Count Dooku- Was he wise or was he a fool?

Count Dooku was a well respected Jedi Master, one who trained the Maverick Master Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn. Even Mace Windu speaks for him when Senator Amidala suggest that Count Dooku was behind her assination attempt.

The problem with Dooku is that he was wise. His turn to the dark side of the Force is a little illogical considering he had a very long career as a Jedi Padawan, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Master. There's even a bust of him in the Jedi library at the Jedi Temple.

What made Count Dooku think that he could trust an insidious person like Darth Sidious? He should have known the treachery of the Sith, and he should have known that every one that played the game of war would eventually be killed, including himself. Worst of all, he severely injured his connection to his former long time colleagues, the Jedi.

Once Palpatine is kidnapped by General Grevious, and once Anakin and Obi-1 come to rescue the Chancellor, and confront Dooku for a second time, the Count's fate is sealed. What made him think that Palpatine wouldn't order his death if he was in fact defeated? Did Dooku have too much confidence in his own ablities or did he underestimate Obi-1 and Anakin?

Once Anakin defeats him, Dooku drops to his knees in deliberate surrender. When his head is caught between two lightsaber blades, one being his own, it seemed to me that he should have at least opened his mouth and said something to his defense. Anakin hesitated to kill him. Shouldn't there have been something that Count Dooku could have said like, "Skywalker, listen to me. Palpatine is Darth Sidious. This is all play acting. Now that you've defeated me, Darth Sidious can call for my head because he's playing both sides."

Had he done this, Anakin surely would not have killed him. Any thoughts on Dooku and the ultimate mistake he made in trusting Sidious?

 

I've always wondered about Dooku too. It's obvious that he was seduced by the dark side, but maybe in a different way than Anakin Skywalker was. I agree that it is irrational for someone like Dooku to have such a long career as a Jedi and then turn to the dark side of the Force. Palpatine was the master of deception and manipulation and it goes to show that had it been Yoda, Mace, or any other respected Jedi in league with Sidious, the same thing would have happened to them. Count Dooku was ultimately a fool. But it wasn't entirely his fault.


Remember Obi-Wan Kenobi's line in Revenge of the Sith: He(Anakin) was deceived by a lie. We all were. It appears that the Chancellor is behind everything, including the war. Palpatine is the Sith Lord we've been looking for. After the death of Count Dooku Anakin became his new apprentice.


So Count Dooku was greatly deceived along with the Jedi.

 

Yes, everyone in the galaxy was decieved when you come to think of it. All of the sepratists and their leaders, the Hutts (Rotta's Kidnaping), Count Dooku, Jango Fett, The Clones, The Kaminoians, Grevious, The Senate, The politicians, Anakin, the trillions of citizens of the galaxy, and last but most certaintly not least the recently arrogant and over-confident Jedi Order. All by one Pruney old gyzer who wears a dress.

 

Dooku grew disillusioned by the Jedi after the death of Qui-Gon. He publicly declared his disgust and left the Order. At some point during this period, he was contacted by Sidious, and Dooku recognized his apprenticeship as a means to an end, like most Sith.

 

I agree that it is irrational for someone like Dooku to have such a long career as a Jedi and then turn to the dark side of the Force.


I don't think so. Just about everyone had the potential to succumb to evil. It all depends upon the moment, the situation and the emotions that person is experiencing. And being a Jedi for numerous years was not a guarantee that person would never turn evil.

 

The only time Dooku was a fool was when he decided to duel Anakin a second time. Did he not know about the "rule of two"?

I do not believe Dooku was seduced by power the same way Anakin was. He was probably promised riches and a possibility to carry out his vision for the galaxy, someone like Dooku could not pass up an opportunity like that. So in a way, the Sith Lord was his only way to accomplish his goals.

He probably thought he was in control of the situation, given his experience and power. But as Yoda said. "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny." Dooku started down that road with the belief that he could handle it, he was wrong..

 

Dooku was poorly conceived and poorly written.

An awful character that really has no place in the saga, all he has going for him is a good actor.

His character acted like a complete fool, trusting Palpatine and telling Obi Wan about the Sith controlling the senate.

 

I partly agree with you. However, with all of that knowledge of the Force along with the mastery, experience, and teaching, Count Dooku appears as an old fool than he does a wise old man. He could have remained with the Jedi Order and continued to serve the Republic. He knew that Qui-Gon Jinn, although once his apprentice, was a Master himself. Qui-Gon knew the risk. A Jedi could die at any given moment. Had it been Yoda that died, and since Yoda was Dooku's master, would Dooku have left the Jedi Order? Count Dooku was a fool. Just for making all of those decisions he made, he deserved what he got in the end.

 

Count Dooku seems more like a politician leaving his party to join the opposite one. I never really think that he was abused by the power of the Dark Side, or that he ever completely adopted all of its teachings...

What I want to say, is that he may learned how to use Force Lightning to serve his political goals and ambitions, but I don't think that he is a 100% Sith.

In addition, I am not really sure that he knew the actual identity of Sidius and his role in the senate, thus making him another deceived one...

So he is something like a....genius fool....

I also don't agree with the "lost his faith after Qui Gon's death" view...I don't think that he was that naive that he was in some kind of dreamland were Jedi can't die!

Probably, he had the same "lack of obeisance" that Qui Gon had, the Council refused to make him a Member and he decided to part ways...

 

In AOTC, why did Dooku tell Obi-Wan about a Sith lord who's in control of the Senate? Was he attempting to get Obi-Wan to join him as an apprentice to kill off Darth Sidious much like Darth Vader wanted his son Luke to join him to destroy the Emperor so they could rule the galaxy together? Is that the ultimate obsession when one becomes a Sith - to kill off the Master and gain that power?

 

Sidious instructed Dooku to tell Obi-Wan about the Sith in order to sow confusion and mistrust.

 

Where is that revealed? I just assumed that was Dooku getting his own apprenctice to take on Sidious. Thanks

 

Labyrinth of Evil. There's one whole chapter where Obi-Wan and Yoda talk about the plot points in AOTC that weren't really resolved in ROTS (Dooku's role in creating the clone army, the aforementioned Sith scene, etc.) It's quite a contrived scene, but Luceno writes it well.

 

Thanks again.

 

He knew. This is evident from his death scene in ROTS among other sources.

 

Yes, Dooku was the only one who knew that Palpatine was Sidious.

I agree with those who have said that Dooku never seemed to totally buy into the whole "being a Sith" thing. I think he was so disillusioned and frustrated with the Jedi Council and the Republic that he didn't care anymore about hurting either one in an attempt to see things done differently. A "political idealist", as Ki-Adi-Mundi put it, in the extreme. I think Dooku thought he could use the Sith to get the power he needed to achieve those goals, and was all too happy to be the charismatic leader of the Separatists that Palpatine wanted him to be. It seems he was wise at one time, but by the point we see him his ambition has gotten the best of him. He seems oblivious to the Rule of Two, to the nature of the Sith, and especially to the true determination and ruthlessness of Palpatine. So maybe he was wise once, but he definitely became Palpatine's fool.

 

Well said. But all of that wisdom and knowledge and experience was wasted. He could have remained with the Jedi Order. Yes, I agree that in the end, Dooku was a fool.

 

Thanks.

 

No. I don't think Dooku was a fool. Even though he had a long career as a Jedi, that means nothing. You can still have a long association with a job or whatever and become disillusioned with it. We've seen Jedi with distinguished careers leave the Order and become Sith. Does that mean they were fools? No. Hell,Yoda was the wisest of the Jedi and even he got played.

Dooku was no fool and knew the rules of the game when he became a Sith. Being a Master Jedi I'm sure he's read or learned something about The Sith and that betrayal is part of the job. Unless I'm mistaken, Dooku was making designs of his own to run the Sith. Just that Palps beat him to the punch. If you can't keep up, don't step up. Palps was just playing his A-game with home field advantage.

Thing is, he(just like everybody else) got played. Palps had plans within plans. And HE would have been the fool if he let Dooku in on EVERYTHING he was planning.

My question is did Dooku know Palps was Sids? There are lines that make you think he did. If so, then why not expose him when Anakin was going to kill him in order to save himself? But I'm sure Palps would have had him iced to keep the secret.

 

Count Dooku was just a blatant expy of Dracula and a designated villain. Despite being a culture, skilled, and probably highly intelligent and genre-savvy man, his turn to the Dark Side seems to be an example of character decay. Being the lover of archetype subversion and deconstruction that I am, I think Dooku could have worked better as a deconstruction of the Jedi archetype - a Jedi Master who is also enormously wealthy, a titled royal, and a bigot while still essentially fighting for the Republic. It would give more depth amidst a trilogy filled with cardboard faces and heels in a story that should technically be very gray and gray.