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Wasn't it a risk for Dooku to tell Obi-Wan the truth about Darth Sidious?

Count Dooku: What if I told you that the Republic was now under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith?

Obi-Wan: No, that's not possible. The Jedi would be aware of it.

Count Dooku: The dark side has clouded their vision. Hundreds of senators are now under the influence of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.

Did Dooku tell Obi-Wan the truth simply because he knew the Jedi wouldn't believe him anyway? Why tell Obi-Wan?

Note: this question was inspired by the question at http://boards.theforce.net/threads/why-did-dooku-reveal-the-truth-to-obi-wan-on-geonosis.50025369/

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    Strange how so many villains tend to reveal their plan before they attempt to kill the main character.
    – Eowyn12
    Nov 2, 2015 at 18:24
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    I don't have relevant page numbers and this is IMO, so posting as comment rather than answer, but having just read the novelizations of Episodes II and III, I believe one could infer it's part of Sidious' plan. If the Jedi know a Sith Lord controls the Senate, they're more likely to interfere with the government to stop him, which plays into Palpatine's "Jedi Rebellion" part of his machinations to eliminate the Jedi Order and install himself as Emperor.
    – Michael Itzoe
    Nov 2, 2015 at 21:20

6 Answers 6

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Dooku was attempting to shake Obi-Wan's confidence in the Republic and the Jedi, and convince Obi-Wan to join him and the Separatists (allegedly to fight the Sith). The relevant quote is:

Count Dooku: What if I told you that the Republic was now under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith?

Obi-Wan: No, that's not possible. The Jedi would be aware of it.

Count Dooku: The dark side of the Force has clouded their vision, my friend. Hundreds of senators are now under the influence of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.

Obi-Wan: I don't believe you.

...

Count Dooku: You must join me, Obi-Wan, and together we will destroy the Sith!

Obi-Wan: I will never join you, Dooku.

Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, transcribed from a Youtube video of the scene

Dooku didn't actually reveal much information, though. Dooku revealed Palpatine's Sith name, but with no way to connect the Sith name to Palpatine's public persona the name is useless to the Jedi. The information he gave was also misleading: by saying that "hundreds of senators are under the influence" Dooku implied that the Sith Lord was influencing them privately from behind the scenes when in fact the Sith Lord was influencing the Republic Senate in his public capacity as the Supreme Chancellor. Using this information the Jedi might reason that the power of the "hundreds of senators" corrupted by a Sith Lord could be mitigated by giving even more power to the Supreme Chancellor, i.e. the Sith Lord himself.

Since Dooku didn't reveal much information and did so in a misleading way, it was a relatively low risk gamble to attempt to gain Obi-Wan as an ally of the Separatists and possibly trick the Jedi into handing even more power to the Supreme Chancellor.

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    Dooku alleges that if Obi-Wan joins him, they can fight the Sith. Is there any reason to believe that he was speaking honestly? From another question/answer, it seems that Dooku's ultimate goal was to end the Republic for the purpose of establishing an iron-fisted peace. There's no particular reason this would necessarily have to involve the Sith. If Dooku honestly intend to help take down Palpatine with Obi-Wan's help, it could mean that Dooku was looking for a way to accomplish his ends without the Sith (or even that he intended to betray the Sith eventually).
    – jpmc26
    Dec 8, 2014 at 8:17
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    @jpmc26: The novelisation of Revenge of the Sith establishes that Dooku very much believes in the Sith. What he doesn't believe in is the Rule of Two. He also strongly respects Kenobi, and tries to substitute Kenobi for Skywalker as the "Sith Army's" first recruit.
    – James Sheridan
    Dec 8, 2014 at 10:37
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    @jpmc26 As James Sheridan points out, Dooku supports the Sith. My answer to another question explains why Dooku joined the Sith in the first place (from the Legends novel Darth Plagueis). Dooku was not speaking honestly. He said that Obi-Wan should join him to help him fight the Sith so that Obi-Wan would more likely become a Separatist.
    – Null ♦
    Dec 8, 2014 at 15:01
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    @jpmc26 The Darkside corrupts Dooku's ideals over time. When he left the Jedi Order, Dooku only wanted to secretly dismantle the Republic. During the Clone Wars, he tried to secretly train Savage Oppress to overthrow Sidious. By the time of the Revenge of the Sith novelization, he is dreaming of armies of dark side warriors running an empire of that would be ruled by humans.
    – jliv902
    Dec 9, 2014 at 19:20
  • I had not known that before. Excellent answer!
    – TheMinecraftMan757
    Jul 28, 2015 at 15:46
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This scene is actually the "I am your Father" of the prequels.

An article on the Star Wars Wiki has a statement where it states that:

A Sith Lord gives a big revelation to a Jedi Knight. In Attack of the Clones, Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus tells Obi-Wan Kenobi that the Senate is under the control of the Sith. In The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader tells Luke Skywalker that he is his father. In both films, the Jedi at first refuses to believe what is ultimately true.

This scene is very great. At the every middle of the trilogy it has a shocking revelation of a Sith Lord. If you notice, after the revelation a Sith Lord offers to join them and destroy the Sith. The Jedi reject the Sith Lord's offer and they believed that it was not possible to begin with. The Jedi (Obi Wan Kenobi for Attack of the Clones and Luke Skywalker for Empire Strikes Back) are wrong eventually.They realize that in the next sequel Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, respectively, that what the Sith Lord said is really the truth. This scene is one of the darkest scene in the prequels.

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    "This scene is very great" [citation needed] ;) The scene is ok, but compared the the 'big reveal' scene in Ep. V, it's kinda weaksauce. The similarity to Ep. V seemed forced and uninteresting, IMHO. :)
    – RedCaio
    Aug 17, 2016 at 22:53
  • This scene is great IMO. Because it's a shocking revelation to the Jedi. Since this is the "I am your father" of the prequels. Christopher Lee gives his best performance here as the sith lord. If you're going to compare it. You have to appreciate that because it has a Star Wars parallelѕ. In fact this statement was based on the link above. Which I certainly agree because it has a similar parallel with the prequel and the originals.
    – The Witch King of Angmar
    Aug 18, 2016 at 12:57
  • Is there a "I'm your father" scene in the new triology? I haven't seen it, so don't be mad if the answer is obvious please.
    – SK19
    Jan 11, 2020 at 20:39
  • None, because the new movies are nonsense
    – The Witch King of Angmar
    Feb 2, 2020 at 14:15
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I figured it was because Dooku was second guessing his alliance with Sidious that made him try to get Obi-Wan to join him. It also always seemed to me that Dooku held on to his more Jedi-like ideals until around season 4 of the Clone Wars, as in a few months before ROTS's timeline began. From then on, he really kind of embraced the dark side, almost fooling himself into thinking Sidious wouldn't dump him in a second for Skywalker. This topic did come up in the Clone Wars, as well. In the Lost Missions (Season 6), Dooku explains his actions of blurting out Sidious' name and the mystery surrounding Syfo Dyas, claiming Dyas met his fate as an act of destiny, to "help" Dooku achieve his goals, and that he told Obi-Wan "everything you needed to know all those years ago, on Geonosis." And just as sure as the war began to drag on, so too did it begin to warp and corrupt Dooku's perception of the Force. By the battle of Coruscant, Dooku's vision, like the Jedi's, became clouded and he increasingly found himself relying upon Sidious' confidence in the Great Plan... Until he found himself at the mercy of young Skywalker.

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Partly to shake the confidence of Obi-Wan but also a way for Dooku to overthrow Palpatine, making Dooku the master and Obi-Wan the apprentice hence "the rule of two" in the order of the Sith. Recruiting Obi-Wan to the dark side is, however, quite hard since Obi-Wan is a real Jedi to the bone.

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Dooku wanted to show Obi Wan that he was betrayed and join him to kill Darth Sidious (Palpatine) so that Dooku can replace him as the Master and Obi Wan will be his apprentice, Same thing happened when Darth Maul trained Savage Opress so that they can together overwhelm Sidious and the same thing happened when Vader trained Star killer and when he also tried to do it with Luke.

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According to the dark side, there are only 2, a master and an apprentice. Considering the dark side is selfish and power hungry, in my opinion, dooku was trying to make obi-wan (considered a very powerful knight) his apprentice. So, i think he truly was being truthful in everything he was saying. I think dooku and obi could have beaten the sith together.

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  • I honestly think it wouldve been better if they did join together and defeat the sith and the republic. One the separatists used drones rather than human lifes. 2 the two of them seemed to be very intelligent with the force, one for the dark and the other for the light. If they ruled, the force would be in balance.
    – Caden Patterson
    Feb 17, 2016 at 4:26