How could Count Dooku lose against Anakin Skywalker in a lightsaber battle?

Question

At Wookieepedia I found the following:

Dooku was a respected instructor in the Jedi Temple and one of the most renowned swordsmen in the galaxy. Only Masters Yoda and Mace Windu were considered his equals.

When it comes to lightsaber combat mastery one finds regularly these three names, sometimes alongside Darth Sidious, but not that of Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader. Examples:

Mace Windu was a formidable warrior and generally considered one of the greatest swordsmen ever produced by the Jedi Order [...]. Even without his unique fighting style, it is said that only his one-time friend, Dooku, and the venerable Grand Master Yoda could outspar him.

Yoda was a master of lightsaber combat, one of the greatest duelists of all time. It was said that only Mace Windu, Count Dooku and Palpatine were able to fight with him on equal terms.

So how could Anakin defeat Count Dooku so easily at the beginning of The Revenge of the Sith?

This Question contains some good points but I guess it can't be only a matter of fighting styles as Dooku's "Makashi" is a special dueling style and he had good knowledge of the other styles too.

Maybe Dooku's age played a role but then again when the force is your ally this shouldn't matter too much (see Yoda).

Answer 1

According to the novel, Sidious had told Dooku to hold back, because he wanted to use Anakin to murder Obi-Wan. (Which also partly explains Dooku's shocked face when Sidious tells Anakin to kill Dooku. While he might have expected a Sith master to stand back and let the strongest man win, he would not have expected his master to change the plan on him in that way.)

Also, Sidious was there and he was watching. He was also quite capable of using the Force in whatever small ways he wanted to if it would influence the outcome by either helping Anakin or by hindering Dooku.

Also stated in the book, Dooku's pride got in his way. Anakin and Obi-Wan's opening stances were from different "styles" than they proceeded to fight in. Dooku was put on an unbalanced defensive by preparing for their fighting style based on these opening stances, and then not fighting as he expected them to.

Answer 2

The loss of Count Dooku to Anakin is aptly explained by looking at the Jedi Lightsaber Forms that the two used. Count Dooku was one of the premier duelists in the order before becoming a Sith. His mastery of Form II (Makashi) was legendary.

"He is a fencer. Leverage, position, advantage—they are as natural to him as breathing."

_{Qui-Gon Jinn's Spirit to Yoda in Yoda: Dark Rendezvous}

One of the advantages of Form II is its level of control and one-on-one domination. It does have its flaws, the most telling in this engagement being the lack of the ability to generate momentum in both its offensive and defensive maneuvers. Against Anakin in the first encounter, this was not a problem; though Skywalker used Form V (Shien) against Dooku, he was not at this time, extraordinarily proficient, and wasn't as practiced in Jar'Kai when he tried to use his fury against Dooku after saving Kenobi from Dooku's blade, resulting in the loss of his arm.

However, in the battle where he defeated Dooku, two things were in play. At first, Dooku was attempting to hold back, in deference to Sidious' wishes. When he began to defend in earnest, he found that he couldn't generate the necessary energy to ward off Skywalker's newfound proficiency in the Form V variant Djem So, which is characterized by power attacks and defense immediately followed by a counter-strike. Djem So is the counterpart of Shien, and encourages aggression and domination, to not only counterattack, but also to press the assault, combining Force-enhanced strength with powerful blade combinations to overpower and overwhelm an opponent's defenses. Skywalker was a natural at the style which was the reason for his change from Shien to Djem So, and the defenses of Form II were not up to warding off such, to Dooku's lament.

Answer 3

Although the answers above offer a comprehensive insight into some of the major factors at play that stand in Anakin's favour...

• The differences in fighting styles between Dooku & Anakin.
• Anakin's greater connection to the Force.
• The fact that Dooku had been told to hold back and wait for Sidious to step in.
• Anakin using his anger to increase his Force abilities.

...the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary offers two additional advantages that haven't already been covered:

Anakin's Mechano-Arm.

This arm is described in the The Visual Dictionary as being much stronger and dextrous than a normal human arm. In the fight we frequently see Dooku thrown backwards by surprisingly heavy blows from Anakin's lightsaber.

Advanced planning

The Visual Dictionary describes the fight as characterised by a ruse, initially they...

"attack Count Dooku in concert aboard the Separatist command cruiser, lulling him into a false sense of confidence by using standard lightsaber tactics, only to shift to advanced forms, forcing a confused Dooku to retreat"

It seems clear that Anakin and Obi-Wan have discussed their fight strategy extensively knowing that they'll have to face Dooku again. They've also had the opportunity to discuss Dooku's strengths and weaknesses with Yoda, the person who taught Dooku to fight in the first place and who'd recently fought him on Geonosis.

Answer 4

Count Dooku lost to Anakin because Anakin was a lot better. Through more training, missions in the Clone Wars, and perhaps his midi-chlorian count, he was almost at his peak.

People get shocked though because the prequel trilogy and didn't really show his progressions and didn't show how powerful he was. They just continued to say, "he's the chosen one" and have him cry all the time.

In Revenge of the Sith Anakin is easily one of the most powerful Jedi and his swordsman skills are on par with others such as Windu.

Palpatine even says to General Grievous that he's going to have a stronger apprentice soon. He loses to Obi-wan at the end because he is not focused.

Answer 5

I didn't read every comment, but from what I read, everyone seems to be missing one critical thing, at least from the novel. In the movie, Anakin's power seems to be completely nerfed and it looked like he won with a simple trick. In the book, however, after Obi-Wan got knocked out, Anakin got angry and started tapping into his TRUE power. He was angry enough not to hold back anymore and not worry about the dark side, but not so angry that he lost control. It was the perfect balance of power and focus, and Anakin started to move so fast that Dooku had to rely on the force to know where he was because he could no longer see him, and Anakin's strikes were so hard he literally made Dooku hit himself with his own saber when he tried to block. Such overwhelming speed and strength, combined with Anakin's considerable skill, is what resulted in Anakin's victory (in the novel).

Answer 6

Other than the above answers, which are almost all correct, Dooku also encouraged Anakin to use his anger. That's when Anakin started to really pour it on. Dooku was a fencer, but Anakin was a Form V (Djem So) stylist, and as Dooku said, the best one he had ever seen.

Dooku's Makashi simply could not properly deflect such attacks coming with that level of ferocity, strength, youghful vigor and raw force power. Dooku got Anakin to unleash the dark side in a way he probably hadn't done since cutting down all the Tusken Raiders back on Tatooine after his mother died.

Dooku was also expecting Palpatine to intercede for him, as Dooku even asked him along the lines of "What if Anakin should best me?" Palpatine reassured him that he would step in.

Only when Palpatine told Anakin to kill him did Dooku realize that he'd been a fool. That he was never the real apprentice or heir to the Sith; that Anakin had been Palpatine's goal all along.

Answer 7

I think Dooku lost because he was just toying with Anakin at the start of the duel. Look how easy he defeated Obi -Wan by knocking him out. But at the same time people forget just how arrogant and cocky Dooku was and he no doubt underestimated Anakin he also didn't think Sidious would just let him be killed. So in a way, he had a false sense of security

Answer 8

I would say that Dooku thought Anakin could be caged by the more predictable methods of the dark side. Even Palpatine didn't use this. His primary weapon against Anakin was using Amadala's life against him. As such Dooku made a mistake in toying with him during the second battle. He fought and realized a little too late that Anakin was way too strong to be simply toyed with. Mind you, Dooku is probably the strongest Sith with a Light Saber to ever have lived. He almost won two complete battles with Obi Wan and Anakin combined. I know no other that would be able to do this. Even Anakin lost against Obi Wan by himself and was pretty much the same par with an old Obi Wan until he let himself get killed.

Answer 9

He was simply toying with Anakin otherwise he would have won; he tried to lure Anakin to the dark side by bringing out his rage- the plan was to turn Anakin to the dark side and rule the Empire (from Wookieepedia).

Answer 10

After their first encounter Dooku is visibly shaken after the fight with Anakin so clearly he was tested even then. Anakin was able to beat him because he became angry and used a side of the force (dark through his anger amplified by Sidious who was urging him on) which was more powerful and could overcome Dooku who was overly confident, probably not expecting to lose this time around either and ultimately caught of guard.

Answer 11

Anakin was not as accomplished in the light side and always deep down drew more form the dark side deep with in, so the first fight he tried to rely more his light side and tried to use two lightsaber form he wasn't proficient at. And in the second fight when he gave fully into the dark side which he was more natural with and the amount of midichlorians at his disposal he was too much to handle and Dooku's offensive form was no match. And Anakin lost to Obi-wan for the same reason he did with Luke, because deep down he cares and loved both of them and even though he wanted to destroy them his heart under minded him and his passion gives him focus which was not there due to being conflicted.