Ritsuko Akizuki



Count Dooku (102–19 BBY) is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe. In the films he is played by Christopher Lee and he is voiced by Corey Burton in the video games and mini-series. He first appeared in Attack of the Clones.

In the film Attack of the Clones, it is revealed that Count Dooku was once a Jedi who served as an apprentice of Yoda though this is contradicted in the Expanded Universe where his master was "Thame Cerulian," not Yoda. He was the master of Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi's old teacher. Dooku had been a Jedi for many years, and his bust was displayed in the Jedi Archives, along with the rest of the Lost Twenty, the only Jedi ever to resign their commission from the Jedi order. Dooku left the order around the time of the Battle of Naboo and retook his family title as Count of Serenno. Dooku's first name, if he indeed has one, has yet to be revealed, but the names Yan and Jard have been used by some fan sources, though not widely enough to be considered fanon.

The circumstances under which Dooku left the Jedi are still a mystery (according to wide speculation, the death of his former apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn is a major factor). It is also unknown exactly how or when Dooku first came into contact with Darth Sidious, the mysterious Dark Lord of the Sith (and master of Darth Maul, who slew Jinn), but Dooku somehow fell to the Dark Side of the Force and became the next Sith Apprentice, taking the name Darth Tyranus.

As Darth Tyranus, Dooku recruited the mercenary Jango Fett to become a template for the Army of the Republic's Clone troopers later to be used by Chancellor Palpatine and the Republic. Ten years later, the machiavellian Count Dooku came out of hiding, appearing on Raxus Prime and heavily criticized the Republic and the Jedi Order for their decadence, hypocrisy and corruption. Dooku, a mastermind, publicly called for entire systems to secede from the Republic and join the Separatist movement, culminating in the formation of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The first meeting of the CIS was hosted on the planet Geonosis, where Obi-Wan Kenobi was captured by the Geonosians and accused of espionage. Dooku cleverly claimed that he had no power over the decision.

Later, when Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala arrived to rescue Obi-Wan, they were also captured and sentenced to death. They were to be executed in a Geonosian fashion, but the executions were interrupted by the sudden arrival of Jedi reinforcements, led by Mace Windu. Though the new droid army of the CIS overwhelmed the Jedi, they were soon rescued by Yoda, leading the very Clone Army Dooku had helped create, forcing the Separatists to retreat.

While the Clonetroopers advanced and obliterated the droid forces, the Separatists called for a retreat, all the while Dooku pretended not to know how the Republic had gathered such a powerful army in such a short time. Poggle the Lesser, Archduke of Geonosis, commanded a full retreat and proceeded to turn over the plans to a Death Star weapon to Count Dooku to keep the Jedi from finding them.

Count Dooku fled to his secret hangar, but he was followed by Obi-Wan and Anakin. After injuring Obi-Wan, he dueled with Anakin, who proved to be a challenge to the aging Jedi Master, but nevertheless, the battle ended when Dooku severed Anakin's weapon arm. Before he could escape, he was confronted by one last Jedi- his older master, Yoda. After a battle of Force powers, Dooku insisted on settling their contest with a lightsaber duel. Ultimately, the duel went unfinished; Dooku used the Force to drop a crane on the wounded Obi-Wan and Anakin to distract Yoda long enough to make his escape. Count Dooku soon arrived on Coruscant where he met with his master, Darth Sidious, and informed him that the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems were officially at war.

In the video game The Clone Wars, Count Dooku led the army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, or the Separatist Army, as in the films. He found the Force Harvester, an ancient Sith artifact, on Raxus Prime. He later found the pieces scattered by the ancient Sith and revived 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 was re-defeated by Anakin Skywalker at the final confrontation of the video game.

Count Dooku is regarded as one of the greatest Jedi in the order for his strength of character as well as the Force. With his deep voice and veneer of elegant charisma, this political idealist and wealthy Count of Serenno displays class and intelligence. The elderly librarian Jocasta Nu once stated, "He was one of the most brilliant Jedi I've ever had the privilege of knowing." He had been a practitioner of the Force for nearly eight decades, and Dooku and his student Qui-Gon Jinn would have surely sat on the Jedi Council if it were not for their maverick views. In addition, Dooku is a master swordsman, specializing in the seldom-used Form II art (see the seven forms of lightsaber combat), which makes use of his special curved saber hilt. He was trained by Yoda himself and in turn trained Qui-Gon Jinn, who would go on to train Obi-Wan Kenobi, who would then train Anakin Skywalker and his son, Luke Skywalker. As Darth Tyranus, he is apprentice to Darth Sidious and replaced Darth Maul, who met his end at Obi-Wan's hands. There can only be two Sith at a time; Anakin Skywalker, as Darth Vader, will succeed Tyranus, though the circumstances of this change in power are expected to be revealed in Revenge of the Sith.

During the Clone Wars, Dooku took up a few apprentices of his own in Asajj Ventress and General Grievous. At the end of Star Wars: Clone Wars, Dooku had Grievous capture Palpatine during the opening of the Battle of Coruscant. By the start of Episode III, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi came and battled the Sith Lord and General. With Obi-Wan down, the two villians take on Anakin, but Grievous escaped as Anakin used his lightsaber and Dooku's lightsaber to behead the Count with a scissor-like strike, killing Dooku instantly.

If Palpatine, Chancellor of the Republic, and Darth Sidious are taken as being one and the same, then the Sith control both sides of the Clone Wars, with Count Dooku acting as the political figurehead of the CIS. Of course, even though a few of Dooku's co-conspirators are aware that he is a Sith (and in the case of Poggle the Lesser, that Darth Sidious is his master), they are unaware that they are just puppets of the Sith Lords, who will use the crisis of the Clone Wars to give birth to the Galactic Empire.

Episode III Novelization Spoilers
Dooku left the Jedi Order when he came to the realization that it was just a blind pawn to the corrupt Senate. He retired to his family estate and assumed his hereditary title as the Count of Serreno, instantly becoming vastly wealthy. Sometime shortly after, he encountered Sidious/Palpatine and fell in step with the Sith Lord's plan to rebuild the Republic into the pure Empire. It is no coincidence that Dooku's puppets, the CIS, are almost all aliens, for Dooku is a speciest who fully intended to use that factor to usher in a Human-centric rule.

At the Battle of Coruscant, Dooku "captured" his master in an elaborate plan to be captured himself. They both knew that the only rescuers likely to arrive in time would be Kenobi and Skywalker. The plan would be for him to kill Kenobi, but be 'defeated' by Anakin. He would then, in captivity, turn on the CIS by surrendering to the Republic forces and claiming to have only recently learned of the extent of the atrocities committed by the CIS, and specifically General Grievous, who would be the perfect scapegoat on whom to hang all of the CIS's war crimes. He would later ostensibly emerge as Emperor Palpatine's right hand man in the new Empire, leading a new Sith Army of dark side force-wielders to replace the Jedi Order and bring order to the Galaxy.

Two things disrupted his plans though. First was the fact that Kenobi's and Skywalker's saber skills had improved dramatically since they last met, although they initially do not let on to this and allow Dooku to believe them to be swordsmen of a significantly lesser caliber. Dooku is barely able to render Kenobi unconscious before being disarmed (literally having both arms severed) by Anakin.

At this time he realized the second deception: Palpatine never intended him to survive, nor for him to be his apprentice; he was simply a place-holder (much like his predecessor Darth Maul) for Darth Vader, whom Skywalker would become. At the Chancellor's urging, Anakin reluctantly executes his fallen opponent - who was effectively incapacitated - driving one more Dark Side wedge into his soul; however, Anakin regretted this action instantly. This would become one of the reasons later that he is unable to finish Mace Windu's work and kill Palpatine.

In the end, Dooku simply remembers, Treachery is the way of the Sith.