Mitth'raw'nuruodo, born as Kivu'raw'nuru with the core name Vurawn, recognized in his early military career as Mitth'raw'nuru, and better known by his core name Thrawn, was a Chiss male officer of the Chiss Ascendancy and Grand Admiral in the Imperial Navy during the age of the Galactic Empire. An alien Imperial officer with striking blue skin, red eyes, and an angular face, Grand Admiral Thrawn was well known as a brilliant and ruthless strategist. He believed that in order to achieve victory in war, one must know their enemy. As such, Thrawn dedicated himself to understanding the philosophy, art, and culture of his opponents, which included Phoenix Rebel Cell, the New Republic, and the Grysk Hegemony. Before joining the Imperial Military, Thrawn served with the Expansionary Defense Fleet of the Chiss Ascendancy. A native of the planet Rentor, located in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, Thrawn served in the Ascendancy military with both valor and controversy. Patriarchs Mitth'oor'akiord "Thooraki" and Stybla'mi'ovodo "Lamiov" leaders of the Chiss Mitth and Stybla families respectively, worked with General Ba'kif, founder of the Expansionary Defense Fleet, to adopt Thrawn into the Mitth family and guide his career and training in the Fleet. Thooraki, Lamiov, and Ba'kif also worked together to guide Thrawn into a close friendship with Mitth'ras'safis "Thrass" a Chiss man whose political talents complemented Thrawn's analytical and strategic skills in warfare. Thrawn, who did not form friendships easily, grew close to Thrass, and in time the two came to regard each other as brothers. Thrawn went on to lead anti-piracy operations against a group of pirates known as the Vagaari, which saw the tragic death of Thrawn's brother Thrass. Near the end of the Clone Wars, in around 19 BBY, the warlike Grysk Hegemony began a plot to destroy the Chiss Ascendancy. First, they groomed and trained a Nikardun general named Yiv who ruled the Nikardun Destiny, an expansionist empire in the Unknown Regions. The Grysk agent "Jixtus" sent Yiv to conquer or intimidate the nations neighboring the Ascendancy to encircle the Chiss, who could not launch attacks on anyone who had not directly attacked the Ascendancy. Thrawn left his native Unknown Regions and traveled to known space to search for allies against Yiv. There, he encountered the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars and fought alongside Skywalker during a mission to Mokivj. Shortly thereafter, Thrawn was instrumental in defeating Yiv's fleet, leading to the demise of the Nikardun Destiny. Following Yiv's defeat, Jixtus dispatched a group of the telepathic Agbui species to manipulate Chiss officials of three of the Ascendancy's Great Families into starting a civil war in the Ascendancy. Thrawn was instrumental in defusing the Agbui plot above the planet Hoxim. After the Agbui's failure to instigate a civil war in the Ascendancy, Jixtus enlisted the service of the Kilji Illumine to undermine the Ascendancy from within and close nations to the Southeast of the Ascendancy from Chiss refugees who would survive the war he hoped to foment. Aware of the Grysk armada's superior firepower to the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet, Thrawn and his friends arranged for several allied nations to unite and defeat Jixtus's fleet in a climactic battle over Sunrise known as Senior Captain Thrawn's last stand. Defeating the Grysks took a tremendous toll on Thrawn's career. However, many political adversaries wanted him stripped of his rank and exiled. General Ba'kif, fearing the loss of his "Golden egg," decided he would let Thrawn go into exile, but in exile, Thrawn would attempt to go to The Galactic Empire and study it. The Chiss needed allies for the coming war with the Grysks as their return was imminent, and General Bakif thought that the Galactic Empire might be of good use. After stowing away on a Star Destroyer, Thrawn offered his allegiance to Emperor Palpatine and The Empire. With the help of Cadet Eli Vanto, Thrawn assimilated into galactic society, becoming fluent in Galactic Basic Standard and ultimately graduating from the Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant in only three months. His career in the Navy was highly successful; Cadet Vanto became Thrawn's aide and protege, and Vanto Thrawn also recruited Morgan Elsbeth to his cause. After several promotions, he received the rank of Grand Admiral from the Emperor himself. At the height of his career, Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn served as commanding officer of the 7th Fleet, the flagship of which was the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Chimaera. A few years after the start of the Galactic Civil War, when Governor Arihnda Pryce requested a strong commander capable of defeating the rebels on Lothal, Thrawn accepted the challenge, intending to dismantle the rebellion one piece at a time. Deployed to the Lothal sector, he sought to defeat the rebels led by Captain Hera Syndulla. During his leadership of the 7th Fleet, Thrawn proposed and staunchly advocated for a new starfighter-bomber: the TIE Defender, which was to be initially manufactured on Lothal before being mass-produced throughout the galaxy. Following the Battle of Atollon, Emperor Palpatine summoned Grand Admiral Thrawn to his palace to undertake a mission with the Emperor's Sith apprentice Darth Vader, whom Thrawn once knew as the Jedi Anakin Skywalker. Palpatine considered Thrawn and Vader his two most useful servants and believed his mission would require the unique talents and knowledge of both men. In the ensuing mission, Thrawn's fleet worked with Vader's First Legion and ultimately rescued several Force-sensitive Chiss girls held captive by the warlike Grysk species. Soon thereafter, Thrawn took on a mission to defend the supply lines of Project Stardust from apparent losses to electronics-eating grallocs. The true culprits of the losses were the treasonous Grand Admiral Balanhai Savit and, separately, a force of Grysks seeking to conquer Imperial space and perhaps control the Death Star. After exposing Savit's treason and defeating that Grysk force, Thrawn resumed his task of eliminating Syndulla's rebel cell on Lothal. Syndulla's rebels confronted Thrawn's forces with the intention of liberating Lothal once and for all. During the battle, a flock of purrgil came to the aid of Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger and inflicted heavy damage on the Seventh Fleet. Thrawn was on the bridge of his command ship when the creatures surrounded the Chimaera and pulled it into hyperspace, taking both Thrawn and Bridger to the extragalactic planet Peridea, where they would remain in exile. In the years following Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn's disappearance, both the Emperor and Vader were killed at the Battle of Endor, the Empire was decisively beaten at the Battle of Jakku, and the Alliance to Restore the Republic was reorganized into the New Republic. In spite of his vanishing and unconfirmed death at Lothal years prior, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano started hearing whispers of Thrawn's return and began searching for the last missing Grand Admiral in 9 ABY, which led her to face Thrawn's protégée Morgan Elsbeth. Eventually with the help of Elsbeth and the Great Mothers, Thrawn would escape Peridea, though unbeknownst to him, so did Ezra Bridger. Free from his exile, Thrawn and the Great Mothers traveled to the Nightsister homeworld of Dathomir. Even in his absence, Thrawn's talents benefited the New Order. His knowledge of the Unknown Regions proved essential to loyalists that retreated from the known galaxy, helping them survive in unexplored space where they eventually formed the First Order, a major part of Emperor Palpatine's Contingency plan.