Count Dooku is one Sith Lord in Star Wars that doesn’t get as much attention as his predecessors like Darth Maul and Darth Sidious. He’s not as evil-looking or intimidating as them, and lacks the visual aspect of being a villain.
Regardless, Count Dooku is still one of the main villains in Attack of the Clones and is a very powerful wielder of the dark side of the Force. But is he a real Sith? Why is he called Count instead of Darth?
To give a quick answer, yes Count Dooku is a Sith. He is publicly referred to as Count Dooku, but his secret Sith name is Darth Tyranus.
If you still have more questions about Count Dooku, keep reading for all the important details.
Table of Contents
How Did Count Dooku Become a Sith?
Count Dooku was not always part of the dark side of the Force. In fact, he originally trained to be a Jedi. Dooku was trained under Master Yoda and he went on to train Qui-Gon Jinn.
It’s hard to picture a Sith Lord being the master of a great Jedi like Qui-Gon Jinn, but Dooku was once a powerful Jedi Master. However, his pursuit of the light side of the Force reached a limit.
Count Dooku became jaded and grew distrusting of the Jedi order. He wanted more power, and felt limited by the rules of the council. He left the Jedi order to pursue more freedom and power in the dark side of the Force.
He left voluntarily and was not kicked out of the Jedi Order. In fact, Dooku’s Sith identity remained secret to most Jedi and civilians.
When Obi Wan was captured on Geonosis, Count Dooku was the one who went to speak with him. At first, Dooku appeared friendly. He spoke as if they knew each other because Qui-Gon spoke highly of Obi Wan.
However, Obi Wan knew that Dooku couldn’t be trusted and resisted Dooku’s requests to join him. Then, Dooku showed his true colors by refusing to release Obi Wan and continuing his plans with the Separatist movement against the Republic.
Eventually, Obi Wan and Anakin Skywalker battled Count Dooku and he injured them both severely. This battle shows that his powers had truly grown by using the dark side of the Force.
Despite Dooku’s victory, his power still has limits. Master Yoda challenges Dooku in battle and proves a worthy opponent. Yoda’s wisdom and knowledge of the Force is too vast to be beaten by Dooku’s lightsaber skills or Force lightning.
Dooku ends up fleeing the battle and retreating to join Emperor Palpatine. That begins the start of the Separatist war against the Republic’s clone army.
Why Didn’t Count Dooku Have Sith Eyes?
Unlike other Sith, Dooku was more of a logical enemy of the Jedi. Instead of being fueled by anger, hatred, or revenge, Dooku was fueled by power and his disappointment in the Jedi order.
Dooku joined Darth Sidious in order to grow his skill and develop more power while wielding the dark side of the Force. He took part in political strategies to combat the Jedi and rule the galaxy.
However, Dooku wasn’t fully immersed in the dark side of the Force. He wasn’t consumed by hatred and anger. He wasn’t pure evil on the inside, just warped in his perspective of authority and political power.
Since he didn’t fully give himself over to the dark side, he never got the notorious Sith eyes. These yellow and red eyes are normally found in powerful Sith that are consumed by the dark side of the Force.
Much like Kylo Ren in the sequel films, Dooku was conflicted and had mixed feelings on the Jedi and the Force in general. Many of his actions were strangely logical and could be justified by his personal perspective. In many ways, he believed he was doing the right thing.
Why Was Count Dooku’s Lightsaber Bent?
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Count Dooku’s curved lightsaber hilt is one of the more unique weapons we see in the Star Wars saga. Despite its odd shape, it proves to be quite useful in battle.
Dooku designed his lightsaber with a special bent shape to be more precise and suit his combat style. Dooku has an elegant fighting style and often uses only one hand to fight battles. This lightsaber shape gives him greater control for powerful attacks during a duel.
Since Dooku is a Sith, his blade glows red. This is a trope of the Sith appearance, but it doesn’t happen naturally. Count Dooku had to build his lightsaber himself and use a red kyber crystal from Darth Sidious to make his lightsaber glow red.
Conclusion
Even though Count Dooku left the Jedi Order to become a powerful Sith Lord, it inevitably ended up causing his downfall. As he ended up learning, the Sith may be powerful, but they can’t be trusted.
In a battle with Obi Wan and Anakin, Dooku ends up losing the duel and his lightsaber. Anakin had him cornered with two sabers at his throat.
Palpatine, still unknown as the Sith Lord to the Jedi, was sitting nearby and told Anakin to kill Count Dooku. Though the Jedi didn’t know this, Palpatine was ordering the murder of his own Sith apprentice.
Anakin ultimately kills Dooku, but feels guilty as it’s not the Jedi way. Even so, Palpatine was just opening the space to gain a new Sith apprentice: Anakin.
Count Dooku put his trust in the dark side of the Force in order to gain its power, but in doing so he also gained the treachery that comes with being an agent of evil. His own master betrayed him. Dooku lost his Jedi and Sith community, his good public standing, and ultimately his life.