Christopher Lee’s Count Dooku is having a moment in the spotlight. The Attack of the Clones villain was always one of the more intriguing Star Wars prequel trilogy characters, choosing to fall to the Dark Side for political and ideological reasons rather than simply to gain power. He was dignified, fiercely intelligent, and unfailingly polite, even when attempting to convince a captured Obi-Wan to join him.
Now, thanks to the animated series Tales of the Jedi, we now know about Dooku’s fall in greater detail. We saw him witnessing the corruption of the Senate, the intransigence of the Jedi Council, and their decisions contributing to the death of Dooku’s former padawan Qui-Gon Jinn.
But with Dooku on everyone’s lips, fans are wondering who’d win in a three-way battle between him and Christopher Lee’s other two iconic roles: Saruman from The Lord of the Rings and Count Dracula.
Most conclude that the near-immortal wizard has got this sewn up:
To be fair, Saruman does come out on top on the lightning front:
Let’s not forget Saruman did die a pretty nasty death!
But others say former Jedi Master Dooku is nothing to sniff at:
It does depend which era of Saruman we’re looking at here:
And while Saruman does have spells, Dooku’s command of the Force is more immediate:
As the most iconic vampire in history, Dracula will never truly be out for the count:
For us there’s a wild card in this fight: Christopher Lee himself. Lee was a member of what became the SAS during World War II, going on missions behind enemy lines to sabotage Luftwaffe aircraft and assassinate key Nazis. He went on to work for the Special Operations Executive and hunted Nazi war criminals, eventually being present soon after the liberation of the death camps.
What exactly Lee did remains classified, though there’s a telling moment in The Lord of the Rings behind-the-scenes footage where he tells Peter Jackson what sound a person really makes when you stab them in the back. So nuts to Jedi, wizards, and vampires – our money is on Christopher Lee coming out on top.