#Master Dooku

[padawansuggest]

Jedi Chat

Qui-Gon: WE NEED TO HAVE A LINEAGE MEETING!!!!

Dooku: Why? Did you upset another queen?

Qui-Gon: No!

Rael: He’s probably got one pregnant tho I’ve been waiting for him to bring me a niece or nephew for years.

Komari: Can we make this fast, I’m trying to bathe Xanatos’s spawn.

Xanatos: IM IN A MEETING I DONT HAVE TIME TO TRY AND PUT ANGRY FORCE SENSITIVE BABIES IN A TUB

Xanatos: THANK YOU FOR BABYSITTING KOKO

Komari: Yeah, whatever.

Qui-Gon: I am having a crisis here!!!

Dooku: *sigh* What’s wrong this time, Qui-Gon?

Qui-Gon: OBI WAN HAS A BOYFRIEND!!!!

Xanatos: wtf

Komari: but he’s only like two years old??????? He’s an infant??? He’s still in the womb this isn’t allowed????

Dooku: He’s fifteen, padawan, he can have a boyfriend if he wants.

Qui-Gon: NO HE CANNOT!!! He’s my baby!!

Rael: lmaoooo who’s the bf?

Qui-Gon: Quinlan Vos.

Dooku: nvm, you are right to panic. Si just got a vision of their first child and he’s a menace. All their worst in one baby. Wait… Si just said that’s just their first baby and they won’t be born for at least 5 years. Worst of luck to you all.

Qui-Gon: NO YOURE SUPPOSED TO REASSURE ME MASTER!!!

Dooku: Can’t. Bringing my husband to the healers he said that vision hurt.

Rael: Awww, it’ll be okay, Qui, Obi-Wan has at least five more years before he’s thrust into parenthood.

Qui-Gon: this meeting has been so unhelpful I hate you all.

Komari: listen, it might be a bit early to say this. But. I’m not free to babysit that weekend. This applies to all of them.

Xanatos: that’s fair. Komari is my babysitter, I’m the one with blackmail on her.

Komari: :/

[coconuts-are-mammals]

Disaster Lineage vs. Their Padawans in the matter of being insulted

Anakin: Ahsoka, pay no attention to them. The worst you can do to them is act like they don't exist.

Ahsoka, disappointed that she can't bite them: Yes, master.

-

Obi-Wan: Anakin, think. This isn't how Jedi behave.

Anakin, reluctantly relinquishing his grasp on his opponent's jugular: Yes, master.

_

Qui-Gon Jinn: Excuse me- do you think you can say that to MY PADAWAN?

Obi-Wan: Master, no.

-

Dooku, handing Qui a knife: Defend your honour.

Qui-Gon, shaking: I don't think this is how Jedi-

Dooku: I want no excuses.

-

Master Yoda, steadily pushing Dooku forward like he has wheels: MAKE HIM BLEED, YOU WLL

Dooku: MASTER NO

Yoda: A WUSS, A JEDI IS NOT

Sifo-Dyas, scrambling forwards: NO!!

[charmwasjess]

I legitimately didn't remember how fucking batshit funny some of the Dooku sections in Claudia Gray's Master and Apprentice were. Qui-Gon's remembering his first mission with Dooku in flashback: okay, seems straightforward enough. They land in an ongoing crisis in a battle zone, Dooku goes to talk to the generals. Then, next scene, we smashcut directly to:

"Don't be afraid." Dooku's voice rang out over even the howling winds of Shurrapak. Qui-Gon clung to the carbon-fibre-rope riggings of the Shurrapakan ship, salt spray stinging his face and hands as they rounded the cape to approach the battle from an angle the enemy wouldn't expect. "They're shielded against skycraft and energy weapons. Not against seafaring vessels!" He made this sound majestic, courageous, brilliant -- nothing like the last-minute, last-ditch attempt it really was. Qui-Gon took a deep breath and stared up at the stars. Big mistake. The stars weren't moving and his stomach was, and the queasiness that swept through him made him feel weak.

Dooku has been on this planet for less than 24 hours. There are already other Jedi there ahead of him with established generals working on the battle plans, which according to the scene just before this, are complete enough that its conceivable Dooku and Qui-Gon will miss the action. So naturally, the plan he then comes up with is "ABANDON ALL OTHER PLANS, WE ATTACK THE FORTIFIED BATTLEFIELD WITH OLD TIMEY ROPE-RIGGED SAILING SHIPS!"

And at his side?? A seasick twelve year old who has never left the Temple or seen battle!!! Who can't swim! And backing them up?? Rael fucking Averross, who Dooku was just nagging for being too eager to get into the fighting. Sure, Dooku. That's Rael's problem.

This is the most disaster lineage shit I've ever read. This could absolutely be an Anakin and Obi-Wan Clone Wars arc.

Bonus Rael and Qui-Gon Content, from earlier in the chapter:

"C'mon, then, let's go talk to the generals." Rael made it sound like the most natural thing for a twelve-year-old to do.

Rael, you crazy motherfucker, never change.

[jaguarys]

The absolute humiliation that comes with one of your favorite Star Wars characters being Dooku. Yeah sure man. Yeah my favorite morally gray ex-Jedi is named fucking Dooku. Sure. My other favorite Jedi is Penis Cockus

[moodboards-aesthetics]

Jedi Master Dooku & His Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi

[bh-52]

Everyone knows Yoda, Dooku, Qui-Gon Jinn, Rael Averross, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano as the disaster lineage.

But nobody seems to invite its dark side delinquents like Komari Vosa, Asajj Ventress, Savage Oppress, Xanatos, Galen Marek/Starkiller and Lumiya, etc, to the family reunions.

[incorrectclonewarsquotes]

Dooku: I can't DATE! Who'd want to date this old bag of bones?

Padawan!Qui-Gon: What about Jocasta Nu?

Dooku: Jocasta? Oh no no no. I just like her as a friend.

Qui-Gon: Why are your eyes shaped like hearts?

Dooku: Allergies.

Qui-Gon: Oh.

Qui-Gon: Is that Master Sifo-Dyas sunbathing?

Dooku: Where?

Qui-Gon: I knew you were bi-master. Dooku: I believe it's time we practice katas.

[junocornkiwi]

resting

[hws-mathieu]

Qui-Gon on the phone: Hey Master, do you know what my blood type is? 

Dooku: Of course, it’s B-                   

Qui-Gon: Oh, I guessed wrong. Excuse me nurse-!

[toxictoad]

Is there a fandom word for a supporting character that is rarely if ever a topic for fandom but that you are absolutely obsessed with?

I'm not talking about a glup shitto. I mean a character that everyone knows about but who isn't really anyone's favorite character. Fics centered on them are rare and ones that actually explore them in an interesting way are even rarer. No one really kins them or draws them. No one brings them up outside of discussing other characters.

Yeah, whatever that is.

But then...

A piece of media comes out that heavily features that character... and people finally talk about them.... you are in heaven for a few short months... and then it goes back to how it was.

Oh, sure, maybe there will be more people who like that character now. Maybe there will be an uptick in fics that give you a small backlog to read. Maybe you'll even get a nice catalog of fanart that will fuel your imagination for a little while.

But no matter what; that character won't get as much attention as you think they deserve.

Anyway that's how I feel about Count Fanon-first-name-Yan Dooku.

[broitsf-ckingfreezing]

You know what

I think it’s really sad the way we treat Dooku as a Jedi Master. Not as a Sith, fuck that guy; he fell to the dark side and he fell HARD. He is irredeemable in that respect.

I’m talking about Jedi Master Dooku, who only interacts with Qui-Gon Jinn in Legends and fanon (because in TOTJ he had already fallen and was actively taking steps towards the downfall of the Jedi/Republic and becoming the apprentice). *Even then, I don’t really respect TOTJ as canon because of the awful way it paints the Jedi, but I will concede it as canon from the perspective of Dooku as an unreliable narrator. I just hate THAT bit where he straight up THROWS Qui-Gon and force chokes a guy and GETS AWAY WITH IT because “uwu the Jedi awe bad and cowwupt and Dooku was a victim 👉👈”

I always hated that because Obi and Dooku meet for the first time in AOTC, then clearly Enlightened MaverickTM Qui-Gon (see my opinions on THIS in @antianakins beautifully worded post) must have been abused by his master and kept Obi-Wan away from him to “protect him from evil” yadda yadda yadda, whatever. That Qui-Gon specialised in Ataru instead of Makashi like his master because Dooku was EvilTM and Qui-Gon wanted to “get back at him” or “escape trauma” or some shit like that, never because it is perfectly normal for a Jedi to find their strength in a form that is different from their teacher’s (see Anakin, Obi-Wan, WINDU, Dooku himself).

Or that because Master Dooku wore relatively regal looking robes (again, the only canonical proof of this we have is in TOTJ and COUNT Dooku, AKA ruler of Serenno) then he had a taste for “the finer things in life,” words used by EVERY fanfiction author, and was always either straight up a Sith the entire time or, at the very least, a bad Jedi who followed his own rules like Anakin. I disagree.

It has NEVER been canonically established that Dooku was an abusive man. In fact, remember that the Jedi consider Dooku a FRIEND? Even in AOTC when Padme rightly accuses Dooku of attempting to assassinate her, they extend to him the benefit of the doubt. Because he was a Jedi Master. A good one. So good, in fact, that when he outright aligns himself with a faction looking to actively separate from the Republic and the Jedi, they trust that his judgement is that he is doing right by his people. Not that he is plotting a galaxy-wide takeover.

(Don’t even get me started on Ki-Adi Mundi, the voice of reason, frequently being abused by the fans just because SOMEONE had to say this line. Clearly he’s evil! He’s an idiot! He’s corrupt! *rolls eyes*)

But why then did Dooku never meet Obi-Wan as a padawan, you ask?

It HAS been canonically established that Obi-Wan is a powerful Jedi and a powerful diplomat even before he became The Negotiator (they wouldn’t send any run-of-the-mill padawan and master duo to dispute the Naboo conflict, they sent DIPLOMATS). And he is Busy As Fuck. Remember, as a padawan he spent a YEAR on the run with Satine and Qui-Gon. And if you were to accept the Melida/Daan and Bandomeer arcs from Legends as canon, that probably adds up to another YEAR spent away from the temple, NOT including recovery time after those periods because we don’t have any real basis for how long it takes a Jedi, or even just Obi-Wan, to bounce back from the physical, mental, and Force trauma induced by these hefty skirmishes. Don’t forget, in two of these instances, Obi-Wan is only 13-14, and in the other he’s presumably about 18. And bacta tanks aren’t a magical fix-all. They don’t heal starvation, extremely long-term physical neglect/hurts, just like they don’t grow back limbs.

Dooku was also probably busy as hell. It is very likely that the two teams were never in the temple at the same time, or if they were, they were probably busy. Like teaching their respective padawans (remember a master can have more than one padawan, just not at the same time, and now that I think about it, it is pretty odd we never (hardly ever?) canonically see masters who have clearly had more than one padawan in their lifetime). Or healing from traumas. Or hanging out with friends. Or researching, or writing reports, or literally ANYTHING that could make someone busy enough to forgo introducing a child to their grandmaster. I mean, how many times did you visit your grandparents as a teenager? Probably not very often compared to the big picture that is your life.

Why didn’t they meet when Obi-Wan was knighted, then? Well, TOTJ shows us that Qui-Gon’s death was at least a little traumatic for his master, and that was his last straw. Dooku left. And after that, he probably didn’t want to see the child Qui-Gon raised. The boy who got to hear his pseudo-son’s final words and who died IN HIS ARMS. We also have NO IDEA in canon exactly how many missions Obi-Wan and Anakin went on, nor how long they lasted, but we can guess that they were an extremely busy pair knowing Obi-Wan’s prowess in diplomacy PLUS the recent reemergence of the literal thought-extinct Sith PLUS the frankly horrific ratio of Jedi to Force Null beings in the galaxy (meaning there just aren’t enough Jedi to get around to all these places) PLUS teaching a rescued slave child with childhood memories of the outer rim the ways of the Jedi and core worlds. We also know that by the time of AOTC, Anakin being probably about 17-18, possibly on the cusp of 19 which is his Knighting age, the pair have been on at least 9 missions where Anakin had to rescue Obi-Wan. Knowing Obi-WAN’s skill and power, and that these missions most likely occurred when Anakin was old enough to do things like save Obi-Wan from a whole NEST of gundarks, this is NOT a common occurrence. Even if consistently in 1 of every 5 missions Obi-Wan has to be rescued by Anakin, that adds to at least 40 missions where he didn’t. That’s a lot of missions in a ten year span on top of all the other things Jedi have to do that aren’t considered missions, again, like teaching, attending functions, researching and learning because Jedi must be a wellspring of knowledge to successfully mediate/placate/please whomever it is they’re interacting with.

[padawansuggest]

Dooku: I would like to once more, ask to babysit the feral one this weekend.

Qui-Gon: I already gave you Xanatos to keep him from biting the new baby, idk what you want.

Dooku: See. When I asked. For the feral one. I meant the new baby. Xanatos is to big for lap cuddles and doesn’t let me tuck him in at night. No fun.

Qui-Gon: …are you implying that Obi-Wan, my sweet baby boy Obi-Wan, who likes soft forehead kisses and still sleeps on his tummy with his bottom up, is, the feral one???

Dooku: *who has seen the child seize and start talking about wars past, who saw him bite Xanatos almost taking a chunk out of his arm last year, who has found the little one hiding under a caff table and growling while trying to hunt people that pass by, whose become fluent in Grunt because Obi-Wan needs to growl sometimes* …yeah he’s a lil bit feral, you know.

Qui-Gon: *whose babiest of baby’s can do no harm* …hmm… yeah I guess I can see it. You want Grandmaster time this weekend? What for?

Dooku: *it’s for the exorcism probably but he’s not telling Qui that* I wanna take him to the park.

Qui-Gon: Oh that sounds lovely, have fun!

[coconuts-are-mammals]

Dooku, sipping tea: Wow. The tea is bad.

Sifo-Dyas, walking over: The tea is bad?

Sifo: *sip*

Sifo: The tea is bad.

Jocasta, coming in from the other room: Bad tea? *sip*

Jocasta, nodding: Bad tea.

Cin: Wow. Is the tea bad?

Cin: *chokes*

Cin: The tea is bad.

Plo Koon, walking in from the hallway: Did someone say something about bad tea?

[charmwasjess]

If there’s a legit good reason why Qui-Gon chose to specialize in form IV, Ataru, the Hawkbat lightsaber form, aside from the simple, likely fact that he did it to troll his old Master Dooku (who outright calls the acrobatics of the form “ridiculous,”) I’d like to hear it. By which I mean I’ll write you a post about it.

Ataru is fast, aggressive, and inclined to treat the battlefield as a 3D space where the air is just as comfortable a place to be as on your own two feet. A direct response to Soresu, the “defense is my attack” form, Ataru flips that into “attack is my defense.” (We won’t talk about Makashi’s contribution to the conversation: “no defense whatsoever, but think fast, I just threw a dinner fork at you so hard it stuck in your metal arm!”) 

Of course, the most recognizable and classic application of Ataru is Yoda’s; we see him whizzing around people’s heads like a little green hummingbird in his AotC and RotS duels. Qui-Gon’s version looks nothing like that. If we weren’t told, I think it would be hard to guess that those characters are using the same form. In Duel of the Fates, Qui-Gon has to move down or over those infamous walkways repeatedly. He just jumps them: no flips, no aerial maneuvers, no bouncing off the walls. And this isn’t simply a practical choice for his age and build: Jocasta Nu is running up walls and leaping out of skyscrapers at easily aged 40 years older than Qui-Gon, and for all Dooku’s bitching over Ataru acrobatics, he does more flips to simply avoid walking down a few stairs than Qui-Gon, Master of the flip form, does in his entire time on screen. 

And yet, on some level, all of that makes perfect sense for Qui-Gon. Who better to completely subvert a form? This is a character who is contrary as fuck, full of wonderful contradiction, who blends lightsaber theory centered on attack and aggression with literal meditation. While the most notable scene, actually kneeling in the pose and everything, is in TPM, he does battle meditation repeatedly on a mental level in the Master and Apprentice and Padawan novels. (And it rightfully freaks out Obi-Wan.) Qui-Gon takes Ataru’s “your whole body is a weapon” and doesn’t apply that to somersaults, but rather, to moves like punching Darth Maul off a balcony as we see him do in Duel of the Fates. He fights in a way that throws himself bodily up against obstacles. You can see the same physicality of his relationship with his weapon in the scene where he is simply burning through the blast doors in TPM. We’ve seen Jedi cut through things on screen other times, but that scene is remarkable and memorable for Qui-Gon’s level of intensity. He is the battering ram. 

And we could loop back into lineage, couldn’t we? Qui-Gon stands in a line of Jedi with unconventional relationships to their lightsaber forms; their choices are formed in context of and in conversation with each other. Those backward, momentum-gaining swings from Duel of the Fates look very familiar, but who trained Qui-Gon? (And who notoriously had a problem with Ataru and might've pushed his student on some workarounds or encouraged him to cut out bits he didn't like, such as aerials?) And speaking of, is it a stretch to think that Dooku’s own casual backflips are less a considered choice and more an old habit, being himself trained by a Master who has only a theoretical relationship with gravity? 

All this to enjoy just another example of how personal the lightsaber forms can be to specific Jedi, and what wonderful fun it is to unpack the ways they use them differently because of their unique personalities and lineage.

[jaguarys]

Anyways do you think that at a certain point Sifo-Dyas looked at Dooku and could only see who he would become. Do you think that he looked at Dooku and could only see Tyranus. Do you think he told Dooku. Do you think Dooku knew for decades what Sifo-Dyas saw in him. Do you think

[moodboards-aesthetics]

Dooku & Sifo Dyas aka Star-Crossed Soulmates