History Characters / StarWarsCountDooku

* TookALevelInJerkass: He genuinely loved Qui-Gon Jinn and was once a noble individual, before losing Qui-Gon and [[StartOfDarkness starting on a path of darkness]]. Even once his villainy is established, he is still AffablyEvil, with a few PetTheDog moments here and there. As the [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars the Clone Wars]] progress, he veers into FauxAffablyEvil and becomes more cruel and contemptuous, with less genuine hospitality than ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''. He kills his loyal followers for disagreements, tries to have Ryloth bombed, and orders the genocide of Mahran. He eventually loses his affable traits entirely, going from polite in the way he speaks to just condescending.

* TookALevelInJerkass: In ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'', Dooku becomes more cruel, contemptuous and evil with less genuine hospitality than ''Attack of the Clones''. He kills his loyal followers for disagreements, tries to have Ryloth bombed, and orders the genocide of Mahran. Similarly, he goes from polite in the way he speaks to just condescending.

* BaitTheDog: Count Dooku seems to be rather AffablyEvil and has some fondness of Obi-Wan, and seems to have genuine disappointment with Mace Windu when he knows the Jedi are outnumbered and in for a horrible fight. This veers quickly into FauxAffablyEvil when he tries to execute the unconscious Obi-Wan, and then tries to kill both Anakin and Obi-Wan as a distraction to get away from Yoda.

* FauxAffablyEvil: He's perfectly capable of acting polite but is ruthless and sadistic. This is seen as early as ''Attack Of The Clones'' when he tries to execute the unconcious Obi-Wan, and then tries to kill both Anakin and Obi-Wan as a distraction to get away from Yoda. In ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'', he veers much more into Faux Affably Evil territory which is shown for example in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E1Ambush Ambush]]" when he tries to convince King Katuunko to join him by talking very suave and flattering, but orders him killed without a second thought after the man declines. In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E10LairOfGrievous Lair of Grievous]]", Dooku also politely apologizes for the Jedi's inconvenience in going so far out of their way to grab Gunray despite Dooku hiding him elsewhere, despite it all being a trap meant to get the Jedi involved and their squad brutally slaughtered by known Jedi killer Grievous. In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', he also drops the affability, spending all his time being condescending towards Obi-Wan and Anakin as he continues to conduct himself in a gentlemanly manner.

* BenevolentBoss: When compared with the likes of Vader and Sidious, Dooku initially treats his minions well. He looks upset when Jango is killed. Dooku also initially tries to protect Ventress from Palpatine, subverted as he gives in when intimidated.

** In ''Attack of the Clones'', Dooku apologizes to Obi-Wan about the treatment and claims he will try to set him free. Dooku laments that he wishes Qui-Gon was still alive.
** Also in ''Attack of the Clones'', Dooku looks saddened after he defeats Obi-Wan and Anakin. He looks saddened by Jango Fett's death too, where every other Sith Lord in the franchise would laugh over their subordinates' weakness.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: To Obi-Wan, despite viewing him as a WorthyOpponent in an intellectual manner. Kenobi shows himself to be highly competent, intelligent, and skilled throughout the Clone Wars, and a remarkable Jedi, even to the point he's the only jedi alive besides Yoda that [[BigBad Sidious]] has any genuine respect for. Despite that, Dooku consistently and unfailingly manages to best Kenobi, and until their last fight (where Dooku is actually intimidated by Kenobi's skills), it's with relative ease. Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] when you consider [[TacticalRockPaperScissors Dooku's fighting style is in-universe seen as a hard counter to Kenobi's,]] and he's a significantly more skilled telekinetic despite being, at best, only moderately stronger in the force[[note]]Kenobi being able to match a mentally-compromised, but still enraged Anakin's force push means he might actually be ''stronger'' than Dooku in the force, if Palpatine's opinion of how Dooku stacks up to Anakin is any indication[[/note]].

* InadequateInheritor: Sidious viewed Dooku as, in his own words, a proton torpedo meant to serve his purpose and be discarded once it was time to draw Anakin to the dark side, and preferred Maul as an apprentice.
** Dooku in turn sees Anakin as this. Dooku was very proud of Qui-Gon and Rael and considered Obi-Wan a WorthyOpponent, but he never saw Anakin as worthy of inheriting his or Qui-Gon's legacy.

* AdaptationNameChange: In Brazilian Portuguese dubs and text translations, his name is changed to Dookan. This is because "Dooku" is pronounced just like the Portuguese phrase "dou o cu", literally meaning "I give the ass" or more colloquially "I get fucked in the ass." Yeah...

* DramaticIrony: Wishing to go with Qui-Gon to face the Separatists on Naboo makes him this trope. While whether or not he could've defeated Maul alone has been debated by fans, what isn't debatable is that he undoubtedly would have defeated (and likely killed) Maul with the assistance of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had he gone with them. Having Qui-Gon stay alive as his MoralityChain and having potentially revealed Sidious as an influence corrupting the republic from within would've made Dooku a significant threat to Palpatine, rather than an UnwittingPawn to be disposed of. Dooku also may have not been as merciful towards Nute Gunray and the others of what would become the separatist council, which may have ended up averting the Clone Wars entirely.
* TheDreaded: As a Sith Lord, Dooku is this to many Jedi. With Sidious' identity unknown (and his very existence questionable) to the Jedi, Dooku stood as the most powerful Dark Side user known to the Jedi. At the start of the war, other than Mace Windu and Yoda, nobody stood a chance against him.

** As far as Sidious' apprentices are concerned, Tyranus was the only one Sidious did not truly value as a student or successor, but simply as a pawn to be discarded when the time came. Maul was taken in long before taking TheChosenOne became an option, and was still seen as a WorthyOpponent of sorts after becoming a rival Sith Lord, while Sidious spent years meticulously seducing Vader to the Dark Side, and [[AdaptationalNiceGuy in the canon]] genuinely admitted to Vader that, in spite of his crippling, he is still everything Sidious hoped he would be. When discussing his previous apprentices with Vader, Sidious even comments that Maul was a lamentable loss, but Tyranus was little more than a "proton torpedo"; he fulfilled his purpose and was done away with. Somewhat of a JustifiedTrope, as Maul and Anakin both have more potential in the force than Sidious, while Dooku may or may not be, at best, comparable to Sidious, and at any rate had not fulfilled that potential despite being decades older than Palpatine (and also because, being decades older, Dooku was not a viable successor due to being likely to pre-decease Palpatine himself).

* YoungerMentorOlderDisciple: Despite being his Sith apprentice, he's actually eighteen years older than Palpatine.

* TheDreaded: As a Sith Lord, Dooku is this to many Jedi. With Sidious' identity unknown (and his very existence questionable) to the Jedi, Dooku stood as the most powerful Dark Side user known to the Jedi.

* InadequateInheritor: Sidious viewed Dooku as, in his own words, a proton torpedo meant to serve his purpose and be discarded once it was time to draw Anakin to the dark side.