YMMV / Thrawn Ascendancy

• Complete Monster:
  • Jixtus is an agent of the mysterious Grysk Hegemony. Plotting the destruction of the Chiss Ascendancy, Jixtus manipulates Nikardun Destiny into a path of conquest. Jixtus has a group of telepathic Agbui cause a Civil War on planet Sunrise, having survivors enslaved as the planet is turned into a mining colony for nyix metal. Jixtus sends Agbui to infiltrate the Chiss Ascendancy, using Nikardun conquests as a distraction. Following the defeat of the Nikardun, Jixtus massacres the inhabitants of two of their outposts and turns the outposts into shipyards. Jixtus helps Haplif of the Agbui throw the influential Chiss families into a battle that almost throws the Ascendancy into a civil war. Foiled once again, Jixtus allies with Generalirius Nakirre, leader of the theocratic Kilji Illumine, setting him on the warpath across the sector, while Jixtus continues to manipulate the Chiss Ascendancy into a civil war. After Thrawn and his allies free Sunrise from Grysk occupation, Jixtus hears about the future seeing powers of the leader of the Sunrise, Magys, and schemes to take Magys and use her for the Grysk conquests. Jixtus is lured to Sunrise where, realising that the Kilji conquests have been foiled, he kills Generalirius Nakirre. Jixtus assumes the command of his fleet to destroy Thrawn and his allies, spending his last moments before his death proclaiming to Thrawn that the Grysk will eventually destroy them all.
  • Greater Good: Haplif is a member of a race of telepaths called the Agubai and is the nastiest of Jixtus' followers. Haplif specialises in starting Civil Wars on planets that wipe out most of the population in order for the Grysk to harvest the planet's resources unopposed. Haplif started a war between opposing factions on the planet of Sunrise and spurred them into using more destructive weapons, leading to the slaughter of nearly the entire population and enslavement of the rest, a feat which only took six months, which Haplif is immensely proud of. Haplif frames a refugee ship from Sunrise as enemy combatants, leading to the slaughter of everyone onboard and subjugation of the system to which the refugees flee. Hired by Jixtus to destroy the Chiss Ascendancy, Haplif plans to manipulate a colossal conflict between the various ruling houses to destroy it that will wipe out countless people, all so Haplif can profit.
• The Scrappy: Thurfian. While he is far from the only unpleasant character, other characters tend to experience defeats or or undergo positive Character Development throughout a single book, while Thurfian only gets nastier and more unreasonable (at least toward the military characters) from one book to the next, while also prospering. He obsessively hates Thrawn and feels that he must be stopped for the good of the ascendancy, but he's wrong for the most part, never even tries to sit down with Thrawn and try to understand him, and is a little too mean and nasty for fans' tastes once he's able to exile Thrawn.