The Martyr was a shuttle used by the Kaleesh warlord Grievous. The gray shuttle had multiple laser cannons and also functioned as a troop carrier, able to accommodate Grievous and all eight members of his elite Izvoshra. By 29 BBY, Grievous and the Izvoshra took flight in the Martyr on Grievous's homeworld Kalee, planning to re-ignite the Huk War between the Kaleesh and the Yam'rii species.
However, the shuttle was destroyed through sabotage planned by InterGalactic Banking Clan Chairman San Hill, Archduke Poggle the Lesser, and the Sith Lord Count Dooku, who wanted to manipulate Grievous into the service of the growing Confederacy of Independent Systems. Grievous survived with severe injuries and was reconstructed as a cyborg at Hill's arrangement. Historians were later divided over whether the crash was the actual cause of Grievous's transformation, as he insisted that he had chosen to be upgraded.
The Martyr was a shuttle and troop carrier used by the Kaleesh warlord General Grievous. It was gray in color and had a box shape with the stern section angling inward, the entrance of which could fold down into a ramp. The Martyr had two wings with an engine each and a yellow symbol painted on them. The bottom of the ship's bow had three laser cannons, with the middle one being a dual-cannon, while another dual-cannon was placed at the top of the stern. The Martyr could be piloted by one person, and the cockpit functioned as a detachable escape pod.
The Martyr explodes.
By 29 BBY, Grievous returned to his homeworld Kalee to renew the Huk War against the Yam'rii species. His actions angered his then-employer, InterGalactic Banking Clan Chairman San Hill, who conspired with Geonosian Archduke Poggle the Lesser and the Sith Lord Count Dooku to bring Grievous under their control. They planned to sabotage the Martyr by planting an ion bomb on the ship.
At the sacred temple Shrupak, the Martyr was refueled while a Kaleesh holy man anointed Grievous in preparation for warfare against the Yam'rii, joined by his elite troops, the eight Izvoshra. Grievous used a ladder to climb up to the cockpit and assured the other Kaleesh he would be successful as long as the Martyr remained functional. While Grievous was still in flight, Dooku and the droids with him activated the ion bomb, causing the shuttle to falter. Grievous realized that his systems were failing but was unable to act. Just as the Martyr hit the surface of the Jenuwaa Sea, Dooku detonated the ship and forced the cockpit's ejection to save Grievous. Dooku's IG-100 MagnaGuards pulled the severely-wounded warlord from the wreckage. One of the Izvoshra, Bentilais san Sk'ar, survived the explosion, but all of the other crew were killed.
San Hill offers Grievous the chance to be rebuilt as a cyborg
Grievous awoke with his limbs severely damaged in a bacta tank on the planet Geonosis, where he was greeted by Hill, who lied that a Banking Clan frigate had accidentally responded to the beacon from the escape pod and claimed that all of the Martyrs other crew had perished in the crash. Grievous was furious to learn that a shuttle crash had injured him so severely after his years in battle and asked his healers to allow him a warrior's death, reasoning that he would prefer to perish in the vacuum of space than in a bacta tank. Hill instead offered Grievous the chance to become a cyborg and regain his abilities as a warrior while serving as a general in the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
Later historians were divided over whether the shuttle crash was indeed the cause of Grievous's transformation or if the general had voluntarily agreed to the changes as he claimed. The crash of the Martyr was later mentioned the notes of Senior Anthropologist Mammon Hoole, which were compiled into a full book following the conclusion of the Swarm War in 36 ABY. It was also acknowledged in a historical document compiled by the New Republic Historical Council in that year.
The Martyr was Grievous's personal shuttle, and he also served as its pilot. Prior to its final flight, the shuttle was refueled by two other Kaleesh. According to Hill, all of the ship's crew were killed when it exploded.
Grievous's backstory involving the crash of the Martyr (pictured) in "The Eyes of Revolution" has been contradicted by other sources.
The novel Labyrinth of Evil, written by James Luceno and published on January 25, 2005, was the first source to mention the shuttle crash that led to General Grievous becoming a cyborg. The shuttle then made its first full appearance in "The Eyes of Revolution," a comic story written and illustrated by Warren Fu that was published in the anthology Star Wars: Visionaries, released on April 2, 2005. It was first identified in the article "The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War," written by Abel G. Peña and published in 2006 on the online service Hyperspace: The Official Star Wars Fan Club.
While the comic depicts Grievous being coerced into receiving his cybernetic enhancements as a result of the crash, another slightly conflicting backstory has developed. In "Lair of Grievous," the tenth episode of the first season of the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which premiered on December 12, 2008, Grievous insists that he voluntarily chose to have his body cybernetically upgraded.
In The Clone Wars episode "Lair of Grievous," Grievous claims that he cybernetically upgraded his body willingly, contradicting the backstory of the crash of the Martyr.
Series creator Dave Filoni stated in a behind the scenes commentary for "Lair of Grievous" that he was aware of the shuttle crash backstory for Grievous in the Expanded Universe, but he had chosen to follow Star Wars creator George Lucas's idea for the character, that Grievous wished for the power and skill of the Jedi but lacked their Force-sensitivity, leading him to upgrade his body with cybernetic improvements to compensate. The episode's writer, Henry Gilroy, expressed in an interview that he felt that the shuttle crash origin made Grievous into too tragic a villain and believed that him voluntarily becoming a cyborg was more in line with Lucas's vision when he created the character. In the same interview, Filoni felt that fans could choose the version of the story that they believed, with the plausible explanation that Grievous invented the idea that he chose to become a cyborg.
When writing the 2012 reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare, Jason Fry rejected the idea of trying to reconcile both backstories. Instead, he presented the idea of disputes between historians as an in-universe explanation of the discrepancy.