History Characters / StarWarsGeneralGrievous

* TheHeavy: While Dooku and Palpatine technically rank above him, the latter is TheManBehindTheMan, and the former largely delegates his duties to Grievous (and more than once has needed rescue). This leaves Grievous as the ''de facto'' BigBad in ''The Clone Wars''. In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS4E4ShadowWarrior Shadow Warrior]]", Padmé Amidala believed Grievous's capture could cost the Separatists the war, even with Dooku still at large. Likewise, Sidious and Dooku considered him to be a critical part of the Separatist war effort, to the point where Dooku was willing to release Anakin Skykwalker, who was a major thorn in Dooku's side, from Separatist captivity in exchange for Grievous's own release from Republic captivity. During the Malevolence arc, Grievous personally commanded The ''Malevolence'' on a campaign to destroy Republic targets while Dooku transmitted him orders from afar. After the arc, Grievous continued to be a constant presence on the front lines throughout the war. Throughout the war, he inflicted considerable damage to the republic military using the information provided to him by the Skytop Station, he captured Jedi Council member Eath Koth, leading to the Battle of Saleucami, he led and participated in an assault on Kamino alongside Ventress, thwarted negations between the Republic and the Separatists on Dooku's orders, commanded an invasion force against Naboo, led a massacre against the Nightsisters on Dooku's orders, and led an attack on Hondo Ohnaka's base on Dooku's orders. He ends up getting killed in the last third of ''Revenge of the Sith''.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grievousvsgungans_sw.png[[/labelnote]] to see his ''Clone Wars'' appearance]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/43kzjbd9cet41_8.png[[/labelnote]] to see his Season 7 appearance]]

* {{Jerkass}}: Oh yes. Whenever he isn’t committing war crimes, Grevious is being the biggest asshole in the entire franchise. Abusing his subordinates both physically and verbally, mocking his enemies, and overall acting like a violent, temperamental, cowardly bully.

* PsychopathicManchild: Grievous’ short fuse leads to many childish qualities. Him bashing one of his droid subordinates to bits comes off as an angry child breaking their toys, any insult on his character leads to impulsive attacks that often result in his failures and like any schoolyard bully, [[DirtyCoward he’s suddenly not too fond of fighting when dealing with someone stronger then him]].

* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: When he's confronted by an army of Gungans outside his ship demanding he surrender, Grievous laughs incredulously, clearly not taking them seriously. They prove him wrong ''very'' quickly.

** His murder of Gha Nackt, who captured R2 and lied to the Jedi

** He's undeniably AxCrazy with a HairTriggerTemper, though he does display legitimate respect to Asajj (until Dooku betrays her), Sideous, and Dooku, though the latter varies between UndyingLoyalty and TeethClenchedTeamWork due to DependingOnTheWriter. He also was apparently a capable pet owner when it came to Gor, and is noticeably upset to learned he had been killed.

* SmarterThanYouLook: Many people are quick to assume that Grievous is nothing but a big, dumb, glorified PaperTiger due to his smug personality and mechanical appearance. In reality, he's a GeniusBruiser who's much more a threat than any single droid would be, even Obi-Wan relents that Grievous is deceptively smart despite the way he presents himself.

* PragmaticVillainy: He doesn't

** He's undeniably AxCrazy with a HairTriggerTemper, though he does display legitimate respect to Asajj (until Dooku betrays her), Sideous, and Dooku, though the latter varies between UndyingLoyalty and TeethClenchedTeamWork due to DependingOnTheWriter. He also was apparently a capable pet owner when it came to Gor, and is noticably upset to learned he had been killed.

** When not engaging in TeethClenchedTeamwork, he can respect Count Dooku, but only for his benefit (vice versa as well). While he did save Dooku's life in
** In ''Kanan'', he seems to be more fair and forgiving with his allies such as Coburn Sear, but its not a case of TookALevelInKindness because he still wants the Jedi dead and the Seperatists to win the war.

* TheSociopath: Of the low-functioning variety. Grievous is a bloodthirsty monster who thinks nothing about subjecting planets and their billions of inhabitants to death and starvation. He only cares about himself and how many Jedi, clones, and civilians he can kill. The only creature he seems to empathy to is Gor, but only because he didn't expect the Jedi and clones to actually killed his pet killing machine.

* PetTheDog: While very abusive to his Separatist droids, he's shown to have slightly more patience with his organic subordinates. He praises Gha Nachkt's work in extracting data from R2-D2 and was seemingly intent on following through on their bargain, at least until [[TooDumbToLive Nachkt tries to demand more money]]. When Coburn Sear [[YouHaveFailedMe fails his mission]], he also doesn't kill, injure, or even berate him, instead simply telling Sear to let him handle the Jedi.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: The Nightsisters are a culture of vicious misandrists who feel free to abuse, brainwash, and kill the male Nightbrothers whenever they please. Given that, many fans rooted for Grievous and his Separatist droids as they mercilessly killed the Nightsisters in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS4E19Massacre Massacre]]".

* LackOfEmpathy: He feels nothing for the countless Jedi and Padawans he has killed.

* TheSociopath: Of the low-functioning variety. Grievous is a bloodthirsty monster who thinks nothing about subjecting planets and their billions of inhabitants to death and starvation. He only cares about himself and how many Jedi, clones, and civilians he can kill. The only creature he seems to empathy to is Gor, but only because he didn't expect the Jedi and clones to actually his pet killing machine.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E10LairOfGrievous Lair of Grievous]]", he is noticeably anguished when he learns that the Jedi have killed his pet roggwart, Gor.
** Even with [[DependingOnTheWriter Grevious' loyalty varying on how he views Dooku,]] Grievous does boast about his master's teachings, and does seem to lament his loss, voicing his uncertainty about the war coming to an end in a Separatist victory after Dooku's death.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: Inverted. His real name in ''Legends'' was Qymaen jai Sheelal, "Grievous" being [[NomDeGuerre just an alias]] he adopted after losing his partner and lover during the Huk War as a vow to [[CrusadingWidower make his enemies suffer just as much as he does over his loss]]. Nothing of this is mentioned in the canon.

* PetTheDog:
** He seems genuinely saddened and enraged when he learns that his pet Gor has been killed by Kit Fisto and Nahdar Vebb.
** While very abusive to his Separatist droids, he's shown to have slightly more patience with his organic subordinates. He praises Gha Nachkt's work in extracting data from R2-D2 and was seemingly intent on following through on their bargain, at least until [[TooDumbToLive Nachkt tries to demand more money]]. When Coburn Sear [[YouHaveFailedMe fails his mission]], he also doesn't kill, injure, or even berate him, instead simply telling Sear to let him handle the Jedi.
* PetMonstrosity: He has a pet roggwart, a large horned lizard-like monster, named Gor. He is very obviously quite fond of Gor, and he's the first thing Grievous wants to see when he gets home and he's very upset when Kit Fisto and Nahdar Vebb kill Gor.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: A zigzagged case of DependingOnTheWriter, as he mixes this with UndyingLoyalty In most canon works, he and Count Dooku do not get along; Dooku admonishes Grievous for his failures in ''The Clone Wars''' first season. Grievous angrily tries to deflect the blame, and later disobeys Dooku's directives. In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS4E19Massacre Massacre]]", he takes his sweet time leading the decapitation strike on Mother Talzin and her Nightsisters, despite Dooku imploring him to hurry since Talzin is in the process of painfully killing him with her magic. In ''Son of Dathomir'', he outright calls Dooku "useless" and said it would [[ShameIfSomethingHappened be a shame]] if next time they met, Grievous had to add the Count's lightsaber to his collection. Despite this, he does respect his master, as he boasts about being trained by Dooku with pride in ''Revenge of the Sith''.

* TookALevelInKindness: In ''Kanan'', he is shown to be more fair and forgiving with his allies, although he still wants the Jedi dead.

* UndyingLoyalty: He is [[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes]] shown to be very loyal to Dooku; "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS4E19Massacre Massacre]]" is the best showcase - he bows in Dooku's presence, addresses him as "Master", and ultimately forgoing his vendetta against Ventress in favor of saving the Count from Talzin's torture and attempted murder.

* {{Retcon}}: He calls Obi-Wan a fool to challenge him in ''Revenge Of The Sith'' because he's been trained by Dooku how to use a lightsaber, which is not new information for Obi-Wan, seeing how the two had clashed many times before then.

* {{Retcon}}: He calls Obi-Wan a fool to challenge him in ''Revenge Of The Sith'' because he's been trained by Dooku how to use a lightsaber, which is not new information for Obi-Wan, seeing how the two had clashed many times before then. Then again, Grievous never said HOW he was able to use a lightsaber or who taught him until then.

* {{Retcon}}: He calls Obi-Wan a fool to challenge him in ''Revenge Of The Sith'' because he's been trained by Dooku how to use a lightsaber, which is not new information for Obi-Wan, seeing how the two had clashed many times before then.

* TheSociopath: Of the low-functioning variety. Grievous is a bloodthirsty monster who thinks nothing about subjecting planets and their billions of inhabitants to death and starvation. He only cares about himself and how many Jedi, clones, and civilians he can kill.

* AdaptationalJerkass: While he was a still 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 [[UnreliableNarrator so he claims]], as there are hints that he was simply claiming this to justify his state, considering the almost forlorn look he had when he gazed briefly at the Kaleesh shrine, which only hints at his ''Legends'' backstory). 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 remains ambiguous (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).

->'''Portrayed by:''' Matthew Wood

* TheUnfavorite: Of Dooku's two main minions, Grievous is this relative to Asajj Ventress. Whereas Dooku seemed to have a genuine soft spot for Ventress, he views Grievous as merely a pawn; the version of Sidious' plan that Dooku was eagerly ready to follow even involved Grievous being used as the scapegoat for the Separatists' atrocities. This may be in part because Grievous is not Force-sensitive, and so unlike Ventress cannot be trained as a true Sith apprentice by Dooku. This is in contrast to ''Legends'', where he ([[TrialByCombat rightfully]]) considered both Ventress and Durge inferior to Grievous, that said, he still viewed Grievous as a pawn like Durge and Ventress. It would ultimately be downplayed in ''Legends'' however, due to Grievous embodying many things Dooku hated (using more than one lightsaber, [[FantasticRacism being non-human]], and ultimately still viewed Grievous as a pawn.

* FantasticRacism: An interesting variation as Grievous does not hate a specific species, 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 laregely left unexplored in canon.

* TheUnfavorite: Of Dooku's two main minions, Grievous is this relative to Asajj Ventress. Whereas Dooku seemed to have a genuine soft spot for Ventress, he views Grievous as merely a pawn; the version of Sidious' plan that Dooku was eagerly ready to follow even involved Grievous being used as the scapegoat for the Separatists' atrocities. This may be in part because Grievous is not Force-sensitive, and so unlike Ventress cannot be trained as a true Sith apprentice by Dooku. This is in stark contrast to ''Legends'', where he ([[TrialByCombat rightfully]]) considered both Ventress and Durge inferior to Grievous, that said, he still viewed Grievous as a pawn like Durge and Ventress.

* YouRebelScum: Grievous and his "Jedi slime!" epithet. He also referred to Hondo Ohnaka as "pirate scum".