10 Most Important Star Wars Characters Not In The Movies

5. Grand Admiral Thrawn

Not only did Thrawn defy the Empire€™s notorious racism and xenophobia by becoming the only non-Human Grand Admiral of the Imperial Navy, but once he made his way to the inner parts of the Galaxy, he established himself as a major threat to the New Republic. Though not as overly evil as, say Palpatine or Darth Vader, Thrawn was still an incredibly dangerous foe for the protagonists, and was the focus of the Thrawn Trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Forces Rising, and The Last Command). While the Empire was collapsing, Thrawn was in the Unknown Regions, and when the Empire began to truly fall, he mustered the remaining forces and proceeded to wage war against the New Republic. As a brilliant tactician, he not only did this on the battlefield, but in politics as well. He managed to remove Admiral Ackbar from power, which delayed the New Republic€™s ability to challenge his conquest. He even managed to use some Force-repellant Lizards (yes, that is very much a thing), rendering any Force-sensitive being opposed to him no more mortal than himself. Thus, their significant advantage in using the Force was rendered useless in challenging Thrawn. His brilliant military prowess could make Thrawn the Star Wars equivalent of Sun Tzu. He was a formidable enemy to the new order in the post-Episode VI Galaxy, and thus deserves a spot on this list for his involvement in what many fans call one of the best Expanded Universe novel series.