An Analysis of Thrawn
and Arihnda Pryce because she's here too
Spoilers Ahead! You’ve been warned.
Like I said in my very thorough review, the details of this book are fuzzy. Writing this analysis is akin to trying to write that dreaded five paragraph essay in high school English class when you definitely didn’t read the book as closely as you should have. Any little details you picked up during the reading have been effectively banished here:
All of that said, I do have a few things I wish to discuss. So read on at your leisure.
Formatting:
One of the standout things from this book is the wonderful use of italics. Thrawn’s thoughts and strategic insights are brought to us through italicized sections and sentences throughout the book. For me, this was a solid win. It emphasized Thrawn’s no nonsense, pretty emotionless tone. And, maybe this is just me, but whenever these italics appeared, I read them in Thrawn’s voice from Rebels. It elevated the whole reading experience for me.
Characters:
I think Thrawn’s military success is well enough discussed at this point, so the only thing I’ll say about him here is that I’m incredibly excited to read more books about him and to maybe, one day, hopefully see him in all of his live action glory. (Ahsoka show, please don’t let me down in this)
Who I mainly want to discuss here is the one and only Arihnda Pryce. I knew her only as the Governor of Lothal in Rebels, and I did not expect to see her here. It was a pleasant surprise to see her rising through the ranks, but really I was amazed at her level of shallowness. She is the most shallow character I think I’ve ever read about in my life. Her arrogance flies off the page and it perfectly matches her portrayal in Rebels. All she cares about is getting her way, no matter the cost. She will stab anyone and everyone in the back. She is conniving and ruthless and a perfect archetype of an Imperial. All of this is just to say that I loved her and hated her and that’s exactly how it should be.
Themes:
Survival: I chose this as a theme from the book because I think it sums up Thrawn’s character well. He’s a survivor. He was exiled from his people, but instead of giving up on them, he chooses to do what he must to get back to them and help them. Is that loyalty? Yes, but it strikes me as survival more because even though he’s really good at what he does, I think he does it out of necessity. He needs the Empire’s help with whatever it is that’s out there threatening the Chiss. Thrawn’s ability to survive is, I think, going to directly impact his entire species survival, and I’m definitely invested in finding out more about this in the other Thrawn books, especially Timothy Zahn’s first Thrawn trilogy, Heir to the Empire.
Prejudice: Thrawn is an alien and his fellow officers and Imperial servants don’t appreciate him for that. He’s constantly talked bad about and ridiculed. Eli also faces this prejudice because of his close association with Thrawn. But the big thing here is that Emperor Palpatine, for all of his evilness, doesn’t seem to remotely have a problem with Thrawn. It’s funny to me to think that of all people, Emperor Palpatine is the one who sees beyond the blue exterior to what Thrawn’s true potential is. So I guess what I’m saying is that we need to summon our inner Palpatine and look past prejudice? Except that Palpatine also turned Anakin into Vader, so take any and all character traits from him with a grain of salt.
Last Second Thought:
I just loved seeing Thrawn’s rise to power. He was a wonderful villain in Rebels, and I can see how he’s a generally well-liked character in the Star Wars universe. I’m excited to read more about him in the future, and like I said before, I really hope we one day get to see him in something live action because that would just be awesome.
Inquiries For Discussion:
Have you watched Rebels or read any of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn books? If so, what did you think?
Is Thrawn your favorite character or a skippable one?
Do you think Thrawn will appear in Ahsoka?
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I love the star wars book and this book.