Ultimately, Dooku’s status as an apprentice or not is irrelevant because Palpatine never gave a damn about the Rule of Two. Palps is the logical end result of that system - a greedy sociopath who cares only about himself and his own power with no regard to ideology or what happens when he’s gone. Palpatine had Dooku and Maul as apprentices simultaneously while mostly keeping their existences secret from each other because neither of them were intended to replace him, but to be specialized tools with different purposes. Maul was an assassin meant to kill his enemies without being traced back to him, and Dooku was there to stage false-flag attacks so he could increase his political power. Enforcing the Rule of Two on them and making them fight to be his only apprentice would have been detrimental to his personal plans, the Sith as an organization be damned. He was also totally fine with Dooku blatantly violating the Rule of Two by openly training Ventress right up until he thought Dooku and Ventress might be able to overthrow him, at which point he suddenly started enforcing it by making Dooku kill Ventress.
why would palp take on an apprentice who is older then him?
Why would he care? Dooku was a means to an end, like all Sith apprentices. Palpatine could care less if Dooku kicks the bucket from old age after learning the ways of the Dark Side as long as Dooku helped Palpatine achieve his goals. Though given Palpatine’s clairvoyance, he probably knew Dooku wouldn’t die of old age. Most Sith don’t.
My head canon is Dooku was never an apprentice to palps eyes, why would palp take on an apprentice who is older then him?
Ultimately, Dooku’s status as an apprentice or not is irrelevant because Palpatine never gave a damn about the Rule of Two. Palps is the logical end result of that system - a greedy sociopath who cares only about himself and his own power with no regard to ideology or what happens when he’s gone. Palpatine had Dooku and Maul as apprentices simultaneously while mostly keeping their existences secret from each other because neither of them were intended to replace him, but to be specialized tools with different purposes. Maul was an assassin meant to kill his enemies without being traced back to him, and Dooku was there to stage false-flag attacks so he could increase his political power. Enforcing the Rule of Two on them and making them fight to be his only apprentice would have been detrimental to his personal plans, the Sith as an organization be damned. He was also totally fine with Dooku blatantly violating the Rule of Two by openly training Ventress right up until he thought Dooku and Ventress might be able to overthrow him, at which point he suddenly started enforcing it by making Dooku kill Ventress.
The Sith have all sorts of nefarious forms of life extension.
Why would he care? Dooku was a means to an end, like all Sith apprentices. Palpatine could care less if Dooku kicks the bucket from old age after learning the ways of the Dark Side as long as Dooku helped Palpatine achieve his goals. Though given Palpatine’s clairvoyance, he probably knew Dooku wouldn’t die of old age. Most Sith don’t.
Dooku wanted Anakin to become his apprentice, so they could overpower Palpatine
I think he’d rather have had Obi-Wan. He offered to join forces with him; he just taunted Anakin.