Count Dooku

Count Dooku (also known as Darth Tyranus) is a character in the Star Wars universe and one of the secondary antagonists of the prequel trilogy. 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 antagonist in Revenge of the Sith.

Dooku is also the primary antagonist in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars media franchise.

Biography
Dooku was born into a rich family on the planet 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 Jedi Master. According to Jocasta Nu, he was one of the greatest Jedi in the Jedi Order. Eventually, he would take an apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn; who eventually obtained the rank of Jedi Master. At some point after Qui-Gon's death at the hands of Darth Maul, Dooku resigned from the Jedi Order. Palpatine, secretly known as Darth Sidious, who had lost his apprentice, 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, calm, relaxed, confident, cunning, 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 viewed by his peers as a "political idealist". He became increasingly disillusioned with the corruption within 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, as well as their refusal to become involved in the Battle of Naboo. The 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 Archduke and Separatist Council member Poggle the Lesser. 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 on-board the Separatist flagship Invisible Hand during the Battle of Coruscant.

Dooku was very arrogant, like when he became annoyed every time his then-apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn, tried to help creatures he deemed inferior. However, despite his arrogance, 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 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 Palpatine's powers respectively; at the two latters' peaks.
 * Telekinesis: Dooku demonstrated great proficiency with telekinesis for offensive and defensive purposes.
 * 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. His proficiency with the ability allowed him to throttle his targets without looking at them, as he did to Queen Miraj Scintel, who he was still able to fatally injure despite releasing her.
 * Force Grip: Dooku utilized Force Grip to lift his opponents off the ground and into the air, sometimes by the neck, to immobilize 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 Padme Amidala aim at and shoot Bec Lawise.
 * Force Throw: Dooku utilized Force Throw to cause objects, and even individuals, to be hurled toward a target at an astounding velocity.
 * 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. This allowed him to deflect his own Force lightning that had been redirected back at him by his former master, Yoda.
 * 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. He was notable shown to be able to levitate and repel targets using his lightning in a similar manner to Telekinesis.
 * 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 in the history of the galaxy.
 * Form II: Dooku was a master of Makashi; he used it exclusively and was believed by many the most proficient practitioner of the style.
 * Dun Möch: Dooku was extremely skilled in Dun Möch.
 * Genius-Level Intellect/Master Tactician/Leader: Dooku was highly intelligent and wise; his intelligence and wisdom was surpassed only by Yoda, Palpatine, and Anakin Skywalker respectively. 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. Dooku's curved-hilt lightsaber was made out of Solid Heavy-Duty metal and Black alloy.
 * 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 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, among them being Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray, who wanted revenge on the former Queen Padmè Amidala for his defeat during the Invasion of Naboo. 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 three 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. When Gunray decides to escape with his Lucrehulk-class Core Ships before they can be taken down by the Republic's clone army while still on the ground, Poggle hands Dooku the blueprints for what the Separatists dubbed the "Ultimate Weapon", that being the schematics for the future Galactic Empire's dreaded Death Star, warning Dooku that if the Republic found out about it, the Confederacy would be doomed. Dooku assures Poggle that the blueprints will be safe with Sidious back on Coruscant.

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) when it took some damage from flak from the pursuing Geonosian fighters. 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, escaping in his personal solar sailer, even as it was fired on by Padme and several clone troopers who had arrived to reinforce the Jedi.

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, the Invisible Hand. 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. Adjusting to this feint, Dooku took out Kenobi first and caused a balcony to fall on him and taunted Anakin as the battle continued between the two of them, 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 as a souvenir. 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, unknowingly paving the way for him to succeed Dooku as Palpatine's new apprentice as Darth Vader.

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 and saying Anakin's killing of Dooku was only natural in revenge for Dooku cutting off Anakin's arm.

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 and Obi-Wan on several occasions.

Star Wars: Force Arena
Count Dooku is a playable character in Star Wars: Force Arena as a Legendary squad leader card.

Trivia

 * In the original drafts for Revenge of the Sith, Count Dooku was to have been revealed by Palpatine to have orchestrated the Tusken Raiders' abduction and murder of Shmi Skywalker, Anakin's mother. However, this was written out because of the way it interfered with the dynamic of the duel.
 * George Lucas has stated that Palpatine tricked Dooku by telling him that if Anakin could defeat Dooku, Palpatine would intervene to stop the duel and have Anakin join them. However, in truth, this was only a ruse for Palpatine to gain Anakin as his true apprentice.