Count Dooku

Count Dooku (also known as Darth Tyranus) is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe. In the prequel films, he is played by Christopher Lee, and is voiced by Corey Burton in the video games and the animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars. He is the arch-villain in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and a supporting villain in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. According to Star Wars canon he was born in 102 BBY and was 83 years old at the time of his death.

Dooku was a Jedi Master and powerful Sith Lord. His Sith name is Darth Tyranus ("Tyrannus" incidentally being the Latin word for "tyrant"); his full birth name is unknown.

Biography

As revealed in Attack of the Clones, Dooku was once the Jedi apprentice to Yoda, Padawan to Thame Cerulian, and the Master of Qui-Gon Jinn. He is one of the greatest Jedi in the galaxy, supremely gifted in his connection to the Force, as well as oratory, philosophy, and lightsaber combat.

Jude Watson's novel Legacy of the Jedi explains that Dooku is first tempted by the dark side of the Force as a Padawan, when his best friend, fellow Jedi apprentice Lorian Nod, becomes a Sith. Dooku feels betrayed, but finds himself intrigued by the Sith Order's open embrace of power, and subconsciously realizes that he is just as capable of treachery as his former friend.

Count Dooku in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

Dooku's first appearance in the Star Wars universe is in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. He is introduced as a once-esteemed Jedi Master who had become disillusioned with the Jedi and became the Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious. He is also the leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, or the Separatists, a federation of planetary systems rebelling against the Galactic Republic.

In 44 BBY, he leads the Jedi in combat against the Mandalorians. Almost all of the Mandalorians are killed, except for Jango Fett and several others spread throughout the galaxy. Over half of the attacking Jedi fall to the Mandalorian guns, with Fett killing many himself. After this battle, Dooku loses faith in the Republic, sensing corruption within it and in the Jedi by serving it.

Dooku was angered by the bureaucracy of the Galactic Senate, as well as the unwillingness of the Jedi Council to aid oppressed Galactic systems. This is something that has been ongoing since the time of Revan and in Luke Skywalker’s New Jedi Order by such Jedi like Kyp Durron and Mara Jade. Qui-Gon's death proved to be the final straw. As a result of his resignation, his bronzium bust is displayed in the Jedi Archives, along with the rest of the Lost Twenty, the only Jedi Masters ever to resign their commissions from the Jedi Order.

Matthew Stover's novelization of Revenge of the Sith describes Dooku's character in greater detail than the films; Stover's version of the character is an evil man who sees others as mere objects to be used for his own ends. The book also reveals that he despises the galaxy's non-human species, and plans to exterminate or enslave them once in power. His vision of an ideal society is that of the 'Empire of Man'- "A government clean, pure, direct: none of the messy scramble for the favor of ignorant rabble and subhuman creatures that made up the Republic he so despised. The government he would serve would be Authority personified. Human authority."

Powers and Abilities

Dooku is recognized as being gifted with extraordinary potential in the Force, and frequently uses it in combat. He is also capable of using Force lightning, and is the only swordsman apart from Yoda traditionally held capable of defeating Mace Windu. Dooku has a curve-handeld red bladed lightsaber.

Attack of the Clones

File:The Seduction of Dooku.jpg

Dooku communicates with his Sith Master Darth Sidious.

In Episode II, the investigation of a failed assassination attempt on the life of Padmé Amidala leads to the discovery of the erasure from the Jedi archives of the records of the planet Kamino, where a weapon used to kill Padme's would-be assassin originated; it was later revealed that Dooku performed this erasure. Obi-Wan Kenobi is sent to investigate the planet, and he discovers that it is being used as a base for the construction of a clone army ostensibly ordered by the deceased Jedi Council member, Sifo-Dyas. The novel Labyrinth of Evil reveals that Sifo-Dyas had indeed ordered the clone army, but he had been killed by Dooku. A subsequent visit to Geonosis to follow the clone army's genetic source, Jango Fett, leads Kenobi to discover that Dooku has been working with various corporate elements to build a giant droid army for the anti-Republic Confederacy of Independent Systems, against which the Republic would be defenseless. Kenobi is subsequently captured by Dooku's forces, and Dooku attempts to get him to join his cause by telling him that he is only attempting to save the Republic from the influence of a Sith lord, Darth Sidious, who he claims has control of a large number of senators. (Sidious is revealed to be Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in Episode III). Kenobi refuses to join him, and is sentenced to death.

File:Dooku yoda.jpg

Count Dooku faces Jedi Master Yoda.

Prior to his capture, however, Kenobi informs the Jedi and the Republic's authorities about his discoveries, and the Republic takes control of the clone army in order to fight the Separatists. Kenobi is rescued by a Jedi task force and the Clone Army, and attempts to capture Dooku with the help of his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker. The two are unsuccessful; Anakin loses his right forearm in a duel with Dooku, and the Sith lord retreats to a secret facility on Coruscant. There, he gives Sidious the rudimentary blueprints for a Geonosian-designed superweapon, eventually revealed to be the Death Star.

The Clone Wars

In the video game The Clone Wars, Count Dooku leads the Separatist Army, as in the films. He hires Cydon Prax to replace Fett as his bodyguard. He finds the Force Harvester, an ancient Sith artifact, on Raxus Prime. He later finds the pieces, scattered by the ancient Sith, and revives an antique Sith weapon known as the Dark Reaper. The Dark Reaper was first defeated by a Jedi Knight named Ulic Qel-Droma 4,000 years before The Phantom Menace, during the Great Sith War. At the Sith Temple on Thule, it is defeated again by Anakin Skywalker.

In the video game Star Wars: The New Droid Army, a Count Dooku Clone raids the Jedi Temple Library 10 months after the Battle of Geonosis. This clone oversees the Cortosis Droid project, and is killed by Anakin Skywalker on Metalorn.

During the Clone Wars, Dooku takes up a few apprentices of his own, though of the non-Sith variety: Sev'rance Tann, Asajj Ventress, Durge, Tol Skorr, Kadrian Sey, and General Grievous. He also acts as the political leader of the Separatists. Grievous and Ventress are the most prominent of Dooku's apprentices in the Star Wars universe. As revealed in the Clone Wars series, James Luceno's novel Labyrinth of Evil, and Revenge of the Sith, Dooku molds Grievous into a formidable lightsaber duelist. In Ventress' story arc in the Clone Wars series and the novels Yoda: Dark Rendezvous and The Cestus Deception, meanwhile, Dooku recruits and trains her at Sidious' command, his ultimate plan being to pit her against Anakin Skywalker in battle in order to test the young Jedi's worth as a potential apprentice.

Even though Dooku's servants are aware that he is a Sith and a student of Darth Sidious, they are unaware that they have been manipulated as part of a larger scheme. Near the end of the Clone Wars, Dooku has Grievous capture and imprison Palpatine to deceive the corrupt Senate into believing he had been kidnapped, thus creating the sympathy necessary to give the Chancellor even greater emergency powers.

Revenge of the Sith

In the opening of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin and Kenobi are sent to rescue Palpatine from Grievous' flagship, the Invisible Hand, where Dooku awaits them. Palpatine has ordered Dooku to kill Kenobi and defeat Anakin, then turn him to the dark side. Then, Dooku believes, he and his master will destroy the Jedi Order and form the Galactic Empire. Once turned, Palpatine leads Dooku to believe, Anakin will be the perfect commanding general of his new Sith Army, built from the remnants of the Jedi Order and other Force-using groups, such as the Witches of Dathomir and the Korrunai of Haruun Kal.

During the ensuing lightsaber duel, Dooku's mastery was again apparent as he easily blocked both of Anakin's and Obi-Wan's blows, and isolated Obi-Wan from the battle with a force push. Pursued up the stairs of the bridge by Anakin, Obi-Wan rejoined the fight, at which point Dooku simultaneously kicked Anakin away, locked Obi-Wan in a Force grip, and hurled him across the room, knocking him unconscious. Before Dooku could prepare himself, however, Anakin kicked the aged Jedi over the balcony of the bridge and rejoined the fight. Dooku again fought ably against Anakin, but could no longer mount an effective attack, as the young Jedi's connection with the Force and prowess in lightsaber combat had greatly intensified since their last confrontation. In the end, Anakin repaid the Count for his defeat on Geonosis by cutting off both of Dooku's hands. Sidious had promised Dooku that he would intervene in the unlikely event that Anakin won the duel, but unfortunately for Dooku, he only realized Palpatine's betrayal in the moment before his death. In reality, Palpatine never intended Dooku to be the true apprentice; Dooku was merely a placeholder for Anakin and a tool for engineering the Clone Wars. At Palpatine's insistence, Anakin decapitated the helpless Sith Lord in cold blood.

References

• The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2
• Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2002. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-8588-5
• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2005. James Luceno, ISBN 0-7566-1128-8
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Revised Core Rulebook, hardcover, 2002. Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, J.D. Wiker, ISBN 0-7869-2876-X

External links

• Count Dooku entry in the Star Wars Databank
• Dooku on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
• Dooku.net - (fan site)