Count Dooku is one of the most interesting villains in the Star Wars franchise. Once a respectable Jedi Knight, Dooku trained under the powerful Master Yoda and even took an apprentice himself in Qui-Gon Jinn. However, Dooku slowly grew disillusioned with the Jedi Order, which he believed to have grown corrupt and hypocritical over the years. He eventually pledged himself to the Sith, learning the ways of the Dark Side from the villainous Darth Sidious (better known to the Republic as Sheev Palpatine). Together, Dooku and Palpatine launched the Clone Wars, which would inevitably result in the ultimate fall of the Jedi.

Chancellor Palpatine’s sinister plot comes to fruition during the events of Revenge of the Sith, where he exterminates the Jedi using the clone army and reorganizes the Republic into the first Galactic Empire. Dooku falls just before the execution of Palpatine’s endgame, having proven to be little more than a pawn in the Sith Lord’s game. However, a rewatch of the Prequel Trilogy and Star Wars: The Clone Wars suggests that Dooku knew much more of his master’s plan than most other pawns therein. How much did Palpatine reveal to Dooku about his plan to take over the galaxy?

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How Much of Palpatine’s Plan Did Count Dooku Know?

Dooku Seemed to Know Most of His Master’s Plan

Dooku was the official leader of the Separatists during the Clone Wars, acting as their leader in the Senate. However, unbeknownst to most of the galaxy, Dooku answered to a higher power, his master, Darth Sidious. Sidious was the true mastermind behind the Clone Wars, manipulating both sides of the conflict to serve his greater interest. No one besides the High Jedi Council suspected that there could be a deeper plot behind the Separatist movement, but even they failed to guess at the true intentions thereof. Ultimately, the Clone Wars would weaken the Jedi and the Republic, paving the way for Palpatine to order the extermination of the Jedi Order and to name himself the new Emperor of the galaxy. Very few people in the galaxy knew anything about Palpatine’s nefarious scheme, with even many of his closest advisors unaware of his true intentions. However, Count Dooku, Sidious’s apprentice and greatest asset for much of the war, appears to have known a great deal about his master’s plan.

As a fallen Jedi himself, Dooku was aware of and supported Palpatine’s plan to diminish the Jedi Order. Initially, Dooku may not have been as on board with the complete extinction of the Jedi, wishing to recruit allies in Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, by the beginning of the Clone Wars, Dooku had come around to his master’s ultimate plan to destroy the Jedi Order. It is also revealed in Star Wars: The Clone Wars that Dooku was aware of how the Jedi would be eradicated. It was he who ordered the Kaminoans to place inhibitor chips in each clone’s head which, when activated, would cause them to kill the Jedi. As such, Dooku knew all along that it would be the clones who killed their Jedi generals at the end of the war. This adds an interesting twist to the character’s actions in The Clone Wars, as he may have deliberately lost several battles, knowing that the Republic’s victories would only increase their fall at the end of the war. Moreover, Dooku knew from the beginning that Palpatine was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. He even hinted as much to Obi-Wan Kenobi just before the Battle of Geonosis, though the Jedi Knight failed to pick up on his hint. With all this knowledge, Dooku knew more about Palpatine’s plan than almost anyone else in the galaxy. However, there was one major factor that the Sith Lord remained woefully ignorant of–and it would cost him his life.

Palpatine Kept One Important Detail From Count Dooku

Palpatine Always Planned to Replace Dooku With Anakin Skywalker

Of course, the one detail about his scheme that Darth Sidious didn’t share with Count Dooku was his plan to replace him. All along, Sidious made it appear as though he planned to rule the galaxy with Dooku by his side. However, he had been planning all along to replace Dooku with an apprentice who was far younger and more powerful. Throughout the Clone Wars, Palpatine slowly corrupted the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, manipulating his emotions. Part of his evil scheme came to fruition when Anakin brutally killed Count Dooku aboard his Separatist flagship during the Battle of Coruscant. After defeating the Sith Lord in a duel, Anakin held him captive, with two lightsabers on either side of his head. Much to Dooku’s surprise, Sidious, still in the guise of the helpless Chancellor Palpatine, ordered Anakin to kill the Sith Lord. Suddenly realizing that his master had always planned to destroy him, Dooku was beheaded by his own replacement.

Shortly thereafter, Palpatine revealed himself to Skywalker and offered to make him his new apprentice in the place of Dooku. Though the Jedi resisted at first, he eventually gave in to the Sith Lord’s offer, believing that the Dark Side would help him save his wife from dying. Palpatine anointed Anakin Skywalker as Darth Vader and ordered that he exterminate the Jedi in the Temple on Coruscant. Meanwhile, clones across the galaxy murdered their Jedi generals, fulfilling Palpatine and Dooku’s plan. Unfortunately for Dooku, he wasn’t around to see it come to fruition.

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Why Did Palpatine Want to Replace Dooku?

Anakin Skywalker Was a Much Easier Apprentice to Manipulate

Although Dooku was a powerful apprentice and a strong ally, he was ultimately too dangerous for Palpatine to leave him alive. Count Dooku followed the Sith pattern of training his apprentice to murder and replace his master as the ultimate Sith Lord. During the Clone Wars, Dooku trained Asajj Ventress as his apprentice, hoping that she would one day become powerful enough to help him kill Sidious. Always one step ahead, Sidious was aware of Ventress for quite some time and eventually ordered Dooku to have her killed (though she managed to escape). Dooku later repeated this pattern by taking Savage Oppress as his new apprentice, though this partnership also failed. Sidious knew that it was only a matter of time before Dooku betrayed him, just as he had killed Plagueis before him, and decided to act first.

Moreover, Palpatine sought to turn the Chosen One against the Jedi and turn him into the most powerful Sith Lord of all time. The Sith had long been searching for the Chosen One, with dark lords like Darth Plagueis and Darth Tenebrous obsessed with discovering this incredibly powerful Force wielder. When Anakin Skywalker came to the Jedi Temple, he immediately presented the missing piece of Palpatine’s plan. Unlike Dooku, he was powerful enough to destroy the Jedi from the inside. He also had the potential to become the most powerful Force-wielders to have ever lived, making him a far more valuable apprentice than Dooku could ever be. With Anakin Skywalker at his side, Darth Sidious could truly rule the galaxy. As such, Dooku became nothing more than a pawn in Sidious’s larger scheme to attain a new and more powerful apprentice.

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