Grievous, born Qymaen jai Sheelal, and better known as General Grievous, was a Kaleesh warrior turned cyborg that worked as the General of the Separatist Droid Army within the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. He was renowned for being an skilled Jedi killer, making it his mission to hunt down Jedi during battles with the Galactic Republic and steal their lightsabers to add to his collection. At the end of the Clone Wars, Grievous was killed by human Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi just before the formation of the Galactic Empire.
History[]
Early Life[]
Qymaen jai Sheelal was born on the planet of Kalee in the years before the start of the Clone Wars. He was raised by his family to become a skilled warrior as part of the Kaleesh heritage and was identified as a highly intelligent and powerful warrior in the eyes of the Kaleesh leadership.
The Huk Wars[]
A young Qymaen and Ronderu fighting a group of Yam'rii during the Huk War.
For years, the Kaleesh people had been attacked by a species of hostile, slave utilizing, creatures from the nearby planet of Huk known as the Yam'rii that has always resulted in many skirmishes between the two races, but in 42 BBY, this rivalry escalated into a full on war. During this conflict, the Yam'rii attempted to enslave the entire Kaleesh race, resulting in massive battles between the two species during which powerful Kaleesh warriors managed to deal large amounts of damage to the Yam'rii's attempts at setting up a slave camp on the planet. Many of these attacks were organized and led by Qymaen and his close ally, and lover, Ronderu lij Kummar, who were considered to be the most skilled Kaleesh of their people, being able to kill hundreds of Yam'rii in battle.
Relationship with Ronderu[]
Together, Qymaen and Ronderu killed so many Yam'rii at such a fast rate that the Kaleesh in their village believed the two were some sort of twin demigods, and were given control of the entire Kaleesh military to fight the Yam'rii. Under the command of Qymaen and Ronderu, the Kaleesh managed to strike blow after blow to the Yam'rii, killing thousands of Yam'rii slavers. It would be during this time that Qymaen and Ronderu became very close, with some Kaleesh that served under the two believing that the two were married during the conflict, however this marriage did not last long, as soon the Yam'rii returned to Kalee, bringing a large portion of their military with them.
Becoming Grievous[]
Qymaen, wearing traditional Kaleesh warrior armor during the peak of the Huk War.
This attack forced Qymaen and Ronderu back into the conflict, and during a battle with the Yam'rii, Ronderu was killed by a Yam'rii warrior. Following her death, Qymaen was thrown into near insanity, realizing that he would be cursed to grive her death for the rest of his life, renaming himself Grievous and beginning a massive crusade against the Yam'rii to avenge his fallen lover. As Grievous, more and more Kaleesh began to follow Qymaen in combat against the Yam'rii, eventually managing successfully to drive the Yam'rii from Kalee. However, this did not satisfy Grievous, as he wanted to insure that the Yam'rii did not return to his home planet, and so he convinced the Kaleesh elders to invade the Yam'rii homeworld of Huk and began committing genocide against the Yam'rii.
Working with the Banking Clan[]
It would be this act of genocide that forced the Yam'rii into taking drastic measures in order to insure their survival as a species. Using their ties to the Trade Federation, the Yam'rii convinced the Galactic Republic that the Kaleesh started the Huk War and were attempting to take control of their sector of the galaxy. The Republic believed their story and sent a strike team of Jedi to Kalee to kill off Grievous and his Kaleesh forces. These Jedi would end up killing hundreds of Kaleesh warriors and left the planet in a state of poverty, forcing Grievous to ally himself with the Muun organization, the InterGalactic Banking Clan in order to save his people, in doing this, Grievous would gain control of the Banking Clan's droid army, but would be forced to work as an security agent for the IBC. It would be during his work as a agent for the IBC that the leader of the IBC, San Hill, would discover the possible usefulness of Grievous to be a possible canidate to lead the Confederacy of Independent Systems' droid army, of which San was a supporter of. However, when asked to take this position, Grievous declined, forcing San Hill to take drastic measures to try and ensure that the Kaleesh warlord would join the Confederacy.
Becoming a cyborg[]
San Hill takes a damaged Grievous to Geonosis to be rebuilt into a cyborg killer.
After declining his offer to become General of the Confederate Droid Army, San Hill spoke with the leader of the Confederacy, a human count named Dooku, to find a way to convince Grievous into joining their Separatist Alliance. Dooku came up with the idea to injure Grievous to the point of which he would be forced to join their Confederacy, an idea that Dooku wanted to see put into action as Grievous' skills as a warrior could make him a powerful Jedi killer. This plan was put into activation just shortly after the end of the Huk War, in which Dooku hid a bomb aboard Grievous' personal shuttle, which Dooku witnessed detinate and then brought what was left of Grievous' body to the desert planet of Geonosis. On this planet San Hill, aided by the native Geonosians, would attempt to rebuild Grievous, who agreed to join the Separatists if they rebuilt him.
Grievous Reborn[]
Although it took almost a whole year, San Hill and his Geonosian allies, including Poggle the Lesser, were able to successfully implant what remained of Grievous' body and place it inside of a custom made cyborg suit created to resemble the armor worn by the Kaleesh, with his helmet specifically being modified to look almost exactly like the helmet that Grievous wore during the Huk War. With the suit's creation complete, San Hill was ready to forcefully place Grievous into his new cyborg suit. After this incredibly painful surgery, Grievous took a few days to adjust to his new body, but eventually learned how to control it. Following this, Grievous would meet with Count Dooku, who began training the Kaleesh cyborg in the Jedi combat arts in order to make Grievous the perfect war machine to lead the Separatists Droid Army.
The Clone Wars[]
Grievous' training would continue to take place on Geonosis up until a strike team of Jedi arrived on the planet, attempting to rescue a group of three Republic prisoners; Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Padmé Amidala. While Count Dooku and the other Separatist forces dealt with this threat, Grievous was ordered to stay hidden within the Geonosian catacombs and watch the skirmish from afar, just before the battle accelerated into a full on battle when Jedi Master Yoda and a massive army of clones.
Battle of Geonosis[]
Grievous encounters Ur-Sema Du, the first Jedi that would be murdered by the cyborg general.
Grievous stayed out of the Battle of Geonosis, despite being present for the attack. During the battle, Grievous stayed hidden underground in the Geonosian catacombs, being protected by a small group of Geonosian warriors. While in the catacombs, a small team of Republic Clone Troopers, led by a Jedi Master named Ur-Sema Du, encountered the cyborg. Grievous imediently killed the Jedi's clones before dueling her in lightsaber combat wielding an electrostaff. Although Ur-Sema Du was a skilled Jedi Master, she was soon overpowered by Grievous and killed. Upon her death, Grievous took Ur-Sema's lightsaber as a trophy, later deciding to begin collecting the lightsabers of all the Jedi her killed for the rest of the war. After the Republic's victory on Geonosis, Grievous was evacuated along with the other Separatist forces on the planet.
Hissrich
On Hissrich, the general would talk with AD-W4, a droid mercenary.
Malevolence
The general soon used a super weapon called the Malevolence, which was destroyed.
Felucia
After the first battle on Felucia, Grievous sent an army of droid units to the jungle world. Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker and Plo Koon went to fight. The Jedi won but Ahsoka was kidnapped by an orange Trandoshan