Star Wars: Thrawn, He is a villain?

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thrawn it's an interesting "origin" book. I like his character when he first showed up years ago. Of course in the Star Wars series, one is either a good guy or a bad guy when it comes to politics and everything else is in between. His first appearance in " Heir to the Empire" he held the rank of Grand Admiral and was one of the few non-humans that the emperor trusted. In his first appearance, the character gave the impression of being a villain, but everybody who serves in the Imperial forces can be called a villain if they're hunting down or fighting Rebels.

In retrospect is the Empire that bad? In the real world an Empire it's just a political machine and as with all machines they serve a purpose; it all depends on who is using the machine at the time. In Star Wars The Empire is bad because it is run by a Sith. Which of course is part of the plot.
Enter the origin story of Thrawn. A Chiss from the outer rim, (every Empire has their border). This particular individual as we learned through the novel has a brilliant mind from a human point of view. We do not know as of yet if all the Chiss are like him or he is even unique among his own people. We do know that his people have exiled him and he has served as a military commander among the Chiss.

I guess one will find out in the next book if there is a "next book", I suspect there will be one... While Thrawn, shows himself to be a master tactician and strategist, he does have a flaw, he doesn't understand politics very well or at least imperial politics. This may be why the emperor who has command of the Force, does not see him as a threat, even though others do. In his year as an imperial naval officer, he visits the emperor a few times. I think this may be one of the reasons he has not been killed off by fellow officers who have their personal ambitions.

Does Thrawn have a personal ambition? we know he wants to be a high-ranking officer, but there is no hint at political gain. If he is a villain, he might be one of the few villains that I actually enjoy. That being written, in my personal and humble opinion I don't see commodore Thrawn as a villain at all. His appearance in the Empire was a matter of serendipity.

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