History YMMV / TheThrawnTrilogy

* MemeticLoser: In comparison to [[MemeticBadass Thrawn]], Joruus C'Baoth gets hit with this, thanks to being a whiny PsychopathicManchild who can barely keep his temper in check and [[DidntThinkThisThrough falls for ploys and tricks]] that Thrawn ''never'' would have fallen for. Even worse is that despite having an extremely strong connection to the Force, Thrawn arguably still manages to remain the biggest threat, despite not even being a Force-user.

* {{Narm}}: Joruus is a clone of the deceased Jedi ''Jorus'' C'Baoth, with the extra vowel slurring being explained as a side effect of Clone Wars-era cloning, so he still thinks he is Jorus and [[FunetikAksent it's really more for the reader's benefit]] that his name's spelled that way. Odd, but since this was brand new lore and his name was a wacky alien name anyway it didn't feel that odd. Then we get Luuke, a clone of Luke Skywalker himself, thus harder to take seriously, though he never speaks and so it's Joruus who says his name. The eventual prequel movies had a totally different explanation and context for the clones, with no speech impediments.
* NarmCharm: The amount of times Thrawn is subject to CharacterShilling is pretty ridiculous, with Creator/TimothyZahn making it abundantly clear that Thrawn is [[CreatorsFavorite his favorite character]]. However, given that a lot of fans feel the same way, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools it's not like this is a bad thing]].
* NeverLiveItDown: Luuke Skywalker. A silly name for an ultimately very minor character (he has one real scene and never speaks) but from the way many EU detractors speak of him, you'd swear he was the BigBad of the entire ''Legends'' continuity who spoke entirely in terrible one-liners and tasteless rape jokes as he did everything in his power to ruin ''Star Wars''.

** Mara Jade claims that, as the Emperor's Hand, she was his top agent, near the pinnacle of the Imperial hierarchy, and the only one who might have outranked her was Darth Vader. Thrawn claims Mara was a glorified courier, whose only special ability was in relaying orders too sensitive for normal channels. Which one is right? Thrawn does have an incentive to take the wind out of Mara's sails, but he's not known for lying outright, indicating the Emperor did have other Hands and Mara was nothing special even among them. But Mara demonstrates an array of skills that indicate she was an exceptionally useful agent of the Emperor, and might well have had the authority to order around anyone up to, and possibly including, Darth Vader, yet she describes herself as "knowing how to give his orders" to anyone, hinting that that the only authority she had was as a relay for the Emperor's authority. Mara also notes that after the Emperor's death, there was no one highly placed enough to appreciate and make use of her skills. It's left nebulous if Mara was the elite operative near the top of the food chain she claims, the useful flunky Thrawn claims, or if the reality was somewhere in the middle.

** Mara Jade claims that, as the Emperor's Hand, she was his top agent, near the pinnacle of the Imperial hierarchy, and the only one who might have outranked her was Darth Vader. Thrawn claims Mara was a glorified courier, whose only special ability was in relaying orders too sensitive for normal channels. Which one is right? Thrawn does have an incentive to take the wind out of Mara's sails, but he's not known for lying outright, indicating the Emperor did have other Hands and Mara was nothing special even among them. But Mara demonstrates an array of skills that indicate she was an exceptionally useful agent of the Emperor, and might well have had the authority to order around anyone up to, and possibly including, Darth Vader, yet she describes herself as "knowing how to give his orders" to anyone, hinting that that the only authority she had was as a relay for the Emperor's authority. Mara also notes that after the Emperor's death, there was no one highly placed enough to appreciate and make use of her skills. It's left nebulous if Mara was the elite operative bear the top of the food chain she claims, the useful flunky Thrawn claims, or if the reality was somewhere in the middle.

** To a lesser extent, Joruus C'Baoth. He may lack Grand Admiral Thrawn's brilliant mind, but he makes up for it by being an [[AxCrazy absolutely insane]] Dark Jedi talented in the Force, able to [[MindControl completely take control of peoples' minds]], making him more than a threat to the heroes.

* EvilIsCool: Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the most famous examples in the entire ''Legends'' franchise, being a standout example of both TheChessmaster and MagnificentBastard, and a [[AffablyEvil genuinely polite]] and [[WickedCultured well-cultured]] one at that. Naturally, a lot of fans found him so cool that [[RootingForTheEmpire they couldn't help but wish for him to win]].

** ''Grand. Admiral. Thrawn.'' AKA [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking General]] Franchise/SherlockHolmes InSpace He's so [[MagnificentBastard magnificent]] that as far as fans are concerned, he can win a galactic war with nothing but a [[JokeCharacter TIE Fighter]] and an [[SherlockScan art history book.]] He's even an InUniverse example, especially since he's the antithesis of the Empire's "strength over smarts" philosophy, scaring the hell out of the New Republic.

* MemeticLoser: In comparison to [[MemeticBadass Thrawn]], Joruus C'Baoth gets hit with this, thanks to being a whiny PsychopathicManchild who can barely keep his temper in check and [[DidntThinkThisThrough falls for obvious tricks]] that Thrawn ''never'' would have fallen for. Even worse is that despite having an extremely strong connection to the Force, Thrawn arguably still manages to remain the biggest threat, despite not even being a Force-user.

* OnlyTheAuthorCanSaveThemNow: By the author's own admission, he'd basically written himself into a corner writing up a plausible ending due to Thrawn being that good of a bad guy. It took what most would consider a series of improbable setbacks in the last quarter of the books to give the good guys any chance to win.

* TearJerker: Obi-Wan's ghost leaving Luke for the last time in the beginning of ''Heir to the Empire''.

* MemeticLoser: In comparison to [[MemeticBadass Thrawn]], Joruus C'Baoth has definitely been hit with this, thanks to being a whiny PsychopathicManchild who can barely control his temper and [[DidntThinkThisThrough falls for obvious tricks]] that Thrawn ''never'' would have fallen for, making him look rather incompetent. Even worse is that despite having an extremely strong connection to the Force, Thrawn still manages to outshine him in having the biggest effect on the trilogy, despite his only power being his [[MagnificentBastard (admittedly pretty high) intelligence]].

* {{Narm}}: Joruus is a clone of the deceased Jedi ''Jorus'' C'Baoth, with the extra vowel slurring being explained as a side effect of Clone Wars-era cloning, so it's really more for the reader's benefit that it's spelled like that. Odd, but since this was brand new lore and his name was a wacky alien name anyway it didn't feel that odd. Then we get Luuke, a clone of Luke Skywalker himself, thus harder to take seriously. The eventual prequel movies had a totally different explanation and context for the clones.

* MemeticBadass: ''Grand. Admiral. Thrawn.'' AKA [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking General]] Franchise/SherlockHolmes InSpace He's so [[MagnificentBastard magnificent]] that as far as fans are concerned, he can win a galactic war with nothing but a [[JokeCharacter TIE Fighter]] and an [[SherlockScan an art history book.]] He's even an InUniverse example, especially since he's the antithesis of the Empire's "strength over smarts" philosophy, scaring the hell out of the New Republic.
** A slightly less serious example, but Thrawn's [[NumberTwo second-in-command]] and successor Gilad Pellaeon also has this reputation. He's a BadassNormal -- no Jedi powers, no Mandalorian training, no crazy alien strategy powers -- and yet he kept the Imperial remnant together, more or less on his own, for approximately ''fifteen years''. He even (kinda) overcame the JediMindTrick of Joruus C'Baoth.

* {{Narm}}: Joruus is a clone of the deceased Jedi ''Jorus'' C'Baoth, with the extra vowel slurring being explained as a side effect of Clone Wars-era cloning, so it's really more for the reader's benefit that it's spelled like that. Then we get Luuke, a clone of Luke Skywalker himself. The eventual prequel movies had a totally different explanation and context for the clones.

* {{Narm}}: Seriously, ''Luuke?'' You couldn't come up with ''anything'' better, C'baoth?

* BetterThanCanon: Thanks to the controversial reception of the Sequel Trilogy in the new Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse headed by Creator/{{Disney}}, many readers have looked back on the now [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]] Thrawn Trilogy and declared it vastly superior in many aspects, such as the characterization of the Original Trilogy characters, interesting plot-lines revolving around the formation of the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire, several [[EnsembleDarkhorse likable new characters]] being introduced, and a [[MagnificentBastard genuinely cunning and compelling new villain]] taking center stage. Many fans of the books often call it the "true" Sequel Trilogy as a result.

* MemeticBadass: ''Grand Admiral Thrawn'' AKA [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking General]] Franchise/SherlockHolmes InSpace He's so [[MagnificentBastard magnificent]] that as far as fans are concerned, he can win a galactic war with nothing but a [[JokeCharacter TIE Fighter]] and an [[SherlockScan an art history book.]] He's even an InUniverse example, especially since he's the antithesis of the Empire's "strength over smarts" philosophy, scaring the hell out of the New Republic.

* MemeticBadass: ''Grand Admiral Thrawn'' AKA [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking General]] Franchise/SherlockHolmes InSpace! He's so [[MagnificentBastard magnificent]] that as far as fans are concerned, he can win a galactic war with nothing but a [[JokeCharacter TIE Fighter]] and an [[SherlockScan an art history book.]] He's even an InUniverse example, especially since he's the antithesis of the Empire's "strength over smarts" philosophy, scaring the hell out of the New Republic.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** [[MemeticMutation Internet memes]] were still a few years away from developing, but upon running into a huge fleet of warships set in ambush by Thrawn, Admiral Ackbar observes that "[[CaptainObvious it appears to be a trap]]". And again, in the first book, Han says his smuggler contacts are unwilling to work for the New Republic because they suspect a trap. Admiral Ackbar, on the New Republic's ruling council, wryly says "Because of me, no doubt." [[MakesSenseInContext It makes sense in-universe]], since Ackbar's species has gotten a reputation for being hard on smugglers.
** Early in the second book, Luke's looking through Imperial records and annoyed at how they, and the Old Republic before them, kept on setting up a new YearZero, hoping the New Republic wouldn't do anything like that. They ultimately did, with the Battle of Yavin (that is, the original movie) being classified in-universe and out as the new YearZero. Prior to this in-universe change, the out-of-universe YearZero was the Battle of Endor (that is, the third movie); novels would have a note at the beginning of how many years after Endor they took place. This made sense because prior to the prequel movies, almost all EU stories were post-Endor.
** Also this bit in book 3, in light of the rocket boosters Artoo used in ''Attack of the Clones'':
--->'''Threepio:''' Excuse me, sir, does [having to go on foot] also apply to Artoo and me?\\
'''Han:''' Unless you've learned how to fly.

* RootingForTheEmpire: The downside (or upside?) to making Thrawn such a [[TheChessmaster competent]] and [[AffablyEvil likable]] villain is that you want him to win, mainly because it'll be awesome to watch. Him arguably being ALighterShadeOfBlack than most Imperials can definitely further this.

* RootingForTheEmpire: The downside (or upside?) to making Thrawn such a [[TheChessmaster competent]] and [[AffablyEvil likable]] villain is that you want him to win, mainly because it'll be awesome to watch. The fact that he's somewhat of ALighterShadeOfBlack than most Imperials can definitely further this.

* HoYay:
** Pellaeon seems to admire Thrawn a good bit, respecting him and thinking of him in an arguably fond manner. He also takes [[spoiler:Thrawn's death]] pretty hard. For Thrawn's part, he seems to respect Pellaeon and makes an effort to keep him in the loop and explain things even when it's unecessary.
** This takes on an additional layer (ho yay squared?) considering that many have remarked on Thrawn and Pellaeon's similarity to [[HoYay/SherlockHolmes Holmes and Watson]], to the point where Zahn mentions the Holmes comparisons in the 20th Anniversary footnotes.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Admit it, if you read these books, you liked it when Thrawn kept winning.

* BadassDecay: Both Darth Vader and the Emperor suffer from this in the ''Thrawn Trilogy'', at least when the pair are [[CharacterShilling directly compared to Thrawn or C'baoth]]. Several times in each book there will be moments where characters will often compare Thrawn or C'boath to the big bads of the classic trilogy in a way to make Thrawn or C'baoth seem like superior threats. Thrawn is stated several times to not make mistakes the Emperor or Vader would have made, characters wonder if the Battle of Endor would have gone differently with Thrawn in charge, C'baoth is called more powerful or dangerous than the Emperor, Vader's tendency as a BadBoss is heavily exaggerated, etc. The only time Vader is ever treated with respect is when Luke or the Noghri talk about him.