What if Tarkin and Thrawn had survived?

What if they would have both still been alive during ROTJ? Could they have made a difference or would the Rebellion still have won?

I'm obviously talking from a canon point of view.

Originally posted by Mendax
What if they would have both still been alive during ROTJ? Could they have made a difference or would the Rebellion still have won?

I'm obviously talking from a canon point of view.

Yup - Thrawn alone could have turned the tide of the war and defeated the New Republic.

Thrawn is alive, he was just pulled into some Force whale/tentacle shenanigans and hyperjumped into the Unknown Regions. Kinda a convoluted way to put him out of ROTJ, but yeah.

Still if both he and Tarkin were alive by ROTJ, then the Rebellion surviving...most likely not. Though Tarkin isn't really needed.

Honestly, if Thrawn and Tarkin had still been in the picture by the time of RotJ, it's unlikely that there would have even been a Rebellion left to challenge the Empire.

Honestly, Tarkin wouldn't change a thing.

But if Thrawn was still a top dog, yeah, things would be massively different.

Yeah, you're probably right. For as much power/authority as Tarkin held, he certainly wasn't the best tactician I've ever seen.

Originally posted by Galan007
Yeah, you're probably right. For as much power/authority as Tarkin held, he certainly wasn't the best tactician I've ever seen.

Thank you! Someone else thinks the same. I mean he's a great character, but within the whole of the SWU, I can think of better tacticians/strategists.

Yeah. Tarkin was good as a military tactician and leader, but not so much of a strategist - his military doctrine is actually one of the things used by Rebellion against the Empire with their space tactics. He wasn't bad, but the Empire had lots of better military strategists imo.

I'm trying not to compare Tarkin directly to Thrawn, simply because Thrawn makes even the best minds in the Empire look like infantile buffoons when it comes to the art of warfare... But even with Thrawn off the table, Tarkin still just comes off as a fair military strategist/tactician at best, imo. That massive ego of his was a huge weakness/character flaw, and was ultimately responsible for his untimely death.

Even though Tarkin had absolute dominion in both arenas, he was much better suited for the political/bureaucratical side of things. /shrug

If Thrawn was present during the events of ROTJ, then the Rebellion would be seriously screwed.

I don't know. Think Thrawn might be getting a little too much hype.

He suffered a horrible defeat at Attolon which pissed the Emperor and Vader off immensely. Yeah some of it was due to a force user intervening but still. He also failed to stop the Rebels long before that battle even happened.

Why do you think he would all of the sudden be able to beat the Rebels in ROTJ?

Originally posted by Mendax
I don't know. Think Thrawn might be getting a little too much hype.

He suffered a horrible defeat at Attolon which pissed the Emperor and Vader off immensely. Yeah some of it was due to a force user intervening but still. He also failed to stop the Rebels long before that battle even happened.

Why do you think he would all of the sudden be able to beat the Rebels in ROTJ?

As for the battle of Atollon itself: bear in mind that Thrawn could have destroyed the Rebels during his aerial bombardment of the base:

However, he stopped his bombardment before killing them because a bit earlier in the episode, Tarkin(ironically enough) had explicitly ordered him to take the Rebels' leadership alive:

Thrawn: "It's exactly this moment I have been waiting for... To wipe [the Rebels] out."
Tarkin: "I want you to capture their leadership."
Thrawn: "In such a battle it may not be possible to take prisoners..."
Tarkin: "Ah, but a man of your talents will manage. If we are to crush this Rebellion, we must make examples of its leaders."
Thrawn: "As you wish, Governor Tarkin..."

-Rebels S03E20

...And I really hope you aren't trying to pretend like Bendu is just some simple, run-of-the-mill "force user", right? Bendu is more akin to an elemental force god -- of course a being on his level is going to turn the tide in a battle, lol. Despite this, Thrawn was still able to figure out a way to 'beat' him on the fly, so there's that. /shrug

Anyway, put Thrawn as commanding officer in RotJ, and I have no doubt that he would have crushed the Rebels. As I said before: if Thrawn wouldn't have been removed from play, it's unlikely that there would have even been a Rebellion left to challenge the Empire by the time of RotJ. As a strategist/tactician, Thrawn was so far above everyone else in the Empire(including even its 'great minds', like Vader) that he would regard certain people as stellar tacticians if they were able to simply comprehend his plans... Even after they had been explained, lol.

tl;dr
Believe the hype. 👆

^ Okay you must see youve taken that quote completely out of context.

Originally posted by Galan007
Firstly, Thrawn allowed the individual Rebel cells he engaged beforehand to survive -- he wanted to discern the location of their base and wipe out the entire Rebellion in one fell swoop. That being said, his 'failures' to stop the Rebels prior to the battle of Atollon were, in actuality, part of a much larger strategy.

As for the battle of Atollon itself: bear in mind that Thrawn could have destroyed the Rebels during his aerial bombardment of the base:

However, he stopped his bombardment before killing them because a bit earlier in the episode, Tarkin(ironically enough) had explicitly ordered him to take the Rebels' leadership alive:

If Thrawn had his way, he would've just killed the Rebels then and there, and been done with it... But he was obligated to follow the orders of his superior officer(Tarkin.)

...And I really hope you aren't trying to pretend like Bendu is just some simple, run-of-the-mill "force user", right? Bendu is more akin to an elemental force god -- of course a being on his level is going to turn the tide in a battle, lol. Despite this, Thrawn was still able to figure out a way to 'beat' him on the fly, so there's that. /shrug

Anyway, put Thrawn as commanding officer in RotJ, and I have no doubt that he would have crushed the Rebels. As I said before: if Thrawn wouldn't have been removed from play, it's unlikely that there would have even been a Rebellion left to challenge the Empire by the time of RotJ. As a strategist/tactician, Thrawn was so far above everyone else in the Empire(including even its 'great minds', like Vader) that he would regard certain people as stellar tacticians if they were able to simply comprehend his plans... Even after they had been explained, lol.

tl;dr
Believe the hype. 👆

does Thrawn have any losses in canon other then in the final episode of the series?