Dooku

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Dooku
Biographical information
Homeworld	Serenno[1]
Born	102 BBY (67BrS)[1]
Died	19 BBY (16:5:19), Invisible Hand, over Coruscant[2]
Physical description
Species	Human[3]
Gender	Male[3]
Height	1.93 meters[3]
Hair color	Dark brown, later white[3]
Eye color	Brown[3]
Chronological and political information
Era(s)	Rise of the Empire era[3]
Affiliation	Jedi Order[4] Galactic Republic[4] Lost Twenty[4] Order of the Sith Lords[4] Dark Acolytes (leader)[5] Confederacy of Independent Systems[4]
Known masters	Thame Cerulian (Jedi Master)[6] Yoda (Grand Master)[4] Darth Sidious (Sith Master)[4]
Known apprentices	Qui-Gon Jinn (Jedi Padawan)[4] Komari Vosa (Jedi Padawan)[7] Asajj Ventress (Dark Jedi)[8] Grievous (Lightsaber apprentice)[9] Other Dark Acolytes (Dark Jedi)[5]

[Source]

Dooku was a Jedi Master who fell to the dark side of the Force and became a Dark Lord of the Sith. Born on the planet Serenno, he was the heir to vast wealth and the noble title of Count. Dooku was taken by the Jedi Order as a child and apprenticed to Thame Cerulian. As a Jedi Knight, he took Qui-Gon Jinn as his first Padawan, and later trained Komari Vosa. Dooku was a respected instructor in the Jedi Temple and one of the most renowned swordsmen in the galaxy. Only Masters Yoda and Mace Windu were considered to have fought on equal terms with him.

Dooku spent nearly seventy years as a Jedi, but a disastrous battle on Galidraan shook his faith in the Order and the Galactic Republic. He fell under the influence of Senator Palpatine of Naboo, and left the Jedi Order. After learning that Senator Palpatine was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, Dooku turned to the dark side and became a Dark Lord of the Sith himself. As Sidious's new apprentice he was the successor of the slain Darth Maul; his new master gave him the Sith name Darth Tyranus.

Reclaiming his birthright as Count of Serenno and his vast fortune, Dooku conspired with Sidious to force the galaxy into a war that would bring the Sith to power. He forged ties between corporations and planets discontented with the Republic, and became the leader of the Separatist movement that coalesced into the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Thousands of star systems flocked to Dooku's banner and seceded from the Galactic Republic.

As the political leader of the Confederacy, Dooku led the organization against the Republic in a conflict that would become known as the Clone Wars, which culminated in a great battle over the Republic capital of Coruscant. In a duel aboard the Separatist flagship Invisible Hand, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker defeated Dooku. Skywalker then executed the dismembered and helpless Dooku at the instigation of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Dooku's own Sith Master. Anakin would fall to the dark side himself soon afterward, transforming into the fearsome Darth Vader.

Biography

Jedi (102 BBY–32 BBY)

Childhood

Padawan Dooku being taught by Yoda.

Dooku was born on the planet Serenno to a wealthy noble family. His parents were stern, but proud of his Force abilities, and willingly surrendered him to the Jedi Order. Unlike most younglings, he was aware of his origins and felt driven to prove himself worthy of them.^[1]

By far the swiftest learner in his year, Dooku was particularly apt at telekinesis^[1] and combat games such as push-feather. He could easily move objects with the Force by the age of seven,^[1] and he won the Twelve-and-Under push-feather tournament at only nine years of age.^[10] Before he became a Padawan, Dooku studied diplomacy and signed up for special tutorials in Senate procedure. Master Thame Cerulian chose Dooku as his apprentice as soon as Dooku turned thirteen.^[6] Cerulian sat on the Jedi Council, and was renowned as a historian.^[1]

Dooku had several friends when he was younger, including fellow youngling Lorian Nod and alien senatorial aide Eero Iridian. However, Lorian Nod was jealous of Dooku being chosen as a Padawan before him. Insecure about his future as a Jedi, Nod stole a Sith holocron from the Jedi Archives, trying to gain an edge over other prospective Padawans. Dooku visited Nod's room to talk his friend into returning the holocron, but the pair were interrupted by Master Oppo Rancisis, who discovered the stolen item. Nod implicated Dooku in the theft, and Dooku was too shocked to contradict him.^[6]

Nod later visited Dooku, and asked his friend to cover for him, but Dooku was still angry with Nod and did not give him any assurances. The next day, the two were on opposite sides in an urban tracking exercise and ended up brawling with each other. After Yoda broke up the fight, Dooku and Nod were examined separately before the Jedi Council. Dooku told the truth about the theft of the holocron, and Nod was cast out of the Jedi Order. The pair became bitter enemies. This experience made Dooku wary of friendship and attachment, and he became paranoid about the possibility of betrayal.^[6]

Even though he studied under Cerulian, Yoda took a particular interest in the young Dooku and was frequently his adviser and confidant.^[10] The Jedi Master, however, was equally quick to point out Dooku's flaws when necessary.^[6] He also assisted in Dooku's lightsaber training as a Padawan.^[11] Building from this foundation, Dooku became an accomplished duelist with the weapon. In his later years, few Jedi Masters were considered equal to Dooku's skill with a lightsaber.^[1] Under Cerulian's tutelage, Dooku became a powerful Jedi. He was the most gifted Padawan Cerulian had ever seen, and Dooku learned much from his Master.^[10] As he grew older and continued to develop, Dooku became an outspoken individual who had strong views about the systemic corruption that plagued the Galactic Republic.^[4]

Knight and Master

Dooku as a Jedi Knight with Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn, and Jedi Masters Yoda and Tyvokka.

Dooku became a Jedi Knight in his early twenties, and took Qui-Gon Jinn as his first Padawan. The two were quite close in age, with only ten years separating them.^[1] When only ten, Jinn had impressed Dooku with his potential. Even though Dooku was still a Padawan himself at the time, he succeeded in convincing Yoda that he and Jinn would be a good match. Several years into Jinn's apprenticeship, Dooku and his Padawan were assigned to protect Senator Blix Annon from pirates who were kidnapping senators for ransom. On the senator's ship, Dooku met up with his old friend, Eero Iridian, who was now serving as Blix's aide. Pirates attacked the vessel, exploiting weaknesses in the design, and Blix Annon was kidnapped despite the actions of the two Jedi.^[6]

During the raid, Dooku recognized one of the pirates as his old friend Lorian Nod and became obsessed with not allowing Nod to win. He neither told his apprentice that he knew the kidnapper nor did he inform the Jedi Council of his failure to protect Senator Annon. Dooku suspected that the security weaknesses and malfunctions on the senator's craft during the battle has been deliberate sabotage, since the craft had recently undergone a security retrofit. He traced the sabotage of the senator's ship back to the responsible factory on the polluted ice world of Von-Alai.^[6]

With Jinn's help, Dooku discovered that the factory was owned by Caravan, a corporation belonging to Nod that used child labor on its assembly lines. While they were investigating further, Eero Iridian arrived. Telling the Jedi that he'd found a worker willing to talk to them, he lured the pair into an ambush. There, Colicoid Eradicator droids suddenly appeared and threatened the two Jedi. Iridian had betrayed his early friendship with Dooku and was now working for Lorian Nod. Dooku and Jinn were forced to surrender in order to avoid collateral damage to the factory's numerous child workers. They were injected with toxins that paralyzed them and rendered them unconscious. The incapacitated Jedi were subsequently transported to Lorian Nod's headquarters.^[6]

The two Jedi woke up in an unfamiliar room some time later, restrained by stun cuffs. They had been captured by Nod, who spoke to them and said he planned to hold them until Senator Annon was ransomed. Unfortunately for Nod, the senator died from a sudden heart attack. This panicked Iridian, who rushed into the room where the Jedi were held and began to argue with the pirate leader. During their quarrel, Dooku broke free from his restraints and used the Force to summon his lightsaber through the door Iridian had opened. Dooku then dueled with Nod, intending to kill him. Only Jinn's objection stopped him from slaying his overmatched foe. Instead, Dooku arrested the two pirates and returned to Coruscant with his apprentice.^[6]

After further service with the Jedi Order, including a final mission that lasted two years, Jinn was ready to face the Jedi Trials. Before the pair parted, Dooku advised Jinn that his need for connection with other beings was dangerous, and betrayal should never catch him by surprise. Jinn passed the Jedi Trials, and became a Jedi Knight. Having successfully trained an apprentice, Dooku was promoted to Jedi Master. While Dooku and Jinn had been an effective team, their relationship after Jinn's Knighting was distant.^[6] However, Dooku was a great influence on his Padawan. Jinn followed Dooku's moral teachings as opposed to Yoda's in later life.^[12] He heeded all of Dooku's lessons except his last one, concerning the inevitability of betrayal.^[6]

As a Jedi Master, Dooku was one of the most highly regarded lightsaber instructors in the Jedi Order. Recordings of Dooku demonstrating lightsaber techniques were recorded on the Great Holocron and became mandatory viewing for two generations of Padawans. In addition, a lecture by Dooku on telekinesis was recorded by Jedi Master Asli Krimsan and preserved in her holocron. In the recording, Dooku described an encounter he had with Master Yoda when he was seven, in which Yoda asked him to move a pot with the Force. While Dooku thought the pot was light, and successfully moved it, it was actually massively heavy.^[1] During his time as an instructor within the Jedi Temple, Dooku's teachings on methods for conquering arrogance were also particularly well received.^[13]

Dooku was offered a place on the Jedi Council, but he turned it down so that he could remain more independent as a proactive peacekeeper. The Council agreed that his skills made him well suited for such field work.^[1] Despite this prior refusal, he was later offered another seat and accepted.^[14] Dooku was known as a political idealist and was skilled at resolving disputes throughout the galaxy. One such intervention was in the Sevarcos Dispute of 52 BBY.^[15]. Dooku became friends with many younger Jedi, such as Mace Windu and Sifo-Dyas, and was considered part of the "Old Guard" of potential, current, and former Jedi Council members.^[16] Some time after the mission to Sevarcos he took a new apprentice, a young woman named Komari Vosa.^[1]

Galidraan

Of the many missions Dooku undertook, the deadly skirmish at Galidraan was the most disastrous. An emergency call for aid by Galidraan's governor against a Mandalorian invasion prompted a swift but ill-prepared Jedi response. Dooku was the senior Jedi Master of the twenty Jedi thrown together for the task force. Unlike most of his companions, he had some knowledge of the enemy they were facing.^[1]

Jedi Master Dooku and Komari Vosa at the Battle of Galidraan.

The governor of Galidraan had hired Jango Fett and his followers, the True Mandalorians, to eliminate a local insurgency that was fighting against him. Fett agreed to destroy them in exchange for the location of his enemy, Vizsla, the leader of the Mandalorian splinter faction known as the Death Watch. However, the governor was secretly working with Vizsla and had no intention of letting Fett live after the task was completed. He decided to use the Jedi to destroy the True Mandalorians, and enlisted their aid by claiming the Mandalorians had invaded and were slaughtering political dissidents. The Death Watch impersonated Fett's forces and murdered noncombatants to further incriminate the True Mandalorians in the eyes of the Jedi.^[17]

Dooku was aware of the Mandalorians' reputation as warriors and requested reinforcements from the Jedi Council. The urgency of the situation, however, required him to use only his initial task force.^[1] The Jedi were given the coordinates of Fett's camp and surrounded it; Dooku demanded their surrender. Instead, Fett ordered the Mandalorians to open fire.^[17] The encounter decimated both sides. The battle concluded after the deaths of eleven Jedi and the near-complete destruction of Fett's forces. Fett was captured alive after killing several Jedi with his bare hands. Upon orders from the Jedi Council, Dooku turned Fett over to the planet's governor without further investigation.^[1] The governor took Fett's armor and sold him into slavery.^[17]

While he was at the time unaware of the extent by which the Jedi had been manipulated, Dooku learned shortly thereafter how the Council and the Jedi had been used to further the governor's personal motives. This deeply offended Dooku, and he continued to seek out the full story behind the Galidraan debacle. Dooku took a particular interest in the fate of Jango Fett, who had earned his respect as a warrior.^[17]

Dooku's apprentice Komari Vosa was one of the survivors at Galidraan and was said to have killed twenty Mandalorians personally. While Dooku praised her skills with a lightsaber, he was not convinced she was worthy of becoming a Jedi Knight. In particular, he was disturbed by her inappropriate romantic feelings for him and her volatile personality.^[18] Some time after the incident on Galidraan, Dooku refused to recommend Vosa for the Jedi Trials and she was released from the Order.^[1]

Her release infuriated Vosa, but she managed to attach herself to a Jedi mission to Baltizaar to prove Dooku and the Council wrong. While the Jedi repulsed the ruthless Bando Gora cult there, they took heavy casualties. At the end of the fight Vosa was missing and presumed dead. Dooku submitted a protest to the Jedi Council after Baltizaar, arguing that the Council was wasting Jedi lives for political reasons.^[1]

Leaving the Order

Master Dooku and Master Sifo-Dyas.

After the battles of Galidraan and Baltizaar, Dooku became increasingly withdrawn from the Jedi Order. He refused to accept any more missions from the Jedi Council^[17] and became concerned about prophecies he felt were coming true about dark times unfolding across the galaxy. While he discussed his concerns with many of the Order's most prominent Jedi Masters, his friend Sifo-Dyas was his closest confidant.^[19]

Dooku's growing disenchantment with the Jedi way was sensed by Senator Palpatine, who had been watching Dooku for some time and had plans that required someone with Dooku's reputation, skills, and financial resources. Palpatine was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, and even before the Battle of Naboo in 32 BBY he had held several meetings with Dooku to feel out his opinions and cultivate him as an ally. Dooku's behavior and beliefs as a Jedi had previously been within the scope of Jedi orthodoxy.^[1] However, Dooku flirted with the belief that the dark side of the Force could be called upon without personal corruption as his discontent with the Jedi Order grew.^[20]

Dooku made several public condemnations of the Senate after the death of his former Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn in a duel with the Sith Lord Darth Maul. This Zabrak was the apprentice of Darth Sidious, raised as a weapon to combat the Jedi Order. Maul did not survive his victory, as Jinn's apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi slew the Sith Lord with Jinn's own lightsaber.^[3] Shortly thereafter, Dooku resigned from the Jedi Order, retired to Serenno, and claimed his family title of Count. He neither gave a reason for his decision to leave the Jedi in his public announcement nor did he provide one when summoned before the Jedi Council to explain his actions.^[1]

Dooku's abrupt departure surprised and disturbed the Jedi Order. As a Jedi Master who had voluntarily resigned his commission, Dooku became part of the group later known as the Lost Twenty. In over two thousand years, only nineteen other Jedi Masters had walked away from the Order, and among those Dooku was considered the most bitter loss.^[21] A bronzium bust of Dooku was created to join the other sculptures of the Lost Twenty in the Jedi Archives.^[22]

Dark Lord of the Sith (32 BBY–24 BBY)

Sith apprentice

Darth Tyranus kneeling before a hologram of Darth Sidious.

Dooku's disillusionment with the Senate and the Jedi were no secret to Palpatine, and Dooku was likely partially under Palpatine's influence even before the death of Qui-Gon Jinn. However, Dooku was not yet a Sith, nor was he aware that Palpatine's hidden identity was Darth Sidious. After the Battle of Naboo, Dooku gave some thought to hunting down the hidden second Sith, but concluded that even eliminating both Sith would not halt what he felt was the inevitable advance of the dark side.^[19]

Shortly thereafter, Dooku was approached directly by Darth Sidious. They had a long discussion, and Dooku found that Palpatine's goals were not dissimilar to his own.^[19] Despite the recent death of Dooku's apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn at the hands of Darth Maul, Darth Sidious found it surprisingly easy to convince Dooku to ally with the Sith. After seventy years in the Jedi Order, Dooku abandoned his friends and the Jedi way for the dark side of the Force.^[1]

Under the tutelage of Sidious, Dooku was renamed Darth Tyranus and became a Dark Lord of the Sith. With his family holdings on Serenno, he had access to vast reserves of wealth that he used in the service of his new Master. Tyranus was soon fully enmeshed in Sidious's schemes. Shortly after Dooku left the Order, Sifo-Dyas secretly ordered a clone army from the planet Kamino, claiming the army was for the Jedi and the Republic. Sidious informed Dooku of this, and told him to eliminate his friend and gain control over the army.^[19]

Dooku obeyed, murdering the Jedi Master and moving his body to storage on Serenno. He then paid for Sifo-Dyas's clone army under the name of Tyranus.^[19] After the death of Sifo-Dyas, Dooku successfully erased Kamino, Dromund,^[1] Dagobah, and thirty-five other star systems from the Jedi Archives, despite no longer being a Jedi himself.^[23] Additionally, Dooku stole information about secret Jedi hyperspace routes through the Deep Core region in the center of the galaxy.^[19]

Moving the pieces

Dooku had officially retired from public life, but he was by no means idle. On a mission to the planet Geonosis, on Sidious's behalf, he impressed Archduke Poggle the Lesser with his knowledge of ancient Geonosian atmospheric sailing vessels. The Archduke then presented Dooku with a Punworcca 116-class interstellar sloop as a gift. Dooku was pleased with the ship, and acquired an exotic solar sail in the Gree Enclave to install on the vessel. The sail propelled the sloop and allowed it to go to hyperspace without the use of a standard hyperdrive. This distinctive solar sailer remained Dooku's personal craft for the rest of his life.^[24]

Dooku also began to learn Sith teachings from Darth Sidious in The Works, a deserted industrial region of Coruscant.^[19] However, his training was soon interrupted by his Master with an urgent matter. The Bando Gora cult had reemerged and were dealing in assassination, deadly drugs, corruption, and chaos. Their influence in the galactic underworld was strong enough that Sidious considered them a threat to the plans of the Sith. This "threat" had grown because of their new leader, Komari Vosa, Dooku's former apprentice. Captured by the cult on Baltizaar and tortured to the point of madness, she had escaped and seized control of the entire criminal organization. Dooku had previously rediscovered Vosa, but was allowing her to live as an "experiment." Displeased, Sidious commanded Dooku to kill his former Padawan.^[7]

Tyranus offers Jango Fett five million credits to hunt Komari Vosa.

Darth Sidious also tasked Dooku with recruiting a template for the Grand Army of the Republic's clone troopers, one that was capable of slaying Jedi. Resolving to complete both of these missions at once, he placed an extravagant bounty of five million Republic credits on Komari Vosa, and pitted some of the galaxy's most fearsome bounty hunters against each other to kill or capture her. In the end, the Mandalorians Montross and Jango Fett faced each other on Kohlma, a moon of Bogden. Jango Fett triumphed over his long-hated rival Montross, although he needed some assistance from fellow bounty hunter Zam Wesell to escape after being briefly captured by the Bando Gora.^[7]

In a brutal fight, Fett subdued Komari Vosa and captured her alive. However, Dooku was also on Kohlma and had observed the fight in secret. He slew his former apprentice with the Force, and then revealed his presence to the surprised Jango Fett. Fett demanded payment, but was intrigued at Dooku's offer of greater wealth if he helped to create and train a clone army.^[7]

At a later meeting, Dooku and Jango Fett addressed the history that lay between them. While Dooku had discovered most of the true story behind the manipulation of the Jedi and the Mandalorians at Galidraan, he did not know what had happened to Fett afterwards and wished to find out. Mistrusting Dooku because of his Jedi past, Fett attempted to extort further concessions out of him by infecting him with a biological weapon. The Sith Lord feigned defeat and convinced Fett to tell the rest of his tale. While Fett spoke, Dooku healed himself with the power of the Force. Finding his leverage suddenly neutralized, Fett agreed to be cloned on the condition he would receive the first clone unaltered to have for his own.^[17]

Dooku's hand was silently behind many events in the years leading up to the Clone Wars. On the planet Ryloth, he supported the attempted coup of Twi'lek exile Kh'aris Fenn, with the intent that under Fenn's leadership Ryloth would eventually secede from the Republic. As part of his plan to seize power, Kh'aris Fenn had Clan Secura heir Nat Secura kidnapped. Nat Secura's father was Lon Secura, an influential clan leader and Fenn's enemy. When Jedi Master Tholme was captured trying to rescue the boy heir, Dooku himself intervened to spare the Jedi, as be thought Tholme could be of later use to him. Due to the actions of Tholme, his former apprentice Quinlan Vos, and Twi'lek Jedi Aayla Secura, Kh'aris Fenn did not succeed in usurping control of Ryloth and young Nat Secura was returned to his family. Though the Jedi had prevented Fenn's victory, they remained wholly ignorant of Dooku's role in the matter.^[25]

During this time Dooku also assisted a Trade Federation assault on Kashyyyk that resulted in the extermination of the army that served the Wookiee Trade Guild. The guild had resisted Trade Federation attempts to tax them. Since there were no Wookiee survivors of the battle, no rumor of Dooku's presence on Kashyyyk reached the Republic.^[26]

Creating Grievous

As the years passed, Darth Sidious and Darth Tyranus made preparations for war against the Republic. They planned to use the droid armies of the Trade Federation and other corporations, and they needed generals for those armies. Sidious considered a Kaleesh leader named Grievous a candidate due to his skill in warfare, and ordered his apprentice to enlist Grievous to their cause.^[19]

Dooku conspires with Geonosian leader Poggle the Lesser.

Dooku in turn spoke with San Hill of the InterGalactic Banking Clan about recruiting Grievous.^[19] Grievous had previously been the head of the Banking Clan's droid army, but had left to fight in a war on his homeworld. San Hill, Dooku and Poggle the Lesser—who had remained an ally of Dooku's—then hatched a plan to cripple Grievous and rebuild him as a cyborg warrior under their control. They arranged for an ion bomb to be planted on Grievous's shuttle, Martyr. The shuttle was altered so that Grievous would be ejected when the bomb exploded.^[27]

Grievous was gravely injured in the explosion of Martyr, and by the time Dooku reached the site of the crash, he was already dying. Only a heart stun preserved his life long enough for him to be transported to Geonosis. While Grievous was being shipped to the Geonosian homeworld, Dooku returned to his own homeworld Serenno to collect the blood of Sifo-Dyas, whose corpse was stored there.^[28]

On Geonosis, the Geonosians encased what was left of Grievous in a metal body and rebuilt him almost completely. The resulting creation retained only part of the brain, the eyes, and a sack of internal organs from the original Kaleesh. Even Grievous's brain was altered and augmented to make the general a more effective tool of war. In addition, Sifo-Dyas's blood was transfused into Grievous during his reconstruction as an experiment in midi-chlorian transplantation.^[28] The midi-chlorians, as expected, did not induce Force-sensitivity in Grievous, but they helped to save his life.^[27]

Dooku was quite pleased with the finished product. He personally trained Grievous in lightsaber combat, turning the cyborg into an expert duelist. Dooku now had a commander to lead droid armies in the upcoming galactic war, something the Count had no desire to do himself.^[19]

Leader of the Separatists (24 BBY–22 BBY)

Birth of the Separatist movement

Count Dooku, Separatist orator.

As plans laid by the Sith for over a decade began to come to fruition, Dooku reappeared on Raxus Prime in 24 BBY, commandeering a Republic communications station^[29] and giving a speech that heavily criticized the Republic for its decadence, hypocrisy, and corruption and the Jedi Order for its complacency. Dooku publicly called for entire systems to secede from the Republic and join the Separatist movement.^[30] Separatist sentiment indeed soon spread, and on some planets dissatisfaction turned into armed resistance against the Republic. Propaganda in Dooku's name flooded communications networks, though much of it could not be directly attributed to him.^[31] Dooku himself had a mobile base of operations and no fixed address. Rumored sightings of him were headline news across the Republic.^[30]

As his fame grew, Dooku became a figure of great controversy. An unknown party posted a large illegal bounty for his death,^[32] and several bestsellers were written about his rise to prominence in galactic affairs.^[31] As the threat of violence spread, the Republic considered the Military Creation Act to better oppose the Separatists with an official Republic military. Pretending to seek peace, Chancellor Palpatine made a public address offering to meet Dooku on Bothawui, but Dooku did not answer.^[33] Even as the Separatist movement grew and coalesced around Dooku as a leader, the Jedi Council did not believe he could be behind the violence that the movement sometimes caused.^[30]

During this period, Dooku sought secret allies for his future plans. The Fondor shipyards were critical to the plots of the Sith Lords, but three schemers plotted to destroy them for their own personal gain. Groodo the Hutt, Senator Rodd of Fondor, and Kuati droid designer Hurlo Holowan formed a pact to crash a ship into the yards, crippling their production. This conspiracy came to the attention of both Dooku and Techno Union leader Wat Tambor. Dooku sent Jango Fett to capture the three plotters alive, while Tambor hired the Trandoshan Cradossk to kill them. Fett outwitted Cradossk and his son Bossk to capture Rodd and Groodo,^[34] although he subcontracted Holowan's capture to Zam Wesell.^[35] Dooku, having convinced Tambor to cancel the other bounty on the trio, accepted the prisoners from Fett. He offered the three of them the opportunity to work for him, in exchange for their lives. Rodd, Groodo, and Holowan accepted Dooku's proposal.^[36] Dooku also recruited scientist Jenna Zan Arbor to the Separatist movement, and attempted to enlist Granta Omega, the son of Qui-Gon Jinn's apprentice Xanatos, to his cause. However, Omega was killed before he could enter the Count's service.^[37]

Although Jango Fett spent much of his time training the Alpha-class Advanced Recon Commandos of the Kamino clone army,^[38] he was kept on call by the Count for the occasional mission. Shortly before the clone army reached maturity, Dooku sent Fett to kill a group of Kuati rebels that were harassing his allies. The bounty hunter brought his son Boba Fett along, gave him a thermal detonator, and used him as a distraction by sending him into the camp. While Boba was questioned, Jango killed the entire rebel encampment on Dooku's orders. This mission was the beginning of Boba Fett's training as a warrior.^[39]

Dooku's next move was to try to arrange the secession of the planet Ansion. Ansion was the hub of a network of minor alliances, including the Malarian Alliance and the Keitumite Mutual Military Treaty. Due to these pacts, Ansion's secession would prompt many other wavering worlds to consider leaving the Republic. Commerce Guild President Shu Mai and Ansion Senator Mousul orchestrated Dooku's plan through various agents, backing the Separatist-inclined Unity of Community government against Ansion's Alwari nomads. The plan failed due to the intervention of Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luminara Unduli as well as their Padawans Anakin Skywalker and Barriss Offee. In response, Dooku shrugged off the loss and informed Shu Mai that Ansion was not necessary in the grand scheme of the Separatist movement.^[40]

Shu Mai had also dealt with a small rebellion among the secret supporters of secession in the Commerce Guild. Industrialist Tam Uliss wished to step up the Commerce Guild's plans to bring down the Republic despite Ansion's failure to secede and against Shu Mai's wishes. Shu Mai informed Dooku that she had given Uliss's faction an object lesson by killing Uliss in a staged accident. Dooku was pleased, telling Shu Mai that his own plans were nearing completion.^[40]

A conspiracy revealed

Some of Dooku's allies were more reluctant than others. Nute Gunray insisted on the death of Padmé Amidala, the Senator and former Queen of Naboo who had led to Gunray's defeat in the ill-fated invasion of Naboo, as a prerequisite for the secession of the Trade Federation.^[19] Dooku sent Jango Fett to kill the Senator, but Fett decided to subcontract the task to Zam Wesell. The Jedi thwarted Wesell's assassination attempt, and Fett was forced to kill Wesell and leave without killing Amidala. Obi-Wan Kenobi then traced the weapon Fett used back to the planet Kamino. He discovered Fett there, as well as the clone army that Sifo-Dyas had once ordered. The army was now fully grown and ready for delivery to the Republic.^[22]

Fett escaped arrest on Kamino and fled to Geonosis, where a meeting between Dooku, the heads of many major business and economic interests, and selected senators was taking place. Many of these had long been allies of Dooku, such as Commerce Guild head Shu Mai and Archduke Poggle the Lesser. This meeting resulted in the formation of a new Confederacy of Independent Systems to oppose the Republic. Of the major factions present, the Corporate Alliance, Geonosian Industries, the Techno Union, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and the Trade Federation became signatories to the treaty to form the Confederacy, while the Commerce Guild pledged unofficial support to the fledgling government. Kenobi, still pursuing Fett, discovered this meeting and attempted to inform the Jedi Council. However, Kenobi was captured by the Geonosians midway through his transmission. He was accused of espionage and thrown into a prison cell.^[22]

Deciding to interrogate Kenobi personally, Dooku visited the cell where the Jedi was held. The Geonosians had placed Kenobi in a containment field to immobilize him and disrupt his access to the Force. The captive Kenobi immediately accused the Count of treason, but Dooku claimed the Jedi's capture had been a mistake. While questioning the prisoner, Dooku sifted through Kenobi's memories, looking for weak points in his defenses.^[41] The Sith Lord then attempted to sway Kenobi to his side, claiming the Republic was incurably corrupt and that Qui-Gon Jinn himself would have joined Dooku if he knew the truth. When Kenobi refused to believe that his former Master would have ever abandoned the Jedi Order and the Republic, Dooku told him that Darth Sidious, a Sith Lord, had control over the Senate. He made one last appeal for Kenobi to defect, saying that together the two of them could destroy the Sith. Kenobi refused the offer. Disappointed, Dooku left the Jedi in his cell and mentioned that it would be difficult to secure his release.^[22]

Battle of Geonosis

Arena bloodbath

Count Dooku enters the Petranaki arena.

Obi-Wan Kenobi's transmission to Coruscant had reached Anakin Skywalker and Senator Padmé Amidala on Tatooine, and the two of them attempted to rescue Kenobi despite orders from the Jedi Council to stay put. Both were captured trying to infiltrate the Geonosian stronghold where Kenobi was being held. Dooku offered clemency in return for Amidala supporting the Separatists, but she refused. The two would-be rescuers were both sentenced to death in the arena by the Geonosians following a quick trial.^[22]

Kenobi had also been sentenced to death in the same manner, and the three of them met again in the Petranaki arena. They were chained to poles, and an acklay, a reek and a nexu were released to devour them. Dooku, Gunray, Fett, and others observed from a high balcony, while Geonosian spectators packed the stands. However, the execution did not go precisely as planned, and the three escaped their chains. Gunray was furious that the three prisoners weren't dying as planned and ordered Fett to shoot them, but Dooku advised patience and countermanded the order.^[22]

The three prisoners were still dodging the arena monsters when the executions were interrupted by the sudden arrival of Jedi reinforcements. Anakin Skywalker had retransmitted Kenobi's message to the Jedi Council, and they had dispatched a strike team led by Mace Windu, who surprised Dooku on the balcony, but spoke with him briefly instead of ambushing him. Fett then drove the Jedi Master off the balcony and onto the arena floor.^[22]

The clones attack

Count Dooku attempts to flee the Battle of Geonosis.

Dooku had been anticipating the arrival of the Jedi reinforcements and revealed that the captured Jedi were simply bait for a trap. Ten thousand battle droids awaited Windu's task force, as well as numerous Geonosian warriors. The new Separatist Droid Army of the Confederacy overwhelmed the reinforcements, and many Jedi died while Dooku observed from the balcony.^[22]

The Count did not join the battle personally, though Jedi Master Coleman Trebor reached the balcony and attempted to attack him. Fett killed Trebor, but was slain himself by Mace Windu when he descended to the arena floor. After the Jedi had taken significant losses and were trapped in the arena, Dooku ordered the droids to cease fire. He then called on Windu to surrender, but he refused.^[22]

The remaining Jedi prepared to meet their fate, but their rescue was at hand. Dropships descended from the sky, carrying Yoda and many clone troopers. The Jedi Order had taken command of the clone army Dooku had helped create, just as the Sith had planned. The droids opened fire again, but the reinforcements provided enough cover for the arena survivors to escape onto the dropships.^[22]

Similar landings took place outside the arena, where Trade Federation core ships had been parked. A clone invasion swept across Geonosis, and the Separatist forces were forced into full retreat. The leadership of the new Confederacy regrouped in the Geonosian command center, and agreed to abandon Geonosis. Dooku pretended not to know how the Republic had gathered such a powerful army in so short a time, while Poggle the Lesser commanded his warriors to hide in the catacombs under the Stalgasin hive. Poggle also entrusted the plans of the Geonosians' Ultimate Weapon to Dooku to keep the Jedi from discovering them.^[22]

Jedi confrontation

Dooku himself fled to his secret hangar on a speeder with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker in close pursuit. They arrived as Dooku was preparing his solar sailer for launch and confronted him. Kenobi instructed Skywalker to be cautious in his approach, but Skywalker charged at Dooku. The young Jedi Padawan was unprepared for Dooku's resulting blast of Force lightning that hit him and telekinetically threw him against the wall of the hangar. Skywalker collapsed to the floor, temporarily incapacitated, leaving Kenobi alone to face Dooku.^[22]

Dooku battles Anakin Skywalker.

Kenobi successfully deflected another blast of lightning from Dooku with his lightsaber, but as the duel went on, it became clear he was outmatched in blade-to-blade combat. Toying with his opponent, Dooku slashed Kenobi in the arm, and then the thigh. Incapacitated, Kenobi dropped his blade and fell to the floor. Dooku raised his lightsaber blade for the killing stroke, but before it fell, Skywalker, recovering from his previous injuries, hurtled across the room and parried the blow.^[22]

Kenobi was too injured to rejoin the fight, but he Force-pulled his lightsaber into grasp and tossed it to Skywalker, who then attacked Dooku with both blades swinging. While Dooku was initially driven back, he adjusted his tactics, forcing Skywalker to retreat and destroying one of his two blades. The duel continued, intensifying, until Dooku found an opening in Skywalker's defense and sliced off his forearm. Victorious against both his opponents, Dooku prepared to flee, knowing other Republic forces would arrive.^[22]

Before he could escape, however, one last Jedi confronted him: Yoda. Dooku attempted to defeat his old Master with a combination of Force lightning and hurling machinery and parts of the hangar roof at him. When that failed, Dooku insisted on settling their contest with a lightsaber duel. Leaping into action, the two engaged in a fierce duel. Yoda, using his mastery of the Force, showed great agility as he leaped about the room, but neither was able to gain the upper hand.^[22]

Dooku meets with Darth Sidious on Coruscant.

However, time was on Yoda's side. Forced to act due to incoming Republic and Jedi reinforcements, Dooku used the Force to topple a massive power column towards the wounded Kenobi and Skywalker in an effort to distract Yoda. As the Jedi Master broke off the duel to save the two Jedi, Dooku made his escape in his Geonosian solar sailer. Seconds later, clone troopers led by Padmé Amidala arrived in the hangar.^[22]

Having fled the battle, Dooku set his course for Coruscant, landing undetected on the Republic capital with his solar sailer. In The Works he met with his Master and informed him that events were moving forward and the long-planned war had begun. Darth Sidious was pleased with what his apprentice had accomplished.^[22]

Clone Wars (22 BBY–19 BBY)

Early conflicts

Duel on Bakura

Dooku incapacitating Sora Bulq on Bakura.

Immediately after reporting to Sidious in the wake of the Battle of Geonosis and the beginning of the Clone Wars, Dooku headed to his secret base on Bakura to regroup the scattered Separatist forces. However, Jedi Master Tholme anticipated Dooku's journey to Bakura, and lay in wait with Vaapad master Sora Bulq. The pair hoped to capture the Sith Lord, and confronted Dooku while he was still fatigued from the events on Geonosis.^[42]

The three combatants engaged in a ferocious lightsaber duel, during which Dooku used Force lightning to take down Bulq. He then tried to bring Tholme over to the dark side, but Tholme refused. Dooku attacked Tholme, viciously stabbing through his shoulder and back before removing the Jedi's left eye. Finally, Dooku brought the roof down upon Tholme, leaving him under a vast pile of rubble. He then left with the unconscious body of Sora Bulq.^[42]

Dooku tended to Bulq's wounds and converted him to the dark side of the Force through persuasion. Sora Bulq would become a loyal ally to Dooku and a valuable asset for the Confederacy during the war. The Count dispatched Bulq to rescue the injured Tholme from the rubble, so that Bulq would be able to work within the Jedi Temple on Dooku's behalf without suspicion.^[42]

Artifacts and war machines

As the Clone Wars continued, Dooku became more and more feared across the galaxy due to his role as the head of the Separatist forces. One of the first campaigns in the war involved the re-creation of the Dark Reaper, an ancient Sith weapon. The power source of the Dark Reaper, known as the Force Harvester, was buried on Raxus Prime. While Dooku was supervising this excavation, he placed a live bounty on Jango Fett's son Boba Fett, who had slipped away during the Battle of Geonosis. The bounty hunter and former Jedi Aurra Sing captured Fett and brought him to Dooku on Raxus Prime. Dooku housed the young Fett while he determined how much the boy knew about the Count's Sith identity, and initially indicated that he would take responsibility for his upbringing.^[43]

Fett ignored the rules Dooku had set for his stay and investigated the excavation. Irritated at this and by Fett's clumsy threat to reveal his dual identities, Dooku ordered the young bounty hunter to be terminated. However, due to an imminent Jedi attack, he left the task to his new bodyguard, Cydon Prax. As a result, Fett escaped Dooku's enforcers and fled.^[44]

Dooku and Cydon Prax found the ancient Force Harvester just as forces led by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker arrived and attacked the Separatists with a clone army. Dooku and Prax boarded a cruiser loaded with the Force Harvester as the Republic forces overwhelmed the Separatists, but Skywalker spotted Dooku and charged after him. He confronted Dooku in the cargo bay of the cruiser. Unconcerned, Dooku mentioned he was curious what effect the Force Harvester would have on a Jedi. The two briefly dueled before Prax shot Skywalker with a tranquilizer dart.^[5]

Dooku imprisoned Skywalker and took him to Alaris Prime, one of Kashyyyk's moons. He had decided to test the Force Harvester there, but his plan was foiled when Skywalker escaped and freed the Wookiees, rallying a resistance force. In the confusion, Dooku fled, taking the Force Harvester with him. He used the Harvester to drain the life-force from inhabitants of Aargonar, Bakura and Mon Calamari before retreating to Thule to prepare the rest of the Dark Reaper for use.^[5]

His plan for the Dark Reaper was finally thwarted when the Jedi attacked Thule. Dooku unleashed the Dark Reaper on the Republic's forces, but Skywalker broke through the Separatist lines to reach it, killing Cydon Prax. Having learned from a hologram of the ancient Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma how to resist the effects of the Sith weapon, Skywalker destroyed the Dark Reaper and the Force Harvester that fueled it. With the Dark Reaper gone, Dooku fled the field.^[5] This series of victories was a coup for Republic propagandists, who claimed the Confederacy was on the run. Dooku attempted to refute this assertion in a public statement, claiming Raxus Prime and other worlds were only temporary bases and the most important Separatist planets remained secure and well-guarded.^[45]

Another weapon the Confederacy acquired was a new type of war machine, the Decimator. These Decimators were stolen from the Republic due to their potential to swing the war against the Separatists. The machines were captured by Dooku's most trusted general, Sev'rance Tann, on the planet Eredenn Prime. Tann was a Chiss Force-user and a skilled tactician who had served Dooku since before the Battle of Geonosis.^[46]

Before Dooku acquired the Dark Reaper, Tann assaulted the Wookiee-inhabited moon of Alaris Prime to capture the activation codes for the Decimators. After that success, Dooku ordered her to invade and capture the Republic energy world of Sarapin with her army. While Tann succeeded in capturing the world, she did not hold it for long. The Republic struck back, retaking Sarapin and later defeating and killing Tann at the