Count Dooku’s death scene is one of the most powerful and important moments in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, but it was nearly ruined by deleted lines of dialogue. Anakin Skywalker’s journey towards Jedi Knighthood and fall into Sith Lordship is one of the key storylines in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and the tragic death of Anakin’s mother, Shmi Skywalker, led to one of Anakin’s earliest and most disturbing uses of the dark side. While Anakin was truly a good man, his Darth Vader persona was born the night he witnessed his mother die after being kidnapped and tortured by Tusken Raiders. This haunting scene, along with Anakin’s final confrontation with the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus (a.k.a. Count Dooku) helped mold him into Palpatine’s latest Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, but deleted dialogue nearly connected the two moments, much to Anakin’s detriment.
While Count Dooku served his Sith master faithfully throughout the Star Wars prequels, Palpatine was, ultimately, intent on manipulating Anakin Skywalker into joining the Sith. Since Anakin’s induction into the Jedi Order, Palpatine spent over a decade isolating him from the Jedi and feeding his ego. The Jedi themselves, while well-intentioned, were at a flawed point in their history, creating a poor environment for a former slave to grow into an emotionally-healthy adult. The Jedi preached emotional suppression and forbade attachments, healthy or otherwise, making Palpatine seem like the only trustworthy mentor figure to Anakin at times. By the time Anakin made the choice to embrace the dark side of the Force and join the Sith, he’d grown to see them as, at worst, a necessary evil to be free and have the power to save those he loved.
Anakin Skywalker’s rivalry with Count Dooku was a key component of his fall to the dark side, with Dooku handily defeating the overconfident padawan at the end of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Their rematch aboard the Invisible Hand was orchestrated by Palpatine, leading Anakin to execute the helpless Sith Lord upon defeating him, vacating Dooku’s position for Anakin to later fill as Darth Vader. Shmi’s death was notably not planned by either Sith but nevertheless played into Palpatine’s machinations perfectly. Deleted Revenge of the Sith dialogue, as revealed in The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, establishes that Dooku (likely on Palpatine’s orders) orchestrated Shmi’s kidnapping and death, which not only ruins the meaning of Dooku’s death scene by removing Anakin’s dilemma over killing or not, but also makes it difficult to imagine Anakin joining Palpatine.
Dooku Killing Shmi Ruins His Death Scene
Star Wars canon and Legends each took a different approach to exacerbate Anakin’s hatred of Dooku for the three-year Clone Wars. In Legends, the two never had a true rematch (but came close to one on Raxus Prime early in the war), giving Skywalker three years to prepare for their next confrontation. In canon, the two fought many times throughout the war, with Skywalker failing to definitively defeat Dooku each time. In both cases, Anakin finally got what he wanted, defeating Dooku in a duel that visually and thematically resembles his duel with Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi. Anakin gives in to the dark side and drives Dooku back until he wears him down and defeats him with a dismembering blow. The resemblance continues as Palpatine goads Anakin to execute Dooku. Unlike Luke, Anakin gives in and beheads the helpless Sith Lord.
Count Dooku’s death was a brilliant scene, highlighting the difference between Anakin and Luke, and as described in the Revenge of the Sith novelization, Palpatine’s goading didn’t convince Anakin to go against the Jedi way, it simply gave him permission to do what he’d wanted to do for three years. If Dooku had revealed that he’d manipulated a tribe of Tusken Raiders to kill Shmi Skywalker, there’d be no surprise at Anakin tapping into the dark side and Anakin would not hesitate to kill the Sith Lord. While Anakin would probably have flown into a rage similar to Luke in Return of the Jedi, Dooku’s death scene would be far quicker and more decisive, ending further parallels between Anakin’s execution of Dooku and Luke’s near-execution of Darth Vader.
Anakin Would Never Join Palpatine
A more glaring issue with having Dooku manipulate the Tusken Raiders into killing Shmi Skywalker is that it would affect Anakin’s loyalty to Palpatine during a critical time when he needed to trust the Sith Lord. Darth Tyranus was a brilliant leader and manipulator, turning half of the galaxy against the Republic as Count Dooku and orchestrating the creation of the Clone Army in his Sith Lord identity. Ultimately, however, his actions followed the plans of Palpatine, so Anakin would have figured out rather quickly that Darth Sidious was responsible for his mother’s death as much as Dooku, a realization that would have foiled Palpatine’s plans.
Anakin’s love for those closest to him is his greatest strength and weakness. The death of Shmi led Anakin to commit one of his first dark side-fueled atrocities and his many furious outbursts during the Clone Wars were often spurred by the deaths of clone troopers or threats to Padmé. Anakin’s fear of Padmé dying in childbirth is a major contribution to his fall to the dark side, as his desperation for a way to save her led him to make his Faustian bargain. If Anakin had discovered that Palpatine was in any way responsible for his mother’s death, he wouldn’t have trusted him as a means to save Padmé’s life. It is, after all, Palpatine’s threat to Luke Skywalker that ultimately led Darth Vader to turn on his master and become Anakin Skywalker again.
The Dialogue Would Redeem Tusken Raiders
One potential benefit of Revenge of the Sith’s deleted dialogue is that it could have redeemed the Tusken Raiders within the context of the films. Canon and Legends non-movie material presents more humanized depictions of Tusken Raiders, but they’re only ever shown as violent threats in the main saga. Having Dooku manipulate them into attacking Shmi Skywalker redeems Tusken Raiders to a degree before properties like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic or The Book of Boba Fett would go even further, but it’s still difficult to imagine Dooku, a Sith Lord and political leader, manipulating a tribe of Tuskens who are notoriously untrusting of any outsiders. Aside from this potential benefit, Dooku’s deleted dialogue in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith would have had the greatest effect on Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side, damaging some of the prequel trilogy’s most powerful moments.