Thrawn's tactical decisions after learning who Ahsoka's master was can be viewed through a comedic lens: He 200% does _not_ want to deal with Skywalker Bullshit, inherent or learned.
That, and just his general lack of wanting to deal with any Jedi tomfoolery. He never understood the Jedi when he was in the empire. And he still doesn't understand them. But he now understands that he doesn't understand them, and that results in a sizable shift in his strategies in Ahsoka. which is basically "whatever my typical assumptions are, either do the opposite or expect the unexpected" He almost made the same mistake with Ahsoka, thinking she was dead, by "trusting" Baylan. Once he had the slightest indication she could be alive, he started his typical "anti-Jedi strategies" - by assuming she's alive and preparing for it without confirmation. But the second he finds out Ahsoka's Anakins apprentice, he turns the dial up to 11 and straight up does not fuck around. And despite barely achieving the worst case of his primary objective - escaping and merely stranding all the Jedi (instead of killing them) - I'd argue he actually failed his primary objective the same way he failed before. By falling victim to the heroics of a single Jedi. Ezra managed to escape with him, which I predict will be his ultimate defeat.
@@Brewsy92 Yep. Ezra's mere existence back in the Home Galaxy makes Thrawn's return undeniable to the likes of Senator Xiono (though I don't doubt he'll irrationally persist anyway), so the secrecy of Thrawn's return is out the airlock as soon as Ezra goes public. I also don't think Thrawn knows yet that there are not just one but _two_ instances of *inherent* Skywalker Bullshit back in the Home Galaxy who will undoubtedly cause him grief if they get involved.
@@Brewsy92 True. But I'll also point out that his defeats come about because of a force user he didn't know about. Bendu, space whales and Sabine suddenly having enough force sensitivity to push Ezra the last few meters of his jump. He can plan around force bullshit he knows about.
He plays Thrawn as if the character walked out of the pages of the books to live action with no change. Both astounding and terrifying at the same time. What an excellent performance.
@@theemperor5244 Morgan would have updated him. It also seems like Thrawn's allies had some kind of long range communication with him because Pellaeon mentions his return.
I love that they used the voice actor from Rebels for the live action appearance, you'd have a hard time finding anyone else who does a good Thrawn voice.
It is indeed cool that they did that. But even if they didn't cast him in the live-action role, they could have cast him to dub over the live-action actor's lines. Star Wars has done that before, after all, most notably replacing David Prowse's voice with James Earl Jones for Darth Vader. In fact, the 1978 Superman movie also did that, where Christopher Reeve dubbed over Jeff East's dialogue for the teenage Clark Kent. And in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Gene Hackman (Lex Luthor) dubbed over Mark Pillow's dialogue for Nuclear Man, something they referenced in the movie.
0:27 Look at him here: he looks fat, goofy and you can clearly see the wig. They could have had the VA do a voice over and cast someone who physically matches.
I love the moment at 9:15, where he looks briefly emotional before ordering that the fortress be bombarded; he hates destroying art and pieces of history, but he decided it had to be done.
My favourite quote was ‘they were made aware’. He does care about his troops and doesn’t expend them needlessly due to this, instead using his famed strategy.
I loved that they added this detail because Thrawn may seem cold. But he isn't a sociopath like Palpatine and Elia are. He genuinely cares about his troops. Even though he knows they will die, and this is necessary, he doesn't gloat about that fact.
This is what is great about Thrawn: he is logical, considers the power of the Force a devilry, but that does that not mean he will not accept the power of creepy, old women with quite disturbing magic. He even is polite towards them, as always, and appreciates their help.
He definitely learns from his mistakes which is, i believe, part of the reason he allied himself with the Great Mothers. He doesn't understand the Force, but he has a means of countering it or at least combating it with Nightsister magic. Few adversaries are humble enough to recognize their defeat and try to ensure it doesn't happen again (The Empire built two Death Stars.....)
This scene here 2:19 "You gambled the fate of your galaxy....on that belief?" Always gives me chills every time I hear it because it's really bad if the villain questions the heroe's logic and moral stand point on the bigger picture because of their selfishness
@@carlosperalta4351 he's more of an anti-hero, given that he isn't at the extreme levels of either Palapline or Grand Moff Tarkin's level of pure evil. As Eckartsladder pointed out many years ago, had Thrawn won in Legends against the New Republic, he could have instead created the "Galactic Federation." A worthy successor to the Empire that would respect the rights of the non-human species that still had the extreme centralization and military might to fight the threats outside the known galaxy and save the Ciss race. The Republic's problem before the Clone Wars was that the inner core planet kept mistreating the outer rim planets, hence why they rebelled. Palapline fed/used their grievances to gain his power over the senate & subsequently made the Jedi the bad guys. It's slightly similar to how, in Halo, the UNSC created the ODSTs and the Spartans to quell uprisings against the core realm planets against terrorism until the Covenenet began their crusade against Humanity.
I like that someone, especially Thrawn, called Sabine out on her foolish and short-sighted decision to rescue Ezra, who she has no idea where he is or if he’s even alive, in exchange for giving Thrawn the opportunity to return
Lars Mikkelsen. A Danish actor. Probably best known to Western audiences for Charles Augustus Magnussen in Sherlock season 3, the Russian president Viktor Petrov in House of Cards, and Stregobor in the Witcher. He also is the brother of Mads Mikkelsen.
@@BTSSPARATAN Thrawn actually fought alongside Anakin briefly in the Clone Wars, I feel like he would be very respectful and proud of how well Luke emulates the best of his father, before trying to kill him haha
@@BTSSPARATANwhy would he be scared of Luke 😭 he’s not like ANAKIN . Ahsoka is literally like him and has been unpredictable like him since the clone wars
Him saying "... Her master was General Anakin Skywalker?..." is probably the only time we've ever seen Thrawn sweat. He's all too aware of the threat he's facing.
@@BTSSPARATAN Who knows? We might still get that. Thrawn returning to the galaxy and links back up with pellaeon be like: Thrawn: "Ah, good to be back, and glad we stranded the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker in Peridea, now I don't have to deal with any of their tricks." pellaeon: "Uhm... Thrawn? You ARE aware of Vader, right?" Thrawn: "Yes, Darth Vader, or Anakin Skywalker as he secretly was before. I heard he's long gone?" pellaeon: "Well, yes... But his children is still around." Thrawn: "... Children? Anakin had... Offspring?" pellaeon: "Yes, the one they call Luke both destroyed the first Death Star and Vader, bringing Anakin back to the light before Anakin's own death. And the one they call Leia is a general in the New Republic!" Thrawn: "Oh, Oh that is not good at all... I have to deal with TWO Skywalkers now?"
Heir to The Empire was my first Star Wars book. I was 10 in 1995 when I got it. It was a soothing, "viper like" voice for Thrawn I always imagined and Lars Mikkelson totally nailed it. Some may critique Thrawn's writing in Ashoka, which is fair, but Mikkelson himself gave all he had.
Grand Admiral Thrawn is the very best. A great leader, brilliant strategist, honorable, ruthless and always views the bigger picture to be several steps of everyone
Thrawn appears as ruthless to the enemy; but to those he loves he'd do anything to protect them. This is the man who agreed to be exiled just to give his people a chance to avoid annihilation.
The moment Thrawn gets visibly pissed then immediately becomes calm it's exactly how he was in both legends and canon books series of I remember correctly
"Time. Time is very much on our side now. And I shall keep it that way." This simply defines the thought process of Thrawn. He views every situation on every angle, he has such an "esprit de critique" that he is able to consider everything without biases, which makes him a feared tactician as well as respect.
"One wonders...just how similar you might become." 😮 Man, this guy knows how to deliver a sadistic taunt while simultaneously showing respect and admiration of the enemy's abilities. Class act! "Long live the Empire." Chills...😮😢 I have to admit that even though i knew there was no way they were going to stop Thrawn, the final chase scene had me in total suspense & hope that somehow they would catch him before he could make the jump to hyperspace. When he did make the jump leaving Ahsoka and Sabine behind as his Star Destroyer vanished into the distance I felt as gutted as they would have had to have felt in that moment. Star Wars hadn't had me on the edge of my seat like that in a long time. Sure it has it's problems like any other movie or show, but I thoroughly enjoyed 'Ahsoka'.
So glad mr. Mickleson got the role he deserved. They captured his charecter perfectly. His mannerisms, his subdle facial expressions and his eyes glowing brighter in certain moments really make you focus on the details. Which is what Thrawn does, in the end.
I love when he address Baylan Skull as general and lord, showing that he acknowledge him as someone in rank the Republic era which he also served despite fully aware that his in charge in the whole operation.
The performance is stunning - so cold and ruthless, completely outwardly calm and in control at all times, almost soothing in his cadence and with the subtlest nuances in facial expressions to convey emotion. Perfectly complemented by the awesome Thrawn theme which is simultaneously ominous and rousing. I’ve been a skeptic of Disney Star Wars but credit where it’s due, in Thrawn they’ve got it just spot on although credit must really go to the actor for his delivery.
We've wanted a Star Wars: Heir to the Empire movie for so long. I hope Filoni does a great job with it when it comes. He did announce he was doing one.
@@AIexanderTrent I'll agree to disagree. Didn't have a problem with Mando Season 3, loved the Ahsoka show, and I haven't seen Boba Fett yet so I can't comment on that one.
@@mish375 they definitely shouldn't do the movie in his POV though. What makes thrawn great is that he's like sherlock holmes, the story is better when we don't know what he's thinking. They definitely need to make someone like Eli Vanto the main character
Ahsoka and Sabine didn't feel a thing knowing they failed to prevent thrawn in returning to the known galaxy. They seem happy despite them knowing they're trapped in peridia.
They do. That's what the whole ending is about. Ahsoka sees Morai and realizes this is where she needs to be. And later Anakin watching over here affirms that this, no matter how bad it has turned out, is where they need to be and Ezra is back home.
"Ahsoka Tano, allow me to commend you on your efforts today. You've been quite a worthy opponent. I regret we haven't met face to face, and perhaps now we never shall. Still, I know you because I knew your Master. I concluded your strategies would be similar. One wonders just how similar you might become. Perhaps this is where a ronin such as you belongs. Today, victory is mine. Long Live the Empire." -- Grand Admiral Thrawn as he succeeds in escaping his exile.
Lars perfectly captures that Thrawn sass without saying a word. I couldn't help but laugh during that scene when there's like 5 seconds of Thrawn just staring at her in disbelief.
I read it as he was going, "....calculating...." XD But yes, definitely annoyed. That whole scene between them is similar to the scenes at the beginning of Heir to the Empire with Captain Pellaeon. :)
Thrawn will always be my favorite not just bc he is literally the smartest mofo in the galaxy, but because unlike many other officers in the empire, he cares for both his troops and the significance of the location he battles. He doesn’t aimlessly throw men and women to their deaths and will look for alternatives before recklessly destroying anything. I’m really hoping we get to see the return of his Tie defenders as well
Arguably the greatest cinematic villain that never gained the justice or ‘development’ they deserved, mauls resurrection was executed near perfectly , all in all a great act from Star Wars but we need more Thrawn a lot lot more …
Having military experience, seeing Enoch turn with a right-face at 0:16 I just love. Obviously he's not standing at attention when he does it, but still cool to see Star Wars actually try to mimic real life military. Something I always wanted to see in Star Wars. Not saying we don't see any military mimicry at all lol, but little details like that makes me feel like I'm watching a real military tradition. The only thing I wished I see more of is urban-ops with stormtroopers or rebels realistically clearing rooms in a building. That kind of detail would just show that the creators really did their homework on how militaries operate and actually would show some skill among the soldiers depicted.
The voice fits so much better on the actual actor than in the animated series i feel. I loved thrawns character but his voice was so different to the animated character. His absolute self-awareness and lack of arrogence is what puts him apart from every other imperial officer apart form that dude in a new hope that warned people about the death star.
The same live-action actor voiced the animated one. If you mean his acting in the live-action matches the voice as opposed to the way he was animated and his expressions in rebels, yeah I kinda agree there. I’m so excited to see what action he brings to the galaxy now that he’s returned
I like how his eyes have a subtle glow to them, as they should, despite keeping the pupils :) Also, Lars Mikkelsen already has quite some experience playing villains. Glad they chose him.
@@mish375 I’d love to see how that conversation went down. The Emperor was not a man people crossed or contradicted without extreme caution, and seeing how Thrawn would handle walking that very fine line alone would be of interest. Palpatine knew Thrawn’s usefulness and obviously fostered his career to a point, but it would still be fascinating to see that power dynamic acted out.
@@morbius109 There is kind of a mini scene of that in the comic you can find online. Thrawn was vey careful when he broached the subject and Palpatine was like "How the hell did you figure that out?"
We've had brute force leadership from Vader and the Emperor for decades. Now it's time for the Empire's smart, cunning, and reasonable leader to take the throne. Thrawn is far more terrifying than any other SW villian, IMO, so far. You have no idea what he is thinking at any moment.
I somehow get the feeling Thrawn actualy cares about Morgan and the nightsisters in his owne way (he is a chiss after all) the way he is polite and appolegetic towords the nightsisters and also when he tells Morgan that he is not without falior and has underestemated his enemy severol times and the look of consurn and advice in a mild manner somewhat hints to that,he is not a cold man however he is a chiss and even thoe they do have emotion it is unlike humans not shown a lot due to their culture as if I remember correctly
This show really made me wish the sequels never happened. If they didn’t, we would have been eagerly awaiting jedi master Luke Skywalker throughout this show. Instead, we cannot help but dread how they will somehow tie in the sequels.
"The only thing that prevented me from achieving true mastery of the galaxy in the post Palpatine era were the intergalactic Big Macs and blueberry milshakes" --Grand Admiral Thrawn
The chimera appearing out of nowhere was one of the coldest scenes in SW history. Also, the quote right at the end “today victory is mine. Long live the empire” Just perfect Thrawn right there
even though old chunky and with a ragtag group of wrecked soldiers he still has th eold familiar feel of superiority of calmness and being in control. its refreshing since most other leaderswouldve jsut sent more andmore troops refusing to retreat he instead looks through the battlefield seeing things a waste recalls restructures and refocuses
The bodyshaming of this man in his 60s isn't cool. Especially when he had to gain weight for the Witcher and film for Star Wars shortly afterwards. There's always a person behind the role. So come off that train and focus on his stellar performance.
Friendly reminder that Thrawn's corner of the Empire never fell to the NR to where said Republic had no choice but to join forces with him to fight the Yuuzhan Vong. Or if they're not going to make the Vong canon - fingers crossed they will - then the big bad will be Abeloth or the Grysk.
@@AndrewForte-kh3zi The Grysk are the new Yuuzhan Vong in the new canon. They invade from another galaxy and The Chiss (Thrawn's people) have been in a war with them. Only a few Grysk can conquer a planet and genocide or enslave the population as they use psychological warfare to keep their slaves in line. However, the Unknown Regions is hard to traverse; but Thrawn predicts that they will mount an invasion into the rest of the galaxy, hence why he felt the Empire alliance was the best chance they had for survival due to their unified naval fleet. In the old EU content, the NR realizes long after Thrawn's death that he was preparing the galaxy for the Yuuzhan Vong (now Grysk) invasion. Hopefully now that things are being re-written I'd love for factions of the NR to have to decide whether to ally with Thrawn and his Empire of the Hand to stop the Grysk.
I still can't wrap my head around the fact that a fellow Dane is playing this character. I wonder if the fact that he has a slight accent and different expression, lends to portrayal of Thrawn. An "alien" feel...
The actors on this show were absolutely perfect in my opinion. I’m so glad that they brought Lars on for live action Thrawn because he did such an amazing job as animated Thrawn, Lars is just perfect as Thrawn.
“You helped my cause, now I will help yours.” Thrawn is one of the most honorable Star Wars villains in existence, even though his ultimate plan is to track Sabine and kill both her AND Ezra all at once, he still for the most part holds up his promise, he let her find her friend. He could have killed her as soon as she stepped on board and wasn’t helping Morgan anymore, but he didn’t. Honor is his code.
I have honed the methodologies and techniques used by Thrawn for developing strategies. “To defeat an enemy you must know them. Not just their battle tactics, but their history, philosophy, art.” “They will be the architects of their own destruction.” In office politics and in strategy games, I emerge victorious. The enemy strikes at shadows expending more and more energy. All the while showing their tactics and history. After the analysis is complete, their weakness is apparent. Then it is a matter of what weapon I use. In office politics it is a simple truth dropped near an individual with a weakness that will turn into my weapon to strike my enemy when a simple drop of information is shared “unintentionally”. Thus they fall without me complaining to hr. (As if that ever truly solved the problem)
Миккельсон потрясающе сыграл Гранд-Адмирала. У меня мурашки от каждого его слова. Такие же ощущения были во время просмотра "Повстанцев". Обожаю этого персонажа. Он потрясающий. Спасибо создателям сериала "Асока" за возвращения лучшего командующего Великой Империи🤍🤍🤍😍😭
I have quite great lines. Behind the scenes for the 10 years every day I rehearsed these lines in front of my holo-mirror, and yet some people have the nerve to call them “cheesey”
I was shocked how amazingly such a seeming simple character can be an effective embodiment of evil. Hes so calm hed almost put you to sleep, but what flies back and forth between is ears is pure evil. I can see why folks would think hes a Sith.
