Warning: this article contains spoilers for Tales of the Jedi: Season 1! If you haven't already, be sure to check out IGN's full Tales of the Jedi review.
Star Wars fans could be forgiven for being less than enthusiastic about the animated anthology series Tales of the Jedi. The Tales of the Jedi comics are set thousands of years before the movies, a time when the galaxy is a much wilder place and where the Jedi and Sith waged open war against one another. The animated series, on the other hand, is set during the era of the Prequel Trilogy and focuses mostly on familiar faces from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. After all this time, Disney is still seemingly reluctant to venture outside the confines of the Star Wars movies.
But if Tales of the Jedi lacks the ambition and scope of the original comics, it does bring something vital to the table. The first season does something even The Clone Wars never quite managed by lending new depth and insight into Count Dooku. It finally makes good on Episode III’s promise that the Clone Wars was full of heroic characters on both sides of the conflict.
That alone is enough to make this series a must-watch for Prequel fans. Let's explore how the series is able to add so much to this enigmatic Star Wars villain.
Count Dooku: Intergalactic Man of Mystery
Christopher Lee's Count Dooku is probably the second most important villain of the Prequel movies, despite the fact that he only has a fairly limited amount of screen time in Episodes II and III. Attack of the Clones introduces him as the clandestine ringleader of the Separatist movement, a former Jedi Master who abandoned the Order and has spent the past decade quietly assisting Darth Sidious in orchestrating a galactic civil war. In Revenge of the Sith, Dooku doesn't even make it out of the film's first act before meeting his end at Anakin Skywalker's cybernetic hand.
There's a lot those movies don't tell us about Dooku. What compelled him to leave the Jedi? When exactly was he recruited by Palpatine? Does he truly believe in the Separatist cause, or is he, like his master - only interested in acquiring power and influence?
The Clone Wars spent seven seasons fleshing out the period in between Episodes II and III and exploring how characters like Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex and Asajj Ventress fit into this devastating conflict. The series promised to build on an idea only hinted at in Episode III's opening crawl, the notion that "there are heroes on both sides."
Whether it truly succeeded in that goal is open for debate, but it's hard to deny that The Clone Wars failed to truly take advantage of Dooku as one of its lead villains. The character appears in many episodes, often facing off against Anakin and Obi-Wan and sometimes even plotting against his master with minions like Ventress and Savage Opress. Yet by the time the series catches up to the events of Episode III and takes its final bow in Season 7, there's still a lot we don't know about Dooku and his past. Expanded Universe stories like the Darth Plagueis novel filled in some crucial gaps for a while, but those stories aren't part of the official Star Wars canon any longer.
Dooku is as much an enigma now as he was back in 2002. Or, at least, he was until Tales of the Jedi came along.
The Secret Origin of Darth Tyrannus
Dooku is essentially one of the two main protagonists of the first batch of Tales of the Jedi episodes, all of which are set before the character's live-action debut in Attack of the Clones. These three shorts, despite only clocking in at about the length of a single Clone Wars episode in total, reveal far more than that series ever did about what motivated Dooku's decision to leave the Jedi Order.
If there's one takeaway from these three shorts, it's that Dooku was a man of firm principles back in his Jedi Knight days. He, more than anyone else in the Order, is fed up with the corruption of the Galactic Senate. Dooku despises the fact that the Jedi have become upholders of the status quo more than the benevolent peacekeepers they were meant to be. Dooku's idealism puts him at odds with his fellow Jedi, even costing him a spot on the Jedi Council. And it’s no stretch to imagine some of that headstrong attitude rubbed off on his Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn.
That finally comes to a head in the third Dooku episode, which takes place concurrently with the ending of The Phantom Menace. Even as Masters Yoda and Windu attend Qui-Gonn's funeral on Naboo, Dooku is forced to choose between his loyalty to the Order and his alliance with Darth Sidious. In the end, Dooku chooses the Dark Side. By the time Dooku strikes down Yaddle, his old self is gone and Darth Tyrannus is born.
That episode even resolves a loose end from Attack of the Clones, as we learn it was Dooku himself who deleted Kamino’s existence from the Jedi Archives shortly before his defection.
These three episodes may only show us specific moments in Dooku's long career, but they reveal a great deal about his motivations and his outsider role in the Jedi Order. There was indeed a point where he genuinely believed in the Separatist cause. However cruel and ruthless Dooku may be during the Clone Wars, he had his reasons for defecting from the Jedi and becoming a Sith Lord.
That makes his abrupt death in Revenge of the Sith all the more tragic. Dooku threw away his life to serve a man who happily discarded him like a broken tool at the first opportunity. He started down this road with noble intentions, and by the end that choice cost him everything.
How Dooku Mirrors Anakin Skywalker
Tales of the Jedi doesn't just give Count Dooku the back-story he's been missing for 20 years, it also reveals just how much this character's rise and fall mirrors that of his replacement, Anakin Skywalker. Emperor Palpatine definitely has a type when it comes to recruiting powerful yet disposable minions.
Anakin and Dooku are both men who spend most of their careers butting heads with the Council and chafing against the rules and restrictions governing the Jedi Order. Dooku is enraged by the Republic's corruption and inaction. And Anakin - a former child slave - knows only too well that the galaxy is rife with injustice.
Both men regularly bend the rules in pursuit of what they see as the greater good. And both feel the pull of the Dark Side and the allure of unlimited power to right wrongs.
Dooku's final turn to the Dark Side acts as a clear parallel to Anakin's terrible choice in Revenge of the Sith. Just as he'll later do with Anakin, Palpatine goads Dooku into killing Yaddle and proving his commitment to their shared cause. Just like Anakin, Dooku is wracked with doubt and indecision, but he ultimately decides the only way forward is to embrace the power Palpatine offers.
We doubt Anakin ever understood how much he shared in common with his nemesis. For him, Count Dooku was just an enemy to be conquered and an old score to be settled.
But Dooku must have seen something of himself in this promising Jedi Knight being pulled into the Dark Side. Maybe Dooku even harbored secret thoughts of turning Anakin himself and overthrowing Palpatine together. We can only hope that a future season of Tales of the Jedi will delve deeper into that connection. This series has truly revitalized Count Dooku as a Star Wars villain, but there's no reason his story needs to end here.
Are you happy with how Tales of the Jedi has fleshed out this iconic Star Wars villain? What other Jedi would you like to see in the spotlight in Season 2? Let us know what you think in the comments, and then brush up on every Star Wars movie and series currently in development.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-tales-of-the-jedi-count-dooku-origin-clone-wars