Qymaen jai Sheelal, more known as General Grievous, is one of the most known antagonists in the Star Wars franchise. He is known for his extensive cybernetic enhancements and ruthless tactics. Since his sworn enemies are the members of the Jedi Order, one would think General Grievous is a Sith.
General Grievous is not a Sith. He is only a warlord that served the Sith Lords to gain combat prowess to best Jedi Knights in battle. As for his hatred for the Jedi Knights, that comes from personal vendetta.
General Grievous is indeed an interesting character. Learn more about him below.
Is General Grievous a Sith Lord?
The Sith are Force-wielders devoted to the dark side of the Force. And the Sith Lords are their high-ranking members. They even take the title “Darth,” which roughly translates to “Dark Lord.”
If you may have noticed, there is no “Darth” in “General Grievous.” So no, he is not a Sith Lord. He is not even a Sith as he is not Force-sensitive.
Instead, he was a Separatist Droid Army General. He held the title of Supreme Martial Commander of the Separatist Droid Armies throughout the duration of the war. And before that, he was in the military forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems as a commanding officer during the Clone Wars.
Sith Lords Darth Sidious and Darth Tyranus heard about Grievous' bloody reputation. And so, they offered to convert him into a cybernetic warrior. That's an offer he accepted because it would allow him to beat Jedi Knights.
Why does he want to kill Jedis? In the Kaleesh's war against the Yam'rii people of the planet Huk, he served as a warlord. And the Jedi supported the Yam'rii. So, General Grievous hated the Jedi Order.
And that's how he met the Sith Lords. But that deal did not in any way make him a Sith Lord.
Is Grievous a Sith Apprentice?
By definition, a Sith Apprentice is a Force-sensitive individual trained by a Sith Master to use the Dark Side of the Force. General Grievous was not a Force-sensitive person. And so, he does not qualify.
Yes, he trained under Dooku's guidance. But that was to become a Supreme Martial Commander of the Separatist Droid Armies and a proficient Jedi killer. The Force was not involved in that training.
Is General Grievous on the Dark Side?
In the movies, General Grievous was just a cyborg warrior. He is not a Force-sensitive individual, which is the reason why he is not a Sith. SO, he is in neither the Light Side nor the Dark Side of the Force.
But later in the cartoons, it was revealed that has not always been the case.
In the Star Wars: Age of Republic, we found out that Grievous upgraded his body gradually. That's to become even more adept at killing Jedi.
And in one scene, he jumped into a rift going to a dark dimension. There, a voice made fun of him. And that was revealed to be the Dark Side.
The Dark Side admonished him for stripping away his organic body. Apparently, that tied him to the Dark Side of the Force, and as he became more cyborg, he lost the essence that made him a Force-sensitive individual.
Ironically, if he did not enhance his body cybernetically, he would have been stronger than he is now.
So, Grievous was on the Dark Side of the Force, but he no longer is.
Why are General Grievous' Lightsabers not red?
Sith Order members use red lightsabers while Jedi use blue. Aside from some exceptions, that has been the trend.
Since General Grievous fought for the Sith, you would expect he would use red lightsabers. But that has not been the case.
That was because General Grievous made it a habit to collect the lightsabers of defeated Jedi as trophies. He also chose to use them as weapons when fighting an opponent.
That said, General Grievous uses blue lightsabers instead of red lightsabers as a flex. It informs his opponents that he has killed at least one of them.
Is Grievous Force-sensitive?
It was a topic not discussed in the movies. But the comics addressed it. Grievous was Force-sensitive, but not anymore.
When he agreed to the Sith Lords' offer to modify his body, Grievous started losing the connection to the Force he did not know he had. And as he enhanced his body more, he lost more and more of that connection. Apparently, the Dark Side of the Force prefers a person to be in their natural or pure state, which Grievous is not in.
Had Grievous not modified his body and lost most of it in a gruesome crash, he would still be a Force-sensitive individual. Unfortunately for him, that was not the case.