The history of General Grievous from the Star Wars franchise.
Background[]
Grievous' natural form before cybernetics.
Grievous was known as a fearsome warrior that has killed a countless number of people throughout the galaxy. Originally a Kaleesh warlord that hailed from the Kalee known as Qymaen jai Sheelal, the man who would later come to be known as General Grievous quickly became a feared force on the battlefield.
As a commander, Grievous lead his people to victory over those who had invaded their home. However, during the battle, he was involved in a violent crash when his speeder was destroyed, injuring and even mutilating his body. Despite this, Grievous' tactical prowess had attracted attention from the Sith Lords Emperor Palpatine and Count Dooku, who, with the help of the InterGalactic Banking Clan and the willing approval from Grievous himself, rebuilt Grievous as a cyborg to become more powerful. The cyborg body included versatile mechanized extremities, leaving only a select few internal organs as well as his eyes, brain, heart, and lungs organic.
Dooku trained Grievous in the ways of the Sith and Jedi (despite Grievous being neither), especially in the art of lightsaber combat. Grievous excelled in his mastery of the weapon, leading it to become one of his primary weapons aside from his blaster sidearm.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars[]
Grievous speaking with Dooku aboard the Malevolence.
During the war, Grievous is put in command of the Separatist warship called the Malevolence, a Subjugator-class heavy cruiser that possesses two powerful mega-ion cannons capable of obliterating entire Republic fleets on both the starboard side and port side of the ship. Grievous destroys several fleets while in command of the Malevolence, even Jedi General Plo Koon eventually taking a fleet to deal with Grievous, but his fleet is no match for the Malevolence 's ion cannon. Koon and a few of his troops survive but sre faced with ships sent by Grievous to destroy the Republic escape pods. Koon and his men are eventually rescued by Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker who then delivered news of the weapons to the Republic.
Count Dooku later gives Grievous permission to attack a Republic medical station ran by Nala Se in the Kaliida Nebula. However, upon arrival, Anakin and a fleet of Republic ships emerge from hyperspace to defend the medical station and destroy the Malevolence. Grievous has no choice but to engage Anakin's fleet in battle, and then aim the ion cannon at the medical station and order his droids to open fire. Before they can fire, however, the Republic fleet attack and disable the ion cannon and cause it to explode, even damaging the hyperdrive, angering Grievous. Grievous demands his Battle Droids to repair both the ion cannon and hyperdrive immediately, which they comply to.
Eventually,Obi-Wan Kenobi , a Jedi that Grievous faced countless times throughout the war, attacks the Malevolence with a fleet of three Star Destroyers, including the Resolute, Anakin's flagship. The general orders that they jump to hyperspace so they will be safe in Separatist controlled space but a Battle Droid tells Grievous that the hyperdrive took some damage during the attack. Contacted by Dooku, the Sith Lord is informed by the cyborg that the Malevolence has taken heavy damage from the destruction of the weapon, which leads to Dooku informing Grievous that the Naboo Senator, Senator Padmé Amidala is on-route to the battle that she is unknowingly heading to, where the general will capture her and cause the Republic to stop firing on the warship, though Amidala suggests that they continue their attack and destroy it once and for all.
Grievous dueling with Obi-Wan aboard the Malevolence.
However, Padmé Amidala overloads her ship's engines to self-destruct to destroy the cyborg general, instead taking two Battle Droids with it as Grievous survives and begins searching for the senator. He is eventually informed that the damage that was dealt to the hyperdrive was not as bad as once thought and that they will be able to repair it and get underway shortly.
Anakin and Obi-Wan eventually arrive on board the Malevolence to rescue the Senator and C-3PO so the Republic ships can continue firing upon the monstrous warship. The Jedi split-up and learn from Padmé that the Battle Droids are almost finished repairing the hyperdrive, which prompts Obi-Wan to go to the hyperdrive control room and sabotage it to delay their escape and buy the Republic more time for another nearby Republic fleet led by Jedi Master Luminara Unduli to reinforce them after she finishes fighting Separatist forces in a battle nearby the Kaliida Nebula. However, Kenobi is ambushed by a small squad of Battle Droids and his nemesis and is forced to escape from the room without sabotaging the hyperdrive and Grievous tells his droids to guard the hyperdrive before he pursued the Jedi.
After the Malevolence is destroyed, Grievous secretly plans a surprise attack on the cloning facilities of Kamino with Asajj Ventress, where they will end the production of clone troopers to be victorious in the war, so Grievous sends a squad of new Separatist Battle Droids, BX-series droid commandos, to the Republic listening post on the Rishi Moon and keep the all-clear signal active to succeed in the attack on Kamino without the Republic knowing until it is too late. However, Hevy, Echo, Fives, Cutup, Droidbait, Sergeant O'Niner, Nub and the other clones that maintain the base, fight back against the droids with the help of Commander Cody and Captain Rex, though some of the clones are killed at the beginning of the attack, including O'Niner, Droidbait and Nub.
Grievous leading his forces to attack Bothawui.
Grievous' next target is the planet Bothawui, which houses a Republic intelligence center so the Jedi Council dispatch Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano, with a newly-christened fleet of Venator-class Star Destroyers to stop the cyborg. Grievous cuts the Jedi out of their hyperlanes and engages the Jedi three times in open space before Skywalker and his fleet escape and take a direct course to Bothawui. Grievous flees from his ship in Soulless One, a Belbullab-22 starfighter and is pursued by Skywalker but Grievous is able to jump to hyperspace and retreat away from the battle due to Skywalker's fighter crashing into debris, destroying his fighter.
Grievous dueling with Ahsoka.
Grievous confronts Tano and her clone squad on a listening post after ordering his IG-100 MagnaGuards to guard R2-D2. The general kills all the clones aside from Rex and Denal but Ahsoka defends herself against Grievous's blows and retreats to a room filled with spare droid parts to hide. However, R3-S6 (secretly an implanted Astromech working for the Separatists) gives her away so Grievous destroys her comlink but she manages to escape through a vent.
Grievous dueling Vebb and Fisto.
Upon his arrival at his fortress on the third moon of Vassek, Grievous is confronted by Jedi Master Kit Fisto and Jedi Knight Nahdar Vebb along with their squad of clones, who are led there by a homing device that is attached to a Consular-class cruiser that was stolen by Asajj Ventress to escape with the Viceroy Nute Gunray. However, they were misled to the Moon by the homing beacon and the Viceroy is safe elsewhere. Suddenly, Count Dooku appears on a hologram and indirectly mentions that Nute Gunray indeed somewhere else in the galaxy and also indirectly proclaims that the Separatists' second-in-command, General Grievous, is an alternative for the Viceroy of the Trade Federation. Soon thereafter, a door is activated by a button that was remotely pressed by the Sith Lord, revealing a room that contains statues of Grievous' transformation into a cyborg and at least 15 Jedi Padawan braids, showing the Jedi how many members from the Jedi Order were murdered by Grievous.
After entering his fortress, Grievous calls out for Gor, a Roggwart which he considers his pet, and is confronted by the Jedi and Clone troopers. He quickly engages his intruders but loses his legs to Fisto although he still manages to kill a few clones with his legs cut off and proceeds to escape to the fortress' control room. Once there, he is repaired by EV-A4-D, his droid doctor who he asks the droid what happened to his bodyguards and was told that for recharge, they were remotely deactived, leading the droid to assume that his master was the one who deactivated them and Grievous immediately reactivats them and orders them to secure the perimeter of his fortress. Fisto asks the clones that are guarding the ship, Niner and Bel, to send a transmission to the Republic to bring reinforcements to Vassek 3, although they are killed inside the Nu-class attack shuttle after one of Grievous' MagnaGuards destroys the shuttle with a rocket launcher.
Grievous leaves the intruders at the mercy of his pet Roggwart, Gor, before being contacted by Dooku, who confirms to Grievous that this is a test for him since his defeats had shaken Dooku's faith in the general. Grievous decides to play along and Fisto and Vebb soon find the entrance to Grievous' control room. As they try to sneak in though, Vebb chooses to confront Grievous instead, despite Fisto trying to convince him otherwise. In the midst of their argument, EV-A4-D locks Fisto away from Vebb and the Jedi defeats all five of Grievous' guards.
Grievous fighting Fisto, despite missing a hand.
Vebb proceeds to attack Grievous, but the general killed the young Jedi by pulling a blaster on him as they fought. Grievous engaged Fist in combat, but he started to gain the upper hand until some of Grievous' MagnaGuards arrived, turning the odds against him. As R6-H5 arrives with his starfighter, Fisto escaps and returns to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Grievous eventually captures Jedi Master, Eeth Koth, and then contacts the Jedi Temple. In his message, he declares his victory over the Jedi to show one of the MagnaGuards torturing Koth promising that the Jedi Master's death will be slow, much to the horror of the Jedi watching.
Grievous dueling Eeth Koth.
However, Plo Koon and Commander Wolffe notice a coded message made by hand gestures of Koth, which is decoded by Obi-Wan, telling them that Grievous is in the Saleucami system. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Adi Gallia thus depart to rescue Eeth Koth and capture Grievous; Kenobi entering the Separatist ship and fighting the MagnaGuards and eventually Grievous. Count Dooku secretly instructs General Grievous to order a group of explosive droids disguised as sanitary units on Coruscant to conduct sabotage on Coruscant power generator. Grievous contacts the droids and orders them to proceed with the units being successful in making the Republic deregulate the banks.
Grievous with Ventress during the invasion of Kamino.
After the destruction of the moon post on Rishi, General Grievous and Asajj Ventress plan another attack on the cloning facilities on Kamino Grievous attacks the barracks to kill all the clones he can find there, while Ventress heads for the main DNA storage to grab the prime DNA sample of the clones' template. Grievous ordered his droids to throw the other clones out of there but was confronted by Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the two engaged in a lightsaber duel. Grievous escapes with Ventress when a Trident-class assault craft unit breaks the platform they are fighting on.
Soon afterwards, Grievous suffers a humiliating defeat when he attempts to invade Naboo. Jar Jar Binks (posing as Gungan Boss Lyonie) distracts Grievous in a series of negotiations long enough for the Gungan Army to shut down Grievous's invasion force. As Grievous pursues Jar Jar, he slaughters many Gungan Grand Army soldiers but General Tarpals intervens and engages Grievous in a duel. Although he is mortally wounded by the cyborg, Tarpals impals Grievous through his chest which allows the Gungan Army to bombard the wounded general with energized projectiles and capture him. However, Grievous is freed in a prisoner exchange with Skywalker between Dooku and Padmé Amidala.
Grievous dueling Ventress on Dathomir.
After Savage Opress' trumpery, Grievous is ordered by Count Dooku to wipe out Asajj Ventress, Mother Talzin, and her fellow Nightsisters on Dathomir. Grievous takes a Separatist Fleet to Dathomir and lands his forces whi successfully defeat the Nightsisters, with Grievous himself killing Old Daka while Mother Talzin escaps through the use of her magics. The Separatists are unable to capture or kill Asajj Ventress, who also escapes.
After forcing Kenobi to a retreat on Floruum, Grievous and his forces take Hondo Ohnaka's base as retribution for previously holding Dooku to ransom. Grievous prepares to board the Jedi's speeder tank, which forces R2 to execute some risky maneuvers in an attempt to shake him off. However, this move leaves the tank crashed instead. The stunned Jedi recover just as Grievous moves in for the kill when Ohnaka's escape ship, the rebuilt Slave I, arrives on the scene to pick him up. Ahsoka sends her youngling charges to the craft and engages Grievous in combat to cover their escape. She then barely escapes onto the ship on her own, and before Hondo has a chance to properly repay Grievous for his cordiality, though two Armored Assault Tanks soon forces them to withdraw from the planet and forces Hondo into heading for Coruscant, where he returns Ahsoka and the younglings to the Jedi Temple, their home.
Star Wars: Darth Maul—Son of Dathomir[]
Grievous appears as a major character in the four-part comic series, Son of Dathomir, an unproduced story arc intended for The Clone Wars season six.
The cyborg general is sent by Dooku to hunt down the rogue Sith Lord Darth Maul, who has become a significant threat to Palpatine' plans. Grievous is ordered to only wound Maul's forces, but not kill him; this is in order to draw out Mother Talzin, who is later revealed to be Maul's blood mother. Though he thinks it foolish to keep Maul alive, Grievous does as he is told. He takes a huge army of droids to Zanbar and attacks Maul's army of Death Watch warriors. Despite heavy casualties, Grievous' droids ultimately win the battle. During the battle, Grievous briefly fights Maul and wins, forcing him to flee. Later, Grievous and Dooku are lured into a trap by Maul and his minions and are taken prisoner in order to draw out Palpatine. However, Grievous soon escapes and rejoins Palpatine, who orders Grievous to attack Dathomir again, where Maul and Talzin are planning using Dooku as a sacrifice to restore Talzin to full strength. Palpatine fights Talzin while Grievous duels Maul again. Maul eventually overpowers Grievous and Force-pushes him through a wall. Grievous quickly reappears, however, and after Palpatine and Dooku have subdued Talzin (who has thrown Maul out of the battle to save his life), Grievous stabs her through the chest with his lightsabers, killing her.
Episode Appearances[]
| Appearances on The Show |
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Season One[]
Season Two[]
Season Three[]
Season Four[]
Season Five[]
Legacy[]
Season Seven[]
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Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith[]
Near the end of the war, General Grievous leads a daring mission in the kidnapping of Chancellor Palpatine in the Battle of Coruscant under the orders of Count Dooku and Darth Sidious. Keeping his prisoner in the custody of Dooku aboard his flagship, Grievous is unsurprised when Obi-Wan and Anakin arrive to stage a rescue. The Jedi prove victorious, with Anakin killing Dooku and freeing the Chancellor, but are soon apprehended by Grievous’ droids. Brought before him, Grievous takes their lightsabers, boasting that they will make a fine addition to his collection.
Thanks to some of R2-D2’s clever trickery however, the Jedi regain their weapons and corner the droid army leader. In a last-second move, Grievous shatters the bridge viewport and escapes into space via an escape pod. Grievous heads for a major Separatist base on Utapau where, speaking with Darth Sidious, he is assured that the war is coming to an end, and the Separatists will be victorious. Still, it proves to be short-lived comfort for the walking terror as Obi-Wan soon arrives with a battalion of clones, and the Battle of Utapau begins.
General Grievous duels Obi-Wan on Utapau
The General and Obi-Wan duel and, despite wielding four lightsabers at once, Grievous is dismembered and once again tries to flee. Obi-Wan gives chase, and the two eventually fight in a knock-down drag-out fist fight.
Grievous' demise.
The Jedi had lost his lightsaber and finds himself dangling from a cliff, and Grievous appears to have the upper hand. As the General menacingly lurched forward however, ready to deliver the final blow, Obi-Wan uses the Force to draw Grievous' blaster into his hand. He shoots Grievous in the chest, five times, igniting what remains of his organic matter which burns General Grevious from the inside out and he burns to death screaming in agony. Afterwards, Grevious collapses dead; marking the end of the scourge of the Jedi Order and avenging the countless Jedi that he killed.
Legacy[]
Karbin's cybernetics were said to have been inspired by the late Grievous.
Years after Grievous' death, a Mon Calamari named Karbin was modified with cybernetic enhancements by an Imperial researcher named Cylo, who intended to create people such as Karbin to replace Darth Vader as the Emperor's new apprentice but will be killed by Vader himself. In Karbin's case, he was modified after the late Grievous. After the Battle of Endor, it was implied that when building Mister Bones, Temmin Wexley had use some of Grievous' programming to create him.
Overall role in the plan of the Sith[]
Palpatine, who was actually in control of Grievous, intentionally had the General perform horrible war-crimes throughout the war, such as brutal bombings of civilian world's and the use of chemical warfare, that would strike fear into the hearts of the public. This would help the civilians accept the new role of Galactic Empire, that would protect them from future threats like him. Grievous, like most of the key most Separatist-leaders, was also a non-human, which helped the Empire's humans-first policy, as so many of the war-criminals were non-humans. Grievous was continually used in Imperial propaganda as a reminder for the horror's of the war, and many rebellions were often compared to the late general's achievements in the news.