General Grievous |
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 General Grievous
Grievous was known as a Jedi hunter, killing them for sport and collecting their lightsabers to proudly place around his belt as trophies or use them in his battles. The general possessed strategic ingenuity and flawless cunning.
Background information
Grievous was originally an organic being of the alien race known as the Kaleesh, which was at war with an enemy species known as the Huk. The Republic supported the Huk, and so the Kaleesh ended up getting support from the Separatists and in particular the Intergalactic Banking Clan.
San Hill, leader of the Banking Clan, noticed that Grievous was both a brilliant strategist and an excellent fighter, and asked Grievous to lead the Separatist troops throughout the galaxy against the Republic. Grievous refused, saying that he only cared about the war between the Kaleesh and the Huk, not about the larger conflict between the Separatists and the Republic. Hill brought this to the attention of Count Dooku and Darth Sidious, but despite their offers Grievous still refused to lead the Separatist army.
So Sidious, Dooku, and Hill arranged to have a bomb planted on the shuttle Grievous was on, and blame it on the Republic. Grievous was mortally wounded in the crash, and his unconscious, dying body was taken to the planet Geonosis, where his brain, eyes, and other organs were implanted into a cyborg body forged by Geonosians that would compliment his natural reflexes.
It might have been his rage at the Republic, who he believed caused his shuttle crash; it might have been a feeling of gratitude toward the Separatists for saving his life and giving him a new and improved body; or it might have been the modification that Banking Clan scientists made to his brain while he was unconscious; but when Grievous woke up in his new body he was more than willing to take up Hill's offer and agree to lead the Separatist troops throughout the galaxy against the Republic.
The General's Kaleesh and droid background render him unable to call upon the Force.
He first revealed himself to the public when he attacked and dispatched a team of seven Jedi Knights in an aggressive display of lightsabre mastery (which he learned from Count Dooku) during the Battle of Hypori. With his mechanical enhancements and attributes combined, it made him able to battle five Jedi singlehandly. Only three survived the ordeal from the somehow invinicible foe. The Separatist General began the swift conquest of several Outer Rim planets, much to the dismay of the Republic. Time after time, Grievous' ability to strategize attack plans with brilliant ideas and destructive results made the Republic's star fleet commanders shudder at their knees. Grievous himself would later resurface during the Battle of Coruscant, using his first wave as a distraction to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine. In the process, he killed all Jedi protecting the Chancellor except Shaak Ti, whose lightsaber he took as an addition to his grisly collection. In the final moments of General Grievous's mission to abduct Palpatine however, Master Mace Windu manages to severely injure the General by using the "Force crush" technique on Grievous's fragile metal body. This is the only time the General has been seen to be damaged.
The General displays amazing dexterity and can fight with four and sometimes 5 lightsabers simultaneously by dividing his mechanical forearms which each employ two opposable thumbs. General Grievous also has armour made of cortosis, making him resistant to lighstaber attacks. Grievous travels with his droid bodyguards, who wield electrified rods used for defense against most weapons (including lightsabres). It will be the first time Star Wars fans have seen an non-lightsabre weapon that can withstand the cutting power of a lightsabre itself (besides certain weapons introduced in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in the form of "Melee Weapons").
His movements imitate those of a monkey in his stance and general lightsaber control. He has the ability not only to produce two extra arms from inside his body but also can use his feet as hands. With one foot to stand on and all his limbs engaged in battle, he can wield 5 lightsabres at once. His specialist moves dubbed the "unorthodox" mainly involve misdirection by confusing his enemy using his many limbs which only the most experienced and talented of Jedi can stand up to. A lot of this misdirection involves releasing one or two lightsabres from his grip at once, catching them again with his other limbs then striking his opponent who has usually by this time had their attention drawn to the limb which now caries no weapon.
Although General Grievous has no command of the Force whatsoever, he still maintains the lightning quick reflexes and the fighting ability of the Jedi combined. It is evident that the General has no affinity with the Living Force. This is most obvious when watching him in battle with the Jedi: they cannot feel his presence, only hear and see him.
His only recognized weakness in battle so far seems to be his inability to take a direct hit from a "Force push" (a phrase coined in Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast). The Jedi regularly make use of telekinetic abilities. In Grievous's first witnessed encounter with the Jedi (i.e. The Battle of Hypori), the knights attempted to fling objects at him using the Force in order to avoid lightsabre combat with the general. Unfortunately, given his superhuman reflexes, this proved futile.
Movie notes
It is said that George Lucas had his team of computer animators hard at work trying to "lock in" the exact look of the new villain, since he is supposed to be 100% CGI. Many new details of his face and body have been overhauled in order for Lucas to be perfectly content.
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 Actor's Guild, of which Oldman is a member.
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