Darth Revan: One of the greatest military generals, EVER?

Alright, a friend and I were having a debate, and so I decided to take it here and get KMC's opinion.

Basically, do you think Revan is one of the, if not THE greatest Star Wars military general, ever? My friend is taking the position that Thrawn is much, much, MUCH better then Revan, and that in a campaign/military battle/whatever Revan wouldn't stand a chance, as Thrawn would simply be able to, well, I guess "hack" and second guess every single one of Revan's strategies and movements. I've said that although I agree Thrawn is the greater commander, that it's not by very much, and that Revan himself is not to be trifled with. He claims I'm simply a KotOR fanboy who thinks too highly of Revan. >_> Not only do I disagree with that, but I don't consider myself a KotOR fanboy.

Regardless, KMC, what do you think?

*PLEASE NOTE* This is not supposed to be a clone of the Thrawn versus Revan thread. Rather, it's just a general discussion of Revan's own abilities as a leader, mayhap compared to Thrawn's merely to scale Revan's own abilities.

Well, I would have to admit that Revan is a pretty good tactician and definitely a strong leader, however, Thrawn is better. I wouldn't say "much, much, MUCH" better, but he does have Revan on a fairly decent margin.

Right off, in Survivor's Quest (or Heir, one or the other) Thrawn was stated to be the greatest genius in galactic history, this would include Revan.

Also, because of his sheer tactical ability his home planet of Csilla destroyed an entire squadron of Jedi starfighters.

And when he was facing off with the New Republic's forces, they were noted as being "better trained and motivated than the Empire's", which of course I could see why. And then you have to look at all the people he was facing -- Ackbar, Derlin, Luke, etc. The New Republic's greatest tacticians, and fighters and I'd say they were pretty decent on the list considering the amount of war experience they had. Plus on all of that, he didn't even die in battle, he was killed by his bodyguards.

Thrawn was more devoted to tactics as well. He studied the work of his opponenets to gain awareness of their way of thinking, and customs. Somewhat similiar to ethnology you could say.

So, all in all, I'd say he is a better tactician than Revan, and I'll say that Revan has somewhat of a disadvantage, since we can't judge Revan's exact skill, but I would be fairly sure to say that Thrawn has him bested.

It's not like we can even subjectively judge Revan's tactical abilities. With Revan it's always "He's the best." or "He's the best tactician ever."

I think Thrawn was stated by the narrator to have been the greatest ever.

Ignore Post

I'll go with Thrawn. ✅

Thrawn is defeated when he attempts to capture more ships, it has never stated Revan has ever lost.

Originally posted by Nactous
Thrawn is defeated when he attempts to capture more ships, it has never stated Revan has ever lost.

And this means that he's superior in some way?

Revan has a superiour form of Echani precognition did he not? He was able to perceive the attacks and tactics of his enemies before they actually made them. It was stated he had a greater precognition than Echani elders, who were able to foresee the outcome of wars.

That would probably help him in this situation. Comparing tactics is a hell of hard task. If the two were to play a game of Chess (or Dejarik!) I would go with Revan though 😉

Originally posted by Nactous
Thrawn is defeated when he attempts to capture more ships, it has never stated Revan has ever lost.

Originally posted by Tangible God
Biased fanboy nonsense.

Originally posted by Motoko Sama
And this means that he's superior in some way?

What? So you'd put a baby over Obi-Wan because the baby has never been defeated by an enemy before?

Originally posted by Nactous
Call it what it is, but its the truth. He is far supirior.

Yes, while Revan may be Thrawn's "supirior" -- Thrawn is superior to Revan. He's stated to be the greatest in galactic history in Survivor's Quest (or Heir, one or the other -- I always thought SQ), as well his overall accomplishments and addiction to tactics is > than Revan's ever were, especially considering the circumstances Thrawn was in. Although, not an entirety on all that happens in Star Wars, the databank more than back's up his tactical ability.

Well, undefeated vs. been defeated, you tell me.

So because someone is undefeated it means they will win against someone who was defeated once? Take real life for example, have you ever watched boxing? Wrestling? Any sport? People who have been defeated (and most likely cases more than once) have been shown to conquer undefeated opponents, especially when said challenger has everything pointing at the fact he/she is superior.

We know next to nothing about Revan's tactical abilities...

Originally posted by Swirly Girl
We know next to nothing about Revan's tactical abilities...

I guess all those people who said Revan was a brilliant tactician where just spewing shit. I guess Canderous' words "Revan was a genius on the field" was just a pile of shit.

Or Dorak when he said "Revan was a brilliant military leader".

I don't see where you get this nothing from.

Originally posted by Swirly Girl
We know next to nothing about Revan's tactical abilities...

I'd agree with you here, not much is known -- I can't point out many of Revan's abilities as a tactician, but still I would make the assumption that Thrawn's better. I guess ultimately, that this would be kind of pointless then.

Nothing?

I guess all those people who said Revan was a brilliant tactician where just spewing shit. I guess Canderous' words "Revan was a genius on the field" was just a pile of shit.

Or Dorak when he said "Revan was a brilliant military leader".

I don't see where you get this nothing from.

Erm, provide an example of a battle that Revan won, and describe how he won, with specific examples to the tactics he used.

Ooops! We can't!

Originally posted by Jonathan Mark
Nothing?

I guess all those people who said Revan was a brilliant tactician where just spewing shit. I guess Canderous' words "Revan was a genius on the field" was just a pile of shit.

Or Dorak when he said "Revan was a brilliant military leader".

I don't see where you get this nothing from.

What were his plans in battle? How did he lay them out? Even if answering them, would it be like this against different opponents? With different troops?

Saying he's a "great leader" doesn't tell us about his abilities. There's some instances where it's noted, but really not too many as it doesn't focus on them.

Originally posted by Motoko Sama
What were his plans in battle? How did he lay them out? Even if answering them, would it be like this against different opponents? With different troops?

Saying he's a "great leader" doesn't tell us about his abilities. There's some instances where it's noted, but really not too many as it doesn't focus on them.

*shakes head*

When the creators of KOTOR made the game I doubt they were thinking "gee let's have these long conversations about Revan's tactical ability so we can provide exact data on his abilities and how he would fare in this situation or this one or blah blah" no instead they just added large amount of quotes ect to show that Revan was a skilled leader and strategist. But of course for you people who demand schematics for everything this isn't enough.

Questions like how did Revan lay out his plans or what were they are are pointless.

Clearly we know that however Revan planned or how his plans where laid out they were very effective. This is confirmed by multiple characters within KOTOR I and II.