Referencing Zahn's annotations in the 20th Anniversary Edition of "Heir to the Empire", John Booth wrote in "Wired" that Zahn "created and developed Thrawn as a character deliberately establishing the Grand Admiral as a villain who leads not by coercion and fear but through valuing strategy and loyalty". Zahn explained in 2008 that Thrawn's version of the Empire is different than that of Palpatine because Thrawn does not have Palpatine's megalomania and xenophobia. Calling Thrawn and Mara Jade his favorite of the characters he created, Zahn noted in 2006 that writing the Grand Admiral "provides the intellectual challenge of trying to come up with new, clever, and (hopefully) workable tactics and strategies".