How Grievous Used Lightsabers So Well (Despite Not Being Force Sensitive)
General Grievous was skilled enough with lightsabers to kill experienced Jedi Knights, but how did he achieve this without Force powers?
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General Grievous was an extremely skilled lightsaber user in the Star Wars franchise, despite not being Force-sensitive. The Kaleesh cyborg warlord Qymaen jai Sheelal, better known as Grievous, led Separatist military forces during the Clone Wars and notoriously killed numerous Jedi and Clone Troopers personally, taking the lightsabers of fallen Jedi as trophies. To accommodate for his lack of Force powers, Grievous was highly trained, used extremely advanced cybernetics, and was tutored in psychological warfare by Count Dooku in Legends.
As revealed in 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Grievous voluntarily had himself turned into a cyborg monstrosity out of hatred and jealousy of the Jedi, carling little for the politics of the Galactic Republic or the Separatist Alliance. The graphic novel Star Wars: Visionaries revealed Grievous’ origins in the Legends timeline. Here, Grievous hated the Jedi for their opposition of his people in a past war, and he became a cyborg after a shuttle crash that Count Dooku planned (and framed as a Jedi attack) left his body ravaged. Like his canon counterpart, Grievous was apathetic to the CIS political cause and replaced Sev’rance Tann as its military leader only to kill Jedi.
Grievous was introduced in 2003’s Star Wars: Clone Wars, fighting multiple Jedi at once on Hypori and killing many of them with ease. The Jedi were baffled by Grievous’ fighting prowess (as were many viewers); later chapters showed Grievous being trained by Count Dooku in lightsaber combat. Dooku was one of the greatest lightsaber duelists of the prequel era without being Force-sensitive, so his tutelage accounted for much of Grievous’ battle prowess. Dooku also taught Grievous how to weaponize fear, making his reputation one of his greatest assets against the Jedi. The canon version of Grievous was notably far less formidable than his Legends counterpart, and he was never shown being trained by Dooku.
Grievous referred to his training under Dooku in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, which was part of both timelines, but Grievous was shown struggling against experienced Jedi throughout the canon Clone Wars series. Oftentimes, Grievous relied on unfair advantages, such as a hidden blaster or his troops attacking a Jedi from behind to ensure his victory, but the General didn’t fare well against formidable Jedi or even padawans like Ahsoka Tano. Like his Legends counterpart, Grievous was rebuilt with advanced cybernetic parts that greatly enhanced his speed, strength, and reflexes. Combined with what may have been some training under Dooku, canon’s Grievous was a dangerous enemy for many but hardly a threat to the best of the Jedi.
In Legends, Count Dooku not only trained Grievous to the peak of his ability, which the General’s cybernetic parts significantly enhanced, but Dooku also taught him to use his reputation and intimidation tactics against his opponents before engaging them. Some of the Republic’s finest Clone Troopers and Jedi, such as Shaak Ti and Ki-Adi-Mundi, were kept off-balance before their battles began, ensuring victory for Grievous.
Dooku also stressed that Grievous should retreat if fear, surprise, and intimidation weren’t on his side. Grievous followed this advice to a degree but failed to do so against Mace Windu on Coruscant, resulting in Grievous being critically injured by Windu (and Grievous’ cough). Grievous never fully recovered from his injuries in Legends and later died in battle against Obi-Wan Kenobi, who Grievous also failed to intimidate. While Dooku’s tutelage and advanced Separatist cybernetics made Grievous a deadly lightsaber user without his connection to the Force, it was his use of fear that was often the deciding factor of his duels in his Star Wars appearances.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/star-wars-grievous-lightsavers-well-force-sensitive-not/