Malevolence/Legends

The Malevolence was a Subjugator-class heavy cruiser active during the Clone Wars. It served as the flagship of Confederacy General Grievous.

Characteristics
"Our ship is unstoppable."

- General Grievous The Malevolence was a Subjugator-class heavy cruiser. Around 7,892 meters, It possessed two twin ion cannons. Once fired, the wave from the cannons would expand over greater distances, but would not weaken.

The Malevolence was designed by Ruggle Schmong and built by Quarren Separatists on Pammant. It served as General Grievous' flagship prior to his use of the Invisible Hand and destroyed dozens of Galactic Republic task forces, including the Galactic Republic Fourth Fleet.

The battleship's existence became known to the Galactic Republic in 22 BBY following the Battle of Phu, but the details of the ship remained unknown due to the absence of any survivors from the attacks. Commentators speculated that the weapon could be a weaponized space slug variant, or a starship equipped with cloaking devices.

Rise of the Malevolence
"Fire!"

- General Grievous ordering to fire the Malevolence ' s ion cannons

The Malevolence was first sighted by Jedi General Ares Nune and Clone Commander Kite as they took three Venator-class Star Destroyers&mdash;including the Laudable, Nune's flagship &mdash;on a regular patrol of the Phu system. Commanding the Malevolence, Confederate General Grievous took this opportunity to fire upon the Republic forces. The first wave from the cannons obliterated the Laudable ' s shields. However, the ship was doomed as the intense fire from the Malevolence progressed. Grievous ordered the Malevolence to leave the system as Republic reinforcements might arrive, thus confirming the first victory for the Separatist ' s new superweapon. Unknowingly to Grievous, whom was victorious, the defeat of Nune's fleet was reported in the news, to the increasing worry of the citizens of the Republic. Masters Yoda, Mace Windu and Plo Koon of the Jedi Council met with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in his office on the galactic capital of Coruscant. Koon volunteered to take several Venator-class cruisers to find and destroy the "mystery weapon," as the Malevolence had been dubbed. Aboard the Venator Triumphant, Koon tracked the Malevolence to the Abregado system.

There was also speculation among some clone troopers that the Brassbound, a Republic cruiser, was going after Grievous's secret weapon.

Battle of Abregado
"Finding it is one thing. Finding a way to stop it is another."

- Mace Windu on the Confederate superweapon

Plo Koon and his forces tracked the Malevolence to the Abregado system and approached the vessel. Koon intended to report as much information on the weapon in case of his defeat, and before proceeding, he contacted Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano, who were keeping the nearby Bith system secure. The Confederate Head of State, the Sith Lord Count Dooku, had arrived aboard the Malevolence to watch General Grievous' progress, and ordered the Republic task force's transmissions to be jammed. After Koon and Clone Commander Wolffe reported their position to Skywalker and Tano, their communications were cut.

Seeing this as an opportunity for another test of the Malevolence ' s ion cannons, Grievous ordered the weapon to be fired. The Confederate warship moved to attack Koon's fleet, and because they were out of range, the Republic Venators were unable to open fire. The Malevolence discharged its cannons which passed over the fleet and neutralized the cruisers' shields, and the vulnerable cruisers fell to fire from the Malevolence ' s numerous laser cannons. Shortly before the Triumphant was destroyed, Plo Koon and several clone troopers were able to flee from the cruiser in escape pods. As Koon's fleet was ripped apart, a debris field of the three destroyed cruisers was erected in the Abregado system.

Following the rescue of Plo Koon and the surviving clones, all of Plo Koon's forces except for a few clones and the Jedi himself had been killed. However, Koon, Skywalker, and Tano were able to give a report to the Jedi Council on the Malevolence, and the Republic learned of the warship and its ion cannons. Despite the fact that most of Koon's forces had been eradicated, Dooku considered the battle to be a defeat, as several survivors had escaped the battle and informed the Republic of the warship and its weapon. The Sith Lord was extremely displeased with Grievous' failure to prevent the Republic from learning of the warship. His trust in Grievous shaken, Dooku left to discuss plans with his Sith master.

Ryndellia Conflict
"They told me this ship was fast!"

- General Grievous

A Republic medical convoy, consisting of several Pelta-class frigates as well as a Venator-class cruiser escort, was passing through the Ryndellia system when it was intercepted by General Grievous and the Malevolence. The warship attacked the Venator and two of the Pelta frigates with its numerous laser cannons, while the last Pelta frigate fled. Noticing this, Grievous ordered the ship's ion cannons to be fired at the frigate. The clone troopers piloting the frigate attempted to jump to hyperspace, but were unable to set the coordinates in time to do so. The frigate's power was neutralized from the ion cannons, and the Malevolence directed laser fire at it. Dooku was watching the cyborg general's progress through a holotransmission, and was pleased that the medical convoy had been eliminated. The Sith Lord had recently met with his Sith master, and had learned of the Republic's secret Outer Rim medical center, treating over 60,000 wounded clones. Dooku assigned the medical center as the Malevolence ' s new target; this assignment boosted Grievous' confidence, as it showed that the Count had not completely lost his faith in the general since the Battle of Abregado.

Destruction of the Malevolence
"Skywalker! The enemy has attacked our convoy of medical transports near Ryndellia.''" "Medical transports? Only General Grievous would go after clones who can't fight back." "''The Ryndellia system... Near Naboo? Isn't that where our medical base is? I bet that will be his next target."

- Admiral Wullf Yularen, Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker

After destroying dozens of task forces, General Grievous set his sights on the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, which housed over 60,000 wounded clones and was the primary Outer Rim medical facility for the Republic. In an attempt to stop him, the Republic sent a squadron of brand-new BTL-B Y-wing starfighters, nimble bombers that could avoid the ion cannon's bursts. The Republic force, led by Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, managed to damage the two heavy ion cannons, causing them to overload, also causing the hyperdrive to be disabled.

Senator Padmé Amidala and C-3PO entered the battle, being led to believe they would be meeting IBC officials for a peace treaty that would lead them to leave the CIS. In reality, it was a trap set up by Darth Sidious to ensure that the Malevolence could escape. They were captured by a tractor beam, but evaded capture by destroying their ship.

Skywalker, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, and astromech droid R2-D2 entered the ship in the chaos and began searching for Amidala. Padmé contacted them, leading Anakin to find her, but C-3PO got lost and Kenobi went looking for him. R2-D2 then found him and Kenobi went to damage the hyperdrive further, which had almost been fixed at the time.

In the generator room, Kenobi was attacked by General Grievous, but escaped and met up with Skywalker, Amidala, C-3PO, and R2-D2, who hijacked the hyperdrive beforehand and escaped aboard the Twilight. Grievous attempted to give chase in his starfighter, together with several Vulture droid fighters. Meanwhile, the droid crew aboard the Malevolence, believing the hyperdrive to be fixed, prepared to jump to CIS space, but Skywalker's "hijacking" caused it to jump into a nearby moon. Grievous frantically ordered the droids to reset the navicomputer but they failed to do so, resulting in the destruction of the ship. Grievous, however, escaped to his secret hideout in Sector 4 and the Twilight returned to the awaiting Republic ships. The Malevolence's threat was over.

It was known that the Malevolence possessed at least one sister ship, the Devastation.

Behind the scenes


Count Dooku named the Malevolence meaning "wishing evil to others."

The Malevolence was originally based on a concept art for a Separatist communications ship meant to be used in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The finished version was designed by Russell Chong and is based upon the GR-75 medium transport. According to Director Dave Filoni, the Malevolence and its story was based in part on the real-life German battleship Bismarck, which was hunted relentlessly by the British Royal Navy during World War II.

In the The Clone Wars episode "Shadow of Malevolence", Anakin Skywalker commands the Y-wing bombers to attack the starboard ion cannon, but the visuals show that it is the port cannon that is destroyed. The explosion takes out both cannons, however, therefore making this statement moot. It is possible however, that due to either using the same power generator or really just being one, big, 2-way shooting cannon that can pick which side to fire from, that cause the destruction of one to cause a chain reaction that destroyed both guns, as well as causing extensive damage to most of the ship.

The destruction of the Malevolence by crashing into a moon echoes the fate of the Executor by falling into the second Death Star's gravity field, as well as the dispute over its size.

Henry Gilroy has suggested that the reason the Malevolence is able to receive holographic communications while in hyperspace is due to the size of the ship's internal gravity field.

Appearances



 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars novel
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars Volume 1: Shipyards of Doom
 * The Clone Wars: Prelude
 * HoloNet News — A Galaxy Divided
 * The Clone Wars: Shakedown
 * The Clone Wars: Procedure
 * The Clone Wars: Agenda
 * The Clone Wars: Departure
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
 * The Clone Wars: Departure
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels

Notes and references
Malevolence Malevolencia