Revan vs. Thrawn

[Darth Nuke]

Thrawn

 

He took a small fleet of Star Destroyers and Dreadnaughts and tore the New Republic apart.

 

 

Brilliant Commander, who never had the FORCE on his side, just a perfect skill.

[Gorth]

Sheesh, Revan got tricked and beaten by a girl...

 

Thrawn pwns!

 

(not quite sure who Thrawn is, but Revan was a pushover who got replaced by an apprentice with the strategic skills of hun)

[jaguars4ever]

Sheesh, Revan got tricked and beaten by a girl...

 

Thrawn pwns!

 

(not quite sure who Thrawn is, but Revan was a pushover who got replaced by an apprentice with the strategic skills of hun)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey - that is so wrong, it's unbelievable:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hun kicks ass!

[Bulgaroctonus]

Alexander.

 

Anybody who says otherwise is either

 

Insane

Unaware of the existence of Alexander the Great

A Fanboy

[Revan Si-Darlo]

Actually, I always thought Revan was surely the commander but never the only grand strategist. I kind of imagined Revan as the big-picture strategist, who wasn't necessary that great at battle tactics (though far better than average) but whose real talent was winning wars, not battles.

 

In my works I place the Exile as the greatest of those "warrior generals" or those who get down in the neck deep stuff and can pull through in horrible situations as a tactician on the battlefield but who has less understanding of societies, politics, and enemy cultures.

 

Either way, I think Thrawn and Revan are equal to one another. They both took on opponents who had a great advantage over them. Though... if I had to choose I'd say Thrawn because he took on Force-users while Revan was one.

[GhostofAnakin]

I don't want to sound gay or anything, but unicorns kick ass, I mean come on Clash of the Titans

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Give us back the eye!

[jaguars4ever]

Thrawn was well and truly incredible, but the thing about Revan is that no one engages in conflict him and lives to tell about it - be it personal combat or across a battlefield. :cool:

[Odinson]

Dear, dear Laozi buddy - you're clearly forgetting the ever grandiose "Death Star vs Unicron" scenario.  :D

 

Bad form, bad form! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I don't want to sound gay or anything, but unicorns kick ass, I mean come on Clash of the Titans

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pegasus wasn't a unicorn. :ph34r:

[Darth Flatus]

Pegasus was a flying horse, unicorns are horses with horns.

 

Unicron (capital U) is the evil transformer god.

 

Unicron would so totally win against the Death Star

[Sepp]

Mitth'raw'nuruodo vs. Revan? Heck, Revan is made out to be basically Thrawn+Force User... guess he'd win.

 

More interesting would be to see Revan vs. the not-yet-created love child of Darth Vader's granddaughter Jaina Solo (for lots of Force potential) and Jag Fel (for Wedge-uber-elite pilot skills AND Thrawn-education and -tactics).

 

Revan would sooo go down. Wonder what they'll whip up as a bad guy in the future books.

 

 

Star Wars and its supercharacters. Oh well. Better than superweapons. Kinda. Sometimes. Argh.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

More interesting would be to see Revan vs. the not-yet-created love child of Darth Vader's granddaughter Jaina Solo (for lots of Force potential) and Jag Fel (for Wedge-uber-elite pilot skills AND Thrawn-education and -tactics).

 

Revan would sooo go down.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I dont think Bastila would be happy about that though.

[Belisar]

Definitely Thrawn. And Thrawn died at Bilbringi because of betrayal of the Noghri scum!

 

No one could ever have stopped him! And he didn't even have the force.

[jedipodo]

And Thrawn died at Bilbringi because of betrayal of the Noghri scum!

 

Erm, he was stabbed in the back by his Noghri bodyguard because Vader and Thrawn systematically exploited the Noghri race.

[Laozi]

Dear, dear Laozi buddy - you're clearly forgetting the ever grandiose "Death Star vs Unicron" scenario.  :D

 

Bad form, bad form! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I don't want to sound gay or anything, but unicorns kick ass, I mean come on Clash of the Titans

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pegasus wasn't a unicorn. :ph34r:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Its a quote form the movie Orgasmo, by the guys who make south park

[Odinson]

Dear, dear Laozi buddy - you're clearly forgetting the ever grandiose "Death Star vs Unicron" scenario.  :D

 

Bad form, bad form! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I don't want to sound gay or anything, but unicorns kick ass, I mean come on Clash of the Titans

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pegasus wasn't a unicorn. :ph34r:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Its a quote form the movie Orgasmo, by the guys who make south park

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Damn I'm unhip. Never seen Orgazmo, even though I'm a big South Park fan.

[Nur Ab Sal]

Dear, dear Laozi buddy - you're clearly forgetting the ever grandiose "Death Star vs Unicron" scenario.  :D

 

Bad form, bad form! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I don't want to sound gay or anything, but unicorns kick ass, I mean come on Clash of the Titans

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pegasus wasn't a unicorn. :ph34r:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Its a quote form the movie Orgasmo, by the guys who make south park

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Damn I'm unhip. Never seen Orgazmo, even though I'm a big South Park fan.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What the f*** you are talking about, people.

[Topaz Quasar]

Ya this is truely the goofiest poll ever. All we need is the Scorpion King and He-Man in there to make it complete

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dear, dear Laozi buddy - you're clearly forgetting the ever grandiose "Death Star vs Unicron" scenario. :D

 

Bad form, bad form!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What the hell???

[Darth Credulous]

Hmm. Let's leave Alexander aside for a moment, as he is history's only military commander with a win/lose record of 100%/0%. You're not going to be able to top that.

 

If you think about it, the way Revan and Thrawn fight is pretty similar, at least as far as I can see. Thrawn's tendency to know exactly what his opponents are going to do - even prod them gently in the direction he wants them to go without them realising - and have a counter ready before they've made their move is the essence of what Sun Tzu meant when he wrote "The highest evolution of warfare is to attack the enemy's plans." Likewise, Revan's final strategy - the colossal trap at Malachor V - is so very unorthodox and 'unfair' I wouldn't blink if I read of Thrawn doing something similar in a novel, especially as Revan seemed to have manouvered the Mandalorians into that battle.

 

Looking at their failures, they're likewise similar.

 

Thrawn: had Bilbringi well in hand until the unexpected arrival of Karrde's smugglers, which was totally out of the blue. Was ready to respond to that when he was stabbed in the back when his bodyguard turned against him, which on reflection he might have forseen, given that he confided in Pellaeon that 'I don't know what, but there's something wrong with the Noghri.'

 

Revan: seemed to be doing pretty well until a bunch of Jedi boarded a command ship and started playing things personal - stopped trying to beat his armies and instead trying to beat him/her. Seemed to be holding his/her own until Malak played his hand, which again Revan really should have seen coming. Not a great deal he could have done about it, of course.

 

The TRUE decider, I feel, is this:

 

Revan's emergency plans in case of failure: none that we see. In fact, Rev is pretty lucky there was anything of him/her left.

 

Thrawn's emergency plans in case of failure: had a clone of himself ready to be revived ten years after his death.

 

Thrawn wins by default, just because being able to admit the possibility of defeat and death - and PLAN for that - shows him to be the more pragmatic and sensible of the two.

[Nur Ab Sal]

Great analysis.

[Kissamies]

Yes, good analysis. What biases me to Thrawn's side is that we are mainly just told afterwards that Revan was master strategist, while we get to actually see Thrawn being one.

[tmp]

The TRUE decider, I feel, is this:

 

Revan's emergency plans in case of failure: none that we see. In fact, Rev is pretty lucky there was anything of him/her left.

 

Thrawn's emergency plans in case of failure: had a clone of himself ready to be revived ten years after his death.

 

Thrawn wins by default, just because being able to admit the possibility of defeat and death - and PLAN for that - shows him to be the more pragmatic and sensible of the two.

Are clones even an option to consider in Revan's times, though? If not, this 'decider' is rather flawed, because there's nothing Revan could do about her/his death, and hence no wonder no plans to 'come back' was ever made by her/him.

 

It's kinda like saying a modern soldier is better warrior than Roman empire soldier, because modern soldier is very skilled with guns and the ancient soldier isn't.... which happily ignores the fact ancient soldier had no way in heck to learn how to handle guns.

 

(btw, if what someone here wrote is accurate, that Thrawn made some guy from a race he's been systematically exploiting his personal bodyguard ... well, how can anyone so shortsighted be considered a strategist at all, much less a great one? That's material straight for the Evil Overlord list if i ever saw any <_<

[Darth Nuke]

Well Revan has the force on his side, and Thrawn doesn't. Revan could have sensed the Nogri, Thrawn could not.

 

Also Thrawn bitched slapped Darth Sidious once.

[Kissamies]

The Noghri had been exploited like this for decades and were blisfully unaware of it. If it wasn't for fortunate set of coincidences, they would have remained so. Also, he did figure out there was something wrong with Noghri. He was just too preoccupied by other matters to check it out in time. Another fortunate coincidence.

[Darth Credulous]

Well, besides the clone, there's the other, broad, sweeping comparison between the two.

 

Both of them were trying to conquer the Republic in order to use it to fight a greater threat. In Revan's case, the True Sith; in Thrawn's, we never find out, but it's a fair assumption to say it's the Yuuzhan Vong (augh).

 

Thrawn leaves a legacy of followers sworn to combat this threat in the event of his disappearance. Revan doesn't even seem to tell his/her apprentice what's going on, let alone educate him in what must be done, and Kreia's left to pick up the shattered pieces of whatever plan Revan might have had.

 

From this, the point about Revan being unable to forsee his or her own defeat and demise is made all the more strongly.

[Revan Si-Darlo]

I'm pretty sure that they had clones during the time of Revan considering that we can make clones (though rather primitive compared to Thrawn's clones) and are nowhere near hyperspace travel.

 

And even if he couldn't than we see no evidence of other things he could have done such as the fact that he could have prepared his mind and soul to become a force spirit similar to Naga Sadow or Freedon Nadd. He coudl have even have bound himself to something like Exar Kun did who was revived four thousand years later at Luke's academy.