Grand Admiral Thrawn is the most terrifying Star Wars enemy the Mandalorians could ever go up against. Thrawn is a dangerous high-ranking Imperial officer who recently made it back to a galaxy far, far away after a years-long exile on the planet Peridea. Thrawn is an autocrat at heart who believes that democracies are ineffective. As such, his goal is to take over the New Republic and rebuild the Empire under his rule so that he can deal effectively with the Grysk threat.
First introduced into the Star Wars universe in 1991 in Timothy Zahn’s novel Heir To The Empire and later brought back into canon in Star Wars Rebels, Grand Admiral Thrawn is a genius. He is perhaps the most formidable Imperial officer to ever exist. His powers of perception are unrivaled, and he can glean vast amounts of information from the tiniest details. This, among other reasons, makes him a huge threat to the Mandalorians if they choose to make him their enemy.
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Grand Admiral Thrawn Is Famous For Studying His Enemies’ Art & Culture
Thrawn is obsessed with art. While his enemies and allies alike are often baffled by this, Thrawn has a simple explanation: Art is a reflection of the soul of a culture, and tactics arise from that same soul. He explained this to Admiral Ar’alani of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet when they were still cadets, proving the theory’s effectiveness by successfully reading her tactics from her wire sculptures. Thrawn is so good at this that he can defeat entire armies if given a sufficient variety of art to study. As such, he has an impressive art collection and is known to spend hours studying his enemies’ art before a battle.
Mandalorians Wear Their Art & Culture… As Armor
As is shown in The Mandalorian, beskar armor is more than just armor for the Mandalorians. It is art – a cultural heritage representing a person and their history. Each set has something unique that reflects the person who wears it. They etch their family crest onto their pauldrons, and some even paint their armor with colors and symbols significant to their history. Beskar is only found on Mandalore, so it developed both a cultural and religious significance over time. It’s so sacred to certain sects – such as Din Djarin’s Children of the Watch – that they see it as an insult for anyone who isn’t a Mandalorian to wear beskar armor.
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Mandalorian Armor Makes Them Uniquely Vulnerable To Thrawn
The fact that one of the most sacred things to Mandalorians is a type of armor is very telling. Mandalorians are warriors at heart, and their whole culture is built around strength and prowess in battle. This makes them uniquely vulnerable to Thrawn. Not only do they wear their art and culture on their bodies, but their art is distinctly tied to their battle tactics and strategies. Thrawn would have an absolute field day with Mandalorian beskar armor. In fact, he may already have been able to deduce some Mandalorian tactics from Sabine Wren. In Star Wars Rebels, he fought Sabine, who wears Mandalorian armor.
It’s entirely possible that he already has an idea of how to beat the Mandalorians. Seeing another suit from an actively practicing Mandalorian, such as Din Djarin or Bo-Katan Kryze, would simply give him more information. With so much history, religion, and culture encapsulated in Mandalorian armor, all Thrawn would need is a suit to study – be it a physical one or a detailed holo-image. Through this, he would easily be able to figure out all the Mandalorians’ tactics and strategies. This makes him a uniquely dangerous enemy to them.
Grand Admiral Thrawn will likely be The Mandalorian movie’s main antagonist, as it’s been confirmed that The Mandalorian movie will be a culmination of several shows, including Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and The Mandalorian. If all the main characters from those shows do team up to stop Thrawn, the Mandalorians will likely also make an appearance. The Mandalorians built a camaraderie at the end of The Mandalorian season 3. If Din Djarin asks for help fighting Thrawn, they will most certainly agree to do so. However, with Thrawn’s ability to glean a Star Wars culture’s tactics from their art, this would be a dangerous undertaking for the Mandalorians in particular.
