astroformemory

[astroformemory]

Been feeling ill about him lately

[astroformemory]

[astroformemory]

Preparing fledgling switch 2 owners for the Yakuza 0 experience

[astroformemory]

im in love with these silly knitted dogs

[astroformemory]

creature

[astroformemory]

Ba'kif: I need someone to be my envoy

Ba'kif: maybe send me a human

Ba'kif: the nicest human you have

Ronan: [laughing]

[astroformemory]

Breaking under 0 pressure to post this bit from Chaos Rising, because it stood out to me as someone hyperfocusing on navigation lore.

As I read it, Thrawn questions the traditional use of Navigators, which is more or less incongruent with the general reception of their services. Begets my question whether he disapproves their direct involvment, and whether, given the opportunity, he’d opt for a less sentient-more asomatous tactic to map and traverse the Unknown Regions, given it’s abounding in sentient hazards [alluding once more to the dangers the path poses].

in theory, his reasoning could be either humanitarian or pragmatic, but instrumentally, both culminate in skepticism of a doctrine enmeshed in overdependence. I wonder whether his judgement is made on account of intention, action, or consequence.

i want to say something…

[astroformemory]

i want to say something…

[astroformemory]

Thoughts on Thrawn stemming from a curious scene

So I’m rereading Chaos Rising and I’m noticing many interesting bits about Thrawn as a character that fit nicely with his eventual joining with the Empire.

There’s a line he says to Thalias that’s particularly neat: ‘Intent and motivations are irrelevant. Judgement can focus only on action.’ To give some context, they’re discussing how he was punished for wandering into a restricted area as a cadet despite managing to impress the captain. Thrawn here is in a sense defending the captain’s decision to punish him.

On a meta level, that line is packed with irony given how people’s favorite thing to do when talking about Thrawn is to defend him based on his motives for joining the Empire and act like it negates his actions there.

But in universe the quote becomes even more interesting. There’s no indication that Thrawn is saying this with any kind of bitterness or sarcasm. Which means that he either believes it or it’s something he’s come to accept. The latter is very plausible knowing his history with the Ascendancy at that point – even that early on, he’s already gotten several wrist slaps and reprimands, not to mention everything that happened with Thrass.

So it’s easy to see Thrawn as resigned to the fact that no matter what his intentions are for doing what he does, his people will ultimately judge him for his actions and whether they conform to what’s acceptable in their culture. Regardless of whether he succeeds or fails.

If there’s anything Thrawn is though, it’s stubborn and determined and he not only continues doing his thing, but I’d argue never stops doing it.

In any case, his conversation with Thalias continues and she confesses why she came to the Springhawk, reminding him of the words he said to her when he was a cadet: ‘You told me I’d find a new path, and that I could choose how things worked out.’ What follows is a seemingly lukewarm reaction from Thrawn that leaves her embarrassed. I had highlighted this part on my first reading and I remember thinking it was just a neat example of him missing an important social cue.  

But no, Thrawn here becomes thoughtful. He’s not sympathetic or encouraging because he’s too busy contemplating his own advice. Again, from a meta pov, this is clearly a reference to the choice he’ll make of joining the Empire and gaining the ability to choose, ie becoming much more influential there than he ever had a chance of being in the Ascendancy.

This becomes even more poignant when he steers the conversation towards Borika and tells Thalias that ‘The key to a satisfying life is to accept those things that cannot be changed, and make a positive difference with those that can.’

This is Thrawn admitting his acceptance. He can’t change his people’s philosophy or what they think of him but he can go and prosper in a place that allows him to make a difference. It’s a cute sentiment but it becomes quite sinister when you realize where he ends up because of it.

Because at the end of the day, Thrawn does have something in common with the Empire’s officers. He’s after power. Maybe not for power or glory’s sake but he wants the freedom to execute his plans and pass judgment as he sees fit. And his motivations are ultimately irrelevant.

Earlier in the book he’s all but begging Ar’alani to let him engage the Lioaoin. He’s so desperate about it, it’s almost eerie, telling her he can ‘see’ it all in his head. There’s a pattern in this book where you get the sense that Thrawn’s intuition is so strong it almost causes him discomfort when he can’t communicate it to others or act on it (which I suppose warrants some sympathy for him).

Though that sense is largely missing when he’s in the Empire because he no longer needs to explain himself to others or has any major obstacles standing in his way.

Thrawn in the Empire is a man liberated. This is the perfect environment for him.

Sure, there’s the usual court politics but with Palpatine and Tarkin’s support, Thrawn shoots up the ranks in record time. He faces some difficulties initially and by the end but we have to remember that this is Thrawn: confident to a fault and even to a point where we see him make plans for the future of the Empire after Palpatine’s death as revealed in his conversation with Nightswan.

The Senate itself holds power only in theory which I imagine would feel cathartic after so long of having his leash tugged by the Syndicure.

Going back to the Ascendancy for a bit, the end of Lesser Evil gives the impression that Ba’kif and Ar’alani are more affected by Thrawn’s exile than he is. My guess is that Thrawn saw the writing on the wall long before they did and had been preparing for this new beginning for a while now. I’m not saying he feels good about being separated from his people but he most certainly chooses to make what’s supposed to be a one-year absence into a commitment that lasts right up to his death.

Why did Thrawn stay with the Empire, even after it fell apart? Because there was no other place where he would be that influential. Of course, this is all written into his story in retrospect but I think Zahn did a good job making Thrawn’s choice believable based on who he is as a character.

Which leads me to the discussion of Thrawn’s morality. There’s a case to be made for his motivations: at his best, Thrawn saves people that would have otherwise been killed or harmed as the Ascendancy looked the other way. At his worst, he makes up excuses for slavery. The problem lies in the extremes.

After Thrawn gives his little quote about coming to terms with what can’t be changed, Thalias doesn’t voice it but she disagrees with him: ‘But just because something couldn’t be changed didn’t mean a person shouldn’t hammer away at it anyway. Secrets could sometimes be brought to light, and even Thrawn could be wrong.’

Great line and strike three for the meta references.

And now, I wasn’t in Zahn’s head when he wrote this and you could easily say it refers to Thrawn hammering away at the Empire but I don’t think that’s the case here. The Empire could very much be changed from Thrawn’s perspective; he was very much aiming for it in fact. What I like to think this is, is a neat little prompting from Zahn for us to try and imagine what Thrawn’s life might have looked like if he hadn’t given up on trying to change the Ascendancy.

If he hadn’t stuck stubbornly to his ways, learning how to circumvent orders, lie and deceive in order to do things his way, instead of trying to meet his people in the middle. Of course that would have meant lives lost along the way but is that any different from the loss of life he caused one way or another as an imperial? There’s a point in Lesser Evil where Thrawn dryly remarks on how nobody would make him an admiral in the Ascendancy. Which is an ironic parallel to how quickly he’s made one in the Empire and all of that because instead of changing his ways to reach that post, he simply found a system that catered to his worst impulses of need for control and excessive initiative.

Because there are things that even Thrawn doesn’t know. And even he can be wrong sometimes.

All of this to say that Thrawn has one big flaw as a person and that flaw is his insistence on control.

Chasing power for the sake of one’s own influence is a flaw. Not just because power corrupts or leads to places that are inherently corrupt but because power shouldn’t be concentrated in the hands of one person, whether that person is Thrawn or Palpatine. What always struck me about Thrawn’s whole spiel about someone better inheriting Palpatine’s position is just how wonky and short-sighted that is as an argument. Not just for him but in general.

Zahn, I get the feeling, tacitly supports this idea of a benevolent dictator occasionally and I don’t know if he’s aware of the dangers of putting it in Thrawn’s mouth.

Bottom line is, power should only be sought for the sake of distributing it. Because you can have a guy like Thrawn create a utopia but the person who inherits that power can be a lunatic, as ninety-nine percent of the people that get that far are.

[astroformemory]

old stuff tumblr hasn't seen

[astroformemory]

Things two hungarian poets from the 1840s said to each other in their letters that make me crazy:

If my soul touches you and it happens to burn you I'm not to blame... it was you who lit it on fire

I swear to you on cottage cheese and tobacco

If the people rule in poetry, so will they rule in politics and that's the goal of the century! To hell with the aristocracy!

My dear buddy,

My soul, my bastard,

My golden mouthed saintly friend,

My rowdy brother,

My lovable dummy,

If you want to see a dead Pegasus, look no further than me

I am trying to learn to smile nicely ( he did not succeed)

My dear friend, you better side of my soul

I will never forgive you for NOT writing the address on the envelope yourself. A woman's handwriting... and a black seal... dear god, the devil took him! he worked himself to death writing poems, he died! ... and then i opened your letter... Never do this again. Only use black seal vax on your death, and even then, still write the address yourself!

I'm reading (your work) for the sixth time. It's really a horrible thing. I'll need to read it again to understand just how awful it is!

Sincerely, your friend whose balls are itching

It's really good that your sore throat is gone, I can finally strangle you

Leave the dedication! Veselényi is a great man but he's still a Lord, and a poet should never dedicate ANYTHING to a Lord

I'm hugging you a 1000000000000 times!

[astroformemory]

I love the part of thrawn (2017) where Eli has to explain the nuances of military college mean girl cliques and thrawn is like "so you hate me. And you want me to die."

[astroformemory]

Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising can be summed up by having any charecter see Thrawn and immediately be like:

[astroformemory]

[astroformemory]

i am SO NORMAL!!! about thrawn getting coloring books and markers for che'ri and teaching her how to fly. SO normal!!!!!!!!!!!

[astroformemory]

Thurfian wakes up every day and consciously chooses to be a hater and honestly? Good for him.

[astroformemory]

The Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy in a nutshell