Sean Petersen
Why General Grievous is Secretly a God
General Grievous: cyborg extraordinaire, Jedi hunter, and Supreme Commander of the droid armies. He’s not a droid himself, for the love of crackers he’s not a droid. He is so much more. He is feared, he is ferocious, and he is deadly. However, he is also so nerfed it makes me want to cry. Going from the deliciously sinister murderer in the 2002 animated series to the weakened but still intimidating Revenge of the Sith to a cliche, feeble cutout in the 3d series, Grievous has fallen from grace, and he’s fallen hard. But his loyal followers are still out there. They know what he is. And we shall fight until he is remembered for the terror he once was!
Let’s start at the beginning. Surprisingly, Grievous’ first appearance in the media arrived before his movie debut. Starring in the 2d animated series The Clone Wars in 2002, Grievous showed up alongside characters that would later become much more popular, such as Durge and Asajj Ventress. Before anyone knew anything about the tall, ominous cyborg, the series’ first impression of Grievous was a scene in which he takes on six Jedi at once, including such famous Masters as Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti, and Ki-Adi Mundi (if you’ve only just now realized I’m speaking gibberish, perhaps another article is for you). What’s more, he wins, even with the intervention of a clone battalion, gunship included. He doesn’t even use all four of his arms. And that’s the first scene we ever see. From then on, it’s episode after episode of carnage, murder, and just overall bad-assery. The only instances where we see that this beast actually has any weakness is during his training with Dooku and the sad final scene where Master Windu force crushes his armor, giving him that dreadful cough we all know. But apart from that, he’s pretty unstoppable.
Next time we see our loathsome General, it’s at the start of Star Wars: Episode III, presumably just after the events of the animated series. While not nearly as fearsome as in the 2002 series, we can of course assume our General is a little tired from having his lungs crushed and having to deal with CGI limitations. Regardless, our Revenge Grievous is not a pushover by any standards. Holding his own against the combined might of Anakin and Obi-Wan while armed with nothing more than a electrostaff, forcing entire planets into submission, and intimidating the whole Separatist Alliance, Grievous still makes a name for himself. Even in the infamous Kenobi-Grievous battle on Utapau, he manages to literally throw Obi-Wan to the brink of his death. However, his best efforts are in vain, and his heart is mercilessly shot to smithereens by the wily Jedi Master. Most tragically, Grievous’ end brought about the start of his most terrible humiliation.
The brutal mistreatment of the cyborg warlord began with the start of The Clone Wars (not to be confused with the one mentioned prior. This one had a budget for special effects!). While it is to be expected that a long-running kid’s TV show needs villains to fill time slots, Grievous unfortunately took the hit for it. The once-proud General became nothing more than a regular foe to defeat time after time again. Even worse, his most troublesome characteristics were blown horribly out of proportion. The 2d Grievous ran from nothing. The movie Grievous only ran once he was hopelessly outgunned and failure was definite. The 3d Grievous ran away after being force pushed into a wall. And the unique and unsettling crab-walk he perfected for about three seconds in Episode III was so disgustingly overused it seemed the pre-cyborg Grievous had been quadrupedal. All in all, the former might and glory of Grievous diminished quite a bit. He was not without his moments (his breathtakingly brutal massacre of the Nightsister clan comes to mind), but his power was easy to forget when he gets beaten by Gungans. Sad stuff, really.
Most Star Wars fans know Grievous from the movie, but unfortunately the majority of younger viewers know him from the 3d show. The General deserves better, my friends! Educate the ignorant in his strength. Show them how he uses his taloned feet to deadly result (you all know what I’m talking about if you watched the 2d one) and show them how powerful he really is! The galaxy is counting on us all to restore the glory of the great General Grievous (personally, I think a video game chronicling his sinister voyage would be fun). Army or not, they must realize they are doomed.
