In Attack of the Clones, Count Dooku was introduced as a central villain. Formerly dubbed Darth Tyrannus, Dooku had left the Jedi for the dark side and the Sith. Yet, how evil was he really? This is a highly debated question, with Dooku depicted as in the range of not so evil to pure evil.
How Evil Was Dooku?
We see Dooku starting on the light side, then shift to the dark. So, we may think it was the dark side that overcame him, or “turned on him as it usually does,” and only then he became evil. Then again, Dooku killed Yaddle and ordered many others to be killed and those actions may have made him evil earlier or from the start.
This discussion offers a similar range of opinions. We may argue that Dooku “had honorable intentions” to fix corruption in the Republic and ultimately was good, like Vader. Or, we may contend that he was as evil as any Sith Lord, which places him in a category of deeper, long-lasting evil.
Coinciding with the latter argument, we could recognize Dooku’s “many atrocious war crimes during the Clone Wars.” Dooku ordered “the genocide of Mahran refugees,” the purge of the Nightsisters, and the kidnapping of the infant Rotta from Jabba. Dooku also arranged for the Pike Syndicate to kill Jedi Sifo Dyas, following Sidious’ command.
While there are merits to this perspective, the reasoning that places Dooku on the less evil side of the continuum makes more sense. We should remember that he spent almost 70 years as a Jedi before he was swayed to the dark side by Palpatine. Dooku was in the company of Anakin-Vader who likewise became sucked in by the dark side.
We may cite Dooku’s killing of his brother Ramil as an indication of Dooku’s evilness. Yet, Dooku acted against Ramil’s evilness and protected the planet Serenno. Instead of evil from the start, Dooku was drawn into evil and then still tried to pursue his own course of action.
How Dooku Was Not That Evil
We may even go so far as to claim that Dooku “was never quite a Sith, at least not in the true sense.” He is not motivated by fear and hatred, as other Sith, and “tried to spare Obi-Wan Kenobi on two occasions.” Dooku instead tried to reveal the corruption of the Jedi and bring Obi-Wan over to the Separatists, a less evil move than trying to immediately take him down.
Here we have a clear list of reasons for how we could argue that Dooku was not evil at all. The strongest point is that Dooku “was planning to kill Palpatine” and maybe take down the Sith entirely. Dooku did not support the agenda of the Sith or Jedi and was carving a new path to follow.
We should emphasize how “Dooku became a Sith Lord in hopes of destroying corruption and injustice.” That plan did not work out, and instead, Dooku evolved into a dark lord who carried out bad deeds. Further, from The Clone Wars series, we can recognize how Dooku sought to overthrow Palpatine and probably disagreed with the way of the Sith.
As this video contributes, Dooku was subject to “a smear campaign against his character” that emphasized him as an “evil mastermind” bent on establishing “chaos.” We may well agree that Dooku had “an independent mind” that did agree with the strict Jedi life and its unbending doctrines.
In essence, Dooku went against “the system” and became labeled as evil. He did indeed carry out evil acts but it was not his inherent way and one that he attempted to divert from.
Dooku Not Full Sith Evil
Although we don’t want to dismiss Dooku’s acts of violence and oppression, we can see how this side of Dooku was due to his role in the machinations of the dark side and Sidious. We could situate Dooku along a continuum as not fully Sith evil, and evil from his downfall like other famed Jedi.