General greivous

General Grievous is one of the most highly skilled warriors in the history of the galaxy. In both the Clone Wars series and Revenge of the Sith, he is portrayed as a ruthlessly effective hunter of the Jedi, able to destroy several of that Order's most accomplished warriors with relative ease.

He is introduced in Star Wars: Clone Wars as the commanding general of the Confederacy of Independent Systems' army and navy and an enemy of the Galactic Republic. Though technically a member of the Kaleesh species, his physical body is a fusion of a powerful robotic structure and an organic brain, nervous system and sensory organs.

Transformation into a cyborg
As explained in Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous, which appeared in Star Wars Insider 86, General Grievous is originally a warlord named Qymaen jai Sheelal on his native planet Kalee. Grievous is among the most effective generals for the Kalee against their enemy, the Huk.

The rest of his backstory is supplied in James Luceno's novel Labyrinth of Evil. During the war with the rival Huk, the Republic is called in to settle the dispute. Because the Huk is rich in natural resources compared to the barren Kalee world, the Republic sides with Huk and sends several Jedi Knights to intervene on their behalf. Grievous and his armies are made to appear as the aggressors and their homeworld is left in ruins.

Grievous becomes a security chief for the Intergalactic Banking Clan. San Hill, leader of the clan, notices Grievous' strategic genius and fearlessness in battle, and mentions him to the Confederacy of Independent Systems leader, Count Dooku. Led by Darth Sidious, the Sith Lords conspire to draw Grievous into the Separatist army. Despite Hill's generous offers, however, Grievous refuses to lead the Separatist army.

During an attack by the Republic's armies on the clan's base, Grievous' shuttle is hit by three missiles from a Republic gunship and crashes. Grievous is mortally wounded in the crash, kept alive by technology, a transfusion of blood from the deceased Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, and Dooku's mastery of the dark side; his shattered body is taken to the planet Geonosis, where most of it is replaced with a droid body that complements his natural reflexes. Hill approaches him and offers him the chance to live again in a cybernetic body and lead the Separatist army. Grievous initially resists — he would much rather die a warrior's death than watch his body sustained by technology — but Hill eventually persuades him by appealing to his desire for revenge. Dooku then trains him in lightsaber combat until he is one of the best duelists in the galaxy, and whips his resentment of the Jedi into a frenzy. The metamorphosis is complete: Grievous is now the Separatists' most fearsome weapon.

Clone Wars
During the Clone Wars, Grievous makes it a personal goal to hunt down and kill every single Jedi and collect their lightsabers as his personal prize.

Although Dooku personally finds Grievous disgusting, he makes the general his right hand man. As such, Grievous not only learns Dooku's secret identity, but becomes second only to the Sith in the chain of command of the Separatist forces. He becomes the Supreme Commander of the Droid Army only after Count Dooku pits him against Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress and Durge. Grievous easily defeats the two.

He is inside the catacombs of Geonosis during the the opening battle of the Clone Wars. There, he kills his first Jedi. His rear-guard actions in the catacombs against the clone troopers and Jedi allow Nute Gunray and the rest of the Separatist leaders to escape with their lives.

Grievous makes his first chronological appearance in the Star Wars universe in episode 20 of the Clone Wars series. He single-handedly attacks and dispatches seven Jedi in an aggressive display of lightsaber mastery during the Battle of Hypori. He begins the swift conquest of almost all of the Outer Rim planets, striking fear into the very heart of the Republic. Grievous leads the assault into the inner systems, along the Corellian Trade Spine, conquering world after world.

Battle of Coruscant
As portrayed in the Clone Wars series' final episode and in Labyrinth of Evil, Grievous leads the Separatists in the Battle of Coruscant, using the first wave of his attack as a distraction to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine (who, unbeknownst to Grievous, is also Sith Lord and Separatist leader Darth Sidious). In the process, he pursues Palpatine all the way from his office through the Skyline of Coruscant (on the back of a nearby transport) through the Coruscant Subway System, and finally to Palpatine's private bunker. Grievous finally sneaks into Palpatine's bunker and kills the Chancellor's Jedi guards, Roron Corobb and Foul Moudama, after distracting guard leader Shaak Ti and wrapping her in an electric cord. Mace Windu comes to the rescue after he and Yoda sense the attack on the city is a distraction. As Grievous escapes with his prize, Windu uses the Force to crush the general's chest plates, leaving him with the asthmatic cough heard in Revenge of the Sith.

Revenge of the Sith
In the opening scenes of Revenge of the Sith, Grievous has Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker captured onboard his vessel, the Invisible Hand. Skywalker and Kenobi are taken prisoner, but escape and confront Grievous on the bridge. Grievous grabs a fallen guard's electrostaff and smashes it through the viewport, sending himself into space. He uses a grappling hook to pull himself to the ship's exterior. He then uses his mechanical feet to magnetize to the outside of his fallen flagship to regain entry into the vessel, and flees in an escape pod.

Grievous directs his escape pod to the nearest Trade Federation control ship, where he orders his armies to retreat. He then travels to the planet Utapau, where the Separatist Council reside. Grievous is now the supreme leader of the Confederacy, Dooku having died at Skywalker's hand in the earlier battle. Sidious orders him to move the Separatist leaders to the volcanic planet Mustafar, and to prepare for Obi-Wan Kenobi's imminent arrival.

Kenobi arrives shortly after the Separatists leave, and so corners Grievous. Grievous takes out his lightsabers and engages Kenobi in combat. Kenobi seems to gain the upper hand, fending off Grievous' lightsabers and slicing off his two lower hands at the wrists; Grievous, however, escapes as the Republic assault force begins their attack on the droid armies. Kenobi chases after Grievous throughout most of the battlefield. He eventually upends the General's vehicle, forcing him to engage Kenobi in combat once again. Grievous tries to escape to his fighter by dueling Kenobi through the control room, the top of a tower, and a cave, finally ending up at his landing platform. Grievous throws him around violently before seizing an electrostaff. Kenobi uses the Force to retrieve Grievous' blaster, lying on the ground nearby. He fires five shots into Grievous' torso, igniting his flammable organic components. All of Grievous' organic organs ignite, and he starts to burn from the inside. Flames erupt from his eye sockets before he finally falls to the ground.

A partial rebirth
Am I more in fact than just a droid? Am I alive, and perhaps... even the reincarnation of Grievous?

—N-K Necrosis's thoughts

Grievous next appears in the video game Star Wars: Galaxies. Following the establishment of the Galactic Empire, clone troopers recover Grievous' body, transporting it and his captured starfighter to one of Palpatine's secret storehouses on Utapau. There it remains for years, until the cyberneticist Nycolai Kinesworthy uses the body of the Confederacy's greatest general for the N-K Project, to create the highly advanced droid N-K Necrosis.

This war droid has a brief life in the Myyydril Caverns on Kashyyyk before being destroyed by an anonymous group of spacers. The combatants loot the droid's remains, taking its weaponry and anything else of value. The facemask ends up on the Invisible Market where it is purchased for its artistic properties by a high-ranking Imperial admiral — purported to be none other than Grand Admiral Thrawn.