The former Jedi Master Count Dooku is the primary villain of Attack of the Clones.
Little is known about his life prior to the Clone Wars in Cannon,
but today I'm gonna go over everything we can say for sure
and then go over his Legends history as well
Dooku was part of a noble house on Serenno
but he gave up his title and wealth to join the Jedi Order as Yoda's Padawan
He achieved the rank of Jedi Master and trained Qui-Gon Jinn
At some point, he provided aid to Mother Talzin and the Nightsisters
and for some reason he gave her a lock of his hair
Even before Qui-Gon's death,
Dooku had grown disillusioned with the Jedi, the Senate, and the Republic as a whole
He left the Order becoming one of the lost 20, and he reclaimed his title of count of Serenno
It was at this point that he was approached by Darth Sidious, and he agreed to become his Sith apprentice
He arranged the death of Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, who had commissioned the Clone Army
He also recruited Jango Fett to become the template for said army
During those eight years he remained quiet and hidden from public life,
but he reappeared as the public face of the Separatist movement
He rallied systems to secede from the Republic and the Clone Wars began shortly after.
The Legends version of his story is very similar, it just provides us with more details
As a youngling, Dooku already had an interest in politics and studied diplomacy in special classes
He trained under Master Yoda, but also had another formal master named Thame Cerulian
Yoda instructed Dooku in the art of lightsaber combat
and provided the foundation for him to become an accomplished duelist
He became a Jedi Knight in his early 20s and took Qui-Gon as his first Padawan
even though they were only 10 years apart in age
Dooku had already developed strong feelings about the corruption he saw plaguing the Galactic Republic
and was very outspoken about them
His views held great influence over Qui-Gon
who followed Dooku's teachings more so than the teachings of the Jedi Council
When Jinn was granted the rank of Jedi Knight, Dooku was granted the rank of Jedi Master.
He even occasionally held a seat on the Jedi Council
One of his final missions with the Jedi Order was a deadly skirmish on Galidraan
The Jedi were manipulated into attacking Jango Fett and the true Mandalorians
as they were in the middle of a fight with the Mandalorian splinter group Death Watch
Both sides saw massive losses
11 Jedi were killed, 6 of them by Fett's own hands
Dooku remained with the Jedi for 12 more years
despite the fact that he knew the Senate was corrupt and the Council was fallible
During that time,
he refused to accept any more missions and instead sought to bring about positive changes.
The death of Qui-Gon Jinn appeared to be the final straw, and he withdrew from the Order shortly after
By that point,
the public personas of Darth Sidious and Darth Plagueis
had already been planting seeds in Dooku for about 20 years
With Maul and Plagueis dead,
Sidious approached Dooku to serve as his apprentice until Anakin Skywalker was of age
The Count realized that he and the Sith shared similar goals
and decided to join them after 70 years of following the teachings of the Jedi
He arranged the murder of his old friend Sifo-Dyas
and hired the bounty hunter Jango Fett to serve as the template for the Clone Army
having witnessed the Mandalorian's skills against the Jedi firsthand
There isn't much to compare between cannon and Legends stories
because like I said, the canon version is very similar.
The Legends version just provides us with more specific details
Are there any other characters or events you'd like to see me compare between Canon and Legends?
Let me know in the comments.
If you haven't already, please like this video
subscribe to the channel
follow me on Twitter Instagram and Facebook
and consider checking out my Patreon page
As always, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you