Star Wars: Tales Of The Empire Makes General Grievous Scary Again & That's Important

Contains spoilers for "Star Wars: Tales of the Empire"

"Star Wars: Tales of the Empire" has arrived on Disney+, expanding the "Star Wars" animated series timeline and offering fans a look at two character journeys throughout the Galactic Empire. However, that's not to say that there aren't nods to the Clone Wars era along the way. The first episode, "The Path of Fear," centers on a Separatist invasion of Dathomir, where Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) and her fellow Nightsisters fend off waves of battle droids. Leading them is none other than General Grievous (Matthew Wood), who makes a case for why he's among the most ruthless major on-screen "Star Wars" villains.

Marching across the battlefield, coughing and cackling with each step, Grievous cuts through Nightsisters with ease using his stolen Jedi lightsabers. He even kills Elsbeth's mother in front of her, mocking her dying words as Elsbeth retreats. After being saved by the Mountain Clan, Elsbeth is haunted by Grievous's signature laugh, traumatized by his monstrousness. While he's intimidating on "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" — one of the most expensive animated TV series in history — and in "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith," he's a bit more cartoonish in those appearances, tossing out one-liners and bullying his underlings. "Tales of the Empire" brings him back to his violent and downright scary interpretation in the 2003 "Star Wars: Clone Wars" cartoon.

If you weren't a kid when "Clone Wars" first aired on Cartoon Network, consider yourself lucky. Many fans were terrified of Grievous in their younger years thanks to how he was presented in the series.

Genndy Tartakovsky's "Star Wars: Clone Wars" served to bridge the gap between "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones" and "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith." In doing so, it showed off various battles across the galaxy focused on the Jedi and the Republic's clones against the Separatist droid army. It also featured the introduction of General Grievous, who is terrifying here compared to his later appearances. He's unsettlingly quiet in his approach, stalking his enemies from afar until it's time to strike. Once he does so, his imposing frame, powerful limbs, and collection of lightsabers make short work of his enemies. He frightens and brutalizes six seasoned Jedi in his first appearance.

This force-of-nature Grievous was serious nightmare fuel for many "Star Wars" fans growing up. "The 2003 version of General Grievous terrified me when I was younger," admitted Redditor u/Chrome87, with several others in the thread commenting on the scare factor of this take on the character. "I was absolutely dumbfounded, this guy was scary. On top of all this, the idea that he collected the sabers of his Jedi conquests was chilling," said a now-deleted Reddit user in another thread, with u/DarthNader_ sharing that they had nightmares about Grievous as a kid.

With "Star Wars: Clone Wars" no longer officially canon, it's cool to see the canonical version of General Grievous depicted similarly to his first incarnation thanks to "Star Wars: Tales of the Empire." Hopefully, this time around he won't scar nearly as many "Star Wars"-loving youths as he did decades ago.