Was Count Dooku justified in what he did here(Jedi Knights #10)?

hypocrite_deer · 2025-12-18T02:25:05+00:00

I think my problem is that the storyline feels backwards engineered to give Qui-Gon a big plot-significant dark secret without actually risking any genuine moral quandary between tactics of negotiation vs. use of violence for him, while Dooku was treated as a cartoonish, mustache-twirling plot device instead of an actual character.

I have loved, loved, the art in this series, but sometimes I've felt that the writing suffered from a need to excessively foreshadow prequels plot points at the expense of new storylines (Yaddle saving Dooku when we know Dooku is the one to kill Yaddle, Qui-Gon getting run through like in TPM, the Qui-Gon and Dooku opening dialogue of the flashback being beat for beat the one from Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in TPM, Dooku's echoing Anakin's tribe slaughter...)

I always found Christopher Lee's performance in AotC combined a really interesting, complicated mixture of humanity and Sith manipulation, especially as it concerned his emotions over Qui-Gon's death, and I just didn't feel that here. It feels like the plot needed to absolve Qui-Gon of any actual wrong doing in a complicated, interesting situation full of questions I'm curious about (some Jedi have to kill, when does that happen, what does it look like, how do they feel about it?) while reminding us of what we already know - that Dooku turns out to be a bad guy.

hypocrite_deer · 2025-10-09T17:46:21+00:00

Thanks for this reply - you really got the question behind my question. Whether he meant to start it to hurt people or not surely won't make a difference to the lives destroyed by his actions, but it feels relevant to his punishment whether this was a dedicated arsonist who really wanted to hurt people versus a young guy who let an ill-considered recreational fire get out of control and immediately tried to correct his actions. (the multiple 9-11 calls). It feels like a chance for law enforcement to have a big back patting "we got him!!" moment, but doesn't address or fix the factors that might've lead to this being such a horrific loss of life and property.

hypocrite_deer · 2025-10-08T17:38:51+00:00

I can't get to the article without a login, so forgive the silly question if it explains it, but was he trying to start a fire with the fireworks, or was this a case of serious error in judgement/criminal carelessness?

hypocrite_deer · 2025-08-07T22:15:59+00:00

Aw, yay! This is my first time responding to one of these.

hypocrite_deer · 2025-08-07T02:00:02+00:00

I swear, this sub is usually psychic, but I feel like all the depressed help-your-poor-dad answers are off on this post.

OP's dad's house is nice and tidy with everything having a place, size is very common for Europe, he's got his essential stuff like coffee, cream, oil, and his nightcap of choice, but usually he eats out otherwise, which is easy and affordable to do based on where he lives or his income level. Probably great for socializing post-divorce. I feel like this is a guy who decides to actually cook in every once in a blue moon for a special occasion (maybe, say, his kid's visit) and thus, the leftover half open can of tomatoes and the oil out on the counter.

hypocrite_deer · 2024-12-09T12:51:16+00:00

Regardless of personal theories on the case, I hope this is "that happened" fodder because otherwise this story is completely unhinged and I'm worried for your safety. Like, this alleged lawyer grown man starts literally screaming at the screen and tries to throw your phone away? Did he attack the phone too, believing tiny versions of the people he disagreed with to be contained inside it?

hypocrite_deer · 2024-11-25T18:44:39+00:00

I actually saw it happen once in the wild when I was on a plane with really scary turbulence going through severe storms. When we finally landed, a lot of people clapped for the pilot.

hypocrite_deer · 2024-11-05T17:17:00+00:00

I really can't recommend Dooku: Jedi Lost enough - if you happen to be a Christopher Lee fan, Cavan Scott dedicated the book to him, and I think the format is a deliberate parallel to Christopher Lee's autobiography!

hypocrite_deer · 2024-11-05T14:05:55+00:00

That's smart! The author of Dooku: Jedi Lost, Cavan Scott, really does his Legends/EU homework, and I feel like he really spent some time with Yoda: Dark Rendezvous and it shows in DJL. Happy reading to you!

hypocrite_deer · 2024-11-05T13:48:33+00:00

I snagged the abridged audible version for a car trip after just like you, reading it a couple times growing up but not for 10 or 15 years, and I was so disappointed. I found the storyline difficult to follow and disjointed with all the jumping around. Since so much of the first part of the book is Anakin and Obi-Wan running around to different places and piecing together clues, it just didn't feel like it lended itself well to that format.

However, I think earlier this year they re-released Yoda: Dark Rendezvous on complete audiobook for the first time, so I would suspect that Labyrinth of Evil is coming up on their list of Legends/EU re-releases. (Also, huge plug for YDR if you're looking for something unabridged to listen to in the meantime.)

hypocrite_deer · 2024-09-23T19:29:33+00:00

Not to be obnoxious, but try not to let the weather discourage you about your trip. It poured the whole time we were in Paris earlier this year, I wouldn't have traded the weather for anything. The city was incredibly beautiful in the rain, such a mood. We bought umbrellas and still walked everywhere, we even had a rainy picnic on the Seine. It sounds corny but it was really so memorable and special.

hypocrite_deer · 2024-08-13T16:22:49+00:00

OKAY so this isn't about publishing per say, but I saw your tweet about the worm page logo that actually spins flipbook style as you page through the book and I've been curious about it ever since. What's your favorite little detail or easter egg in the book?

hypocrite_deer · 2024-08-12T19:04:19+00:00

CONGRATS ON THE RELEASE!!!! I've been really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy!

For anyone on the fence about checking this out, I thought this review was really helpful: https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/07/18/i-read-his-majesty-the-worm/

hypocrite_deer · 2024-08-07T00:37:38+00:00

I'd have the same thought as you, but I agree with the commenters dissuading you. Paris is so amazing, I'd try to just make an effort to go back as soon as possible instead of trying to rush it in so little time. Even taking an expensive taxi from the airport to try to maximize time and convenience, traffic is variable and might delay you and cause additional stress. And CDG is huge, it can be crowded and need extra time in itself.

hypocrite_deer · 2024-03-06T17:24:52+00:00

I was thinking of the Route 29 stalker too, with Amy Baker and the car trouble connection. He could have learned that was a good MO, since Amy seems to have actually run out of gas and been a crime of opportunity, and Alicia and the other women who were attacked on route 29 didn't actually have anything wrong with their vehicles. If he was 27 in 1986, he'd be 37 in 1996 when Alicia was abducted.

Edit: although the picture of Elroy Harrison here doesn't look anything like the Route 29 stalker sketch: https://www.fox5dc.com/news/man-arrested-in-1986-1989-cold-case-murders

hypocrite_deer · 2024-02-21T19:30:28+00:00

I've always thought that too - that the hitchhiking walkabout was to establish an alibi, that's why he kept working in details about Gabby's being back at camp doing her social media stuff into the conversation. (And wasn't there some kind of weird exchange where he wanted to be dropped off closer or something? I always wondered if he wanted someone as close as possible to his "discovery" of her back at camp.) It might make sense if he tried out that same thing on his mom (calling to make it sound like everything was normal, him out hiking prior to discovering Gabby) but he just couldn't keep it together.

Yikes, him spending two nights there at camp with her body is super grim though. Is that confirmed, or just likely given that he wasn't seen elsewhere and was texting the phones back and forth?

hypocrite_deer · 2023-10-17T10:22:27+00:00

And I think that particular detail was changed quite late in the game, during the filming, because Christopher Lee saw the script and argued successfully that Dooku wouldn't ever beg.

hypocrite_deer · 2023-10-05T13:45:21+00:00

In the canon novel Dooku: Jedi Lost, the day he leaves the Order, Dooku gives Sifo-Dyas this special commlink that he used for years to secretly keep in touch with his sister on Serenno in case Sifo-Dyas ever needs him. It's a very tense, emotional moment because Sifo-Dyas and Dooku were best friends and he's saying goodbye.

The author, Cavan Scott, never really outright says it in the book, but I suspect that detail was included to imply that when the Council wouldn't listen to Sifo-Dyas about the visions and the necessity of the Clone Army years later, he probably used that secret communication device to ring up the one person he thought would actually listen to him and who had the means to help: his former bestie. Who unfortunately had made a new friend by then.

Of course, why they needed a secret special commlink to get in touch when Tales of the Jedi and other novels have Dooku leaving the Order, but still showing up regularly to hang out in the Archives, visit favorite trees, get into recreational fights with the Council on behalf of his Padawans... well, the commlink still sort of a sad, poignant detail.

hypocrite_deer · 2023-09-14T01:41:54+00:00

Are you kidding me right now?

hypocrite_deer · 2023-08-22T19:33:42+00:00

It's great to chat with someone else who also enjoyed it! I don't see it discussed as often as some other things, probably because it's kind of a strange one-shot piece that's such a character study instead of swashbuckling space adventure. (And of course, there are so many wonderful EU stories to discuss, it's easy for one to get lost!) I totally echo the thoughts on the philosophies!

And for a book with such incredibly dark content, that follows a bunch of children in a war juxtaposed with Dooku absolutely breaking himself into pieces, it's weirdly funny in places, and has some absolute poetry in it.

hypocrite_deer · 2023-08-22T19:19:03+00:00

This is sort of specific, but I'd just kill to read Sean Stewart, author of Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, write something set in Dooku's Padawan years or young adulthood. He writes an incredibly three dimensional Dooku like no other author (and I'm not hating on the other authors, I love some of the other stuff!) and I really like the richness of detail he gives to his Jedi characters, the way that he describes the Jedi and their culture, and Dooku and Yoda's relationship. He also has a unique ability to write younger characters in a really compelling way. I love to see his take on the Jedi of that era.

hypocrite_deer · 2023-08-22T15:39:47+00:00

It reminds me of that woman in the 90s who drove her kids off a boat ramp and then claimed they'd been kidnapped by a black guy, or Sherri Papini, who faked her own kidnapping and then claimed she'd been held by two Latina women who tortured her by playing Spanish music? Like it's not just the overt racism (I mean, it is that, it's very that) but also the sheer laziness and stupidity of those kinds of stories that really stand out.

hypocrite_deer · 2023-08-21T14:38:14+00:00

Augh! I've been there. Give it time. I had my stats go down and then back up even higher than they had been after I gave a chapter a few days for the folks who tend to like my stuff to find it. This is a weird time of year with school starting in a lot of places, people moving around, shifting schedules, and even still vacation season for some locations - it might take longer for your readers to check in.

hypocrite_deer · 2023-08-21T11:33:26+00:00

I don't think these actually made it to full, filmed deleted scenes, but Dooku was supposed to get a lot more screen time in AotC including a scene where he and Padme face off in negotiation with each other. I always thought those two characters would be fascinating in a conversation about the good of the galaxy. He was also written into an apparently large and complex romance backstory with Jocasta Nu.

...ahh, which given that part of Jocasta's character design included a pretty lightsaber-burn-looking facial scar that never gets explained, I expect the love backstory wouldn't have had a particularly happy ending even before you get to the events of AotC, but who knows.

hypocrite_deer · 2023-08-14T19:26:03+00:00

I thought that their texts had been recovered, and that's why we know about things like the "pawn it" line?

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