I know I write about this too much, and that some of you might be tired of my rants about this, but this book is titled "My Thoughts on Star Wars", and this is a thought I have that I need to get off my chest. And I am so kriffing tired of this same old objection being brought up that I'm just going to do this in a video-rebuttal format.

This is also going to be an angry chapter. I know I sound like an angry hater, but please hear me: I do not care what backstory you like, I don't care if you like CW08's version of Grievous, both, or none at all. I don't care. But this is an especially strong opinion I have, so please be prepared for a rant. Sometimes I get carried away, as we all do.

In my research for TLQ, I amassed a great deal of material from both Legends and Canon. And recently I wanted to know, straight from the horse's mouth, why they threw out a good and deep backstory (Unknown Soldier) for the crappy one we got in CW08 (that's my opinion, I could not care less if you're new-order, I have many new-order friends). Recently I discovered this video on Youtube, and clicked on it, hoping that Filoni himself could enlighten me so I wouldn't have to rely on my own theories as to why it was changed.

I regret doing so now. What was in the video....it drives me up a kriffing wall. I've probably never been this harsh on something Star Wars-related, nor will I be again. But this video honestly really upsets me, perhaps more than it should....but I'm sorry. I'm trying to get over it.

I won't do my prologue rant any longer though, so I'll just start the video and place timestamps where stuff was said. (I'm getting better at my timestamps, I promise.) I'll just be responding to the first part of the video, the commentary about Grievous' past (which isn't super long). As a disclaimer, I am overall satisfied with Dave Filoni's work, but I'm really disappointed over this.

00:18 "In the EU, there were many stories about Grievous, that he was an incredible general who got shot down by Dooku in a shuttle and re-engineered by Dooku to fight as a general...."  There weren't many stories....that was the only one. I can understand people not knowing about Unknown Soldier, which explains everything prior to "The Eyes of Revolution", which Filoni is referring to in the video. It's not like this story was wildly contradictory. The only minor contradiction is that in TEoR, Grievous' family did not visit him in the Bacta tank. But that's in literally every other account - Unknown Soldier, Labyrinth of Evil, etc....so what's the problem here?

00:34 "It [the backstory] was in a visionary's comic book that wasn't canon...."  Eyes of Revolution is not the only place this is mentioned....so....

00:38 "The question is, why would a great general allow himself to be sabotaged, rebuilt as a robot, then just become subservient to someone like Dooku?" 

There's so much wrong with this. Let me just start by saying that Qymaen wasn't aiming to be sabotaged. Let me quote something from Unknown Soldier, which is the ACTUAL source on this matter (Eyes of Revolution covers the main points and not the nuances). 

"The effects of the Republic's sanctions [upon Kalee, as consequence for the false accusation of warmongering] were staggering. Kalee was economically decimated, and the Kaleesh died in droves. Grievous simmered with hatred for the galactic government and the Jedi who served it as he watched his wives die of starvation and his children kidnapped and subjected to the worst acts of depravity.

Into this madness came Intergalactic Banking Clan Chairman San Hill [....] he conspired to employ Kalee's greatest champion as a "collections agent". In exchange, the Banking Clan would share the burden of Kalee's enormous debt [....] Grievous began his new occupation by aggressively collecting from such worlds as Ord Mantell and seizing Muunilinst's Phlut Design Systems [....] He [San Hill] also upheld his promise to alleviate Kalee's deficit and reinstate trade.

But when Grievous learned that the Republic did nothing to to the Yam'rii for vandalizing hallowed Kaleesh burial grounds on the colony worlds, he abandoned his contract and returned to Kalee to avenge the desecration. San Hill was not amused by the broken commitment [....] The crafty Muun and and the Geonosis Archduke Poggle the Lesser devised another plan, one that would make Grievous a permanent ally. Before Grievous and his Kaleesh elite took off in his ship to renew the Huk War, Hill and Poggle....[arranged] to have an ION BOMB PLANTED aboard the ship and rigging Grievous' pilot seat." (emphasis and italics mine)

That is what the ACTUAL SOURCE says! What is this crap about him "allowing himself to be sabotaged"? But that's a minor thing compared to the question of why Grievous would allow himself to become subservient to Dooku.

1.) Perhaps most importantly, Grievous' memory was wiped after the crash. He forgot how the Banking Clan manipulated him, and how Dooku just wanted to use his intellect to drive another larger war. (Labyrinth of Evil) He remembers some things about his family and the Kalee crisis, according to LoE, but not much besides hazy blurs.

2.) The underlined text explained how desperate Grievous was to save his family and people. From what we know in Legends, he genuinely loved his offspring and wives, as he was willing to submit to a painful procedure that would leave him crippled and unable to live normally for the rest of his life. Unknown Soldier states that the Banking Clan threatened to cut off support to his family if he refused the cybernetics. How sick is that?! Besides, he was the khagan of his people, and they have an obligation to defend those whom they rule.

3.) Kaleesh generally are fine with serving those whom they regard as worthy. Don't believe me? Read about Bentilais san Sk'ar. The issue with the statement that Grievous would see it as below him to submit to Dooku is that it assumes that Qymaen was as arrogant prior to the cybernetics. And sorry to say, but he just wasn't, or he wouldn't have accepted the cybernetics in the first place. The fact of the matter is that people have character development, and sometimes flaws can appear where there weren't any before. 

The funny thing I see about this statement is that it makes no sense with the NEW story for Grievous to serve Dooku. He's apparently always been cocky, had nothing to lose, underwent no mental alterations, and cut off his own limbs because he couldn't just say "who the kriff cares". If he were really worth Dooku's time to hire and train, he'd have just challenged Dooku, won, and led the Separatists. And don't tell me Grievous, with the new story, wouldn't challenge Dooku. We all know he would.

1:04 Apparently, one of Lucas' ideas was for Grievous to have wanted to be a Jedi, but was unable due to lack of Force-sensitivity. This later became the new backstory. As I've said one million times....the canon exists, and Lucas did indeed create this backstory. Is this true? Yes! Do I care? Not one bit. What we SHOULD be looking at, rather than the person who created it, is whether the story itself is good or not.

1:18 They said they elected to keep some things ambiguous, which is both good and infuriating. Unknown Soldier actually knew how to pull off ambiguity well. We don't know if any of the many rumors about Ronderu's nature were true, nor do we know for sure what her relationship with Qymaen was (besides the fact that they were very close bondsmen). But the new canon's ambiguity is the stupid kind, like the fact that they wouldn't show us his face. I don't give a flying kriff about what he looks like beneath the mask, especially since this is Clone Wars, which is a kids' show. I care about character development, which is severely lacking.

2:07 The statues in LoG are actually really cool, but not for the reason they were intended. All of this is so much deeper with the old canon. They were meant to show a physical progression from man to machine, which is cool....I suppose. But as an old-guard, I think of them more as a symbol of his spiritual fall, of Qymaen slowly being eaten alive with rage for the Republic and the Jedi over what he'd lost, until he was little more than machine because he was so full of hatred. But maybe I'm reading too much into this. (Also, I don't care what you say. The new Kaleesh design is adorable.)

The rest of the video is relatively off-topic, so I'll stop it there, but I have one more thing to say. George Lucas' critical mistake with Grievous, and why you see the old-guard triumph over the new-order (old-guard is significantly larger), is simple. He introduced Grievous in the EU. The writers made him into a strong, deep, and well-thought-out character at first. 

And then in Clone Wars, Lucas utterly blew it. His vision was radically different than the EU writers, and while I respect Lucas, I can't respect this idea. It's half-baked, sloppy, leaves so many unanswered questions, and shows no hint of character development. Everyone else in Clone Wars was well-thought-out, but he's the sole exception. 

You may tell me I'm not a purist when it comes to Grievous. Guess what? I don't care. I'm just looking for a good story. If Lucas had written Unknown Soldier I would love it all the same. If Abel Peña had authored the half-baked story we got, I would loathe it all the same. It's utterly irritating how low they sunk, disregarding all the ideas that came before them, and replacing them with subpar alternatives. It's their prerogative, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Edit - final note: I know this was probably the harshest chapter I've made in this book, and I genuinely don't want to contribute to fandom toxicity. Constructive criticism is welcome, if you think I sounded too much like an angry fan stereotype. This is just an opinion I hold very strongly.