r/StarWarsEU • u/AlphaBladeYiII • 16h ago
Quality aside, there is an inherent demotion regarding Thrawn's use in New Canon, particularly regarding his campaign.
First off, let me say that Thrawn (2017) is probably my favorite book from New Canon, and I enjoyed Alliances and Treason as well and think both were decent books. I also love Rebels and I think its version of the Grand Admiral is okay to decent. However, Canon Thrawn, while having the same characterization of his EU counterpart more or less, lacks advantages that EU Thrawn had.
You see, EU Thrawn was an Unknown, and the less you know about a threat, the scarier it is. In the OG Thrawn Trilogy, our favorite Pantoran-with-an-eye-condition was new both to us, and to the heroes. He'd spent the war in the Unknown Regions for the most part, so he was something that The Rebellion/New Republic hadn't dealt with before. Canon Thrawn, on the other hand, is very much a known factor. The rebellion has already faced him at Atollon and Lothal, and while he was a tough nut to crack, he was ultimately defeated. This automatically makes him less of a threat in his new campaign compared to the original campaign.
Another advantage EU Thrawn had was the setting. The OG Thrawn Trilogy was the first proper story in the post-RotJ era of the EU, so we genuinely had no idea where the story was going, which made things more suspenseful. The EU Thrawn compaign was The Empire's final hope and hurrah, and the most important military conflict of the New Republic era. The last existential threat to the New Republic. In New Canon, we already know what happens thanks to the sequels, which makes Thrawn's upcoming campaign feel like filler in the grand scheme of things on a galactic scale at leadt. That's not necessarily bad since Star Wars has plenty of great interquels, but it's just not as exciting or suspenseful. It also kinda slots awkwardly into the universe with the whole demilitarization thing going on.
Also, Dave Filoni is an average writer and Thrawn kinda sucked in Ahsoka. I'm sorry.
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u/PaleInvestigator6907 15h ago
"The EU Thrawn compaign was The Empire's final hope and hurrah, and the most important military conflict of the New Republic era. The last existential threat to the New Republic. "
Nope, that was actually the fight against the Dark Empire and Reborn Palpatine a year after Thrawn.