m | 26 | she/her | american living in poland | star wars, pop culture, and shitpost enjoyer | mostly using this blog to post thoughts related to general grievous (the best glup shitto)
bored and drunk, sharing my thoughts on various grievous ships
grievous x ronderu: how could anyone not love them together lol? maybe only the ppl who think their relationship should be strictly platonic/familial – will also never understand how there's ZERO nsfw artwork of them together 😒
obigrievous / grievous x obi wan: this ship was more entertaining and unique when other characters (maul, quinlan, etc.) were less overtly obsessed with obi besides ventress, i do appreciate all the nsfw artwork though! and i like the idea of them meeting at some point prior to grievous's transformation into a cyborg, qymaen x obi wan art is always super cute
grievous x ventress: i could see them taking a liking to each other as colleagues, maybe hooking up/dating for a short while in secret, and then slowly coming to resent each other thanks to dooku's meddling – i haven't revisited them in a while, but i remember the tiny number of fics i read about these two being very good
grievous x shaak ti: sw fans were really just cooking up WHATEVER in the early 2000s lol – i also feel like this makes more sense with shaak ti's more standoffish personality and appearance in legends, i could see them bonding over his mask modeled after a mumuu's skull and her headdress made from an akul beast's teeth if they were to ever meet in a setting outside of a battle... much to consider 🧐
grievous x plo koon: i see the potential (lots to explore with the clones regarding plo koon as their "father" and SOME battle droids viewing grievous the same way, plo koon being immensely kind and patient in contrast to grievous being brutish and angry, etc.)
grievous x dooku: underappreciated despite how overtly toxic/abusive it would be in most circumstances 🧐 i fw that one person who created that au where grievous saves dooku from being beheaded by anakin and teaches him how to live as an amputee once they hide away together in the far reaches of the galaxy – also i've always felt as though grievous was by far dooku's favorite apprentice, which resulted in lots of mixed feelings for dooku since grievous is both non-human AND not force sensitive
grievous x durge: nothing better than two cyborgs (if durge can even be considered one?) fucking, those two artworks (you know the ones) are insaneeeely good
in conclusion i basically like him with everyone i guess LMFAO
it's kinda funny seeing a bunch of people like me in their mid-20s returning to the star wars fandom now for seemingly no reason except to bitch about how the content we've gotten for the past few years has made the plot extremely convoluted and boring, on top of destroying a significant part of the continuity and world-building that's been established since the 80s (there are, of course, a few exceptions depending on who you ask)
idk about anyone else, but i feel a renewed urgency to create new fan fics, fan art, etc. thanks to the enshittificaiton of one of my favorite fictional universes
my only regret is not being more vocal about the stuff i like and dislike and being more involved in the community over the past decade (i think i've made and deleted 5-6 sw-related blogs over the years), i doubt disney execs give a shit about what fans want and don't want anymore, but at least i would've kept in contact with people who actually care abt this stuff somewhat unlike most of my irl friends lol
i'm making my way thru some of sheev talks' youtube videos (highly recommend btw) criticizing tcw and the prequels and i have some more thoughts on/questions about grievous's canon backstory (i.e., willingly stripping away parts of his natural body with cybernetic enhancements over time) and why it doesn't make much sense
1.) where would grievous get the money for elective surgeries if kalee was a destitute planet?
the easiest solution for this would be to make kalee one of the wealthier planets that chooses to join the cis via the igbc, techno union, etc. (like muunilinst and geonosis) or make grievous come a super wealthy family on kalee.
however, if you make kalee a wealthy planet, why don't we see any other kaleesh working alongside the muun and geonosians? wouldn't a wealthy planet demand representation in powerful political and economic bodies? i don't understand how this would be an easy thing to retcon, since the muun and geonosians' presence as politicians and traders specifically is very prominent in atoc and tcw, and other species that joined the cis due to historical oppression on their home planets like the twi'leks are noticeably absent from high-level discussions with other politicians, the jedi, dooku, etc.
also, if grievous is born into a wealthy family, would he even have the motivation to become a skilled warrior and die for his people? irl, this happens occassionally, but rich people tend to use the wealth they've accumulated to get as far away from battlegrounds as possible.
maybe the idea of a rich guy who turns himself into a superweapon to seek vengence is appealing to some people, but that just kind of makes him into a non-unique and even more cartoonish villain in my opinion. is he supposed to be syndrome from the incredibles, mr. freeze, doctor octopus, doctor doom? that's a really fucking boring and played out archetype that died in the 2000s (i can go into more detail as to why) and if george lucas, sam witwer, and others chose to abandon a more psychologically rich motivation for vengance to opt for this recharacterization, they're just kind of blind to what audiences respond positively to.
2.) why would grievous elect to get cybernetics in a universe that is discriminatory towards organics with cybernetics and has anti-droid sentiment?
anakin famously hates his mechno-arm because the jedi council thought it made him less human and negatively impacted his connection to the force. droids are not allowed in certain public spaces (like bars) and face discrimination from organics. cyborgs are also discriminated against because basically everyone acknowleges they're disabled.
why, then, would anyone elect to get cybernetics? would cyborgs just not be discriminated against in kalee? again, that seems really unlikely if kalee is a poor planet, since most people would not have access to medical care in case of an accident where cybernetics would help replace a damaged limb or organ. also, even if kalee is an exception where cybernetics are epic, that doesn't change the fact that kaleesh with cybernetics would be discriminated against elsewhere in the galaxy.
even if we're really generous and assume cybernetics are treated as a badge of honor there, that still doesn't change the fact that it would probably take a ton of money to acquire cybernetics in the first place. i guess this would only make sense if grievous started getting surgeries after he began being worshipped as a demigod and other kaleesh made offerings to him in the form of credits. but if the surgeries weren't medically necessary, wouldn't someone notice he's getting whole limbs removed for funsies instead of losing them in battle? if the kaleesh are a very honorable warrior people, wouldn't being an obvious fraud get you killed? all of this seems very convoluted!
grievous also doesn't exactly try to mask his pain, the motherfucker is constantly gasping, coughing, and keeled over. wouldn't someone with cybernetics try to hide that at least a little bit if they chose to get them willingly? you don't see people with botched rhinoplasties and facelifts bitching constantly, they deny deny deny and act as if they're satisfied, even if their results were disastrous. why purposefully make yourself look weak?
3.) if grievous willingly chose to get huge portions of his physical body replaced by cybernetics, why is he attached to any of the remaining parts?
his cough bro. why not just remove your lungs if everything else is already gone? his entire chest cavity is a liability. IT MAKES NO SENSE.
4.) how does dooku play into all of this?
it's implied dooku learned of grievous's prowess as a warrior somehow after the huk war escalated and the kaleesh petition to the republic for aid was denied. dooku targeted him specifically as a potential sacrifice for the whole cyborg experiment. the experiment required him to be mostly organic (like anakin) to work according to palpatine's plan so they could see just how far they can stretch the limits of life-saving technology prior to creating darth vader.
again, if grievous is independently wealthy of dooku and already had some cybernetics before the shuttle crash, how would dooku goad him into agreeing to give up even more of his body without offering up more money? would they know each other personally somehow? if grievous just dooku's freaky friend who's really into plastic surgery? what the fuck man 😭😭
i'm personally fine with grievous being disgusting, skeevy, and creepy, and don't see the point in him being presented as a noble warrior who absolutely never partook in earthly pleasures like drugs, alcohol, and sex – if he didn't, that's simply too jedi-y for my liking. if he's truly a coward, he'd find creative ways to run from his emotions and not just physical dangers. there's that deleted scene in rots where he's caressing shaak ti's lekku and that one time he (unsuccessfully lol) hit on ventress in tcw that kind of tie into this already.
i think it would make sense for him to spiral after ronderu's death and spend some time endlessly pursuing other women (and men? 👀) to try and fill the hole she left in his life. if disney ever wanted to take a more "adult" approach to making content featuring him, i would be satisfied with a don draper-style meltdown where he just parties for 1-2 years. this would also give us an excuse to see how kaleesh pheromones work and maybe explain why his body and brain are already kind of fried before he becomes a cyborg. maybe he would also run into obi wan at a random bar without either of them knowing they'd meet again? i already know i'm not the first person to think of this LMAO
it would also make sense for him to do this while he's working as an enforcer for the igbc where he's shuttling from planet to planet to threaten debtors and rarely returning home to his wives, which were also probably just tools for him to save face and carry on his legacy on kalee rather than actual love interests. i'm assuming he was receiving individual payments from them as an employee in addition – bailing out kalee would be part of a separate agreement just to retain him on their staff, there's no way he was spending his entire paycheck on sustaining his planet.
just because he's religious doesn't mean he can't do any of this stuff too btw, especially if the kaleesh had a pantheon of more "non-judgemental" and "humanized" gods like the ancient greeks/romans/mesopotamians as opposed to monotheistic religions
did george lucas conjure up grievous while looking at a spray bottle and taking a literal shit? sure!
was he basically a vehicle to sell cool toys? yes!
is he kind of a loser? absolutely!
none of this means star wars fans should be satisfied with knowing next to NOTHING about one of the three major villains in a third of the existing saga.
we have like 3 whole tv shows dedicated to maul crying and screaming while hitting himself and the guy had fewer lines in tpm than grievous did in rots. maul was also just an edgy, heavily tattooed guy in a black robe who didn't do much but stand around and look pissed. he was also mostly a ploy to sell more merch and i doubt the creatives at lucasfilm expected him to be so popular. why can't we have the same for grievous?
i think recanonizing bentilais san sk'ar and making him kind of be the wealthier, suaver friend that introduces grievous/qymaen into body modification early in life is the key to meshing the canon and eu/legends backstories together somehow
why is sk'ar purple? why is he 3 meters tall? why is he comically angry all the time?
maybe it's because he was born into an incredibly wealthy family on kalee
maybe his parents are some of the wealthiest traders on the planet and he has access to the finest steroids, hormones, and limb lengthening treatments a young, insecure kaleesh man could find anywhere in the galaxy
maybe he has roid rage... maybe qymaen thinks he's kind of cool regardless and wants to give some of this stuff a try, too
my twitter/x feed is still filled with people talking about how bad the mandalorian and grogu is and how good darth maul shadow lord is in comparison, as well as arguments about which characters' backstories the next few tv shows and movies may focus on, which has me thinking about what an adaptation of grievous's backstory might look like
my write-up got pretty long so i put it under a read-more (i haven't talked to anyone about star wars in literal years while finishing my studies and focusing on work so it's kind of just a massive brain dump whoops sorryyyyy :((((( )
i think it's not entirely impossible for a grievous-focused adaptation to be made sometime in the next decade – i feel like grievous fans are a very dedicated and vocal minority, but i have no idea how much demand there would be for a grievous movie, tv show, video game, etc. when compared to other, more popular characters that casual audiences don't know much about (palpatine, yoda, etc.)
i also think disney executives have an obsession with the new republic era (which sucks really bad for prequel fans, much less old republic and legacy era enjoyers) and don't want to focus on aliens that aren't sexy humanoids (like zabraks, twi'leks, and togrutas) or cutesy (like yoda's species), but tmag becoming the lowest-grossing star wars film might make them reconsider this position
i try to be a realist about these things :)
worst case scenario:
we get a really shitty animated short film or video game that doesn't really go into his backstory at all and is just aura and hype moments
kaleesh are completely redesigned for the millionth time
lots of random human characters that didn't previously exist on kalee are shoehorned onto the planet
ronderu doesn't exist anymore and is replaced by a humanoid or human love interest/family member from a different species (kinda like how kilindi was replaced by rook for maul, aayla secura has a thing with clones instead of kit fisto, etc.) – same goes for all his wives and children
if ronderu exists, there is zero effort put into audiences being invested in her as a character (not even a "wife that dies at the beginning of the movie" flashback montage) – this is even worse if the brutality of her death and its effects aren't communicated properly and some other tragedy happens to make qymaen become grievous
sk'ar isn't qymaen's bestie :(
we learn nothing about the izvoshra (sk'ar isn't one of them, their clothing doesn't match that of the magnaguards, there's not 8 of them, etc.)
we don't see how he found and adopted gor :((
none of the kaleesh have central/eastern european accents anymore :(((((
there is zero evidence to indicate grievous understands how the force works and he looks like a fucking idiot (grievous has no prophetic dreams, no understanding of how the jedi order works, wants to join the sith or jedi despite understanding he is not force-sensitive, etc.)
qymaen willingly gets a shitload of cybernetic enhancements before the shuttle crash (if the shuttle crash isn't written out of the canon entirely) and they aren't presented as medically necessary or incredibly painful cosmetic procedures in some way (i want body horror in some capacity)
dooku's cruelty towards grievous is completely downplayed to be more in line with his newer canon backstory as a more benevolent former jedi rather than a xenophobic aristocrat
any implication that grievous was basically an experiment to see how badly damaged anakin's mind and body could get before he became darth vader is completely obfuscated or erased completely
best case scenario:
3-book novelization, followed by a 1-2 season animated tv show or video game (which would be very narrative-driven and emotionally charged like tlou, life is strange, or even disco elysium – i think a role-playing game would be the easiest to produce and the most compelling)
we finally get a consistent kaleesh design! (imo i would be very happy if they're presented as some of the most attractive reptilians in the galaxy but that might just be me lol)
story is pretty much only centered on qymaen, ronderu, and his izvoshra
ronderu is a fully fleshed out character and is positioned as the padmé to grievous's anakin (i would personally prefer the romantic/sexual relationship over the half-sibling one because the brother-sister thing is too close to mirroring luke-leia imo)
we get to meet sk'ar, gor, and grievous's family
we get a look at how depressed and angry ronderu's death made grievous (a maximum of 1/3 of the story is happy qymaen and ronderu, 2/3 is suffering)
humans exist on kalee but in a very limited capacity
kaleesh culture is very clearly influenced by a mix of central/eastern european and central asian life – ideally we get a soviet/post-soviet vibe and kaleesh remain nomadic
kaleesh are clearly presented as going through some kind of republic- and jedi-organized famine and civil unrest
there is some mention of the bitthævrians, hutts, yam'rii, and other species who were closely related to kaleesh (would love to see the nelvaanians come back too!)
we get to see what grievous's life looked like as an enforcer (personally i would love to see him spiral further into depression and derangement here as a displaced alien traversing foreign planets – i feel like his fall from demigod status on his homeworld to a corporate lumpenprole is something that's overlooked by a lot of people)
we get a more insight as to how dooku became increasingly more evil and cruel after leaving the jedi order, but prior to settling on grievous as the supreme commander of the droid army
grievous remains as someone who's not force sensitive, but he has a lot of prophetic dreams, an intimate connection to nature, and seems to understand a higher power that may or may not be the kaleesh gods exists (maybe this is all linked to a kaleesh creed similar to the mandalorians)
grievous's link to darth vader is explored in greater detail through body horror
kind of a weird thing to point out in my first post but i made this account solely to like and reblog pretty pictures of general grievous like a year ago and it's laid dormant since so fuck it whatever
has anyone else noticed someone quietly removed the section about hair from the canon kaleesh wookieepedia page? it's not under the distinctions section and i don't think dumas mat'ri (i'm pretty sure she's the only named kaleesh besides grievous in the canon universe at this point, but someone correct me if i'm wrong) is mentioned to have hair
if we get more kaleesh characters sometime in the future and none of them have looooong 30-inch bussdown-style beautiful black and brunette hair i'm going to be SOOOOO PISSED
