The greatest Imperial leader(not including Warlords or breakaway factions).

[Lord Xizer]

Interesting comparisons. I agree Daala would have made a much better Moff, must of come from all her quality time with Grand Moff Tarkin.

[arrum]

Interesting choice. I never thought of Daala as a great tactician or strategist but she did have will and motivation. She also cared for those under her command and did what needed to be done for the Empire to reunify by killing those strutting fools of warlords. She's definitely in my top three Leaders as a support and rallying leader she was inspirational with charisma but certainly not someone I would follow into battle if she planned it. I do admire her for her desire to lead from the front though, she has guts. Pellaeon and Thrawn without hesitation I would follow though Pellaeon was lacking a bit in the charisma and decisiveness he is a very likeable leader who cares greatly for his soldiers and asks no more of them than of himself and he doesn't skulk at the rear. Thrawn, it would have been a true honor, after all he was a combination of some of history's greatest minds(Alexander the Great, Hannibal and Rommel) and the fictional Sherlock Holmes. just to meet someone like that let alone fight under his banner would be an honor without equal for any warrior or soldier. 

I agree with what you are saying about Thrawn. He was a great leader who gave the Imperial Remnent the chance to survive, without him it wouldn't have been 5-6 years before the last of the major Imperials were all but gone. Also look at it this way, the Emperor picked him, an alien, to be a Grand Admiral! Think about, if Thrawn was as good as the other Grand Admirals he would not have been elevated by the Emperor to such a high position because he was an alien, but he was better. Better than any of them.
I still think Admiral Daala is the greatest. My brother thinks Thrawn is the greatest imperial leader, but when I told him that Daala was in charge of the Galactic Alliance, he got very worried and started saying that "How could Luke and Han and everybody allow such a thing?!". He then told me that he won't read the later Star Wars books because apparently the authors don't know what they are doing because the heroes of the Rebellion and New Republic would never allow such a thing to happen.

Offtopic: I still can't get my hands on a copy of the final Fate of the Jedi book.

[Zeron]

Personally I feel that it can't be anyone but Palpatine. As the man who conquered most of the galaxy, founded the Empire in the first place, almost entirely exterminated the Jedi, and created a glory that every other Imperial leader would try and fail to recapture. Palpatine is the best because he's the only one who actually won. Sure he may have died, but he actually succeeded in destroying the Republic and the Jedi Order. Sure the Jedi were reborn, but they certainly were nothing like what they were before. Isard, Thrawn, Daala, Pellaeon, they all share the common feature of failing. Palpatine won. His shadow was felt across the galaxy for decades after his death.

[Lord Xizer]

As to the Fate of the Jedi and Legacy series I do feel like they really were kind of overreaching. I mean after the Emperor, Thrawn, the Warlords and the Yuuzhan Vong the second Galactic Civil War just seemed like a poor sequel. It's not really the authors fault I mean how could you top the Vong War in terms of crisis, doom and emotional heaves? All the Legacy and Fate novels did was repeat the prequel crisis on a smaller scale, lesser pretend Sith come back, jacen follows his grandfather's missteps and so on. I just couldn't get into those series like I did the NJO, X Wing series, Thrawn Books and Darksaber. Daala coming back as head of the Galactic Alliance too also just seemed too improbable to me.   

Palpatine would be a pretty good choice. He did set the stage for all the others and it could be argued that they all were just lesser threats to an extent of the original Emperor. Palpatine was the only one to achieve ABSOLUTE control and actually hold it for 19 years unchallenged before the Rebellion even came to his attention, none of the others could make that claim.

[tlmiller]

As to the Fate of the Jedi and Legacy series I do feel like they really were kind of overreaching. I mean after the Emperor, Thrawn, the Warlords and the Yuuzhan Vong the second Galactic Civil War just seemed like a poor sequel. It's not really the authors fault I mean how could you top the Vong War in terms of crisis, doom and emotional heaves? All the Legacy and Fate novels did was repeat the prequel crisis on a smaller scale, lesser pretend Sith come back, jacen follows his grandfather's missteps and so on. I just couldn't get into those series like I did the NJO, X Wing series, Thrawn Books and Darksaber. Daala coming back as head of the Galactic Alliance too also just seemed too improbable to me.   

Palpatine would be a pretty good choice. He did set the stage for all the others and it could be argued that they all were just lesser threats to an extent of the original Emperor. Palpatine was the only one to achieve ABSOLUTE control and actually hold it for 19 years unchallenged before the Rebellion even came to his attention, none of the others could make that claim.

I do like the legacy era though.  Not because of the books (I agree with you that it's a been there done that storyline that brings nothing to the table), but because I like the Pallaeon SD's.

[arrum]

As to the Fate of the Jedi and Legacy series I do feel like they really were kind of overreaching. I mean after the Emperor, Thrawn, the Warlords and the Yuuzhan Vong the second Galactic Civil War just seemed like a poor sequel. It's not really the authors fault I mean how could you top the Vong War in terms of crisis, doom and emotional heaves? All the Legacy and Fate novels did was repeat the prequel crisis on a smaller scale, lesser pretend Sith come back, jacen follows his grandfather's missteps and so on. I just couldn't get into those series like I did the NJO, X Wing series, Thrawn Books and Darksaber. Daala coming back as head of the Galactic Alliance too also just seemed too improbable to me. 

I do like the legacy era though.  Not because of the books (I agree with you that it's a been there done that storyline that brings nothing to the table), but because I like the Pallaeon SD's.

I thought Legacy was a bit too much 'been there done that' too, but I really like the Fate of the Jedi series. It has a lot of interesting stuff going on. I just can't tell you how interesting I find it, they even did a really good job with bringing in new Sith bad guys (The Lost Tribe) and making them interesting. The entire series has been good. Good non-stupid character interactions, long drawn out plots, Great twists and suprises, ect. I hope the don't do anymore Sith in a new series, if they do that is where I jump ship. I am really interested to see what happens to Allana, they are hinting a lot about her possible future.
@tlmiller, I agree. Pallaeon SD's (Although I wasn't a big fan of the Legacy Comic Books at all) are really cool, but all Star Destroyers are cool. I think we all remember that moment in A New Hope when we first saw the Star Destroyer, check that we all remember the first moment we saw the opening scene in Episode IV. Went a little long here... and way off-topic but anyhow, Sorry.

[Lord Xizer]

Yes it was that moment all those years ago when i saw the ISD Devastator tearing after the Tantive IV that made me Imperial to the core lol. I said I don't even know the rest of the plot but I like these guys already if they drive something like THAT!

[Senza]

I would further add that Pellaeon probably has the best quote in all of the EU. When he's going to save the Colonel from Disra's prison, he cuts off the officer in the prison with "I'm Admiral Pellaeon, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, open the door." And when he protests, he just says the same thing more sternly.

[tlmiller]

I would further add that Pellaeon probably has the best quote in all of the EU. When he's going to save the Colonel from Disra's prison, he cuts off the officer in the prison with "I'm Admiral Pellaeon, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, open the door." And when he protests, he just says the same thing more sternly.

I do like that.

[Lord Xizer]

I think Pellaeon's best quote was what he said to Vorrik during the Vong war, when he defeated the Yuuzhan Vong commnader at the battle of Borosk.
Commander Vorrik, "You think you have won?!!!"
Grand Admiral Pellaeon, "I have indeed and I want you to remember something else if you can in that warped little mind of yours Vorrik. You may win the occasional battle against us, but the Empire will ALWAYS Strike Back. That I promise you." 

[Lord Xizer]

I love how while everyone has their own favorites for their reasons no one likes Isard lol!

[Lord_jacob]

definitely Thrawn. He almost won, and he would have if he hadnt trusted the noghri or whatever they are called

[Settra]

I had to throw my vote in with Pellaeon....though Thrawn is very close. The couple points that do it for me is service record and general personality. However, I would never downplay Thrawn's tactical genius, I just respect the amount of dedication to the fleet (be it Republic, Empire, etc). I also wasn't too keen on thrawn keeping Noghri under the Imperial boot.

[Lord Xizer]

I had to throw my vote in with Pellaeon....though Thrawn is very close. The couple points that do it for me is service record and general personality. However, I would never downplay Thrawn's tactical genius, I just respect the amount of dedication to the fleet (be it Republic, Empire, etc). I also wasn't too keen on thrawn keeping Noghri under the Imperial boot.

A good choice with excellent reasons. Pellaeon is my favorite EU character.

[Settra]

A good choice with excellent reasons. Pellaeon is my favorite EU character.

I have to agree, though I'm also a fan of Jagged Fel (Being raised among Chiss is just a very interesting idea to me) as well as Daala (Beat stick "strategy" is entertaining)

[Lord Xizer]

I have to agree, though I'm also a fan of Jagged Fel (Being raised among Chiss is just a very interesting idea to me) as well as Daala (Beat stick "strategy" is entertaining)

Fel is a good character, Daala always struck me as a better subordinate than leader.

[Settra]

Fel is a good character, Daala always struck me as a better subordinate than leader.

I concur, Daala would be an excellent (as stated above) Moff. If one could control how irrational she could be she would be a very effective battering ram. (her being Chief of State was a bit silly to me...)

[Znieh]

I love how while everyone has their own favorites for their reasons no one likes Isard lol!

She's got a kind of Carmen Sandiago vibe going for her, don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. 

[Lord Xizer]

She's got a kind of Carmen Sandiago vibe going for her, don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. 

Yeah where in the galaxy is Natasi Daala?

[Revanchist]

Fine, since no one else will, i shall give a reason to like Isard. She managed to kill the bumbling Imperial Ruling Counsel, who would have torn the Empire apart were it not for their death. She also gave Soontir Fel to Thrawn, where he served in the EotH.