General Grievous

"General Grievous, you're shorter than I expected."

- Anakin and Grievous' first meeting. General Grievous is the fictional Kaleesh Cyborg General in the Star Wars universe. He is the secondary antagonist of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and a main antagonist in the Clone Wars TV series. He was primarily voiced by Matthew Wood. According to the Revenge of the Sith DVD, series creator George Lucas instructed his creative team to create a villain that foreshadowed Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader: the heavy breathing, the cyborg body, and his seduction into a malevolent faction that hunts down and destroys Jedi.

Revenge of the Sith
General Grievous was an apprentice to Count Dooku in the Clone Wars. He was sent to capture Chancellor Palpatine on Coruscant, who he brought aboard his ship. Although his arch nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker, pursued and rescued the Chancellor, after killing Dooku. Grievous captured them, but they escaped so Grievous fled to the sinkhole planet of Utapau. He was tracked down by Kenobi, and the two dueled. Grievous lost his lightsabers and tried to escape in a vehicle, although he was pursued by Kenobi. Grievous eventually overpowered Kenobi and nearly killed him, but was defeated by his opponent when the Jedi exposed the cyborg's heart and shot at it, finally killing him.

Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003)
General Grievous actually made his debut sometime prior to Revenge of the Sith, in the 2003 miniseries, Star Wars: Clone Wars, by Gennedy Tartakvosky. In this version, he was voiced by John DiMaggio in Season 2 and by Richard McGonagle in Season 3.

General Grievious first makes his appearance leading a Battle Droid assault on the Planet of Hypori that annihiliated the Clone Army and sent 6 Jedi, including Shaak Ti and Ki-Adi-Mundi, into hiding. Grievous then personally engaged the 6 Jedi in battle, killing 3 of them and gravely injuring the others. Shaak Ti, Secura, and Mundi only managed to survive when a squad of Clones intervened and started shooting at Grievous who made his escape. After the chaos, Mundi wanted to pursue Grievous, but the Clone leader reminded them they had to leave or the survivors would die. Grievous then watches the ships leave, saying they have, "only prolonged the inevitable".

Later on, Grievous is seen training with his master, Count Dooku, who afterwards proceeds to tell Grievous that in order to succeed, he needs surprise, fear, and intimindation on his side, and that if he lacks at least one of those things, he should retreat. Then, Darth Sidious appears to them via simulator and Grievous tells the Sith Lord that all is going according to plan, pleasing the Dark Lord. Sidious then gives Grievous his ultimate mission; kidnap Chancellor Palpatine.

Grievous then led an assault on the Republic captial in Coruscant intent on taking the Chancellor, killing all Clone Troopers in his way. He pursued a group of Jedi that were protecting the Chancellor, including Shaak Ti, until he eventually killed four of them. He finally cornered the Chancellor, and battled against Shaak Ti before tying her up in electrical wiring. While he was making his escape, he spotted Mace Windu and got ready to fight him, but Windu easily crushed his organs with The Force, giving him his terrible cough and crippling the General for the remainder of his life.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Grievous appeared as the secondary antagonist for most of the show. After his ship, the Malevolence, was destroyed by the Jedi, his master Count Dooku punished him by leading a team of Jedi to his base on Vassek. In order to prove himself, he slaughtered a squad of Clonetroopers and killed Jedi Knight Nahdar Vebb. The only man that escaped from the conflict was Master Kit Fisto, who dueled Grievous to a draw.

He captured Jedi Eath Koth aboard his ship and sent a hologram of his torture to the Jedi Temple. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Adi Gallia went on a mission to rescue him, with Kenobi distracting Grievous while they did so. After failing to defeat the Jedi he fled to a nearby planet, for safety. After being tracked down by Kenobi, he managed to escape yet again.

Disney INFINITY 3.0
Grievous appears in Disney INFINITY's third installment as a boss in the Twilight of the Republic Play Set.

Star Wars Weekends
General Grievous was a meetable character for Star Wars Weekends in Walt Disney World Resort from 2005 to 2006 and 2009 to 2010.

Trivia

 * In the 2003 Clone Wars miniseries by Genndy Tartakovsky, it turns out that General Grievous didn't always have his famous nasty cough. But, he ended up getting it at the end of the series after he confronted Mace Windu, who crushed his organs with the Force, mainly his lungs.