Nurture hope

“These people have attached themselves to me, Admiral. I can’t turn my back on them.”

“I see,” Thrawn said. “I have always known that you were a master tactician. I see now that you are also a leader.”

“Am I?” His expression holds bitterness. “Let me tell you a secret. At one point I had a grand plan for bringing all these insurgent and rebel groups together under one roof.”

“What stopped you?”

“Paranoia,” he said. “Distrust. Squabbling. Pride.” Again, he shakes his head. “I don’t know if anyone will ever bring them all together. I just know I couldn’t. So much for my leadership skills. [] What I don’t understand is why you still serve the Empire. []

“I’ll give you a scenario,” Thrawn said. “You and I face a dangerous predator intent on slaughter. Running is impossible; tools and weapons are limited. What are your options?”

“The obvious one is for us to join forces. [] But you’re clearly going for something else.” []

“You strike me down so as to make me the easier prey. While the predator devours me, you hope to find or build a weapon you can use to assure your own survival. [] There are evil things in this galaxy, Nightswan. Far more evil than the Empire, and far more dangerous to all living beings. [] We needed to know whether the Empire [] could be an ally against them.”

“Or whether it should instead be collapsed into an easy prey,” Nightswan said. []

“You understand now my scenario. [] The tone of a government is set by its leader. But Emperor Palpatine will not live forever. When it comes time for his authority to be handed to another, my position as a senior officer will allow me to influence the choice of that leader.”

“And do you expect that new leader to spread light into the darkness?”

“There is hope that he will,” Thrawn said. “But if evil is victorious, that hope will be extinguished. Forever.”

“Hope.” Nightswan shakes his head. [] “I fear, Admiral, that you’re still dangerously naïve on political matters. [] We have the same sense of duty, Admiral Thrawn. Perhaps we ultimately seek the same end, at least for the distant future. But we see vastly different roads to that end.” []

~

The characters' counter was truly brutal this week. And I waited to post this excerpt since I read "Thrawn," basically. All their conversation, truly. But I decided to start with this iconic "prey" theme because it's so important for understanding Thrawn's real motives.

However, I wanted to add also Nevil's comment about the Rebellion because, for how much I'm terrified to see my favorite characters misrepresented in the tv shows, there is a part of my heart that really hopes to see him in "Andor."

[Funko pop: @kb_graves. Art: @daniloreyesg]