General Grievous
General Grievous (born Qymaen jai Sheelal) is a villain from the fictional Star Wars universe. He first appeared in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, although he soon appeared in a film as well. Although he was voiced by John DiMaggio in Chapter 20 of Cartoon Network's animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars, Richard McGonagle took over the voicing of Grievous for the rest of the micro series, and Matthew Wood voiced Grievous in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Dark Horse began publishing a four-part comic book about General Grievous in March 2005.
He is a general of the Confederacy of Independent Systems' army and an enemy of the Republic, especially the Jedi. Though a member of the Kaleesh species, his physical body is a fusion of a powerful robotic structure and an organic brain, nervous system and sensory organs.
Grievous was a Jedi hunter, killing them for sport and collecting their lightsabers to proudly place around his belt as trophies and use them in his battles. The general possessed strategic ingenuity and flawless cunning. He was a general in the Separatist army and became their leader upon Count Dooku's death at the hands of Anakin Skywalker.
Biography
Transformation into a Cyborg
General Grievous was originally a warlord on his native planet Kalee. During those days, he was highly respected as a leader and a husband to many wives as well as a father to many children.
The Kaleesh had conquered the land and seas of their planet, and displayed pride in their superiority by wearing masks cobbled from the bones of their most feared animals, the mumuu and the karabbac. Warrior families would hand down these bone masks from generation to generation, adorning it with fresh blood prior to every hunt or campaign. Grievous wore such a mask in his battle against the hated Huks, a neighboring species. He weathered countless close calls as he unleashed destruction on Kalee's enemies. He would return home to his wives and offspring, bloodied but emboldened, ready for battle again. (StarWars.com [1])
During the war with the rival Huk worlds, the Galactic Republic was called in to settle the dispute. Because the Huk were rich in resources compared to the barren Kalee world, the Republic sided with the Huk and sent several Jedi Knights to attack the Kaleesh. Grievous and his armies were defeated and his homeworld was left in ruins, to suffer in poverty and shame of defeat. Grievous lost everything he held dear.
During these extremely harsh times, Grievous became a security chief for the Intergalactic Banking Clan. San Hill, leader of the Clan, noticed that Grievous was both a brilliant strategist and an excellent fighter, and mentioned him to the Confederacy of Independent Systems leader, Count Dooku (secretly the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus). Led by Darth Sidious, the Sith Lords conspired to draw Grievous into the Separatist army. Despite Hill's generous offers, however, Grievous refused to lead the Separatist army.
Sidious, Dooku, and Hill arranged to have a bomb planted on the shuttle Grievous was on, and to blame it on the Republic. Grievous was mortally wounded in the crash, kept alive by Dooku's dark-side powers; and his shattered, dying body was taken to the planet Geonosis, where his brain, eyes, and other organs were to be implanted into a droid body forged by Geonosians that would complement his natural reflexes. After much resistance from the still-conscious Grievous - a warrior of his status, he felt, should die on the field of battle - the metamorphosis was complete.
The suit, built of Durasteel and armorplast-plated Duranium, was built to resemble Krath war droids. His armorplast plates were strong enough to stop a bolt from even a starfighter's laser cannon. Each human-sized hand had six fingers (three to each half-arm when they split to produce four arms.) His hands and feet were capable of magnetizing when needed, allowing him to grip on to surfaces with incredible strength, even in zero gravity.
His internal organs were enclosed in a layer of pressurized synthflesh with an organic fluid to prevent the organs from being damaged by bacteria and harmful germs, and also to maintain a suitable temperature to keep his organs alive and functional. His organs were nourished by artificial arteries keeping them alive with blood, allowing him to survive in a vacuum (in space, for example), an advantage he would display in escaping from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker on his flagship. This transformation, when combined with his ruthlessness as a warlord, turned him from a courageous leader with love and a family into an unfeeling, implacable killing machine, incapable of any emotion other than blood-lust and anger.
Grievous had a newfound rage at the Republic that had destroyed his homeworld, as well as (he believed) caused his shuttle crash, destroying his flesh body. This, coupled with the feeling of gratitude toward the Separatists for saving his life, and the modifications that Banking Clan scientists made to his brain while he was unconscious made him more than willing to take up Hill's offer and agree to lead the Separatist troops throughout the Galaxy against the Republic.
The Clone Wars
During the Clone Wars, Grievous was particularly enraged toward the Jedi; he made it a personal goal to hunt them down and humiliate each Jedi by defeating them and keeping their lightsabers as his personal prize. Grievous resented the Jedi having sided with the Huk in the earlier wars. Although the bio-droid general was completely incapable of using the Force, he instead relied on his skills as augmented by his lightning fast reflexes and the multijointed limbs of his mechanical body. In addition to his bodily modifications, General Grievous was trained in lightsaber combat by Count Dooku. Although Dooku detested the cyborg military leader, Grievous still became his right hand man, and as such not only learned his secret identity (Darth Tyranus), but becomes second only to the Sith (Darth Tyranus & Darth Sidious) in the chain of command of the Clone Wars.
General Grievous was active from the very beginning of the Clone Wars. His existence was kept secret, however, since no Jedi had escaped his presence alive. He was inside the catacombs of Geonosis during the Battle of Geonosis. It was there that he would kill his first Jedi, although the exact numbers are not known. It was his rear-guard actions in the catacombs against the clone troopers and Jedi that would allow Nute Gunray and the rest of the Separatist leadership to flee with their lives. The Jedi who would later find their dead comrades thought that perhaps it was a wild animal that had torn them apart. They found it unusual, however, that all of the dead Jedi were missing their lightsabers.
Grievous first revealed himself to the public when he attacked and dispatched a team of seven Jedi Knights in an aggressive display of lightsaber mastery during the Battle of Hypori. With his mechanical enhancements and attributes combined, he was able to battle five Jedi single-handedly. Only three survived the onslaught. The Separatist general began the swift conquest of several Outer Rim planets, much to the dismay of the Republic. Time after time, Grievous's ability to strategize attack plans with brilliant ideas and destructive results made the Republic's star fleet commanders fearful of his abilities and talents. Grevious led the assault into the inner systems, along the Corellian Trade Spine, conquering world after world.
The General would go on to best many other Jedi Knights and Masters with his swordsmanship. Jedi Master Mace Windu battled General Grievous and the match ended in a stalemate with neither fighter being able to best the other. Additionally, sophisticated computers slaved to Grievous' organic brain assisted the cyborg in perceiving patterns within his opponents attacks. They would then suggest that Grievous alter his stance and posture, along with the angle of his parries, ripostes, and thrusts accordingly. However, within Grievous's impenetrable defense, Windu was able to discern a single shatterpoint: a lack of appreciation for simplicity. It was for this reason that Windu supported the decision to allow Obi-Wan Kenobi, with his direct and no-frills saber style, to apprehend the General on Utapau.
Battle of Coruscant
Grievous would later resurface during the Battle of Coruscant, using the first wave of his attack as a distraction to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine (who, unbeknownst to Grievous, was Sidious in his civilian disguise). In the process, he intercepted the Jedi escorting Palpatine, killed Foul Moudama and Roron Corobb, and trussed up Shaak Ti with cables, who he laters executes in a corridor on his command ship in front of Jedi Master Obi-Wan and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker. Grievous responded that if the Republic fleet did not allow his forces to escape, he would execute Palpatine live on the HoloNet. Although almost apprehended by Mace Windu, Grievous finally made his escape from Coruscant with the Chancellor, but not before Windu performs a Force Crush on Grievous' chest plates. In Revenge of the Sith, Grevious is seen to be wheezing and coughing, unable to breathe properly, as a result of Windu's attack.
Subsequently, Grievous was cornered by Kenobi and Skywalker onboard his vessel, the Invisible Hand. Skywalker and Kenobi were taken prisoner, but escaped and confronted Grievous. Once the cyborg realized that he was cornered, he cleverly escaped by smashing a window on the ship and allowing himself to be sucked into the vacuum of space.
MagnaGuards
Grievous traveled with his droid bodyguards, a set of IG-100 series MagnaGuards, who wielded electrostaffs made of phrik alloy, which could defend against most weapons, including lightsabers. This is the first time Star Wars fans have seen a non-lightsaber weapon that can withstand the cutting power of a lightsaber itself in a movie (an expanded universe substance called cortosis also exists).
Fighting Technique
Grievous' movements imitated those of Monkey Kung Fu in his stance and general lightsaber control. Not only could he produce an extra pair of arms, he could use his feet as hands. His unorthodox moves mainly involved misdirection with his many limbs, something only the most experienced and talented of Jedi could withstand. Much of this misdirection involved releasing a lightsaber from one limb and catching it with another, sometimes even while two other limbs are performing the same trick. The opponent, focused on limbs which are no longer dangerous, was then struck. A Jedi master of defensive lightsaber training could only last so long against the General's unpredictable style of combat. The Clone Wars animated series also clearly displayed the anxiety Grievous creates for the Jedi both with his stealth tactics and relentless, unforgiving technique with a lightsaber.
Weakness
Grievous' only recognized weakness in battle was his inability to use the Force. He was not a Jedi or a Sith, and he had no Force wielding capabilities. His lightsaber style was only enhanced by his experienced fighting techniques, the computers connected to his brain, and the lightsaber fighting styles taught by Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus. Unlike the Jedi Knights and Masters, Grievous could not use the Force to guide his lightsaber or to foresee potential dangers in a duel.
In the Battle of Hypori, the Knights facing Grievous started to use the Force to project items towards the General as to avoid lightsaber combat. Grievous had no problem deflecting and dodging the projectiles, but the Knights noticed the General's lack of response; he wasn't trying to hit them from afar with projectiles. He couldn't use the Force.
During the Battle of Coruscant, Grievous was assigned the task of capturing Chancellor Palpatine (Grievous was unaware of the Chancellor's true identity). The General overcame three Jedi protectors to escape with the future Emperor. However, when he tried to escape, Jedi Master Mace Windu dealt him a crippling blow by using the Force to crush his chest.
Under the control of Dooku
Grievous commanded the droid armies of the Separatists under Darth Sidious and Count Dooku. During the Clone Wars, Grievous was continuously hunted by the Republic and the Jedi. He managed to narrowly escape each time. When Grievous fought in the Clone Wars, he suffered no defeats during any battle in which he was directly in command of the CIS, or tampered with by Palpatine.
Relationship with Viceroy Gunray
It was Viceroy Nute Gunray who paid the highly expensive cost of rebuilding General Grievous, and when the Viceroy was first introduced to the General he made the mistake of treating him as another droid. Grievous deeply resented being treated as just another droid, and disliked Viceroy Gunray instantly. Gunray opposed Grievous shortly before the Battle of Utapau, making note of the escape of Chancellor Palpatine and the death of Count Dooku, and informing the General that he doubted his ability to keep the council safe. Grievous quickly dismissed Gunray and sent him to Mustafar. Ironically, Gunray outlived Grievous (though not by long).
The Invisible Hand, General Grievous' command ship, was originally intended for Viceroy Nute Gunray's use. However, Count Dooku gave the ship to Grievous, adding to the hostility between the general and viceroy.
Battle of Utapau
While on the planet of Utapau, Grievous was ambushed by Kenobi. Faced with another true master of the Force, Grievous showed his four arms and engaged Kenobi in combat, but Grievous lost two of his hands and fled the battle after a Republic ambush. Kenobi pursued Grievous as scores of battle droids and clone troopers clashed around them. The pair engaged in a desperate bout of hand-to-hand combat as Grievous attempted to flee in his personal wheel-bike transport. Grievous, being made mostly of hard durasteel, fared more than well against Kenobi's humanoid body. However, Kenobi was able to expose Grievous' internal organs by opening his breastplates and destroyed them with a few well placed, but uncivilized, blaster bolts, killing him.
Fall of the Republic
Unbeknownst to Kenobi, however, Palpatine had instituted Order 66, a command to all clone troopers to turn on and kill their Jedi generals. The resulting purge ended in the murders of essentially all Jedi, (except notably Kenobi, Yoda, and Echuu Shen-Jon, and Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader). All of this may not have been possible without Grievous' efforts on behalf of the Separatists, which Palpatine used as an excuse to gradually solidify his power and erase nearly all opposition.
On His Failure to Defeat Obi Wan
Fans of Grievous on several Star Wars forums, including theforce.net, have theorized that the loss to Obi-Wan Kenobi should not be attributed solely to the Jedi Master's lightsaber skills, but rather to the fact that Grievous was rendered practically immobile after his encounter with Mace Windu on Coruscant. General Grievous, as featured in the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoons, is a highly mobile killer, who relies on his quick reflexes and agility to overcome opponents. This theory holds weight when observing General Grievous's performance in the Clone Wars series, in which he outmaneuvers and destroys Republic forces with relative ease, contrasting with Revenge of the Sith, in which General Grievous relies on four lightsabers to overwhelm Obi-Wan. During the battle on Utapau, Grievous has apparently lost his ability to jump several feet in the air and his ability to run. His wet hacking cough appears to negatively affect his reflexes.
By the time Obi-Wan is facing Grievous, he is no longer the stealthy, agile opponent able to rely on two lightsabers that he was against previous Jedi opponents. Instead, Grievous attempts to quickly finish Obi-Wan with four lightsabers and, as a result, loses two arms in combat.
However, some fans disregard this theory as the Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-series, while canon, exaggerates the performance of major characters. For example, Mace Windu is depicted destroying a seismic tank using a tactic that involves Force Jumping 50 feet into the air, while Grievous is shown leaping nearly 100 feet to reach the ceiling of an Acclamator Class Assault Ship from the ground.
Another theory involves the differences between the combat of Obi and the other Jedi Grievous faces. In the Clone Wars micro-series, Dooku informs the cyborg in training that he needs three things to defeat the best of the Jedi. "Surprise, fear, and intimidation." Since all these were lacking in his fight against Obi-Wan; Obi-Wan ambushes Grievous instead.
In the novelization of the film, Mace Windu indicates that Obi-Wan Kenobi, with his absolute mastery of the defensive Soresu style of lightsaber combat, is the ideal agent to be sent to destroy Grievous. A barrage of lightsaber attacks from a non-force user like Grievous, even in close quarters, proved ineffective for the droid general. Despite Grievous' combat training mechanisms which serve to overcome an opponents patterns, Kenobi's perfect mastery of Soresu renders this skill obsolete since the simple function of Soresu is to deflect attacks of all sorts.
Windu also concludes that Grievous, for all of his power, lacks an appreciation for simplicity. Obi-Wan need do no more than wait out Grievous attacks with his Form III and use some sweeping Form IV Ataru slashes when a hole in his offense is available.
Of course, when Obi-Wan confronts the General without his lightsaber, he is at a physical disadvantage. But he still manages to overcome him because of Grievous' pride and arrogance.
Grievous as a tool of the Sith
Like Darth Maul and Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus before him, Grievous' appearance and role in the film is meant to foreshadow a characteristic of Palpatine/Darth Sidious' greatest apprentice, Darth Vader. Darth Maul was a ruthless, fearsome enforcer of Sidious' will, sent to keep control over the Sith Lord's other servants, and kill any who resisted him. Dooku was a fallen Jedi with a commanding presence who became a Sith, and Grievous was both a cyborg and a brilliant, remorseless military strategist. He was the most feared and most powerful Jedi Hunter the galaxy had yet seen, slaying dozens of Jedi with ease in three short years. At his peak, he was among the best lightsaber duelists in the galaxy. His chronic cough, and inability to use the Force, also foreshadow Vader's shortcomings: Vader's injuries rob him of much of his Force ability, due to his mutilated body, and force him to use an artificial respirator. (It is for these reasons that Palpatine later seeks Luke as a replacement.) Grievous was also part of what Sidious calls the "ideal Jedi trap". Sidious' manipulation of the cyborg and Obi-Wan was useful to him in several ways. Grievous was irrestible bait, and only Obi-Wan was fit to face him and destroy him. This allowed Sidious to kill three birds with one stone: eliminating Grievous, getting Obi-Wan out of his way, and leaving Anakin vulnerable.
Jedi kills and trophies
- Adi Gallia—female human killed on Boz Pity in "Obsession"
- B'dard Tone—male Coway killed on Belsus in General Grievous
- B'ink Utrila—female Twi'lek killed on Coruscant in Labyrinth of Evil
- Daakman Barrek—male human killed on Hypori in Clone Wars Volume 1
- Firkrann—male Shard killed on Xagobah
- Flint Torul—male human killed over Belderone
- Flynn Kybo—male human killed on Belsus in General Grievous
- Foul Moudama—male Talz killed on Coruscant in Clone Wars Volume 2 and Labyrinth of Evil
- Jmmaar—male Viraanntesse killed on Vandos
- L'lacielo Sageon—male Lorrdian killed over Coruscant in Labyrinth of Evil
- Nystammall—male Vuvrian killed on Tovarskl
- Pablo-Jill—male Ongree killed over Coruscant in Labyrinth of Evil
- Quarmall—male Abyssin killed in General Grievous
- Puroth—female Eirrauc killed on Tovarskl
- Roron Corobb—male Ithorian killed on Coruscant in Clone Wars Volume 2 and Labyrinth of Evil
- Roth-Del Masona—male human killed on Coruscant in Labyrinth of Evil
- Sha'a Gi—male human killed on Hypori in Clone Wars Volume 1
- Soon Baytes—male human killed on Boz Pity in Obsession
- Tarr Seirr—male Cerean killed on Hypori in Clone Wars Volume 1
- T'chooka D'oon—male human killed on Vandos in General Grievous
- Ur-Sema Du—female human killed on Geonosis
- Waldan Bridger—male human killed on Togoria
- Zephata'ru'tor—male Duinuogwuin killed over Nadiem
Aside from these individuals, Grievous's collection was known to include lightsabers belonging to at least four beings he did not personally kill: Shaak Ti, K'Kruhk, Sifo-Dyas, and Darth Zannah.
Behind the Scenes
General Grievous was developed for Episode III as a powerful new villain on the side of the Confederacy. The initial instructions that director George Lucas gave the Art Department were very open-ended: "a droid general." From that vague direction, the artists developed a lot of explorations, some purely mechanical, some not, for General Grievous' look.
The initial design for General Grievous was done by Warren Fu. That initial sketch was refined and made into a foot-tall maquette sculpture. That was further refined when it was made in to a realistic computer-generated model by Industrial Light and Magic. This was one of the most complicated models ever created by ILM, with many parts of differing physical qualities. General Grievous is completely computer-generated imagery in the movie. On set, Duncan Young read the lines off-screen, while Kyle Rowling wore a bluescreen or a greenscreen suit to act out the fights with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Movie Notes
- Gary Oldman originally agreed to provide the voice for Grievous in the film. He later pulled out because the film featured actors who are not part of the Screen Actors Guild, of which Oldman is a member. This report is disputed by Matthew Wood, who provided the final voice. He claims that Oldman is a friend of producer Rick McCallum, and agreed to submit a voice audition, but that his involvement never went beyond that. Lucas never officially offered him the role.
- John Rhys-Davies was also heavily rumoured to be voicing Grievous. This was eventually revealed to be a hoax by a humor website. [2]
Trivia
- When introduced to the general public in Chapter 20 of the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series, Grievous has five fingers, while in Revenge of the Sith, he has six (two are opposable thumbs so that he may hold four lightsabers when he separates his arms). This happened because Lucas used the cartoon to introduce Grievous sometime before his actions in Revenge of the Sith were fully worked out, and so he did not know what Grievous would be doing or that he would have four arms. In the second season of the cartoon he still has five fingers(with two thumbs) when using two arms but has six when they split into four. It may be possible that Grievous merely had a new finger added before Revenge of the Sith.
- For several months following Oldman's reported (but never confirmed) refusal, actor John Rhys-Davies was widely reported to be the voice of Grievous. This was eventually revealed to be a prank by a humor website, which planted the misinformation to see how far it would spread. [3]
- Matthew Wood reprised his role as General Grievous for the October 2005 Halloween audiocast from the official Star Wars website. It is available only to Hyperspace members of the official website, however. Wood again reprised his role in the video game of Revenge of the Sith.
- Matthew Wood again reprised his role as Grievous for the game Battlefront II.
- A droid named "Necrosis," a droid occupying Grievous' cyborg body after his death, can be fought by players of Star Wars: Galaxies in a quest in the "Rage of the Wookiees" expansion.
- One of the concept ideas for Grievous was that he was to be a child, with 4 IG-88 droids for bodyguards. This idea was rejected because Lucas felt that such an interpretation wouldn't be taken seriously.
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