We all know how things ended between Anakin Skywalker and Count Dooku in Revenge of the Sith. One clean saber swing, and the Count’s head was off. But what most people don’t realize is that Dooku had already hated Anakin long before that moment—and not just for the usual Jedi-vs-Sith reasons.
Turns out, the thing that really bothered Dooku? Anakin’s mechanical arm.
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It Started Back in Episode II
After their duel on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones, Dooku sliced off Anakin’s arm. That moment changed Anakin forever. He didn’t just lose a limb—he lost part of his humanity, at least in Dooku’s eyes.
Fast forward to the opening of Revenge of the Sith, and the Count was already judging Anakin for how he handled that injury.
Dooku Had Doubts From the Start – He Thought Anakin Was Undisciplined
Even before the fight on the Invisible Hand, Dooku was questioning the plan. He knew Sidious wanted Skywalker to replace him, but he wasn’t convinced.
“But I must ask, my Master: is Skywalker truly the man we want?”
“He is powerful. Potentially more powerful than even myself.”
“Which is precisely,” Dooku said meditatively, “why it might be best if I were to kill him, instead.”
You could already tell Dooku felt threatened. And not just by Anakin’s strength—but by what he represented.
Dooku wasn’t impressed with raw talent. He valued refinement and control, which Anakin absolutely didn’t have. The book makes that pretty clear:
“The boy is as much a danger to himself as he is to his enemies. And that mechanical arm—”
Dooku’s lip curled with cultivated distaste. “Revolting.”
It’s such a classic Dooku take—he couldn’t see past the chaos to the potential underneath.
The Arm? He Loathed It
This is where things got weird. After Dooku chopped off Anakin’s arm, Anakin came back with a cybernetic replacement. Most people would think that’s a sign of resilience. Not Dooku.
In the novel, Dooku’s inner monologue really lays it all out. He looks at Anakin and thinks:
“Hmp. A gentleman would have learned to fight one-handed.” Dooku flicked a dismissive wave.
“He’s no longer even entirely human. With Grievous, the use of these bio-droid devices is almost forgivable; he was such a disgusting creature already that his mechanical parts are clearly an improvement. But a blend of droid and human? Appalling. The depths of bad taste. How are we to justify associating with him?”
So yeah, Dooku basically called him tasteless. Not just because of the arm, but because he chose to replace it at all. From his point of view, Anakin should’ve adapted, fought differently, and carried that loss with dignity.
What really got me was how Dooku put Anakin in the same category as Grievous. He saw Grievous as already disgusting, so replacing his body didn’t really make things worse. But Anakin? To Dooku, Anakin had been human, and that made it worse.
Dooku had this old-school idea of what a warrior should be—disciplined, pure, honorable. So to him, blending human and machine was straight-up offensive. I didn’t realize how much that mindset shaped his view of Anakin until I read this part.
The Irony Hits Hard
The wildest part? That same mechanical arm—the one Dooku hated so much—was the one that ended up slicing his head off.
It’s funny to think Dooku saw that arm as a symbol of Anakin’s weakness, when it ended up being the exact thing that beat him. He never understood what Anakin really was becoming. He judged him for changing, and that judgment cost him everything.