George Lucas Quotes:

Why is Count Dooku's characterization vastly different in The Clone Wars then Attack of the Clones? In AOTC he's all like, "I'm sorry old friend" and "Back down", in TCW he seems to take pleasure in killing Jedi. What happened?

Okay, so I lightly touched on this back in this post where I compare the Dooku we see in the Legends continuity to the Dooku we see in Canon and in this video. George Lucas quotes used as sources can be found at the end.

To start with: there's a dichotomy to Dooku.

On the one hand... he makes good points. His concerns are the same that many Jedi share: the Senate is corrupt, and its representatives are abusing their power for their own selfish needs, sometimes even using Jedi to do so.

On the other hand... Dooku's a Sith. Which means he - like the Senators - is also after power, if not moreso. He's greedy, selfish and ambitious. Sure, he makes good points but he’s part of the problem; he knows it, but he doesn’t care.

More importantly, like Maul and Grievous, the primary purpose of Dooku, as a character, is to show us who Anakin is going to turn into:

An evil, corrupted old man. A prodigal son of the Jedi Order (with closet fascist-leanings) who, in his unquenchable thirst for power, was reduced to being a slave of Darth Sidious.

One of the big differences between Dooku and Anakin, however, is that Dooku was always more politically savvy.

Count Dooku has a public image.

He uses his past as a Jedi to cultivate this persona of a wise intellectual, a rational man with fair and just demands, one who fights for the little guy.

He is the head of the Separatist movement, a charismatic figure known throughout the galaxy for his political idealism, even giving lectures at universities.

But it is just a persona.

I mean, that's probably how he started out, sure, but by the time we see him in Attack of the Clones, Dooku is a Sith Lord, and he's been one for over 10 years, because we know he was going by "Tyranus" while ordering Sifo-Dyas' death and hiring Jango Fett a few months before the invasion of Naboo.

QUICK NOTE: In Canon, Dooku left the Jedi Order 10 years before Qui-Gon’s death. So chances are, he's actually been a Sith for almost 20 years, as we know he was already a darksider 8 years prior to The Phantom Menace because he tried to recruit Rael Averross at the end of the book Master & Apprentice.

Which means he's pure evil.

Deep down, Dooku's the guy we see in The Clone Wars: Darth Tyranus, a ruthless, sadistic killer whose only goal is to destroy the Jedi Order and bend the galaxy to his will.

But the galaxy can't know this, right? They think he's Count Dooku, a kind-hearted man whose beliefs are controversial but ultimately altruistic. Hell, even the Jedi remember him fondly.

So, like Palpatine, he keeps up the facade.

He does this with Obi-Wan, as he secretly tries to recruit him to overthrow Sidious (who Lucas compares to Vader trying to do with Luke in Empire Strikes Back):

He does this with the Jedi, calling Mace "old friend", telling him he's sorry he's about to have them executed.

He plays this charade up to the very end...

... but when Obi-Wan still won't back down, he is left with no choice but to kill him the fastest way he can: with a lightsaber.

A red-bladed lightsaber, in signature Sith fashion. One he’s been careful to keep a secret.

But Obi-Wan's seen it, he's seen the Force Lightning... he's been given a peek behind the curtains, so now he has to die.

And you see the change in Dooku’s behavior. He starts to taunt Obi-Wan, he’s grinning, there’s a sadistic glimmer in his eye. For a brief moment, he drops the mask and goes to town.

Oh and Anakin joins in, whatever the more the merrier. But then Yoda joins in... and Dooku can't beat Yoda. Crap, he's gonna tell everyone.

The secret of him being a Sith Lord is gonna get out...!

But this is Palpatine and Dooku we're talking about. Political geniuses, masters of spin and flipping the story. If the secret got out... who cares?

Seriously, who cares if the Jedi know he’s a Sith, now? The war's already started, Order 66 is right around the corner. He won't even bother pretending he's a good guy, with the Jedi.

Him playing the role of the "villain" when facing the Republic also makes it so that the Senate will want to keep the war going until he's captured or dead.

And because they're at war, he can simply wave the fiendish acts the Republic lays at his feet as "slanderous propaganda" in front of the Separatists, they'll just eat it up.

Furthermore, Dooku being his true, ruthless self when engaging with the Republic also has a second perk: it'll make the Jedi look bad.

'Cause the galaxy doesn't really get what a Sith Lord is, they think it's just some Jedi variant. So that's still a Jedi, right?

As such, Dooku's cruel actions and cruelty then feed into the anti-Jedi conspiracy theories about them "starting the war" and the growing distrust that'll make it so that - when the Jedi are eventually wiped out - the general public will just go "good riddance".

Which was the main goal of the entire Clone War conflict.

TLDR:

The guy we see in most of Attack of the Clones is Count Dooku, political idealist, AKA who he presents himself to be.

The characterization we see at the end of Attack of the Clones, in The Clone Wars and in Revenge of the Sith is that of Darth Tyranus, Sith Lord, AKA his true self.

George Lucas Quotes:

About Dooku’s valid points:

“I wanted a more sophisticated kind of villain. Dooku’s disenchantment with the corruption in the [Republic] is actually valid. It’s all valid. So, Chris plays it as, “Is he really a villain or is he just someone who is disenchanted and trying to make things right?”” - Starlog Magazine #300, 2002

“The confrontation between Obi-Wan and Dooku originally was a confrontation between Padmé and Dooku, and it was a political thing. I decided, after seeing the movie, that I didn’t need that scene with Padmé and Dooku, it was in the wrong part of the picture, and this one, with Obi-Wan, would be more appropriate. It would work better if Dooku would actually tell the truth about what’s going on and then create a situation where nobody believed him. And it also allows you to kinda have some sympathy for Dooku in that he carries the sympathies of most of the Jedi which is that the Senate is corrupt and is incapable of carrying out any meaningful actions because they argue about everything all the time.” - Attack of the Clones, Director’s Commentary, 2002

About the similarities between Anakin and Dooku:

“[In the garage scene, Anakin] sort of lays out his ambition and you’ll see later on his ambition and his dialogue here is the same as Dooku’s. He says “I will become more powerful than every Jedi.” And you’ll hear later on Dooku will say “I have become more powerful than any Jedi.” [...] And Dooku is, kind of, the fallen Jedi who was converted to the Dark Side because the other Sith Lord didn’t have time to start from scratch, and so we can see that that’s where this is going to lead which is that it is possible for a Jedi to be converted. It is possible for a Jedi to want to become more powerful.” - Attack of the Clones, Director’s Commentary, 2002

“I needed to get across the point that Jedi can leave the Order, to set up what happens with Anakin later on. Also, in the end when you realize that Dooku is Darth Tyranus, it explains what Darth Sidious did after Darth Maul was killed: he seduce a Jedi who had become disenchanted with the Republic. He preyed on that disenchantment and converted him to the dark side, which is also a setup for what happens with Anakin.” - Mythmaking: Behind the Scenes of Attack of the Clones, 2002

About Dooku’s true nature:

“If you put two Sith together, they try to get others to join them to get rid of the other Sith. Dooku's ambition here is really to get rid of Darth Sidious. He's trying to get Obi-Wan's assistance in that [...] so that he and Obi-Wan could overthrow Sidious and take over. And it's exactly the same scene as when Darth Vader does it with Luke to try to get rid of Sidious.” - Attack of the Clones, Commentary Track 2, 2002

“In the midst of this turmoil, a separatist movement was formed under the leadership of the charismatic former Jedi Count Dooku. By promising an alternative to the corruption and greed that was rotting the Republic from within, Dooku was able to persuade thousands of star systems to secede from the Republic. Unbeknownst to most of his followers, Dooku was himself a Dark Lord of the Sith, acting in collusion with his master, Darth Sidious, who, over the years, had struck an unholy alliance with the greater forces of commerce and their private droid armies.” - Shatterpoint, Prologue, 2004

I think that instead of giving Remus movie-fanon facial scars from his werewolf attack, JK should’ve given them to Snape in the books.

Imagine how much more interesting Snape would have been if he had four jagged claw marks across his face. It would also give a much greater gravity to Snape’s attack during the Marauders’ “prank.”

The first year feast goes like this:

“Who’s that teacher talking to Professor Quirrel? The one with the scars?”

Percy leans in—“Oh, you know Quirrel already, do you? No wonder he’s looking so nervous, that’s Professor Snape. Nobody knows for sure about his scars, but rumor says he had a werewolf sicced on him once and killed it with his bare hands. Then again, he’s so mean he likely sneered at it and the poor thing keeled right over.”

It’s not until Lupin’s term as DADA Professor that Harry realizes why Snape hates him so much: then again, the reason is quite literally etched across his face.

When Snape changes their lesson plans to study werewolves nobody argues, because they see what happened to a teacher and they know better than to argue with someone who has such obvious firsthand experience with them.

Every time Harry gets recognized for his telltale scar he thinks of Snape, and how much worse he has it.

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khayltille

1 year ago

I genuinely have no clue where this fandom gets the idea that James and Snape were rivals. The definition of rivalry is competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field.

If James and Snape were rivals, as many like to call them, what were they competing for?

Lily?

No. Snape and Lily were best friends, years before James and Snape even met. And Lily is not a “prize to be won” which many people—including James, as we see in SWM—fail to understand.

Their studies? [I’m including this because I’ve actually seen someone try to use this argument before]

No. That had nothing to do with their feud. And James and Snape excelled in different subjects. Snape was brilliant at potions and DADA. James was highly knowledgeable in transfiguration.

Unlike Harry and Draco (who were rivals when it came to Quidditch), James and Snape had nothing you could argue they were “competing over.”

Another important thing many people seem to forget about rivalries is that it means equality. Rivals’ statuses/dynamics are meant to be balanced. Does that apply to Snape and James?

James Potter: was a rich, well-groomed, spoiled pureblood Gryffindor.

Severus Snape: was a poor, unattractive, neglected half-blood Slytherin.

It can only ever be called a rivalry when both sides are equally powerful, which cannot be said for James and Snape whatsoever.

A huge reason as to why people like to call it that is because Snape apparently “gave as good as he got” (I like how there was not a single time that phrase was ever used in the series). They use a line said by Remus—one of Snape’s bullies, funnily enough—in OoTP as evidence of Snape’s supposed fighting back:

“Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James, so you couldn’t really expect James to take that lying down, could you?”

To a majority of this fandom, never losing an opportunity (opportunity: a time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something, Remus never said anything about Snape succeeding all the time) to curse James—who, in the author’s words, relentlessly bullied Snape for the past six years—in their 7th year (one year) meant “giving as good as he got” and automatically cancels out everything James did to Snape for the six years before that.

Demonising Snape for wanting to get back at James after being subjected to bullying, assault, and even attempted murder (the werewolf prank) for years is complete and utter victim-blaming. If the victim fights back, it is to be called self-defence, not “bullying back” (there is no such thing anyway) or a rivalry. Acting as though in order to be a “good victim”—whatever that’s supposed to mean—you have to take the bullying lying down, and if you defend yourself, you’re reclassified as the bad guy, is genuinely disgusting to me. If a woman were to defend herself against her assaulters, would she be in the wrong, would that negate what the assaulters did to her?

The pro-bullying and victim-blaming attitude that comes from this fandom is revolting. Defending oneself does not alter the dynamic from a person with more power bullying a victim to a rivalry between two equals. When will people learn to understand that.

And besides, there is absolutely nothing to back up Remus’s claim. In fact, there is more evidence that he was lying:

Remus makes it sound like Snape would just come up to James randomly and just hex him there and then. If he did, don’t you think Lily would’ve found out? Or at the very least the Hogwarts staff? That very much suggests that it was James who initiated these fights.

The Marauders had the cloak of invisibility, a map that could track Snape and everyone at Hogwarts’ every move, and the two-way mirror. What did Snape have?

Why would James hide it from Lily? If he was truly innocent and was the one being hexed senseless, he obviously would not have hidden it from her. What would he even have to hide if that were the case? It’s clear that he knew he was in the wrong and that Lily would have never gotten with him had she known what he was doing behind her back.

Remus is canonically a liar, who lied to Harry many times, especially about Snape. Why does this fandom act like his words about the person he used to bully should be trusted?

Moving on, none of the Marauders’ reasons for bullying Snape exactly scream rivalry:

James himself stated that he bullied Snape because he exists.

Remus called it “an old prejudice” when he and Harry talked in HBP, casting the Marauders as bigots (especially when you remember that Snape was a Slytherin whom they bullied because of his existence).

Sirius (in GoF) claimed that “Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts.”

In SWM, we are shown that the reason James and Sirius attacked Snape—who was minding his own business—was because Sirius was bored, meaning they had done it for fun.

Lily claimed that James walked down corridors and hexed anyone who annoyed him “just because he can.”

Sirius claimed that “we [the Marauders] were sometimes arrogant little berks.”

Tell me, does this seem like a rivalry to you?

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khayltille

1 year ago

J & I (mostly J) put together our Ultimate magnus & pickles playlist !!

please check below the cut for songs, links & lyrics (and try to guess who put in which song haha)

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khayltille

1 year ago

Undertale is cool again and I’ve found this audio in my fan folder, wanted to do a little something.

Audio from crashboombanger (deactivated)

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khayltille

1 year ago

One of the things that make me really mad/upset is when people are so enraged that Harry named one of his children, Albus Severus.

What makes me sad is that it shows a refusal to engage with one of the most important messages in the series. Harry’s forgiveness, understanding, respect and acceptance is fundamental to the story, and Albus Severus as a name is predominantly about Harry - and not Albus or Severus.

Severus is a clear depiction of what can happen when you fail to move on from abuse. He is a damaged man, mired in history, who cannot forgive or forget, who then repeats the cycle of abuse by bullying others. Harry is a direct contrast to this; he was treated horrifically, but due to several factors, he was able to succeed where Severus failed - and was seemingly able to move past the horrors of his childhood.

Severus had no reason to forgive his bullies, who were seemingly unrepentant even two decades later. Harry, on the other hand, discovered a wealth of evidence that proved that whilst Severus was a bully and nasty towards him, he’d also secretly been fighting to keep Harry safe from harm - and had dedicated his whole life to doing so.

Importantly, Severus is the resentful character who is shown to be stuck in the past, unable to separate James Potter from his son, unable to forgive or forget. Severus’ hatred and resentment doesn’t punish James et al, and only ate away at Severus’ own happiness. You could even argue that this hatred became even more of a punishment, preventing him from creating a positive relationship with Lily’s son, because he saw Harry solely as James’ son.

So, why would we wish that for Harry? Isn’t it far better that Harry experienced the love and support which enabled him to come to terms with what happened to him at Hogwarts, and led him to a point where he was able to forgive? Harry being able to reconcile Albus’ and Severus’ actions, and accept and forgive them both, is a sign of strength, contentment and peace. We should be pleased and appreciative that Harry seems to be equipped to break the cycle of abuse.

When people sigh about Albus Severus’ name, they’re really saying, “Harry, you got it wrong.” Ironically, in doing so, they’re proving themselves to be less like Harry and more like Severus himself - blinkered and blinded, unable to accept, unable to forgive and unable to move on.

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khayltille

1 year ago

holding back the instinct to explode with a screaming half coherent rant about sans

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khayltille

1 year ago

what some players think the occultist is like: -evil -religious extremist -time for my 4:00 human sacrifice brb -praise cthulhu!! -ending the world is cool and good and your confusion about why someone who thinks ending the world is cool and good is even on the team is definitely not a sign of being mistaken what the occultist’s barks and campfire dialogues are actually like: -i’m a university professor with tenure and still haven’t paid off my student loans -who wants to sing some super cool CAMPFIRE SONGS?! - /stupid teacher quips -god is evil, humans rule and monsters drool, come at me you eldritch FUCK i will yeet your malformed ass back to the VOID YOU SPAWNED FROM you little BITCH -oh fuck oh fuck why did i have the hubris to think i could play games with star-satan and win, curse my lack of genre awareness -HELP I’M SEALED WITHIN THIS MORTAL FLESH PRISON AND I HATE IT HERE. STOP SINGING HIS STUPID SONGS! YOU’RE JUST ENCOURAGING HIM! -whoops it got weird for a minute but it’s all out of my system now, brb making dramatic speeches about the united human intellect -i’m too old for this shit :| what the occultist’s hero shrine story is actually like: -yes hello my hubris led me to make only the worst life choices and i’m not allowed to host book club anymore

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khayltille

1 year ago

they are totally arguing and bickering from the two opposite lines of the war because it's the funniest thing ever like there is a mess of droids and clone fighting up on the ground and then you have two sith/jedi masters howling at each other through the force to cover the noise "you had at least FIVE BILLIONS OCCASIONS to introduce me to your padawan and you tell me YOU FORGOT" "excuse me i would have said something if i wasnt distracted by how horrid your tea and cookies are" "QUI GON"

Dooku being more outraged by Qui-gon’s comments about his tastes than the actual battle is 👌🏻👌🏻

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khayltille

4 months ago

Image description: Digital art in saturated tones of orange, pink, blues, and purples of humanized Hollow Knight characters. Quirrel and the Knight sit on the sandy shores of the Blue Lake. Quirrel smiles, relaxed, with his cheek resting on his hand. He is visibly aged, his face lined and his hair sprinkling with white. The Knight holds their helmet in their hands, expressionless. Both watch the waves of the lake out-of-frame, neither facing the other. End ID.

there is no death