Gideon
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Registered: Oct 2005
Location: Your Mom.Account Restricted
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The Dark Empire Sourcebook strongly implies that the reborn Emperor helped arrange for the Grand Admiral's assassination during the disasterous Battle of Bilbringi, once it was evidently clear that Thrawn's goals were no longer coincidental with the Emperor's own. And as I recall, it was never confirmed that his wayward bodguard, Rukh, was informed by the Noghri loyalists led by Leia Organa Solo. While the Grand Admiral is peerless in terms of military tactics, Emperor Palpatine is by far his superior in terms of political strategy, deception, and intruige.
Anyways, this fight on the face of it is lopsided.
First, keep in mind that the vast majority of Imperial resources, armament, and personnel are aligned with the Emperor. To quote the New Essential Chronology, "Palpatine had done a better job of uniting the warlords than any other, including Thrawn -- only the Emperor could rule the Empire."
Second, recall the Thrawn Trilogy also reveals that Palpatine installed backdoors to the main computers of every Star Destroyer so as to prevent it from falling into Imperial hands. With one code, he could render all of Thrawn's ships defenseless and immobile, though I wouldn't doubt that the Admiral could eventually counteract that.
Third, Palpatine alone is capable of destroying fleets of ships with his Force Storms.
The conclusion is that Grand Admiral Thrawn, though assuredly superior than any of the enemy commanders, is outclassed in every other possible way.
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Oct 27th, 2008 06:26 PM
