Saga Why didn't Count Dooku apply Sith Lightning in the Final Duel with Obi-Wan and Anakin?

I just came to thinking with Count Dooku - in his final duel - he manages to momentarily knock out and incapacitate Obi-Wan Kenobi YET he doesn't at any moment apply any Force Lightning or such on Anakin; even if Anakin could block it - atleast it could have distracted him and allowed him to escape eh? I mean unless Palpatine ORDRED Count Dooku to STAY in the duel and no retreat was allowed ... given in the Clone Wars at times Count Dooku was able to apply Force Lightning to help him at times when Anakin was starting to gain the upper hand and where Count Dooku well needed more than just skill and experience and yet he was able to at times distract if not strike Anakin (one time on Naboo and again when Palpatine was a victim of 'attempted' kidnapping of a botched job by Cad Bane's team courtesy of Obi-Wan Kenobi hiding as a mole in the team) ... YET on the Invisible Hand Count Dooku didn't do that ... OR atleast he SURELY could have had 4x IG-100 Magnaguards to help him? Given they may not have lasted the whole fight BUT they would have done better and longer than the 2 Super Battle Droids that accompanied him ... OR even perhaps a few Droideka's would have been helpful to Count Dooku if he was in a sticky situation ...

 

Maybe Sidious had ordered Grievous to make sure all the more powerful droids were guarding the bridge, or away from the spire so Anakin and Dooku could have a fairer fight.

 

Dooku never realised he'd need any help to deal with Obi and Ani, he was pretty sure he could beat them with a lightsaber and no frills needed. It was pretty arrogant but Sidious was playing him the whole time to make sure he didn't think 'Well, maybe just in case I lose...'

Or even more simply, he was told not to. Sidious WANTED him to die, at Anakin's hands. He was never going to win.

 

A few things:

(1) Dooku likely didn't fight as hard as he would've simply because he didn't think he needed to. IIRC, Palpatine told him that if Anakin bested him, Palpatine would intervene and order Dooku to be spared. Dooku never thought he would actually die in this duel; it was all a simple test to see how strong Anakin was. He was told to not kill Anakin, so he likely assumed the reverse would be true. Neither Dooku nor Anakin was supposed to die during this fight according to his understanding of the whole thing.

(2) Dooku obviously favored his knowledge with the lightsaber over the Force, which is why he simply chucked Obi-Wan to the side rather than blasting him to a fried Jedi crisp.

 

In AOTC Dooku's lightning was proven to be much weaker in relation to Palpatine's. There is no real indication that using it would have helped him at all.

According to the novelization, Dooku and Sidious had planned for him to lose the duel and allow Anakin to capture him. He was obviously shocked when Anakin cut off his hands and then his master ordered his execution, but the intention was to kill Obi-Wan and make Anakin the greatest war hero in the history of the Republic.

 

Why? For more than the fine reasons already mentioned here; this is the way it was written.

 

But that's a poor excuse for examining the thoughts/motivations of the characters. If that was the answer to everything this forum would not exist.

 

arrogance. the downfall of all the baddies in sw.

 

True - BUT if you still look at the basics of Sith Lightning - it still hurts and it would still be agonizing to many lesser beings - and the fact if Savage Oppress and Anakin when he was still young in AOTC got repelled by it - surely then it would still prove Sith Lightning was not to be dismissed eh? I mean otherwise Anakin might as well have been like Galen Marek and stood there grinning and tanking the blasts and applying Tutaminis like a boss eh? Given the fact how still in the Clone Wars as they consider that part of the cannon where Count Dooku applied it - even if he was arrogant enough to decide he didn't need it which he didn't ... so ...

 

Funny you mention that - given ironic as TREACHERY is the WAY OF THE SITH ... no wonder most Sith were not 100% friendly to one another ... particularly when Darth Anddedu remarked to Darth Wyrlock III 'KNOWLEDGE IS POWER AND SITH DO NOT SHARE POWER!'

 

If you take TCW into context, almost nothing in the saga makes sense. If you look at it through the context of the films, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu and Yoda all block Force lightning at some point. In fact the only time any characters are ever hit by lightning is when they are caught off guard..the way Anakin is caught off guard when he charges at Dooku. In ROTS when Anakin is a fully trained Jedi Knight, there is no reason why he also wouldn't be skilled enough to block it as well.

 

Except that Obi-Wan and Yoda easily block Dooku's lightning whereas Yoda and Mace struggle to repel Palpatine's lightning. Mace's blade was forced back by Palpatine's lightning and Yoda's blade got blasted right out of his hand.

 

Hello again! Actually what I was meaning was - where the comment on 'Dooku's Lightning being weaker to Palpatine's' - I mean IF and IF IT STRUCK a LIVING or NON-LIVING target unfortunate to get struck - it would still hurt right? I mean blocking - sure - no problem BUT I mean suppose Count Dooku manages to 'distract' Anakin in the duel on the Invisible Hand AND he blasts Anakin before he had time to properly block the Force Lightning - Count Dooku's Sith Lightning is not to be dismissed in its hitting power eh? That's what I meant really given SURELY it would STILL HURT to many targets yes? I mean droids - out of the question - they'd be parted and fried for good ... BUT even suppose a powerful Jedi - putting aside Tutaminis - its not like they'd just stand there and easily block and tank in the blasts - I mean if Savage Oppress howled in pain despite having raw brute strength at times when he got struck by the Force Lightning ... or then again there was Darth Maul whom killed the Dathomir Witch - he shrugged off her Lightning attacks and then just killed her ... yet then again he was completely helpless and subject to Force Lightning - which was in non-lethal YET constant and painful dosages - enough to make him whine and howl in pain ...

Though isn't it odd how Mace Windu got blasted and subject to the full raw barrage from Palpatine YET he couldn't apply Tutaminis eh? Given it seemed he was completely fried for good... and whilst very Powerful Jedi and Force Beings could apply Tutaminis - its not like its gonna be easy eh? And they still needed quite some concentration and the fact it could still be painful and exhausting to absorb and redirect the blasts ...

 

Because this time they used the proper approach that Obi-Wan wanted in AOTC.

Two on one. If Dooku spends time to throw lighting the other one cuts him down.

Each is far more powerful than there were on Geonosis on top of that.

 

I think it's simply because he had no need to.

 

I don't think Anakin was foolish enough to be "distracted" while fighting Count Dooku. At that point he was single-mindedly fighting to protect his two best friends.

Again, the plot points you mention from TCW were developed years after the film and have no bearing on it.

None of that is changes anything in my statement. It is made quite clear in the PT that the Jedi are capable of blocking Force lightning.

 

Obi-Wan had already blocked it in ATOC , and against Anakin that wasn't their plan. They were trying to turn him, not kill him.

 

Before Count Dooku taunted Anakin for not using his anger, he had the upper hand. Once Anakin started to use anger, he finished the battle so quickly that Dooku didn't have time to use lightning. By the time it became apparent that lightning was needed to win, he had already become disarmed.

 

If lightning can just "win" duels, why would the Sith carry lightsabers?

 

Yes ofc - Jedi may block Force Lightning - but question is SUPPOSE THEY GOT FULLY STRUCK with no Lightsaber or proper time yet to apply Tutaminis - have there been really Jedi whom could claim they got struck by Force Lightning and they just stood there like a crazed Maniac like Kenpachi grinning maliciously before just walking up calmly and without being really affected by it?

 

Well - doesn't that depend on the Sith Lord? Given some like Palpatine carried Lightsabers really as a 'mockery of the Jedi'... and Darth Plagueis believed Lightsaber duelling wasn't a chief pre-requisite for Force Powers ... but he preferred his Powerful Control over his Esoteric Force Powers which were considerable though he did still have a Lightsaber - probably still due to basic obligations ...

 

Not really, one would utilize the most effective method of combat.

 

If they were struck with no lightsaber they are incapacitated. We see this happen to Anakin, Yoda and Luke. PT Jedi seem more than capable of blocking it however, so I don't see how that is relevant.

 

Except Yoda was unable to block Palpatine's lightning with his lightsaber. One salvo was all it took to send Yoda's blade flying out of his hand. Palpatine's lightning was so strong that Yoda couldn't even absorb it with his hands. All he could do was try to contain it, which he couldn't maintain, resulting in the explosion that threw Yoda off the pod.

 

This I think. Plus he wasn't ordered to kill Anakin, only Obi-Wan. Besides the fact that it had to happen this way from a writing standpoint, if Dooku tried to fry Obi-Wan Anakin would probably be able to intervene.