History Literature / TheThrawnTrilogy

* BreakoutCharacter: Thrawn himself. It's easy to forget given how popular he became, but in many ways Thrawn plays second fiddle to C'baoth. C'baoth is the one that has direct confrontations with the heroes and during the trilogy's final act is presented as a greater threat to the galaxy than Thrawn. C'baoth is featured more prominently on the novels covers and [[spoiler:Thrawn's death comes about matter of factly after C'baoth is defeated.]] As far as the fanbase is concerned, however? There's a reason these books came to be called the Thrawn Trilogy.

** That being said, prisoner [[spoiler:Karrde]] actually ''does'' need to be retaken alive as he's the only one who knows where [[spoiler:the ''Katana Fleet'' is]]. It's the people breaking him out whose survival is not necessary.

* TakingYouWithMe: ''YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER''.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Garm Bel Iblis spends years fighting a private war against the Empire rather than joining the Rebel Alliance because of a personal grudge against Mon Mothma before reluctantly joining the New Republic. The teeth unclench when she unbends enough to ''ask'' him, personally, to help. Also, Mara asking Luke for help when she tries to rescue Karrde off the ''Chimaera''.

''But it was so artistically done.''

** Shortly after that, C'baoth prevents Thrawn from executing one of the Wayland natives who tried to kill him. When he does so, Thrawn whirls about in surprise and anger; two emotions that, from here on out, Thrawn rarely visibly shows.
** In the annotated anniversary ''Heir to the Empire'', Zahn attributes Thrawn's unusual response by [[{{Retcon}} retroactively]] explaining that Thrawn and [[spoiler: the original, non-clone]] C'baoth had already met in ''Literature/OutboundFlight''.

* MyGreatestFailure: Thrawn has a very limited collection of "real" art; most are holographic. One piece, which looks like thrashing liquid, he keeps to remind him of the one time that said art did not give him any insight into the race that made it - which he then casually adds he [[KillEmAll destroyed their home world.]] In the later days of the Legends continuity, it was hinted that this was the home world of General Grievous, but the full story was never told.

** All of the heroes and New Republic command are fully aware of the fact that Thrawn's Delta Source has compromised the former Imperial capital. Instead of moving their military operations to another location to kill the intelligence leak, they continue to utilize the Imperial capital and hope they'll stumble across Delta Source sooner or later.
*** However, the New Republic leadership didn't know if Delta Source was a traitor, a group of traitors, a droid, or some sort of elaborate recording system. If it had been individuals or droids moving wasn't likely to do as much good as Delta Source would likely tag along. In ''The Last Command'', Leia was about to recommend moving government operations out of the palace and perhaps even off Coruscant before she was able to determine what Delta Source actually was.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Given his increasingly antagonistic relationship with Thrawn, Karrde has it in mind to unite the smugglers against the Empire, so he gathers some smuggler chiefs for a meeting. It's going poorly, but then an Imperial detachment attacks, convincing the smugglers to unite after all. The attack was organized by [[spoiler:Niles Ferrier]], as a way to convince Karrde to trust him when he helps to foil the raid. He thinks this will put him in Thrawn's good graces, but Thrawn had explicitly ordered the meeting left alone--he knew the smugglers would not go along with Karrde's idea without prompting. [[spoiler:When Thrawn sends Ferrier back in to frame ''Karrde'' for the attack, Ferrier's INeverSaidItWasPoison slip-up only unites the smugglers even more firmly against the Empire, contributing meaningfully to Thrawn's later defeat.]]

* InterserviceRivalry: Some members of the Imperial Army look down upon their naval counterparts, feeling them afraid to leave their ships and face real combat.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The series was the first major exploration of the (first) ExpandedUniverse following the events of ''Return of the Jedi'' and set out to completely deconstruct the entire HappilyEverAfter ending:
** Luke becoming a full Jedi Knight after confronting Vader marks the ''Return of the Jedi''. But how would a single Jedi who only received an extremely rushed and highly irregular training even start at training more Jedi? Especially given how terribly things turned out when Obi-Wan tried his hand at training his own student, and that was with the support of the whole Jedi Order and its ancient traditions and knowledge.
** Even though Han and Leia do get married, their new jobs as high-level politicans take a very heavy burden on their private lives. For that matter, ''should'' high-ranking leaders in an ongoing war decide to ''start'' a family at the same time?

** Thrawn is introduced as a blatant counter-example to Darth Vader, with Pellaeon frequently ruminating on Thrawn's more forgiving treatment of his subordinates vs. Vader's counter-productive tendency to kill them for minor mistakes.

* IAmNotHim: Thrawn repeatedly demonstrates how much different he is than Darth Vader (or most other Imperial leaders for that matter). After Ferrier trips over his plans, a visibly angry Thrawn tells Niles Ferrier that he was ''not'' Darth Vader.
-->'''Thrawn:''' I am not the Lord Darth Vader, Ferrier. I do not spend my men recklessly. Nor do I take their deaths lightly.

* Thrawn repeatedly demonstrates how much different he is than Darth Vader (or most other Imperial leaders for that matter). After Ferrier trips over his plans, a visibly angry Thrawn tells Niles Ferrier that he was ''not'' Darth Vader.

** As well as anyone letting the aformentioned [[spoiler: Niles Ferrier]] to live. If not for him, [[spoiler: the New Republic may have gotten the ''Katana'' Fleet in book two, and the smugglers wouldn't have been working against the Empire in book three.]]

* NonActionBigBad: Thrawn. A FourStarBadass MagnificentBastard who is ''much'' more dangerous commanding his troops than personally leading them. Some of the later novels which elaborate on Thrawn's backstory, however, reveal that his abilities in personal combat are nothing to sneeze at either, at least when he was younger. He simply doesn't have any need to stroke his ego by putting himself in personal combat when there's no strategic benefit to it, and none of the original three heroes ever meet Thrawn face-to-face; the best Han and Leia ever get are glimpses at a distance, and Luke doesn't interact with him at all. (When he was re-introduced to the Disney continuity, he was made into a formidable close combat opponent, training against combat droids and able to defeat other characters who are skillful melee fighters. Even so, he does not ''seek out'' such battles.)

* MamaBear: "Thrawn would smile, and speak politely, and ''take her children away.''" Of course, Leia is not having any of that.

* ShoutOut: Karrde's pet vornskrs Sturm and Drang are named after ''[[http://www.britannica.com/event/Sturm-und-Drang Sturm und Drang]]'', a German literary style of the 18th century.

* CulturedBadass:
** Thrawn is definitely this, along with being WickedCultured. In fact, much of his strategic and tactical skill derives directly from his close study of a huge variety of art from uncountable species and cultures. Studying the art gives him insight into each species' or culture's psychology, including their weaknesses, which Thrawn exploits ruthlessly.
** Thrawn even mentions knowing Karrde's particular psyche from the art he collects, and studies Mon Calamari art (including a few pieces created by Ackbar himself) to get into his opposing Admiral's head. Cultured badass indeed.

* HeroesWantRedheads: Mara Jade, obviously, as the first hints of her BelligerentSexualTension with Luke begin to show. (Zahn has claimed she wasn't intended as a love interest for Luke, but this seems unlikely, unless by "intended as a love interest" he meant "a flat character designed as a trophy for the main character".)

** The trilogy introduced a vast number of characters, starships and planets to the ''Star Wars'' universe, more so than any subsequent part of the ExpandedUniverse. Perhaps the most significant being [[DarkActionGirl Mara Jade.]] Also, the name "Coruscant" for the capital world was first established in ''Heir to the Empire'', and would go on to be used in the prequel trilogy.

This trilogy was one of the cornerstones of the now non-canon ''Legends'', being the first major work set after ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' (five years after to be exact), the first truly popular entry of the franchise since ''Return of the Jedi'', and serving as the introduction of some of the most beloved figures in ''Legends'' canon, like [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Grand_Admiral Grand Admiral]] [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mitth%27raw%27nuruodo Thrawn]], [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mara_Jade_Skywalker Mara Jade]], [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gilad_Pellaeon Gilad Pellaeon]] and [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Talon_Karrde Talon Karrde]]. Back before [[Film/TheForceAwakens the]] [[Film/TheLastJedi Sequel]] [[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker Trilogy]] was made, many fans considered these stories to be the closet thing to an ''Episode VII'', ''Episode VIII'', and ''Episode IX'' that they would ever get. Years later, these stories are still regarded highly despite showing their age in some places.

* ShoutOut: Karrde's pet vornskyrs Sturm and Drang are named after ''[[http://www.britannica.com/event/Sturm-und-Drang Sturm und Drang]]'', a German literary style of the 18th century.

* SuperPersistentPredator: The vornskyrs, at least where Luke Skywalker is involved. Turns out, they're a species of predator that hunts through the Force, which allows them to target the ysalamiri (and is speculated to be the reason ysalamiri evolved their ability to "push back" the Force). Even through the ysalamiri's Force-negation, Luke stands out so much that they can't help but try to hunt him. [[spoiler:Karrde utilizes this trait to help him and Leia find Luke in Mount Tantiss during the climactic battle, and Mara takes advantage of their distraction to move in close to C'baoth so she can kill him.]]

-->''Mara glared at the Admiral, her hands curled into fists, her body trembling with rage. "Eight days, Thraw," she snarled, her voice echoing oddly through the background noises of the ''Chimera''[='=]s vast shuttle bay. "You said eight days. You ''promised'' me eight days."\\

** Grand Admiral Thrawn used Money for mercenary types, Authority on some Imperials and the Noghri, Indoctrination on clones, Fear on the Noghri and sometimes his Imperials, Sadism (sort of) with C'baoth, and for the others... Respect. He knew that it's best to be feared ''and'' loved, and put a high value on people who were both loyal and competent.

** Pellaeon is depicted as clean shaven in the comic adaptation and there is no mention of facial hair in the novels. Practically [[http://chinese-starwars.com/jediarchive/expanduniverse/donald/donald/24_captain_pellaeon.jpg every]] [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/f/f3/GiladPellaeon.JPG picture]] [[http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/images/features/general/PellaeonTournamentPack.jpg and]] [[http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/6/69/PellaeonYVW.jpg description]] [[http://www.imperialchicks.com/profiles/images/Grand_Admiral_Pellaeon2.jpg since]] (including [[Literature/HandOfThrawn Zahn's later books]]) have described Pellaeon as having a distinctive bushy mustache to the extent that at least one unnamed Imperial officer in a later comic was thought to be him just because he had a bushy mustache.

** In a broader sense there are several examples of this trope for ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' as a whole, as this is the first canon post-''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' work. For instance, the idea that Jabba the Hutt was the galaxy's biggest crime lord--later works present him as the most powerful of the Hutts, but that the Hutts were able to be pushed around by more powerful organizations such as Black Sun. (But then most of the bigger fish died ''before'' Jabba did, so it's possible that by ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' he really ''was'' the top crime lord in the galaxy.)
** Rogue Squadron is treated as just another fighter squadron and Wedge Antilles is specifically called out as a 'lowly starfighter wing commander' and Luke has to remind the Council who he is. When the ExpandedUniverse drastically increased the importance and recognition of Wedge and the Rogues (for example, in later stories that take place chronologically earlier, Wedge is nearly Admiral Ackbar's right hand, with the latter having expressed a desire to make that status official and promote Wedge to general[[note]]Something that chronologically would happen just days after Thrawn's defeat, in the eighth book of the Literature/XWingSeries.[[/note]], and instrumental to liberating Coruscant), Zahn was careful to include this in ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'', where Rogue Squadron is composed of the best pilots in the galaxy, are never depicted losing one of their number, and are attached to the task force under the command of the Republic's most respected active field commander. In a society more like modern Earth's, a "lowly starfighter wing commander" would be about right, but given Wedge's own record and that [[FridgeBrilliance Zahn himself noted in Heir to the Empire that the Republic tends to rely too much on symbols]], it would make a lot of sense for the Rogues to have no small amount of fame.
** Hyperdrive speeds are quoted as "Point Three, Point Four, Point Four Five, Point Five" in increasing order of speed--this being based on the line in the first Star Wars film that "The Falcon can push point five past lightspeed". This was based on a logarithmic scale Zahn devised where 0 was a dead stop and 1 was infinite speed. Later Star Wars material changed this to the (arguably less logical) setup that the LOWER the number is, the faster it is--specifically, it's all based on the idea of 1 as the "baseline" hyperdrive speed, so the "number" of a hyperdrive became the modifier to travel time. i.e., The ''Falcon'' is about twice as fast in hyperspace as most ships.
** A plot-significant one is that it is not widely known to the galaxy's people that Darth Vader was Luke's father, and it's even not certain to most people that he's dead. Many ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' writers basically assumed that "everyone in the galaxy had seen the films" as far as information about the main characters were concerned; if this was true the Mara-Luke plot arc and the Noghri kidnapping arc couldn't exist.
** Thrawn is mentioned as being part human to explain his being a HumanAlien other than skin color and glowing eyes. However, this was presently speculation by Han -- that he was "at least, not entirely" human -- not necessarily as the definitive truth. It would still be used later on, with the Emperor falsifying his records to say he was of mixed blood to try and explain why he made an apparent nonhuman a Grand Admiral, despite his xenophobic policies. (Thrawn was just too good ''not'' to use in that position, and being part human would mitigate some of the disagreement of the other Grand Admirals). It also helps that Thrawn was one of the earliest HumanAlien characters in the series; when the book first came out the setting was notable for avoiding it, with even the most humanoid species having at least one really weird feature (such as the head-tails of Twi'leks).

** Zahn's view of stormtroopers comes from the original meaning of the word, referring to elite soldiers. The deployment of stormtrooper squads is treated like a significant display of force and the potential squandering of a precious resource, a sharp contrast to how they are treated as generic [[{{Mook}} mooks]] in pretty much all other ''Star Wars'' media. The term seemed to be come into use originally because of its link to the Nazis. (Since the later Lucasfilm era and the Great Mouse Adjustment, ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' and the ''Film/{{Solo}}'' film have somewhat vindicated this portrayal. In ''Clone Wars'', the troopers, obvious forerunners of the stormtroopers, really are elite soldiers; and in ''Solo'' the "mudtroopers" on Mimban are not actual stormtroopers but part of the Imperial Army. Default stormtroopers, however, are little more effective than they ever were, [[PlotArmor at least against heroes]].) Later entries by Zahn would relegate most of that reputation to elites like the Royal Guard, but he still portrays the ''image'' of stormtroopers in their armor as still distinctly unsettling as reminder of the Empire's tyranny to people in the Republic even after the war ends.

** The very concept of "Dark Jedi," as the Sith did not exist yet. There's a throwaway line about how Vader and his Dark Jedi hunted down the remaining Jedi, when the prequels and the Disney canon would establish that Vader was a ''Sith'', who was aided by Inquisitors.

** When [[spoiler: C'baoth dies, his body explodes in an energy of blue fire just like Palpatine’s body did. The implication of C'baoth’s death is that all dark side masters explode]] when they die. This never happens again.

** Winter states that "Targeter" was only one of her many Rebellion-era codenames, and she used it for only a few weeks, on one planet, before abandoning it when that particular Rebel cell was attacked and dissolved. But since she never specifies what any of the other codenames were, she's referred to as Targeter in many stories that take place during the war, including ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'' and Zahn's own ''[[Literature/StarWarsAllegiance Allegiance]]''.

-->'''Threepio:''' Excuse me, sir, does [having to go on foot] also apply to Artoo and me?
-->'''Han:''' Unless you've learned how to fly.

* HowDoIShotWeb: Leia's slow progress in The Force. To a certain extent, Mara as well, as her abilities come and go.

** The trilogy introduced a [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters vast number of characters]], starships and planets to the ''Star Wars'' universe, more so than any subsequent part of the ExpandedUniverse. Perhaps the most significant being [[DarkActionGirl Mara Jade.]] Also, the name "Coruscant" for the capital world was first established in ''Heir to the Empire'', and would go on to be used in the prequel trilogy.