Star Wars

That he is a very different threat than Vader and the Emperor helps preserve the accomplishments of the heroes in the movies. He doesn’t feel like he is undoing events and resetting the setting back to a status quo. Thrawn is a character that exists in the natural evolution of the setting.

I really love how his plans come from being in the underdog position. The first book especially is him making a clever play for resources while having almost none of his own.