Conspiracy motif

A conspiracy motif written by John Williams and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra first appeared in the 2002 Attack of the Clones soundtrack. Used as a leitmotif accompanying scenes related to the Separatist conspiracy, it is an arpeggio figure in a minor key. A bombastic variation of the theme is used as a leitmotif for Count Dooku in the in the 2017 video game Star Wars Battlefront 2.
In Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, the motif is first heard when Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and the Jedi Order discuss the Galactic Republic's heightening tensions and possible war against the growing Separatist Movement. Later in the same scene, when the two senior-most Jedi Councilors aside from Grand Master Yoda, Mace Windu and Ki-Adi-Mundi, question Senator Padmé Amidala's speculation that Count Dooku was behind the assassination attempt on her life based on Dooku's past as a Jedi, the motif sounds once more, continuing as Yoda asserts that regardless of whomever was behind the thwarted attempt on Amidala, the senator remained in grave danger. As Palpatine suggests that Amidala be placed under Jedi protection, specifically under the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, the motif is played with greater emphasis and volume. It is then interrupted by an instance of dies irae when Windu states that Amidala's potential Jedi protection were available, and returns as Palpatine insists the senator to accept Kenobi and Skywalker as her personal bodyguards.
The leitmotif is used again during the scene outside the Outlander Club between Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Zam Wesell, as the latter is about to reveal the identity of her employer before being murdered by an elusive assassin. As the film reveals, the killer was her employer, the bounty hunter Jango Fett, who was himself under the employ of the Separatists.
The motif sounds again when Kenobi meets Fett at the latter's quarters on the waterworld of Kamino. The motif continually plays throughout the meeting, where they discuss the clone army, Fett's visits to Coruscant, and Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. When Fett says he never heard of the Sifo-Dyas, the commissioner of the clone army, the conspiracy motif transitions into the mystery motif. After Jango Fett reveals that he was hired by a person named Tyranus, the mystery motif stops playing, and is replaced by a fragment of The Emperor's Theme. The conspiracy motif then returns as Kenobi leaves Fett's quarters.
The conspiracy motif functions as the leitmotif for Lucius Malfoy in the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which was released in 2002 with music composed by John Williams. The motif is played when Malfoy first meets Harry Potter, and later when Malfoy threatens Potter after the latter freed Dobby.
In the Sith Inquisitor storyline of Star Wars: The Old Republic, released in 2011, the motif is played when Darth Thanaton asks the Dark Council to kill the player character.
==Notes and references==
Category:Themes and leitmotifs