Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi might have only been six episodes long, but the animated miniseries still managed to enhance our understanding of the lives of two of the most significant Jedi in the canon, especially Count Dooku, with the exploration of his origins allowing us to view him as a much more textured, nuanced character than before. At the same time, Dooku’s descent into darkness reminds us yet again what is unequivocally the single most important — and most epic — moment in all of Star Wars.
In the Dooku-centric episodes of Tales, we discover just how much the Jedi, who became Darth Tyranus, cared for his padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, with his final push to the Dark Side coming after the death of Liam Neeson’s hero at the hands of Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace. As one Redditor pointed out, this makes the legendary Duel of the Fates battle between Qui-Gon and Maul even more integral to the saga’s storyline as it is a key juncture in the lives of both Dooku and Anakin Skywalker.
This post claims that the Duel of the Fates is “the most important fight in the prequels,” but honestly, that’s probably not going far enough. The death of Qui-Gon (and Maul’s injury, which leads him to divert from the Sith) affects everyone from Palpatine to Obi-Wan Kenobi, sending ripples throughout the galaxy’s power structure that would ultimately result in the rise of both the Empire and Darth Vader. If the Duel had turned out differently, so too would the entire Skywalker Saga.
Until Disney finally gets on that Star Wars What If…? series, though, it’s just up to fans to speculate on the importance of such scenes. Tales of the Jedi is available to stream on Disney Plus.