Count Dooku

Count Dooku is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe, appearing as the main antagonist of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film (portrayed by Christopher Lee) and as the primary antagonist in the Star Wars: Clone Wars and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series (voiced by Corey Burton).

Although he was once a respected Jedi Master, he falls to the dark side of the Force and becomes Darth Tyranus, Darth Sidious' second Sith apprentice, the Separatists' leader, and the instigator of the Clone Wars to help lead the destruction of many worlds throughout the galaxy.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Introduced in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Dooku appears as the leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a federation of planetary systems rebelling against the Galactic Republic. He claims to be angered by the Galactic Senate's bureaucracy as well as the apparent unwillingness of the Jedi Council to aid oppressed galactic systems.

After he captures Obi-Wan Kenobi on Geonosis, Tyranus informs Kenobi that he's attempting to save the Republic. Dooku also states that he was saddened by the loss of Kenobi's former master (and Dooku's former apprentice) Qui-Gon Jinn. After Kenobi refuses to join him, Tyranus promptly sentences him to be executed.

After an army of Jedi and clone troopers rescue Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, Anakin and Kenobi chase and engage Tyranus in a lightsaber duel in which Kenobi is incapacitated and Anakin loses his right forearm. When Yoda arrives to save them, Dooku fights Yoda to a stalemate to which Dooku distracts his former master by trying to make a large pillar fall on Anakin and Kenobi. Dooku then escapes from Geonosis as Yoda is distracted. When he returns to Coruscant, Dooku shows the Geononsian designs to Sidious and informs his master that their plan is working: "The war has begun".

Star Wars: Clone WarsEdit
During Star Wars: Clone Wars, Dooku leads the Separatists in attacks upon the Republic, sends Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress on a mission to fight Anakin, and personally trains General Grievous in lightsaber combat.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
In the opening of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Dooku encounters Anakin and Obi-Wan while they are sent to rescue Chancellor Palpatine (Sidious' alter ego) from Separatist leader General Grievous's flagship outside of the planet Coruscant. The film's novelization states Palpatine and Dooku intend to turn Anakin to the dark side and that Dooku intends to appoint him as head of a new Sith Army.[1] Dooku and Palpatine seek to eliminate Obi-Wan, a steady influence on Anakin.[2] Palentine promises him the operation will result in the destruction of the Jedi and the Republic, to be replaced by the Galactic Empire.[3] In the ensuing duel, Kenobi is incapacitated which leaves Anakin and Dooku to fight alone. Anakin channels his hatred of Dooku and taps into the dark side to overpower him, severing both Dooku's hands and leaving him helpless. Palpatine then orders Anakin to kill Dooku; after initial hesitation, Anakin decapitates Dooku in cold blood. The novelization depicts this scene from Dooku's point of view: he realizes that Palpatine had never truly intended for him to be his apprentice but had merely been using him as a means to engineer the Clone Wars and as a placeholder for his true apprentice Darth Vader.[4]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
In the 2008 film, Dooku plots to bring Jabba the Hutt into the folds of the Confederacy by enlisting Ziro (Jabba's uncle) to kidnap Rotta (Jabba's son). After Ziro's agents deliver the Huttlet to the planet Teth, Dooku contacts Ziro again to arrange for Ventress to take custody of Rotta. Jabba requests Jedi assistance to rescue his son, and Dooku plans for Ventress to frame Anakin for the crime but the plot fails.

In the television series' first episode "Ambush", Dooku tries to broker a treaty with Toydaria. During the Malevolence episodes ("Rising Malevolence", "Shadow of Malevolence" and "Destroy Malevolence"), he commands Grievous in surprise attacks by the Star Destroyer Malevolence. He then sends Ventress to free Gunray. He also tests Grievous by sending Kit Fisto and his padawan to fight Grievous.

In "Dooku Captured", he is imprisoned by pirates but escapes in the following episode along with Kenobi and Skywalker. After that, he orders one of his generals to destroy a colony with a new weapon but fails. In "Liberty on Ryloth", Dooku orders his servant Wat Tambor (leader of the Techno Union) to retreat after learning of the arrival of Mace Windu. However, he does not evacuate in time and Dooku orders the droids to destroy his base, though the attempt fails.

Dooku and the Confederacy officially back the Death Watch, a group of Mandalorian terrorists whose goal is to bring down the government of the pacifist New Mandalorians. Dooku urges Governor Pre Vizsla of Concordia (the Death Watch's leader) to give the Galactic Republic a reason to send a military presence to Mandalore which Dooku believes will inspire the inhabitants of Mandalore to start a revolution spearheaded by the Death Watch movement. But his plan falls through. Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore presents her case to the Galactic Senate, urging them to hold off a military force, despite the attempts of a Death Watch assassin, sent by Dooku and Vizsla, to silence her. Dooku orders Vizsla and his men to hold off the attack force, claiming he has further plans for them.

In the following story arc, Dooku is ordered to prove his loyalty to Sidious by killing his own assassin Ventress whom Sidious fears has grown too powerful to control. Dooku follows his orders, albeit reluctantly. But unknown to Dooku, Ventress survives and turns to the Nightsisters to have revenge on her former master. After a failed attempt to personally kill Dooku, Ventress takes part in the Nightsisters' plan to have her replacement apprentice Savage Opress (the brother of Darth Maul) as her own secret weapon against him by having Dooku unknowingly train his killer. But the plot falls apart when Opress attempted to kill both Dooku and Ventress. After dealing with the Nightsisters, believing both Ventress and Mother Talzin have been killed off by Grevious's forces, Dooku refocuses his attention to Opress whom he fears will become more of a threat due to now being masterless.

Comic books
In the Star Wars: Republic series, set during the Clone Wars, Dooku trains multiple Dark Jedi apprentices, most of whom he uses as minions. His apprentices include Ventress, Tol Skorr and renegade Jedi Quinlan Vos, who initially intends to infiltrate the Separatists as a spy for the Jedi Council but instead nearly falls to the dark side.

Novels
Dooku appears as the main antagonist or a secondary villain in many Star Wars Expanded Universe novels.

Legacy of the Jedi
In Jude Watson's Legacy of the Jedi, Dooku is first tempted by the dark side of the Force as a child when he and fellow Padawan Lorian Nod steal an ancient Sith Holocron from the Jedi Archives and he informs his friend to stay in the Order; he is intrigued by the Sith's open embrace of power and realizes that he is just as capable of treachery as they are. Lorian eventually lands Dooku in trouble for stealing the holocron which Lorian had stolen but Dooku got off scot-free and Lorian was banished from the Order. Years later, he encounters and eventually kills Nod.

Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
In Sean Stewart's Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, Dooku attempts to trap Yoda by offering to negotiate an end to the Clone Wars. Despite his attempts to convert his former master to his cause, he is ultimately unsuccessful but is very nearly swayed in turn by Yoda to return to the Jedi Order. But the intervention of Anakin and Obi-Wan enrages him and ends any efforts of rapprochement before they can began, leaving both Yoda and Dooku in deep thought following the confrontation as Dooku feels condemned to being a Sith and Yoda feels that any attempts to turn his former student back to the light have been rendered impossible. In the novel, it is also revealed that Dooku always resented his parents for "giving him away" to the Jedi Order.

Labyrinth of Evil
In James Luceno's Labyrinth of Evil, Dooku engineers Grievous' transformation into the Separatists' cyborg commander and trains him in lightsaber combat. He then schemes with Sidious to invade Coruscant in what he believes to be a plot to kill Obi-Wan and initiate Skywalker into the Sith.