"But," he whispered, "it was so artistically done."

Well one has Mara Jade so

I have said that the Legends Thrawn was a far better villain, but Canon Thrawn is a more well rounded character. (Star Wars: Thrawn was probably my favorite of the 6, too.)

I miss Mara Jade. And Jaina Solo. And I will forever mourn the Sword of the Jedi books and whatever was going to happen between Ben Skywalker and Vestara Khai...

I'm hoping that Zahn and Filoni can work together on either an animated or novel series that continues Thrawn and Ezra's stories. If Filoni is too busy with other stuff maybe he can just give Zahn his notes and ideas and let Zahn run with it.

Love Eli Vantos character, id really enjoy seeing something more centered around him and his affiliation with the Chiss and Admiral Aralani.

I literally just found Star Wars:Thrawn in my school library :)

You NEVER seem “ranty” Alex. That’s one of the main reasons I dig your channel so much. Nice job with this one.

The audio book makes him way more interesting.

The one think I always liked about the original trilogy of books is that we got to see Thrawn fighting a full scale war, not playing policeman and fighting , scale-wise, a military insignificant rebellion. Thrawn in legends brought a defeated and demoralized empire to the brink of victory

I love Thrawn, and just all the books he is in

Having read many EU books and a decent amount of canon books, I have to give the edge to EU just because they could do real stories rather than some side-quest type stuff. That being said there have been some great books in new canon, particularly from Claudia Gray.

Hier to the Empire is easily one of the best SW stories written (legends or canon).

Thrawn: Alliances was not my favorite story, it felt forced and didn't really do much for any of the characters involved. Thrawn: Treason however I loved but I loved because of seeing the stuff with the Ascendancy, and as you said Thrawn wasn't exactly needed for that stuff. I will say that I am enjoying in the new canon that not every story has to be about Han, Luke, and Leia every time all the time.

I am totally down for an Eli & the Chiss vs Grysk novel. I would love to see Timothy Zahn let loose to play with what he has in his head!

Eli became one of my favorite book characters, and yeah. I agree. I just went through the canon Thrawn trilogy, and loved it, but agree with what you’re saying about being held back.

The Thrawn Trilogy has higher stakes while the new ones is constrained by Star Wars Rebels.

Maybe a big reason Aphra and Ahsoka are so well done and popular is because their creators have room to explore the characters outside of films?

Thank you for simply acknowledging the difference between the two.

There will be a new Thrawn trilogy that focuses on the Chiss Ascendency.

I just read Star Wars: Thrawn and I’m currently reading Heir to the Empire so I can hardly make any sort of comprehensive comparison, but the former definitely won me over and turned me into a fan of the character, so there’s that. However, I do see a pretty glaring weakness in SW: Thrawn and that is that he seems almost TOO smart, TOO on top of things. Sure he’s a tactical genius, but unlike what I’ve read so far in Heir to the Empire, a lot of his victories seem a bit... unearned? I don’t remember seeing him ever falter or face true uncertainty and a lot of the time it seemed like other characters were stunted in order to allow him to shine. True, he faced adversity through others’ xenophobia and his ignorance of politics, but he himself never really seemed personally affected by it, and any setbacks were quickly dealt with FOR him (by Eli, Arihnda, the emperor, etc). I don’t know, he just seemed a bit “overpowered,” for lack of a better word.

The Legends Thrawn books(The Heir Trilogy and Hand Duology) were the only things set after Episode 6 involving major galactic players I've ever cared about. I've never had much interest in major events set after the Galactic Civil War, because I felt having major threats set AFTER Palpatine's death detracted from the finale of the OT. I also greatly enjoyed the Legends end of the Galactic Civil War because it ended like most real wars do, with a peace treaty, and the losing nation maintaining their status as an independent political body. The Legends Thrawn novels tied up the Galactic Civil War without overshadowing the defeat of Palpatine, which is something I've felt nearly everything major set after 6 has striven to do, intentionally or not. Palpatine's death, in my mind, will always be the last earth(space)-shattering moment in the Star Wars timeline, whether its Legends or Canon, because to put it bluntly, everything else on a similar level either feels like power creep or not powerful enough.

In Germany we have a radio play (Hörspiel) of the legends triology with the old voice actors!

I really enjoy both for different reasons, But legends made Thrawn a legend, I do love the way Zahn gets to really flesh out his creation, great addition to the galaxy

One book-only story that I really enjoyed was Lost Stars by Claudia Gray. Sure, it “tied into” the OT timeline, but it was more of a backdrop than anything. We probably(?) won't see adapted but I loved the scope it had.

A thing the new thrawn trilogy does really well is the military tactics. I love how the space battles play out.

This is a really thoughtful analysis! I wonder whether there’s an opportunity for an occasional new Legends novel that - because it’s free from any canon constraints - could do what you describe and just be free to tell big bold stories.

Legends, hands down.

When Thrawn's clone didn't get a chance to live when the chamber got flooded in Visions of the Future, I was pretty devastated. Especially when it easily could have been the perfect set up to another trilogy.

Vanto stories would be interesting during his time with the Chiss and onward. his perspective as an outside would be a great story point and potential for his character evolution.

Boy did the second half of this video age like milk.

Man, as much as I like Ahsoka, if she deserves a series of her own, then Thrawn even more so! As long as Filoni and Zahn get creative freedom without constraints it will definitely be worth exploring. And give us Mara Jade back!

I really like the Legends Thrawn trilogy and Thrawn as a villain in those books. But my biggest issue with them is that they felt too much like over-the-top fanfiction at certain points. The Canon Thrawn trilogy feels like more "grounded" (I honestly don't know how else to describe it) Star Wars content to me; less like over-the-top fanfiction. And Canon Thrawn just feels like a more well-rounded character to me. I know many people will disagree with me, but I just wanted to get this out there. However, I don't believe this one issue takes away from the quality of the Legends Thrawn trilogy. They are still awesome and I have immense love for them, especially for what they accomplished. As for Canon Thrawn and Chiss related stuff: I believe we just need to be patient. We need to keep in mind that this new Canon EU is only five years old. Keep in mind that we got the Legends Thrawn trilogy, which really kicked off the era of quality EU content, a decade after the original trilogy. I do believe the current Canon is getting weirder and more wonderful, and it has indeed given us five good years of quality content. We just need to be patient. The new Canon EU is still young and needs time to grow.

Oooooooo I don't even wanna look at the comments. I think Thrawn being around during the height of the Empire makes more sense from a story standpoint. Why were they keeping him in the Outer Rim in the Legends trilogy? Should they not have called him up at least after the first Death Star was destroyed?

"If you understand a species' art, you understand the species"

Q&A: Do you think that Timothy Zahn wrote the cannon Thrawn books as prequels to his original books? As if it was one continuous series? There are some contradictions, but mostly I don't see why not.

Your opinion videos always feel so well-rounded! Thanks for not being toxic.

Great video Alex 🙂

3:00 - It's funny that the Nohgri were originally going to be called the Sith, because the expanded universe eventually did introduce an alien species called the Sith from which the Sith Lords took their name. (Which itself loops around to being an interesting indicator of their specieist, pro-human tendencies of the Sith Empires over time, as a kind of "appropriation" of an entire species' name for their religion.)

Looking at reading the Thrawn books, there are 3 different series? Which is the best way to start? What order? Best books to prepare for Ahsoka and future shows/movies....

I agree. I enjoyed the new books, but I definitely like not knowing what's going to happen in the story with the original Thrawn trilogy. I'm almost finished with the 2 hand of thrawn books as well and I just love the scope of everything going on in the galaxy during that time period in legends

I haven't had the chance yet to read the old EU Thrawn books but I honestly enjoyed the cannon series quite a bit, even with the constricts due to timelines. I really enjoyed his character.

I'd say the Legends is the best, but the new covers a lot of interesting things. Most importantly, the way Zahn is writing these. You can treat them as if they are all in the same cannon with just a little squinting. So far, the only book that I think would directly contradict anything between the two timelines is Outbound Flight. All the others could fit in without really contradicting one another. You just have to assume Thrawn returns at some point to fight as a Warlord and kinda skip over the Solo's only having one kid. And that seems intentional on Zahn's part.

Legends is a better trilogy, but Star Wars: Thrawn is a better book, plus Canon Thrawn is a better character

I'm just getting back into the books. Was going to go back and re read the "Legends" Thrawn books, but decided to see what the new ones were all about. Going forward, I'd love to see something like "Tales from the Bounty Hunters", the short story collection from Bobba Fett, IG88, and others. Also, would love to see a book focused on Bobba Fett, either before Han or after Jedi. Sure, we have the Mandalorian now, but the Fett is always a win. Good video.

I loved them all, even though we know he will solve any problem it's how he does it that I really enjoy. I would like to see at least some of him in the next trilogy.

What is the image at 4:22 and where can I find it online, hopefully more up to date?

Thanks man. I was debating which one to start first but now I wanna experience the way you mentioned. OG first

Great Video Like the voice recognition in the background from Canon to Legends Its All good of storytelling. Let it all flow in The Force. Remember it's with us Always .🙋🏻‍♂️😀❤🇨🇦✌👍🖖😁

Your in luck, the new Thrawn trilogy (assuming there will be three books) covers his time with the Chiss Ascendancy. And it is certainly giving him more wiggle room so far.

That was an extremely well tempered way to express your frustration with the short-comings of Disney Canon

What did software did you use to make the audio bars visualization?

Love the content. I think the problem you have is similar to a Batman or Superman problem. In this example thrawn is Batman and Vader is Superman. You know both are going to win all the time however, a gangster is an actual threat to Batman since he has no super powers he's just the greatest detective of all time. Vader wins because he is a space wizard. There is a huge fandom for both fantasies. I have always been a Batman fan, so I am fine with stories where space Batman is just awesome. I can't wait for more thrawn. Death to space whales

I'd love to see beyond the sequels, star wars legacy style books or comics would be awesome to see.

I have to go with legends on Thrawn because it offers a better description of how he joined the Imperial navy and working his ways through the ranks to one of the most feared grand Admirals of the Galactic Empire

Thanks for this video.

Alex, can you do a review of the old Kevin J Anderson trilogy, with Kyp and Admiral Daala(?) please!

Well the pages of my Heir to the Empire book keep falling out :(

6:37 I wish I had that guy's laser pointer fingers. Would be useful.

I bet Project Luminous is something that has to do with Yoda. Maybe finally we will get more backstory on him. Let's see a young Yoda and the trials he had to face to become the wise master we know.

The limited nature of the new canon stories is part of the reason I can't get really into them. They'll never be allowed to tell really big, meaningful, galaxy/character chaging stories. For better or worse the Legends books were allowed to as you say, swing for the fences and really tell some big stories that really shook things up. A lot of the new stuff feels like filler imo.

I just finished the cannon books, should I read the original trilogy now or read more cannon books. I worry that I will be tunneling down a hole that leads no where. Maybe cliffnotes if that’s even still a thing

Just watched this, well done. What do u think of the estate of star wars now under the KK era? May the Force be with u.

Extremely well said!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Did you make that canon timeline map??

100% agree. Zahn did what he could given the constraints. I was really hopeful going into Treason but the whole trilogy hints at an adventure much more exciting than the actual books. We need big events in books because you can give so much detail in books. I really hope the story group lets the books actually make a real story line.

Thanks, Alex! 😊

Which trilogy should I read first??

Legends has annoying sub characters and hearing Solo and Lando say, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” like a million times in each book is DUMB. The canon books are good but they’re not easy to integrate into the current direction Dave F is heading in. I think Thrawn is a great character but his story should pick up from Rebels and maybe do Flashbacks from the canon books where it seems to make sense.

I also feel like that we can get weirder once the saga ends. I say that because there will be a concise end so if you try to tell a story involving the main characters or something totally different that happens to take place in the 30 years between trilogies, we know what can and can’t happen to an extent so we can get get good long form stories that don’t need to tie in to the next movie.

As to which trilogy I prefer, I love them both. I'm a little OCD, so I really enjoy the continuity of the canon trilogy (the lack of continuity in the EU bothered me), and I personally prefer Eli Vanto to Pellaeon, because Eli learns. He's more Thrawn's apprentice than his side kick, and I enjoy that. On the other hand, I will never forget the soaring excitement I felt when I first read Heir to the Empire, or the way the John Williams score played in my head through every moment of Zahn's writing. Heir to the Empire _felt_ like Star Wars, and he captured my favorite characters of Han, Luke, and Leia perfectly, giving them all equal weight (not easy when two are Skywalkers!), and ecen perfectly capturing favorite side characters like Lando & Threepio. Zahn's consistent ability to capture a character & the feel of the universe is why he is one of my all-time favorite Star Wars writers. And also, Mara Jade. I love Commodore Faro, and Admiral Ar'alani, and Vah'nya. They are some of my favorite side characters in the new canon... But, Mara XD

You should do a review of all of Timothy Zahn's legends book. That would be cool.

I think I prefer the legends books like you said cause they're not limited to what is gonna happen in the future. Instead they kinda pave the way for more to come. Though if you want a cool tie-in, Star Wars: Thrawn wasn't too bad either. I enjoyed hearing that he was in the Clone Wars too. If anything, that actually added onto the legends novels. Although, either version of Thrawn's character are pretty cool.

My dream came true when they did away with the EU and reaffirmed the PT. It made the existence of the ST totally fine by me. 100%

Which trilogy should be read first?

Book is definitely my favorite. I like this new. Erosion of thrawn over the original. That’s part due he nature to train and challenge his subordinates to be better than they are or to show them them they have talents they themselves are unaware of. His rapport with Eli Vanto, Karyn Faro and Wullf Yularen are especially what made like his character and those that served with him. Mind I listened to the audio book version so I was definitely engaged with the new trilogy even though Alliances was painful mainly due to the inclusion of Anakin Skywalker. Overall I’d recommend the new trilogy and I’m looking forward to his next one.

Its been some years, what do you think about the way it turned out ?

As a guy that never saw Rebels, I completely agree with with video. Me missing that cartoon makes me feel like I am missing some major detail when I read Alliances and I'm sure it'd be the case with Treason as well. Which is fustrating because, as you said, books are no longer the backbone of Star Wars, and I simply don't have the time investment to catch up with all the shows. In this manner, I also enjoyed the first Thrawn book cause I have no idea certain people like Pryce was actually a Rebels character and just accept it as a good secondary cast. But overall, nostalgia or otherwise, I still love the original Trilogy the best, with it taking new directions that was new for the time and even to the end of the Legends' reign. The mysterious aura around Thrawn is just so much more compelling that way.

Funny thing is I wasn’t into Star Wars at all until reading these books. HTTE was my intro essentially, I knew Vader was Luke’s dad, but that’s about it. This trilogy will always be special to me, as it’s spawned 25yrs of fandom for me (first read from my high school library in ‘94).

there should be novels or series on the chasis and what the outer rim galaxy to be explored and many more....

I'm listening to Both

I prefer the new ones, but my opinion is not fair as I never read the Legends material. I enjoyed the first one tremendously and the second one was enjoyable but not quite the excitement I felt with the first. I have not read the third one yet but it is on the list.

agree with what you said about legends v canon. the canon stories are fun and good but they feel so safe and contained.

Both of them were so damn incredible, I loved reading them so much..... but the originals might be a bit better

Isn't the thrawn trilogy the original episode 7, 8, 9?

Nice Video :)

I didn’t read the thrawn trilogy too much as a kind only the first one as a comic but I am liking thrawn right now as a character so if I like him in canon I’m sure I will love him in legends! I am the one person that actually liked thrawn alliances 🤷🏽‍♂️ can’t wait for the new books to be based off the chiss. New characters

Interesting how Heir to the Empire and it's following books has been known as the Thrawn trilogy when that name was never officially called so by Lucasbooks and the other villain(Juruus C'Boath) actually takes center stages on the book cover of Heir to the Empire.

Legends are always Legends Canon indeed nothing ever will replace it!

I liked the Canon Thrawn in the more recent books… but I absolutely adore the EU Thrawn. The EU Thrawn was definitely more ruthless, more hard-edged than the Canon Thrawn. His strategies and schemes were Byzantine as hell.

I'm on the legends side. I think in cannon Thrawns personality is showen better, however the story is 10000% better in legends. Old canon is way better. Yesterday i started Luceno's Darth Plagueis, and I absolutley love it. One day legends will return to canon and Disney timeline will be no more...

From what I heard Timothy Zahn wrote the new Canon Thrawn books to fit in nicely with the old Thrawn Trilogy.

Legends... enough said. Also if Thrawn had the force, he'd go from being a God amongst men tactically to being invincible with Battle Meditation (don't ask me why I started to think about this).

'Getting weird' gets us things like Waru. Is that what you want, Alex? Waru?!

We know now that Project Luminous turned out to be The High Republic media event of books and comics, which did end up becoming a tie in to The Acolyte. After the Mando movie I'm retiring as a Star Wars fan.

I have to side with Canon here. Timothy Zahn was able to improve on his past work, and use the limitations he was given by Disney to thrive without being tied down to that many characters and plot points from the films, and created what is easily the best villain Star Wars has ever had.

While I do absolutely love the original Thrawn trilogy; I don't know if I agree with you. In those three books, he seemed far more omnipotent than he does in the new books. In the new books we get to understand his reasoning, his thinking, and unlike the old books we do see him fail from time to time. He is a much better character now than he was in legends. That being said, I'm a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes and Deduction. (If my name didn't give that away) so seeing stories where a character is like that, and using those methods was exactly what I was looking for.

I can understand wanting more from the canon books but I also see why that's less likely. The books have such a smaller audience compared to even the games and shows, they wont want to do the big stories there. I'd go with audio books but I personally cant stand when audio books have multiple narrators and sound effects.

Why not both?

Well, I haven't yet gotten to read "Treason", but overall, it depends on the book for me. When I bought "Thrawn", I couldn't put it down and it began my love of the character. I read all the original trilogy shortly after that. I felt like, despite Thrawns prominence as the leader of the Empire, the big overall villain was C'baoth, which was why Thrawns end was more of an aside, lol. However, I didn't love "Alliances",as "Thrawn"suggested dangers in the Unknown Regions and I was hoping they'd bring the Yuzhuun Vong into the canon. Turns out they didn't... I loved "Heir" and "Dark Force", but "Last Command"wasn't my favourite after all. I think I'll need to read "Treason"to make a final decision however.