Battle of Coruscant The Battle of Coruscant was a battle that took place over Coruscant during the final days of the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems . The battle began when the Separatists launched a massive assault on Coruscant , the Republic ' s capital . It was orchestrated by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious , who was secretly Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Republic . Sidious arranged for himself to be kidnapped as Palpatine , by the cyborg General Grievous as part of a plot to bring Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker closer to the dark side of the Force . Two Jedi , Obi - Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker , flew into the heart of the massive battle , determined to rescue Palpatine from CIS capture . They succeeded in boarding the " Invisible Hand " , and after a lengthy duel , Skywalker killed the Confederacy leader Count Dooku at the command of Palpatine . The duo , along with the now - freed Chancellor , were unable to escape , however , as Grievous ' s personal battle droids captured them . Skywalker and Kenobi were able to best his MagnaGuards , forcing the General to flee . With that , the Separatist forces retreated , having lost much of their fleet . Chancellor Palpatine was safe in Republic hands . However , the Jedi were unaware that Palpatine had orchestrated the battle , and was also testing Skywalker , whom he considered a good choice for his new apprentice . Prelude . Prior to the attack , the Outer Rim Sieges had enmeshed Republic and Separatist warships and armies in vast battles in the spirals of the galaxy . As a result of this , most of the Republic ' s Jedi were locked up in battles far away from the Core Worlds . However Republic strategists did not worry , believing that they could focus on the sieges and that the CIS wouldn ' t dare attack the Capital , thus leaving it with few defensives . The citizens of Coruscant were also not worried , and expected a Separatist surrender soon . Whatever officers that were in the Coruscant Home Defense Fleet had not seen much action , and had not been drilled on what to do when faced with a full - scale planetary attack . This all gave the Separatists an opportunity to deal a mighty blow to the Republic by attacking Coruscant . They would be able to inflict a large amount of damage to their adversary , as well as to gain a massive propaganda victory . However these were not the only victories the Separatist were after , they also wished to kidnap Supreme Chancellor Palpatine , leader of the Republic . Unknown to all but a few , Palpatine was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious , and was controlling both sides of the war , in hopes of obtaining his true goal — complete galactic control . In order to do so , Palpatine planned a raid on the capital and had General Grievous , Supreme Commander of the Droid Army , assemble an armada of Separatist battleships — led by the " Providence " - class dreadnought " Invisible Hand " — for a strike on Coruscant . The battle . Strike on Coruscant . The Separatist launched their surprise attack on the Republic Capital of Coruscant , under General Grievous and Count Dooku themselves , with a massive fleet at their command . The ships proceeded to attack the Republic Navy vessels defending the planet . The startled and inexperienced defense fleet was caught off guard , but it turned out the Separatists did not wish to keep the planet . The Separatist navy was only a cover for a strike team to reach the surface . Grievous slipped onto the planet surface , landing in the Executive District , with the intent to capture the Supreme Chancellor . Grievous managed to cut through the layers of security forces and Jedi , including the Jedi Roron Corobb , who was killed defending Chancellor Palpatine . Grievous also came in contact with Jedi Master Shaak Ti , who was knocked unconscious when Grievous used electrified cables , and allowed Grievous to steal her lightsaber . The defense fleet had only organized into attack formation by then , but Grievous had already managed to abduct Palpatine and take him back to the " Invisible Hand " . However , the republic ' s reinforcements , including the Open Circle Fleet , had arrived by then , attempting to rescue the Chancellor before Invisible Hand and the Separatist ships could jump to hyperspace with their prisoner . With the Separatists trying to repel the republic forces , heavy fighting between cruisers and starfighters ensured . If the Separatist were able to escape with their prisoner , the psychological fallout would be immense as it would expose the vulnerability of the Republic ’ s capital , and it would present the possibility of the Chancellor being subjected to a sham trial being broadcast across the galaxy , one that would likely end with execution . That possibility would force Republic High Command to negotiate with the Separatists , and force them to offer deep concessions . Jedi Rescue . As Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker met with his former Padawan , Ahsoka Tano , who was preparing to launch an assault against Darth Maul ' s forces on the planet Mandalore , Skywalker learned that the Separatists had kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine and both he and Jedi Master Obi - Wan Kenobi were forced to come to the Chancellor ' s rescue . As they piloted their fighters towards Grievous ' flagship , they found hundreds of Vulture fighters and tri - fighters swarming around the general ' s command ship , and the Jedi engaged the fighters with the help of a clone fighter squad . The clones took heavy casualties in the ensuing dogfight , and Skywalker wanted to go back and help them . Kenobi , however , would not let him , insisting that they had to stick to the mission . Soon , Kenobi and Skywalker were attacked by a swarm of Vulture droids . The droids fired missiles at them , but Skywalker managed to evade them by rolling , which caused the missile ' s ' flight paths to intersect . Kenobi , however , was not able to avoid the missiles targeting him , and they eventually exploded , releasing a horde of buzz droids that attached themselves to his ship ' s hull . They destroyed his astromech droid R4 - P17 , and the droids were rapidly disabling Kenobi ' s Jedi interceptor as well , before Skywalker managed to save his friend by firing on the buzz droids as well as smashing into Kenobi ' s ship and crushing them . In doing so , however , he also damaged Kenobi ' s interceptor . One of the surviving buzz droids managed to climb aboard Anakin ' s interceptor , but R2 - D2 , at the guidance of Kenobi and Skywalker , managed to deactivate it by zapping it in the center eye with one of his electrical tools . As they hurtled toward Grievous ' s flagship , Skywalker , after being reminded by Kenobi and R2 that the flagship ' s shields were still up , destroyed the atmospheric containment shield protecting the hangar bay entrance . With Kenobi ' s ship ' s engines failing , the two fighters breached the vessel ' s defenses and crashed in the hangar , where the Jedi made quick work of the security droid resistance . After R2 - D2 located Palpatine ' s homing beacon , they headed towards the signal emanating from the upper observation deck . But Grievous knew that the Jedi would come aboard his flagship , as Dooku had predicted it beforehand . He was requested on the bridge via the ship ' s captain and told that the Jedi were now being tracked . As the two Jedi headed towards Palpatine , they boarded a turbolift upon evading destroyer droids , where they Kenobi and Skywalker found a battalion of B1 battle droids . Their request for the Jedi Knights to drop their weapons , however , backfired when it caused them to drop their own guard instead , giving the Jedi Knights an opportunity to cut them all down . After a brief misadventure when the lift they were using was stopped , Kenobi and Skywalker were assisted by R2 - D2 in getting to the top of the Invisible Hand ' s tower , where they found Palpatine being held captive . Similarly , R2 - D2 was briefly captured by two patrolling B2 super battle droids shortly thereafter , although R2 - D2 managed to escape by spraying them with oil , and then igniting the oil when activating his thrusters to fly off , burning them to inoperability . Duel with a Sith . However , before the Jedi were able to release Palpatine , Dooku arrived with two B2 battle droids . He jumped down from the balcony and engaged the Jedi in a fierce duel . However , he found himself unable to fight both Skywalker and Kenobi at once , so he Force - pushed Kenobi away from the duel so he could focus on fighting Skywalker . However , Dooku still began to tire as Skywalker drove him back up the stairs to the balcony . Kenobi , quickly recovering , brought down Dooku ' s escort and continued to attempt an attack on him from behind . Dooku , however , simply kicked aside Skywalker and incapacitated Kenobi more permanently , by slamming him into a railing with the Force and causing debris to fall on him . Angered , Skywalker kicked Dooku back off the balcony and once again engaged him . Sensing that Skywalker was holding back his anger and hate , Dooku taunted him , hoping to disrupt his concentration . However , it had the opposite effect : it infuriated Skywalker to the point where he tapped into the Dark Side . He attacked Dooku with his rage and hatred , throwing fast , heavy attacks against the Sith Lord . Dooku could barely deflect his opponent ' s blows , let alone fight back , and was even singed by his own blade at one point . Finally , Skywalker managed to overpower Dooku ' s defense and cut off his hands . Grabbing Dooku ' s lightsaber with his offhand , he held both blades in a scissor position around the now - defenseless Sith Lord ' s neck . Still bound to his chair , Palpatine commended Skywalker ' s victory , and then told him to kill Dooku on the spot . Initially , Skywalker was hesitant to do so , as killing a defensless opponent — which Dooku now was — was against the Jedi Code . However , with Palpatine goading him on , he gave into his hatred and beheaded Dooku . Continued battle . As the duel ended , the " Invisible Hand " entered a firefight with a " Venator " - class Star Destroyer " Guarlara " and took extensive damage in process , causing the ship to momentarily fall towards the planet below before control was regained by its crew . With many essential systems failing , however , the " Invisible Hand " had become a decaying space wreck . Skywalker ' s priority was now escape . Gathering the unconscious Kenobi against Palpatine ' s request to leave him behind , they headed for the turbolifts . Regaining consciousness soon after , Kenobi , Skywalker , and the Chancellor headed for the hangar . Before they could reach it , however , Grievous learned that they were in Hallway 328 of the " Invisible Hand " and ordered that the ray shield s be activated ; as such , the shields dropped on the Jedi and Palpatine , trapping them . Skywalker was sure that R2 - D2 would arrive and release the shields , but as the astromech came screeching in , droidekas unfolded and aimed at him ; a super battle droid even kicked him down to his back after being zapped in the blaster arm . The Jedi , along with the Chancellor and R2 - D2 , were captured and taken to the bridge and brought before Grievous . The cyborg took the Jedi ' s lightsabers and boasted about adding them to his collection . However , with the aid of R2 - D2 , who distracted the guards with his lightning gun , Skywalker and Kenobi were able to summon their lightsabers back as Grievous ordered his MagnaGuards to dispose of the Jedi . After a quick battle , the Jedi easily defeated the droids and closed in on Grievous , intent on capturing him . Grievous , however , grabbed an electrostaff that one of his MagnaGuards had dropped and threw it into the damaged bridge viewport , shattering it . Grievous allowed himself to be sucked out into space to escape the Jedi , and later re - entered the ship through a hatch . In an attempt to foil the Jedi ' s escape , he launched every escape pod on his flagship , fleeing in one , and his pod was recovered by the " Lucrehulk " - class Battleship " Profusion " . The " Invisible Hand " began taking much more serious damage , and began a meteoric plunge toward Coruscant . Taking control of the helm , Skywalker attempted to pilot the wreck to a safe landing on Coruscant . Rapidly losing structural integrity , the entire rear half of the " Invisible Hand " tore off due to the atmospheric stress . In spite of this , Skywalker , Kenobi , and Artoo managed to successfully crash - land the ship on a long runway in Galactic City . With the loss of their flagship , the failure of their main objective , and the death of Count Dooku ; Grievous and the surviving elements of the depleted Separatist armada retreated in disgrace to the Outer Rim . A third of the Separatist armada had been lost , whether it was due to engine damage , critical ship failures or destruction . More ships under the command of Neimoidian s or Muun s surrendered , droid star fighters however did not . It took hours for clone pilots to clear out the rest of the vulture droids , tri - fighters , and Hyena bombers . Aftermath . The Separatist were dealt a crippling loss from Coruscant , with an entire third of the Separatist Armada lost . Worse than that though was the loss of Dooku . After his death Grievous became the Confederacy ' s new Head of State , but it greatly destabilized the Separatist control structure . Without the assurances of victory from Dooku , the members of the Separatist Council , particularly Nute Gunray , began to doubt the abilities of their new leader to keep them safe for much longer . Meanwhile the Jedi Council made tracking down Grievous and bringing him to justice their utmost priority in hope of finally ending the war . The Jedi Order would go on to track him to Utapau , where they launched a battle in which Kenobi confronted and killed Grievous . Palpatine , meanwhile , successfully achieved his goal of converting Skywalker to the dark side and took the fallen Jedi Knight as his new apprentice , replacing Dooku . The Chancellor dubbed Skywalker as Darth Vader and executed Order 66 , branding the Jedi as traitors and creating media that the Jedi were behind the war . With the Jedi Order destroyed , Palpatine transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire . Behind the scenes . The Battle of Coruscant was created for , where it serves as part of the exposition . In the DVD commentary for " Revenge of the Sith " , George Lucas said that he wanted the Battle of Coruscant to serve as a bridge between the prequel and original trilogy , utilizing ARC - 170s as the precursor to X - wings , and including vulture droids from " " .