You don't honestly think Thrawn won't appear ever, do you?
I hope not. Thrawn was a serious Mary Sue.
Thrawn admired a Rodin he'd "liberated" from a collector on Omicron Persei-8.
"Oh, I think Luke will eat two eggs and take ****."
Two chapters later, Luke would eat two eggs and take a ****.
"Just as planned...." said Thrawn, twirling his smurf mustache.
This would go on for... pretty much all of the series. Zahn couldn't write his way out of a paper bag.
You know I would agree with you, if it weren't for the way we get to know him. Pallaeon feels the same way like you do when you read the book, first he can't believe in Thrawns skills because they seem so unrealistic, then he slowly gets to rely on them and in the end he and the reader are both caught a bit of guard when the story plays out. It is not Thrawn alone that made the imperials enjoyable in the Thrawn trilogy, but the dynamic between him an Pallaeon.
