Dooku's lightsaber

"It is obvious that this contest cannot be decided by our knowledge of the Force, but by our skills with a lightsaber."

- Dooku to Yoda, during their confrontation on Geonosis

Dooku's lightsaber was the personal Sith lightsaber of Dooku, the Count of Serenno. The former Jedi Master, who became Darth Tyranus and the political leader of the Separatist Alliance, handcrafted the weapon's unique hilt with a Sith crystal that emitted a red blade. As the apprentice of the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious, Dooku used the Sith blade against his foes.

The weapon was built for the purpose of lightsaber combat, and the Sith Lord carried it with him into numerous battles during the Clone Wars, a conflict he and his master orchestrated from both sides. In his final bout, Dooku lost his Sith lightsaber to the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker once he was defeated in a duel aboard the starship Invisible Hand. Skywalker used Dooku's own weapon to behead the Sith Lord and end his life.

Description
"I sense great fear in you, Skywalker. You have hate. You have anger... but you don't use them."

- Dooku to Skywalker, shortly before the Sith Lord's defeat

Sometime before the Clone Wars, Count Dooku of Serenno handcrafted a lightsaber with the intent of using it in combat against his foes. Dooku used a Sith crystal for the lightsaber, which generated a red-colored blade. Traditionally, red was the color used by the Sith to express their intensive dark side view of the the Force.



Unlike any standard lightsaber, Dooku crafted his with an unusual curved shape, which helped control the weapon when in a duel. Primarily, it allowed Dooku greater finesse in combat when lunging or slashing at an opponent. This was done by Dooku as he considered himself a sophisticated duelist, often able to use his lightsaber under the control of only one hand and against multiple opponents.

When the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker defeated Dooku in combat for the first and only time, he took hold of Dooku's lightsaber for himself. Skywalker's only intent for the weapon was to use it to kill the Sith Lord, which he did at the urging of Dooku's own Sith Master, Darth Sidious, by beheading the unarmed Dooku.

History
"Lose your flashy sword? Are these what you were looking for, Jedi?""I am more powerful than any Jedi. Know that you are dealing with a Sith Lord!"

- Hondo Ohnaka and Dooku, after Ohnaka stole Dooku's Sith lightsaber

Dooku's lightsaber was built sometime prior to the galactic-conflict known as the Clone Wars, where Dooku was seen using his new Sith blade. Formerly a Jedi Master in the Jedi Order himself, Dooku abandoned their beliefs after the Invasion of Naboo, where his former Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, was killed. Some ten years later was when he resurfaced with his new weapon and its Sith crystal at the Battle of Geonosis, which kick-started the Clone Wars.

In a private hangar, as he made his escape from Geonosis, Dooku was confronted by the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker. Dooku was easily able to best his opponents with his lightsaber, wounding both Kenobi and Skywalker, the latter of which Dooku severed his arm after a brief duel. Immediately after, Dooku was confronted by his former Jedi Master, Yoda, whom Dooku was unable to best in combat with either the Force or his lightsaber, regardless of having challenged his former master to prove how powerful he had become.

Dooku continued to use his Sith lightsaber through the Clone Wars under the guise as the leader of the Separatist Alliance, leading the conflict against the Galactic Republic. Although Dooku secretly operated under his hidden identity of Tyranus, he had no qualms about using the Sith weapon out in the open. Dooku killed the Gungan traitor Rish Loo with his lightsaber in front of Skywalker on Naboo during the war, and later killed the Pyke Syndicate leader Lom Pyke, in front of both Kenobi and Skywalker, with his lightsaber as well. It was not until that point that the Jedi realized Dooku and Tyranus were one and the same.

At one point during the Clone Wars, Kenobi and Skywalker tracked Dooku's starship down in an attempt to capture him, but failed. A brief conflict led to a crash landing for Dooku's solar sailer on Vanqor, where the Weequay Hondo Ohnaka and his pirate gang offered him transport to Florrum. However, Ohnaka had no intention of aiding Dooku, instead taking his lightsaber and the Sith Lord captive. Ohnaka demanded a ransom for Dooku, presenting the unique, curved lightsaber as proof of the Sith Lord's capture to the Republic and the Jedi. Dooku later recovered his weapon and escaped Florrum.

Eventually, Dooku attempted to train two Sith apprentices of his own to overthrow Darth Sidious and become the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, as was the way of the Sith. However, although he successfully recruited both Asajj Ventress and Savage Opress to his cause for a time, eventually they were both failures as Sith; regardless, Dooku used both his knowledge of the Force and his dueling skill to train them both. He also successfully trained the cyborg General Grievous in lightsaber combat; Grievous went on to kill numerous Jedi in the Clone Wars and collect their lightsabers for his collection, becoming a feared opponent. Grievous was eventually defeated in combat by Kenobi.

During the Battle of Coruscant&mdash;in what would become Dooku's final bout&mdash;Dooku faced-off once again with Kenobi and Skywalker aboard Grievous' starship, the Invisible Hand, in the General's quarters. The two Jedi believed they were there to rescue the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who was in secret Darth Sidious; Sidious' true agenda, however, was to make Dooku a necessary sacrifice to recruit a new apprentice in Skywalker.

After Dooku defeated Kenobi and rendered him unconscious, a vengeful Skywalker charged at Dooku during their duel. Although Dooku was confident that his skills with a lightsaber would be enough to best the Jedi Knight &mdash;just like he had previously done on Geonosis&mdash; he was unable to keep up with Skywalker's ferocity and lost both his hands in a quick motion from Skywalker. The Jedi Knight then took Dooku's own lightsaber and, at the urging of Sidious, beheaded the unarmed Count Dooku with the Sith Lord's own weapon.

Once Skywalker escaped with both Kenobi and Palpatine in tow, Dooku's lightsaber was left behind in Grievous' quarters on the Invisible Hand, which was destroyed shortly thereafter in the final moments of the battle.

Behind the scenes
"I've probably done more sword fights on celluloid than any actor in history, and this fight is greater than anything I've ever been involved in."

- Christopher Lee in the Attack of the Clones "Action Featurette"



Dooku's lightsaber first appeared alongside Count Dooku's first on-screen appearance in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Dooku and his weapon continued to appear in Star Wars canon through other media, including Star Wars: The Clone Wars film, the television series of the same name, and The Clone Wars Legacy.

When creating Count Dooku, George Lucas–creator of the Star Wars saga–wanted an older Jedi who was "very good", "elegant" and "sophisticated." These traits were later represented in Dooku's portrayal and in his feats with a lightsaber. The late Christopher Lee, who portrayed Dooku in the live-action Star Wars films, said he found the role "very rewarding" and that the action scenes from Attack of Clones were the greatest he had ever been involved in. Kyle Rowling doubled for Lee in both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, in particular for the lightsaber sequences.

Originally, there were plans to have Count Dooku wield two lightsabers during his duel with Yoda in Attack of the Clones. This was later dropped from the film as it was not needed, although scenes were filmed, parts of which can be found on the special features of the Attack of the Clones DVD release.