How Count Dooku Became The Most Tragic Sith

Star Wars

May 15

Out of all of the characters in the vast universe of Star Wars, few are more fascinating than the sith. Between their evil natures, the lengths the go to get ultimate power, and just the general draw that we all have toward villains, the sith give Star Wars a unique flavor. Some such as Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, Darth Maul and Darth Revan are some of the most enjoyed movie, TV and video game characters of all time, regardless of genre. Darth Vader is ranked as the third most iconic movie villain of all time by the American Film Institute, behind only Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter. Darth Maul is cited as arguably the best thing about the disappointment that was The Phantom Menace. Basically, the sith are awesome.

But for all of their evil, they are also complex people. Their quest for power rarely stems from “I just want it because it’s fun being evil and having absolute power rocks.” Few exemplify this more than Count Dooku, the second in command of Darth Sidious during the Clone Wars, played by the late, great is an understatement, Sir Christopher Lee.

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Like most sith, Dooku, later christened Darth Tyrannus, did not start out as a sith. He was a well respected jedi master, trained by Yoda himself. He was even the master of Qui-Gon Jinn, who went on to be the master of Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, he grew more and more disillusioned with the Republic and the jedi order, seeing the former as deeply corrupt and the latter as too complacent with the status quo to help. He felt that more drastic action was needed, and so he left the Order completely.

The tragedy begins in the fact that he is completely correct on both counts. The senate is a bloated bureaucracy that cares far more about consolidating more power and filling its pockets, while letting the common citizen suffer. The courts are described as even worse. More frustratingly, the jedi, the keepers of the peace throughout the galaxy and the ideal paragons of what people should aspire to, don’t seem to be too bothered by this.

It makes sense that he’d want to leave a stagnating order that helped prop up a corrupt, bloated government. The fact that he wanted to use his wisdom and knowledge to improve the galaxy makes sense as well. However, joining up with the sith and turning to the dark side wasn’t the best way to do that. Slowly but surely he became one of the corrupt officials that he had despised in the Republic. Little by little, with the help of Sideous, he became one of the most powerful political figures in the galaxy, helping kickstart the Clone Wars.

Dooku follows a classic villain arc. He started out with noble intentions. The organizations he’d been serving were corrupt and weren’t doing anything to solve any problems. He didn’t feel like he could change things from within, so he left. From there he had the devil that was Darth Sideous in his ear, and slowly his noble intentions were twisted. He fell farther and farther down the path of the dark side until he could justify the slaughter of entire planets as a means to the greater good.

And the worst part? Even that was all pointless as far as his ultimate fate was concerned. Like any sith/apprentice relationship, both sides were scheming against each other. Dooku knew that his master was far more evil than he was, but he’d take over the moment all of their goals had been accomplished, and he could bring the galaxy into a better position than before the war. Or at least, that’s what he imagined. In reality he was playing checkers while Sidious was playing 4D chess.

At the end of the day, Dooku was just another pawn. He thought he was going to bring the galaxy into a new era, but instead he realized at his last moments, his hands cut off and two lightsabers at his throat, that he had been played. Sidious had never intended to let him accomplish any of his plans. He just used him to gain a far more powerful apprentice.

So that’s the tragedy. At the end of the day, we’re left with an idealistic man who saw many valid problems, and slowly lost everything moral about himself until he was far more evil than what he had left the jedi to fight. And all of it was for nothing. He was just being used the whole time, and in his last moments, he finally realized that.

Though it would have been interesting if right when Anakin was debating whether or not to kill him, he started spilling the beans on everything. Alas, that’s only a what if.

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