The best of all would be the strongest student, yes? Wisest? Most learned in the ways of the Force? Best of all, Dooku would be! Our greatest student! Our greatest failure.
—Yoda
Maxon Dooku was a renowned Master of the Jedi Order, and, yet, was one of only twenty to leave the ranks of the Jedi.
Born on the planet Serenno, Dooku inherited tremendous amounts of wealth and the regal title of Count. He was given to the Jedi by his parents and later apprenticed to Master Thame Cerulian.
After becoming a Jedi Knight, he took Qui-Gon Jinn as his first Padawan, and later trained Komari Vosa. Dooku was a venerated teacher in the Jedi Temple and was one of the most acclaimed lightsaber duelists in the galaxy; only Masters Yoda and Mace Windu were considered his equals.
Dooku spent seventy years as a Jedi, but a catastrophic battle on the planet Galidraan fatally eroded his faith in both the Order and the Galactic Republic.
After the death of his former apprentice, Dooku fell under the sway of Senator Palpatine of Naboo, and left the Jedi Order. After learning that Palpatine was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, Dooku turned to the dark side and became a Dark Lord of the Sith himself, replacing the slain Darth Maul as Sidious's second apprentice. His new master bestowed upon him the Sith title of Darth Tyranus.
Reclaiming his birthright as Count of Serenno, and inheritor to the massive amount of wealth the title provided, Dooku worked with Sidious to manipulate the peoples of the galaxy into a war that would allow the Sith to finally achieve their rule over all. He forged connections between corporations and planets dissatisfied with the Republic, and was made the leader of a Separatist movement that eventually became the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Thousands of star systems pledged themselves to Dooku's cause, and left the Galactic Republic.
As the leader of the Confederacy, Dooku led the Separatists against the Republic in a conflict known as the Clone Wars. He both recruited and trained four of his greatest warriors to command the Separatist Droid Army—Durge, the fearsome Gen'Dai bounty hunter, Asajj Ventress, Dooku's Dark Jedi apprentice, General Sev'rance Tann, Chiss commander and Dark Acolyte, and General Grievous, the infamous Jedi-slaying cyborg.
After five years, the war came to a head in a great battle over the Republic capital of Coruscant. In a duel aboard the Separatist flagship Invisible Hand, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker defeated Dooku, and then killed the dismembered and helpless Sith Lord at the goading of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine—Tyranus' own Sith Master.
