Count Dooku

Count Dooku (also known as Darth Tyranus) is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe. He is a Sith Lord as well as the Count of Serrenno, his home planet. He was the main antagonist of Attack of the Clones and the tertiary villain in Revenge of the Sith.

Dooku is also the primary antagonist in the "Clone Wars" Series and the spinoff movie.

Background
Dooku was born into a rich family on Serenno and was to become the future Count of his homeworld. However, he instead chose to become a Jedi, training under Yoda before becoming a Master. According to Joacasta Nu, he was one of the greatest Jedi in the Order. Eventually, he would take an apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn. At some point after Qui-Gon passed the Jedi Trials, Dooku resigned from the Jedi Order. Palpatine, secretly known as Darth Sidious, who had lost his apprentice, Darth Maul, offered Dooku the chance to join him; he could not resist and became a Sith Lord known as Darth Tyranus. Dooku then began to rally thousands of star systems to the Separatist cause.

Personality
Dooku was stoic, intelligent, calm, relaxed, confident, cunning, wise and sociopathic.

Dooku was amoral and highly apathetic, but not incapable of emotional experiences; he was visibly shocked when Jango Fett was killed in the Geonosian Arena by Mace Windu.

He was an accomplished philosopher, orator, politician, and warrior.

Even as a child, Dooku felt driven to succeed. He was fully devoted to the ideals of the Jedi Order and the ideal of service to the galaxy. He sought to become a great Jedi Master, and for the vast majority of his life, he did not even consider the possibility of a life outside the Jedi Order. He knew of his heritage as a nobleman and felt self-conscious about it on occasion in his younger days. Dooku chose Jedi padawans he thought had the potential to become great Jedi themselves, and endeavored to teach them all he knew.

Dooku held very high expectations of government as a Jedi, and was perceived by his peers as a political idealist. He became increasingly disillusioned with the Galactic Republic in the period before his defection from the Jedi Order, and eventually held the opinion that the Jedi betrayed themselves by serving the politicians. In particular, he was highly critical of the Jedi Council's handling of the Battles of Galidraan and Baltizaar. The Jedi Council's perceived betrayal of the ideals of the Jedi Order greatly influenced Dooku in his fall to the dark side.

Dooku never forgave betrayal and he appeared to have virtually no tolerance for it.

As Tyranus, Dooku became a Humanocentrist. While he remained a connoisseur of alien art and antiquities, he secretly despised most if not all of the aliens on the Separatist Council, though he reserved a measure of respect for the Geonosian Poggle. He divided the entire galaxy into two categories; threats and assets. The threat category was for beings or institutions that interfered with his personal advancement and would have to be eliminated, the asset category being for those who could aid, or at least not hinder his advancement.

By the time of the Clone Wars, Dooku believed that the sorrow and injustice of the galaxy could only be responded to with anger and hate. He came to believe that the Jedi Order should embrace the dark side and rule the galaxy alone without the interference of the Senate. As Tyranus, he planned to transform the Jedi into a Sith Army, and intended to forcibly recruit Force-users into its ranks. While often assuming a genteel and civilized manner, Dooku had no qualms about torturing or ordering the deaths of hundreds of his former comrades, nor about committing any number of atrocities as leader of the Separatists. He was also willing to abandon or even kill his own allies and followers in order to achieve his goals or simply to prove his loyalty to his Sith Master, Palpatine.

Like most members of the Sith Order, Dooku was incapable of acknowledging or learning from his mistakes (at least for the most part). For example, every time he used Dun Möch to taunt Anakin, this backfired; instead of causing the latter to doubt his abilities, it just encouraged Anakin to draw on his anger and nearly allowed him to kill Dooku. This would eventually lead to Dooku's defeat and death at the hands of Anakin.

Dooku was very arrogant, like when he became annoying every time his then-apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn, tried to help creatures he deemed inferior. Despite his arrogance, however, he was not above respecting his enemies; he had a certain level of respect for Obi-Wan Kenobi, considering him a worthy opponent. Also, in his final confrontation with Anakin Skywalker, Dooku silently acknowledged Anakin as the finest lightsaber duelist that he had ever seen, moments before his death at the hands of the latter.

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, Dooku was still one of the most powerful Force-users of his time.
 * 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 choke: Dooku utilized Force choke to either weaken or kill his opponents.
 * Force lightning: Dooku utilized Force lightning to torture or kill his opponents.
 * 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 Dash: Dooku utilized Force Dash to move at amazing speeds.
 * Force jump: Dooku utilized Force jump to jump or leap at great distances.

Abilities

 * Lightsaber Skills: Despite his old age, Dooku was extremely skilled in lightsaber combat and an extremely gifted duelist. He was one of the few known individuals who could fight Yoda as an equal. Dooku was one of the greatest lightsaber duelists of his time.
 * Form II: Dooku was a master of Makashi; he was probably the most proficient practitioner of the form and used it exclusively.
 * High-Level Intellect/Master Tactician/Leader: Dooku was highly intelligent; his intelligence and wisdom was surpassed only by Anakin Skywalker, Yoda and Palpatine. As a Sith General, Dooku was a highly skilled tactician and a very capable leader.

Lightsaber
Dooku's valued weapon and possession was his blue, later red-bladed lightsaber.
 * Lightsaber: Dooku had built his lightsaber shortly after becoming a Jedi Master, it was originally a blue-bladed lightsaber, when Dooku left the Jedi Order, he took his lightsaber with him, when he joined the Sith Order, Dooku converted his weapon into a Sith lightsaber by replacing the original blue crystal with a scarlet synthetic gem, improving the blade's cutting power at the expense of maneuverability, turning it into a red-bladed lightsaber. It would remain in his possession until his death; it was destroyed when the Curved-hilt lightsaber entered the planet atmosphere of Coruscant.

Attack of the Clones
After leaving the Jedi Order and becoming a Sith, Dooku began a Seperatist movement in the Galaxy under the command of the his Master, Darth Sidious. When Obi-Wan Kenobi was tracking the bounty hunter, Jango Fett, to the planet of Geonosis, he found that Dooku was creating a new droid army and recruiting politicians. He reported to the Jedi Council, but was captured by Geonosians. While he was captured, Dooku attempted to turn him to the dark side. Obi-Wan talked to Dooku, who refused working with the Sith, to which Dooku reminded Kenobi that he trained his master, Qui-Gon Jinn who had been killed by Darth Maul during the battle of Naboo. When Obi-Wan remained stubborn, Dooku revealed that a Sith Lord was controlling the Senate.

After Kenobi's apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, and Senator Padmè Amidala failed to rescue him, Dooku sentenced all to death in the arena. He was overwhelmed when the trio broke free and killed the monsters that were supposed to kill them. However, he was prepared and brought out some destroyer droids to kill them instead. Master Windu came with a strike team of Jedi to rescue the three. They were all surrounded again by numerous battle droids, but were saved by Master Yoda and an army of clone troopers. Dooku fled the arena and returned to a command center, where he monitored the battle with Nute Gunray, Poggle the Lesser, and other Separatist leaders.

Eventually, he left to return to Coruscant, but was spotted by Skywalker and Kenobi as he attempted to flee to a hangar. Both Jedi pursued him, but lost Padme on the way, who fell out of the ship (though the ship was hovering above ground, so she wasn't seriously hurt). In anger Skywalker charged at the Sith Lord, allowing Dooku to zap him with Force lightning and birefly injure him. Obi-Wan was more calm, deflecting the lightning and engaging the Sith in combat, but Dooku wounded him with his lightsaber and Anakin returned with his and Obi-Wan's lightsabers. Dooku managed to disarm Anakin of one of the blades, but Anakin fought on with the second. Eventually, Dooku broke off briefly to assess Anakin's strength. Returning to the duel, Dooku cut off Anakin's right arm and prepared to kill them both, but Yoda arrived and confronted him. Despite Dooku's obvious power, Yoda quickly proved to be both stronger in the Force and more skilled with a lightsaber; he deflected all of Dooku's Force attacks with ease and quickly seized the upper hand in the ensuing lightsaber duel. Unable to defeat Yoda, and worried of incoming Republic reinforcements, Dooku distracted the ancient Jedi Master by nearly causing a pillar to fall on Anakin and Obi-Wan, forcing Yoda to save them while Dooku fled.

Dooku went to Coruscant to meet with his master, Darth Sidious, whom he gave the plans to their new weapon: the Death Star. He also informed him that the Clone Wars had begun.

Revenge of the Sith
Count Dooku fought Obi-Wan and Anakin once more three years later on General Grievous' flagship. Grievous had captured Chancellor Palpatine and Dooku fought to make sure the Chancellor was not rescued. The Jedi used lesser styles to lull him into a false sense of confidence, before suddenly switching to more advanced styles to catch him off guard. Dooku took out Obi-Wan first and caused a balcony to fall on him and taunted Anakin as the battle continued, as he had sensed Anakin was holding back lest he give in to anger. An enraged Anakin eventually cut off both his hands and took his lightsaber. Palpatine, who was secretly Dooku's master Darth Sidious, ordered Anakin to kill him, shocking Dooku as this was never part of the plan as he knew it. After initial hesitation, Anakin brutally decapitated Dooku.

Although Anakin expressed guilt for killing Dooku, stating that it was not the Jedi way, Palpatine assured and congratulated Anakin, stating that Dooku was too dangerous to be kept alive.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Count Dooku was the main antagonist of the series and was the master of other villains Asajj Ventress and General Grievous. He is seen dueling Anakin on several occasions.

Qui-Gon Jinn
Qui-Gon was Dooku's apprentice. Dooku loved Qui-Gon like a son due to their many similarities; both were individualist, idealists, and both had knowledge of the Force that was unique. When Qui-Gon passed the Jedi Trials and became a Jedi Knight, Dooku told him not to trust others because his need to reach out to others left him vunerable to betrayal. When Qui-Gon was killed by Darth Maul, Dooku was so saddened that Qui-Gon's death lead to Dooku's transformation into the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus.

Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious
Darth Sidious was Dooku's Sith Master. After Qui-Gon's death, Dooku came to believe that a new Sith Empire would be the galaxy's salvation and sought out the newly ascended Dark Lord of The Sith. Upon finding Sidious, Dooku pledged himself to the Sith Order and was renamed Darth Tyranus by his master who taught him the ways of the Sith. Together, they enginered the Sepratist Crisis and unleashed the Clone Wars.

General Grievous
Like Asajj and Savage, Grevious was trained personally by Dooku. After Asajj's plot against him was revealed, Dooku dispatched Grevious to Dathomir to kill the Nightsisters. Grevious performed magnificently. After Dooku was killed, Grevious assumed leadership of the CIS.

Yoda
Yoda trained Dooku as both a young boy and as his apprentice. The two became enemies after Dooku turned to the Dark side.

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan was Dooku's polor opposite. Dooku hoped to have Obi-Wan as his Sith apprentice and went as far as to reveal Sidious's existence to convince him to join him. Obi-Wan didn't believe him and refused and the two have been enemies ever since. Despite this, however, Dooku had a healthy respect for Obi-Wan, considering him a worthy adversary.

Asajj Ventress
When Dooku first encountered Asajj, he was impressed by her skills such as her mastery of Jar'Kai, but was not impressed by her declaration to be a Sith. He told her that she lacked the vital qualities that make one a Sith and proved his point by demonstrating his mastery of the Sith Arts. Afterwards, he made her his apprentice and trained her in skills he himself excelled in such as Makashi.

However, Palpatine became concerned about her growing power and coldly ordered Dooku to kill her. Out of self-interest, Dooku betrayed her and left her for dead. However, Asajj survived and the two have been mortal enemies ever since.

Savage Opress
After he abandoned Asajj, Dooku took Savage Opress, the younger brother of Darth Maul, as his new apprentice. He was impressed by the Nightbrother's power and taught him how to refine it. Unknown to Dooku, Savage was really a sleeper agent who was placed by Dooku's side to avenge the betrayals of both Asajj and Maul. This was revealed when Asajj prematurely revealed herself. Fortunately for Dooku, he was able to hold the pair off by using Savage's lack of skill against them.

Darth Maul
Even though they were both trained by Palpatine, Dooku and his predecessor Maul have been enemies every since his mind was restored by Mother Talzin. This is because the two hated each other. Dooku despises Maul for being a threat to him and Maul hated Dooku for being his replacement. They also didn't regard each other as a true Sith: Dooku saw Maul as nothing more than a trained animal and Maul saw Dooku as a Sith pretender.

Anakin Skywalker
Dooku took an instant dislike to Anakin; for no apparent reason, prior to his conversion to the dark side. Unlike Qui-Gon, Dooku refused to believe he was the Chosen One. He also voiced the hope that he would be sent back to Tatooine. Anakin and Dooku became enemies during the First Battle of Geonosis. During that battle, he learned why Qui-Gon supported and defended Anakin, when he showed how strong his conection to the Force is.

Dooku had very little respect for the young Jedi Knight, despite his bravery and unbelievably strong connection to the Force. Meanwhile, Anakin developed a grudge against the ex-Jedi Master/Sith Lord for cutting off his right arm.

During their final duel, Dooku learned why Palpatine was so interested in Anakin; Anakin was half-Sith already and he didn't even know it. When Palpatine ordered Anakin to kill him, Dooku finally realized he was never a true Sith as far as Palpatine was concerned, but merely an instrument to help him turn Anakin to the Dark side.

Moments before he was killed by Anakin, Dooku finally come to respect him, and silently acknowledged Anakin as the finest lightsaber duelist that he had ever seen.