Count Dooku

Count Dooku 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 main villain of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and a supporting villain in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. He also plays a substantial role in the "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games.

Yoda was his master while Dooku was a Jedi. Count Dooku is a powerful Jedi Master and Sith Lord, the successor of Darth Maul. His Sith title is Darth Tyranus.

Depiction

Films

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 Macgregor) on Geonosis. Dooku tells Kenobi that he is attempting to save the Republic from the influence of a Sith Lord named "Darth Sidious", whom he claims has control of a large number of senators. He also states that he was sad at the loss of Kenobi's former master and Dooku's former apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn. Kenobi refuses to join Dooku and is sentenced to death.

A clone trooper and Jedi force rescue Kenobi, along with Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansen) and Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). Skywalker and Kenobi chase Dooku and have a lightsaber fight in which Kenobi is incapacitated and Anakin loses his right arm. Yoda, Dooku's former master, then fights the Sith Lord. Unable to defeat Yoda, Dooku distracts him by trying to make a large pillar fall on Kenobi and Anakin; Dooku escapes from Geonosis as Yoda is busy saving the two Jedi. Dooku flies to Coruscant and delivers to Sidious the blueprints for the Geonosian-designed Death Star.

In the opening of Revenge of the Sith, Skywalker and Kenobi are sent to rescue Palpatine from Separatist leader General Grievous's flagship. In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, Dooku plans to kill Kenobi and then surrender to Skywalker: Palpatine tells Dooku that without Kenobi's influence, Anakin will be easily turned to the dark side. However, Skywalker severs Dooku's hands; at Palpatine's urging, the Jedi then decapitates Dooku.

Expanded Universe

Clone Wars series

In the animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005), Dooku is voiced by Corey Burton and is the main villain of the series. During the series, he leads the Separatists in attacks upon the Republic. He also sends Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress on a mission to kill 'Anakin Skywalker' — Palpatine's ploy to test the young Jedi's worth as an apprentice — and trains General Grievous in lightsaber combat and the force. 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 the main villain in the sequel to the Clone Wars series, the computer animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars and its film counterpart.

Comic books

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

Dooku appears as a main or secondary villain in many Expanded Universe novels. 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 on 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. Years later, he encounters (and eventually kills) Nod.

In Sean Stewart's Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, he attempts to trap his former Master by offering to negotiate an end to the war; This novel reveals that Dooku had always resented his parents for giving him away to the Jedi Order.

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 — as a ploy to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi and initiate Anakin Skywalker into the Sith (Dooku is, of course, unaware that Sidious truly plans to sacrifice him).

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