seems like there are multiple Thrawn series and I'm not sure where they line up.

hi!! okay, so: there are two recent thrawn trilogies by timothy zahn that are both canon.

the one that was released first consists of thrawn (2017), thrawn: alliances (2018) and thrawn: treason (2019). they all deal with thrawn’s time in the empire, and there’s lots of vanto in treason, too - and ar’alani! 🙊

then there’s a second trilogy (thrawn: ascendancy) that deals with thrawn’s time in the chiss ascendancy before he left for the empire. here’s where che’ri comes in, and ar’alani, and so many other chiss characters that i adore. it consists of chaos rising (2020) and greater good and lesser evil, both of which were released this year.

personally i recommend reading the full empire trilogy first (especially since you’ve read thrawn already) but you could do it both ways!

i hope this helps!

[elivanto]

Hey do you have to read any of the other Thrawn trilogies before Outbound Flight? It seems like the most intriguing to start with!

i don’t think you do! it might be nice to know some of the characters from the main books just to be like “omg!!! i know n love them!!!” when they pop up but i think it’s a great introduction into thrawn’s character! and the obi-wan & anakin interactions are a huge bonus. very “exhausted, cynical dad with teenage-menace” energy and it’s hilarious

i don’t think i’ll recover from the last couple chapters anytime soon though

[elivanto]

Commander Eli Vanto. Deserter from the Imperial fleet. Apparent collusionist with an alien government. Traitor. —Thrawn: Treason (2019)

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[elivanto]

and

mhm, agreed! and just to clarify, i definitely wasn’t attacking anyone who does create shipping content because it would be very much hypocritical of me considering i like to read spicy stuff about thrawn x basically every adult he comes in contact with over the books lmao but ANYWAY.

still, i am convinced that canonically he just doesn’t reciprocate that kind of interest. and strictly speaking outbound flight, the book which maris appears in, isn’t canon

@ anon, so you see there are discrepancies in the way people view him but i hope we’ve managed to establish a bit of a foundation for you to base your writing on and didn’t cause any confusion 😆

in the end (which you probably know, i’d just like to say it and hopefully don’t sound condescending), it’s your take on thrawn’s characterization that matters in your writing and not anyone else’s.

thank you for the helpful additions!! @ladykagewaki @velvetsunset

Hi! So I’m trying to write Thrawn and I want to get his characterisation down better, since I’ve only seen Rebels and haven’t had the chance to read the books yet. I was wondering - are there any moral lines he wouldn’t cross, either in war or in general life?

oh boy that’s difficult. hm. he has no problems kicking people’s asses if the situation requires it (1) and he also doesn’t mind shooting on civilians, even though he does it reluctantly, if he deems it necessary to reach his goals (2).

here’s an interesting quote by him (one of my favorites) from lesser evil (2021), chapter 10:

"My job—the sole reason for my existence—is to defend the Chiss Ascendancy and protect my people. I will do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal, and I will allow nothing and no one to stand in my way. Do you understand?"

he also condones slavery in the sense of “these beings are assets of the empire and i serve the empire so it is what it is” (3) and he favors dictatorships over democracy (4).

however we do see in the books that he generally doesn’t like to take lives when he can avoid it (5), and he opposes the construction and deployment of the death star (though, to be fair, rather from a standpoint of military tactics LMAO) (6).

so the only thing i can really think of in terms of “things that are immoral that thrawn would never even consider doing”—and this is crass, sorry—is any kind of sexual harassment or assault, because boy is as asexual as they come and uninterested in pursuing romantic relationships (7).

if anyone has something to add, feel free to reply/reblog :)

i added sources in case anyone’s like eXcUsE mE tHaT’s NoT wHaT tHe TeXt SaYs!!!:

(1) his fight with kallus in rebels zero hour part 1

(2) orbital bombardment of lothal in the rebels s4 finale

(3) thrawn (2017), chapter 20, his converation with eli at the end of the chapter

(4) thrawn (2017), chapter 27, talking to nightswan; lesser evil (2021), chapter 29 when he’s talking to ba’kif and ar’alani about his exile

(5) “i regret the loss of life” thrawn (2017), him valuing alien lives in the ascendancy trilogy in contrast to like 85% of his fellow chiss, trying to get nightswan to surrender without fighting, “it was not my intention to utterly destroy lothal” etc.

(6) thrawn: treason (2019), chapter 1, “[project stardust] represents a strategically shortsighted approach to both offensive and defensive warfare”

(7) literally every literary piece by timothy zahn that contains thrawn. it’s never said explicitly but he’s very much uninterested in sexual or romantic relationships.