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I know you missed my profiles (or at least I believe so Tongue)
Sorry for the delay in coming back to the profiles but now back to business with Thaddeus Marik.

My main sources are House Marik Sourcebook (HMSB), Handbook House Marik (HHM) and the Star League Sourcebook (SLSB).

As always, first some facts.
Thaddeus Marik is the second son of Kenyon Marik and was born in 2755.
He became Captain-General in 2804 and died in 2821 in one of the last battles of the 1st Succession War on Dieudonné..
His stats in The Succession Wars Game are Combat 1, Military 1, Administration 3, which would indicate an able politician but a bad military leader (the same as his father)..


An experienced admiral, he served on the Steiner front for 15 years prior becoming Captain-General and favoured fleet assaults during his later campaigns. “Naval battles were commonplace as the two forces jockeyed for position; Thaddeus had served as Fleet Admiral for the Lyran front since 2789 and favored such operations.” (HHM)
He seems to favour commanding from the front as he was endangered in at least one operation and was leading another one when his father died.
“A year later, a Free Worlds’ assault on Hesperus, newly acquired by the Lyrans, never even made it into the atmosphere. Instead, a bloody naval engagement wrecked the fleets of both sides. Fleet Admiral Thaddeus Marik, who headed the task force, was lucky to escape.” (HHM)
“He was informed of his father’s death during the reduction of a Steiner stronghold, and remained long enough to complete the operation.” (HMSB)

He fought the politicians just prior him becoming Captain-General and after that but with his own weapons.
“Thaddeus’ ascension had not come without its problems. Resolution 288 remained in effect, but Parliament sought to regain its powers and had considerable support from provincial leaders such as Carter Allison of Oriente. Returning from the front upon learning of his father’s death (though not before completing his task in Steiner space), Thaddeus interrupted parliamentary deliberations and presented his authority as granted by Resolution288. Parliament balked when they saw the battalion of troops accompanying him, but recognized the threat to themselves if they failed to comply. Support for the continuance of Resolution 288 was not unanimous, however. In a game of bloody brinkmanship, Marik withdrew the FWLM from Oriente, the home province of his chief opponent, leaving only house troops to guard against Liao incursions.” (HHM)
He was also the first one to ask an oath of loyalty from the Marik Guard.
“In a tradition established by Thaddeus Marik in 2804, every new Marik receives a renewal of a personal oath of loyalty.” (HMSB)

He led several military operations, increasing the tempo of the operations. “Under Thaddeus’ reign,
the tempo of the conflict increased” (HHM)
He also knew the value of surprise or calculated withdrawals. “Thaddeus Marik, who had succeeded his father in 2804, had little choice but to abandon the Thumb worlds and rationalize his realm’s borders with the Commonwealth.” or “His political objective gained, Marik finally moved against the Liao raiders, surprising CCAF troops who had in two prior campaigns come to regard Oriente as a soft target. The unexpected challenge to their third invasion, and the bloody counterattack, forced the Liao troops onto the defensive once more.” (HHM)

However, his most successful operations were on the Capellan front and he focused more on counter-attacks than on offensive operations (and this in spite of the decreasing interest in capturing any planets).
“Thaddeus Marik’s 17 years as Captain-General of the Free Worlds were extremely violent, marked by the frequent enemy incursions into Free Worlds space and a vast commitment of military and economic resources to counterattacks. The bitter rivalry between the League and the Lyran Commonwealth caused vast destruction along the border, taking an especially heavy toll on the two states’ jump capable fleets. While the success along the Capellan front was markedly better, all the victors had to show for their efforts was shattered factories, bombed-out cities, and depressurized orbital facilities.” (HMSB)


Now that we had a better knowledge of what he did, what can we learn from it?
As with every other profile I write, the lines below are merely my opinions and as such can be wrong, ignored and so on.

First, I disagree with his stats as he seems to have been a cunning politician and general. “The new Marik, a brilliant strategist as well as politician” (HMSB)
However the costs of each campaign seems to have increased. “Under Thaddeus’ reign, the tempo of the conflict increased, as did the cost in lives and materiel.” (HMSB) indicating either a decrease in the quality of the average soldier or a preference of Thaddeus for direct operations.
“Though the Marik forces accounted for many fighter kills, they could not hit one DropShip or JumpShip. The unexpected loss of men and materiel (Thaddeus had expected to take three planets before meeting any enemy resistance) forced the Marik to call the offensive to a halt.” (HMSB)
This would tend to favour the first hypothesis but would also decrease the “genius” of Thaddeus as he wasn't able to give his troops objectives they could reach.

It is quite likely that he went through the only Aerospace School of the Free Worlds League, the Lloyd-Marik-Stanley Aerospace School.

He knew how to act quickly and seemed to believe in the end justify the means approach.
His reaction after his father's death is a good proof of that: first, he finished the operations, then moved against the Parliament with a “coup d'état” (how else would you call a Company of BattleMasters pointing their weapons at the MP?) and then he left Oriente, a stronghold of opposition, alone in front of the might of House Liao until they accepted his terms.

He was ruthless, prone to burst of anger but in the end with some sense of justice.
“Thaddeus Marik was enraged when he heard of Marley’s action. He ordered the Viscount stripped of all titles, lands, and property, and ordered that no one on the planet Chertan ever give him another job. […] The final irony is that Thaddeus, once his initial anger had passed, might have been willing to reconsider his pronouncement, but the Captain-General was killed soon there-after.” (HMSB)