Thrawn / YMMV - TV Tropes

And You Thought It Would Fail: Prior to release, skepticism on whether it would be a worthy successor to the The Thrawn Trilogy was high. Originally, Thrawn's role was mainly around the Imperial Remnant continuing to fight against the New Republic/Rebel Alliance after Return of the Jedi, but with that being moved to the eve of the Galactic Civil War, it raised the question of how competent he would be in new canon as he cannot gain any major milestones for the Empire that would affect the Original Trilogy. There was also no indication that his partner, Captain Pellaeon, will be recanonized, with original characters Governor Pryce and Ensign Vanto being in his place instead, so people were uncertain that Pryce and Vanto will live up to Pellaeon. However, after release, Thrawn ended up being very positively received by the fanbase, and is generally considered one of the best books from the new canon. Thrawn's more heroic characterization in this book has in fact been highly regarded, with some even criticizing Rebels for its more villainous portrayal of Thrawn and wanting it to add in some elements of Thrawn's book personality (though it is worth noting that Timothy Zahn approved of Thrawn's portrayal in Rebels). It proved so popular that a sequel was released in 2018. As well, in the series finale of Rebels, Captain Pellaeon finally gets mentioned (and Word of God confirmed it was the one the fanbase thought it was), thus setting the groundwork for any future appearances by Thrawn and his famous counterpart.
Alternate Character Interpretation: How much of Thrawn's forgetting of esoteric Basic words is real, and how much is to justify to Eli keeping him close? Does Thrawn deliberately "forget" Basic words (or phrase his sentences in such a way that he'll need a word Eli can supply) to keep other Imperials from getting annoyed that Thrawn brings Eli everywhere? The Emperor straight-up accuses him of doing this at their first meeting, and Thrawn notably loses the habit during their private conversation.
Broken Base:
- Continuing from Rebels, is it a good idea to have Thrawn's role be moved from after Return of the Jedi to before A New Hope instead? The book alleviated some of these concerns by pulling a Not His Sled; Thrawn's exile is a ruse this time, and this contributes to the overarching plot of the Empire's transition into the First Order later on in the timeline, which we learned he had contributed to in Aftermath: Empire's End.
  - As Rebels ends with Thrawn being forcibly dragged to parts unknown and only possibly dead, it is still possible for him to return post-Endor having been MIA during the OT.
  - The Mandalorian later confirmed this was the case; Season 2 revealed Ahsoka was searching for him.
- No Gilad Pellaeon. Instead, he was replaced as Thrawn's Watson by Eli and Pryce. Zahn ultimately revealed it was partly just plot mechanics - Pellaeon didn't meet Thrawn till after Thrawn returned in the original timeline, and if they were introduced to each other at this earlypoint their entire dynamic would be different because Pellaeon would necessarily outrank Thrawn. Rebels name-dropped him in their final episode, meaning when the pair reappear post-Jedi they will have their original character dynamic.
Friendly Fandoms: The relationship between pro-Legends and pro-Canon fans is a tense one but this book is widely accepted by both sides. This can be chalked up to being written by Thrawn's creator.
Ho Yay: In keeping with tradition of the now defunct Legends canon — Eli serves as the point of view protagonist that is eventually blown away by Thrawn's Sherlock Scan and intellect. However, in a moment of a Subverted Trope, Thrawn is just as fascinated in Eli despite the latter's guarded reception of the former. These moments are clear such as when Thrawn is upset at the prospect that Eli doesn't like him, excitedly and even awkwardly introduces himself to Eli's parents, and in a Heartwarming Moment leaves Eli a thoughtful note in his own personal journals that recognizes what a close friend he had been over the years. For a stoic and guarded character such as Thrawn the gesture isn't lost on the audience.
- Furthermore, a pirate chooses "Pretty boy" as his nickname for Eli. Eli is apparently attractive. How much of that factored into Thrawn deliberately yanking the poor boy out of his chosen career path to go adventuring as Thrawn's side?
I Knew It!: In "Steps Into Shadow", Kallus says he's heard rumors that Thrawn's campaign at Batonn resulted in heavy civilian casualties. Some viewers found it suspicious that Thrawn makes no comment on this and lets Pryce talk about it, so we don't get to know about Thrawn's opinion on the matter, leading to theories that Thrawn didn't intend on killing so many people and that Pryce may have been involved. As we see in the book, this is indeed the case.
Memetic Mutation:
- Thrawn using obscenities and meme phrases without actually knowing what they mean and how to properly use them, often used in tandem with some degree of Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure (ex. yaint, a Precision F-Strike, etc.).
- The descriptions of Pryce and Thrawn's civilian disguises were already memetic since it left their appearances to the imagination of the readers, and then Issue #3 showed Thrawn wearing space '80's shades while wearing a cloak over his head.
Nightmare Fuel: A Nothing Is Scarier example that was also mentioned in Empire's End — just what is the unknown evil lurking in the uncharted regions of space? Is it Snoke? Or something else?
No Yay: For the first time with Zahn writing him, we have Thrawn's direct point of view, and his impressions of Pryce, Eli, Parck and others are indeed alien and clinical, complete with Chiss vision reaching into the infrared telling him about responses like flushing, with him using the responses entirely as a way to read the person. Every interaction we see from Thrawn's POV is almost deliberately detached and based on utility, with the narration almost-robotic calculations about others emphasizing his alien nature compared to those around him in the human-dominated Empire.
Portmanteau Couple Name: Those who ship Thrawn and Eli Vanto call them "Thranto".

YMMV / Thrawn

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