## Chapter 31

1 Final Tuckerization of this book: Mark Callen, Florida fan.

—TZ

2 Pellaeon, by the way, was named after Pelleas, an idealistic young knight in the King Arthur mythos.

—TZ

3 Tim reminds me that his original outline had the book end with Luke’s escape but that I requested something bigger, saying his proposed finish wasn’t exciting enough to close out a Star Wars adventure. The climactic clash at Sluis Van was the result. As well as being a space battle worthy of the giant screen, it also ties together a number of seemingly minor plot elements Tim had been setting in place throughout the book: the shortage of freighters that sent Han to the smugglers, the theft of the mole miners, Lando’s presence on the scene, and more.

—BM

4 Spacetroopers were another cool invention from West End Games.

—TZ

5 The sixth quality of a good leader: he doesn’t waste his troops, but does what he can to get them to safety once their mission is complete or has been rendered impossible by the circumstances of the battle.

—TZ

6 The final quality of a good commander: a willingness to retreat when the circumstances of battle make the objective no longer attainable.

Note that at the same time, he’s maintaining the “glass half full” attitude vital to keeping up his troops’ morale.

—TZ

7 So here at last we have all the pieces that went into the creation of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

He’s competent and capable, enough so that his troops can be assured that they have the best possible chance of winning whatever battle they’re being sent into.

He cares about his troops, and they know he won’t sacrifice them for nothing.

And he’s driven by logic and reason, not anger or ego or wounded pride.

Throw in the semi-mystical art thing (through which he can anticipate his enemies’ moves), and make him an alien (because the Emperor disliked aliens, and would never give such a rank to one unless he was really, really good)…and when you’ve done all that, Grand Admiral Thrawn simply falls out of the equation.

I think the greatest compliment Thrawn has ever received came from a U.S. serviceman. (I can’t remember if he was a soldier or marine.) He told me he and his buddies had read the Thrawn Trilogy, and had agreed that they would unreservedly follow a commander like Thrawn.

Oh, and what would have happened if Thrawn had been in command at Endor? The Rebels, in my humble opinion, would almost certainly have lost.

—TZ