History Characters / StarWarsGeneralGrievous

->***Grievous***: Listen to me, Jedi! I do not care about your politics! I do not care about your Republic! I only live to see you die!

->"Listen to me, Jedi! I do not care about your politics! I do not care about your Republic! I only live to see you die! "

* AdaptationalAngstDowngrade: In ''Legends'', Grievous had a DarkAndTroubledPast, as he was an unwilling victim of Separatist sabotage and was further put through extensive experimentation, including an attempt at induced Force-sensitivity and a severe brain alteration that made him as violent and as loyal to the Separatists as he is commonly shown to be. In the new canon, Grievous has a MysteriousPast instead.

* AdaptationalJerkass: While he was still a villain in ''Legends'', he had a genuinely sad backstory, having once been a great warrior of his people and then being crippled and lobotomized after a shuttle accident engineered by Dooku himself to manipulate him into becoming a hostile killing machine. In the canon, he ''chose'' to upgrade himself, solely to become stronger, or so he claims, given how quick he is to angrily deny that it wasn't his choice. Even more than that, ''Legends'' Grievous had a legitimate reason to hate the Republic, since they threw their weight behind the forces that invaded the Kaleesh homeworld, which eventually resulted in it suffering economical devastation. There is no indication of the such in canon, just that he at some point linked up with the Separatists. While the Huk War was later re-canonized (along with the Republic's support of the Yam'rii and Grievous developing his grudge against the Republic as a result), some of the war's context and any aspect of it that made Grievous sympathetic in ''Legends'' (such as the Yam'rii's status as invaders and them trying to spin it as the Kaleesh attacking first when they were just retaliating) remains ambiguous.

** As mentioned above, it's unclear exactly ''how'' he became a cyborg. While he claims to have chosen his "improvements", there's some hinting that he's in denial or just talking tough.
** Exactly why he hates the Jedi is also in question. Some supplementary materials indicated that he was DrivenByEnvy at the Jedi's power, but WordOfSaintPaul indicates that the Jedi wronged him in some way, and with the Huk War still being canon, it's possible that the Jedi's [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidental enabling of his people's genocide]] is as well.

* ArtEvolution: During his brief cameo shot in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS7E9OldFriendsNotForgotten Old Friends Not Forgotten]]", Grievous looks more like his live-action design in ''Revenge of the Sith'' than his more cartoonish appearance in ''The Clone Wars''' original run.

* AxCrazy: He is very insane due to his HairTriggerTemper and [[BloodKnight desire to kill Jedi]].

* BatOutOfHell: Before he got his mechanical body, he was a Kaleesh, an alien resembling a humanoid bat.

* FantasticRacism: An interesting variation as Grievous does not hate a specific species or even Force-sensitives in general (as he has no hate towards Sith), but rather all Jedi and views them as filth to be eradicated. While he had a more legitimate FreudianExcuse in ''Legends'', his reasoning for this is largely left unexplored in canon.

** Zig-zagged. Although he is lauded as one of the best generals in the Separatist Alliance has his poor showings that get more focus than his successes as far as Canon goes: in a general sense he's a fairly poor tactician, often becomes blinded by his own temper and impulsiveness, and pulls a ScrewThisImOuttaHere whenever things go marginally pear-shaped. His forays into fleet command are even less successful than his ground combat, most infamously when he fell into Anakin's trap (which crippled his flagship by hiding AT-TE walkers on an asteroid and having them fire on his ship's unshielded rear). However, Grievous does have [[HiddenDepths shades of tactical brilliance both in ground and fleet command]] via the fact that he predicted Obi-Wan's battle plan for rescuing Eeth Koth and set an ambush for Anakin, deliberately sacrificed the frigates in his fleet so the debris carrying the Trident drill ship components could fall into Kamino's oceans (enabling him to attack the cloning facilities undetected), and successfully ambushed and wiped out Obi-Wan's fleet (destroying four cruisers and two Star Destroyers for the loss of only one frigate and a couple ships damaged at rough numerical parity). His craftiness and ruthlessness has also allowed him to use underhanded tactics to great effect. Grievous managed (on Dooku's orders) to orchestrate and successfully act out a terrorist attack on Coruscant via blowing up the Senate District's power generator, causing a massive power failure all over the planet. This stops the peace negotiations and ensures the continuation of the Clone Wars. Later on, he even manages to defeat Maul's Shadow Collective on three separate fronts, showing he is far from someone to be underestimated.

* MysteriousPast: In canon, Grievous keeps most of his past hidden.

* VocalEvolution: He spoke with a thick Russian accent in ''Revenge of the Sith'', but it was toned down for ''The Clone Wars'' and all subsequent appearances.

* VillainousLegacy: [[spoiler:While Grievous is long dead, [[VideoGame/StarWarsJediFallenOrder his massacre of the Nightsisters is one of the main reasons that Merrin doesn't trust outsiders, especially ones that use lightsabers.]] In addition, that same massacre would later be the {{DarkAndTroubledPast}}s of various Nightsisters who would either fight the Galatic Empire, such as Deathstick, or those who would aid it, most prominently [[{{Series/TheMandalorian}} Morgan]] [[{{Series/Ahsoka}} Elsbeth]], who channeled her anger into helping the Empire build its infamous Imperial Navy]].

->'''Appearances:''' ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsObiWan Obi-Wan]]''[[note]]Flashback[[/note]] | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsJediOfTheRepublic Jedi of the Republic]]'' | ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsAgeOfRepublic Age of Republic]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsKanan Kanan]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/DarthMaulSonOfDathomir Son of Dathomir]]'' | ''Literature/DarkDisciple'' | ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch The Bad Batch]]'' | ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsCrimsonReign Crimson Reign]]''[[note]]Flashback[[/note]]

* NearVillainVictory: Admittedly, Grievous comes ''very'' close to killing Obi Wan, closer than Anakin himself was in their fateful duel. Had Obi Wan not managed to grab Grievous's blaster in time, the outcome of the movie would've been quite different.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Despite having Obi Wan on the ropes, Grievous goes to finish him off with a Magnaguard staff that he picked up, rather than picking up his blaster that was only a few more feet away and shooting him with that. This dooms him moments later.

* AdaptationalAngstDowngrade: In ''Legends'', Grievous had a DarkAndTroubledPast, as he was an unwilling victim of Separatist sabotage and was further put through extensive experimentation, including an attempt at induced Force-sensitivity and a severe brain alteration that made him as violent and as loyal to the Separatists as he is commonly shown to be. In the canon, Grievous has a MysteriousPast instead.

* GutturalGrowler: Grievous even growls whenever he is expressing pleasure.

* DirtyCoward: He brags over his superiority to the Jedi, but uses cheap tactics (superior numbers, among other things), and retreats immediately once he thinks the tables have turned.

* CatchPhrase: He tends to say "Kenobi!" and "Impossible!" a lot.

[[header:General Grievous (formerly Qymaen jai Sheelal)]]

* OffScreenMomentOfAwesome: His kidnapping of the Chancellor is not shown in canon, but it was quite the accomplishment.

* AlliterativeName: '''G'''eneral '''G'''rievous.

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* PistolWhipping: He wacks a battle droid with his blaster after said droid commended Obi-Wan's escaping the ''Malevolence''.

* CoDragons: With Asajj Ventress for Count Dooku during the early years of the Clone Wars. Dooku appears to favor Ventress, but is forced to betray her to demonstrate his loyalty to Sidious. As a result, Grievous becomes Dooku's sole {{Dragon}}.

* VillainousLegacy: [[spoiler:While Grievous is long dead, [[VideoGame/StarWarsJediFallenOrder his massacre of the Nightsisters is one of the main reasons that Merrin doesn't trust outsiders, especially ones that use lightsabers.]] In addition, that same massacre would later be the DarkAndTroubledPasts of various Nightsisters who would either fight the Galatic Empire, such as Deathstick, or those would aid it, most prominently [[{{Series/TheMandalorian}} Morgan]] [[{{Series/Ahsoka}} Elsbeth]], who channeled her anger into helping the Empire build its infamous Imperial Navy]].

** He takes a very laissez-faire attitude towards the lives of the battle droids under his command.

* VillainousLegacy: [[spoiler:While Grievous is long dead by the time of ''VideoGame/StarWarsJediFallenOrder'', his massacre of the Nightsisters is one of the main reasons that Merrin doesn't trust outsiders, especially ones that use lightsabers]].

->'''Appearances:''' ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsObiWan Obi-Wan]]''[[note]]Flashback[[/note]] | ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsAgeOfRepublic Age of Republic]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsKanan Kanan]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/DarthMaulSonOfDathomir Son of Dathomir]]'' | ''Literature/DarkDisciple'' | ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch The Bad Batch]]'' | ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsCrimsonReign Crimson Reign]]''[[note]]Flashback[[/note]]

* {{Expy}}: Creator/GeorgeLucas created him as a deliberate Darth Vader variation who was half-man, half-robot. Or in his words, "20% alien and 80% robot".

** While he may struggle with tactics and strategies, Grievous' real talent shows through his ability to muster and organize a massive and relatively cohesive fighting force out of so many disparate groups. A fighting force that, even factoring in Palpatine's manipulations, was able to fight a relatively back-and-forth slugging match against the millennia-old Republic for over three years. This hints at an incredible talent for organization and logistics.

* GeneralFailure: Zig-zagged. Although he is lauded as one of the best generals in the Separatist Alliance has his poor showings that get more focus than his successes as far as Canon goes: in a general sense he's a fairly poor tactician, often becomes blinded by his own temper and impulsiveness, and pulls a ScrewThisImOuttaHere whenever things go marginally pear-shaped. His forays into fleet command are even less successful than his ground combat, most infamously when he fell into Anakin's trap (which crippled his flagship by hiding AT-TE walkers on an asteroid and having them fire on his ship's unshielded rear). However, Grievous does have [[HiddenDepths shades of tactical brilliance both in ground and fleet command]] via the fact that he predicted Obi-Wan's battle plan for rescuing Eeth Koth and set an ambush for Anakin, deliberately sacrificed the frigates in his fleet so the debris carrying the Trident drill ship components could fall into Kamino's oceans (enabling him to attack the cloning facilities undetected), and successfully ambushed and wiped out Obi-Wan's fleet (destroying four cruisers and two Star Destroyers for the loss of only one frigate and a couple ships damaged at rough numerical parity). His craftiness and ruthlessness has also allowed him to use underhanded tactics to great effect. Grievous managed (on Dooku's orders) to orchestrate and successfully act out a terrorist attack on Coruscant via blowing up the Senate District's power generator, causing a massive power failure all over the planet. This stops the peace negotiations and ensures the continuation of the Clone Wars. Later on, he even manages to defeat Maul's Shadow Collective on three separate fronts, showing he is far from someone to be underestimated.

* VaderBreath: He has a rather nasty sounding hacking cough, which George Lucas has stated is deliberate {{Foreshadowing}} that Anakin will turn into Darth Vader, with Obi-Wan fighting both. In ''Revenge of the Sith'', he also makes a noticeably labored breathing sound before contacting Sidious.

* EvilLaugh: He does this from time to time, often interrupted his constant wheezing cough.

* IncurableCoughOfDeath: This was mostly due to his cybernetics, though it doesn't hinder him in any noticeable way. Though in ''Legends'' this was done when Mace Windu crushed his chest with the Force, severely crippling him and would explain the ''considerable'' BadassDecay by ''Revenge of the Sith''.

* VaderBreath: He has a rather nasty sounding hacking cough, which George Lucas has stated is deliberate {{Foreshadowing}} that Anakin will turn into Darth Vader, with Obi-Wan fighting both.