The Warlord Zsinj

[Lord Xizer]

Okay as many of you who have been around for a bit may know I love the Warlords. They each have their own personalities and quirks as well as posing interesting foils to the EU heroes in their own ways. That being said I think I will start a Warlord of the Week post.

I'll start off with a personal favorite, Warlord Zsinj.

I love this guy, he's one of the best EU characters on the antagonist side of things in my opinion for a lot of reasons. He was a masterful tactician and politician able to simultaneously fight the New Republic, Central Empire and the Greater Maldrood with a great track record of success. He is also unique in that unlike other prominent EU baddies he isn't a Force user, he's not tall, good looking or Muscular like Kaine, Isard or Krennal. He's a short, pudgy mustachioed fellow with a face suited to a comedian. Yet he builds this Empire on charisma, ingenuity and tactics in spite of the obvious disadvantages to him personally. He rose up completely from the bottom to prominence, slaying his own talented mother as his first assignment. His tactics were innovative and extremely useful. His doctrine of never fighting on an enemies chosen ground while limiting his tactical success opportunities made certain he would never be decisively crushed either. Where other Warlords in their pride would have stayed and sent futile attacks to prove their superiority(Grunger,Drysso and Drommel come to mind) Zsinj never put himself in that position which also kept his forces alive and maintained experienced crewmen without wasting them. He hired pirates and smugglers for disposable troops and intel networks freeing up his own forces and again avoiding losing his own men as well.
He held off two attempts to take him out early after Endor from the NR with ease and tactical brilliance. He used the Iron Fist as such a ship should be used, as both a deadly weapon and a visible symbol of his might. Ackbar couldn't even FIND Zsinj, if the Wraiths and a combo of IR and NR team up hadn't been added to Petothal backstabbing him Zsinj never would have eve been cornered by Solo's Fleet-and even with all this stacked against him he still managed to pull an ace out of his sleeve and escape to heal.
He rewarded merit and punished incompetence. He was very generous with his crews and soldiers, many of them seemed genuinely loyal to him, not out of fear but admiration and duty, which says a lot for his style of leadership. He was also always with his fleet, when there was a battle he was either there or close by coordinating it, he was a warrior. He rightly figured that he needed Elite and loyal troops and being robbed of Stormies didn't do like the other factions and just slap the armor on newbies he MADE a whole new section of his forces that were MORE elite than the very forces they had replaced.(Cooler armor too) Zsinj was also an avid inventer, developing the Nightcloak, TIE Raptor, many of their transports and other bits and pieces of tech for his faction.
All of this aside I love this guy's personality. Whereas Harrsk comes across as a Psychopath, Teradoc a screaming coward, and Delvardus an overly arrogant elitist, Zsinj honestly seemed ironically the most grounded, He wore the white uniform of a Grand Admiral sure, but he never used a title he didn't earn, he had been AWARDED the title of Warlord, he was the FIRST Warlord and to be fair he was also the Grand Moff of Quelli Oversector and a Legitimate High Admiral to boot. I also think in terms of tactics, tech and inventiveness he was a better candidate for Grand Admiral than Declann, Pitta, Syn or Il'Raz certainly. So I can't even really fault him the Grand Admiral uniform. Zsinj could be charming, funny and even likeable from a reader's perspective. I loved the dialogue between him and Melvar.
He's just an all around treat to read and enjoy. Unlike Isard who never had a single moment you could relate to her, Zsinj did and scenes like the dinner with the Wraiths where he pretends to be pirate like add to that. He's threatening when he has to be, funny when he can be and likeable when he chooses to be(Something that a majority of the other Warlords lacked)
I enjoyed voicing him and one of the main draws to this mod s getting to live those What If scenarios of Zsinj I entertained since reading the X Wing Novels and Courtship of Princess Leia, I even got to be him(Voice over anyway)

I'd like to hear your thoughts on Warlord Zsinj and next week I'll pick a different Warlord to discuss. Cheers and if you're not fond of the Warlord well I don't have much of  way to compensate you...I suppose I could let you kiss my Wookie.

[tlmiller]

Not ANYWHERE near as big on most of the warlords as you, as you well know, but I did like Zsinj.  One of the few that were cast as antagonists that weren't raving lunatics that would slaughter anyone and everyone for some small gain, he's more real.  I liked that.

[Vulcanus]

From a storytelling perspective Zsinj is the perfect example of how you can turn the tables around and make the villain the underdog of the story. There is never any doubt that he is going to lose in the end, but Zsinj is such a resourceful guy, you know you're going to get your money's worth for entertainment before he's done. Yet he also has some truly disgusting feats like the Chubar and Minefield projects that keep him staunchly in the villain category.
For sure one of the most interesting Imperials in the EU.

[Lord Xizer]

From a storytelling perspective Zsinj is the perfect example of how you can turn the tables around and make the villain the underdog of the story. There is never any doubt that he is going to lose in the end, but Zsinj is such a resourceful guy, you know you're going to get your money's worth for entertainment before he's done. Yet he also has some truly disgusting feats like the Chubar and Minefield projects that keep him staunchly in the villain category.
For sure one of the most interesting Imperials in the EU.

Yes, he was unquestionably in the villain category but I found him interesting because he was a lot more believable than most of the villains. Whereas Thrawn had the Duex Ex Machina of his Sherlock Holmes mind, C'baoth, the Nightsisters and the Emperor Reborn had their overwhelming Force Powers Zsinj was just a very clever and brilliant Warlord. You could really see how he put things together. He had some vile moments certainly but compared to some of the Deep Core Warlords Zsinj as pretty urbane. He was also consistent.

[Pali]

Huh... hadn't thought of them that way before, but you're absolutely right that Thrawn's type of brilliance was the awe-inspiring, utterly unfathomable genius that operates at a level far above yours, while Zsinj, though without doubt very intelligent, was someone whose thinking you could follow - he'd surprise you, but afterwards you could put together how and why he did it.  It certainly kept him more relatable.

[tlmiller]

Huh... hadn't thought of them that way before, but you're absolutely right that Thrawn's type of brilliance was the awe-inspiring, utterly unfathomable genius that operates at a level far above yours, while Zsinj, though without doubt very intelligent, was someone whose thinking you could follow - he'd surprise you, but afterwards you could put together how and why he did it.  It certainly kept him more relatable.

Exactly.  Which is why I liked him much more (from a story perspective) than Thrawn, or ANY of the force users.  They're just not interesting given their powers...

[Lord Xizer]

Exactly.  Which is why I liked him much more (from a story perspective) than Thrawn, or ANY of the force users.  They're just not interesting given their powers...

Plus Zsinj had that classy Mustachio going for him

[tlmiller]

Plus Zsinj had that classy Mustachio going for him

That, IMO, just made him look like a moron.  But hey, as long as he liked it.

[Lord Xizer]

That, IMO, just made him look like a moron.  But hey, as long as he liked it.

It amused me. I also liked his interactions with Melvar. They genuinely seemed like friends of a Merry and Pippin sort...except you know...evil.

Zsinj, "You did it again."
Melvar, "Yes sir."
Zsinj, "I told you not to sneak up on me."
Melvar, "Yes sir."
Zsinj, "And what did you just do?"
Melvar, "I stomped up to you with all the silent grace of a gutshot Rancor but you were too engrossed in spying on poor Ensign Mithil to notice."
Zsinj, "It's called pure concentration. The ability to tune out all distractions and focus completely on one thing."
Melvar, "Of course sir."

Or my personal favorite, their exchange about the destruction of "New Oldtown"
Melvar,"After Admiral Trigit destroyed new oldtown for not giving him supplies."
Zsinj, "You're certain he didn't destroy it because of that name?"
Melvar, "Since he is dead I'll have a hard time asking him."
Zsinj, "Never say that name again. It bothers me immensly."
Melvar, "After Admiral Trigit bombarded the town whose name is never again to be mentioned..."

Love those exchanges

[CaptainPogo]

Zsinj is a personal favorite. While Courtship of Princess Leia made him out to be kind of a buffoon, the X-Wing series quickly made it clear he's a dangerous mofo who got the NR and Imperials to actually work together just for that instant.

...Getting two sides at a time when they're clearly not exactly in friendly terms (well, at least coming from their superiors) with their own agendas to do something about Zsinj speaks a lot bout him and his group despite him being taken out of the game early.