I was recently asked by long-time Star Wars fan Charlemagne19 (cool name) the following question:

"How DOES Grevious stack up tactically against Thrawn?"

This is an interesting debate to me.

Everyone's familiar with General Grievous, the cyborg villain of Revenge of the Sith. Grievous was once a feared warlord who outfought insect-like invaders (called the Huk) of his homeworld. After suffering a terrible accident orchestrated by the Sith, Grievous was rebuilt as a cyborg and blackmailed into leading the Separatists' armies and navy. During the Clone Wars, Grievous gave the Republic a serious run for its money, killing dozens of Jedi, conquering countless worlds and striking at the capitol world itself. Capable dude.

Fewer folks know the alien Grand Admiral Thrawn, but this high-ranking Imperial officer is the most widely recognized villain produced by the world of Star Wars spin-off literature. Blue-skinned and red-eyed, the guy is essentially Dr. Moriarity in a naval uniform. A master military tactician and psychoanalyst, he has the uncanny ability to anticipate his opponents' strategies and crush them. Staking his claim to fame in the post-Return of the Jedi era, Thrawn like Grievous (re)captures countless worlds from the (New) Republic and stages an assault on Coruscant.

Who would win?

These sorts of questions are not my favorite. Probabilities, even fictional ones, I enjoy working out with some semblance of seriousness. By contrast, contemplating an impossible fictional scenario (Grievous is dead 30 years when we see Thrawn at the height of his powers) is almost totally unattractive.

But, what the heck--the Great Charles asked!

Mano a mano, the answer is clear. Grievous would chop Thrawn to bits. But literature has its own logic. I think the question of "Who's better?" can only be posed and answered satisfactorily in the context of good storytelling. Save for Thrawn-haters, who wouldn't be disappointed to see the stoic strategist who came from parts unknown and was able to outwit the Rebels' most brilliant minds cut down without being able to flex his noodle? The appeal of Grievous Vs. Thrawn lies in a test of wits, not fisticuffs. It has to be assumed that each man is smart enough to figure out a way to level the playing field.

I think Thrawn has the luxury of being largely written by a single writer, Timothy Zahn in the Thrawn Trilogy, and thus avoids the more sensationalistic characterizations of Grievous that have emerged as a result of appearing more or less simultaneously in almost every entertainment medium. While Grievous was written by numerous authors and for different audiences, each giving a unique spin on the character, the only other significant contribution to Thrawn's character comes from author Michael Allen Horne, who in the Dark Empire Sourcebook contextualizes Thrawn's efforts into the larger picture of the post-Return of the Jedi Empire. Because Grievous is spread so thin, by contrast, I think his image as "tactical genius" founders a bit. (The guy obsesses about turning some Jedi younglings into cyborgs in the General Grievous comic, after all).

That doesn't mean Grievous isn't a heavy hitter when it comes to military know-how. Still, Grievous was ultimately an unwitting pawn of the Sith agenda, so it's hard to gauge just how much of his prowess during the Clone Wars was legit and how much orchestrated by Darth Sidious/Palpatine's machinations. However, Grievous did kick Huk butt. And, as mentioned above, Horne gives a sobering account of the significance of Thrawn's accomplishments, which were not quite as monumental as readers might have believed.

Okay, okay, the answer: In a military battle of wits, Thrawn would probably win. But that's because winning is the fulcrum of the Thrawn character: the tragedy is when he at last loses. Grievous' character isn't built that way, literally or metaphorically. Grievous "lost" when he became a cyborg... and yet he still lives. That's his tragedy. Beyond that, winning or losing for Grievous is merely a matter of pride; for Thrawn, losing is a matter of essence. When Thrawn finally loses in the last book of the Thrawn Trilogy, he of course dies. ~ Abel G. Peņa

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Who would win, Thrawn or Grievous? Feel free to post your comments and virtual match-ups.

Also, click here for some fan art depicting this meeting of the minds. Cooked up by Rogue_Follower from an idea by CooperTFN, "The Droid General Meets The Grand Admiral" depicts Thrawn, who studies his enemies' art to gain insight into their psychology, contemplating the Kaleesh war mask of the dead General Grievous. Very cool.

And here's CooperTFN's own take on his idea. A masterpiece.

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