AOTC Novel -- I think Dooku was right.

I was adding to a Lost 20 discussion in the EUC forum, and came across an excerpt from the book that I found rather interesting, and seems pretty accurate with my feelings on the Jed in the prequels. Read:

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The old woman smiled and walked past him to regard the bust of Count Dooku. "He has a powerful face, doesn't he?" she commented, her quiet tone taking the tension out of the meeting. "He was one of the most brilliant Jedi I have had the privilege of knowing."

"I never understood why he quit," Obi-Wan said, follow Jocasta Nu's look to the bust. "Only twenty Jedi have ever left the Order."

"The Lost Twenty," Jocasta Nu said with a profound sigh. "And Count Dooku was the most recent and most painful. No one likes to talk about it. His leaving was a great loss to the Order."

"What happened?"

"Well, one might say he was a bit out of step with the decisions of the Council," the Archivist replied. "Much like your old Master, Qui-Gon."

Even though Obi-Wan had just been thinking the same thing, somewhat, to hear Jocasta Nu speak the words so definitely caught him off guard, and painted Qui-Gon in a more rebellious light than he had ever considered. He knew that his former Master had his moments, of course, the greatest of those being the confrontations concerning Anakin, but he had never thought of Qui-Gon as that much of a Rebel. Apparently, Jocasta Nu, who had her finger as squarely as anyone on the pulse of the Jedi Temple, did.

"Really," Obi-Wan prompted, wanting the information about Dooku, of course, but also hoping to garner some insight into his old and beloved Master.

"Oh, yes, they were alike in many ways. Very individual thinkers. Idealists." She stared at the bust intently, and it seemed to Obi-Wan as if she had suddenly gone far, far away. "He was always striving to become a more powerful Jedi. He wanted to be the best. With a lightsaber, in the old style of fencing, he had no match. His knowledge of the Force was ... unique. In the end, I think he left because he lost faith in the Republic. He believed that polics were corrupt..."

Jocasta Nu paused for a moment and looked at Obi-Wan, a very revealing expression that showed she did not htink Dooku as out of step as many of the others apparently did.

"And he felt that the Jedi betrayed themselves by serving the politicians," the Archivist stated.

Obi-Wan blinked, soaking in the words. He knew that many, Qui-Gon included--even himself included, at times--often felt the same way.

"He always had very high expectations of government," Jocasta Nu went on. "He disappeared for nine or ten years, then just showed up recently as the head of the separatist movement."

"Interesting," Obi-Wan remarked, looking from the bust to the Archivist. "I'm still not sure I understand."

"None of us does," Jocasta replied, her serious expression melting into a warm smile. "Well, I'm sure you didn't call me over here for a history lesson. Are you having a problem, Master Kenobi?"[hr][/blockquote]

I think that Dooku was right, to a certain extent. He left because he lost faith in the Republic, and felt that the Jedi were betraying themselves by serving the Republic. It makes perfect sense to me.

I personally think the Jedi had grown very complacent, and were afraid of change by the time the prequels rolled around. For all those years, they thought the Sith were dead, when really the Sith were on the same planet as the Jedi, gaining strenght.

The Sith gained their power slowly, very slowly, so the Jedi didn't notice any significant difference. I have often likened it to the frog in the pan of water analogy. You keep turning up the heat slowly, and they don't notice until it is to late, at which time their destruction comes.

They were too complacent to see the dark tide coming for them, and it led to their downfall. Not only did they sit around for 1,000 years while the Sith gained power, they continued to pledge their allegience to the Republic, which also led to their downfall. Heck, they sat there and d

 

I always took a different interpretation. I think Dooku was an opportunist. He left the Jedi Order because he saw their power failing, only to go with the very force that was causing their downfall. I think he went to wherever he can hold the most ammount of power, and that such power no longer resided in the Jedi Order.

 

That makes sense as well, and agrees with some of what Jocasta says here:

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"Oh, yes, they were alike in many ways. Very individual thinkers. Idealists." She stared at the bust intently, and it seemed to Obi-Wan as if she had suddenly gone far, far away. "He was always striving to become a more powerful Jedi. He wanted to be the best. With a lightsaber, in the old style of fencing, he had no match. His knowledge of the Force was ... unique. In the end, I think he left because he lost faith in the Republic. He believed that polics were corrupt..."[hr][/blockquote]
He may have just been jumping on the power-trip bandwagon by joining the Sith. However, I feel that it is more meaningful if the reasons he joined were deeper than just wanting power. Yes, he wants power, that much is clear. But I think that he also was trying to do what he felt was best for the galaxy, by trying to get rid of some of the corruption from the Senate. And from a certain point of view, it worked. Palpatine was corrupt, but once the Empire was in place, there wasn't as much room for corrupt Senators, obviously. Palpatine had much more control with the Empire over who had smaller power and so on, which he used to his advantage. Or something like that.

 

I heard somewhere that Dooku left the order because he blamed the Jedi for the death of Qui-Gonn. Dooku felt that the Jedi were unable to do anything right.

Count Dooku was very much an idividual and I think he was a rebel also.

 

Further info...

StarWars.com Databank | The Films | Count Dooku

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It was a great blow to the Jedi order when Count Dooku voluntarily renounced his commission. A strong-minded man, Dooku's ideas were often out of step with those of the Jedi Council, despite the fact that his former mentor, Yoda, held a lofty position in that governing body. His challenging views were often echoed by his former Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, another Jedi who would on occasion defy the Council.

Dooku was a political idealist. He felt that the Jedi weakened themselves by serving an institution as corrupt as the Republic. After his departure, he disappeared for years, re-emerging as a political firebrand fanning the flames of rebellion in the galaxy. In an alarmingly short time, Dooku rallied thousands of systems to his cause, building a growing Separatist movement that threatened to split the Republic.

Opportunists working in Dooku's name would start flashpoints of violence, and it was all the Jedi could do to maintain order in these turbulent times. For all the strife, the Jedi Council refused to believe that Dooku was personally responsible for the worst of the conflicts, believing that his Jedi training elevated him above such acts.

But the Jedi didn't realize Dooku's secret. Behind a veneer of elegant charisma and well-tabled political arguments, Dooku had been corrupted by the power of the dark side. After his departure from the Jedi order, Dooku was seduced to the dark side by Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith. By Sith tradition, Dooku adopted the name Darth Tyranus and added deceit and treachery to his already formidable array of weapons.

In both guises, Dooku began recruiting agents for what would eventually amount to the death of the Old Republic. As Tyranus, he contacted the notorious bounty hunter Jango Fett to become the template for a hidden clone army on Kamino. As Dooku, he appealed to the greed of the galaxy's most powerful commerce barons to consolidate their forces to challenge the Republic.

Deep within the mighty spires of Geonosis, Dooku chaired a meeting of the minds to formally create the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Separatist Senators alongside representatives from the Commerce Guild, the Trade Federation, the Corporate Alliance, the InterGalactic Banking Clan and the Techno Union pooled their resources together to form the largest military force in the galaxy. The Separatists were ready for war.

The Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered the treasonous meeting and warned the Republic, but not without being captured. Dooku met with Kenobi in the Geonosian dungeons, and revealed to Obi-Wan the truth about the Republic -- that it was, in fact, becoming increasingly under the control of Darth Sidious. Distrusting of Dooku's words, Obi-Wan refused to believe and refused to join Dooku in rooting out the corruption.

Kenobi was soon joined by Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, who had come to Geonosis in an ill-fated attempt to rescue him. Dooku placed the three captive heroes in an execution arena, but their deaths were staved off by the timely arrival of Jedi reinforcements.

The droid armies of the Separatists engaged the Jedi, and later the newly crafted Clone Army of the Republic. Dooku attempted to escape but was intercepted by Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The two Jedi challenged Dooku to a lightsaber duel, but Dooku's masterful skills in old-style lightsaber combat made short work of the younger combatants. As they lay wounded, another Jedi entered into Dooku's secret hangar.

The Jedi Master Yoda confronted Dooku. The two engaged in a titanic struggle of Force powers, neither besting the other. It came down to a contest of lightsabers. In a blurring tangle of speed and light, the two masters of the Force dueled. Unable to find an advantage, Dooku distracted Yoda by endangering Kenobi and Skywalker with a toppling crane. As Yoda used the Force to save his fellow Jedi, Dooku fled.

 

I don't think it was necessarily just the death of Qui-Gon that caused him to lose faith in the Jedi. Sure he was ticked off about, obviously. But I don't think that had Qui-Gon died under other circumstances he would have left for good yet. It was because of the fact that Qui-Gon was kill by a SITH that he left. He realized that he was beyond right about the Jedi, since they couldn't even figure out the Sith had been around that long.

I read somewhere that Qui-Gon's death was the final straw for Dooku. He had been disgruntled for a while with the Republic and the Jedi, but Qui-Gon's death pushed him over the brink.

Dooku might have had good intentions when he left the Jedi Order, but I don't know if he's looking for anything more than power by the time we come to AOTC. I always thought that Palpatine manipulated him and turned him to the Dark Side, like he tried to turn Luke.

-Aunecah