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Grand Admiral Thrawn (native name: Mitth'raw'nuruodo) is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Introduced in the 1991 Timothy Zahn novel Heir to the Empire, he is an Imperial military commander who has taken control of the Galactic Empire's remaining forces five years after the events of the 1983 film Return of the Jedi. Thrawn faces off against classic Star Wars characters Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian in the Thrawn trilogy (1991–1993), but is ultimately defeated. He is seemingly resurrected in the Hand of Thrawn duology (1997–98), and his backstory is explored in various other novels, short stories, comics, and video games in the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
Though Lucasfilm rebranded the Expanded Universe works as Star Wars Legends in 2014 and declared them non-canon to the franchise, Thrawn was nevertheless reintroduced back into the canon in the third season of the 3D CGI animated television series Star Wars Rebels, where he was voiced by Lars Mikkelsen. Rebels is set at a point in the Star Wars timeline earlier than Thrawn's storylines in the Legends continuity and, as such, sees his defeat much earlier on, shortly before the events of the original 1977 film Star Wars. The character is also featured in a new Thrawn book trilogy by Zahn, consisting of Star Wars: Thrawn (2017), Thrawn: Alliances (2018) and Treason (2019). Another book trilogy, called Thrawn Ascendancy, will start in May 2020 with Book I: Chaos Rising.
Thrawn has been called one of the most significant and popular characters in the Legends continuity, and several Star Wars action figures and other merchandising have been produced of the character. He is considered to be a tactical and strategic genius, harsh but fair to his troops and rewarding creative thinking. He is highly cultured, and studies art in order to understand the psychology of different species so that he can target their weak points and blind spots. As a result, he quickly gains the respect and admiration of the Imperial forces under his command, and generates considerable fear and unrest among his enemies, gaining a reputation for infallibility and being always a step ahead.