Dooku/Legends

Count Dooku (102 - 19 BBY) is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe. In the films he is played by Christopher Lee and he is voiced by Corey Burton in the videogames and mini-series. He first appeared in Attack of the Clones.

In the film Attack of the Clones, it is revealed that Count Dooku was once a Jedi who served as an apprentice of Yoda. He was the master of Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi's old teacher. Dooku had been a Jedi for many years, and his bust was displayed in the Jedi Archives, along with the rest of the Lost Twenty, the only Jedi ever to resign their commission from the Jedi order. Dooku left the order around the time of the Battle of Naboo and retook his family title as Count of Serenno. Dooku's first name, if he indeed has one, has yet to be revealed, but the names Yan and Jard have been used by some fan sources, though not widely enough to be considered fanon.

Though the circumstances under which Dooku left the Jedi are still a mystery (according to wide speculation, the death of his former apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn is a major factor). It is also unknown exactly how or when Dooku first came into contact with Darth Sidious, the mysterious Dark Lord of the Sith (and master of Darth Maul, who slew Jinn), but Dooku somehow fell to the Dark Side of the Force and became the next Sith Apprentice, Darth Tyranus.

As Darth Tyranus, Dooku recruited the mercenary Jango Fett to become a template for the Clone Army later to be used by Chancellor Palpatine and the Republic. Ten years later, Count Dooku came out of hiding, appearing on Raxus Prime and heavily criticized the Republic and the Jedi Order for their decadence, hypocrisy and corruption. Dooku publically called for entire systems to secede from the Republic and join the Separatist movement, culminating in the formation of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The first meeting of the CIS was hosted on the planet Geonosis, where Obi-Wan Kenobi was captured by the Geonosians and accused of espionage. Dooku cleverly claimed that he had no power over the decision.

Later, when Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala arrived to rescue Obi-Wan, they were also captured and sentenced to death. They were to be executed in a Geonosian fashion, but the executions were interrupted by the sudden arrival of Jedi reinforcements, led by Mace Windu. Though the new droid army of the CIS overwhelmed the Jedi, they were soon rescued by Yoda, leading the very Clone Army Dooku had helped create, forcing the Separatists to retreat.

While the Clonetroopers advanced and decimated the droid forces, the Separatists called for a retreat, all the while Dooku pretended not to know how the Republic had gathered such a powerful army in such a short time. Poggle the Lesser, Archduke of Geonosis, commanded a full retreat and proceeded to turn over the plans to a Death Star weapon to Count Dooku to keep the Jedi from finding them.



Count Dooku fled to his secret hangar, but he was followed by Obi-Wan and Anakin. After injuring Obi-Wan, he dueled with Anakin, who proved to be a challenge to the aging Jedi Master, but nevertheless, the battle ended when Dooku severed Anakin's weapon arm. Before he could escape, he was confronted by one last Jedi- his older master, Yoda. After a battle of Force powers, Dooku insisted on settling their contest with a lightsaber duel. Ultimately, the duel went unfinished; Dooku used the Force to drop a crane on the wounded Obi-Wan and Anakin to distract Yoda long enough to make his escape. Count Dooku soon arrived on Coruscant where he met with his master, Darth Sidious, and informed him that the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems were officially at war.

In the video game The Clone Wars, Count Dooku led the army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, or the Separatist Army. He found the Force Harvester, an ancient Sith artifact, on Raxus Prime. He later found the pieces scattered by the ancient Sith Jedi and revived an ancient 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 ThuleThule, it was re-defeated by Anakin Skywalker at the final confrontation of the video game.

Count Dooku is regarded as one of the greatest Jedi in the order for his strength of character as well as the Force. In addition, Dooku is a master swordsman, specializing in the seldom-used Form II art (see the Seven forms of lightsaber combat), which makes use of his special curved saber hilt. He was trained by Yoda himself and in turn trained Qui-Gon Jinn, who would go on to train Obi-Wan Kenobi, who would then train Anakin Skywalker and his son, Luke Skywalker. As Darth Tyranus, he is apprentice to Darth Sidious and replaces Darth Maul, who met his end at Obi-Wan's hands. There can only be two Sith at a time; Anakin Skywalker, as Darth Vader, will succeed Tyranus, though the circumstances of this change in power are expected to be revealed in Revenge of the Sith.

If Palpatine, Chancellor of the Republic, and Darth Sidious are taken as being one and the same, then the Sith control both sides of the Clone Wars, with Count Dooku acting as the political figurehead of the CIS. Of course, even though a few of Dooku's co-conspirators are aware that he is a Sith (and in the case of Poggle the Lesser, that Darth Sidious is his master), they are unaware that they are just puppets of the Sith Lords, who will use the crisis of the Clone Wars to give birth to the Galactic Empire.