Soulless One

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The Soulless One was a customized Feethan Ottraw Scalable Assemblies Belbullab-22 starfighter which served as the personal ship of General Grievous, the leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems' Droid Army. However, because Grievous used the fighter to retreat, some opponents nicknamed the ship Spineless One.

The Soulless One was reinforced with impervium alloy armor, and was equipped with a sensor jamming system and two rapid fire laser cannons. It was designed to be an upgrade to the CIS droid fighters, such as the vulture droid and the droid tri-fighters.

Grievous himself preferred hand-to-hand combat, although he still often flew the battle-worn fighter. After the General's death in the Battle of Utapau, the Soulless One was taken by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to escape Utapau after the execution of Order 66. Kenobi docked the starfighter with the Tantive III. With the newborn Luke Skywalker aboard, Kenobi later used the Soulless One to travel to Nar Shaddaa and sold it for transportation to Tatooine.

Description

The Soulless One was a customized Belbullab-22 heavy starfighter built by Feethan Ottraw Scalable Assemblies,^[1] which had been designed as an upgrade to the Confederacy of Independent Systems' droid starfighters such as the vulture droids and droid tri-fighters.^[4] The starfighter was 6.1 meters long^[3] and 5.4 meters wide, with a hull reinforced with impervium-alloy armor.^[4] A rear-mounted thrust-vectoring fin and auxiliary thrusters incorporated into the wings aid in yaw and roll movements.^[6] Grievous' ship was a difficult client to deal with. The Soulless One was originally equipped with two single laser cannons, but a weapons upgrade was required due to the heavy demands made on the cyborg general by his immediate superior, Count Dooku, and Dooku's Sith Master, Darth Sidious.^[15] Equipped with two triple rapid-fire laser cannons^[1] maintain firepower of similar destructive force to that of the Republic's V-wing starfighters, ^[6]and also contained a sensor-jamming system.^[4]

Designed for a single,^[15] living pilot, the cockpit possessed a life support system, although Grievous did not need it.^[6] The Soulless One had long-range scanners installed in at the front, a well-armored shield generator directly behind the cockpit, a Class 2 hyperdrive^[5] bigger and more durable than disposable droid fighters,^[6] and a maximum atmospheric speed of 1,100 kph.^[5] The Belullab-22's two main ion drives allow it to keep up with a Rogue-class fighter. Like Grievous' wheel bike, the Belbullab-22 featured a circular, pressure-sensitive panel for controlling the ship located within a reinforced yoke, allowing most humanoids to operate the ship effectively. Its owner, General Grievous, preferred hand-to-hand combat himself, but still often flew the battle-worn starfighter. To keep touch with his droid armies,^[6] a powerful,^[15] sophisticated, compact HoloNet transceiver installed in the Soulless One, Grievous can access Republic and pirate networks,^[6] allowing him to oversee skirmishes and battles across the numerous warring sectors. Grievous was also able to slice into both legitimate and pirate networks, anticipating enemy activity and avoiding confrontations he couldn't win. Keeping an eye on what was happening in other sectors was an important tool for the cyborg. Grievous often directs battles from the bridge of his flagship, the Invisible Hand, although a number of significant encounters were fought and directed from the cockpit of the Soulless One. Therefore, the in-cockpit systems were improved to keep him in contact with his troops while operating in all corners of the galaxy.^[15]

History

The Clone Wars

The Soulless One,^[1] dubbed by its owner,^[2] was in the possession of General Grievous, commander of the Separatist Droid Army,^[9] by 22 BBY,^[16] the first year of the Clone Wars between the Separatist Alliance and the Galactic Republic.^[17] Grievous' habit of using the starfighter to retreat earned it the nickname Spineless One from his enemies.^[6] While the general had a reputation among Republic and Jedi circles for fleeing when the odds were stacked against him, his immediate superiors praised his cautious selections and astute tactical judgements.^[15]

During the Battle of the Kaliida Nebula, Grievous used the Soulless One to chase Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker after they boarded the Subjugator-class heavy cruiser Malevolence to rescue Senator Padmé Amidala, whom Grievous had attempted to take hostage in order to prevent the warship's destruction. Piloting the G9 Rigger-class light freighter Twilight, Skywalker engaged in some tricks, including spinning his starship, in order to evade the Soulless One's cannon fire. The Malevolence was destroyed when it flew into the nearby Dead Moon of Antar while attempting to jump into hyperspace due to sabotage by Skywalker. When Grievous was subsequently contacted by Separatist Head of State Count Dooku regarding an intended rendezvous for the Malevolence, Grievous cut off the transmission and himself escaped into hyperspace.^[9]

Grievous later used the Soulless One to escape the Battle of Bothawui, another engagement with Skywalker's forces in Bothawui's planetary rings. Skywalker attempted to pursue Grievous in his own starfighter, but was knocked unconscious due to shrapnel damage from an exploding Munificent-class star frigate, allowing Grievous to escape.^[10] Subsequently, Skywalker and a team tracked Grievous to Skytop Station, a secret listening outpost in the atmosphere of the moon Ruusan 2, and destroyed the facility, leading Grievous to once again depart the scene in the Soulless One.^[11]

In 21 BBY,^[18] Grievous flew the Soulless One to his personal fortress on the moon Vassek 3, landing it inside the hangar before going to see his EV-series medical droid EV-A4-D for maintenance. The General soon discovered that Dooku had lured Jedi Master Kit Fisto, Jedi Knight Nahdar Vebb, and a squad of clone troopers to the fortress as a test of Grievous' skills, leading to a confrontation which only Fisto and his astromech droid R6-H5 would escape.^[12]

Grievous' death and afterward

In 19 BBY,^[19] when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker stopped the Separatists from purchasing a giant kyber crystal on the planet Utapau in the Outer Rim, Grievous intervened^[20] and entered the supply ship's hangar with two vulture droids. However, he fails to prevent the Jedi from blowing up the crystal and fled, chasing them throughout the hangar until an explosion manages to knock his ship out of control in space.^[13] Near the end of the Clone Wars, Grievous brought the Soulless One to the planet Utapau in the Outer Rim.^[1] For months, the Soulless One had been docked at a small landing platform above the city's sinkhole on Utapau.^[21]

During a lightning attack on the Republic capital world of Coruscant,^[7] Grievous was unable to use his personal starfighter, which worked in his advantage because he would have lost it along with his flagship, the Invisible Hand, if not for that circumstance.^[21] In the same years, in the final days of the Clone Wars,^[17] Grievous,^[7] ever the faithful servant to Darth Sidious,^[22] was ordered to return^[23] to Utapau, keeping watch over the Executive Separatist Council while occupying Pau City. As Grievous had become the Separatist Head of State with Dooku's death during the Battle of Coruscant, Obi-Wan Kenobi and his clone forces set out for Utapau after learning of Grievous' location from Republic intelligence, beginning the Battle of Utapau. Kenobi engaged Grievous in a lightsaber duel which ultimately ended on the Soulless One's landing platform, the Jedi resorting to the use of an "uncivilized" blaster to kill Grievous as he had dropped his lightsaber earlier in the fight.^[7]

As the battle against the remaining battle droids continued, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, publicly the Republic's Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, issued Order 66, a command which compelled the Grand Army of the Republic's clone troopers to turn on and execute their Jedi commanding officers. Kenobi was shot at by the cannon of an All Terrain Tactical Enforcer while he was riding the varactyl Boga on the side of the sinkhole, but survived the fall. Sneaking back up through Pau City, the Jedi Master evaded notice and appropriated the Soulless One to escape Utapau. Once off-planet, Kenobi was contacted by Alderaanian Senator Bail Organa, who had rescued Grand Master Yoda, and a rendezvous was arranged. Upon meeting Organa's corvette, the Tantive III, Kenobi docked the starfighter with the larger ship's hangar,^[7] where it remained docked.^[21] During this point, it was briefly owned by Bail Organa.^[14]

Later, once more, using the late Grievous's starfighter, Kenobi flew to Nar Shaddaa with a newborn passenger, Luke Skywalker, and sold the ship for transportation to the desert planet Tatooine,^[24] subsequently bringing Luke there to live with the Lars family.^[7] After that tragic occurrence, the Soulless One's ultimate fate was unknown.^[21]

Owners and operators

The Soulless One was the personal starfighter of General Grievous, the leader of the Separatist Droid Army.^[25] After Grievous' death at his hands during the Battle of Utapau, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi appropriated the starfighter upon surviving Order 66, using it briefly until he went into exile on Tatooine.^[7]

Behind the scenes

The Soulless One first appeared in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.^[7] It was first canonically identified as the Soulless One in the 2015 reference book Ultimate Star Wars,^[1] and as Spineless One in the 2018 edition of Star Wars: Complete Vehicles.^[6]

Appearances

• Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy – A Graphic Novel
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Destroy Malevolence"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Downfall of a Droid"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Duel of the Droids"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Lair of Grievous"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Crystal Crisis"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Big Bang"
• Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (First appearance)

Non-canon appearances

• Fortnite
• LEGO STAR WARS: Celebrate the Season — "All I Want For Life Day" (Appears in hologram)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Sources

Notes and references

External links

• Every Starfighter in Star Wars Explained By Lucasfilm on the official WIRED YouTube channel (backup link)