General Grievous might have served as way to sell Star Wars toys while introducing a new character, but he quickly became a fan favorite because of his malevolent personality and frightening combat style. General Grievous could fight Jedi - several at a time - using lightsabers, and without any Force powers. This was quite a new concept in the Star Wars universe.
He was first introduced in the un-canonized Clone Wars animated shorts, before being given his ceremonial due in Revenge of the Sith. Since then, General Grievous has also appeared in the congruent Clone Wars animated series and related material, but there's still a ton of things that casual fans don't know about this terrifying Jedi killer.
Updated on October 3rd, 2021 by Derek Draven: This list has been updated to reference a few more facts about General Grievous that many Star Wars fans still aren't aware of. The character enjoyed a brief role in the Clone Wars that rocked the Star Wars galaxy, and it was up to ancillary materials to flesh out his character more and shed some backstory on who he was. His real name, his lineage, and the reasons why he went down the path he did are far more complex than many Star Wars fans realize.
Why does General Grievous cough? According to the novelization of Revenge of The Sith, and a key episode from the original de-canonized Clone Wars animated shorts, Mace Windu was the one who gave General Grievous his signature cough. It occurred shortly before the opening act of Revenge of the Sith when General Grievous and his strike team invaded Coruscant and took Chancellor Palpatine hostage.
General Grievous engaged Windu in combat when the latter tried to stop his escape. Windu used the power of the force to crush his chest plate, dealing him a massive blow to the midsection. This in turn sparked his cough, which made its way into the theatrical film. According to the documentary Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed, George Lucas wanted the cough to represent the imperfection of cybernetic technology at the time, as opposed to an injury sustained in combat.
It was none other than George Lucas himself who recorded the infamous cough that made it into Revenge of the Sith. The DVD commentary track for the film revealed that Lucas had come into work one day with a bit of a cough, and thought it would be wise to record it for General Grievous' character.
This ties into the aforementioned reason for the cough as having been a persistent problem due to the character's cybernetic enhancements. Parallels can be drawn between the cough, and the heavy breathing sound of Darth Vader, following his own cybernetic transformation.
Long before he adopted the symbolic title of General Grievous, he was known as Qymaen Jai Sheelal. He kept this name throughout the early war campaigns on his homeworld, gaining prominence and popularity along with his increased combat skills.
He became close friends with a woman named Ronderu lij Kummar, forming a duo that was nearly unbeatable in combat. However, when Kummar was killed after the pair were separated, Sheelal abandoned his birth name and took the name of Grievous, to signify his eternal grief over her loss.
General Grievous hails from the planet Kalee, home to the fearsome Kaleesh warrior race. They were reptilian in nature and possessed a strong sense of tribalism and spirituality. It was not uncommon for tribes to fight amongst one another, as this made up the backbone of their cultural heritage.
Kaleesh biology gifted them with two opposable thumbs, feet with five claws to grip terrain, and superior eyesight, especially in low light. Their insides were quite flammable, which was demonstrated with grisly effect when Obi-Wan Kenobi shot his exposed chest, triggering a cascade of fire to tear through his body.
General Grievous didn't ascend the ranks of the Separatist army so quickly without the credentials to back it up. Before his transformation, he was already leading war campaigns in different parts of the galaxy, earning himself quite the military record in the process. It was these early campaigns that groomed him for what was later to come.
The turning point came when he led a campaign against the Yam'rii, an insectoid species living on the planet Huk. The Republic took the side of the Yam'rii during that conflict, earning the ire of General Grievous in the process. When the Separatist threat emerged, he needed little coaxing to join up.
General Grievous started out as flesh and blood, but he quickly began adopting cybernetic implants and limb replacements in order to better his combat ability. A near-death experience left little of his body intact, so it was decided that he would embrace being a cyborg completely, with a singular goal in mind.
Only a small percentage of General Grievous' original body remained intact, which was a dark mirror image of the same tragic fate that would later befall Anakin Skywalker, turning him into Darth Vader. Both characters became stronger as a result of their near-death trauma, and the bodily changes that followed.
General Grievous is best known for his extensive use of lightsabers in combat, which led to the deaths of many Jedi. However, his body contains a host of upgrades and implants that have helped turn him into a better killer, as well. His wrist was equipped with a grappling line that could be used either in combat or to ascend tricky terrain.
His upgrades consisted of Geonosian tech that included heuristic combat programming, allowing him to adapt quickly in a fight. He was also gifted with enhanced vision, the ability to split his limbs apart and contort his body, and a change in posture that caught his enemies off guard. Even more sinister was the brain augmentation that amplified his aggression and rage, seemingly without his knowledge.
General Grievous might have appeared to be a powerful military leader within the Separatist movement, but a large part of this was a ruse to make him think he was more valuable than he actually was. Grievous was a killing machine and a military tactician designed to serve the whims of the Sith Lords pulling his strings from above.
To this end, they did what most Sith do - promise a lot, and deliver very little. Had the Separatists won the war, General Grievous would have continued to act as a pawn for those higher on the chain of command, and thrown a few table scraps in order to appeal to his violent nature.
General Grievous was not exactly a fan of droids, but when it came to cybernetic implants, he was all for it. In fact, Grievous himself chose several major upgrades designed to enhance his combat prowess and ferocity. This, combined with the alterations done to his physiology and brain made him far more lethal than his days as a warlord on his home planet.
By the time his near-fatal injuries forced him to become a cyborg, he had embraced it wholesale. General Grievous was content to augment himself for the sole purpose of waging a war on the Republic, and engaging his favorite prey - the Jedi - in a battle to the death.
Before Disney acquired Star Wars from George Lucas and subsequently retconned much of the Expanded Universe material, General Grievous' condition was said to have been the result of a shuttle crash accident. Since that time, the actual definitive explanation for why he became a cyborg has been left in mystery.
The Clone Wars animated series confirmed that Grievous chose to upgrade himself, but this could have been the result of the crash, or simply a desire to become a better killer. It's still assumed that the shuttle crash explanation is correct since no disputes have arisen to contradict it.
The Clone Wars animated series pitted General Grievous against Anakin Skywalker's fledgling padawan Ahsoka Tano, for all the marbles. Grievous' extensive skill at killing Jedi should have led to her demise, yet she was able to hold her own in the battle and emerge with her life intact.
This was a clear indicator that Ahsoka was no mere Jedi padawan, but had the potential to be something else. In a sense, it almost foreshadowed her future greatness, and the unorthodox path she took towards mastery of the Force, and lightsaber combat as a whole.
General Grievous killed a lot of Jedi by the time he'd met his end at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but one death occurred offscreen due to a cut during production. Revenge of the Sith was supposed to feature a scene where Grievous confronts Anakin and Obi-Wan, with Jedi Master Shaak Ti in tow.
The scene was supposed to introduce General Grievous to Anakin and Obi-Wan before the main bridge scene that made it into the final film. After he killed Shaak Ti, the two Jedi quickly cut a hole through the floor in order to escape Grievous and his massive contingent of battle droids.
Contrary to many claims going around the internet, it is not, in fact, clear that Grand Admiral Thrawn acquired the mask of General Grievous, following his demise. However, there is evidence to support the claim, albeit inconclusive. According to available material, a high-ranking Imperial officer bought it through an illegal market, leading many to speculate that it was Thrawn.
It's a good guess, considering that few Imperial officers would have been interested in such a mask. Thrawn, however, was different. He sought to understand his foes by examining their culture, armor, and art, which definitely lends credibility to the theory that he was the one who got his blue hands on the mask.
It may seem incomprehensible, but one of the most feared military generals in the entire galaxy was, in fact, outsmarted by none other than the bumbling Jar Jar Binks during the Clone Wars. It all started when Binks posed as Gungan Boss Lyonie in order to throw General Grievous off during his plan to invade Naboo.
He kept Grievous going for so long that his droid army was incapacitated by the Gungans. Enraged, General Grievous gave hot pursuit, but that eventually led to him being captured by the Gungans, then later released as part of a prisoner exchange in return for Anakin Skywalker.
Surprising though it may be, it actually makes sense to know that Gary Oldman was originally supposed to play General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith. He'd already played a variety of colorful and diverse villains throughout his career, so this one should have been a walk in the park for him.
In the end, Oldman decided to pass on the role due to a conflict with the Screen Actor's Guild. Had he participated, it would have been incredibly interesting to see what he brought to the character in terms of delivery, personality, and nuance.
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