PT Mysteriousness of the force....

LOL, "they".

 

Yes . . . "they".

 

You, good sir, have just won the Internet.

 

Dooku turned because he chose to let ambition and anger cloud his judgment.

Most likely. Many of the loyal Imperial officers and senators were the ones who had ambition and greed fueling their actions.

Luke still resisted even barely as it was, he still resisted because unlike his father, Luke did not like what he saw there and what he saw was his father. Anakin turned back after years of being evil because he finally understood his failures.

"The dark side is always there. It is experienced daily by people. It is like a huge cancer, alive, festering—both a reminder of a moral state and, at the same time, symptom and symbol of a very sick society." ​

​

--George Lucas, “The Mythology of Star Wars,” Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth DVD, 2001​

That's why Lucas says that the dark side is always there. It is always a constant threat. But so long as Luke adhere's to his training and the principles of the Jedi Code, as well as his own moral code at the end, then he will not turn and will become the greatest of the Jedi Order. This is what we're going to see in Episode VII.

As Lucas said, a key component of Anakin's fall was that he was so strong with the Force, that it became a problem.

"As evil begins to take over, it pushes the Force out of balance. It's easier to succumb to evil than it is to be a hero and try to work things through on the good side. Evil is inherently more powerful—it doesn't have the burden of worrying about other people. What Luke sees in Darth Vader at the end of ROTJ is something that I thought was worth understanding: the idea that Darth actually was a very good person. Except he's slightly more powerful than other people and when you get into that situation, your ability to do evil is much easier to come by."

--George Lucas, AOTC DVD Commentary.

The other characters don't matter since they don't turn evil except for Dooku and we see in Dooku what we see in Anakin.

"There's a lot of connections here with the beginning of him sliding into the Dark Side. And it also shows his jealousy and anger at Obi-Wan and blaming everyone else for his inability to be as powerful as he wants to be, which he hears that he will be, so here he sort of lays out his ambition and you'll see later on his ambition and his dialogue here is the same as Dooku's. He says "I will become more powerful than every Jedi." And you'll hear later on Dooku will say "I have become more powerful than any Jedi." So you're going start to see everybody saying the same thing. And Dooku is kind of the fallen Jedi who was converted to the Dark Side because the other Sith Lord didn't have time to start from scratch, and so we can see that that's where this is going to lead which is that it is possible for a Jedi to be converted. It is possible for a Jedi to want to become more powerful, and control things."

--George Lucas, AOTC DVD Commentary.

 

I would disagree with this. We're not given sufficient evidence in the films about Dooku's motives. In Darth Plagueis, Dooku was frustrated with the Jedi but I don't remember that he had anger towards them, although he was contemplating leaving them. He was already from a wealthy family, and had the possibility to go into politics instead. Once again Palps saw an inroad and took advantage of It, which he then twisted and Dooku succumbed to that.

 

Right and anger is necessary towards turning someone to the dark side. Dooku didn't resist giving in once Palpatine got his meat hooks in him and got him to kill Sifo-Dyas.

 

The thing I got about the Force after just watching the OT, never mind the PT, was that using Dark Side energies corrupts the mind easily and quickly. All it takes is allowing one's mind to be open to its power and the rest takes its course, which is an addiction that leads to madness and murder.

 

I think that an extreme version of "the light side" (gag!) could have an equally negative impact on an individual. Too much of one thing isn't really good. Look at what the Jedi's belief in their own goodness and their willingness to do anything to destroy the Sith led them to.

 

The Jedi were destroyed by their own arrogance, which had nothing to do with being good and everything to do with a failure to adapt and change. What lead to their downfall beyond that was a betrayal by a Jedi who was selfish and greedy, unable to let go of those that he loved and cared for. Mace was right to kill Palpatine. It was Anakin who was wrong because he only attacked him to keep Palpatine alive for his own selfish reasons. Not because it was the right thing to do morally and legally.