Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/August 15, 2008

Dooku was a Jedi Master who fell to the dark side of the Force and became a Dark Lord of the Sith. Born on the planet Serenno, he was the heir to vast wealth and the noble title of Count. Dooku was taken by the Jedi Order as a child and apprenticed to Thame Cerulian. As a Jedi Knight, he took Qui-Gon Jinn as his first Padawan, and later trained Komari Vosa. Dooku was a respected instructor in the Jedi Temple and one of the most renowned swordsmen in the galaxy. Only Masters Yoda and Mace Windu were considered to have fought on equal terms with him.

Dooku spent nearly seventy years as a Jedi, but a disastrous battle on Galidraan shook his faith in the Order and the Galactic Republic. He fell under the influence of Senator Palpatine of Naboo, and left the Jedi Order. After learning that Senator Palpatine was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, Dooku turned to the dark side and became a Dark Lord of the Sith himself. As Sidious's new apprentice, he was given the Sith name Darth Tyranus.

Reclaiming his birthright as Count of Serenno and his vast fortune, Dooku conspired with Sidious to force the galaxy into a war that would bring the Sith to power. He forged ties between corporations and planets discontented with the Republic, and became the leader of the Separatist movement that coalesced into the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Thousands of star systems flocked to Dooku's banner and seceded from the Galactic Republic.

As the political leader of the Confederacy, Dooku led the organization against the Republic in a conflict that would become known as the Clone Wars, which culminated in a great battle over the Republic capital of Coruscant. In a duel aboard the Separatist flagship Invisible Hand, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker defeated Dooku. Skywalker then executed the dismembered and helpless Dooku at the instigation of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Dooku's own Sith Master.