Previously, Ush said that a Dark Sider would never give up his own life for anything. I agree with this, and I doubt that Lucas ever meant to have Dooku willingly die, but here are some reasons that Dooku would allow himself to be killed:
First of all, Dooku is not your average Dark Sider. My conception of Dooku, (and this is just my opinion) is that he is not the same kind of 2-Dimensional bad guy as most of the others. He is a political idealist who wants the galaxy to be a certain way, and he has been forced to go to drastic measures to accomplish his goals. He despises the greed and corruption that has been seeping into the Republic, and has grown extremely angry with the Jedi for not doing what is necessary to restore the government to the way it should be. It is here that I believe Palpatine's deception comes into play. Palpatine tells Dooku that together they can eliminate the corrupt elements in the Republic, but the Jedi will stand in their way. Dooku, with his build up of resentment towards the Jedi, and his massive frustration with the government, agrees to be trained in the ways of the Dark Side, eventually becoming a Sith Lord. What Dooku does not see, is that Palpatine has been masterminding the corruption, and does not share his goals.
Years pass. The events of AotC transpire. Dooku is tasked with starting the clone wars, succeeds, and his usefulness to Palpatine is over. Palpatine needs a more powerful apprentice now; one that will not stand in the way of taking complete control of the galaxy and forging the Empire. Palpatine and Dooku have been watching Anakin Skywalker for a long time, and Palpatine tells Dooku that with the power of Skywalker (who the Jedi say may be the Chosen One), Dooku's ultimate goals can be accomplished. He convinces Dooku that he must bring Anakin closer to the Dark Side by having him release his anger, and by having him touch the Dark Side in the deepest way: by using one's hatred to murder another.
Dooku is so motivated to accomplish his goals that he would turn to the Dark Side, therefore giving his own life to do the same is not a gigantic stretch. This notion works if you accept the theory that Dooku is NOT an ultra-dedicated Sith who cares only for death and destruction. Of course, no matter what he may be, he has been used and deceived by Palpatine in many ways, and there are many ways in which deception could lead to Dooku's demise.
I don't think that Episode III will show that Dooku allows himself to be killed, but it is not entirely unreasonable to come up with that theory.
well, i would take it even further than that.
anakin will go into the sith with good intentions.
we will see him commit seemingly justified acts, as a previous poster stated.
he will kill the evil leaders of the trade federation, as he slaughtered the
"vicious animals" who murdered his mother. (not that i find them justified acts, but comapred to what vader does under rule of palpatine, its childsplay)
when vader is in the grip of the darkside, he does the unthinkable. he will slaughter innocent younglings, in ep4 he stands by and watches an entire world destroyed, things anakin would never have allowed to happen.
my point is, when someone joins the dark side, the good person they once were, dies. (sound familiar?) and they become a slave to their master.
dooku will die willingly, not because of an ideal, but out of spite. he is a dark shadow of the man he once was, and all of his goodness and most of all...common sense...is washed away, as was the case with vader.
vader didnt want to die at lukes hand, but he almost did nonetheless. not because luke is so powerful, but because vader egged him on to attack him.
whatever his goal, to be killed or rule the galaxy with his son, his overall goal was to serve the dark side. as is the case with dooku.
in other words: count dooku is already dead, there is only darth tyrannus.
thats how i see it anyway
Well, I mean considering the depth of Palpatine's plans, and how he methodically and patiently plots and executes them over the space of years, Palpatine must've known about the prophecies of the chosen one. And we know he had "great interest" in Anakin at his young age, yet he still had Dooku as his apprentice. So I find it to be a possibility(especially considering his nature) that Palpatine would let an apprentice of his die for the purpose of bringing his plans to pass(and we see this theme again in ROTJ, and I bet in ROTS too)
(but then maybe Palpatine didn't start to do that until after Maul...??)
I can't agree with Surgent- whatever Dooku's moives and intentions, the Dark Side twists you into a selfish creature. Self-sacrifice in ANY cause would not be an option.
Palpatine is kinda making up his plans on the spot when it comes to apprenticies. GL said Palpatine trying to replace lost ones is one of the plots of the Trilogy.
Originally posted by Ushgarak
I can't agree with Surgent- whatever Dooku's moives and intentions, the Dark Side twists you into a selfish creature. Self-sacrifice in ANY cause would not be an option.
Well, once again, I'll try to make it clear.
I completely agree with your impression of Dooku, and that's what I'm SURE Lucas means Dooku to be. I'm just giving a way for people who disagree with that position to begin an argument. I do not really think that Lucas will show Dooku to have sacrificed himself willingly.
I think it's an interesting point, even if the answer's no....and it ties in with the valid question of whether dooku knows of palpatine's plans for anakin and the prophecy, and anakin being the chosen one etc etc.....in other words, how much of palpatine's plans has dooku been made aware of.....it was worth discussing.....
Dooku, IMO, does not seek to get killed ; he takes orders from the Dark Lord and he is fuelled by greed . His ambitions would be to be a henchman and have control of some part of the galaxy. he would go to extremes to be prized by the dark lord...............................thats his agenda .
sucking up to sidious and hope of some piece of the cake