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Count Dooku is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe. He is the main antagonist of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and is a supporting villain in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Dooku is the primary antagonist in the events of the Clone Wars. He also plays a substantial role in the "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games. In his television and video game appearances, Dooku is portrayed by voice actor Corey Burton. In all of his film appearances, which consists of the prequel films and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, he is played by Christopher Lee.

Although he was a respected Jedi Master, Dooku became disillusioned with the Jedi Council and became one of the "Lost Twenty" Jedi to leave the Order. A few years before the events of Episode II, Dooku falls to the dark side of the Force, at which time he is initiated into the ways of the Sith by Darth Sidious, who bestows upon his new pupil the title of Darth Tyranus.

Tyranus leads the Separatists in the Clone Wars, which in turn lead to the destruction of many worlds throughout the galaxy. During the Clone Wars he trains General Grievous, leader of the Droid Armies, and Asajj Ventress, his personal assassin. In Revenge of the Sith, Darth Tyranus is killed by Anakin Skywalker, who eventually replaces him as Darth Sidious' third apprentice, Darth Vader.

Depiction[link]

Film and television[link]

[edit] Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Dooku first appears in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones as the Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid). He is also the leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a federation of planetary systems rebelling against the Galactic Republic. Dooku claims to be angered by the bureaucracy of the Galactic Senate, as well as the apparent unwillingness of the Jedi Council to aid oppressed galactic systems.

Dooku captures Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) on Geonosis and informs Kenobi that he is attempting to save the Republic from the influence of a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious. Dooku also states that he was saddened by the loss of Kenobi's former master and Dooku's former apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). Kenobi refuses to join Dooku, who promptly sentences him to be executed.

An army of clone troopers and Jedi rescue Kenobi, along with Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). Anakin and Kenobi chase Dooku and engage him in a lightsaber duel in which Kenobi is incapacitated and Anakin loses his right arm. Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz), Dooku's former master, arrives to save them. Yoda fights Dooku to a stalemate, and Dooku distracts him by trying to make a large pillar fall on the two Jedi. Dooku then escapes from Geonosis as Yoda is distracted. Dooku returns to Coruscant and delivers to Sidious the blueprints for the Geonosian-designed Death Star and informs his master that their plan is working: "The war has begun".

[edit] Clone Wars series

Dooku is the main antagonist of the animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003–2005), in which he is portrayed by voice actor Corey Burton. During the series, he leads the Separatists in attacks upon the Republic. He also sends Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress (Grey DeLisle) on a mission to kill Anakin Skywalker — Sidious' ploy to test the young Jedi's worth as an apprentice — and trains General Grievous in lightsaber combat. In the series' final episode, he orchestrates an attack on the planet Coruscant in which Grievous kidnaps Palpatine, setting the stage for Revenge of the Sith. Dooku is also one of the main antagonists in the 2008 film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the spinoff TV series.

[edit] Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

In the opening of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to rescue Chancellor Palpatine (ultimately revealed as Sidious' alter ego) from Separatist leader General Grievous's (Matthew Wood) flagship. Grievous escapes, but they encounter Dooku while freeing Palpatine.

The film's novelization states Sidious and Dooku intend to turn Anakin to the dark side. Dooku intends to appoint him as head of a new Sith Army.^[1] Dooku and Sidious seek to eliminate Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has a steadying influence on Anakin.^[2] Sidious promises him the operation will result in the destruction of the Jedi and the Republic, to be replaced by the Galactic Empire.^[3]

In the ensuing duel, Kenobi is incapacitated, leaving Anakin and Dooku to fight alone. Anakin channels his hatred of Dooku and taps into the dark side to overpower him, severing both Dooku's hands and leaving him helpless. Palpatine then orders Anakin to kill Dooku; after initial hesitation, Anakin decapitates Dooku in cold blood.

The novelization depicts this scene from Dooku's point of view: he realizes that Sidious had been using him as a means to engineer the Clone Wars, and as a placeholder for the true apprentice, Anakin Skywalker.^[4]

[edit] Star Wars: The Clone Wars film

Dooku is the main antagonist of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In the film, in a plot to bring Jabba the Hutt (Kevin Michael Richardson) into the folds of the Confederacy, Count Dooku enlisted Jabba's uncle Ziro to kidnap Jabba's son Rotta. After Ziro's agents deliver the Huttlet to the planet Teth, Dooku contacts Ziro again to arrange for Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman) to take custody of Rotta. Jabba requests Jedi assistance to rescue his son, and Dooku plans for Ventress to frame Anakin (Matt Lanter) for the crime. The plot fails.

[edit] Star Wars The Clone Wars series

Dooku once again serves as the primary antagonist in the 2008 Clone Wars series, with Corey Burton reprising the role. In the first episode of the series, "Ambush", Dooku tries to broker a treaty with Toydaria, and during the Malevolence episodes ("Rising Malevolence", "Shadow of Malevolence" and "Destroy Malevolence"), he commands Grievous in surprise attacks by the Star Destroyer Malevolence. He then sends Ventress to free Gunray. He also tests Grievous by sending Kit Fisto and his padawan to fight Grievous.

In "Dooku Captured", he is imprisoned by pirates, but escapes in the following episode along with Kenobi and Skywalker. After that, he orders one of his generals to destroy a colony with a new weapon but fails. In "Liberty on Ryloth", Dooku orders his servant, Wat Tambor, leader of the Techno Union, to retreat after learning of the arrival of Mace Windu. However, he does not evacuate in time and Dooku orders the droids to destroy his base, though the attempt fails.

During the Clone Wars, Dooku and the Confederacy officially back the Death Watch, a group of Mandalorian terrorists whose goal is to bring down the government of the pacifist New Mandalorians. Dooku urges the leader of the Death Watch, Governor Pre Vizsla of Concordia, to give the Galactic Republic a reason to send a military presence to Mandalore, which Dooku believes will inspire the inhabitants of Mandalore to start a revolution, spearheaded by the Death Watch movement.

However, his plan falls through. Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore presents her case to the Galactic Senate, urging them to hold off a military force, despite the attempts of a Death Watch assassin, sent by Dooku and Vizsla, to silence her. Dooku orders Vizsla and his men to hold off the attack force, claiming he has further plans for them.

In the following story arc, Dooku is ordered to prove his loyalty to Darth Sidious by killing his own assassin, Ventress, whom Sidious fears has grown too powerful to control. Dooku follows his orders, albeit reluctantly. However, unknown to him, Ventress survives and turns to the Nightsisters to have revenge on her former master. After a failed attempt to personally kill Dooku, Ventress takes part in the Nightsisters' plan to have her replacement apprentice, Savage Opress, as her own secret weapon against him by having Dooku unknowingly train his killer. However, the plot falls apart when Opress attempted to kill both Ventress and Dooku. After dealing with the Nightsisters, believing both Ventress and Mother Talzin have been killed off by Grevious's forces, Dooku refocuses his attention to Opress whom he fears will become more of a threat due to now being masterless.

Expanded Universe[link]

Comic books[link]

In the Star Wars: Republic series, set during the Clone Wars, Dooku trains multiple Dark Jedi apprentices, most of whom he uses as minions. His apprentices include Ventress, Tol Skorr and, most notably, renegade Jedi Quinlan Vos, who initially intends to infiltrate the Separatists as a spy for the Jedi Council, but instead nearly falls to the dark side.

Novels[link]

Dooku appears as a main or secondary villain in many Expanded Universe novels.

[edit] Legacy of the Jedi

In Jude Watson's Legacy of the Jedi, he is first tempted by the dark side of the Force as a child, when he and fellow Padawan Lorian Nod steal an ancient Sith Holocron from the Jedi Archives, and he informs his friend to stay in the Order; he is intrigued by the Sith's open embrace of power, and realizes that he is just as capable of treachery as they are. Lorian eventually lands Dooku in trouble for stealing the holocron which Lorian had stolen, but Dooku got off scot-free and Lorian was banished from the Order. Years later, he encounters (and eventually kills) Nod.

[edit] Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

In Sean Stewart's Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, he attempts to trap his former Master by offering to negotiate an end to the war. Despite his attempts to convert Yoda to his cause, he is ultimately unsuccessful, but is very nearly swayed in turn by Yoda to return to the Jedi Order. The intervention of Anakin and Obi-Wan, however, enrages him, and ends any efforts of rapprochement before they can began, leaving both Yoda and Dooku in deep thought following the confrontation, as Dooku feels condemned to being a Sith and Yoda feels that any attempts to turn his former student back to the light have been rendered impossible. In the novel, it is also revealed that Dooku always resented his parents for "giving him away" to the Jedi Order.

[edit] Labyrinth of Evil

In James Luceno's Labyrinth of Evil, he engineers General Grievous' transformation into the Separatists' cyborg commander, and trains him in lightsaber combat. He then schemes with Sidious to invade Coruscant — thus setting the stage for Revenge of the Sith — in what he believes to be a plot to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi and initiate Anakin Skywalker into the Sith.

References[link]

Bibliography

• Stover, Mathew. Revenge of the Sith. Lucas Booka, Century, London. ISBN 0-7126-8427-1

Notes

Further readings

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

External links[link]

• Count Dooku in the Star Wars Databank
• Dooku on Wookieepedia: a Star Wars Wiki