When the Thrawn Trilogy ended in 1993 with The Last Command, Zahn thought it was the last book for which he would develop the character.

Thrawn was originally a Captain of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Stalwart and commanded several deep space expeditions.

Prince-Admiral Delak Krennel ( who briefly collaborated with Ysanne Isard in X-Wing: Isard's Revenge ) formerly served under Thrawn, but Krennel's career with the Imperial Navy was almost ruined after Thrawn dismissed him.

Captain Dorja of the ISD Relentless was openly critical of Thrawn and Gilad Pellaeon, even when his Destroyer was part of Thrawn's personal squadron.

That operation was planned by Thrawn, although Darth Vader gave the orders.

The Baron noted that " an alien ( such as Thrawn ) in such a high position of command was very unusual, given the Empire's extreme xenophobia.

Thrawn would become involved in Imperial court politics, as Mara Jade would later reminisce ; all thought that his exile was due to his political defeat by Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus.

While this put Thrawn in a strong position, he was confronted by the Imperial Navy's lack of ships.

However, Thrawn was at the same time being slowly undone.

Thrawn was assassinated during the battle, at the end of The Last Command, the final novel in the Zahn trilogy.

It was later speculated by Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, after the events of Outbound Flight, that there was another Thrawn clone loose somewhere in the galaxy who had arranged the Vagaari attack in Chiss space at the remains of the Outbound Flight Project, so that the Chiss could be deliberately provoked into dealing with them once and for all.

During the Outbound Flight project, a Trade Federation task force dispatched by Darth Sidious to defeat Outbound Flight was intercepted and soundly defeated by Commander Thrawn.

During the surrender of the remaining Republic forces, Thrawn was put in contact with Lord Sidious.

Thrawn was not oblivious to the threat this posed to his people.

Thrawn was considered a true warrior by those who served under him.

Thrawn was not concerned with his own personal glory, only with winning the fight against the New Republic ( which he refused to acknowledge as such, instead constantly referring to it as " the Rebellion ").

It was later postulated that Thrawn did not support the Empire per se, but rather wanted to establish order in the known galaxy in preparation to combat as-yet unknown threats he had discovered during his time in the Outer Rim ( probably early scouts of the Yuuzhan Vong ).

Thrawn was more tolerant of the failures of those under his command than other Imperial officials, who were known for their lethal reaction to minor failures.

That same superior was then killed by Rukh, as a statement by Thrawn, that all Imperial troops, no matter their origin, were to be given the same effort and attention by their superiors.

Ironically, Thrawn was also personally responsible for one of the greatest setbacks to the Imperial cause.

Jacen Solo was introduced near the end of the Thrawn Trilogy on Coruscant, when he was born five minutes after his sister Jaina.

In The Thrawn Trilogy, Luke meets former Emperor's Hand Mara Jade, who is bound by Palpatine's disembodied voice that repeatedly commands " You will kill Luke Skywalker.

The Last Command is the third book in the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn.

In Heir to the Empire, Lando reprograms Threepio to sound like Leia in order to hide from Imperials on Nkllon ; but the Empire, led by Grand Admiral Thrawn, sees through the deception.

In the Thrawn trilogy book series, the New Republic is almost brought to its knees by Grand Admiral Thrawn, the new leader of the remnants of the Empire and a military genius.

By the time of the third book in the series, Thrawn has nearly defeated the New Republic, but they claim victory in a last-ditch effort, and Thrawn is killed by his own bodyguard, shattering the Empire's unity.

After being defeated in battle once again by the New Republic, she resigns and selects Gilad Pellaeon ( originally in the Thrawn Trilogy ) as the new leader, where he becomes Grand Admiral Pellaeon.

Thrawn's promotion is long kept secret by Emperor Palpatine, and at the beginning of the Thrawn series the New Republic appears to be entirely unaware of his identity, or even his existence.

Having the concern over this Yuuzhan Vong threat reinforced by these newly-met Republic aliens, and the arrogance of Jedi Master Jorus C ' baoth with his single-minded determination to not veer from Chiss space, Thrawn chooses to attack.

To defeat the formidable Jedi forces aboard Outbound Flight, Thrawn maneuvers around investigations on his activities by superior officers, and conspires with his guest Jorj Car ' das into lulling the Vagaari, a troubling pirate group near Chiss space, into a trap.

Thrawn foiled a coup attempt against the Emperor by the renegade Grand Admiral Zaarin with the aid of his top pilot Maarek Stele.

Thrawn and Stele afterward helped to nullify Zaarin's TIE Defenders by developing the Missile Gunboat.

The Republic sought to strike back by hitting the Imperial shipyards at Bilbringi, but Thrawn outguessed them and had his fleet waiting for them.

His bodyguard, Rukh, discovered the betrayal of the Noghri race by Darth Vader, the Emperor and Thrawn, and took vengeance against the only one he could, stabbing him aboard his flagship the Chimaera in the middle of the climactic Battle of Bilbringi.

When Thrawn eventually returned to the Unknown Regions, having been made a Grand Admiral by Emperor Palpatine, he carved out a huge empire, going by the name Empire of the Hand.

Robin Atkin Downes reprises his role as Thrawn in Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption.

Grand Admiral Thrawn ( full name: Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo ) is a fictional character and a major antagonist in the Star Wars universe.

In these books, set five years after Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Thrawn has assumed command of the remaining forces of the Empire and is planning to battle the New Republic.

In the Star Wars computer game TIE Fighter, an early campaign ( Tour of Duty 3 ) showed how Thrawn established order in a " wild " system at the frontiers of the Empire.

Thrawn assumed command of the Empire and took the Star Destroyer Chimaera as his command ship.

Unlike the Emperor, Thrawn preferred to use existing technologies in novel ways rather than spend billions of credits on super weapons that might or might not have worked ( like the Death Star, Eye of Palpatine or even the Darksaber ).

Thrawn turned medium-sized capital ships like Carrack cruisers and Victory-class Star Destroyers into formidable weapons.

When the rules for the Star Wars RPG changed the three volumes were collected into one book for the entire Thrawn trilogy which also served as a second edition to the original three source books.

Since the game was started in 1991, it predates most of the Star Wars Expanded Universe and thus does not follow the set storyline licensed by Lucasfilms, although it does draw some elements from Timothy Zahn's popular Thrawn Trilogy and the various West End Games sourcebooks.

The Hand of Thrawn is a pair of novels set in the Star Wars Expanded Universe galaxy, which were written by famed Star Wars author Timothy Zahn.

* The Katana fleet, a fictional fleet in the Thrawn trilogy of Star Wars novels

* Rukh ( Star Wars ), the fictional Noghri bodyguard of Grand Admiral Thrawn

Lucasfilm considered their sourcebooks so authoritative that when Timothy Zahn was hired to write what became the Thrawn trilogy, he was sent a box of West End Games Star Wars books and directed to base his novel on the background material presented within.