General Grievous

"Army or not, you must realize... you are doomed!"

- General Grievous's most famous quote and his last words just prior to his death.

General Grievous, is a prominent villain in the Star Wars franchise. He is the secondary antagonist of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, as well as one of the main antagonists in the TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

He was voiced by Matthew Wood throughout his various appearances in Star Wars related media.

Grievous has a ruthless, demanding personality. He becomes impatient with battle droids that serve him when they do not fulfill his desires to the point into destroying one of them. It is not uncommon for him to destroy one of his droids in his anger. Although General Grievous is strong, he underestimates the power of the Republic and the Jedi which leads to his loss in some of the battles.

Official Background
Note: This page is mainly for Grievous' life in Star Wars Canon.

Grievous 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.

Star Wars:The Clone Wars
During the war, Grievous is put in charge of the Separatist warship called "The Malevolence," which possessed a powerful ion cannon capable of obliterating entire Republic fleets. Grievous destroya several fleets on the Malevolence. Jedi general Plo Koon eventually takes 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 survived, but are 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 delivers news of the weapons to the Republic.

Later, Dooku gives Grievous permission to attack a Republic medical station 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. Grievous then aims the ion cannon at the medical station and ordered his droids to open fire. Before they could fire, however, the Republic fleet attacked and disabled the ion cannon and caused it to explode, angering Grievous. Grievous demanded his battle droids to repair the ion cannon immediately, which they complied to do. Eventually, Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Grievous faced many times throughout the war and Anakin's former master, arrives with another fleet and opened fire on the Malevolence. Grievous ordered the Malevolence to escape into Separatist space. Dooku then contacted Grievous and informed him that Senator Padme Amidala was tricked into heading into the nebula and suggested he capture her and escape. When Amidala's ship arrived, Grievous successfully captured the senator via tractor beam. Grivous and his droids headeed for the hangar to apprehend the hostage.

However, Amidala overloaded her ship's reactor and when Grievous and his droids entered, the ship exploded and destroyed the droids. Grievous survived and began hunting the senator. Grievous was informed that the ion cannons repairs would take shorter time than expexted. Later, Anakin and Obi-Wan arrived on board the Malevolnce and rescued Amidala. Obi-Wan left to sabotage the ship while Anakin sabotaged the ship's navicomputer. Grievous eventually tracked down Obi-Wan and fought him on the rail jets, but he jumped onto another rail jet, but Grievous pursued. Grievous fought Obi-Wan again, but Obi Wan escaped by jumping onto another passing rail jet, further infuriating Grievous. Later, a battle droid contacted Grievous and told him the ion cannon was almost completely repaired, and Grievous ordered the ship to escape, but before it could, the ion cannon malfunctioned and did not fire, further angering Grievous. Realizing defeat, Grievous headed for his starfighter and escaped as the Malevolence crashed into a nearby moon. Grievous next targeted the Republic's cloning facilities on Kamino to stop the production of clone troopers. Grievous sent droid squads to seize the Republic sector outpost and hot-wire the stations' "all-clear" signals to prevent the Republic from learning of the impending invasion.With brutal efficiency, the robots infiltrate the base by shooting the sergeant's leg, and lost no time to kill the sergeant and three clones recruits, forcing the remaining four clones to flee the base. The droid commander reports his success to General Grievous Satisfied, Grievous contacts Asajj Ventress on Kamino, where she is making preparations for a secret Separatist invasion..However, a squad of clone troopers defied the droid squads destroyed the base. Alerted, the Republic fleet jumps to the system and Grievous is forced to retreat.

Grievous' next target was the planet Bothawui, which takes up a Republic intelligence center. The Jedi Counci dispatched Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano, with a newly-christened fleet of Venator-class Star Destroyers to stop the cyborg. Grievous cut the Jedi out of their hyperlanes and engaged the Jedi three times in open space before Skywalker and his fleet escaped and took a direct course to Bothawui. Grievous fled from his ship in Soulless One. His starfighter was pursued by Skywalker Grievous was able to jump to hyperspace and retreat thanks to debris that damaged Skywalker's fighter. Gha Nachkt accesses Artoo's memory bank and finds that the droid contains every Republic strategy. He demands more money but Grievous decides to kill him with his lightsaber. Grievous confronted Tano and her clone squad on listening post after ordering his IG-100 MagnaGuards to guard R2-D2. The general kills all clones but Rex and Denal. Ahsoka defends herself against Grievous's blows and retreats to a room filled with spare droid parts. She hides from the general, but R3 gives her away. Grievous destroys her comlink, and she manages to escape through a vent.

Upon his arrival at his lair on Vassek, Grievous is confronted by Fisto and Vebb along with their squad of clones. A duel of lightsabers breaks out and ends Grievous to have the legs cut off just above the knees. However, Grievous escapes his control room where he undergoes repair your doctor Droid. Grievous then orders his MagnaGuards to isolate the area and they blow the clone transport to prevent anyone from escaping. They try to destroy the Starfighter too, but R6 can pilot the fighter out of danger.Fisto kills Gor, an event that angers the general. While Grievous leaves the Jedi with Gor, he is contacted by Dooku. This time the Count confirms to Grievous that this is a test for him since his defeats has shaken Dooku's faith in the general. He decides to play along, and he and his guards will huntt. Fisto and Vebb soon find the entrance to Grievous' control room, but as they try to sneak in, 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 theJedi skillfully defeats all five of Grievous' guards. Since Fisto is locked in the control room, he is unable to help Vebb. Vebb proceeds to attack Grievous, but the general kills the young Jedi. Grievous engaged the Jedi Master Fisto in combat. Fisto starts to gain the upper hand, but some of Grievous' MagnaGuards arrive, turning the odds against him. As R6-H5 arrives with his starfighter, Fisto escapes and returns to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Grievou broadcasted his victory over Koth directly to the Jedi Temple. In his message, he shows his victory over the Jedi to show one of MagnaGuards torturing Koth promising that the Jedi Master's death would be slow, much to the horror of the Jedi watching.Obi-Wan Force-pushes Grievous into the window, gives him a chance to surrender, but Grievous escapes.Plo Koon and Commander Wolffe notice a coded message made by hand gestures of Koth, which is decoded by Obi-Wan, telling them that the ship Grievous is on Saleucami system. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Adi Gallia thus depart to rescue Eeth Koth and capture Grievous. Kenobi trespass the Separatist ship and fights the MagnaGuards and eventually Grievous. Obi-Wan pushes Gri 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 contacted the droids and ordered them to proceed. Grievous's units were successful in making the Republic deregulate the banks.

After the destruction of the moon post on Rishi, General Grievous and Asajj Ventress planned an attack oh 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 lightsaber duel. Grievous escapes with Ventress when a Trident unit crushes the platform where they are on.

After Savage’s trumphery, Grievous was ordered by Count Dooku to wipe out Asajj Ventress, Mother Talzin, and her fellow Nightsisters on Dathomir. Grievous took a Separatist Fleet to Dathomir and landed his forces. The Separatist forces successfully defeated the Nightsisters, with Grievous himself killing Old Daka while Mother Talzin escaped through the use of her magic. The Separatists were unable to capture or kill Asajj Ventress, who also escaped.

After forcing Kenobi to a retreat on Floruum, Grievous and his forces took 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, a squad of AATs forces them to withdraw for good.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Near the end of the war, General Grievous led a daring kidnapping on 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 was unsurprised when Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker arrived to stage a rescue. The Jedi proved victorious, with Anakin killing Dooku and freeing the Chancellor, but were soon apprehended by Grievous’ droids. Brought before him, Grievous took their lightsabers, boasting that they would make a fine addition to his collection. Thanks to some of R2-D2’s clever trickery, however, the Jedi regained their  weapons and cornered the droid army leader. In a last-second move, Grievous shattered the bridge viewport and escaped into space.

Grievous headed for a major Separatist base on Utapau. Spea king with Darth Sidious, he was assured that the war was coming to an end, and the Separatists would be victorious. Still, it would prove to be short-lived comfort for the walking terror. Obi-Wan soon arrived with a battalion of clones, and the Battle of Utapau began. The General and Obi-Wan dueled, and despite wielding four lightsabers at once, Grievous was dismembered and once again tried to flee. Obi-Wan gave chase, and the two eventually fought in a knock-down drag-out fist fight. The Jedi had lost his lightsaber and found himself dangling from a cliff, and Grievous appeared to have the upper hand. As the General menacingly lurched forward, pr epared to deliver the final blow, Obi-Wan used the Force to draw Grievous' blaster into his hand. He shot Grievous in the chest, igniting what remained of his organic matter, and the menace was no more.

Personality
Grievous is cold and ruthless, never showing mercy to any enemy, even when he was a Kaleesh. His shuttle crash left him with a sense of bitterness for being cheated of a warrior’s death and though he chose to become a cyborg, believing that flesh was weak, Grievous is secretly ashamed of his new form. He also began comparing himself to the Jedi and became determined to be able to match them, leading to him doing anything in his power to improve himself. Grievous has no problem with sacrificing others for himself and often exploits the Jedi’s compassion for their soldiers. Grievous is also known and feared for his cruelty and brutality.

He is very arrogant, but also has a somewhat cowardly side; he tends to flee when the tide is against him. Despite this, he is also quite relentless; he is totally determined to destroy the Jedi, and will sometimes fight them even when he is in a bad condition. This is shown when he fought Obi-Wan despite the fact that he was still weak from a crippling blow inflicted by Mace Windu, showing a mild form of recklessness.

However, Grievous is not completely heartless, caring for his people and Kummar, and on one occasion, even showed pity for a Jedi, letting her land minor hits on him before giving her a clean death. And he seems to care greatly of his pet Gor as when he realized that Kit Fisto and Naddar Veb killed him he was enraged and smashed his control room with his fists. Grievous hated Nute Gunray for thinking of him as nothing but a servant droid, which enraged him to no end and saw the viceroy and the other Separatist leaders as greedy weaklings. Grievous also had something of a rivalry with Asajj Ventress, but the two shared one trait; a dislike and contempt for the mindless battle droids of the Separatists, which he often destroyed to alleviate his frustration.

Abilities
Grievous is an extremely powerful and deadly fighter, being one of the most proficient Jedi hunters to exist. He is extremely proficient at wielding lightsabers, using his own unique form, which utilizes extremely fast barrages of strikes and more powerful blows to overwhelm his enemies. Grievous can split his arms in two, giving him four arms to fight with and can spin his torso, arms, and wrists in deadly, blindingly fast storms of death. Grievous can even use his feet just as well as his hands and his ability to wield his lightsabers in this unorthodox and fast flowing style makes him able to hold his own against several opponents at once. However, in his final duel against Obi-Wan Kenobi, Grievous uses all four of his arms and lightsabers, but each lightsaber is quickly disarmed by his opponent.

Grievous is also perfectly willing to use more underhanded tactics, for example, pulling a blaster to finish his opponents. He is a skilled general and tactician, using chaotic, seemingly random strategies that can easily trick his opponents. Grievous is quick to target civilians in battle, forcing his enemy to make the choice between victory and protecting innocents. He can also control his droids through antennae in his head, making him even more in control during battles. Grievous’ mechanical body is far stronger, flexible, and agile than most other creatures and can also survive the vacuum of space. He is also a skilled pilot, said to be as good at handling a ship as he is with a lightsaber.

Trivia

 * In Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Grievous has six fingers on each hand, but in the Clone Wars, Grievous has only four on each hand, and in the animated series, he has five fingers on each hand.
 * Each villain in the Star Wars prequels foreshadows a different aspect of what Anakin will become. Grievous represents the wheezing and heavy breathing cyborg.
 * Though must likely a coincidence, the enemy called Grievous Bodily Arm from the Dragon Quest series shares more similarities with General Grievous than just their names.
 * Grievous's death is the final cryptic display of how powerful a Jedi Obi-Wan became, displaying how powerful he will be against Anakin when their final duel on Mustafar breaks out.
 * Grievous was first introduced as a villain in the Legends 2003 Clone Wars Cartoon but was soon changed by George Lucas in Revenge of the Sith. Grievous was soon written as a more heroic backstory but Dave Foloni changed Grievous's entire history and made him still a villain at heart.