One Imperial Officer could have been the key to saving Palpatine’s Empire – and now he’s coming back to Star Wars in Ahsoka. Grand Admiral Thrawn, first introduced in the Legends continuity and later reintroduced to canon in Star Wars Rebels, is a cunning and ruthless tactician. Not only does he employ the brute strength of the Empire, but he also takes the time to learn his enemies’ cultures and history, their strengths and weaknesses, and uses that knowledge to hit them where it hurts the most. This facet of his character has made him one of Star Wars’ most complex and compelling villains, and his return in Ahsoka will prove his value to Palpatine’s Empire beyond a doubt.
While most of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s Imperial contemporaries were killed or captured during the Rebellion Era, Thrawn went missing, instead. Ezra Bridger, a young Jedi whose connection to the Force was discovered during the Dark Times, was one of the few to beat Thrawn at his own game. In utilizing his connection with the hyperspace-traveling creatures known as purrgil to ship himself and Thrawn off into unknown space, Ezra liberated his homeworld Lothal and dealt a devastating blow to the Empire’s power structure. But now, Thrawn is set to return as the de facto leader of the Imperial Shadow Council in Ahsoka, setting the stage for Palpatine’s return and the resurrection of a dictatorial presence in the galaxy.
Tarkin & Thrawn Were Palpatine's Greatest Military Strategists 
Though Palpatine had managed to create an Empire with a massive pool of strategists, officers, pilots, and workers, two leaders stood above the rest. Grand Moff Tarkin and Grand Admiral Thrawn were often multiple steps ahead of their enemies – they, like Palpatine himself, understood that threats to the Core worlds tended to build and spread in the Outer Rim and in the Unknown Regions, where there was less habitation, regulation, and thus, less scrutiny. In Charles Soule, Ramon Rosanas, and Rachelle Rosenberg's Star Wars #7, Palpatine reasons that Tarkin and Thrawn were his strongest tacticians and the only ones who could have potentially reversed the momentum of the Rebellion.
And both did come close – Tarkin’s implementation of the Death Star and the destruction of Alderaan was a huge blow to the Rebel Alliance, and Thrawn managed to find the Rebellion’s first hidden base and scatter their forces across the galaxy, weakening their efforts and stalling the liberation of Lothal. Had Tarkin not been present on the Death Star the day Luke Skywalker destroyed it, the fate of the Rebellion might have been very different. The same goes for Grand Admiral Thrawn; had he not been exiled by Ezra Bridger, there is no telling what he might have accomplished. Now, as he returns in Ahsoka, Thrawn will sustain Palpatine’s nefarious legacy in the galaxy.
Thrawn Really Is The Heir To Palpatine's Empire 
Given Palpatine’s explicit trust in Thrawn, it’s no wonder that the other members of the Imperial Shadow Council are mostly beholden to his rule. Though the Imperial Remnants featured in The Mandalorian season 3 are shown to be at odds with one another (although this disagreement was mostly led by a now-deceased Moff Gideon), it is clear that Thrawn is both revered and feared. The Imperial Warlords are operating in the Outer Rim and Unknown Regions, using the tactic Palpatine feared most and using it to their advantage, instead. The galaxy has been divided up, their presence is purposefully scattered and nearly untraceable, and Thrawn is at the center of it all.
