The rule of 2 meant an apprentice took an apprentice and the two would over throw the master. That's why Dooku brought Anakin to the dark side.

If the master found someone stronger than current apprentice, that's the new apprentice.

So there were "only two"...

But they probably both had constant feelers out. Both for potential allies and rivals. An apprentice might have dozens of potentials out there that they're talking to and tempting with power, hoping one gets strong enough to kill the current master.

That's how the rule is passed down, every apprentice to a master either killed the last master with the last apprentice, or killed the last apprentice because "there can be only two".

I think:

Dooku saw that Anakin would quickly surpass himself. Even if he used Anakin to overthrow Palpatine, Anakin would immediately take out Dooku by gaining any competent apprentice. But if he just ignored Anakin, Palpatine would (and this is what happened) just replace Dooku with Anakin.

So after Dooku realized he couldn't control Anakin, he knew that he had to kill Anakin immediately because he was constantly getting stronger and Palpatine had almost certainly found him.

Palps tho had a hidden endgame, he wanted the strongest force user's body to put his own mind into. He wasn't afraid of Anakin's raw but untrained power, that was exactly what he wanted. Until Obiwan chopped off 3/4s of his body, ruining him as a host.

It can be rationalized, but I doubt Lucas did it intentionally.

My head canon is Dooku was never an apprentice to palps eyes, why would palp take on an apprentice who is older then him?

Wasn't the Rule of Two meant to stop all the infighting with the Sith but that just sounds like silo'd infighting.

No, it was implemented to stop twenty weaklings from killing a strong one. Bane thought their large numbers diluted the strength of the individual.

Palps tho had a hidden endgame, he wanted the strongest force user's body to put his own mind into. He wasn't afraid of Anakin's raw but untrained power, that was exactly what he wanted. Until Obiwan chopped off 3/4s of his body, ruining him as a host.

Had no idea of any of this stuff. Is that even in the movies?

No. Darth Bane implemented the Rule of Two for two reasons, to ensure the Sith could stay under the Jedi's radar and operate in secrecy, and to turn the infighting from a weakness into a strength.
Prior to Ruusan, the Sith's greed and ambition often led to several weaker Sith plotting together to take down more powerful Sith in higher ranks. That meant that over time, positions of power were filled by weaker Sith then before, meaning the order bled itself out.
Bane though, as the sole surviving Sith after Ruusan, set up the Rule of Two so there was only one apprentice at a time who had to be more powerful than their master in oder to overpower said master, leading over time to stronger and stronger masters and the order again gaining strength to exact its revenge.

Well, it's the best explanation I've seen yet for that sorry ass line, "somehow he's back". (Referring to Palpatine)

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.

Dooku wanted Anakin to become his apprentice, so they could overpower Palpatine

Maybe it was harvesting out the midichlorines to put in clones?

Same as whyy Highlander duels had to be 1v1

I think he'd rather have had Obi-Wan. He offered to join forces with him; he just taunted Anakin.

No. Maybe in the last one. Since I haven't seen it and just pretend doesn't exist

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.

Let's not pretend anything from the sequels is canon.

It sounds like some book stuff before Disney canon.

The Sith have all sorts of nefarious forms of life extension.

Palps told Dooku that the rule of 2 would stop with them and that they weren't going to kill each other

Anakin found a solution for young weaklings

The Rule of Two was one of Lucas's dumber prequel misteps. The Sith, a group notorious for breaking rules and notorious for intrigue are going to have a Rule of Two and stick to it? I think not.

Yeah, it never made much sense to me

it was more of a formality

the rule of two was being broken over and over

and it was more of a "YOU ARE WEAK AND NEED MORE THAN ONE APPRENTICE" rule instead of a "NOO YOURE IMMORAL" rule