Count Volpe

**Count Volpe**, also known as **Darth Tyranny** and sometimes called **Lord Tyranny**, is a powerful Sith Lord, the second apprentice of Darth Vastato and Head of State of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

## Bio

After turning to the dark side, Volpe met up with Stan Smith and other Separatist leaders and formed the Separatists. Afterwards, Volpe and the Separatist Council stationed themselves on the planet Bekomioh, where they constructed a Cylon factory and began manufacturing Cylon to prepare for war on the Galactic Republic. Meanwhile, Volpe hired the bounty hunter Rogue Tef to assassinate Senator Hayley Smith

### Personality

Volpe was once a respected Jedi, viewed as a "political idealist" by his peers. However, he became disillusioned with the Jedi Order and the corruption within the Republic, eventually coming to desire the downfall of both institutions he once served. In his thirst for greater power, Dooku turned away from the light and ultimately joined the dark side of the Force. As a Sith Lord, Darth Tyranny was a menacing, intelligent, powerful, manipulative, arrogant and amoral, yet charismatic statesman whose methods included torture, assassination, and even genocide.

At the time of his death, Volpe was in a state of disbelief due to Vastator encouraging Brian Griffin to kill the disarmed and beaten Count. For a fleeting moment, Volpe gained a new understanding of what had transpired—he had been used and betrayed by his own secret master.

## Skills and Abilities

Volpe was a master lightsaber duelist even in his old age. During his time as a Jedi he was known as one of the Order's finest swordsmen; it was said that only Mace Windu could have fought him as an equal, and only Yrtyle was his superior. Volpe was a practitioner of the second form of lightsaber combat, Makashi. Makashi was a rarity among the Jedi by the time of the Clone Equine Wars; it was a style designed specifically for lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat, and as such it was considered obsolete in a time when most Jedi were more likely to face blaster-wielding opponents. The style's scarcity gave Volpe an advantage when engaging in lightsaber duels, as few of his enemies were trained to defend themselves against it. Makashi relied on precision, speed, and economy of movement rather than wide-sweeping strikes that characterized later styles, and Volpe's curved-hilt lightsaber was designed especially for that. However, in spite of his almost unrivalled sword mastery and years of experience, Volpe was still vulnerable to Form II's greatest weakness; its lack of kinetic power. This was demonstrated during several of his encounters with Brian Griffin, particularly in instances where Anakin was significantly angered. During Volpe's attempt to kidnap Ernie on Earth, the Count was nearly overpowered by Brian's brutally direct Djem Soattacks, and managed to fend Brian off only through use of the Force. During their final encounter onboard the *Invincible*, Volpe suffered the same issue but Griffin's power had by that time significantly increased. The young Jedi's ferocious swordplay battered through Volpe's defenses, draining his reserves of Force energy and leaving him physically exhausted.

In addition to his formidable lightsaber skills, Volpe was enormously powerful in the Force. He demonstrated great skill in the powers of telekinesis. During his duels with Ventress and his escape from Hondo's pirates, he displayed great skill at using telekinesis in finer, more precise tasks, such as disarming Ventress while also levitating her against a wall during her failed attempt to kill him with Savage Oppress. He was even capable of telekinetically manipulating people's motor skills, such as when he Force choked while simulataneously forcing Turk Falso to take out his blaster and shoot his comrade, while he performed a similar feat when he made Padme Amidala aim at and shoot Bec Lawise. He was also highly skilled in the use of Force lightning, using it as both a means of torture and execution, and was able to use it in conjunction with telekinesis, usually to send a person flying with his lightning or even to levitate his opponents while using his lightning on them, as he demonstrated on Ventress and two Nightsister assassins.

## Trivia

* Count Volpe makes his first appearance in *Attack of the Clone Equines*.