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Considering there is a long list of lightsaber-resistant materials, I wonder why none was used in the construction of Grievous' body.

An answer to a similar question has noted that such materials were indeed very expensive for general use, but considering one of them (phrik) was extensively used to provide weapons to his soldiers I can't see a reason why at least some parts of Grievous are not reinforced.

Is there any in-universe answer (canon or Legends)?

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Ram
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    He was always intended to be sacrificed to a lightsaber-wielder by Darth Sidious. Probably, Anakin</conspiracy theory>. Remember, the planned endgame was always a loss for CIS and win for the Republic led by Palpatine. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Nov 28 '16 at 04:42
  • it's a good speculation, I think along the same lines but is there any hint in-universe? – Ram Nov 28 '16 at 06:04
  • they taught about it but then they went MEH, lets just give him 2 extra arms and make them able to rotate 360 at the wrist so that he can use 4 lightsabers and make an impregnable sabre shield in front of himself. either that or nobody at the mickey mouse fun house actually read any of the source material cos they are from the TL:DR generation so they went in a different direction. – Cherubel Nov 28 '16 at 07:47
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    General Grievous was in a movie before Lucasarts was bought by Disney. – Sir Ksilem Nov 28 '16 at 09:35
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    Check out this screenshot, I think it may answer the question. All the materials are exceedingly rare (which means they may be too expensive to waste on a random general's biomechanical suit, on the off chance he encounters a Jedi - especially considering Sidious always planned for the Trade Federation Droid Army to perish) – Ghoti and Chips Nov 28 '16 at 12:00
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    It's possible a lot of Grevious was lightsaber-proof. No one ever got a chance to stab him in the head to find out. – DaaaahWhoosh Nov 28 '16 at 16:37
  • Are there any canon references to a material being lightsaber-resistant, or is this exclusive to Legends? – Hypnosifl Nov 28 '16 at 20:47
  • @Hypnosifl We have the baton the stormtrooper uses in TFA, I don't know if there is anything more specific. – Ram Nov 28 '16 at 20:50
  • In a way he does have lightsaber resistant armor...his four arms twirling lightsabers really fast. And his guards. – CHEESE Dec 01 '16 at 00:00

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I'm not aware of an explicit explanation for why Grievous was not fitted with lightsaber-resistant armor. The people who designed his armor might not have thought about adding a lightsaber-resistant material since they did an exceptionally poor job. Not only did they neglect to give him lightsaber-resistant armor, but they made it easy enough for Obi-Wan to pry apart his armor plates and shoot his exposed gut-sack with a blaster:

Grievous' death, from Wookieepedia's article on Grievous

In any case, lightsaber-resistant armor fits only a very niche application: an opponent who uses a lightsaber but does not use the Force. Since most lightsaber users are Jedi (who of course can use the Force), lightsaber-resistant armor isn't really that helpful. A Force user can easily push someone off a nearby cliff (there's bound to be one nearby), Force-crush his vital organs (as Mace Windu did to Grievous in the Legends Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon), etc. This is also a good explanation for why Jedi generally don't wear lightsaber-resistant armor, either -- such armor would be cumbersome but would not protect against an opponent's Force attacks.

Additionally, Grievous could wield up to four lightsabers simultaneously, so the designers of his armor probably thought it was unlikely he'd suffer a lightsaber strike. He can use three lightsabers to block his opponent's lightsaber and still have a lightsaber for attacking.

The niche use of a lightsaber-resistant armor and the unlikelihood Grievous would need it, combined with the rarity and expense of lightsaber-resistant materials, explains why Grievous' armor might not have used such a material.

Grievous' IG-100 MagnaGuards had lightsaber-resistant electrostaffs made out of phrik because the MagnaGuards use a melee weapon which is likely to encounter a Jedi lightsaber. The MagnaGuards' electrostaffs would be useless if they could be cut by a lightsaber, so they needed to be constructed out of a lightsaber-resistant material like phrik.

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Null
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  • I think Grievous would clearly have benefited from LS resistant armor, one of his main purpose was fighting Jedi I don't see how he's unlikely to receive a lightsaber strike (case in point he suffers them in TROS and TCW alike, loosing members). That fighting a Force user automatically makes armor against LS useless doesn't seem correct, after all he was trained to fight them and any advantage should be useful. – Ram Nov 28 '16 at 15:48
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    @Ram Grievous probably would have benefited from such armor, but it's a cost/benefit analysis and the people who designed his armor evidently thought the benefit did not outweigh the cost. I didn't say lightsaber-resistant armor is "useless" against a Force user, I said it "isn't really that helpful". Small benefit, high cost. – Null Nov 28 '16 at 15:54
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In addition to the answer from Null there is one more reason. Palpatine never wanted Grievous to finally succeed. Thus he needed him strong. Very strong. But NOT strong enough to be able to pose a threat to himself when it was time to dispose of Grievous.

So giving him more of a chance to resist a superb force user (who as we saw could easily go against 4 lightsabers and win!) wouldn't be in Palpatines interest (and thus also not in Dookus).

One other question arises there: What about the Jedi? Now they usually lack the aggressiveness the Sith have. IF you think about it. Almost all Jedi failed against Grievous. Only those who were true masters prevailed or those who fought unusually aggressive for Jedi. Anakin as example, Ashoka sometimes and also Obi Wan during the last fight with Grievous.

So all in all with Grievous abilities it was not really necessary to give him more power to fight the Jedi as he was doing his job and was good at it. And all more powerful tools would have posed a threat to even Palpatine. And that was something he didn't want at all.

Thomas
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