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The Problem of Count Dooku
Count Dooku is a character that causes some problems when contemplating the SW universe.
He's a member of the Republic aristocracy, a Jedi who resigned from the Order, and a Sith. His surface goals are noble -- the Separatist movement had a lot of sense behind it in hindsight, even if the leaders were mostly loathsome and self-interested -- and yet he's working for one of the most calculating and devious of politicians.
But from the movies themselves, it's very hard to tell what his motivations are. He's more of a stock villain than anything else, and that makes for a thin backstory at best.
Personally, I think he was listening to the will of the Force, filtered and distorted through his own emotions. He'd gotten caught up in the Jedi habit of thinking the ends justify the means, and the end he wanted (a renewed Republic?) justified some very nasty means, indeed.
Dooku must have been magnificent once, as he was Yoda's students and Qui-Gon's master, and I doubt that you could deal with either one of them, let alone both, without being something quite amazing yourself. He's still quite impressive when Obi-Wan encounters him in AotC, as he's managed to get all the diverse interests that make up the Separatists following *him*.
The fact that he and Palpatine were running a two-man con on such a massive scale was pretty damned impressive, even if Dooku was foolish enough to believe that Palpatine wouldn't turn on him when it was convenient. I wonder if Dooku thought by causing an external problem, that the Republic would sort itself out and revitalize?
Was he also hoping to shake the Jedi Order up? Destroy the Sith from the inside? He actually asks Obi-Wan to join him to that end in AotC, which suggests that Dooku still thought of himself as not-a-Sith. He tells Obi-Wan the exact truth, that the Republic is under control of Darth Sidious -- neglecting to mention that Sidious is Palpatine -- and yet goes to Palpatine and happily confirms that war has started.
Combine with the implications that Dooku was the one to arrange for the creation of the Clone Army ten years before AotC -- or shortly after TPM if you are keeping your eye on the timeline -- the sense I get out of all this is that Dooku was a rogue agent.
He was *trying* to bring down the Sith, and trying to reform the Republic by force. It's just that his method was to go outside the Jedi Order and the Senate authority and act as a lone wolf.
In the end, he was magnificent and brave and so wrong-headed as to make one weep. His failure was a failure of the Jedi as a whole -- arrogance to the point of horror, self-reliance to the point of foolishness, and callous indifference to suffering to the point of disaster.
He's a member of the Republic aristocracy, a Jedi who resigned from the Order, and a Sith. His surface goals are noble -- the Separatist movement had a lot of sense behind it in hindsight, even if the leaders were mostly loathsome and self-interested -- and yet he's working for one of the most calculating and devious of politicians.
But from the movies themselves, it's very hard to tell what his motivations are. He's more of a stock villain than anything else, and that makes for a thin backstory at best.
Personally, I think he was listening to the will of the Force, filtered and distorted through his own emotions. He'd gotten caught up in the Jedi habit of thinking the ends justify the means, and the end he wanted (a renewed Republic?) justified some very nasty means, indeed.
Dooku must have been magnificent once, as he was Yoda's students and Qui-Gon's master, and I doubt that you could deal with either one of them, let alone both, without being something quite amazing yourself. He's still quite impressive when Obi-Wan encounters him in AotC, as he's managed to get all the diverse interests that make up the Separatists following *him*.
The fact that he and Palpatine were running a two-man con on such a massive scale was pretty damned impressive, even if Dooku was foolish enough to believe that Palpatine wouldn't turn on him when it was convenient. I wonder if Dooku thought by causing an external problem, that the Republic would sort itself out and revitalize?
Was he also hoping to shake the Jedi Order up? Destroy the Sith from the inside? He actually asks Obi-Wan to join him to that end in AotC, which suggests that Dooku still thought of himself as not-a-Sith. He tells Obi-Wan the exact truth, that the Republic is under control of Darth Sidious -- neglecting to mention that Sidious is Palpatine -- and yet goes to Palpatine and happily confirms that war has started.
Combine with the implications that Dooku was the one to arrange for the creation of the Clone Army ten years before AotC -- or shortly after TPM if you are keeping your eye on the timeline -- the sense I get out of all this is that Dooku was a rogue agent.
He was *trying* to bring down the Sith, and trying to reform the Republic by force. It's just that his method was to go outside the Jedi Order and the Senate authority and act as a lone wolf.
In the end, he was magnificent and brave and so wrong-headed as to make one weep. His failure was a failure of the Jedi as a whole -- arrogance to the point of horror, self-reliance to the point of foolishness, and callous indifference to suffering to the point of disaster.
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I know there is at least one EU book out there that covers their relationship as Master and Apprentice, but I haven't read it. The EU is something I regard as quasi-canonical, for a lot of reasons.
But I do think that Dooku was a major influence on Qui-Gon, and possibly vice versa. Dooku certainly sounds fond of Qui-Gon when he speaks of him in AotC.
I can't agree with Dooku wanting to destroy the Sith from the inside, I do think he thought the Sith was the best way to change the Order.
He was trying to force change by presenting them with a vital threat? I could see that. I think he might have been arrogant enough about his skills to think he could walk away from being a Sith. It's not like we haven't seen arrogance from Jedi before, including Yoda who thought he could take on Sidious single-handedly.
It's scary that only a rogue Jedi could actually hear the will of the Force and follow it. I agree that he knew the Order needed changing, and I wonder why he heard it, when so many others couldn't.
I wonder if it was just a matter of not looking towards the future, but keeping himself in the now? Qui-Gon tells Obi-Wan to be mindful of the future, but to keep himself in the moment in TPM, which makes me wonder if a lot of Jedi spend so much energy trying to see the future, that they miss what is happening right under their feet in the present.
It could just be that little difference of perspective that opens Qui-Gon and Dooku (and Luke, later on) to the will of the Force.
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Oh, I like that, and yes, that's what I was thinking and didn't express clearly. (sorry, been gone all day - parent's anniversary and all that.)
wonder if it was just a matter of not looking towards the future, but keeping himself in the now?
Does it list anywhere what affiliatio with the Force the Jedi have? I know Obi-Wan leans toward the Unifiying part, and Qui-Gon toward the Living, but what about Dooku and the rest of the Jedi? I had the impression that Qui-Gon was a rarity and I'm curious of a second opinion.
And yes, I've read most of the EU novels, and one of the young adult one covers Dooku and Qui-Gon, but it doesn't give a lot of detail.