Regardless of whether Dooku would escape, could Palpatine charge Anakin with treason for disobeying an executive order? Would the Jedi Order support Anakin in this matter? While we are on this topic, do you think Anakin changed the account of what happened to "I executed Dooku" to "I defeated Dooku in battle."?
The Order would support Anakin, but since this was one of Palp's tests for Anakin, he wouldn't charge Anakin with treason - he'd plead he was overwrought with the treatment he'd received and was so honored that his young protégé was such a paragon of Jedi principles.
Considering Windu had no qualms with outright killing Palpatine even when (seemingly) unarmed, I don't think he'd truly be against Anakin killing Dooku, even if he did verbally admonish him. Chances are Anakin just said "Dooku is dead" over anything else. To him, that's really all the Jedi needed to know
Oh, this is perfect. I can completely see Palpatine doing this. Turn a potentially dangerous situation between him and Anakin into a way to stroke Anakin's ego and get him further on his side.
Yup. Kind of scary how I get into Palp's ego stroking, isn't it? (Sure works for me when writing fan fic.)
Well, Anakin killing Dooku was the best case scenario for Palpatine. Dooku was done the moment Anakin disarmed him. Palpatine would never allow him to talk or end up aiding the Republic in any way, so it was either Anakin kill him, or Palpatine deal with it some other way. Putting the burden of killing Dooku on Anakin also puts him a step forward in joining the dark side. On a side note, even if Dooku did survive the duel, I could not see him surviving any of the antics the gang encountered later on the ship.
I don't think Anakin would have gotten out of the room alive if he refused to finish off Dooku. I assumed Palpatine would have done to Anakin the same thing he did to Luke after Luke refused to finish off Darth Vader / Anakin. So 20,000 volts for Anakin. Mechanical hands dooku would continue as Palpatine's apprentice.
Then Dooku would have spilled the beans about Palpatine's plans to the Republic. However I think Palpy would have come up with a way to "silence" Dooku before any proper testament could be made against Palpatine.
What would've been more interesting is if Dooku started yelling that Palpatine was Sidious right after he told Anakin to kill him. The most likely scenario would be that Anakin wouldn't believe him, but there'd still be that seed of doubt in his mind.
Dooku had some integrity in that regard, that's why he didn't speak a word when Palpatine ordered Anakin to kill him.
I have to agree. If both Mace and Yoda were willing to kill Palpatine in cold blood, I have doubts that they would have been upset over Dooku's murder. Come to think of it, I'm beginning to suspect the same about Obi-Wan, considering his attempts to get Luke to focus on killing Anakin.
"Palpatine has told Dooku. 'I have somebody who I think will be a great Sith Lord and I think we can get him to join us. But we need to test him. So we're going to setup a situation where you fight him. If he gets the best of you, then I'll stop the fight and he'll have passed the test. If you get the best of him, then we'll let him go, and we'll let him stew for a few more years until he's ready.' But behind it, obviously, is Palpatine's real intention: If Anakin is good enough, Anakin can kill Dooku and become Palpatine's new apprentice. But he didn't tell Dooku that." --George Lucas, The Making Of ROTS; Page 41. So odds are if Anakin didn't kill Dooku, he wouldn't kill Anakin yet. He would try again by coming up with a new scenario to tempt Anakin again. They wouldn't have left Grievous' quarters. Anakin would contact Grievous and demand that he surrender, since Dooku was in their custody. Which would that they wouldn't go into the Turbolift shaft. By then, Obi-wan would be awake and they'd come up with a plan. ANAKIN: "I shouldn't have done that, Chancellor. It's not the Jedi way." The Jedi Council wouldn't mind if he had killed Dooku in a straight up fight. But they would mind if he did it the way that he did. That's why Anakin never told the Council, including Obi-wan, that Dooku had been disarmed and thus didn't need to be killed. Note that Obi-wan never kills someone who is helpless. When Mace attempts it, he sees through Palpatine and knows that he is still too dangerous. But he is also blinded by his own anger which is why Anakin acts. He sees it as a contradiction of the Jedi philosophy that he was trained to uphold and thus proved what Palpatine said was true. That the Jedi and Sith weren't that different.
This is what Sidious told Dooku off screen (Which for me doesn't hold water) I still think it's all or nothing for the Emperor. Either Anakin or Dooku leaves the room. Never both. So either Dooku kills Anakin or Anakin kills Dooku. The Emperor was sure Anakin wouldn't let him down if he could defeat Dooku. But if he did...... ZZZZAAAAAAPPPPP....... 20,000 Volts of blue lightening.
It's a repeat (or foreshadowing, if you look chronologically) of the OT situation. Palpatine pretends that he wants Luke to join Vader and himself. In reality, as soon as they're both in the same room he only needs one of them to survive.
It does hold water because that's the story. That's what has been going on for three years. Anakin fights Dooku, fails to kill him and yet, Palpatine continues to let him stew. He wants Anakin to be ready to turn and he isn't ready yet, That's why he doesn't kill Anakin when he walks out of his office to go back to the Temple. He needs the boy to keep thinking it over. Palpatine only blasts Luke because he sensed that he would not turn, whereas he could sense it in Anakin.
It's Dooku going along with any plan that ends with three Sith Lords that I find hard to believe. Dooku would have to know he is being lied to. The only reason I can think Dooku would go along with it is if he can't see any way Anakin could defeat him. Maybe you can explain Dooku's motivation better.
Oh, Sidious sold him on some grand plans according to the novelization! It was something like if Anakin won, then Palpatine would intercede and stop the fight. Dooku would be arrested, but at his trial it would be played up that Grevious was behind the whole thing - that Dooku was just a political idealist, and that Grevious was the military general who attacked countless worlds and killed all those people. And in case those arguments didn't get Dooku off, Palpatine would pardon him. Also, Sidious sold him on the idea of getting rid of the Rule of two, and had plans for a grand "Sith Army" to replace the Jedi. Obviously these were all lies, but in the novelization, Dooku seemed to believe them during his inner monologue moments.
But does Dooku remain loyal to Sidious after the blatant revelation that Sidious wanted Anakin to kill Dooku. I mean given the Sith tendency towards self-preservation I can't see Dooku remaining loyal to Sidious in the long run after the Sith Master made it clear to his apprentice that he planned on disposing of him.
Dooku was already working for Palpatine when Maul was still the Apprentice, during the time period before the Naboo invasion. Dooku had handled the Sifo-Dyas affair, while Maul was getting ready to track down the Jedi and the Queen. Later on, Dooku had recruited Ventress to serve alongside them. So recruiting Anakin was no different. Vader would have remained loyal to Palpatine, if Luke hadn't reached him. Slavery to the dark side is what drives them to remain in place.
