#hand of thrawn

[purringysalamiri]

Thrawn [legends], in X-Wing Rogue Squadron. [25].

full panels for context;

@anuspastor

[starplusfourletters]

I read vision of the future (hand of thrawn book 2 aka Who Scams the Scammers)

(spoilers) and once again it turned into a liveblog, apologies

Hold up are we doing Warrior Cats? Is this Warrior Cats Planet??

What base is “arm around your waist to serve as a psychic translator conduit”

Omigod I WISH my Warrior Cat name were “Jaded of Mara”

Everything I know about Soontir Fel I learned from x wing but I would not have guessed his primary motivation to be "dirt"

@ luke and mara: the girls are talkingggggg

North Barris Spaceport has me twitching

Ghent not remembering who the president is and just assuming it’s probably Leia. I mean fair

What base is "holding hands to brace yourselves over a swarm of flesh eating insects"

So we’re finally asking why Mara ISN’T actually dark side and the answer is… shrug emoji?

Man Zahn really is stuck on “character bonding hike” as a device huh. But consider I eat that shit up

Oh No Lando is racist

LMAO at “so oblivious you need a child pterodactyl to tell you to just kiss already” to “besides I don’t want my life to be like spiderman three I hated that movie” to “kissing with dubious consent” ALL ON THE SAME PAGE like Zahn finally realized he really needed to get this show on the road

LMAO at Ghent getting a free pass from Pellaeon to hack the empire. Like you’re just going to get the thing you need and not steal all of our military and political secrets right? Riiiight? Even more LMAO at the fact that that would probably not even occur to Ghent

When everyone assumes they're the protagonist so finding this one macguffin is their job personally. Like guys I like the energy but maybe we've got enough different plans to do the same thing (the exception, hilariously, being Luke) (and Oh No it turns out Luke is the one to find the macguffin because You Have to Follow Your Heart and Let the MacGuffin Come to You. I eat that shit up also)

Mara’s just... So great.

Not to make everything about my blorbo but absolutely to make everything about my blorbo I do wonder to what extent Ahsoka’s characterization post-Rebels doesn’t click for me is because a lot of the more obvious directions for Oldsoka overlap with Mara, and the powers that be didn’t want to reinvent the Mara Jade wheel. Not to say they have similar characterization – Mara has terminal sam coded dean girl syndrome – but idk, in dynamic range maybe? Calling out bullshit, weaponizing her own abrasiveness, covering insecurity with humor, being Kind of a Lot with a side of trust issues at any given moment – there are modes Mara and Youngsoka share that didn’t pass to Oldsoka apparently. Idk possibly all this is just me wanting them to TALK

Establishing that you can do evil things for selfless reasons without necessarily being in any danger of falling to the dark side is... Philosophically interesting

We interrupt this tale of political espionage to bring you Jedi Relationship Counseling (spoiler alert: communication is key)

"That part of her life [Mara’s time with Palpatine] had died unmourned" I mean mourned a little bit. Mourned for at least a book and a half

I've been willing to suspend my disbelief on everything in this book until "both Luke and Mara forget that ysalamiri exist"

I will never not be a sucker for The Movements and Transferred Ownership of Emotionally Significant Weapons

Oh No thrawn made a second foundation

The Aing-Tii seem OP but whatever

Oh No the second foundation forgot to close the garage doors

(Re: The Jade’s Fire) I know Mara’s having a Moment, and I promise I’m taking it seriously, but when the warrior cat asked “What is it you want, Mara Jade” my WHOLE BRAIN responded with "I want Hermione Granger! And a rocket ship!"

Moranda has real Kevin from home alone energy and I'm living for it

Is it bad that I’m actually kinda happy the Imperials’ Bothawui shield plan worked? Like, they had a really interesting plan and I’m happy for them. They earned it

WAIT IS MORANDA DEAD FR?

What base is “full mind meld while you’re fighting for your lives”

Who would win: ~1.5 Jedi, 2 sentinel droids droidekas, or Artoo with a sauntering gun

If I had a nickel for every time this duology explicitly established Jedi can’t go completely without oxygen, even when in a trance, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but which makes me feel like the Ahsoka show had a weirdly specific axe to grind with the source material

Luke’s proposal to Mara is Just. The. Funniest. Thing. That’s some Anakin-level cringe and the prequels aren’t even out yet. He truly is his father’s son.

I mean POV there’s this guy and for a couple years you want to kill him, and then you realize that’s more of a You Problem, so then you’re friendquaitances for a decade mostly because you don’t approve of the shit he’s getting into, and then you have one (1) honest conversation and get caught in a death trap and he’s like “so I think the next step for us is marriage”

LEIAAAAAA! Full Jedi Knight Leia is both terrifying and hot. I would run.

“So it is treason” – Some random guy

Lando needs to be on the New Republic payroll simply for being willing to speak to any of the other characters and also he needs a raise. This poor guy getting called on to command the entire New Republic fleet mid-battle and he’s like “I’ve been a civilian for 15 years and also I knew you would pull some horse piss like this steve”

Mara Jade, Imperial protege. Skills include: Identifying load-bearing walls. (Now all I want is Property Brothers: Sith Edition)

Mara please. Luke please. These absolute idiots. This is some pear scene shit. I hope nothing bad happens to them ever

The whole back half of this book has been an emotional rollercoaster for me specifically because I wanted Flim to be Thrawn FR soooooo baddddd. And now I’m sad. His name literally means scam don’t do this to me Zahn

I’ve been amused by all the Star Wars universe idioms but I gotta take a moment to specifically showcase “burned your sky-arches.” Karrde is a delight to have in class

Having an independent intelligence agency that’s supposed to work for both the New Republic and the Empire seems absolutely unhinged but go off I guess

When the New Republic and Empire sign peace accords and Luke can’t even be bothered to show up

Mara is great and her arc is fuckin hilarious to me. The narrative has identified her as The Damaged One and I’m like???? She came to terms with her troubled past, drew her own boundaries regarding the Dark Side, recognized that there are people who care about her instead of pre-emptively pushing them away, and resolved to form deeper emotional connections. Smash cut to ROTS Anakin whose physical and psychic damage has literally turned his brain into oatmeal

Again I know this was before the prequels Mad points for explicitly saying Mara needed to form attachments to become a Jedi. Zahn being pretty gangsta there

OH NO THEMB

[mayhaps-a-blog]

Second to last chapter/epilogue of my post-Rebels Thrawn fic is up!

Some old friends have arrived on the scene... :)

Summary:

A glimpse into the other side of the Chaos, where word has arrived of Thrawn's latest escapades!

[obi-wkenobi]

currently reading vision of the past and my main takeaway from this series is that thrawn was such an evil fucking genius in his og trilogy (he really was) that everyone is still obsessed with him. the emperor?? no one knows or cares about that shrivelled up dude, its all about the blue man and his mastermind plans. what a boss.

[bluestergold]

(specter of the past / hand of thrawn book 1)

this brief reference to myomar in legends has me thinking back to how eli went to myomar academy in canon… what would he have done in legends? maybe in another life, when he didnt have anything tethering him to the empire, he would have become a resistance fighter on myomar at the same time of thrawn’s “meteoric reign.”

[joellesolo]

Not me crying at the last few lines of Vision of the Future like I haven’t read it TWO HUNDRED TIMES ALREADY.

[starwarsbookckub]

[netmors]

Offer accepted.

Not as fast as other artists, but I tried. Stars, Lars' voice… My personal "ASMR" ////v////

[elleniemae]

✨Space husbands✨

Your honor they’re married, and no one can tell me otherwise.

[leahikol]

[purringysalamiri]

I'm sorry for laughing my glorious red eyed king

can't believe this man has killed thousands

[starplusfourletters]

I read specter of the past (hand of thrawn book 1)

This turned into a liveblog srry

Me, reading the Thrawn trilogy: Okay obvi Mara/Luke is a slow burn

Me, skipping to the duology set 10 years later: GUYS YOU’RE LOSING DAYLIGHT

Oh no they have a passive aggressive “may the Force be with you” / “good luck” thing oh no I might ship it

Also the small existential crisis that ensues every time I remember Luke is (checks Wookieepedia) THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD. I cannot picture Luke Skywalker a day over 22 I think my brain would explode [actively represses the sequel trilogy]

This book is absolutely crawling with badass female smugglers and I’m living for it

Oooh proto-convor! [two pages later] OH NO PROTO-CONVOR DEATH ☹

Mara Jade, Force sensitive specializing in precognition, former Emperor’s Hand, second-in-command of the most powerful information dealing organization in the galaxy: Runs into a wall and spends the rest of the book knocked out

Lando “Could I Please Get Back to My Day Job It Has Been Two Decades” Calrissian. Just let the man mine in unlikely places it’s all he’s ever wanted

I got way too happy about the implication that the Imperial whose name I've forgotten figured out the tractor beam thing. He solved Science! Good for he!

Loving how everyone’s opinion on Karrde is basically “nice guy; sus that he insists on getting paid, though.” Like yes this is still a capitalist economy and he runs a business with a large number of employees

We interrupt your space fantasy to bring you a “Chicken Fried” music video with clone sleeper agents

Okay everybody place your bets is Car’das a secret brother, secret father, or ex-boyfriend (hype for some Karrde backstory and realizing the extent to which my brain has decided he and Kaz Brekker are the same person is Extensive)

Legit starting to feel sorry for Gilead “Sad Fascist Grandpa” Pellaeon. Somebody give this guy a peace treaty and a hug. Also more and more irked about No Prisoners why did that need a retcon

Really enjoyed the book’s interrogation of the premise “how do we actually make a galactic organization that includes cultures with mutually exclusive legal and ethical codes WITHOUT being fascist.” Felt very Trek. Actually went further toward radical inclusivity than Trek usually does; the Federation does have an element of “you must be this close to 20th-21st century American values to ride” which is its own kind of cultural imperialism and in this essay I will -

I simply cannot get enough of these books’ “protagonist stumbles, Kramer-like, into the Site of Maximal Galactic Importance Du Jour.” I will let you know when it stops being funny to me. Also really like how the villains are starting to learn to use it to their advantage; like yeah it DOES look like a conspiracy when you think about it

[jay-wasstuff]

CAPTAIN PELLAEON!!

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Luke and Mara on Myrkr by JarJarJargon

[anuspastor]

more force sensitive eli :)

this idea is part of a WIP i'm writing, more info under the cut :

So, this story takes place after Order 66. Without spoiling too much,

Eli is a Force Sensitive child discovered by an ex-Jedi master at a circus performance, where he'd float objects or read people's minds for pennies. The master's mission is to rebuild the Order, which is how the rumour of Eli found its way to him. And which is why he takes him as an apprentice.

He grows up with his master, being trained by him a la Qui Gon-esque fashion. One day they catch rumours of a planet drowning in the Force, attracting travelers. Hoping to be able to rebuild the Order there or meet like-minded Force Sensitives, they take off, yet their ship crashes. Eli survives. His master does not.

In this case Eli is the one stuck at a jungle planet instead of Thrawn. Though, it doesn't take long for the Chiss to follow.

After some years Thrawn arrives, sent by the Ascendancy in an effort to strengthen the Navigator's talents with whatever is attracting people to the planet. He finds Eli instead.

Long story short, he also crashes, is nursed back to health by a very curious and lonely Eli, and then once he manipulates him enough, calls the Ascendancy.

Which in turn entraps him and experiments on him till his brain melts. Which is why he cannot stand Grand Admiral Traitor.

And then well... you'd have to wait and see!

[asteroids-and-tractorbeams]

Reasons why it’s probably for the best that Eli Vanto doesn’t show up in the Ahsoka show

Thrawn is the antagonist so Eli will likely also be a bad guy

If Eli isn’t a bad guy then he’ll probably be on an opposing side to Thrawn which defeats the whole “Thrawn and Eli are besties” thing

Thrawn already has Pellaeon as a side kick, not to mention Morgan Elsbeth and the new character that got teased as Thrawn’s “right hand man”, so having Eli as a third or fourth mentee may get redundant

I can almost guarantee that if Eli shows up there will be little to no explanation of what he’s been doing and why he’s back now

Thranto is never going to happen in canon even if he does show up so it’s just one less thing for stans to be bitter about

There is an 80% chance he will be whitewashed if he shows up

Eli showing up now severely limits the options that Tim Zahn has for him if he gets to write more books after the storyline Filoni is working on is finished