Count Dooku
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Star Wars character | |
| Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus |
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|---|---|
 Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus, a fallen Jedi Master and Sith Lord. |
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| Position | Former Jedi Master, Dark Jedi, Dark Lord of the Sith, Count of Serenno, Leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems |
| Homeworld | Serenno |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 6' 4" (195.5 cm) |
| Affiliation | Jedi Order, Galactic Republic, Order of the Sith Lords, Confederacy of Independent Systems |
| Portrayed by | Christopher Lee (Episodes II and III) Corey Burton (Clone Wars cartoons) |
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.
Dooku was a Jedi Master and powerful Sith Lord. His Sith name is Darth Tyranus ("Tyrannus" incidentally being the Latin word for "tyrant"[1]); his full birth name is unknown.
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[edit] 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 was 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 was first tempted by the dark side of the Force as a Padawan, when his best friend, fellow Jedi apprentice Lorian Nod, became a Sith. Dooku felt betrayed, but found himself intrigued by the Sith Order's open embrace of power, and subconsciously realized that he was just as capable of treachery as his former friend.[2]
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.
Dooku was such a skilled warrior among the Jedi that, in 44 BBY, he led the Jedi in combat against the Mandalorians. Almost all of the Mandalorians were killed, except for Jango Fett and several others spread throughout the galaxy. Over half of the attacking Jedi fell to the Mandalorian guns, with Fett killing many himself. After this battle, Dooku lost 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. 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."[3]
[edit] Powers and Abilities
Dooku's most visible abilities are in lightsaber combat. In Attack of the Clones, he shows himself capable of contending with Yoda to a standstill, and he momentarily defeats Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith.
[edit] Attack of the Clones
In Episode II, the investigation of a failed assassination attempt on the life of Padme Amidala leads to the discovery of the erasure from the Jedi archives of the records of a planet, Kamino, where a weapon used to kill Padme's would-be assasian 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 obtensibly 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.
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.
[edit] 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 took 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 acted as the political figure 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 molded 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 him 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.[4]
Even though Dooku's servants were aware that he was a Sith and a student of Darth Sidious, they were unaware that they had been manipulated as part of a larger scheme. Near the end of the Clone Wars, Dooku had 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.
[edit] 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 turn Anakin to the dark side, 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 knocks Kenobi unconscious, and descends upon Anakin. Much to Dooku's surprise, however, Anakin proves he has greatly increased his prowess as a warrior since their previous duel. Dooku fights ably against Anakin, but soon can no longer mount an effective attack. In the end of the duel, Anakin repays the Count for his defeat on Geonosis and for cutting off Anakin's arm by cutting off both of Dooku's hands. Palpatine had promised Dooku that he would intervene in the unlikely event that Anakin won the duel, but instead urges Anakin to kill the helpless Count. Dooku only realizes the Sith lord's betrayal in the moment before his death. In reality, Palpatine never intended Dooku to be the true apprentice; Dooku was a placeholder for Anakin and a mediator for engineering the Clone Wars. At Palpatine's order, Anakin decapitates Dooku in cold blood.
[edit] Notes
- ^ University of Notre Dame Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid website
- ^ Commentary from the Star Wars official site
- ^ Matthew Stover, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (paperback; New York: Del Rey, 2005), p. 52, ISBN 0-345-42884-6.
- ^ Chapter 7, Star Wars: Clone Wars, episode 107, aired November 17, 2003.
[edit] 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
[edit] External links
- Count Dooku entry in the Star Wars Databank
- Dooku on Wookieepedia: The Star Wars Wiki
- Dooku.net - (fan site)
