Karyn Faro

Karyn Faro was born prior to the start of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY. At one point, she traveled by water vessel. Later, she attended an Academy where she participated in engineering courses and witnessed the dissection of a nonhuman to identify physiological weaknesses. While Faro found the process distasteful, she acknowledged its tactical value. Subsequently, she joined the Imperial Navy and had the opportunity to visit a star system where a newly commissioned Star Destroyer was being outfitted and crewed. During her service, Faro grew wary of officers who had attained their positions through political connections rather than competence, leading her to often push the boundaries of insubordination. A few years before the Battle of Yavin, Faro was promoted to First Officer aboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Chimaera.

When Chiss Commodore Thrawn was assigned command of the Chimaera, Faro initially viewed her new superior with suspicion, openly questioning his directives. However, the Chiss's exceptional tactical and strategic abilities soon earned Faro's respect, while her own directness, honesty, and tactical skills garnered Thrawn's respect in return.

Upon Thrawn's promotion to admiral, Faro succeeded him as captain of the Chimaera within the 96th Task Force. Shortly after this promotion, the task force received orders to quell rebel activity on Sammun, a component of the widespread resistance movement operating from the Batonn sector. Thrawn entrusted Faro with leading the task force while he utilized a captured smuggling ship and the light cruiser, Shyrack, to observe Admiral Durril's attack on Scrim Island in the Batonn system. Faro successfully completed her mission, destroying two enemy vessels and capturing four others, along with a stockpile of small arms. Following the Sammun mission, the 96th Task Force was dispatched to Batonn, where they reclaimed Scrim Island and later participated in the siege of the Creekpath Mining and Refining complex.

Later, around the time of the Battle of Atollon, Faro was promoted to the rank of commodore. This promotion was accompanied by the promise of her own task force, but six weeks later, Faro remained aboard the Chimaera, uncertain about her future, particularly following the unexpected disappearance of Thrawn's former aide, Eli Vanto, from the Seventh Fleet. When Emperor Palpatine directed Thrawn and the Chimaera to assist Darth Vader in addressing a Force disturbance centered on the planet Batuu, Faro accompanied them, leaving Commander Woldar in charge of the Seventh Fleet. Faro was displeased with the presence of passengers on her ship, believing that passengers didn't belong on warships, especially given Vader and his special stormtrooper unit's demands for changes to the ship's routines. Nevertheless, Faro did her best to accommodate their guests, as Thrawn referred to them, even when it meant confronting the influential and troublesome Chief Hangar Master of the Chimaera, Xoxtin.

En route to Batuu, the Chimaera encountered a mysterious obstacle in hyperspace. After several unsuccessful attempts to re-enter hyperspace, Faro suggested traveling to Mokivj, to access a different hyperlane that would lead them to Batuu, saving fourteen or fifteen hours of travel time. Thrawn accepted the suggestion and ordered the Chimaera to set course for Mokivj, despite Darth Vader's warning that the alternative route would save no more than eleven hours. Faro's boldness in making the suggestion, as well as her curiosity about Thrawn's previous visit to that region of space, irritated Vader, but Thrawn welcomed input from his crew and was not offended by Faro's questions. Upon reaching Mokivj, it became clear that Vader's time estimate was more accurate than Faro's. As the ship traversed the system to the appropriate jump point, Thrawn asked the Chimaera's bridge crew to determine the number of moons orbiting the planet. When they discovered that four of the ten moons were missing, Faro participated in speculating about their fate.

When the Chimaera finally reached Batuu, Darth Vader and Thrawn went to the planet's surface to investigate, leaving Faro in command of the Chimaera to monitor the surrounding space. Thrawn instructed her to use only passive sensors and prepare the ship for stealth, but authorized her to act independently if unforeseen circumstances arose during his absence. When a group of enemy ships emerged from hyperspace, heading towards the same area where Thrawn and Vader had landed, Faro reported their arrival to the Grand Admiral. Against Thrawn's advice, Vader ordered the First Legion transport Darkhawk to intercept and capture one of the approaching ships while the Chimaera remained concealed. However, Faro ordered four TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighters led by Vult Skerris to assist the First Legion in their mission. This initial encounter with the Grysks was only partially successful; while the Imperials seized the target vessel and captured several warriors, the Grysk managed to destroy their cargo and escape with several prisoners taken from Batuu. Faro blamed herself for the escape of the Grysk ships, as she had instructed the Defenders to focus on assisting the First Legion's boarding operation rather than pursuing the other enemy vessels.

Once the Darkhawk and Thrawn's freighter had returned to the Chimaera, they changed course back to the blocked hyperlane and began searching for the source of the obstruction by making micro-jumps back and forth from the target area until Thrawn was able to pinpoint the cause of the disruption. Using only ion cannons, the Chimaera successfully captured the device the Grysks had used to block the hyperlane intact. While Faro was again left in charge of the Chimaera, Thrawn, Vader, and the First Legion took a freighter to the other end of the hyperlane, where they intentionally triggered the Grysk trap and turned it against the aliens, capturing one of their ambushing ships and a number of its crew. After the Grysk ship was secured, Faro was ordered to bring the Chimaera to their location.

Commodore Faro later attended a meeting during which Thrawn and Vader decided to allow some of the Grysks to escape with a ship carrying a homing beacon, but the plan was disrupted by a small group of First Legion members who had decided to stow away on the ship the Grysks attempted to steal, the Darkhawk. Following a brief skirmish that resulted in the deaths of four Imperials and most of the captured Grysks, Faro, Thrawn, Vader, and Commander Kimmund of the First Legion convened in the Darkhawk's cockpit. During the meeting, Thrawn questioned Faro extensively, leading her to arrive at the same conclusions that the Grand Admiral had already reached. Thrawn believed the Grysks were using the old separatist factory on Mokivj as a base, where the aliens intended to study the Darkhawk and where they had taken some of the prisoners they had escaped with from Batuu. When the Chimaera reached Mokivj and discovered Grysks in the process of stealing another moon from the planet's orbit, Thrawn prepared to leave Faro in command of the assault against the Grysks ships while he planned to lead a ground operation to rescue the prisoners that had been taken into the factory. Vader disagreed with the plan, insisting that Thrawn remained aboard the Chimaera to direct the space battle while Vader and the First Legion would handle the factory.

At the onset of the battle, Commodore Faro was convinced Thrawn would first deploy infiltrators to gather intelligence on the Grysks, and was surprised when Thrawn launched a full-scale assault as soon as the moon the aliens were stealing had reached escape velocity and there was no longer a risk of it impacting the planet. During the battle, the Grysks attempted to send tugs rigged with explosives to attack the Chimaera, but the Star Destroyer's turbolasers destroyed them before they could inflict any damage. When their tug tactic failed, one of the Grysk ships broke away from the battle, and despite pursuit by TIE Defenders, the vessel managed to escape into hyperspace, taking captured Chiss children with it. When Thrawn ordered the Chimaera and the TIEs to destroy all Grysk ships, Faro inquired whether they should take at least some prisoners who might lead them to the location of the Grysks' captives. Thrawn acknowledged her concern but did not alter his orders, and all remaining Grysk ships were destroyed. When Vader returned from the planet's surface with the Chiss children he and the First Legion had rescued, Faro located a tech who understood Sy Bisti and could communicate with the children.

When Thrawn suggested Vader should use the Force to navigate the Chimaera through hyperspace to locate and reach the Grysks' destination before the aliens did, Faro observed silently—despite her general distrust of the Force, she raised no objections to Thrawn's plan. Upon reaching their destination, Faro was concerned to see that the Grysk ships outnumbered the Imperials two to one, and the ship that had escaped Mokivj with the Chiss prisoners was also expected to arrive shortly after the Chimaera. Thrawn and Vader planned to use one TIE Defender and the Darkhawk to ambush the ship carrying prisoners upon its arrival, and only then would they engage the two waiting ships. After the First Legion had rescued the children from the Grysks, Thrawn sent the TIE fighters to engage one Grysk vessel while the Chimaera continued toward the other one. Having observed the gunport locations on the first Grysk ship, Faro ordered the Chimaera's gunners to target the same spots on their opponent, confident that with Thrawn and Vader's leadership, they could overcome any challenge the Grysks presented.

Following the Chimaera's return from Batuu, Faro anticipated being summoned back to Coruscant for pre-command orientation for Task Force 231, but as weeks passed without a summons, she began to question the situation. Eventually, she contacted the Imperial High Command to inquire about the delay in her transfer, but received no response. A week after her message, the Chimaera was summoned to a meeting with Grand Moff Tarkin, Director Krennic, and Grand Admiral Savit to discuss funding for Thrawn's TIE/D Defender program with Emperor Palpatine.

Thrawn returned from the meeting with Assistant Director Brierly Ronan, an official from the Stardust project, who had been assigned to oversee Thrawn's next mission to clear grallocs from a cargo transfer point located in the Kurost sector. Commodore Faro was displeased by Ronan's presence on her ship, and also uncomfortable with Thrawn's promise to clear out the grallocs from the transfer point within a week in exchange for continued funding for the Defenders. To her further annoyance Ronan refused to hand over data from the cargo shipments that had passed through the transfer point to the tactical analysis team of the Chimaera, demanding that only Thrawn and Faro would be allowed to study the listing, as a result Faro had to work through the information on her own. Faro's work was also disturbed by Ronan's unexpected announcement that it had been Thrawn who had somehow blocked her transfer to Task Force 231. Despite her best efforts to concentrate on the task at hand, the thought that her commanding officer apparently didn't think her to be ready to lead a task force of her own, refused to leave her completely alone.

Faro's work on cargo lists was interrupted when the Thrawn wanted the Chimaera to follow an Allanar N3 light freighter that had jumped to lightspeed from the transfer point toward another near-by star system. When the vectors of twenty-eight of the forty-one lost ships seemed to point toward other systems, Faro and Thrawn were convinced that the grallocs were wrongly blamed for the disappearances and in truth most of the ships in fact had been stolen. From the likely target system of the lost Allanar N3 they found a damaged mobile way station that had been used as a transfer point for the stolen cargoes, but finding the ship itself required Faro to have Chimaera follow the exact vector the Allanar had disappeared along. What they discovered was that the Grysks had somehow found out about the cargo transfers and had attacked the way station as well as the Allanar N3. Both Faro and Thrawn were deeply concerned to find Grysks involved in an operation almost half across the Empire from Batuu where they had previously faced the alien invaders.

In addition to the Grysks, they also came across a Chiss Ascendancy ship, the Steadfast, which had been monitoring a Grysk vessel as it moved across the Empire. The Steadfast's crew had witnessed the Grysk assault on Allanar N3. The Chiss and Imperials then collaborated to fight against a Grysk warship and observation outpost. Faro was taken aback to discover that Eli Vanto, a former colleague she believed to be deceased, was now a lieutenant in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet. He served under Admiral Ar'alani on the Steadfast. Noticing Thrawn's failure to report the Grysk encounter and Chiss meeting to Imperial High Command, Faro submitted anonymous reports to Grand Moff Tarkin's office. This was to protect her admiral in case Ronan accused him of unauthorized alien dealings.

Faro was compelled to relinquish her office to Vanto. The logistics expert then analyzed cargo data from the Stardust shipping operation. Officially, Faro was overseeing the study, but she allowed Vanto to work undisturbed, checking in occasionally. Despite barely making progress in her own study of the data, Vanto sifted through it in under two hours. He identified three systems as potential sources of the stolen cargo. While Thrawn, Faro, the Chimaera, Ar'alani, and Chiss Navigator Vah'nya tracked the Grysks to their base, Vanto and Ronan were dispatched to Aloxor. Their mission was to uncover evidence of cargo ship tampering, a scheme to attract grallocs and steal equipment. To safeguard the Force-based Chiss navigation method, Faro ordered the Chimaera's bridge evacuated. The crew relocated to the secondary command center while Vah'nya piloted the ship toward their enemies. Only Faro, Thrawn, and Ar'alani remained on the bridge with the young navigator. As a sign of trust in Faro, Grand Admiral Thrawn instructed her to teach Vah'nya how to use the Chimaera's helm console. Subsequently, Faro took over the weapons station, prepared for potential detection upon their arrival at the Grysk base.

During their journey to the base, Faro sensed slight jerks in the ship's movements, unlike the smooth hyperspace jumps of navigation computers. The Chiss navigation method also made predicting their arrival difficult. Thrawn explained their mission's background to Faro, and they jointly examined the present and future implications of their Grysk encounter. As Thrawn shared critical aspects of the mission, Faro questioned why he had advised against her transfer to a command position. She wondered if he doubted her readiness, was reluctant to lose her, or if she had offended the Chiss. However, none of her theories seemed logical. Upon reaching their target system, they found two seemingly defenseless Grysk ships. They suspected these were a trap and part of the Grysk's communications triad.

As the Chimaera awaited data from scouting TIE fighters, Faro had a private conversation with Admiral Ar'alani. She realized the Chiss's initial suspicion was evolving into respect. When Thrawn decided to engage the Grysk vessels and launched a boarding shuttle to lure out the suspected third Grysk ship, Faro intervened. Seeing the trick fail, she escalated the situation by volunteering to join the boarding party with a second shuttle. Admiral Ar'alani accused Faro of insubordination for acting without orders, but the Grand Admiral simply asked for her reasoning. Thrawn accepted Faro's explanation: an Imperial flag officer was needed as bait to reveal the Grysk ship's location. As Faro left the Chimaera's bridge, she noticed the unusual silence of the crew, most of whom had served with her for years.

Surprisingly, Major Carvia, the Chimaera's stormtrooper commander, awaited Faro in the shuttle. He had volunteered to accompany her and protect his troops. The bait worked, and the Grysks revealed their warship's location by drawing in two of the communications triad poles attached to the conjoined ships. The Chimaera's turbolasers swiftly destroyed the hidden warship, allowing the boarding party to proceed to the remaining ships. On board, they encountered traps and explosives, which the stormtroopers cleared before Faro and Carvia advanced. They found captive humans and a Dashade guarded by six unknown aliens. Faro attempted negotiation, but Thrawn ordered the aliens killed. Afterward, Faro discovered one alien possessed a remote set to detonate explosives aboard the Grysk ships. While accustomed to battling Empire's enemies, Faro found the boarding party experience different from her usual role on a Star Destroyer's bridge. The aliens' willingness to die for the Grysks also disturbed her.

After interrogating the rescued humans, Faro took command of the Chimaera while Thrawn sought information from the ships. During his absence, Sensor officer Hammerly detected a stellar occultation, revealing cloaked bombs converging on the conjoined ships. To protect the ships, Faro had the crew gather the explosives and spread the Star Destroyer's garbage around the conjoined ships, creating a particle shell to reveal more bombs. Thrawn entrusted Faro with remotely controlling the relocated explosives, gas tanks, and triad pole motors, as she had overseen the preparations. The operation proceeded smoothly despite the unexpected arrival of the Steadfast. The Chiss ship brought news that the proof Vanto and Ronan had found on Aloxor had fallen into Grand Admiral Savit's hands. Thrawn would need to return to the Empire to recover the Assistant Director and the Brylan Ross, a cargo ship tampered with to attract grallocs.

After Vanto's report, Thrawn, Faro, and Ar'alani assessed the situation. They knew the Grysks would soon arrive to eliminate both Imperials and Chiss. Vanto's evidence also revealed that Grand Admiral Savit, not Governor Haveland, was siphoning cargoes from the Stardust. With time critical, they decided to send the Steadfast, supported by Thrawn's TIE/D Defenders, against the Grysks, while the Chimaera confronted the traitorous Grand Admiral. Thrawn, having studied Savit's musical performances, gave Faro detailed instructions and stressed the importance of preventing loss of life. He then departed with four pilots and some death troopers in a shuttle to meet Savit's flagship, the Firedrake.

After giving Thrawn a head start, Faro and the Chimaera arrived at the system where they had found the Grysk research station. As Thrawn had predicted, Savit had brought four Star Destroyers. Despite the odds, Faro demanded Savit surrender for questioning. Following Thrawn's orders, Faro launched the cloaked Grysk gravity projector toward the Firedrake before sending their evidence to the Third Fleet ships. She deployed a squadron of TIE fighters in a Marg Sabl maneuver and four unpowered TIEs toward their target using tractor beams. When the Misthunter, one of Savit's ships, fired ion cannons, Faro had her gunners return fire on the same vector, causing the shots to collide and expend their energy safely away from the Chimaera. The Misthunter's second and third salvos met the same fate, but when the Stormbird, another of Savit's ships, also fired ions, Chimaera's TIEs intercepted the salvos. Savit, witnessing Faro's repeated defense against ion volleys, ordered the Stormbird to launch TIE fighters. However, Faro disabled almost the entire squadron by detonating four proton torpedoes in front of them, causing severe shrapnel damage. When two disabled TIEs headed toward the Chimaera on a collision course, Faro sent tractor beam targeting data to the Stormbird so the Star Destroyer could pull its fighters back and prevent pilot deaths.

Faro's success at avoiding his attacks enraged Grand Admiral Savit, who ordered the Firedrake to fire on the Chimaera. The unpowered TIEs Faro had launched earlier activated and damaged the Firedrake's targeting sensors. Before the battle, Faro had doubted the darkened TIEs could sneak up on the Star Destroyer unnoticed. She believed such carelessness inexcusable in a grand admiral.

The battle had unfolded as Thrawn predicted, and Faro had followed his instructions while observing Savit's tactics. Thrawn had instructed her to move the Chimaera to starboard, expecting Savit to turn the Firedrake and allow the cloaked gravity projector to impact its side. Instead of using turbolasers, Faro anticipated Savit launching fighters and moved the Chimaera slightly above the battle plane, goading the Firedrake to pitch upward. This slight change caused the cloaked gravity generator to hit the hangar bay, damaging the TIE launch racks. Unbeknownst to Faro, Thrawn's group had already disabled the launch mechanism and minimized the fighter threat. However, Thrawn's TIE pilots had commandeered four of Savit's TIEs and left the hangar with the Grand Admiral's shuttle. In her broadcast to the Third Fleet ships, Faro portrayed this departure as Savit's pilots' mutiny against the attack on the Chimaera. At that point, Savit's fourth ship, the Harbinger, announced its support for the Chimaera, and Captain Gilad Pellaeon invited the captains of the Stormbird and the Misthunter to do the same. With Thrawn's shuttle jamming the Firedrake's communications and Savit's bridge crew growing uneasy, the battle turned in Faro's favor.

Savit was arrested by Dayja Collerand, an ISB agent who had joined Ronan and Vanto on Aloxor. Collerand arrived on the Firedrake with Ronan, who was posing as a drifter named Mole. With their business with Savit concluded, Thrawn, Faro, and the Chimaera were free to support their Chiss allies against the Grysk forces. However, their help proved unnecessary as the Steadfast and the TIE Defenders had been victorious. The Grysks had self-destructed their ships rather than be captured. To Faro's relief, all the Defenders had survived the battle undamaged.

With Savit and the Grysks dealt with, Ronan was to deliver his report on Thrawn's gralloc hunt to Grand Moff Tarkin and Director Krennic. Since the investigation had deviated from its original course, Ronan informed Tarkin and Krennic that Thrawn had failed in their agreement. While the Grand Admiral had solved the real problem, he had done nothing about the grallocs. Faro was furious that Ronan had slanted his report, leading Tarkin to deny Thrawn funding for the TIE Defender program. Despite her reputation for insubordination, Faro was ready to confront Ronan, but Thrawn prevented her by sending the Assistant Director to the hangar with a death trooper escort. Seeing Ronan leave, Faro had no choice but to suppress her anger.

After the visitors left the Chimaera, Thrawn asked Faro if she was unhappy about his decision to recommend against her transfer to Task Force 231. This confirmed that he had done so, shocking Faro. She asked for an explanation, and the Grand Admiral revealed he had suggested to High Command that Faro be moved to a more prestigious position as commander of the Eleventh Fleet. When Thrawn suggested this transfer might include a promotion, Faro thought he was joking, but he was serious. He complimented her tactical skills and political acumen, revealing he knew about her anonymous reports to Tarkin.

To Faro's surprise, Thrawn informed her that High Command had approved her transfer to the Eleventh Fleet. Upon the Chimaera's return to Lothal, Faro would leave for Coruscant to begin her pre-command orientation. However, during the journey to Lothal, Thrawn learned of the local rebels' ultimate push to liberate the planet. When the Chimaera arrived over Lothal, it became part of the battle, ultimately resulting in Jedi Ezra Bridger summoning Purrgil to take the Star Destroyer through hyperspace.

Karyn Faro was a human female with fair skin, brown eyes, and short, dark brown hair. She was confident and direct, her frankness sometimes bordering on insubordination. Her cynicism stemmed from her disdain for officers who had risen through connections rather than merit. Faro recognized nepotism in the navy but did not allow connected subordinates like Chief Hangar Master Xoxtin to ignore orders, even if it damaged her career.

Having lived through the Clone Wars, Faro possessed tactical aptitude and recognized it in others. Initially skeptical of Thrawn, she soon recognized his genius and leadership. She respected Thrawn and served him loyally. She also saw the same talents in Thrawn's aide, Eli Vanto, and praised him as one of the few who understood Thrawn. Faro earned Thrawn's respect and trust, and he valued her suggestions. He also relied on her discretion when he was absent from the Chimaera. Thrawn's confidence led him to believe she would be wasted as a task force commander and recommended she command a fleet. Upon learning of his efforts and the High Command's acceptance, Faro thanked Thrawn and expressed her pride in serving under him.

Despite Imperial regulations and numeric codes for communication importance, Faro tended to visualize the codes as colors. She enjoyed Thrawn's art holo collection, though she couldn't understand his detailed analyses. She trusted Thrawn's judgment enough to follow his instructions against overwhelming odds in the battle against Grand Admiral Savit. However, sending her people into danger was difficult, and she took extra precautions when possible.

Faro believed Thrawn's TIE Defender project was essential. When Ronan manipulated Tarkin into denying funding, Faro took it personally. Despite her history of insubordination, Ronan's betrayal almost drove her to confront him, regardless of the consequences.

Faro was a competent officer whose tactical abilities were honed by her service with Thrawn. He believed she was ready to command a fleet. She was confident and resourceful in unexpected situations. When Thrawn left Faro in command of the Chimaera, he gave her general instructions and allowed her to act on her own discretion. Initially, Faro was uncomfortable with the added responsibility, as when Thrawn sent her to Sammun with the 96th Task Force. Over time, she became more confident and even modified his orders to suit her tactical understanding.

During her service in Imperial Navy, Faro learned to read stormtroopers' rank markings, a difficult feat without helmet enhancements. Under Thrawn's command, she began to enjoy his tactical questioning, as she felt it improved her skills, though she sometimes felt she couldn't reach his expectations. She was also curious about Thrawn's past and slightly envious of Vanto's time with him.

At some point, Faro had gained proficiency in Sy Bisti. While she admitted to understanding the language better than speaking it, she was fluent enough to explain Star Destroyer helm operations to Navigator Vah'nya. Serving with Thrawn, Faro became skilled in reading vocal tones and body language. She felt it polite to avoid a private conversation between Thrawn and Admiral Ar'alani in Cheunh, as observing them might be considered eavesdropping.

Karyn Faro first appeared in Timothy Zahn's 2017 novel Thrawn. She was first pictured in the fourth issue of Star Wars: Thrawn comic series based on the novel.