Geon Garavan Grievous, born as Qymaen jai Sheelal, was a Kaleesh male warlord who served as a decorated military officer in both the Confederacy of Independent Systems and later the Galactic Empire. Although he was often referred to as a general throughout his career, Grievous was the Supreme Commander of the Separatist Droid Army that engaged the Grand Army of the Republic throughout the [starwars:Clone Wars|Clone Wars]] before later serving the succeeding Galactic Empire as one of the regime's numerous warlords during the Galactic Civil War. Noted for his ruthlessness and extensive cybernetic enhancements, Grievous inspired fear as he traveled across the galaxy, invading entire worlds, defeating massive armies, and killing numerous Jedi.
Biography[]
A native of the planet Kalee, Grievous sustained severe injuries that required extensive repair by the time of the Clone Wars. After failing to recover on his own terms, he submitted to a procedure that rendered him more mechanical than organic. He became a living weapon, granting him lightning-quick reflexes and devastating strength. Although he was neither Jedi or Sith, Grievous was a skilled lightsaber duelist, having trained in the art of the lightsaber under the fallen Jedi Master-turned-Sith Lord Count Dooku. He was known especially for his hatred of the Jedi Order, Grievous killed Jedi over the course of both conflicts, and would claim their lightsabers both as trophies and weapons to be used against other opponents, be they Jedi or clone troopers.
In addition to his combat skills, Grievous was a brilliant military strategist who oversaw multiple campaigns throughout the Clone Wars— from the Battle of Hypori, where he acheived a deceisive victory and killed a half-dozen Jedi, to the Battle of Dathomir, where his battle droids massacred the Nightsisters. In 19 BBY, Grievous launched a daring raid on Coruscant, the Republic capital world, resulting in the abduction of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. However, the Jedi succeeded in rescuing the Chancellor while driving back the Separatist invaders. Following the loss of Dooku and military defeats on mutiple worlds, Grievous and his army went into hiding in the Outer Rim Territories. Unknown to Grievous, his master, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, betrayed the general's location to the Jedi Order, allowing them to invade the planet Utapau in an effort to bring a swift and decisive conclusion to the war. Grievous was initially believed to be slain by his nemesis, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, whose 212th Attack Battalion went on to secure Utapau even as Order 66 went into effect.
His remains would be recovered and preserved by the Grand Army of the Republic, and were placed into storage at the orders of top leadership, who had admired his efforts during the war, and he was reconstructed at the orders of Emperor Palpatine, with his armor restored, vital organs replaced, and his nervous system re-animated. Secretly, his memories were also downloaded. The new rank of Commander General was established especiall for him, and he was granted the privilege of both a stormtrooper legion and a modified droid army under his command. After he was initially assigned to eliminate remaining Jedi for several months in the Great Jedi Purge, he was subsequently assigned to Outer Rim activities by Governor Tarkin, a period during which he took great effort to subjugate his former separatist allies, who no longer held power over him. He was involved in battles at Cato Neomoidia and Terrelia and remained influential until his failure to hold the blockade over Tatooine, where he was confronted unexpectedly by criminal Heero Kalsion. He was sidelined after this and fell out of favor with the Emperor.
After the blockade, Grievous became resentful of the planet Tatooine and thus insisted on his involvement in the later 'Tatooine War', proposed by officer Irys Karzon. The general lead his armies into battle and even slaughtered Jawas needlessly, committing multiple atrocities in hopes of breaking the planet's spirit, and seeking kyber crystals and other resources to impress his masters. At the conclusion of the war, he murdered a Jedi survivor and soon dueled John Voykechi, a weakened but surviving Jedi who he nearly murdered before he was instead challenged by Nero Nishi, a Jawa General who had extensively studied Grievious' warfare tactics and sought to emulate him. Taking advantage of his position, Nishi was able to confront Grievous personally and after an exchange, he defeated the general, armed with his trademark 'scatter' rifle, angled through the General's intricate armor.
Though he accepted that what he did had been necessary, Nishi mourned Grievous like a mentor, owing to his studies of the general's journals, and ensured his remains were turned to Kalee. His death preceded the Battle of Yavin by only a few months.
Physical Description[]
Grievous was born with red skin and slit-pupiled golden eyes, typical of his Kaleesh species, which he retained after his transformation. As a cyborg, he stood significantly taller, wearing a mask designed to resemble the skull of ancient Kaleesh warlords, which his eyes could be seen through, which became essentially part of his face. His body was refitted with two arms which could split into four, massive clawed feet that could be magnetised, and armor that, like his mask, was given a skeletal color - white with a hint of beige. The skeleton motif was an intentional way to inspire fear and evoke death in his enemies. He sometimes wore either of two detailed, ornate capes, both with a red lining and pockets hiddden in the fabric, but one with a dark gray outer cape, and another with a light, pale colored one.
Personality and Traits[]
General Grievous was known throughout the galsxy for his cruelty and ruthlessness, and established a reputation as a strategic and tactical genuis, considered alongside Admiral Trench among the most formidable opponents in the entire Separatist armed forces. He was particularly feared for his hunting prowess, said to be able to find any opponent
Grievous' hatred for the Jedi was well known throughout the galaxy and was stated by him on multiple occasions. Known to many for his brutality as a 'Jedi killer'. He insisted on fighting the Jedi personally when possible, displaying a mild form of recklessness as well as restlessness despite suffering injuries, with his armor filling with numerous cracks, scars and battle damage by the end of his career. He enjoyed collecting weapons from those he had defeated, having killed many Jedi during the Clone Wars; his greatest lightsaber prizes were those of Pablo-Jill, Eeth Koth, Roron Corobb, and Shaak Ti. Though stories often told that he was rather quick to run from a fight when the tide was turned against him, any instances of this behavior were lost to historical record, though he is known to have sustained additional injuries at the end of the war that made him more cautious.
His transformation severed his connection to the Force and left his organic anatomy weak inside his armor, and this was speculated to have augmented his appetite for destruction and power, especially towards those things which he did not comprehend.
He was also known to have a disdadin for basic battle droids, especially B1 models, seeing them as incompetent and irresponsible and did not hesitate to destroy or abandon them at a moment's notice. He also often expressed displeasure at being misidentified as a droid, though he remained a proponent of their use for decades and saw them as a superior fighting force to a human or clone only, inferior to himself. These destructive habits often caused Dooku to remind Grevious that the droids were expensive and that they were made to follow orders, not question them. He nonetheless had a fondness for his personal bodyguards which were expensive, absurdly powerful and like him, intelligent.
Skills and Abilities[]
Though his enhancements prevented him from having a strong connection to the Force, General Grievous chose to specialize in lightsaber combat and was a skilled and merciless duelist, knowledgeable of many classical forms and able to adapt quickly to any opponent's fighting style as a result. A master swordsman himself before he left the Order, Darth Tyranus ensured that General Grievous was trained extensively in the art. Grievous often relied on raw strength as well as agility when in combat with Jedi, often using four of his arms at once, and occasionally even arming himself at the claw.
He relied on his cybernetic enhancements in combat often, sometimes magnetizing his claws to attach to metal surfaces, or at other times disconnecting one of his own arms to use as a weapon or grab a further away item. He was resistant to explosions even from fuel barrels, and proved fast and durable enough to make quick escapes from numerous incidents, sometimes resorting to a crawl. He also had enhanced strength, allowing him to crush, lift, throw, smash and choke his opponents with minimal effort. He was also capable of surivving in the vacuum of space since so little of his body relied on oxygen. After his resurrection, his armor was reinforced so that his organs could not be accessed by an outside party.
Grievous was known throughout the galaxy as a competent and brilliant strategist, with many of his tactics later being taught in military schools and books commemorating the war, and he was widely considered the most competent Separatist commander. He often used the droid army's massive numbers to advantage, overwhelming opponents in sheer number of units or allowing for heavy casualties as a distraction so more advanced units could penetrate enemy lines. Aware that droids lacked intelligence, he nontheless valued their programmed absolute loyalty and the convenience of numbers. He was able to predict the Republic's movements during many conflicts, notably the Battle of Saleucami, and often used knowledge of Jedi's forms of lightsaber combat to anticipate their moves both in and outside of duels.
Though he preferred lightsaber combat, he was also known to own a custom DT-57 "Annihilator" blaster pistol, and he piloted a customized Belbullab-22 starfighter known as the Soulless One on multiple occasions, proving to be a skilled pilot, superior to Lord Tyranus; however, he rarely lead attacks in space, instead leaving them to other commanders, such as fellow cybernetic strategist Admiral Trench.
Behind the Scenes[]
When the "Empire Shall Die!" series began, little mind was paid to staying within the bounds of Star Wars canon, and Grievous was chosen due to a favoritism for his design and often shown commanding both droids and Stormtroopers. He was the central antagonist of the first arc written and barely defeated at the end of the entries; despite the main characters being somewhat comedic figures at this point, much attention and drama was written into Grievous' defeat, which was portrayed as a hard-fought and unlikely victory. He maintained an important role in the series' mythology as not only a key villain but as one of the central protagonist's former heroes and points of early inspiration.
In the soft reboot The Tinyliljawa Chronicles, this was compromised into contemporary Star Wars canon by suggesting that the same General Grievous from the films was later resurrected through unexplained means, and that the character in these storylines was the same Grievous, now acting as a commander of the Galactic Empire. A further story intending to fill in further details, such as Grievous working alongside Darth Vader and being allowed to function his own droid detachment in the days of the Empire alongside stormtroopers, fell to the wayside as the central series came to a quiet end.
The name Geon Grievous has no basis in Star Wars canon and was based on a misinterpretation of a canonical reference to the character; it was later introduced to the series to help differentiate this version from the canon character, despite the intent for them to be essentially the same.