Grand Admiral Thrawn: 10 Key Differences Between Star Wars’ Next Big Villain In Canon & Legends

Grand Admiral Thrawn will seemingly be the next big Star Wars villain, and the modern canon has made several major changes to his backstory and personality. Thrawn debuted in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, which was a major contributor to the Star Wars Expanded Universe’s renaissance in the 1990s. Back then, the Expanded Universe was the official Star Wars canon, with Lucasfilm ensuring that non-movie materials not only maintained a tidy continuity with each other but also the saga films themselves. To clean the slate for the sequel trilogy, however, Lucasfilm partially rebooted the Star Wars franchise.

In April 2014, the Expanded Universe was renamed Legends and became a bygone alternate timeline, though its lore, characters, and storylines would have a massive influence on the modern canon. Grand Admiral Thrawn was one of many elements of the Legends continuity to gain a counterpart in the modern canon, with Thrawn’s newer iteration debuting in the Star Wars Rebels animated series. Since his re-introduction to the Star Wars franchise, Thrawn has been developed as a similar character to his original iteration, though there are several notable differences between his current incarnation and the original Legends iteration.

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10 Canon Grand Admiral Thrawn Is Much More Heavily Involved In Fighting The Rebels

Naturally, with Grand Admiral Thrawn being reintroduced to the modern Star Wars canon in Rebels, the newer continuity has Thrawn playing a far more active role in battling the growing Rebel Alliance than his original Legends counterpart. As shown in Rebels seasons 3 and 4, Thrawn sought to destroy the Rebel cell known as Phoenix Cell, putting him at odds with the show’s ensemble cast of protagonists. Thrawn took command of the Imperial military forces on Lothal, proving to be a far more competent leader than the likes of Admiral Kassius Konstantine and Governor Arihnda Pryce.

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The original Legends iteration of Thrawn was still involved in the Empire’s early conflicts with the growing Rebellion, however. Thrawn’s ingenuity as a military leader quickly earned him the favor of both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, with the former assigning him to work alongside the Imperial Inquisitor Jerec – a dangerously ambitious dark side user who longed to take Vader’s place at the Emperor’s side – and keep him in line. Thrawn and Jerec led the Empire to victory on Sulon, suffering heavy casualties but nevertheless wiping out the moon’s Rebel cell.

9 Star Wars Canon Has A Very Different Explanation For Thrawn’s OT Absence

Despite being one of the Galactic Empire’s finest military leaders, Thrawn is, notably, absent from the Star Wars original trilogy. While this is owed to his debuting in 1991, in reality, the two Star Wars continuities each present different reasons for his absence. In the modern Star Wars canon, Thrawn was defeated in the series finale of Rebels, with the hyperspace-traveling purrgil space whales taking him, his flagship, and Ezra Bridger to the extragalactic world of Peridea. Thrawn would not return to the main Star Wars galaxy until several years after Return of the Jedi.

In the Legends continuity, Grand Admiral Thrawn secretly requested to be relegated to the galaxy’s Unknown Regions. As a Chiss, Thrawn was often subjected to bigotry by many of his colleagues, yet Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader held no such prejudice, valuing Thrawn as one of the Empire’s greatest assets. Together, they used the Empire’s Human High Culture as a cover to justify sending Thrawn to the Unknown Regions on a “mapping expedition,” and he would resurface years after Return of the Jedi.

8 Canon Grand Admiral Thrawn Worked With Anakin Skywalker During The Clone Wars

In the Legends continuity, Grand Admiral Thrawn worked with Darth Vader on several occasions, with the Sith Lord respecting the Naval leader’s competence and lack of ego. Thrawn did not think quite so highly of Vader, however, and criticized the Dark Lord’s infamous reputation for executing his subordinates and intimidating his underlings. Thrawn, notably, never knew Darth Vader as the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.

Darth Vader did not execute Imperial officers as often as his reputation suggests, and Thrawn himself executed at least one underling in the
Thrawn
trilogy.

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In the modern canon, however, Thrawn knew Anakin Skywalker, having met the Jedi Knight during the Clone Wars. In the modern canon’s equivalent to the Legends continuity’s Cortosis Battle Droid campaign, Thrawn and Skywalker worked together during a mission to Mokivj, stopping the Separatist Alliance from producing the deadly lightsaber-resistance Super Battle Droids. Thrawn would later be saddened to hear that Skywalker “died” in the Jedi Purge.

7 Grand Admiral Thrawn Knows Vader’s True Identity In Canon

Since Grand Admiral Thrawn never worked with Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars in the Legends continuity, he only ever knew him in his Sith identity of Darth Vader. In the modern canon, however, Thrawn knew him as both Anakin Skywalker and later as Darth Vader. Unsurprisingly, Thrawn suspected – if not outright knew – that the two were one and the same.

During a mission with Darth Vader, Thrawn observed similarities between the Sith Lord’s strategies and those of the “late” Anakin Skywalker and soon realized that they were the same person. Thrawn kept this knowledge to himself, no doubt aware that he would be in mortal danger from Vader if he did not. Initially, however, Thrawn implied his knowledge of Darth Vader’s previous identity in conversations with the Dark Lord himself, though he eventually came to terms with the symbolic death of Skywalker.

6 The Noghri Are Much Less Important To Thrawn In Star Wars Canon

Grand Admiral Thrawn is known for employing the Noghri warrior Rukh as his bodyguard and assassin, but the Noghri as a species lack their tragic history from the original Legends continuity. For the time being, all that is known about Rukh and the Noghri is that Thrawn hired Rukh for his combat skills and loyalty. The history of the Noghri is far more developed in the Legends continuity.

After a Separatist chemical weapon devastated the Noghri homeworld of Honoghr during the Clone Wars, Darth Vader offered aid to the species in exchange for their loyalty to him and the Emperor, leading to the formation of the Noghri Death Commandos. In truth, Vader and the Empire secretly continued to pollute Honoghr, prolonging their suffering and ensuring their continued loyalty to Vader. Rukh was one such Noghri Death Commando, who Grand Admiral Thrawn selected to serve as his personal assassin and bodyguard.

5 Rukh’s Death Means Thrawn’s Story Has To End In A Very Different Way

Even after the death of Darth Vader, the Empire continued to poison Honoghr in exchange for loyal Noghri Death Commandos. What proved instrumental to Thrawn’s ultimate defeat in the Thrawn campaign was Princess Leia’s revelation to the Noghri that the Empire deceived them and was continuing to pollute their homeworld. The news eventually made it to Rukh, who assassinated Thrawn in response (and was killed by Thrawn’s troops shortly afterward), giving the New Republic an edge during the Battle of Bilbringi.

In the modern canon, Rukh never turned on Thrawn, having died fighting for him on Lothal in the Rebels series finale. This means that Thrawn cannot die the same way as his original iteration in the new continuity. Unless Rukh becomes the latest modern canon character to return from the dead, a future story will have to give Thrawn a different – yet equally fitting – demise.

4 Canon Thrawn Doesn’t Seem To Be Quite So Focused On Artwork

One of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s most iconic traits is his obsession with artwork. By simply studying the art of a specific species, Thrawn understands their cultural mindsets and weaknesses. Thrawn also takes this a step further in some cases, studying the specific artwork that an enemy leader collects. According to Timothy Zahn, Sherlock Holmes was a major inspiration for Thrawn, and the Grand Admiral similarly makes astoundingly accurate deductions by observing small details, just like Holmes.

While this trait is extremely prominent in the original Legends version of Grand Admiral Thrawn, the modern canon downplays this trait for his newer iteration. Thrawn is certainly interested in artwork and studies it to gain advantages over his enemies (specifically Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren in Rebels), but he is nowhere near as obsessed with artwork as his Legends incarnation. In Thrawn’s live-action debut in Ahsoka, his strategy of studying artwork is entirely absent.

3 Grand Admiral Thrawn Has One Weakness In Legends He Doesn’t Seem To Have In Canon

Along with giving Grand Admiral Thrawn a more prominent obsession with artwork (and weaponization of his obsession), the Star Wars Legends continuity also gave him a critical weakness. Grand Admiral Thrawn struggles to understand the artwork of one species: the Kaleesh. During a conflict between the Galactic Empire and a contingent of Kaleesh, Thrawn attempted to study Kaleesh artwork and failed to glean any knowledge of their cultural mindset and strategies, and thus resorted to bombarding the Kaleesh on Oben (a Kaleesh colony world).

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This would mean that Thrawn would most likely struggle against the dreaded Separatist leader General Grievous, perhaps being defeated by the Kaleesh warlord. Thrawn is not known to share this weakness in the modern Star Wars canon, however, so he would most likely have little trouble facing a Kaleesh strategist. Moreover, General Grievous is far less formidable in the modern canon than he was in his original Legends incarnation.

2 Legends Thrawn Is Much More Competent Than The Canon Version

When written by Timothy Zahn, there is little difference between the Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Legends continuity and the Thrawn of the modern canon continuity. The major differences, however, come into play when taking properties like Rebels and Ahsoka into account. Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the Star Wars franchise’s finest strategists and one of its most dangerous villains, but Thrawn had to have his competence dialed back to some degree so that the heroes of Rebels and Ahsoka would survive their respective shows.

While Thrawn has plenty of impressive feats in both of Zahn’s modern canon trilogies, the Legends continuity portrays him as a menace on a far grander scale. In his original iteration, Thrawn was not only a superlative strategist, but also a political manipulator orchestrating a scandal within the New Republic that resulted in Admiral Gial Ackbar being removed from command. In the Legends continuity, Thrawn was shown to devise new plots while simultaneously fighting a battle with the New Republic, making him a far greater threat to the heroes than his newer iteration.

1 Legends’ Thrawn Is More Clearly A Villain Than Canon… So Far

In addition to being a more competent villain in the Legends continuity, the original version of Grand Admiral Thrawn is also a more sinister character than his modern canon counterpart. While both versions of Thrawn are arguably too complex to be written off as one-note villains, they nevertheless become high-ranking members of the Empire – an oppressive, expansionist, totalitarian entity that is guilty of countless atrocities. The Legends iteration of Thrawn is portrayed more clearly as a villain, while the modern canon version tries to dampen Thrawn’s more nefarious qualities.

The Legends version of Thrawn is all but remorseless in his actions, coldly ordering Rukh to execute a subordinate on the spot for attempting to shift the blame of failure onto an underling. Thrawn also continued Darth Vader’s scheme of poisoning Honoghr to keep the Noghri loyal to the Empire on false pretenses. Thrawn’s lack of genuine loyalty to the Empire is only implied in his original Star Wars Legends incarnation, but the modern canon makes it clear that he only sees the regime as a means of protecting the Chiss Ascendency.

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