Listening to the Russian style of General Grievous’ theme from Star Wars one could imagine that the creature that took on the appearance and the form of one of the most deadly adversaries in the Star Wars universe might have originated in the Soviet Union at one point, or on a planet that’s very much like what people might imagine is the equivalent in the franchise. Something about Grievous just says ‘dictator’ among many things since he is a vicious and very authoritarian individual, but he’s also a little more unhinged than a lot of characters that we might want to think about when talking about Russia. Still, thinking of him dispensing the kind of ‘justice’ or ‘reform’ that some people might want to think of when they think of Russian politics in the past or present might justify this theme and the imagining of Grievous when it comes to someone that would be seen as a harsh dictator is pretty easy. That’s the way he was created after all, as someone that’s more or less the type who won’t balk at the idea of killing a great number of people in the name of a cause that might not have been his own, to begin with, but is his reason for existing at one point.
The funny thing is that Grievous is a puppet, a character that was used in a number of ways while being given the illusion that he was doing something important. In a big way, he was a red herring for the Jedi and the Republic to worry about since he was dangerous and he was deadly to those that stood against him. But the fact is that the character was made to believe that he was far more important than he actually was, as Count Dooku made it possible for Grievous to think of himself as a linchpin in the war against the Republic when in truth he was just another tool being used for the Separatists. That doesn’t make him any less imposing obviously, but it does make him a bit less forceful when it comes to his character since as forceful and as dangerous as he is, Grievous doesn’t come with a lot of contingencies that would have made him a long-lasting character, other than Count Dooku and his need for the general. Once his usefulness was over and done with he was relegated to a footnote in the Star Wars franchise. But his story is still an interesting one.
Grievous was for the most part one of the many lost souls that accepted the Confederacy and became one of their most powerful assets for a while, becoming a lightsaber duelist that was actually more proficient than many Jedi despite the fact that he wasn’t a Force-user. The fact that it took someone as skilled as Obi-Wan Kenobi to take him down says a lot since he was honed as sharply as any blade and turned into a weapon that had no compassion, no remorse, and no mercy since he did manage to kill a few Jedi in his time. Seeing Grievous as a serious threat wasn’t too hard since he made it pretty clear that his part in the war was to dish out as much pain and agony as he could. The only thing about Grievous though is that he wasn’t as finely-tuned as he could be, he was more like a hammer that was ready to smash anything and anyone that stood in his path, and then dice anything that was left into bits. But when it came to standing up to a Force-user that could counter his every move he did prove to be ineffectual since Obi-Wan took him apart, literally, during their final battle.
It does feel as though Grievous should have lasted a while longer since he had a pretty interesting backstory, but he was one of the characters that were only destined to exist during the prequels and despite the fans that he’s gained there’s not a lot of chances that we’ll ever see him again unless someone has the idea to get ambitious and make a movie or a show that features him in some way that would make sense. Right now it doesn’t appear that this might be on Disney’s radar since the whole idea of Star Wars feels a bit sketchy considering that the franchise feels as though it’s been manhandled in a big way. Obviously it’s made money, it’s been deemed a success from a financial standpoint, but at the same time, it’s been vilified by so many fans that one can’t help but wonder at what the future will bring. Wondering if fans will be there to enjoy it or at least hear more about the story is obvious. But whether or not we’ll ever revisit the past and see Grievous pop up once again is a murky proposition at best.
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