Thrakhath and Hobbes

Farbourne

Farbourne

Rear Admiral
Note: If you haven't played WC3 through yet, this thread contains a spoiler, so you may not want to read it.

The recent SO1 replay reminded me of something I've wondered in the past. Apologies if this has been discussed before, but I'm curious on people's take on this.

In SO1, you rescue/capture Thrakhath on the Bonnie Heather. Then you take off leaving Hobbes to take Thrakhath to the brig. Thrakhath takes off in Hobbes' fighter, and informs you over the radio that the Heather suffered a power failure which allowed him to escape, knock Hobbes out from behind, and steal his fighter. He says he didn't kill Hobbes because it would have been dishonorable. At the time I played SO1 for the first time, I found this a bit fishy. Wouldn't Hobbes defection have made him dishonorable and hence not worthy of honorable treatment by Thrakhath?

That is the official story given at the time. But of course we know more from WC3. Hobbes was actually a deep cover agent and actually had an alternate personality, implanted by Thrakhath himself, that was loyal to Kilrah and would come out when triggered by a key phrase. This alone explains why Thrakhath didn't kill him quite nicely--he would be destroying his own deep cover agent cleverly planted almost ten years earlier (although, given Hobbes' pivotal role in the rebellion of Ghorar Khar and how much it interfered with Kilrathi plans, one wonders if Thrakhath may have been regretting his gambit at that point).

However, I've often wondered if there actualy was a power failure, or if parts of Hobbes hidden personality could be accessed at will by Thrakhath, and it that was what allowed him to escape.

To be honest, the whole SO1 incident there had me suspecting Hobbes from the start in WC3.

Do other people have thoughts on this?
 
"Heart of the tiger" was the hotswitch to switch him back to his original personality, maybe there were more "tweaks" made to his persona never discussed.

Also, about the gamble, when Ralgha turned "Hobbes", we was placed to help the confederation, no matter what the price.

This puts something else in; Was Hobbes H'rai actually massacred for real? Or was this a diversion to mask the hobbes persona?
 
Honor is a wierd thing... He had already vowed to assist the Sivar presistststs. So he was honor bound to that. So in filfiling his vow to the Sivar chicks (Hassa in particular) his honor was intact. Now my understanding is that warriers do not swear failty to the Emperor but rather to their clans. This is mentioned in the Wing Commander Academy tv show and it's one of the reasons slappy was trying to help Blairs screw up the Sivar Esrad saramony party thing.

I'm pretty sure they where slaughtered for real. Along with Kirha's hrai/homies. This is known even to the humans....well...most humans. ;)

Kirha looked at him uncerntanly. "All of your hrai were killed on that ship on Hhallas, several years ago. Most of my family, their retainers, died that day as well. Only you survived, as you (Hobbes) were fighting the humans at the time. I would have died aswell, idf I had been abord that ship rather than defending the estates from the humans."
But he knows all this-
"Why did they die?" Ralgha continued, inexorably, altough Kirah thought that he detected pain in his lords voice now, a pain that he shared. He did not want to think of this. He did not want to remember it.
But his lord demanded it of him.
"It was...it was an accident." He said with difficulty, his voice low and hoarse. "The kalrahr thought it was one of the human ships, and fired on the ship before confirming the i(n)dentification code. But you know this my lord!" He said, with growing desperation. "Why do you ask this of me now?" eh..read the book....Freedom Flight

I don't think they could have faked the deaths what I could imagine to be hundreds if not thousands of Kilrathi nobles and such. Effectily WIPING OUT an entire clan. It may have been "staged" and Emporer or Thakath..or both slaghtered them to put this plan into motion and the captain of the unaimed ship was ordered to destroy the ship carrying Hobbes' hria. I hope however that it was an accident and that the "royal" family was incapable of such a thing. But in war...
 
The kilrathi are totally capable of setting up the destruction of an entire clan, they are the bad guys, remember?
 
This whole thing seems to go against so-called Kilrathi honor in every aspect, as well as a number of other occurrences. Maybe LOAF or someone can explain why they value honor so highly yet fight dirty?
 
Do other people have thoughts on this?
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Yes - keep in mind that Special Ops 1 was written after Wing Commander 2... and like the Wing Commander 1 addons was intended to 'bridge' to the next game (WC3 was a very different planned project at the time, but it's entirely possible that Hobbes-as-traitor had already been suggested at this point.)

Even if that isn't true, remember also that Wing COmmander 3 was unquestionably written with the events of Special Ops 1 (and the Freedom Flight hint, mentioned below) in mind. If it wasn't already planned, the unusual nature of Thrakhath's escape could even have helped plot the course of the story in Wing Commander III. We can't necessarily look at the stories in reverse, but we must also remember that they don't exist in a vacuum, either.

I don't think they could have faked the deaths what I could imagine to be hundreds if not thousands of Kilrathi nobles and such. Effectily WIPING OUT an entire clan. It may have been "staged" and Emporer or Thakath..or both slaghtered them to put this plan into motion and the captain of the unaimed ship was ordered to destroy the ship carrying Hobbes' hria. I hope however that it was an accident and that the "royal" family was incapable of such a thing. But in war...
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First of all, we're talking about Ralgha's *hrai* and not the entire Hhallas clan. His immediate family (and their retainers) were killed in the accident. We've seen several other members of the Hhallas clan alive and well since this event (Bloodmist, the bomber ace in Wing Commander III was Bhuk nar Hhallas, for instance.)

I would assume that the event was 'real' because... well, why wouldn't it be? It's something we only see discussed among Kilrathi (Hobbes even avoids telling Blair that his family is dead, at one point in WC2 - instead he vaguely says that they're 'safe') and Kirha seems to accept it without question (and it also effected him and presumably many others).

The *effect* of the event, however, should be brought into question. In actuality the accident may have been what pushed Ralgha to even more strongly support the Kilrathi cause -- the war with the humans lead to the death of his family and lead him to volunteer/accept Thrakhath's assignment (dramatically speaking, of course, Hobbes was intended as a mirror to Jazz... and I think that still works in the end.)

Now, it's interesting that you should mention reading Freedom Flight. Go back to the very start of the book and see what happens to Ralgha. He's (correctly!) accused of treason by a Ghorah Kharran officer, interrogated and then... freed by the degree of *Prince Thrakhath himself*! That's pretty suspicious...

(Also, recall that the Cult of Sivar is run by Thrakhath's sister and that they were completely willing to support the Kiranka agenda in other instances... if we must add doubt to the anyones account in in Freedom Flight, it should be that of Hassa.)

This whole thing seems to go against so-called Kilrathi honor in every aspect, as well as a number of other occurrences. Maybe LOAF or someone can explain why they value honor so highly yet fight dirty?
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For several broad reasons:

- They're not fuzzy humans. "Honor" to a Kilrathi means something perhaps related but still decidedly different to what it does to you and I. It's the same in human societies. Is a surprise attack honorable? For the Kilrathi yes, for Americans no...

- Their code of honor applies to other Kilrathi, not their prey... and even in that group we see a caste system in play. A Thrak'hra's treatment of another Thrak'hra is decidedly different than his treatment of a Kilra'hra... and far, far different than his treatment of a human.

- Everyone, human or otherwise, will always insist that they *value* honor... they just won't necessarily practice what they preach (you'd be hard pressed to find a person who revels in the fact that they're "dishonorable" -- it's a blanket positive, not some specific way of life.)
 
Thanks all for the thoughts.

About the mysterious escape in SO1--I like to think there was some thought to the ultimate WC3 story when they did that. While it isn't perfect, the creators of Wing Commander seem to have done a wonderful job at *almost* every step (we won't disucss the movie any more, because its been done to death) of making a cohesive world where everything fits together so well, far better than in other Sci-fi francihses, and the hint about Hobbes' double-agentness showing up in SO1, in that context, is awesome. The same way the hint about Jazz being the traitor is great (the facts that (1) Jazz was listed as a pilot from the Austin at the time of SM2, (2) Blair's flight recorder proving stealth fighters existed disappeared immediately after landing on the Austin, and (3) Jazz was a dick all combined to give away, at least to me, that Jazz was the traitor right at the beginning of WC2).

I haven't read Freedom Flight (I know, I know, I'll get to it someday), so I'm only going on the games here, but in WC2 doesn't Hobbes specifically say that the incident that pushed him to treason was saving a human child--Downtown?

Is there any information of how Thrakhath may have been involved in that?
 
Farbourne said:
While it isn't perfect, the creators of Wing Commander seem to have done a wonderful job at *almost* every step (we won't disucss the movie any more, because its been done to death)
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I like how you take a shot at the movie here while claiming that you're not going to.
 
He did have a good question about Hobbes saving Downtown though. I do remember Hobbes saying this, but it's not mentioned in any of the fiction that I can remember. Is there any more fiction to their stories? It's kinda interesting. Do you have more insight into this LOAF, guys?

Or did anyone ever do a detailed biography of Hobbes? Yes he is a very well known charector in WC but there is always stuff we miss or overlook even when reading a book or playing a game over and over. As you can tell I misinterprited Hobbes' hrai for all of his clan since I interpreted "family" for hrai. Thinking that the entire Hallas clan was essentually killed on the transport... This did seem rather strange since the Kilrathi held several systems and youd think that being of "high birth" they'd have members of family in several systems including on Kilrah itself to ensure that the clan had influence so that competing clans didn't usurp control.
My understanding was that planet Hallas was under attack or some sort and that they were evactuating non combatants to safer areas. A Kilrathi troop trasport can hold a couple of thoughsand fully armed Kilrathi warriors... So it could hold at least as many 'civlians' or more especially in a pinch.
However it makes more sence that the entire Hallas clan couldn't be wiped out because they would be deployed in combat roles and such. It was his emmediate family that was lost (mother, father, siblins, children, leiges).
This is all very interesting...to me anyway. I'm not trying to pick it all apart, but I would love more detail into the "mans" life and try to get a timeline on his life.

As for honor... There are many different cultural differences. Different cultures (japan, america, middle east, russia, ect.) see as honor change with time and culture as times changes so does that interpritation of honor and we can change our ideas of what is honorable to suit the current situations and goals and. Typically war is fought because of differences in ideas or goals or fear of loosing your cultual identity to another...or simply out of survival or because you feel your culture is "better".

Is there ever going to be a sequal/prequal to the events after Action Stations? I know Forstchen said he would have loved to do another book but was offered little money to write it or other reasons. I would love to read more about the Gilkarg and the events after the opening days of the war. More importantly the events leading up to Gilkarg's death and Thakaths rise to power.

Please don't be mean guys, I thirst to know more about this stuff and while I have learned a bit it isn't as simple as reading a history book and getting a clear time line of personal events on a famouse historical figue. With WC you have to troll through everything and even then you have to sort out and decern events...and even then it's open to interpritation and it can be rather confusing to say the least. Yeah I know it's not A&E and it's not the biogrophy channel...
I'll go away now. :)
 
Nomad Terror said:
I like how you take a shot at the movie here while claiming that you're not going to.
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It's the presidential primary season rubbing off on me. :) Sorry, I know daring to criticize the movie raises ire around here. Leaving it alone now...

So Downtown doesn't figure into any of the other fiction about Hobbes background? I find that surprising, because in WC2 Hobbes makes it sound like Downtown was the central reason for his defection, and Downtown is extremely protective of Hobbes whenever anyone questions him. Which in turn gives more poignance to Downtown's death...
 
It's the presidential primary season rubbing off on me. Sorry, I know daring to criticize the movie raises ire around here. Leaving it alone now...
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Passive aggressive *still* isn't cute.

I'll get to the non me-banning-you part of this thread later.
 
Yeah, stop being stupid.
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Yes, I'm quoting myself. Take note: Wing Commander is *not* some kind of special exception to the rule that good storytelling and detailed continuity for nerds are anathema in practice. The fact is that we're just exceptionally good *fans* - we see Hobbes acting differently between Wing Commander II and III and are able to believe that that must have been intentional. I can name a million continuity 'errors'... but I'm not going to, because like a lot of remaining Wing Commander fans I have both a better grasp of proper criticism *and* a more personal interest in creating a single continuity than I do in pointing out flaws.

Here's the corollary: the fact that you don't like the movie doesn't make it some especially contradictory source; the fact that other people like it doesn't make it an especially well incorporated source. There are huge differences in the visual style and the 'bible' background between Wing Commander Prophecy and the movie... but they're pretty similar to the huge differences in those things between Wing Commander II and Wing Commander III.

But what happened here is all one step further. All of that discussion was academic... whereas what you did here was idiotic. Do you see what I did there? We're happy to argue about the movie, we're happy to not argue about the movie... what drives needles into my eye and makes me strangle you is the passive-aggressive well-I-know-better-and-I'll-let-everyone-else-know-it-while-pretending-I'm-also-above-I can't even finish this because the thought process itself makes me too angry. Just stop it. (It's just a two day ban, McGruff huggers.)

Do you understand now?

I haven't read Freedom Flight (I know, I know, I'll get to it someday), so I'm only going on the games here, but in WC2 doesn't Hobbes specifically say that the incident that pushed him to treason was saving a human child--Downtown?

Is there any information of how Thrakhath may have been involved in that?
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Downtown doesn't appear in Freedom Flight - he's not referenced anywhere and Ralgha even interacts with other human slaves (and seems to have no issues with their existence). This is often a point of confusion which a lot of people would assume was a continuity error. In actuality, though, Freedom Flight and Wing Commander II were written by the same woman... at the same time. They share so many very intricate connections that it would be highly unusual for this thread to have been abandoned.

Here's what happened: Wing Commander II doesn't mean to say (nor does it, specifically) that Downtown was the reason Ralgha *defected*. Rather, he rescued Downtown (and joined the Confederation) after he returned to Ghorah Khar with Paladin. It's the flashpoint that turns him from defecting Admiral into Confederation soldier. This would have been a second novel which was never written ('Freedom Run' - something like that), and other references to their adventures in the secret service are mentioned in WC2. Downtown even tells Blair that he's from Ghorah Khar when they first meet...

[
Or did anyone ever do a detailed biography of Hobbes? Yes he is a very well known charector in WC but there is always stuff we miss or overlook even when reading a book or playing a game over and over. As you can tell I misinterprited Hobbes' hrai for all of his clan since I interpreted "family" for hrai. Thinking that the entire Hallas clan was essentually killed on the transport... This did seem rather strange since the Kilrathi held several systems and youd think that being of "high birth" they'd have members of family in several systems including on Kilrah itself to ensure that the clan had influence so that competing clans didn't usurp control.
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I may have written a Hobbes biography at one point, but I don't think I ever published it anywhere. I distinctly recall sitting down and working out his 'early years' for somthing... but that may have just been a personal exercise. We could certainly fill one out together, if you're so inclined. He is, as you note, an interesting character...

My understanding was that planet Hallas was under attack or some sort and that they were evactuating non combatants to safer areas. A Kilrathi troop trasport can hold a couple of thoughsand fully armed Kilrathi warriors... So it could hold at least as many 'civlians' or more especially in a pinch.
However it makes more sence that the entire Hallas clan couldn't be wiped out because they would be deployed in combat roles and such. It was his emmediate family that was lost (mother, father, siblins, children, leiges).
This is all very interesting...to me anyway. I'm not trying to pick it all apart, but I would love more detail into the "mans" life and try to get a timeline on his life.
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I think your take on the story is accurate, but the scale is essentially unknown. Hobbes was a highly ranked member of the Hhallas family (I don't think how highly is ever specified). The accident killed the top level of the clan - the high royalty, their retainers, etc... but that's dozens or hundreds of people compared to a planetary population of billions who would be be part of the "Hhallas clan".

One of the things that's problematic is translating the Kilrathi words. "Hrai" will *always* mean close family... but "clan" can be used to refer to everything from a massive population to the specific people *ruling* the clan. Similarly, 'nar' basically means 'of', but with all sorts of honorificts and notations that we don't necessarily understand.

Is there ever going to be a sequal/prequal to the events after Action Stations? I know Forstchen said he would have loved to do another book but was offered little money to write it or other reasons. I would love to read more about the Gilkarg and the events after the opening days of the war. More importantly the events leading up to Gilkarg's death and Thakaths rise to power.
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It's doubtful that Dr. Forstchen would write another Wing Commander novel. There's no one currently licensing Wing Commander books and the fact that he's now a bestselling author means he's probably past the point in his career where he'd need to write them.

(The offered-too-little-money bit is actually unrelated - that's a story about the movie adaptation from HarperCollins, a separate publisher.)

As for whether or not one was ever considered... it's hard to say. The book certainly feels like it's setting up for an "Enyo Engagement" book upon a first read. But Dr. Forstchen denies that and over the years I've come to think that's right... the book is written as a prequel to Action Stations, not to start a new series of early war novels.
 
Never having been "banned" before (I guess I'm boring...) I'm not entirely sure what that means. Will this post vanish as soon as I try to post it? Will it go into limbo and the admins will see it? Will it get sent privately to the banner? Will I just spend a lot of time writing it and then get frustrated when I hit "Submit Reply" Sorry if trying to post is breaking some kind of rule...but I think this deserves some discussion, either on the open forums or privately between me and LOAF. Well, here goes.

Bandit LOAF said:
But what happened here is all one step further. All of that discussion was academic... whereas what you did here was idiotic. Do you see what I did there? We're happy to argue about the movie, we're happy to not argue about the movie... what drives needles into my eye and makes me strangle you is the passive-aggressive well-I-know-better-and-I'll-let-everyone-else-know-it-while-pretending-I'm-also-above-I can't even finish this because the thought process itself makes me too angry. Just stop it. (It's just a two day ban, McGruff huggers.)

Do you understand now?
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Not entirely, no.

I re-read my comments, and I guess that they did come across as a little snarky, so first let me apologize/clarify.

My first comment was a little tongue-in-cheek, stream-of-consciousness writing. I happen to not be a fan of the movie, and (as I have commented in other threads), feel that while nothing in it blatantly destroys continuity (at least, not with a little argument and/or retconning), I think that some of the creative staff could have either (a) done a better job listening to the right people or making certain decisions so as to not to require these arguments or retconning (little things, like not having it be Bossman who was killed in the beginning), or (b) just lived with the fact that a movie doesn't have to fit continuity from another medium and retelling the story differently is OK.

However, I've noticed that mentioning the movie and continuity tends to absorb a thread entirely with debate, and I was far more interested in talking about Hobbes and Thrakhath and Downtown just here. In hindsight, I shouldn't have mentioned it at all. But there was no passive aggressivism intended. I don't think I know better than you. I know there are people here for which Wing Commander is a much bigger passion than for me (although I love it), and who are far better informed about the process. All I did was let my dislike (and even that's a bit of strong word--I actually enjoyed the movie) for the movie slip in to a post, but then tried to change the subject. I'd love to discuss and debate in detail the issues I have with the movie...but not in this thread.

Then, in my second comment, I tried to lighten the mood..apparently unsuccessfully...with a little gentle, non-targeted political humor, which was apparently misinterpreted as well, and then tried to turn the subject back to what I wanted to talk about. I was intentionally trying NOT to threadjack, not to be smug or passive aggressive.

However, I take issue with your contention that"We're happy to argue about the movie". I have seen less experienced posters mention dislike, or even just confusion, about the movie's continuity (I think some of my first posts ever on this forum were along those lines), and have seen these poor souls ripped to shreds by more established posters on this site. Note that, as far as I can tell, I broke no forum rules, and made no attempt to be personally insulting, and yet dropping a comment about disliking the movie, in a way that came across a little more obnoxiously than I intended, was enough to stimulate a ban. Now I agree that some of the less experienced posters that show up attacking things are genuinely obnoxious, but others are not, and I feel that the aggressive tone against newcomers who question things may have driven some fans away from visiting again. And the issue comes up a lot--to many casual fans, the movie really does come across as being a totally different entitiy than the games, so when folks start quoting the movie in reference to game events, it is confusing.

Anway, I apologize for offending, and will be a little more cautious in the future about making remarks that come across as snarky and passive agressive, but I don't feel that arbitrarily silencing someone whenever they say something that offends is a pathway to open, interesting debate.

And back to the other topic, I'm fascinated to learn more about what we know about Downtown's past and what role Hobbes and Paladin played...
 
I just realized there is a spell check built into the BB... :D Now I really can see why you guys would get so pissed at me and my spelling. Gramer on the other hand... All I can do is promise to do my best there. :)

Skimming through the books and reading parts to make sure I didn't screw up the names too badly and trying to make decent 'argument' has brought up a renewed interest in re-reading the novels again and playing the games again and as BL suggested maybe trying to piece together Hobbes' life and see if there is a way to build a bio. Hobbes was one of the more interesting characters in Wing Commander. He had more depth then say a character like Maniac who bordered on insane/annoying at some points in the game. It wasn't until The Price of Freedom and later In Prophecy that you actually see a real person start to develop rather then just another loose cannon you didn't care to fly with. He was finally growing up I guess you would say.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
I would assume that the event was 'real' because... well, why wouldn't it be? It's something we only see discussed among Kilrathi (Hobbes even avoids telling Blair that his family is dead, at one point in WC2 - instead he vaguely says that they're 'safe') and Kirha seems to accept it without question (and it also effected him and presumably many others).
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I'd always taken that as his mother,father, siblings, etc were dead, but that his mate & children were safe. I'm not sure were I picked up that impression, though.
 
Howdy all,
I apologize for the delayed response - it's been a crazy few days here.

Never having been "banned" before (I guess I'm boring...) I'm not entirely sure what that means. Will this post vanish as soon as I try to post it? Will it go into limbo and the admins will see it? Will it get sent privately to the banner? Will I just spend a lot of time writing it and then get frustrated when I hit "Submit Reply" Sorry if trying to post is breaking some kind of rule...but I think this deserves some discussion, either on the open forums or privately between me and LOAF. Well, here goes.
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I unbanned you when I posted. But I'm always happy to talk about such things (or, even better, Wing Commander, in private).

My first comment was a little tongue-in-cheek, stream-of-consciousness writing. I happen to not be a fan of the movie, and (as I have commented in other threads), feel that while nothing in it blatantly destroys continuity (at least, not with a little argument and/or retconning), I think that some of the creative staff could have either (a) done a better job listening to the right people or making certain decisions so as to not to require these arguments or retconning (little things, like not having it be Bossman who was killed in the beginning), or (b) just lived with the fact that a movie doesn't have to fit continuity from another medium and retelling the story differently is OK.
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The problem is that one person's tongue-in-cheek is another person's obnoxious. It's *only* a reasonable remark to people who agree with you... and a bunch of people don't.

As for the rest of thing, I think it's a hard argument to make - would having the character who died before the movie be named something other than Bossman really have helped it in any way? It would have made the six guys who they actually intended to honor with the mention slightly less annoyed... but it wouldn't have made the story better or the movie more appealing to a larger audience. This is one of the reasons that critiquing the movie with fans is *very* difficult -- because the fact of the matter is that the things that would make it a better film aren't in any way similar to the things that would have made some Wing Commander fans a little happier.

However, I take issue with your contention that"We're happy to argue about the movie". I have seen less experienced posters mention dislike, or even just confusion, about the movie's continuity (I think some of my first posts ever on this forum were along those lines), and have seen these poor souls ripped to shreds by more established posters on this site. Note that, as far as I can tell, I broke no forum rules, and made no attempt to be personally insulting, and yet dropping a comment about disliking the movie, in a way that came across a little more obnoxiously than I intended, was enough to stimulate a ban. Now I agree that some of the less experienced posters that show up attacking things are genuinely obnoxious, but others are not, and I feel that the aggressive tone against newcomers who question things may have driven some fans away from visiting again. And the issue comes up a lot--to many casual fans, the movie really does come across as being a totally different entitiy than the games, so when folks start quoting the movie in reference to game events, it is confusing.
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The fact of the matter is that we're just really, really good at arguing -- and in all likelyhood we've seen whatever someone is trying to say about the movie before. But I've gone through the process hundreds and hundreds of times... I'm always happy to do it.

I just realized there is a spell check built into the BB... Now I really can see why you guys would get so pissed at me and my spelling. Gramer on the other hand... All I can do is promise to do my best there.
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Grammar... :) But in all seriousness, don't dwell on this. What we care about is whether or not someone is *trying* -- we're well aware that not everyone has a wall full of English degres. What bugs me is when people are clearly being lazy, even after being told that it's awful (no capital letters, u for you, etc.) It's just a simple matter of respect, and you're doing fine.

Hobbes was one of the more interesting characters in Wing Commander. He had more depth then say a character like Maniac who bordered on insane/annoying at some points in the game. It wasn't until The Price of Freedom and later In Prophecy that you actually see a real person start to develop rather then just another loose cannon you didn't care to fly with. He was finally growing up I guess you would say.
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I do disagree here -- I think Maniac is actually one of the most interesting and 'deepest' characters in Wing Commander. He's very unique in that he's both the comic relief *and* this deeper character where we see him grappling with his actions in the war and doing things like feigning insanity and putting on false bravado in response.

I'd always taken that as his mother,father, siblings, etc were dead, but that his mate & children were safe. I'm not sure were I picked up that impression, though.
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There's a point early in Freedom Flight in which Ralgha tells Hassa that perhaps they would have been better off remaining on Hhallas and raising children. It ends with one of my favorite Wing Commander lines: "Years ago, before politics and soldiering claimed my life, and the Lord Sivar claimed yours."

Anyway, the suggestion is that he chose the war over having a family.
 
When I played though SO1 (oh so many years ago) it struck me as a way for the devs to do 2 things:

1) Let the player fly the Crossbow though the expansion without needing to keep it on the roster for the next one (If the Kilrathi can examine it and compensate for its strengths and exploit its weaknesses what use is there for it to be mass produced.)

2) Give the Player a "ZOMG we got Prince Thrakhath" moment, without taking Thrakhath out of the war (probably a lot less interesting story lines if he was in a maximum security military cell on Terra).

Basically I thought they wanted to get Thrakhath into a Crossbow and give the player a thrill, but the only way they could do both was to have Thrakhath captured, and then subsequently escape. It never even occurred to me that the power failure was sabotage, I thought it was just a way for the writers to facilitate the Prince's escape with some plausibility (a deus-ex-machina in favor of Prince Thrakhath).

The way I always imagined it was:
Hobbes puts him in the cell; Thrakhath curses him out/shames him for betraying his people; the power fails; Thakhath strikes quickly at Hobbes (who's in deep self doubt); Thakhath contemplates killing Hobbes (torn between the ideas of killing a traitor and killing another Kilrathi); the emergency power comes on; Thakhath decides he doesn't have enough time to give Hobbes a fitting death and he aims for a higher priority target: a Terran prototype fighter; Thrakhath commandeers a Crossbow just as Hobbes gets to his feet and sounds the alarm.

Of course in retrospect there may be more levels to the whole "personality overlay" thing that was done to Hobbes which caused him to sabotage the Bonie Heather without knowing it.

Although, that's one other thing that always bothered me. Making Hobbes a sleeper agent seemed to undermine his character. To me he always seemed to exist on a very precious line between the Confederation and the Empire of Kilrah, and everything in WC2 and most of the beginning of WC3 pushed and pulled him between both sides.

Instead of someone who in the end, right or wrong, couldn't betray his people (or standby as his homeworld was destroyed) it turns out he was actually a spy sent in by the enemy. The Ralga "Hobbes" nar Hallas that we all knew just ceased to be and in his place was another enemy "ace" pilot. While the internal psychology of Hobbes at this point could have been very interesting we don't get any of that.
Even if you face Hobbes in a dogfight and watch the cut " Last message of Hobbes" it just comes off as a pretty shallow way to make Hobbes a traitor.

At least Jazz came off as borderline psychotic, Hobbes however went from "Its my duty to server the Confederation" to "Its my duty to server the Emperor." There was some small regret in his voice about him having to betray Blair, but he did it so efficiently and with such a cool demeanor that it just seemed like his loyalty switch was a simple on/off thing.
 
1) Let the player fly the Crossbow though the expansion without needing to keep it on the roster for the next one (If the Kilrathi can examine it and compensate for its strengths and exploit its weaknesses what use is there for it to be mass produced.)
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I don't think this was ever really a consideration - you may be projecting the fact that they were really interested in capturing a *Morningstar* onto the Crossbow. :)

The Crossbow actually enters ordinary service in the course of Special Ops 1 - Paladin says that Ghorah Khar has received the first production shipment of them (and then the Academy manual says they've become a standard weapon since then).

At least Jazz came off as borderline psychotic, Hobbes however went from "Its my duty to server the Confederation" to "Its my duty to server the Emperor." There was some small regret in his voice about him having to betray Blair, but he did it so efficiently and with such a cool demeanor that it just seemed like his loyalty switch was a simple on/off thing.
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That was the point in WC3, though - Hobbes was a fake personality which was switched 'off' by Thrakhath when he sent the 'Heart of the Tiger' message.
 
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