Eight "Thrawn: Alliances" Moments I'm Looking Forward To Seeing In Comic Book Form
Plus a spoiler for the Top 20 characters poll
In case you missed it, the Lucasfilm Publishing panel at New York City Comic Con revealed a bunch of upcoming book, comic, and toy releases, including a comic adaption of Thrawn: Alliances. Jody Houser, who previously adapted Thrawn as a six-issue series in 2018, returns, this time with original author Timothy Zahn billed as a co-writer.
Thrawn: Alliances is not my favorite book in the series. It’s a sequel without the first novel’s best character (Eli Vanto). Instead, Thrawn finds himself in the middle of a Clone Wars episode with Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, characters to whom I’ve never felt especially attached. (Don’t get mad! I love Revenge of the Sith!)
Still, there’s plenty to be excited about. The first Thrawn comic adaptation provided the only canonical depictions of several beloved characters. This series will hopefully provide official art for all of the following moments. Below are spoilers for Thrawn: Alliances…obviously.
1. No one can pronounce Thrawn’s name
It’s a joke that wouldn’t work half as well with audio. Anakin and Thrawn’s relationship begins with Anakin confidently trying to say Thrawn’s full name:
“Mitth’raw’nuruodo,” the alien said.
“That’s what I said,” Anakin said. “Mitth’raw’nuruodo.”
“It’s pronounced Mitth’raw’nuruodo.”
“Yes. Mitth’raw’nuruodo.”
“Mitth’raw’nuruodo.”
Anakin clenched his teeth. He could hear a slight difference between his pronunciation and the alien’s. But he couldn’t figure out how to correct his version. “Fine,” he growled. “Thrawn.”
2. Anakin and Thrawn do Weekend at Bernie’s at Disneyland
Much of the book takes place on Batuu, the setting of Disneyland and Disney World’s Galaxy’s Edge. That detail really elevates the moment when Thrawn asks Anakin if he can use the Force to make a dead guy appear to walk out of a bar under his own power. If this comic sells enough copies, some poor Disney employee is going to have to paint himself blue and walk a limp crash test dummy around a theme park every day.
3. The TIE Defender in full flight
Half of the book follows Thrawn and the all-grown-up Darth Vader, off on a mission together for the Emperor. The prequel-era flashbacks create tension by establishing a prior relationship neither can acknowledge.
A decent chunk of the story involves Vader’s abused Stormtrooper legion learning to work with Thrawn’s well-managed staff. Vader’s officers are suspicious of Thrawn’s supposedly slow TIE Defender, a starfighter he’s promoting as a cheaper alternative to the Death Star. Surprise, surprise: the Defender turns out to be way more impressive than the bureaucrats in the pocket of Big Kyber Crystal had led them to believe.
4. The Grysk
The Grysk are the big looming threat to the galaxy who motivate Thrawn to join the Empire and try to marshal its military resources. They’re described in the Thrawn novels, but there’s enough ambiguity to make people think the above dude from the Star Wars Eclipse trailer is a Grysk. I guess we’ll find out, since I’m not sure that game is ever coming out.
5. Vader implicitly threatening to choke out Thrawn
We all know how Darth Vader handles insubordination. He doesn’t exactly outrank Thrawn, but he doesn’t work for him either. Palpatine encourages this confusion to keep them competing for his creepy affection. Thrawn is always on the precipice of getting killed for quibbling with Vader in this book, which features a great peevish Vaderism: “Admiral…we will speak.”
6. Thrawn making a rope out of his shirt
We can get as thirsty as we want here. Let the illustrator cook, Tim!
7. Thrawn using Anakin’s lightsaber
It only lasts for a moment, but he does activate it near Padmé, in a moment that’s maybe meant to be reminiscent of Vader menacingly igniting Luke’s saber on Endor. The toy possibilities are immense.
8. The sky-walkers
The central joke of the novel is that Thrawn initially balks at Anakin’s name because “sky-walker” is a job title in Thrawn’s native culture. It refers to a child who uses the Force to navigate Chiss ships through the chaotic space of the galaxy’s outer reaches. It turns out that the Grysk are kidnapping Chiss kids to tap into this piloting ability.
But you don’t have to wait until the Alliances comic to see a kidnapped sky-walker illustrated brilliantly, as I’ve got a teaser for the Thrawn character poll results. Un’hee rounds out the bottom of the list. Here she is, from Mirandemia:
