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When Star Wars challenged your trust
Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones
Writers: George Lucas & Jonathan Hales
Director: George Lucas
Star Wars is built around the universal struggle of good versus evil, but that doesn’t mean it is without nuance or moments that force you to dig a little deeper into the motivations of its characters. The prequels gave us Count Dooku, one of the “Lost Twenty” Jedi Masters who left the order. He turned to the dark side and became the apprentice to Darth Sidious aka Good Ol’ Sheev Palpatine. He was also the face of the Separatist movement—the group of planets, guilds, and systems that wanted out of the Republic, the same Republic that was home to our favorite Jedi, royals, and clones, so much that they engaged in a war over that belief. All of this makes for a very good resume for a bad guy. Count Dooku—also called Darth Tyranus—was bad.
But were his intentions?
In Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan Kenobi is captured during his intergalactic private eye investigation and held captive on Geonosis. He soon finds himself face to face with Dooku, and Kenobi, as well as the audience, is forced to question everything he believes about the two grand institutions he serves, the Jedi Order and the Republic. One was losing its way and the other was being eaten away from the inside. Hard truths for Kenobi to face. At this moment, Star Wars wasn’t just asking if you were good or bad, it was asking you to answer a more important question first: who do you trust? Because that answer will lead you forward.
Obi-Wan has every reason not to trust Count Dooku. Though he has not been exposed as a Sith at this point, Dooku left the Jedi Order and has taken control of an army threatening the peace of the galaxy. Then as Obi-Wan marks him a traitor, Dooku lies to him. Says he has nothing to do with his capture and denies Jango Fett is on this planet. These are lies. Kenobi knows this. He tracked Fett here, so when the tone in Dooku’s words shifts soon after, Kenobi is not wrong for withholding his trust.
However, everything Count Dooku says from then on is right. The Trade Federation was working with Darth Sidious. The Republic Senate, long corrupt, was now under the influence of the Sith Lord, and the Jedi have missed this because the dark side of the Force was finding it too easy to blind them. It’s all accurate, so the question is what do you do when a person you know you can’t trust is now the only one telling the truth?
Dooku even invokes the name of Qui-Gon Jinn, Kenobi’s former Jedi Master AND Dooku’s former apprentice, wishing he was here now to help. Kenobi spits out that Qui-Gon would never join him, but can he even be sure of that? Qui-Gon was never in total lockstep with the Jedi Council. Obi-Wan knows this because he was tasked with training Anakin Skywalker, the very by-product of Qui-Gon’s defiance of the Council. So, when Count Dooku asserts that there is a good chance Qui-Gon would have left the Jedi as well and maybe even helped Dooku, it rings true. As does Dooku’s request to Obi-Wan, “You must join me, Obi-Wan, and together we can destroy the Sith.”
It’s a defining moment for both Obi-Wan and Count Dooku.
Time and time again, the prequels and the prequel era put forth the idea that the venerable and honorable Jedi Order has moved away from their core principles. Yoda talks about the arrogance of younger Jedi. Many question the Jedi’s eventual military involvement in the Clone War. Mace Windu talks openly about their connection to the Force being diminished. Faced with the full weight of all these tough past and future truths, Obi-Wan Kenobi stands behind his own core principles. That’s the one thing he can trust. It’s not that he doesn’t believe Dooku at this point, it’s that he won’t bend. He refuses to join. Obi-Wan will stand in the light in an effort to clear out the dark.
Dooku had formed the Separatists to fight against the Republic, and the Republic became the Empire, something the Jedi couldn’t stop because they were too complacent to see it. Dooku saw this coming and his intentions may not have been bad, at least initially. In some ways, he was the first rebel. However, Sir Christopher Lee, the late legendary actor who played Dooku, described him as amoral, not concerned with right or wrong, only power. So that makes one think that maybe he really did want to recruit Obi-Wan? Maybe he wanted to take down the Sith even though he currently was one? For Dooku, switching sides and titles was just the next means to his own end. But here now, as he is refused by Obi-Wan, he stands behind his own core principles. In one of the best acting moments of the series, Sir Christopher Lee’s Count Dooku takes a beat and nods, confirming his choice. He faced these truths long ago and lost his trust then. Power became his guide. Power is what Dooku trusts. So, he walks way. Back into the dark, away from the light.
Star Wars is a story of good versus evil, but here on the planet Geonosis on the verge of war, we’re reminded that sometimes you need to have your trust shaken to find out where you really stand.