Hello there! Recently I had a fun, thought-provoking question: what if the CIS successfully won the Clone Wars?
In the PT, we learn the Clone Wars were rigged from the start by Palpatine and Dooku in order to weaken the galaxy. However, what if Dooku was secretly plotting to betray Palpatine beforehand, and therefore, actually bring a victory to the CIS and fracture the Republic? What would the Skywalker Saga look like?
I’ll be splitting this series into four parts: an alternate ROTS, an alternate ANH, an alternate ESB, and an alternate ROTJ. TPM and AOTC will remain as standard. If this proves fun I might make an alternate ST.
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
The movie opens the same as OTL: Anakin and Obi-Wan infiltrate the Invisible Hand to rescue Palpatine. They then confront Dooku and Obi-Wan is knocked unconscious. Anakin and Dooku then duel, but this time, it is Dooku who bests Anakin. Palpatine then laughs, much to Anakin’s confusion, and he gloats that he is Dooku’s master, and this battle was a test to see if Anakin was stronger than Lord Tyrannus. As it turns out, Palpatine overestimated Anakin.
Obi-Wan wakes up just in time to see Palpatine kill Anakin. The two Sith escape. The Republic is bombarding on the Invisible Hand and it is only a matter of time before the ship explodes, so Obi-Wan takes Anakin’s lifeless body and leaves on an escape pod.
Anakin is given a proper Jedi funeral. Obi-Wan is severely shaken by the death of his “brother”, but also yearns to set things right with Palpatine. The Republic still believes Palpatine is their righteous leader captured by the evil mastermind Dooku. Obi-Wan reveals to the Council the truth, but with no evidence, they dismiss the outrageous story as a byproduct of his grief. Yoda requests Obi-Wan stay in his chambers “for a short while”.
But Obi-Wan soon realizes “a short while” is really “until the war is over”, and he cannot sit while millions die in vain. He goes rogue.
On the run from the Republic, Obi-Wan makes his way to a criminal world (Nal Hutta?) and runs into a teenage Boba Fett and his gang of bounty hunters. Obi-Wan pretends to join the bounty hunters, trying to get close to CIS leadership.
After a few side adventures, Obi-Wan succeeds in infiltrating the Separtist Base on Serrano but is ultimately captured. Dooku escorts him to Palpatine. Dooku privately claims to Obi-Wan that he is not what he seems - he only joined the Sith to infiltrate the corruption within the Republic, as he said all those years ago on Geonosis. Dooku also claims to be saddened by the unnecessary death of Anakin.
In Palpatine’s throne room, the Master of the Sith orders Dooku to execute Obi-Wan and silence these rumors. While Palpatine chants about turning the lightsaber to strike your true enemy Dooku ignites Obi-Wan’s blade and cuts Palpatine in half.
Dooku and Obi-Wan team up against Palpatine’s Guards. After winning, Obi-Wan suggests now that Dooku has finished his mission he return to the Jedi. But Dooku has other plans. He thinks the Republic is too corrupt even with Palpatine’s riddance. If they elected and failed to notice Palpatine, how much more injustice could continue? Obi-Wan, beaten from grief, agrees and takes Dooku’s hand.
In actuality, Dooku has been corrupted by the dark side and is only fulfilling the rule of two. Palpatine’s death was never for the greater good, but for his own rise to master. And Obi-Wan is now his Sith Apprentice.
With Palpatine dead, the Republic war effort collapses overnight. Dooku negotiates a peace deal - the Republic officially acknowledges the Confederacy of Independent Systems as a sovereign government, beginning a long cold war that will ignite to flames during an alternate OT…