So I recently watched American Psycho. Which reminded me Thrawn was going to be written by Timothy Zahn as psychotic. Hence his name means "twisted." Had he went with Thrawn being a psycho would he have been a charismatic sociopath who would calmly mention an elaborate work of art from the Sith Age while having Rukh disembowel you, or would he have been more like Joruus C'baoth? Either way, Thrawn would've made a very disturbing character had Zahn gone with military genius and charisma but it all being a mask for a twisted individual who's military ruthlessness borders on almost serial killer level.
Regular Thrawn is scary. A psychopathic Thrawn that resembles Patrick Bateman is a nightmare.
That said, what if Timothy Zahn had decided to allow the clone to live? In those books we're told clones would end up going insane. I thought of why they would and it's pretty genius of Zahn to include it -- because they'd be fighting to be their own identity on top of the original's. In Heir to the Empire Joruus C'baoth has memories of things he hasn't seen and things that confuse him. (At least, I remember this happening. I should re-read those books. It's been awhile.)
Perhaps, the Thrawn clone would have all Thrawn's fame hoisted on him, plus memories, and know all the while that he isn't HIM but something Other, something elusive. There'd also be memories of friends and comrades dying, so on top of an identity crisis the clone would have PTSD as reality and memory would blur. Rather than be a carbon copy of Grand Admiral Thrawn, the clone would begin to resent him, and begin viewing himself as a blank canvas someone else painted over and the only way to feel truly alive is to give in to homocidal tendencies -- something original Thrawn never did, and therefore it could be a catharsis as though through killing innocent victims the clone is thereby "killing" Grand Admiral Thrawn as well. But that's just my theory. That's probably what I would do with Thrawn's clone if I could write an AU.
American Psycho really inspired me.
