History Literature / ThrawnAlliances

* {{Foil}}: From the moment they are assigned to work together, Thrawn and Vader are immediately set up as foils to one another, with regards to their command styles.

* ActionGirl: Padmé is at quite possibly ''the most'' badass she's ever been in this novel. Not only can she hold her own in a fight, she demonstrates a range of skills and knowledge that puts her on equal footing with Anakin and Thrawn.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Thrawn to Padmé: "The Separatists wished to leave the Republic. Why didn’t you simply allow them to go?" She responds that the Separatists started the war by attacking the Republic first, but the questions continues to gnaw at her, especially after witnessing the collateral damage caused by destroying the Separatist operation.

** The large scar across Mokivj was caused by [[spoiler:Anakin, Padmé and Thrawn ''themselves'' after their effort to destroy the Separatist cortosis mine, which ended up releasing large amounts of lava. Though to be fair, the plan was Anakin's, and Padmé and Thrawn were opposed to it. The reaction of the explosives to the cortosis took all of them by surprise, however]].
** [[spoiler:The bartender Vader and Thrawn interrogate in the present is ''not'' the same man as the bartender from Anakin, Padme and Thrawn's mission in the past; it's [=LebJau=], whose home and livelihood were ruined by the aforementioned destruction of the cortosis mine. He's understandably still very bitter about it two decades later]].

* ShoutOut: The concept of psionically gifted individuals equipped to navigate spaceships through hyperspace because HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace is lifted straight out of [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 that other Space Opera setting with an evil, galaxy-spanning empire]]. [[Literature/{{Dune}} And the one before that.]]

It was released July of 2018, following the release of the ''Thrawn'' comic adaptation earlier that year. A sequel book, ''Literature/ThrawnTreason'', is set for release in July of 2019.

* ThatManIsDead: Vader refuses to even ''think'' the name "Anakin Skywalker", only referring to his old identity as "The Jedi".

** "Instinctive Astrogation," a Force power from West End Games' TabletopGame/StarWarsD6 game and used by Luke Skywalker in Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy, reappears. [[spoiler: it's the method by which the Chiss navigate the notoriously dangerous Unknown Regions, and Thrawn manages to teach Vader the technique.]]

* PetTheDog: Two from Vader :

** [[spoiler:He also gives his support to Thrawn's TIE Defender project by : first, giving some recommendations for it by making the ship faster, simpler to control (explicitely citing that most of Imperial pilots are not as skilled as Skerris) and more powerful and second, by personnaly speaking in favor of it to the Emperor. It helps that he had piloted one during the events of the book.]]

* EntertaininglyWrong: Vader's Stormtroopers reveal that this is part of why so few people take the TIE Defender concept seriously. The logic of the common wisdom goes that the the unconventional wing design makes it hard to maneuver, while all of that weight from the added missiles, hyperdrive, and shield systems slow it down until it's a sitting duck. They are thus quite surprised to see how utterly superior they are in action.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Averted. Vader only wants to save the [[spoiler:the Force-sensitive Chiss children]] out of PragmaticVillainy than moral standards, though Thrawn seems to not only get them back to the Ascendancy, but also to their [[spoiler:homes and families]]. Played straight with one of Thrawn's men, Kimmund, who ensures the safety of five scared Chiss girls and tries to comfort them and thinks that Thrawn would care enough.

* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:Vader lets the Force-sensitive Chiss children be, even though Palpatine would be interested in that.]]

After the events of ''Thrawn'' and Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', Palpatine sends Vader and Thrawn to deal with a mysterious disturbance in the Force emanating the edge of the Unknown Regions, on the mysterious planet of [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Batuu]].

* ActionGirl: Padme is at quite possibly ''the most'' badass she's ever been in this novel. Not only can she hold her own in a fight, she demonstrates a range of skills and knowledge that puts her on equal footing with Anakin and Thrawn.

* HesAFriend: Padm&eacute gets entangled with a group of local workers on Mokivj and tells them that Anakin Skywalker is her uncle and can pay ransom for her. After she has found Anakin, one of the local workers sees Thrawn, who is working with Anakin, and makes to protect Padm&eacute, telling her to look out. She tells him "He's a friend," but the guy considers this suspect at first, given Thrawn's unusual appearance.

It was released July of 2018, following the release of the ''Thrawn'' comic adaptation earlier that year.

** The large scar across Mokivj was caused by [[spoiler:Anakin, Padmé and Thrawn ''themselves'' after their effort to destroy the Separatist cortosis mine, which ended up releasing large amounts of lava]].
** [[spoiler:The bartender Vader and Thrawn interrogate in the present is ''not'' the same man as the bartender from Anakin, Padme and Thrawn's mission in the past; it's [=LebJau=], whose home and livelihood were ruined by the aforementioned destruction of the cortosis mine.]]

* ShoutOut: The concept of psionically gifted individuals equipped to navigate spaceships through hyperspace because HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace is lifted straight out of [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 that other Space Opera setting with an evil, galaxy-spanning empire]].

* ScrodingersCanon:

** "Instinctive Astrogation," a Force power from West End Games' StarWarsD6 game and used by Luke Skywalker in Literature/TheTrawnTrilogy, reappears. [[spoiler: it's the method by which the Chiss navigate the notoriously dangerous Unknown Regions, and Thrawn manages to teach Vader the technique.]]

** Palpatine senses a mysterious disturbance coming from the Unknown Regions ([[spoiler: the captured Chiss children]]), which is why he sends Thrawn and Vader together to deal with it. [[Literature/StarWarsAftermath Eventually]], he became obsessed with another disturbance from the Unknown Regions.

* ChildSoldier: [[spoiler:The Force-sensitive Chiss children are being used for astronavigation. Using youths in the Chiss military could be a normal thing for them, though.]]

** [[spoiler:The bartender Vader and Thrawn interrogate in the present is ''not'' the same man as the bartender from Anakin, Padme and Thrawn's mission in the past; it's LebJau, whose home and livelihood were ruined by the aforementioned destruction of the cortosis mine.]]