Originally posted by Advent
But during the one-on-one portion of the duel, where the NEC claims that Dooku was "fighting for his life" is where he was giving his all against Anakin and lost (hence "outclassed"😉. As well, the novelization writes that Dooku was no longer playing games and that it was "time to kill" after he realized that he could die (which happened even before he engaged Anakin solo), so for the portion that Dooku wasn't putting full effort into the fight - neither were Anakin or Kenobi.
The point is that he wasted several chances to kill Skywalker before that happens. That he, after "playing" with him and Kenobi and taunting Anakin into using the Dark Side suddenly goes "Oops. I'm totally f*cked", doesn't mean much here. Has he went into the fight with all he could from the beginning on and had he used his chances instead of wasting them, both Jedi would have died. Without a doubt.
I wonder how hard that would've been exactly at a time when they were both employing ploy forms.
Sorry, Advent. But that did never happen. The movie interpretation overwrites the novel and both Jedi in the movie do start off with their regular forms. Anakin starts with a two-handed overhead strike (clear Djem So movement) while Kenobi starts with his regular Soresu opening. You can either believe that or assume that both Jedi are "faking forms" until the point where one of them is knocked out of the fight and the other one lies on the ground helpless. Doesn't sound too smart on their side.
The movie may give the impression that he was controlling the battle, but take notice that it cuts away when Anakin and Dooku are fighting on the stairs. Since we aren't taken back to the duel until he tosses Kenobi around like a ragdoll, the novel should be taken into consideration for that duration of time. And the novel states that Anakin was pushing him on the defensive and kicking his ass heavily even while holding back.
What are you talking about, Advent? The movie cuts away from Anakin and Dooku for about 15 seconds in which we see Kenobi walking up the other side of the stairs and destroy the two droids there. When he arrives at the top, we see Dooku and Anakin standing there and Dooku instantly force pwns Kenobi. And what is descriped in the novel, Advent, happens before Dooku does acttualy move up the stairs. I didn't Anakin or Obi-Wan "kicking his ass" anywhere in that time in the movie.
Utilizing the dark side would cloud one's mind, yet Anakin's mental state is described as being "crystal clear". This would make no sense if we followed your explanation, Nai.
Really, Advent. How can you quote that words and, as it seems, ignore everything standing right next to them in the novel?
But Palpatine's words rage is your weapon have given Anakin permission to unseal the shielding around his furnace heart, and all his fears and all his doubts shrivel in its flame.
When Count Dooku flies at him, blade flashing, Watto's fist cracks out
from Anakin's childhood to knock the Sith Lord tumbling back.
When with all the power that the dark side can draw from throughout the universe, Dooku hurls a jagged fragment of the durasteel table, Shmi Skywalker's gentle murmur I knew you would come for me, Anakin smashes it aside.
His head has been filled with the smoke from his smothered heart for far too long; it has been the thunder that darkens his mind.
On Aargonar, on Jabiim, in the Tusken camp on Tatooine, that smoke had clouded his mind, had blinded him and left him flailing in the dark, a mindless machine of slaughter; but here now, within this ship, this microscopic cell of life in the infinite sterile desert of space, his firewalls have opened so that the terror and the rage are out there, in the fight instead of in his head, and Anakin's mind is clear as a crystal bell.
Yeah. His mind is crystal clear, because he now projected all his Dark Emotions to the outside, to his own fight with Dooku. He still used his emotions, his dark feelings, to overcome Dooku. He simply controlled them for a brief amount of time instead of being controlled by them. The result, however, is still the same: He used the Dark Side by using his rage, anger, fear, grief against his enemy.
Would what happen? Anakin outclassing Dooku? According to the novel, yes. I've posted passages from the novel on numerous occasions, but again:"[...] the Sith Lord spent lavishly of his reserve of the Force merely to meet these attacks without being cut in half.
Each parry cost Dooku more power than he'd used to throw Kenobi across the room; each block aged him a decade.
He no longer even tried to strike back. Force exhaustion began to close down his perceptions, drawing his consciousness back down to his physical form, trapping him within his own skull until he could barely even feel the contours of the room around him..." (Revenge of the Sith, Ch. 3).
All of the above occurring during the off-screen period, which suggests they're canonical.
Advent. You may probably want to read the novel again and watch the movie again. The only time period where we don't see Anakin and Dooku fighting is when we see Obi-Wan taking out the droids. Everything else happens onscreen. And the passages you've quoted are obviously describing the fight after Kenobi has already been taken out of the fight and after Dooku has taunted Anakin to use the Dark Side. So. You didn't answer my question.
It didn't make him stronger, Nai. In fact, the novelization states as follows:"They stood nearly toe-to-toe, blades flashing faster than the eye could see, but Skywalker had lost his edge: a simple taunt was all that had been required to shift the focus of his attention from winning the fight to controlling his own emotions." (Revenge of the Sith, Ch. 3).
Can you point out where exactly it states that Dooku knew it would make Anakin more powerful? As far as was indicated it had the opposite effect, that is until Anakin realized how to focus his negative emotions into "weapons".
It finally did make him stronger, Advent. You simply can't deny that. The initial effect might have been a different one. Still Dooku must have known what the Dark Side works like, as he had taken the way down to the Dark Side himself. He might have thought that Anakin wouldn't have been able to utilize his Dark Side emotions. Still he taunts him by saying that he can sense Anakin's dark emotions and then ask "Why don't you use[/b them?" Not to mention that Lucas confirmed in the RotS commentary that Dooku, with that, was trying to draw Anakin over to the Dark Side. So obviously he [b]wanted Anakin to utilize his dark feelings - he just underestimated the effect.
The reason for that action is answered by the novel too, which quite simply states that Dooku didn't want to take any chances.
No. There is no reason for that action, Advent. The force choking and the flight through the room, hitting that metal structure, had already knocked Kenobi out. Dooku caused no additional damage with dropping the metal structure down on the Jedi. Even if he should have assumed that Kenobi might get up once more after that attack - turning on Skywalker, whom he had send flying into the next wall, to get rid of that problem first would have been the more logical decision.
Initially, he actually gained the advantage because of it.
According to the novel, Advent. In the movie, once he taunted Anakin, he gets forced backwards and finally disarmed by the young Jedi in less than 15 seconds.
Or he was trying to break Anakin down mentally by using Dun Möch, but it backfired on him - which is supported by an official source rather than your interpretation of what he expected.
Telling somebody that he shall use his fear and anger doesn't qualify as an application of Dun Möch, imho.
He taunted him so Skywalker would lose his advantage, which did happen. The problem was - as stated above - that the end result didn't turn out the way the Count had planned.
See Advent. We are once confronted with the problem that what does happen in the novel doesn't happen in the film. The "taunt" in the novel, is this:
"I sense great fear in you. You are consumed by it. Hero With No Fear, indeed. You're a fraud, Skywalker. You are nothing but a posturing child."
Yes. That does qualify as Dun Möch, obviously and the reaction Anakin shows to this is "confusion", which places him in a position of disadvantage. In the movie, however, Dooku is saying that here:
"I sense great fear in you, Skywalker. You have hate, you have anger, but you don't use them."
I think that is a notable difference. He's not attacking Anakin as a person like he does in the novel. He is pretty much telling him to use his emotions. He wants Anakin to use the Dark Side to eventually defeat him, because he wants to turn the young Jedi to the Dark Side, as confirmed by George Lucas himself in the RotS commentary. He's pretty much doing the same with Anakin that Sidious did to Luke in RotJ - with the difference that Dooku didn't have Vader to save his life (which he did expect from Sidious as shown in the novel), but instead Sidious betrays him.