General Grievous | The History Of The Kaleesh War Lord
“Your Lightsabers Will Make A Fine Addition To My Collection!”
General Grievous was a memorable character from the moment he was introduced. The cyborg was an odd mix of organic and robot with little explanation of how he came to be. He was shown to be smart and extremely powerful in a fight, with a strong vendetta against the Republic. Grievous fought loyally for the Separatists until his death at the hands of the Jedi. His history isn’t so widely known, so let’s start at a time when the full concept of Grievous didn’t exist.
Grievous was originally known as Qymaen jai Sheelal of the planet Kalee. He was a Kaleesh, the lower-class species of the planet compared to the Yam’rii. This is where Grievous first learned the art of war, during the Huk War, a conflict fought between the Kaleesh and Yam’rii. Quickly mastering the use of a rifle, his partner taught him how to wield a sword. It was during this arc of Grievous's life that he got his mask- a mumuu skull that belonged to his father.
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During this war, his partner died. No matter what Grievous did, the pain wouldn’t go away. He eventually took the name we know him as in tribute to her, aiming to grieve for her forever. The remaining bitterness turned towards the Yam’rii and fuelled the war. Grievous slaughtered bug after bug until the Republic stepped in, choking the planet down to poverty through heavy sanctions. To save his people from starvation and death, Grievous became an enforcer for the InterGalactic Banking Clan when they agreed to take on the debt resulting from the sanctions. This is where he gets involved with the Separatists.
After hearing of further desecration caused by the Yam’rii, Grievous leaves to avenge the wrongdoings. This angers the Banking Clan and other higher-ups of the Separatists, as they didn’t want to lose such a powerful asset. After some ship vandalism and direct intervention by Count Dooku, Grievous was nearly killed and was rushed to medical droids by the Count himself, maintained by blood from a dead Jedi in the meantime.
Grievous was resilient, but the Separatists wanted a personal weapon more. They manipulated the situation to make it worse than it was and that everything that transpired was the Republic’s fault. This got Grievous to agree to their plan on the condition that his mind would be left alone.
Grievous was put into a cyborg suit through a process that would be similarly used for Darth Vader down the line. His brain and eyes were implanted, then his organs arranged in a vacuum-proof sack. Though they said they wouldn’t, the scientists in charge of the project altered Grievous’s brain. They manipulated him so he wouldn’t remember some of the bad things he lived through while boosting his anger.
Gone were most traces of the original Sheelal, now he was fully General Grievous. With the success of the project, Dooku gave him the title “Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies,” as well as his first lightsaber to add to the collection: the dead Jedi Sifo-Dyas. He didn’t hesitate at first to show his rage at his existence with the weapon, but he got it under control in a silent, seething manner.
After a glowing success on Geonosis, Darth Sidious elected to teach Grievous all Jedi lightsaber forms. With this training and the war unfolding, Grievous began to make more of a name for himself. He was first revealed during the Battle of Hypori, utterly destroying an entire Republic task force with his strategies. During this battle, Grievous killed and severely injured several Jedi, quickly building a reputation among the Order.
After his first public success, Grievous was dealt a heavy loss that resulted in a test. He was pitted against two other Separatist commanders- a bounty hunter and Asajj Ventress. After a close call, Grievous dominated the fight and choked Ventress into unconsciousness, passing the test. He quickly built a terrifying reputation among the Republic as the face of the Confederacy. The cyborg achieved win after win against the Republic, dueling with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker several times along the way. Not everything was a success, however.
After several failures resulting in heavy losses to the Separatists, including a failed invasion of Kamino, Dooku tested Grievous again by exposing his hideout to the Jedi. This served to deepen Grievous’s hatred for the Jedi, as they killed his pet while breaching the fortress. He killed most of the invaders, failing to strike down the Master Jedi before he could escape. Grievous mostly passed the test, and the war moved on.
With each win by Grievous and his droid army, the Republic grew more desperate to capture the cyborg. They wouldn’t make any careless actions, but that didn’t mean no effort would be put in. This led to several more confrontations with Anakin and Obi-Wan, as well as with Anakin’s Padawan Ahsoka Tano.
One particular encounter followed a slaughter fest of Jedi and the kidnapping of Chancellor Palpatine, whose true identity of Darth Sidious was still hidden at the time. As Anakin and Obi-Wan breached the ship and rescued the Chancellor, Anakin killed Dooku with prompting from the hidden Sith Lord. The fight turned from Grievous’s favor before it could even properly begin, forcing the General to flee for the time being.
Now the political replacement for Dooku, Grievous hid himself and his forces on Utapau. Obi-Wan went to face Grievous once again, the latter commanding his forces not to intercede in the battle. The fight was intense and mildly drawn out. After attempting to retreat and failing, Grievous tried to shove Obi-Wan off the platform. When this failed, he charged at the man, not reacting in time to prevent himself from getting shot in his now exposed organs. The charge from the shots ignited the oil in his body, leaving the cyborg to burn to death.
Grievous’s body was salvaged and briefly brought back to life on Utapau. After the success of Grievous, the goal of the project was to make an advanced battle droid. This droid didn’t live long though. An unnamed group destroyed the body and scrapped it for parts before it could do much damage. This marked the final end of the General’s legacy.
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Written by: Ayden Hassertt
Source(s): Wookiepedia
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