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It is said that Darth Vader's body armour suit is a direct upgrade of how General Grievous was created. But I can't understand how this is an "upgrade". It was heavier, immobile (compared to Grievous), wasn't as agile, and as far as we knew from the movies it didn't have gadgets like grappling hooks, etc.

So why was it considered an upgrade? Surely the Grievous armour was a much better killing machine.

2 Answers 2

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I don't know where you read/heard about Darth Vader's suit being an upgrade to General Grievous.

In Wookieepedia, the section for Darth Vader's armor: Discomforts and limitations:

Having had so much experience with mechanics, Vader was dismayed by the incompetence of the medical droids responsible for his resurrection in Sidious' laboratory on Coruscant. The technology in the suit was already obsolete, having been used to rebuild and create General Grievous decades earlier. While he retained his knowledge of the Jedi arts, he began to feel uncertain about his place in the Force, and while he had taken his first steps toward awakening the power of the dark side, he felt uncertain about his ability to sustain that power. He knew that he was hampered by his injuries, and knew he never could achieve his full potential because of it. At times, Vader wondered if Darth Sidious had purposefully designed the armor to restrict him.

It doesn't seem to be considered an upgrade at all.

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    I think I may have interpreted as an upgrade because of the fact he came after Grievous. This insert from Wookieepedia was useful so I give you +1. However now I'm left wondering, why was Vader given an obsolete suit that didn't nearly do as much as grievous's armour did...
    – Jared
    Commented Nov 21, 2011 at 1:57
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    @Jared: You're making me curious, so I asked the question. scifi.stackexchange.com/q/7137/98 Commented Nov 21, 2011 at 2:52
  • Is getting stuffed in a mechanical suit a common problem for Sith? Seems like the Jedi could just check out the mouth-breathers for evilness and mitichlorians.
    – Oldcat
    Commented Nov 20, 2014 at 17:45
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It is likely sidious would have wanted to limit his abilities out of fear that Vader would become more powerful and kill his master, since this is the way sidious himself became Lord of the sith by overthrowing his master

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  • Quite possible. Do you have a reference, though?
    – Adamant
    Commented Sep 24, 2016 at 4:30

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