Current canon is that the Grysk are still active and attacking the Chiss in 1 BBY when Thrawn vanishes with Ezra at the end of Rebels. So *fingers crossed* we could see him trying to return with Imperial forces to the Chaos to aid the Chiss under attack. As a bonus twist, they could set up the Grysk as the big bad and Thrawn as a surprise enemy-of-my-enemy ally

I still have hope that they will consult Zhan for Ahsoka which is in preproduction stages. The first trilogy wasn't finished when those Rebels seasons were developed and Ascendancy Trilogy wasn't even in the planning stages. Now both trilogies are out and there is no excuse not to use the books for inspiration and characterization especially. Thrawn is more complex than simple evil and rebuilding Empire cannot be his motivation - he is simply too smart for that. I am looking forward to reading Lesser Evil, I hope for more decisive and more ruthless victory over Grysk. :D

Having Thrawn killed off again would be terrible, I loved the OG trilogy, but I want more now, there's more potential than just a repeat. The whole reason Zahn created the Grysk is because he regreted killing Thrawn off so soon in legends and was inspired when he found out about the Vong. I would also suspect the fact the Grysk are left as a cliffhanger in Lesser Evil, Jixtus in particular is because the storygroup might actually want to use them now for other projects including live action.

As someone who has enjoyed the Ascendacy trilogy more than the original canon Thrawn trilogy I can happily say this was my favorite book so far.

I immensely enjoyed this trilogy. I hope we see more of the characters in future projects. I also hope that Thrawn's characterization is more sympathetic in live-action and less-pure-evil-big-bad-wolf type of character.

I think I'll be disappointed if they make him just a villain in the future, he's so much more.

I loved this trilogy and thought Lesser Evil was the best of the three. The Chiss names are confusing but I found that listening to the audiobook while reading the novel helped. Marc Thompson gives each character a unique and identifiable voice that helps keep them sorted.

In my own head canon I’ve always put together that thrawn pulled the trigger on lothal out of the moral greater good. like what if it was vader or tarkin that was firing on lothal? would they have caused more death and destruction to the planet? maybe thrawn had enough compassion for the planet he took things in his own hands. for the buildings that he did destroy we did see lots of people crawling out of the debre, so maybe he tried his best to give warning shots? idk that’s just how I make sense of the character in the current canon

"No, that was not Zathras, that was Zathras. There are 10 of us, all of family Zathras, each one named Zathras. Slight differences in how you pronounce. Zathraas, Zathras, Zathras.. You are seeing now?" "There are ten of you?" "Yes! Well, nine now."

I have waited to watch this until I finished the book. I realize we have had different opinions on this series, but I am glad we both liked this one. Some things I noticed: I think the Grysk may have been the enemies the Chiss used the original super weapon on, with the phrase " the Chiss are responsible for the deaths of thousands of my people " so this whole thing may end up as a revenge story. 2. This may mean that the Grysk are responsible for the Jedi/Sith rift since they were around then, it's their MO and they had originally planned to take over lesser space. 3. Thrawn is good at leading coalitions. So what better figure to lead a coalition of heroes vs the ancient threat of the Grysk? I mean this book basically sets the table for a rematch.

I gotta admit, bummed as I am that the 90s Thrawn Trilogy was demoted to Legends, all this current Thrawn stuff these past few years, culminating in possibly a huge return and a first live action appearance, is really exciting. Yes he aint the same as Legends Thrawn, but it’s still great that the character was beloved so much he was brought back into canon and been given new life in these stories. It also emphasizes just how rich the Star Wars universe can be beyond the films and same old same old Skywalker stuff. Thrawn deserves to be on the same level of other remowned Star Wars antagonists.

I finished this book over the long weekend, and really loved it. It was definitely my favorite of the Ascendancy trilogy. I agree that it was at times easy to get lost, but there was just so much here for me to love. I look forward to Zahn's next book/trilogy about the Chiss.

Without spoiling anything I like how invested I was in a book that barely contained Thrawn. He was more of an outside character. This book mainly contained his various allies and enemies, on all sides, reacting to or being a threat while he was out there in the background setting up his plan. I agree that with the set of characters in these books, as well as the original three Canon books, plus some from Legends that we haven't seen much of yet, like Captain Gilad Pellaeon, there's a lot of great Chiss and other Thrawn-adjacent stories to tell out there.

? who else want to see thrawn and tie defender in live action

Tbh I re listened to all 6 books in order. You start recognizing aliens like the agbui and now enjoy knowing the threat is spreading. I felt I really didn’t know how dangerous the threat was till the ascendancy books. And after the name drop in the live action shows for thrawn I’m hoping they are going to bring in the grissk as a yuuzhan vong level threat for canon

I can't wait to read this one! As someone who's favourite Thrawn novel was the previous one, I'm looking forward to seeing how the story will conclude.

Literally just finished downloading the audiobook as this video went up.

Here is a good question. Does it matter that Thrawn bombs Lothal (SW Rebels) and can't be a hero and a villain? Remember that he is supposed to be an antagonist even as far as the original Thrawn trilogy, just a respected idealistic one to many readers. Thrawn himself is always about strategy and tactics. In other words, is it efficient to commit to such actions, good or bad?

I think Thrawn definitely needed to be the hero of his own story. I'm kind of skeptical about Ahsoka because I'm afraid they won't give a damn about the books and just repeat the Rebels mistake, which was to make Thrawn a villain that was just there to make the heroes look good. They tried to make Thrawn loose to a bunch of children and an untrained jedi without it looking ridiculous, and of course it was a fail. I enjoyed Rebels, but i think they messed up Thrawn's character. They even tried to make him look sadistic at times, which is just completely off.

I’m not gonna lie, the ending made me tear up a bit. It was just perfect for the trilogy. Thrawn is my favorite Star Wars character of all time!

I gotta say i loved Thrass in this, id love a whole book just about Thrawn and Thrass going on adventures together.

Finished Lesser Evil yesterday, and I think it might have been my favorite of the three! The two things I tend to like best in stories are 1) time with my favorite characters & getting to see quieter, deeper, character/relationship moments, and 2) details my lore-hound brain can sink its teeth into. Lesser Evil delivers on both counts, so I loved it!! Chaos Rising I enjoyed for the same reason, Greater Good not so much because while I find the world-building of Chiss politics interesting, I don't find it particularly compelling, and felt we didn't spend enough time with my favorite characters - or rather, we spent a lot if time with characters I didn't particularly like. Regardless, I have enjoyed all the new canon Thrawn novels (and all the Legends ones I have read) and I enjoyed the way Lesser Evil set up potential future plot points

I found it way easier to keep track of characters and names in Greater Good when listening to the audiobook. They sound more different than they read and having a distinct voice for each makes them far more individually memorable.

the questions of Thrawn's true loyalty have been answered, I strongly hope that he is more than just a villain in Ahsoka, even if he is working to restore the Imperial remnant it would be interesting to have to see the New Republic and imperials put aside there differences to take on a larger threat like the Grysk. When we next see he and Ezra it will have been quite a long time since rebels ending, hard to believe they would remain enemies that entire time. The empire has fallen and so Thrawn's mission of allying with them is gone, now his only option is to bolster the Chiss Expansionary Defense fleets forces with the imperial remnant. As he made very clear to Palpatine, the Grysk are as much of a threat to the empire now again turned republic as they are to the Chiss Ascendancy. The Chiss are brought to the edge of there destruction by from the isolation and ignorance of much of the Chaos around them, only with help and allies can they stop the Grysk Hegemony. An alliance it seems, may be in the works.

I love these canon books, Thrawn is one of my fave characters within Star Wars!

Outbound Flight is still my favorite book

Fascinating . The Ascendancy trilogy are my favourite Star Wars books, largely because of the intricacies of Chiss families and politics. I loved keeping track of who’s who and how they connected to each other.

У Занна есть ряд проблем с циклом Доминации: 1) Бодрое начало и просто сосаный из пальца конец. Каждая из 3х книг весьма бодро начинается и весьма неплохо затягиваем всеми этими планами и теориями о том как все это будет. Но под конец уже видно что Занн просто "вымучивает" конец. Что муза покинула и он пытается вытянуть концовку пытаясь логически завершить все повествования которые поднимались в начале книги. Плюс, многие герои начинают страдать маразмом. Что казалось бы.....Умные и рассудительные персонажи в 1 момент просто начинают творить отровенную дичь и проседают по интеллекту. Кого-то искусственно "умнят", а кого-то - отупляют. 2) Отсутствие адекватного противника. Каждый враг выглядит каким-то карикатурным. Злой потому-что злой. Нет никакой юзюминки. Взять того же Джикстаса. Вроде с виду кажется достойным врагом. Думает головой, размышляет, толкает весьма дельные умозаключения.....И как его сливает автор в "Меньшем Зле"? Такое дно не провивал никто из противников Трауна в 10 книгах (старый канон тоже считается + Сверхдальний Перелет). Что единственный ну хоть сколько-нибудь достойный противник за 1 главу тупеет до уровня Имперского Штурмовика. И бесславно выпиливается. А что еще хотелось бы сказать про "Доминацию"..... Не раскрыта Зиара от слова совсем. Так и непонятно что ее с Трауном связывает. Так как у нее времени с ним по книге столько же сколько и у Лакинды с Талиас. Но несмортя на равное времяпрепровождение рядом с Трауном - она прям за него горой настолько.....Что устраивает Ба'кифу разнос в его кабинете за то как с Трауном обошлись в итоге. Хотя, ее карьера на волоске висела из-за него. И тут мне не понятно.....Толи она в него влюбилась, но прятала чувства за профессиональной этикой....Толи она настолько к нему привязалсь, что не хотела терять столь ценный кадр. Так как в последующих книгах она крайне странные намеки ему кидает, что мол "без тебя мир уже не тот". Я считаю что Занну надо сейчас заняться циклом книг именно про Ар'алани. 1 книга - служба Ар'алани вместе с Трауном. Что она чувствовала когда он был ее подчиненым. 2 книга - служба Ар'алани после ухода Трауна в Империю. Что она чувствовала когда "потеряла" его из своих рядов. 3 книга - служба Ар'алани параллельно с службой Трауна в Империи. Что она чувствовала по отношению к нему будучи по разные стороны.

See disney thrawn is not that bad...thanks for the awesome review...

i think you weren't in the right headspace for greater good and it impacted your view on the trilogy as a whole. it was a fantastic book, it seems like you had gone into it expecting something though and ended up fighting your own expectations. i think viewing the story under the lens of your typical star wars story is holding you back. i also would suggest, in the future, if you find yourself not following something, to go back and reread the last relevant chapters until you do. the only part of these books intended to be confusing/convoluted are thrawn's penultimate plans of each installment. this trilogy was absolutely incredible and i hope you are able to give it another go around in a few years, because it's really worth appreciation.

Thanks for the review. Hope to see more Thrawn stories.

Thrawn made a deal with the empire/devil in order to protect and serve the ascendancy. And his morals and humanity (chissanity?) were the steep price he had to pay. Someone with good intentions but willing to go to any and all lengths combined with the ethos and power of the empire was always going to have tragic consequences. To say Thrawn is either a hero or a villain is reductive imo. He has moved past both of those descriptors

This isn't likely, but I would kind of like the Grysk to be dealt with in a book series centering around a conflict between them and the New Republic - where, to everyone's surprise in-universe, the Republic actually holds its own against Grysk who thought they would be easy pickings. Something like a retelling of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. There have been so many stories about the Canon New Republic's failings that I'd really like for them to get ONE win and remind everyone that they lasted longer than the Empire.

So much source material on thrawn , I hope that these books influence the live action films / series . IMO he is a hero

The Chiss are like the Drow in the centuries following the last Crown Wars of Faerun. Trying to stay alive in a dangerous region, not evil, but selfish and heading towards calamity

I agree 100% about not being able to keep track of the families. Glad you enjoyed this last book. I still am trying to finish Greater Good. Whenever it gets good, they bring in family-scheming and I lose it again :(

Saw your post and was like yay my per-order and ran straight to download it then played your video. 👍

I've just finished this book and came here ro hear your thoughts. The second book dragged for me but I really got into this book and flew through it. I loved how its explains the exile and how it leads into the first thrawn book. We do see some darker vibes from thrawn at the end and I think that the empire wittle him to be a bit darker again. It's gonna be interesting to see how thrawn will be presented in the upcoming shows. Also keen to see where he went to after rebels and if he and Ezra encounter the grissk.

Thrawn's only reason for siding with/joining the empire was because he believed they were the only entity capable of defending the galaxy (Or more importantly to him, The Chiss Ascendancy) from a Grysk invasion. Since Palpatine is off in the unknown regions and we can likely assume so is Thrawn then he most likely is aware of the fact that Palpatine is still kicking. Maybe he sees the Sith Fleet on Exegol at some point and believes that's the only thing capable of defeating the Grysk. I just don't think they can really put the plot of a Grysk invasion anywhere before the end of TROS and have it make sense. I mean, you'd think SOMEONE would mention such a massive event during the ST. It has to take place after TROS. And since we know Ahsoka is still around post-TROS despite her voice appearing amongst the other Jedi (Which will definitely need some sort of explanation as to how. Maybe in Ahsoka.) I think that's when we're going to see this "big event" we've been teased about for the last year or so. A post-TROS Grysk invasion with Thrawn at the helm of things and a team led by Ahsoka.

Just finished the book and wanted to see what the reviews said and I loved this. I loved the whole series but your criticisms of the book were accurate. By the end of the book I think I knew who everyone was but it got so confusing. So many characters, family's, ranks, ships, species. I think it would work really well as an animated series. The only thing I disagreed with you on was your live action prediction. I could see Grogu, Din, Ahsoka, Ezra, Jacen Syndulla etc ending up in the unknown regions, at first fighting against Thrawn but then teaming up with him against the Grysk. It would allow Disney to explain where Grogu, Ezra and Jacen were during the prequels so they can use them going forward. You won a subscriber today!

I'm hoping that in the time between Rebels and Ahsoka Ezra and Thrawn have teamed up and we see how Ezra goes from seeing Thrawn as a pure villain to a moraly grey character. Ezra is no stranger to teaming up with dubious characters like Hondo, Kallus or the clones. The way it is set up in the Mandalorian Thrawns connection to the imperial remenants could still turn out to be pretty much anything. It could also be interesting to build Thrawn up as the big villain, only to turn out to be the lesser evil, like he says himself in this book. There are tons of ways this could play out. Thrawn could even try to get on Ahsokas good side by talking about his adventure with Anakin, Padme and Artoo.

My brother loves the Thrawn books and sees him as a Hero. I like 'em but I know well that Thrawn is a Villain. Maybe he didn't start out, chronologically, as a villain, but whether its the events of this trilogy or his dealing with palpatine, something made him A Villain. He's a good villain, a frightful antagonist if your against him. No matter what he's doing in Ahsoka, he'll likely be The Villain. and that is something book thrawn fans need to be ready for.

Another amazing video

I really hope Dave and Co. Get Zahn on the writing team or atleast read the books. I love Dave but he has reconned lots of stuff from the comics and books, so hopefully thrawn is good and bad in asoka. My thoughts are this: thrawn wants to rebuild the empire and it's fleet because he believes that a rebuilt empire will be better then the new republic at facing the Grsks.

Thanks, Alex! 📚

Can’t wait to crack into this one. Just picked it up this morning.

3 TRILOGIES ABOUT THRAWN AND LIVE ACTION? what a time to be alive

I think I like the first cannon trilogy better. This is because we actually got to see things from Thrawn's prospective instead of just people from the outside prospective. My favorite parts was when you got to see Thrawn's annalist mode. That made him seem truly terrifying in my eyes. While I still enjoyed this trilogy I just wish we had at least some scenes from his prospective. (I also like the Cannon side more than the Legends side of Thrawn).

Loved the Asendancy books

(Spoiler warning ⚠️) For some reason I really liked Lesser Evil and the politics and stuff. A while back I made a page that detailed (very basic) the alliances between the Ruling Families. So when the Clarr received a recording of what they assumed to be the Dasklo in it I realised “this is gonna be a problem…” And since I was listening to the audiobook I had to mainly type down notes and write the time stamps. I’m glad because when I was going to fact check something on the wiki, I found that it was very incomplete (which is understandable). In the end I had over 16 pages of notes and over 7k words… also with the “odo” part of Thrawn’s name explained, I’ve got mixed opinions. It’s a really cool idea, but it also means that we can’t have characters like Sev’eere’nuruodo or Nuru Kungurama/ Kung’urama’nuruodo in canon. Although they could remedy that by making the “odo” hereditary. Or just cut off the “odo” part entirely. I’d really like to see Nuru and Veeren at some point as I really enjoyed their characters from the secret mission series, but ik that won’t happen. It especially annoys me because we don’t have a death date for him in legends which makes me hope the Chiss whisked him away and he’s off at one of those shade houses… finally there’s an inconsistency with Thrawn’s rank in the Mitth. He’s called a trial-born, but then at his trial he’s called merit adoptive…

I think the "deal with the devil" he makes when he joins the empire is the dark side villainous turning point and his bombing of lothal is the culmination of his corruption, true villainous war criminal, and when he took it to far; he finally lost.

I´ve only listend to the audiobooks, and I have to say, its funny how he pronounces some of the names. Like the Skywalker, his pronounciation sounds more like cherry than in the audiobook, where its more chiry (emphasis on the I sounds). Just always interesting to see how different people pronounce the same word :)

What do you think happened to the 2 Grysk on Sunrise that gave Qilori the message for Jixstus?

I just know Thrawn is gonna be treated as a villian in live action. I doubt that Filoni ever red a canon thrawn book . I doubt the writers of the Ahsoka Series ever will lmao, Tzahn should really be consulted when it comes to this series. Also i would be mad if they will kill him in a stupid way, like in legends.

Legends or current canon, I'm still not enamoured by Thrawn in any capacity I'm afraid.

Awesome Vid

There’s a heavy bias with this review. The reviewer obviously discovered Thrawn back in the day during the 90’s, and clearly likes his Thrawn as the “bad guy”. Any deviance doesn’t stick the landing. Also doesn’t help that he clearly prefers his Star Wars to be simplified with lightsabers, Jedi, good guy/bad guy etc. This book is clearly a more mature take on the SW universe, with deeper themes. It’s not for everyone, but l’ve enjoyed it.

I’ve loved this trilogy! This is part of what Star Wars is for me!

I read this trilogy before the imperial trilogy. I think that's is definitely the way to go

Absolute banger👌👌👌

I am tempted to read the legends Thrawn trilogy next as I have just finished the cannon books. But I think Thrawn works best as an anti-hero rebels might have gone too far as a moustache-twirling villain because it is a kids show but at the same time, he is set up as the personification of a competent empire i.e religious fanaticism, corruption, and infighting. Take your pick of beloved Roman emperors even though the punishments were harsh they were seen as fair and its my understanding that the original used the battle of Yavin and its aftermath as an opportunity for Thrawn to build that vision of an empire that earnt voluntary loyalty, hence anti-hero by presenting a serious conflict in terms of the moral justification for the rebellion/New Republic. As some even suggest that he ultimately failed due to the emperor's influence in preparation for the dark empire storyline.

Just a question here: Did you really not make a 50 Fun Facts for "Lesser Evil"? I could've sworn I saw one before; but now that I finally finished the book, I can't seem to find it...

So Dune Acendancy?

Chiss aren’t dark side, I feel if one were to make a lightsaber it would be purple, they are balanced

Outside of the Original Thrawn Trilogy, Zahns books have always been hit or miss. For every Alliance there's a Choices of One or Thrawn dualogy.

Do they ever explain how/when Thrawn got the “odo” and what it means?

I'll probably finish this one seeing as how I read the others...but anyone else feels Zahn writes more like "Star Trek" than "Star Wars"? I also feel the need to make the Chiss so deadpan to add to the books feeling like they just drag. Thrawn feels like he just works better as a villain or side character, not a protagonist. It's like Sherlock in space, but without Sherlock's eccentric personality to add some flair into the story. I also find the naming of the Chiss to be unnecessarily complex to pronounce and comes off pretentious much like the writing itself personally. I once read that a golden rule in wirting sci fi is to not feel the need to give your characters overly complex names and, frankly, this book proves why. There are some cool moments, but over all I'm glad to hear Zahn is taking a break from writing this guy and his universe. Still looking forward to his appearance in live action!

Apple 🍎

Glad you thought ‘Greater Good’ was boring. I thought i was the only one.

SPOILER!!!!! I'll try to make this as vague as possible to try not to spoil anything. Is outbound flight cannon?

Thrawn was never the villain in legends either though :p

I definitely have Thrawn fatigue. I loved the first canon Thrawn novel, but didn’t love Alliances so I never read Treason. I read the first Ascendancy novel, didn’t love it, so I’ll skip the next two. But Thrawn will be back, I’m sure, and I’m happy to give the next book cycle a try. I bet there will be another in 2023 when “Ahsoka” comes out.

Definitely skipping the thrawn stuff.