I haven’t even tried to read the new!EU books about Thrawn. I find him vaguely annoying as a character (and an antagonist/villain at that). I can’t imagine trying to read about about him.
His being The Best (tm) and being able to know ~everything~ about a culture from a piece of art or two was redonculous even in the Heir to the Empire trilogy from back when. I think last time I read that trilogy I complained on here about the huge problem of needing current art from exactly the right culture/subculture for Thrawn’s Art Powers (tm) to even have a hope of working. And, frankly, they make little sense when applied to the New Republic, which is not that cohesive and is very new, so any “New Republic” culture is very much a work in progress.
But, yeah, it’s a very colonialist attitude. It fails to recognize the variety that would exist in any species, and places Thrawn above all those he “analyzes.” It’s the Sherlock Holmes problem, only worse. And with more unfortunate implications. Yay?
But I’m also someone who tends to prefer less perfect characters, anyway. Not that I’m that thrilled with the kind of man child fuckups that became a thing for a while, either. I just like...human level characters. No super powers, no direct line to the author insuring that they never make a mistake. People who sometimes screw up, sometimes lose fights, sometimes get out maneuvered, sometimes get hurt, sometimes don’t have all the cards, who have to work for their successes, who aren’t always The Best (tm), and certainly aren’t The Best (tm) at EVERYTHING.
