Mist Encounter is a short story written by Timothy Zahn and illustrated by Doug Shuler, originally published in Star Wars Adventure Journal 7 by West End Games in August 1995.
Timothy Zahn attended Michigan State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1973. He then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and achieved an M.S. degree in physics in 1975. While he was pursuing a doctorate in physics, his adviser became ill and died. Zahn never completed the doctorate. In 1975 he had begun writing science fiction as a hobby, and he became a professional writer. He and his wife Anna live in Bandon, Oregon. They have a son, Corwin Zahn.
As far as short stories go, this one is great. Fantastic writing that provides great depth. I'm really glad it was used in the newer books written as well
This short story isn't necessary, but it does fill in a small gap in thrawn's history between the events of outbound flight and prior books. If you're able to read it after Outbound Flight, I don't advise passing it up.
This story shows how Thrawn went from high commander of the Chiss army to becoming a commander for the Empire. It's a bit of an aside, really, but it's still a relevant piece of the EU, since Outbound Flight didn't clarify how Thrawn makes that transition. I'm surprised to see how many short stories I've encountered so far that exist just to bridge different stories together, sometimes by doing some kind of retcon.
I’m certain I read this when I read Outbound Flight, but I’d nearly completely forgotten it. Now that I am finished with the Prequel era of books… well, with a couple exceptions set before all the rest… I decided to revisit this short story so I could most accurately add it to my ranking list. Mostly I’m just fascinated that this is the only Legends story that has almost verbatim been translated into Canon. There are differences, and I skimmed to double check some of them, but the first two chapters of the Canon Thrawn novel are basically just this short story, with an additional Eli Vanto dropped in (shame that the Legend of Thrawn forgot about poor Eli…). This is not too long, not too short, plenty investing, and at its worst it still holds great moments for Thrawn. Something I didn’t consider was how this was originally a reveal — Thrawn wasn’t known by his full name yet, apparently. Thats an aspect I can’t appreciate, having always known it was Thrawn hiding in the woods, but that is kind of neat to consider. Back in the day, just chilling with some West End Games material and get jumpscared by Thrawn. I don’t feel like this is any kind of must-read, the characters aren’t fully developed how they could be, and I don’t give a crap about this random smuggler Han/Chewie ripoff… oh what’s that? Majorly important for like ten full books? Seriously? Jeez, okay. Well, regardless, this is basically just a fluffy filler but it’s a fun one. I wish Thrawn was maybe a little more succinct in his explanothon, for pacing’s sake, but it’s a minor complaint.
The original, somewhat shorter version of the encounter at the beginning of the Thrawn canon novel. It's a nice read and I love seeing how it differs from that version, and also less boring (admittedly, the beginning of the canon novel bores me to death), but it doesn't have much going on for it other than it just is. Maybe this is because I don't read it after it came out or at least before I read the canon novel, so there's zero excitement factor for me other than Thrawn.
Rating anything with Thrawn in it this low hurts my soul, but this was really just okay. Maybe "Mist Encounter" would have been better if I hadn't read Thrawn somewhat recently, but compared to the way that the events of Mist Encounter were rewoven into the new canon, this original just feels...unfinished.
It's a quick read, and really not too bad, but as a standalone? It doesn't work for me.
So discovered this short story at the end of Outbound Flight is basically the original version of how Thrawn was discovered by the Empire and he joined them - basically the first few chapters of the new canon book titled Thrawn. This one definitely seemed like the same Thrawn and even events he did on the planet to get the empire's attention, with one glaring difference - no Vanto, or even a Vanto like character. So, yeah, like the new version vastly better. :)
A great little story with how Thrawn himself joined the Empire. I really enjoyed this little short story. This actually felt like small horror story at first. Stormtroopers getting ambushed in a forest with a lot of mist. They had no idea what was attacking them. Slowly troopers were getting killed. Eventually it was revealed that it was all Thrawn’s doing which was a great twist. The more Thrawn the better! Highly recommended!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read shortly after reading Zahn's 2017 "Thrawn" novel and learning the first few chapters were essentially retelling this and I was curious on how they compared. Besides some annoying discrepancies in the old EU timeline (forgivable considering Zahn wrote this before the Prequels came out) this is just as good as the story told in the current Disney Canon.
This was at the end of the Outbound Flight ELC and was the introduction to how Thrawn was discovered by the empire. Once he got introduced this instantly became required reading for me
A good story about Thrawn’s first contact with the Empire. I’ve basically already read this since I read Thrawn 2017, but it’s still cool. The inclusion of Booster Terrik was a bit unnecessary
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Not too much to say about this one. A fun and quick read and along with Zahn's 'Jade Solitaire', is one of only two Star Wars short stories I would actually recommend reading.
This story shows how Thrawn went from being in exile to being recruited by the empire and even leaves hints about his eventual "exile" to the Unknown Regions. For fans of Thrawn.
Great short story that shows how Thrawn became in the employ of the Empire. Unfortunately, it doesn't explain what directly caused his exile, though you are not surprised if you read Outbound Flight. All in all, a fun, quick read.
A fantastic short story about one of the most interesting Star Wars characters outside of the official canon. A great bridge between Thrawn's appearance in Outbound Flight and his appearances later on in the original trilogy/new republic era novels.
I mean, this was a 20 page short story, so it might seem a little iffy to count it as a book. But I'm going to so BACK OFF :-D
I enjoyed it. I don't want to spoil anything but let's just say that I really enjoy every appearance of a certain character that made an appearance in this story as well.