Dark Disciple

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

I like Dooku, but that's mostly because of headcanon.

Same.

My problem with the book is pairing Asajj with Vos who I always found to be a really fan fiction-y character and embodies some of the worse Star Wars story tropes. I'd say keep her solo or pair her with a better Jedi character. Their mission being hunt down and take out Dooku is a bit of a problem for me too for the obvious reason of I know they fail.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

She should be paired with Obi-Wan.

I do get why they're using Vos, though, knowing his powers from the EU and all.

 

[Phil]

I like Dooku, but that's mostly because of headcanon.

I don't follow.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I don't follow.

Headcanon being things that you make up in your head, i.e. your own interpretations of stories, events, characters, etc., and accept as canon until real canon contradicts it. A number of us such as me, Pros, Johnny, etc. have ideas about Dooku, his backstory, his motivation, and what not that make the character pretty cool. So we roll with that until we see an official canon story about those things.

 

[Phil]

I follow now.

 

[Logan]

Headcanon being things that you make up in your head, i.e. your own interpretations of stories, events, characters, etc., and accept as canon until real canon contradicts it. A number of us such as me, Pros, Johnny, etc. have ideas about Dooku, his backstory, his motivation, and what not that make the character pretty cool. So we roll with that until we see an official canon story about those things.

Care to elaborate? I've always wanted to like Dooku, but like the others I've always found him sort of dry and boring.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Care to elaborate? I've always wanted to like Dooku, but like the others I've always found him sort of dry and boring.

Sure.

Before we get started, I want to say that this post was co-written with Pros, since he and I have worked quite extensively, believe it or not, on this Dooku headcanon. Much of what you see here was written by him, in addition to what I wrote. This post will also be peppered with dialogue that I and, mostly, Pros wrote. All dialogue interactions are between Dooku and Obi-Wan Kenobi (with one exception).

So with that said, the place to start with an understanding of Dooku is with what each villain of the prequels, not counting Palpatine, represents. Including how each one represents something about Darth Vader, because they all lead towards Darth Vader. Darth Maul is a dark side religious fanatic and a weapon, much like Vader was from the fanatical wing of the Empire and was a blunt instrument used against the Jedi and against enemies of the state. Count Dooku is a revolutionary disgusted by the political and religious status quo of his day, much like Vader became disgusted with the corruption of the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Council. General Grievous is a cyborg who hates the Jedi, much like what Anakin Skywalker became. Put all of those together into one character and you have Darth Vader.

So when you’re writing Count Dooku, you have to take into account the basics of the character. Yes, he’s a Sith Lord, but he’s not a Sith Lord like any other canon Sith Lord we know about. Dooku is a political and religious revolutionary who wants to upend the status quo represented by the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Council. Without that, Dooku is essentially a mustache twirler. So that’s where we’re starting from. And all of that has the benefit of being canon - we know he’s a political idealist, per Ki-Adi-Mundi.

Once you understand that, you can start ascribing headcanon motivations and backstory to the character. Dooku is a man in pursuit of control. It’s part of what makes him a political idealist. In Dooku’s mind, the public needs to master itself (through Terror, represented by the Clone Wars) before they are able to master their own fates. He also believes, quite legitimately, in serving and not ruling. He also expects to die at the end of the Clone Wars, though he would certainly have delusions of defining his own ends - hence his apparent shock at Palpatine ordering Anakin to kill him. Count Dooku, taken down by some mere boy with delusions of prophecy? Not a fitting end for the great and gallant Count of Serenno.

And he believes very strongly in what he’s doing with the Clone Wars. No matter what atrocity he’s committing, he’s not a man who is going to apologize. Regret and remorse are muscles that atrophied from long disuse. He believes this Terror is necessary. Why feel apologetic?

"The Clone Wars. A name fit for children dreaming of adventure and excitement. All the things Yoda once warned us about. Hardly. It’s Terror, Kenobi. Abhorrent. Some might say evil. But necessary."​

Plus, he’s the Count of Serenno. Presumably he was raised in a very distant way by aristocrats and then by the Jedi Order, so he’s predisposed to having a hard time relating to people. So he finds someone like Palpatine, who always has his pulse on what people are feeling, to be very crass.

That defines even his relationship with the dark side. He never has yellow eyes. He never is shown in great fits of rage like other Sith Lords. It’s because he defines his use of the dark side as something driven by logic and control. But ultimately, despite all of the logic and the idealism, the core of the character is political and moral outrage. The Jedi Order betrayed its mission as the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, and instead became subservient to the corrupt bureaucracies of the Republic. And not only that, but they betrayed the closest thing he had to a son.

You can’t get anywhere with Dooku as a character without exploring his relationship to Qui-Gon and how profoundly Qui-Gon’s death must have affected him. After all, we know that even on Geonosis, Dooku told Obi-Wan that he wished Qui-Gon was still alive so he could help with the Separatist cause. Sure, one possible interpretation of that is that Dooku was just a dick and he was using Qui-Gon against Obi-Wan, but it’s far more interesting to take Dooku at face value and assume that Qui-Gon really did mean a lot to him and that he really did think that Qui-Gon could have helped him.

So how did the Jedi betray Qui-Gon? In multiple ways. They worked with the Senate, the source of the corruption that led to the Naboo Crisis in the first place. They sent Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan back to Naboo without any other Jedi support, despite the fact that there was evidence of the possible return of the Sith. And then after Qui-Gon died, the Jedi Council didn’t do anything to honor that sacrifice. They didn’t push for change in the Republic. They did nothing about the Trade Federation. Now, you may be saying, yeah, well, Dooku still ended up siding with Darth Sidious and was already working with him during that crisis, which Sidious created and manipulated. That's true, and I’m sure Dooku always harbored outrage towards Sidious as a result, but Dooku is also driven by logic.

By the time of the Naboo Crisis, we know that Dooku was already working with Sidious. He had already worked with Sifo-Dyas to create the clone army, he already went by the name Tyranus and recruited Jango Fett, and he had already arranged for the Pyke Syndicate to kill Sifo-Dyas over the moon of Oba Diah. What we like to think, though, is that he was standing between two worlds. He was working with Sidious (and presumably Darth Maul, which has interesting Rule of Two implications) but was probably still part of the Jedi Order. And the reason I say that is because Qui-Gon’s death should be the catalyst for him walking away from the Order. It should be the catalyst for him fully joining up with Sidious. Not because Dooku is filled with rage and evilness like other Sith Lords, but because Qui-Gon’s death and the inaction and incompetence of the Council as it related to Qui-Gon’s death show him that the Jedi Order is not something that can be reformed. It’s something that must be destroyed and replaced, as it is no longer serving Dooku’s idea of what’s good for the galaxy.

The Emperor might have described him as such:

"Lord Tyranus was outrage shackled. He was rage directed. A man of great intelligence and bravery. Yes. Fine qualities. But in his control... In that, he deluded himself, Lord Vader. Those of us who serve the Dark Side are the Dark Side. Remember that and you may one day no longer need this... prison you have constructed for yourself."​

While Dooku might have described Sidious as such:

"Lord Sidious is rage and resentment. He sneers at his betters. I saw it in my study. Of course, I've hardly considered my father and his father and his father's father betters. Men of titles and not much else. Lord Sidious is a man who seeks a title. And not much else."​

Pros and I have also worked extensively on a scene as part of an overall Dooku story we've cooked up. We set it in a prison, where both Dooku and Obi-Wan would be held prisoner, and they are just having a conversation with each other. Pros wrote most of this. The dialogue goes Dooku, Obi-Wan, Dooku, Obi-Wan, etc.

"The Dark Side is not merely about feelings, Kenobi. Indeed, one could argue that feelings are more incidental to its practice, if not to its initiation. That is something that Jedi have never quite understood."

"And you do?"

"After a fashion. Why do you believe I took that name?"

"Tyranus? Because Sith are overly theatrical?"

"A glib truth, but not the one in question. Tell me, Kenobi. Tell me the way Qui-Gon would. Feel. Do not think."

"Because... because you were another man."

"Bravo. I was two men at once, is the more accurate way to put it. Tell me, learnéd Jedi Master. Why do we divide the Force into its Light and its Dark? "

"I... I suppose it is more accurate to say that it is a spectrum?"

Dooku nodded approvingly at him, "Yes. Or an ocean. An ocean racked with dry winds and tossed by tempests. Those who brave this ocean find themselves able to access deep wellsprings. Power beyond power. Unlimited power, in truth. The Light by contrast comes from within. It is but a mere thimbleful."

"Are you telling me then, that the difference between the Light and the Dark is about--"

"Conduits. Yes. Depressingly mechanical, isn't it? The ancient order of Dathomiri Druids would go further than I do, say that ascribing lightness or darkness to the Force is but an artifice of human minds; that we use a cheap trick to describe what we cannot understand."

"And what would you say, Dooku?"

The older man shrugged, "I know only what my own experience and research told me. The Dark is a deeper place. But a more painful one. You as a Jedi, Kenobi, know that no action is without a reaction. I taught Qui-Gon that a very long time ago. The interconnectedness of things."

"And Sith believe this?"

"They live it, though most don’t care to know it."

"How then, do they--"

"--Kill, maim, harm? How do Jedi?"

"We are mindful of killing. We cannot atone in the pursuit of it, even a justified form of such an act... but the outer darkness cannot snuff out the inner light. Not without correct action and thought."

"Hm."

"You disagree?"

Dooku shrugged, "I used to believe I was a Jedi even as I delved into the Dark. I cannot say that any longer; therefore Kenobi, let me disdain to rush to judgment; I have no grounds on which to do so."

He paused.

"But to answer your question: Sith are able to do so precisely because of the effect. As one delves deeper into the dark, the pain becomes more intrinsic. Sensual almost. The power is... heady. Intoxicating. Ripping out your enemy's essence; using foul alchemickal devices to grant prolonged life; even snuffing out the lives of void-stars and quasars."

"But?"

"None can withstand such pain unscathed; that way lies madness."

"And you have escaped this? How?"

"It is as you said, good Master. By being two men, Kenobi. Dooku and Tyranus. The latter is a Sith Lord. And he would not hesitate to kill you as surely as you would not hesitate to snuff out his life... mindfully that is." He sneered those last few words.

"I believe you did say you would not judge."

"I simply said I had no grounds on which to judge; hypocrisy and pique could hardly be one of the greater sins of a Sith Lord."

Obi-Wan laughed despite himself, "I suppose you are right. So you have... compartmentalized then?"

"Let go. A Light Side technique, in many ways. The meditation and breathing exercises quite help. Pass on to Master Yoda my regards, by the by. The apercu you may keep for yourself."

The last sentence was muttered, as if an afterthought.

"But you have still done horrible things," Kenobi shot back.

"As have you."

"In a war."

"I fail to see your point."

A petty silence stretched between them. Obi-Wan had learned to master this type of silence. Let the discomfort roll over him in waves. Lie in it. Dooku seemed... restless. And so he spoke, as if he had more to say, but who he was addressing even Obi Wan could not say.

"My Master is different. He embraces the pain; the madness. He feels it weakness to try and control the Dark Side, as I did. To him, the pain becomes in truth, the only way to live. Mindfully, he might even say. It became pleasure and provenance all its own."

"Then why serve him? Such a master--"

"--Would become nothing more than a self-serving maw. Could one not say the same for a Republic that uses an army of clones like so many automatons? Can one not say the same for Jedi who order the bombardment of worlds for tactical ends and means, Master Kenobi?"

"You are deflecting Dooku."

"Says the one deflecting."

"I... am. But you are not a fool, Dooku. You must realize--"

"--I have my own calculations when it comes to my master," the Count's garrulous mood was gone and there was a waspish edge to his tone, "You will learn, Kenobi, that the tragedy of this galaxy of ours... is that we all have our reasons."

The Count rubbed his hands together as if to ward off the chill, and for a moment, Obi-Wan thought him an old man, weary and beaten. Dooku turned to him and his flat-black eyes gleamed, as if he'd read the truth in his face.

"You are thinking I am an old man, close to death, Master Kenobi. You are correct. But you don't even know what that means. Nor does Sidious. Nor even does Yoda. No, not even he. Perhaps Qui-Gon..." Dooku sighed and then trailed off. He stretched his over-tall frame for a moment and then laid down in the cot opposite Obi-Wan. He stared at the ceiling.

"You should rest, Kenobi. Tomorrow will be a worse day. And the day after that too. And the day after that as well. Until this Terror is done."​

And that is headcanon Count Dooku.

 

[Green Ranger]

tl;dr viva la revolution

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

tl;dr viva la revolution

 

[Noire]

I've seen you and Kaeb make reference to rewrites that you have written, have you guys posted them anywhere for a read?

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I've seen you and Kaeb make reference to rewrites that you have written, have you guys posted them anywhere for a read?

I never really got anywhere with mine, and Kaeb's is mostly in his head still, I believe.

Plus what Pros and I have come up with for Dooku isn't really a rewrite. I've sort of moved beyond the prequel rewrite concept. It's still kinda fun to do, but once I got into The Clone Wars, the prequels being terrible weren't as big a deal to me anymore. The Clone Wars​ shows that you can fix a lot of what's in the prequels through other stories.

 

[Green Ranger]

But can you fix the lack of OT aesthetic?

 

[Clayton]

But can you fix the lack of OT aesthetic?

Only if you mention it enough.

 

[Phil]

But can you fix the lack of OT aesthetic?

Not sure if you watch either show, but "Rebels" seems to have that OT feel and look to it. Since "The Clone Wars" is done, it'll be up to the writers and artists who use the unused scripts from the remaining seasons in books and comics.

 

[Green Ranger]

Not sure if you watch either show, but "Rebels" seems to have that OT feel and look to it. Since "The Clone Wars" is done, it'll be up to the writers and artists who use the unused scripts from the remaining seasons in books and comics.

Joke-> ------------------------------------------o

Your head-> O

 

[Phil]

I read "you" as "they".

(Shrugs)

 

[Kaeb]

My rewrites are literally just a collection of a thousand extracts/lines of dialogue/design descriptions/character ideas written in a notepad on my laptop, but per Bac, it's literally all there and I just need to write it out.

Long story short:

The Rebel Alliance is named as such because it was an alliance formed between the freed slaves of the Outer Rim and the volunteer armies of the Republic who came together to fight an onslaught of merciless warriors in the Clone Wars. None of these warriors were identical, instead the cloning aspect of that story is more a method of immortality. Each time one of their soldiers falls, they awake in a new identical body, they have unlimited soldiers essentially, kind of like Cylon regeneration in Battlestar Galactica except more horrifying and traumatizing.

Anakin and Obi Wan are names they give themselves once they become Jedi, their names are actually John Skywalker and Ben Kenobi. Skywalker isn't even his real surname, but a name given to him by other slaves on Tatooine because of his skills as a pilot that he develops by using a downed Hutt ship as a training module, almost like an arcade machine, through which he has the highest score.

John is in his late teens, Ben in his twenties.

And if you're interested in more details, I can give you more than that in a PM or something, but those are some tidbits for you off the top of my head.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I like how I suggested you read my post about Dooku in this thread, and you responded by talking about yourself.

Classic Kaeb.

 

[Kaeb]

I like how I suggested you read my post about Dooku in this thread, and you responded by talking about yourself.

Classic Kaeb.

:excited:


I knew this would be your exact reply.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

I loathe you.

Feed my hunger.