| “ | I want only to bring peace and order to the galaxy. | „ |
| ~ Count Dooku |
| “ | Well, then. You're a much wiser man than I, Qui-Gon Jinn. | „ |
| ~ Dooku to his apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn in Tales of the Jedi. |
Count Dooku, later known as Darth Tyranus, is the secondary antagonist of the Clone Wars Era within the Star Wars franchise.
He was once a Jedi who trained under Grand Master Yoda, before becoming a Jedi Master himself, and took Qui-Gon Jinn in as his Padawan after having Rael Averross as a former padwan.
Eventually, however, he fell to the dark side of the Force and became a powerful Sith Lord as the second apprentice of Darth Sidious, as well as the founder and Head of State of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. In turn, he would become the master of both General Grievous and Asajj Ventress. He is also the perpetrator of the Clone Wars, orchestrated by Sidious, with Tyranus manhandling and coordinating Sidious' plans on his behalf.
Despite his antagonistic role, he appears in the 2022 Disney+ animated anthology series Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi as the main protagonist of the episodes "Justice", "Choices" and "The Sith Lord".
He was famously portrayed by the late Sir Christopher Lee (who also voiced Ansem the Wise in Kingdom Hearts II) in all his film appearances, and voiced by Corey Burton (who also voiced Zeus in Hercules: The Animated Series, Ansem the Wise in the Kingdom Hearts series, Ludwig Von Drake in DuckTales, Yen Sid in Epic Mickey and Fantasia: Music Evolved) in the Clone Wars animated TV series.
Apperance
Dooku is tall, slender, elderly, white hair and beard (formerly brown when younger), brown eyes (later crimson-red eyes) and careworn face.
Personality
Dooku is ruthless and utterly amoral, seeing others as mere objects to be used and discarded. Friendship, loyalty and love mean nothing to him, and betrayal is second nature. He is also intelligent and charismatic, and able to manipulate virtually anyone into seeing him as a savior, an ally, or whatever else benefits him the most at a given time.
While serving Darth Sidious, Dooku is a ruthless terrorist and warlord, whose methods included torture, murder, and even genocide. However, before turning to the dark side, he was a respected Jedi Master, having been trained by Yoda and served as the Master of Qui-Gon Jinn. During that time, he was unconventional in his philosophy and methods, often at odds with the Jedi Council. He defended, for example, the controversial theory of the Living Force rather than the unified Force. He taught it and another atypical view at his apprentice. He presented himself as a political idealist, but his only real objective was power.
By this time with his new Sith identity, he was not above double-crossing his own supporters and allies such as Asajj Ventress because she was failing him, but he showed some regret after turning his back on Ventress, infuriating his own master, Darth Sidious.
Arguably, Dooku's greatest weaknesses are his arrogance and vanity; he believes himself to be superior to everyone else by virtue of both his aristocratic lineage and what he believes are his natural gifts, and this sometimes leads him to make mistakes and errors in judgment. He despises the galaxy's "common" inhabitants, whom he dismisses as "ignorant rabble". He also had a certain fondness for Obi-Wan Kenobi, partially because he was taught by Dooku's Padawan. This was shown when he asked Obi-Wan to join him in his quest of power and even telling him the truth that the Republic was governed by Darth Sidious, though the Jedi didn't believe him. But it didn't stop him from trying to have him killed in several ways.
While faced with his demise, Dooku was visibly shocked, as he never realized that he was only a pawn in Sidious' schemes. So the Count realized too late that betrayal was Sidious's way. Despite this, he faces his impending demise without saying anything or revealing Palpatine's true nature.
Although in the past, Dooku wasn't always ruthless, as serving under the Jedi Order he saw the corruption in the Senate and the Jedi have lost their way to the point where they allow people to suffer; he was almost provoked to kill a corrupt politician, but his Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn was a calming influence; though once Qui-Gon advanced to Jedi Master himself, there was nobody left close to him to challenge Dooku's aggressive impulses. Dooku's disillusionment with the Jedi Order and Republic made him susceptible to Darth Sidous' manipulation, although even when first aligning with him, Dooku showed disdain for the violence unleashed. When confronted by Yaddle, Dooku felt internal conflict about killing a former friend, but ultimately he obeyed Sidious' will and murdered her, which cemented his path in the dark side; ironically beginning the eventual corruption of the beliefs that made him betray the Jedi Council in the first place.
Powers and Abilities
Dooku was an exceptionally gifted Force user, having immense power in the Force and being an esteemed lightsaber duelist. He was regarded as part of the unofficial Big Three of the Jedi Order, alongside Yoda and Mace Windu.
Powers
- The Force: Despite his old age, Dooku was extremely powerful and had an extremely strong connection to the Force. Although he was not quite as powerful as Anakin Skywalker at his peak, Dooku was still one of the most powerful Force-users in the history of the galaxy; arrogantly claiming himself to have been more powerful than any single Jedi of his time. Despite this claim, Dooku's Force potential did not come anywhere close to surpassing Yoda and Sidious at their peak.
- Telekinesis: Dooku was very proficient in telekinesis and utilized it either as offensive or defense.
- Force Push: Dooku utilized Force Push to send his opponents flying through the air, causing them serious injury or temporarily incapacitating them/knocked them unconscious.
- Force Flight: Dooku utilized Force Flight to levitate himself or to slow-down his fall to the ground.
- Force Choke: Dooku utilized Force Choke to either weaken, kill or intimidate his opponents.
- Force Grip: Dooku utilized Force Grip to lift his opponents off the ground, sometimes by the neck, to immobilize or throw them. His abilities also allowed him to influence the movements of people, as he was able to force the pirate Turk Falso to shoot his comrade while simultaneously choking him, while he performed a similar feat when he made Padmé Amidala aim at and shoot Bec Lawise.
- Force Deflection: Dooku utilized Force deflection to redirect incoming attacks, such as Force lightning, with or without his lightsaber, though it was difficult to do so.
- Mind Trick: Dooku utilized Mind Trick to control the minds of other sentient beings. However, it did not work on individuals who have very strong wills.
- Taming Beasts: Dooku utilized Taming Beasts to control the minds of other animals.
- Force Lightning: Dooku utilized Force Lightning to torture or kill his opponents.
- Force Dash: Dooku utilized Force Dash to move at amazing speeds.
- Force Jump: Dooku utilized Force Jump to jump or leap at great distances.
- Telekinesis: Dooku was very proficient in telekinesis and utilized it either as offensive or defense.
Abilities
- Genius-Level Intellect/Master Tactician/Leader: Dooku was highly intelligent; his intellectual abilities were surpassed in the Jedi Order only by Yoda. As a Sith General, Dooku was a highly skilled strategist and tactician as well as a very capable leader.
- Charisma: As Head of State of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Dooku was a very charismatic leader, swaying thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands, of star systems to his side. He was widely popular among the CIS citizenry and utilized propaganda to keep his true nature out of public view.
- Wealth/Political Power: Being Count of Serenno, Dooku rules over an entire planet and is one of the richest beings in the galaxy. During the Clone Wars he was given emergency powers by the Separatist Parliament, effectively making him a dictator in all but name.
- Master Lightsaber Combatant: Dooku was extremely skilled in lightsaber combat, due to following a philosophy of single-minded focus on mastery, having spent decades determinately focused on the perfecting of his skill and practicing daily. According to multiple individuals, By the time he had left the Jedi Order, Dooku was one of the most skilled duelists in the Order's entire history. Yoda was regarded as his only potential superior and Mace Windu his only equal, with even Windu himself not being confident in his own ability against Dooku. Dooku however allowed himself to fall out practice due to prioritizing his focus on mastering the Dark side over maintaining his blade practice following his joining the Sith, coupled with his advancing age slowing his reflexes. Despite his loss of ability Dooku still remained an immensely skilled swordsman, though his lessened ability allowed him to be defeated by Anakin Skywalker, who had become a master swordsman in his own right. In his prime, he was one of the few known individuals who could equally match Yoda in a fair fight.
- Form II: Dooku was a master of Makashi; he used it nearly exclusively and was believed by many the most proficient practitioner of the style in the history of the Jedi Order. His skill was such that he was capable of overcoming many of the style's traditionally recognized weaknesses, such as blaster deflection and solid blocking, although this wasn't enough to keep him from being defeated when Anakin overpowered him shortly before killing him.
- Dun Möch: Dooku was skilled in Dun Möch, using psychological warfare against his opponents, such as taunting Obi-Wan and Anakin during their fights.
Trivia
- Like Darth Maul and General Grievous, Dooku is one of the villains in the Star Wars prequel trilogy who each foreshadow a different aspect of Anakin's future as Darth Vader. In his case, Dooku represents the fallen Jedi who desires to bring order to the galaxy as well as plotting to overthrow his master at the same time that later loses his hands during battle and whose victorious opponent is ordered by Sidious to end their life.
- In the Brazilian localization, Dooku's name was changed to "Dookan", likely in order to avoid dirty puns with the character's name, as it sounded like a popular slang term for "anus".
- The scene in Revenge of the Sith where Palpatine orders Anakin to kill Dooku mirrors the scene in Return of The Jedi, the last film in the original trilogy, where he pressures Anakin's own son Luke to kill Anakin (who was now Darth Vader).
- Sidious mentioned Dooku in the LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales episode that retells the story of Return of The Jedi right where Luke is about to destroy Vader. Probably a reference to the previous point.
- Dooku also appeared in countless Lego Star Wars sets from 2002-2013, as well as appearing in the LEGO Star Wars games.
- Christopher Lee's Lord of The Rings co-star Andy Serkis would later play Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and Kino Loy from Andor.
- Just before Dooku gets killed in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Dooku had mentioned to Anakin that he had great fear inside him along with hate and anger foreshadowing Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader and Anakin murdering Padmé, his wife in anger.
- In the LEGO video game adaptation, Dooku loses just his right hand during the fight (and then falls over rather than kneeling), and his death occurs just seconds later instead of tens of seconds.
- Dooku makes an appearance in Angry Birds Star Wars 2, renamed Count Porku. To attack, he tosses his lightsaber, and it boomerangs back. His ability makes him similar to Mace Windu, but his lightsaber is red instead of purple, while Mace Windu uses a purple lightsaber for his version of the ability. He is also defeated by simply whacking the back of his head, with none of his limbs being taken. However, his absence past this point mirrors his original incarnation's death.
- Despite being the main villain of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Dooku did not appear during its seventh and final season despite being mentioned multiple times. Also, his death in Revenge of the Sith occurred before the final two episodes of the show.
- Count Dooku killed his brother and sister to turn himself to the dark side. In the current canon, he completes his turn by killing Yaddle.
- Dooku first appeared in Attack of the Clones, the second film of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Both his masters of the light and dark side of the force were Yoda and Sidious who both first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, the second film of the original Star Wars trilogy.
- Dooku is the only main antagonist of the second film in a Star Wars trilogy who does not redeem himself in the third film of his respective trilogy as both Darth Vader and his grandson Kylo Ren redeemed themselves in Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker respectively. However it is possible he would have redeemed had Anakin spared him. As such, he is the only one of Palpatine’s apprentices who is never redeemed, as even Darth Maul made peace with Obi-Wan Kenobi just before his death in Rebels.
- In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Dooku acted much more cruel and evil than in his other appearances. Examples of these include:
- Spitefully murdered his loyal servant Bec Lawise without a second thought when the former brought up that the Separatist Senate would never approve of his invasion on Scipio. He also forced Padme to kill him by forcing her to aim her gun with the Force and pull the trigger.
- Blackmailed Rush Clovis to forgive Separatist debts and raise interest rates on the Republic.
- Ordered General Grievous to attack a Republic medical station, which is a war crime.
- Ordered innocent Mon Calamari prisoners to be sent to forced labor camps, including women and children.
- Ordered the destruction of Ryloth and then planned to blame it on the Republic.
- Giving the peaceful Togrutan race to the Zygerrians so they could enslave them.
- Taking Jabba's offspring and attempting to blame the Jedi for it, even going so far as to attempt to have Ventress kill him so that Jabba will join the CIS.
- Was a sadistic master towards his apprentice Savage Opress, inflicting several torrents of Force lightning onto him (albeit this is normal for Sith training).
- Ordering genocide against the Nightsisters to erase them as a threat and revenge for their attempts on his life.
- Ordering the death of Mina Bonteri for trying to end the war, even though she was one of his own supporters and even admired him.
- Ironically despite Maul killing Qui-Gon which allowed Dooku to fully join the Dark Side he never confronts Maul over this when they meet in Son of Dathomir.
- In the Star Wars The clone wars Lightsaber game Dooku faces Obi-Won in a lightsaber duel during the Malevolence arc which never happens in the show itself.
External Links
- Count Dooku on the Star Wars Wiki
- Count Dooku (Legends) on the Star Wars Wiki
- Count Dooku on the The Clone Wars Wiki
- Count Dooku on the Disney Wiki
- Count Dooku on the Villains Wiki
- Count Dooku on the Heroic Benchmark Wiki
