History Characters / StarWarsGeneralGrievous

* DualWielding: Taken UpToEleven; by splitting his arms, he can wield ''four'' lightsabers at once.

* [[ShootTheMedicFirst Shoot the Medic]]: He attempted to take this trope UpToEleven. On Dooku's orders, Grievous attempted to destroy an unprotected Republic Medical Station treating over 60,000 wounded clones. Grievous and Dooku intended for the destruction of the medical station to prevent wounded clone troopers from being treated, resulting in their deaths. However, Grievous was thwarted by Shadow Squadron before he could do so.

* TheDragon: After Ventress is betrayed by Dooku under Sidious' orders, Grievous becomes Dooku's full second-in-command for the rest of the Clone Wars until the Count's death. He then becomes Sidious' {{Dragon}} for a short time before kicking the bucket himself.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: He covers his mouth when he coughs, even when surrounded only by droids who don't know the difference.

* HatedByAll: [[AdaptationalJerkass He certainly is]]. His previous incarnation in ''Legends'' averts this by having a tragic past and a legitimate reason to hate the Republic. Contrasting this, Canon!Grievous is absolutely unsympathetic, lacks the redeemable or likable traits of Legends!Grievous, and manages to be a nasty [[TheSociopath psychopath]] who has caused endless misery and destruction on numerous planets, and the times he does show respect towards like Gor and Dooku is ultimately for his own selfish benefit. InUniverse, he is feared and/or despised by anyone who knows about him.

->'''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'' | ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsCrimsonReign Crimson Reign]]''[[note]]Flashback[[/note]]

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

* VilerNewVillain: [[AdaptationalJerkass He certainly is]] when compared to Count Dooku. His previous incarnation in ''Legends'' averts this by having a tragic past and a legitimate reason to hate the Republic. Contrasting this, Canon!Grievous is absolutely unsympathetic, lacks the redeemable or likable traits of Legends!Grievous, and manages to be a nasty [[TheSociopath psychopath]] who has caused endless misery and destruction on numerous planets, and the times he does show respect towards like Gor and Dooku is ultimately for his own selfish benefit. He is this InUniverse as well, as he is feared and/or despised by anyone who knows about him.

Grievous, also known as Qymaen jai Sheelal, was a Kaleesh warlord who served as the Supreme Commander of the Separatist droid army that engaged the Grand Army of the Republic throughout the pan-galactic conflict of the Clone Wars. Noted for his ruthlessness and extensive cybernetic enhancements, Grievous inspired fear as he traveled across the galaxy, invading entire worlds and engaging the Jedi Knights of the Republic. While not Force-sensitive, Grievous had extensive training in lightsaber combat courtesy of Count Dooku, and this plus his cyborg body enabled him to fight the Jedi on even footing.

* TheBrute: He's this in relation to Count Dooku and Darth Sidious, as the commander of the Separatist droid army and takes great pride in his ability as a [[HeroKiller Jedi hunter]]. Though he's physically threatening, he doesn't care much for strategy or the political machinations of the Sith or [[WarForFunAndProfit war-profiteers]]. Said best in this exchange with Obi-Wan:

[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grievousvsgungans_sw.png[[/labelnote]] to see his ''Clone Wars'' appearance]]

* 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,[[spoiler: 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.

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:The timing of his attack on Coruscant and abduction of Palpatine causes Obi-Wan and Anakin to be unable in help in the Siege of Mandalore, meaning Ahsoka goes instead. Maul was planning to kill Anakin in a duel to stop Palpatine, and the change causes him to try and salvage the plan.]]

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

* JustYouAndMeAndMyGUARDS: Is incredibly fond of this tactic. Whenever he loses his ground, he is sure to have a few [=MagnaGuards=] around to stab his opponent in the back.

* KnightTemplar: He doesn't see killing Jedi as murder as much as riding the galaxy of Jedi ""filth"" and claims to doing this for the future, one without Jedi.

* MonowheelMayhem: In ''Revenge of the Sith'', hw tries to escape Obi-Wan by riding a Wheel Bike that also has [[MechanicalHorse some legs]] for rough terrain.

* BondOneLiner: After he makes short work of Gha Nachkt when the latter demands a bonus payment, the former responds rather smugly, "There's your bonus!".

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Like in Legends, supplementary material reveals that his brain was modified without his knowledge during his cybernetic surgery that aggravated his hatred for the Jedi.

* HairTriggerTemper: There are a lot of things besides incompetent battle droids that can make him angry. According to ''Star Wars: In 100 Scenes'', he was given some brain implants that increase his coordination while making him more angry and aggressive, which serves to make him even more dangerous.

* DarthVaderClone: He was the last of the Prequel Trilogy's "Proto-Vaders". He is a tortured, half-mad cyborg who is ultimately undone by his reliance on his machines. He even has a breathing problem and BadBoss tendencies like Vader, though it is nowhere near as distinctive. Unlike Vader, however, Grievous gradually became a cyborg by choice in order to make himself a stronger warrior. According to the director's commentary for ''Revenge of the Sith'', this was [[InvokedTrope deliberately invoked]] to foreshadow Anakin's ultimate fate only a little while after Grievous is killed.

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

* SkeleBot9000: His slender, bone-white mechanical body makes him resemble a skeleton.

* HeroKiller: DirtyCoward tendencies aside, those Jedi that he got his lightsabers from were killed by ''his'' own hand. [[AndZoidberg And Tarpals]].

* BenevolentBoss: He is more lenient towards his Magnaguards than he is to the less competent Battle Droids. He doesn't like it when the ones in his lair were deactivated by Dooku.

* {{Sadist}}: He's only in for the slaughter, and for Jedi like [[ArchEnemy Obi-Wan Kenobi]], he would spare the lightsaber in favor of a torture device to make their deaths slow and painful.

->'''Appearances:''' ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsAgeOfRepublic Age of Republic]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsKanan Kanan]]'' | ''[[ComicBook/DarthMaulSonOfDathomir Son of Dathomir]]'' | ''Literature/DarkDisciple'' | ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Throughout the first six seasons of ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'', Grievous always manages to escape with his life no matter what attempts any of the protagonists make to catch or kill him. His immunity finally expires halfway though ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', which runs concurrently with the latter portion of Season 7 of ''The Clone Wars''.

[[header:General Grievous]]

* BringIt: In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E10LairOfGrievous Lair of Grievous]]", after he escapes from the team's initial ambush he pauses while hanging from the ceiling to growl "Come and get me!" at the Jedi before swinging away. This is after Kit had just cut off his legs.