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The
Battle of Utapau is a fictional conflict that
takes place in
Star Wars Episode
III: Revenge of the Sith. The battle was fought on
Utapau towards the
end of the
Clone Wars, with Republic forces led
by
Obi-Wan
Kenobi clashing with the Separatist army of
General Grievous.
In the timeline of battles, the Battle of Utapau took place before
the
Mission to Mustafar and after the
Battle of Coruscant.
Prologue to
the Battle of Utapau
The
Clone Wars between the
Galactic Republic and the
Confederacy of Independent
Systems had been raging for three years. Just prior to the
Battle of Utapau,
Darth
Sidious ordered
General Grievous to attack the Republic
capital world of
Coruscant and kidnap its leader,
Chancellor Palpatine. With most
of the Republic forces fighting in the
Outer
Rim, Coruscant was relatively unguarded. Once Palpatine was
kidnapped, General Grievous tried to flee with him, but was stopped
by a Republic blockade, which led to the
Battle of
Coruscant.
Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi emerged
victorious from the battle, rescuing Palpatine and killing the
Confederacy leader
Count Dooku, but General Grievous escaped. With
Dooku dead, Grievous became the new leader of the Confederacy, and
Palpatine believed that only with Grievous's death could the war
truly end.
The Separatists had been housed on Utapau during the
Battle of Coruscant, thanks to Grievous's heavy-handed tactics; he
had murdered the planetary leadership, leaving what leaders
remained fearful and subservient. Grievous returned to Utapau
following his defeat at Coruscant. What Grievous didn't know was
that Palpatine and Darth Sidious were one and the same, and
Palpatine knew where to find Grievous and end the war. Although a
special detachment of Shadowtroopers was sent to
Utapau to initiate black-ops missions
such as sabotage and assassination objectives. The
Jedi Council agreed to
investigate, but with their forces spread thin, they could only
afford to send two legions, electing Obi-Wan Kenobi to go to Utapau
and find Grievous.
The Battle of Utapau
On Utapau,
Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived alone as a
scout, talking with a local
administrator named
Tion Medon. Though Medon officially denied that
the war had any effect on the planet, he secretly told Kenobi that
Grievous was on Utapau, holding his people hostage. Kenobi sent his
ship back to space via droid pilot to fool any spies into thinking
he had left.
General Grievous briefed the Separatist Leaders
inside Hangar 10 on the state of the war: the Separatists were
losing, and he feared that the Republic would find them on Utapau.
Darth Sidious had instructed him to move the leaders to a
stronghold on
Mustafar. Obi-Wan Kenobi hid in the rafters (along
with his
Varactyl
mount
Boga until the briefing
was over, jumping down and revealing himself to Grievous, who
immediately ordered his guards to kill Kenobi. Obi-Wan used the
Force to quickly dispatch Grievous's guards. Taking matters into
his own hands, Grievous ordered the rest of the army to stand aside
while he fought the
Jedi Master. It is at this point that Grievous'
hatred of Jedi is shown: "I will deal with this Jedi Slime...
myself."
Meanwhile, the 212th Attack Battalion set up a landing
area and engaged enemy forces outside of Hangar 10.
Using all
four of his arms and lightsaber, Grievous attacked Kenobi. Though
the droid's sheer force was overwhelming, Kenobi used his
impressive dueling skill to cut off two of Grievous's hands. The
battle was interrupted when Obi-Wan's legion of
clone troopers, led by
Commander Cody, arrived. The Clones and the droid armies battled
while their generals dueled. With one last Force push from Obi-Wan,
Grievous lost his last two lightsabers and opted to retreat in a
special wheel bike. Obi-Wan chased him on Boga, losing his own
lightsaber in the process.
The 212th was assigned to gun down a
droid energy tower to cripple nearby enemy forces and
succeeded.
The clone troopers and the droids took the battles to
the cities of Utapau, and soon Utapauan warriors riding
dragon-like beasts joined
the battle. Obi-Wan was still focused on finding Grievous and
chased him all the way to a secret landing platform. They fought
hand-to-hand briefly, but Obi-Wan was no match, although he managed
to pry open Grievous's armored ribcage. He skidded to the edge of
the platform and Grievous stood over him, preparing to deliver a
final blow with an
electrostaff. Using the Force, Obi-Wan called
to him a spare
blaster and fired at Grievous's exposed
organ sack, which caught fire and exploded, killing General
Grievous.(Kenobi then remarks, "So uncivilized" as he throws the
blaster aside, the remark perhaps referring to the blaster
itself.)
Once Grievous was dead, Kenobi reported back to
Commander Cody (who returned his lightsaber) and ordered him to
draw the battle to the higher levels of the city.
At this point,
Darth Sidious issued
Order 66. Cody
complied and ordered his troops to fire at Obi-Wan, who fell along
with Boga into a lake at the bottom of the sinkhole and
survived.
The clone troopers were eventually victorious against
the droid armies, but with other emergency protocols enacted, the
clone troopers also began to round up the native Utapauan
resistance. Kenobi had avoided the clones probe droids that were
looking for him. Cody assumed that the fall had killed Kenobi, and
told his troops to begin loading up to leave. Obi-Wan used the ship
General Grievous had stored on the secret landing platform to
escape Utapau.