Janus, I'm too tired to argue with you. I'm also sick and tired of all the namecalling and sadistic bashing you, Illustrious, and Nai give me. You, who complain about how slow the Moderators are for punishing rule breakers - and then go around and break one yourself. You're becoming a hypocrite. And that sickens me.
This is a post from Darth Faunus. He puts both Sidious and Dooku in their place. He has NO evident bias (even though he does admit he likes Dooku better). Look at this. And maybe the truth will ring loud and clear about your OWN attitudes - as well as mine.
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Posted by Darth Faunus:
I've actually heard that somewhere before. . . seriously. And this is becoming Dooku vs. Sidious all over again.
Now, I actually have to disagree with all of you on Sidious. Some of you grossly exaggerate Dooku, and although I too hold him in very high regard as a character, this is crossing the line into nonsensical bias. These two beings are far closer in most regards than is awarded to them.
Political Manipulation and the Ilk
This came up in many of the arguments, and however unrelated to a duel in-and-of itself, the debate upon which it was started should be concluded.
Sidious needs no introduction, but I'll give one anyway.
He manipulated the entire Jedi Order. Cool. They'd been through a millenium of relative peace, one without the constant Sith threat. Naturally, they were unprepared for such an event. However, that does not take the steam out of his accomplishments. He DID sneak past such Jedi as Yoda, Mace Windu, among others, keeping himself undetected as a Sith Lord for more than a decade, up until the point when he revealed his secret himself. He also manipulated the entire Republic/Imperial Senate into following him in his every course of action. Now, it was a time of war, but he was remarkably successful nonetheless.
Dooku was a political idealist, and a shrewd man in his own right. He saw the coming darkness, the corruption. He saw the signs of war, of chaos, when the Jedi Council in all their wisdom could not. He alone among all the Jedi discovered the presence of the Sith, and ferreted out Sidious himself. The only reasons in my mind that Dooku apprenticed himself to Sidious was:
1) To make his dream of a stable, controlled, uncorrupted Galactic government true and solid.
2) After the above was established, he sought to learn the ways of the Sith, who, in his mind, had the right idea.
Now, I'm not really in my mental peak here, so I can't exactly bring up too many other supportive facts for Dooku. I'm positive that there are a couple of others, but I'm sure Janus could put in some of these.
Now, the important things. . .
Dueling Capability
The superior here is somewhat apparent. But what appalls me is the utter disregard for Sidious' skill in itself. Some of you rate Sidious' saber skills so low it's ridiculous.
People, he may not be superior to Dooku, or Yoda, or Mace, for that matter, but he in no way is a poor duelist. He killed three Council-level Jedi Masters in under ten seconds. And nobody say that they weren't ready, that's bull. They were the ones standing there, sabers ignited, ready to bring in the "Chancellor", who they now knew as Darth Sidious, through means of force, if necessary. They may have underestimated him, but no, they weren't completely unprepared.
Now, for the people who think Mace could defeat Sidious; not rwally. Possible? hell yeah, it happened. Likely? Meh. If you want to use that logic, then Sidious WOULD defeat Yoda. Vader WOULD defeat Luke, and vice-versa. Anakin WOULD defeat Dooku. The list goes on and on. . .
Mace won because Sidious, in a completely uncharacteristic turn, underestimated Mace. he believed that he could defeat him as easily as the others. How wrong he was. now, it was Windu's skill that brought him out of the duel as a victor. I will NEVER debate against Mace's skill. Ever. But to say that he would, without a doubt, defeat Sidious, is just stupidity. But, back on topic now.
I personally believe that Dooku is the superior duelist. but not by the ridiculously huge margins that some here imply.
Force Power/Mastery
This is also rather close. In terms of raw power they are probably pretty close. Dooku was, afterall, considered to contain a vast amount of potential. Both Yoda and Mace considered him a terrible loss to the Order. And Sidious is, well, Sidious, the Emperor, Dark Lord, etc., etc. Whatever.
As for mastery, I'd give this to Sidious, but not by anything much. He'd probably studided Sith lore and been under the apprenticeship of Lord Plaguies for the majority of his life, sixty-five years. Now, Dooku was a Jedi for seven decades, along with thirteen years of Sith practice. So he had a fair amount of practice.
Now, I don't know for sure who'd come out on top. I can only make an educated estimate, which at the time is not something that I can give. I'll take Illustrious' take on this.