Thrawn's Greatest Weapons Were Stolen By Darth Vader After His Death

Star Wars is full of great villains, and Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the greatest Star Wars villains. Re-introduced to fans in Star Wars: Rebels, Thrawn quickly became a favorite with his calm and calculating manner that chills you to the bone. Since then, his story has been expanded upon in Star Wars books and comics. Soon it will be expanded upon in a Star Wars series on Disney+. In Marvel Comics’ Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, fans learn about a weapon Grand Admiral Thrawn designed that was supposedly destroyed by the Rebels. However, it has been revealed that Darth Vader actually kept the weapon for himself.

In the latest issue of Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, a former bounty hunter named Beilert Valance is working for Darth Vader. Beilert Valance has been placed in charge of the Dark Squadron by Vader to fight the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. This is Darth Vader’s new fight strategy since Valance and his pilots are not ordinary TIE fighters, and Vader hopes that that will help the mission.

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Fans have met Beilert Valance before in previous issues of Star Wars: Bounty Hunters. In an issue of War of the Bounty Hunters, Valance attempts to save Han Solo. Han Solo is the reason why Valance survives as a cyborg instead of dying in the service of the Empire when they were both Imperial cadets. Valance feels like he owes him and wants to help. However, Valance is betrayed by Boba Fett. Fett wants Han Solo and leaves Valance to be captured by Darth Vader. Valance is left with no choice but to serve the Empire after Vader removes his heart and replaces it with machine parts that Darth Vader can shut off if Valance does not follow his orders. This is how Valance gets to where he is in the newest Star Wars: Bounty Hunters comic.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #19, written by Ethan Sacks and illustrated by Ramón F. Bachs, chronicles the story of Valance commanding Darth Vader’s new Dark Squadron. The Dark Squadron ships are entirely new to what we usually see with Darth Vader. However, the design is not unique to fans who should recognize them as the three-winged prototype fighter TIE Defenders designed by Grand Admiral Thrawn. They were the subject of several episodes in Star Wars: Rebels. Of course, it looked like Thrawn’s project of creating these new TIE Defenders was put on hold after Ezra Bridger and his gang blew up the factory in Star Wars: Rebels. Somehow, the designs were found and replicated again by Darth Vader.

The three-winged TIE Defenders look intimidating, and they have some great features that really make sense as to why Darth Vader would want to replicate Grand Admiral Thrawn’s work. For example, unlike many other small fighters, the TIE Defenders carry their own deflector shields. They also have their own hyperdrive, which is vastly different from the original TIE Fighters and most individual fighter pilot ships that are not equipped with hyperdrives. This means that they could not fly into deep space on their own. These features make the TIE Defenders much more formidable than the TIE Fighter counterparts. To add to the list of things that makes them much more versatile is that they are also equipped for their own bombing runs.

Of course, this is why the Rebels destroyed Grand Admiral Thrawn’s factory to stop the production of these formidable fighters. If they had not, they most likely would have moved into mass production for the Empire, perhaps even using funds used for Project Stardust (aka, the Death Star). In the comic, Darth Vader has Valance and his crew take the TIE Defenders out for a trial run (before going after Crimson Dawn). But first, they have to take out the unruly Imperial commander, who was Valance’s childhood hero. This is a test that Vader assigns Valance to test his loyalty.

The ironic thing about this is that Valance dreamed of being a TIE pilot for the Empire back before he knew what the Empire was. Of course, now it is against his will, but fans cannot help but think that a small part of him is highly excited, especially since he is flying the TIE Defender, which is so unique that hardly anyone has gotten to fly one.

Future issues of Star Wars: Bounty Hunters indicate that Valance will be aiding Darth Vader in his mission to eradicate Crimson Dawn. Fans will likely see more of Dark Squadron and Thrawn’s powerful TIE Defenders, making anyone who is a fan of Star Wars ships happy.

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Written By Elizabeth Dresdow

Source(s): Screen Rant

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