Prophesied Rebuilder

HISTORY AND CONTEXT...


       Once upon a time, there was a little planet called Korriban, in which the sith species resided. They were big, strong, red-skinned humanoids, who had a natural talent for the force. They were evil by nature, and loved power more than everything else. They fought each other for thousands of years, and conquered worlds for just as long. Before the sith ‘united’ into an order, ruled by one Sith Lord, they had on and off rulers and oppressors, who were mostly individuals who simply abused their strength in their force against their weaker fellow sith. They may have been simply too big and strong, or too skilled in the force compared to the others, but this gave them significant edges. Over many generations, the sith fought and fought for power, with oftentimes, only the strongest of the sith being left alive. These few lucky ones would then rule the sith species (or at least a portion of them) for some number of years. This stopped almost abruptly though, during the reign of Dathka Graush, who almost completely dominated the species, just before becoming their supreme ruler. Graush was powerful, skilled, and absurdly evil, even by sith standards.
       After his death, and some centuries later, an ancestor of his (Hakagram Graush) took up the mantle of king of the sith people. Albeit, unfortunately for Hakagram, this happened at a very bad time. Hakagram’s reign was set during the time in which the dark jedi exiles arrived in Korriban. They were what their names imply- but also much more. They were few in number, but powerful beyond belief. Stronger than any emperor or king who had come before- and with techniques and powers that the sith species had never before seen- they were worshipped as gods and demi-gods by the sith people. They became their rulers, and their lords. The dark lords of the sith, if you will. They learned quickly from and with the sith, and grew in power more and more as time passed. By selectively breeding with only the most powerful and gifted of the sith species, the dark lords assured that the generations after theirs would become more powerful with time. Some hundreds of years later, a sith disciple, a sorceress, left for a planet called Ambria. She was not special by any means, but still managed to enslave the planet’s populace, and bend them to her will. She used her slaves to create structures of dark power, meant for rituals that were never before attempted. After centuries of construction, the structures were finished, and her ritual would take place- but she bit more than she could chew. The power generated by the ritual was more than what any being before her had ever managed to gather. More than Dathka Graush, Hakagram Graush, and more even than what the Dark Lords of the Sith could call upon.
       But the sorceress herself could not command and control such power, which led to a massive failure- Ambria was destroyed, left barren, and left as a dark side nexus, whilst almost every living being in it died- the sorceress included. (“Gradually, however, the world's resources were depleted by a Sith disciple driven mad by the power of the dark side. She enslaved the sentient species and used many of the native fauna as beasts of burden, concentrating all of her efforts on the creation of an enormous dark-side obelisk that rose into the sky like a black spike wedged into the planet's surface. Over hundreds of years the construction continued, the Sith sorceress's obsession as strong as ever. As far as Jedi scholars have been able to determine, she attempted a complex Sith ritual that called on more power than any individual had asked of the dark side before.” Tales of the Jedi Companion)
       As the centuries passed, many dark lords came and went. One of them was called Darth Andeddu. He, like many of the sith at the time, could extend his life by using an advanced version of drain- but he was special. Andeddu was not a sith, he was an outsider. He rose through the ranks of Korriban and became its dark lord of the sith. He learned their techniques, and improved upon them. But as he grew in power and skill and knowledge, so did the jealousy and greed of the sith subordinates around him. They covetted his knowledge, and banded together in an attempt to kill and overthrow him. He left for Prakith, his homeworld, wherein he started a cult, and further mastered his techniques, leaving the planet as a strong dark side nexus. He believed in the idea/concept that will power and that the mind are the ways to true power. Therefore, he used one of his newly created techniques to put his essence and mind onto his holocron.
       Towards the end of this sith empire/reign, came a sith hybrid called Naga Sadow. A famous sith inquisitor, who was a master of sith alchemy and sorcery of the highest caliber. An incredibly powerful and intelligent man as well, he became Dark Lord after Marka Ragnos’ death (the strongest sith lord in history up until that point in time, and even some time later), and lost against the Republic in the Great Hyperspace War. He went into hiding in Yavin 4 (and lived for some centuries more), while some of the other sith hid in Ambria, died there, and whose spirits stayed around for many centuries afterwards.
       After Sadow’s death, his spirit apprenticed a man named Freedon Nadd. Nadd was a jedi, but a prodigy like no other of his time. He was skilled in combat as well as with the force. He wanted power, and Sadow offered it. But Nadd grew in power extremely quickly, and shortly surpassed Sadow’s spirit in power, killing it some time later. He left for his homeworld, Onderon, which he took over and ruled for many, many years, while growing far stronger than before, leaving the world as a strong dark side nexus, no different from Andeddu, whom he learned from after he acquired his holocron. He left a line of rulers- his descendants, each learning from Nadd’s teachings over the years.
       At the world of Ambria came a Jedi Master called Thon. Thon had been led there by the force, and decided to rid the planet of its darkness. He was met by the previously mentioned sith spirits, who overwhelmed and almost killed him after many attacks, even though he could easily defend himself from them at first. Thon then came up with a plan to lead the spirits to a lake (dubbed Natth by Thon himself), and as a last resort, he used a wall of light to trap the spirits there. But Thon was no normal Jedi- he was one of the strongest living jedi in the order at the time. If his superior contemporaries, Siosk-Baas and Odan-Urr, were compared to Mace Windu and Yoda respectively, then I should say that Thon is perhaps Qui Gon.
        Some hundreds of years later came two very powerful sith lords, Darth Revan and Darth Malak. They were humans, and ex-jedi, not unlike Nadd. The difference is that they far surpassed Nadd in power, and became far bigger threats. Revan was a prodigy among prodigies, with just as much of a gifted mind. Malak was his power hungry apprentice, who could never seem to reach powers that rivaled his master’s, but who was no less far more powerful than someone like Freedon Nadd. (“An imposing figure with ghostly pale features, prominent Sith tattoos, a gleaming red lightsaber, and devastating Dark Side power, Malak struck terror into the hearts of his former allies. He also wore a vocal mask that may have concealed a form of cybernetic life-support. Did it provide him with powers far greater than even Exar Kun or Freedon Nadd, or was cybernetic enhancement too simple an explanation?" Wizards of the Coast: Darth Malak)
       Almost 2000 years later appeared a new, powerful lord, who called himself Darth Ruin. He was a prodigious jedi, amongst the best of his time, somewhat like Nadd or Revan, but a wise one, who took his time, and corrupted many jedi to his side, while also gathering many sith clans under his banner, with whom he started the new sith wars. He believed only in himself and his powers, thinking that nothing else but him was real.
       At the end of the wars against the Jedi, came the Brotherhood, a very large sith group, with many sith lords, but none too impressive. Their unofficial leader was Skere Kaan, another prodigious jedi, and very powerful sith lord, who was very intelligent, and had an immense talent for battle meditation. It was under his ‘leadership’ that Bane emerged.


THE PATH OF POWER...


       During the events of POD, Bane learns from these dark siders for about 6 years. He acquires Darth Revan’s holocron, and reads some scrolls about Naga Sadow and other ancient sith lords, but has yet to learn anything of substance by this point, even though he can already perform some of their techniques. Bane is by no means weak, however. Quite the opposite is true. He has power far above anything that the huntress has ever felt, even after seeing and sensing all that has happened in Ambria’s history. (“Even though they were decades removed from the encounter, the Iktotchi sensed the raw power of the dark side emanating from him. It was like nothing she had seen or felt before, both terrifying and exhilarating” DOE novel). While Bane by this point considers himself to be weaker than Exar Kun, Freedon Nadd, Naga Sadow, and Darth Revan, he is also more powerful than the likes of Ruin, Kaan and any sith in the previous 1000 years.


       I have now shown that Bane is an extreme force prodigy, who reached powers far above the likes of the Dark Jedi Exiles, King Adas, Dathka and Hakagram Graush, the Sith Sorceress, her world-destroying ritual, dozens of sith spirits, Thon and his last hurrah of an wall of light against said spirits, and what not else in only 6 years. I suppose one could argue that regardless of Bane’s power, most, if not all of these characters are just smarter, or more experienced, more skilled fighters or force users, or even something I haven't thought of yet. What I have to say is: Bane is a sort of genius, whom Zannah thinks always has an answer to everything, who tricked both the Jedi and the sith orders, and who managed to master powers that he thought were too risky for him to even attempt just days prior. Bane was a soldier, survivor, and fully trained sith lord war veteran. He may not have lived hundreds of years- he didn't even live for a full 30 years by this point- but he knows he is doing. Bane’s master, Kas’im, was considered to be possibly the greatest duelist in the galaxy’s history by this point, and Bane was his equal if not superior by the end of the novel. (“Kas'im had trained his entire life for this moment. After years of study, he'd mastered all seven forms of the lightsaber. Then he'd honed his skill for decades, perfecting every move and sequence until he had become the perfect weapon and the greatest living swordsman in the galaxy. Maybe the greatest swordsman ever.” POD novel). Being more skilled than Exar Kun, Tulak Hord, Ajunta Pall, Darth Malak, Revan, and a plethora of other incredibly skilled fighters is quite the ridiculously good accolade to have. Note that it says “greatest swordsman ever”, from a narrator’s perspective, with no time constraints. Considering the fact that this book came from 2006, Drew would’ve known of Sidious, Dooku, Yoda, Anakin, Obi Wan, and I don’t even know how many other insanely good duelists from the verse when he decided to write that.
       POD Bane is clearly a hard hitter. Far more powerful than Ajunta Pall and more skilled than Tulak Hord, alongside having Revan’s knowledge under his belt. (“In only a few short weeks he'd learned more about the true nature of the dark side than he had in all his time on Korriban. Revan had been a true Sith Lord, unlike the simpering Masters who bowed to Kaan and his Brotherhood. And soon all his knowledge-his understanding of the dark side-would belong to Bane.” POD novel). Anyhow…

THE RULE OF ONE...


       At the start of the ROT novel, Darth Bane goes on to find Nadd’s holocron. He comes across both the holocron and some insectoids, called orbalisks. The orbalisks, while living beings, work more like amulets that a user has to go through severe pains to get rid off. Once attached to one’s body, it will then feed on his force power, specifically dark side power, making the user weaker and weaker over time. This can get worse if they allow the orbalisks to multiply over their body and if they don’t constantly ‘abuse’ their and the orbalisks' powers. Albeit, upon gaining two of them, Bane becomes more powerful than ever before. (“Bane reached inward to call upon the dark side, drawing it not only from himself but also from the orbalisks fastened to his chest and back. Feeling an incredible surge of power beyond any he had known before, he released it in a burst of energy. The hallucinations that had plagued his wounded mind ever since the detonation of the thought bomb vanished, instantly and utterly annihilated by his newfound power. He was stronger now than he ever had been, and he knew the visions of the dead Sith would haunt him no more.” ROT novel). More powerful, even, than when he used a ritual with multiple other sith lords to call upon a fire ritual attack against an army of Jedi. (“Kaan, Githany, and the rest of the Dark Lords had gathered atop a barren plateau overlooking the vast forests where Hoth and his army were hiding. They had come on their fliers: short-range, single-person, airborne vehicles front-mounted with heavy blaster guns. The fliers were parked at the edge of the plateau, fifty meters away from where the Sith sat in a loose circle. The ritual had begun.  They were communing with the Force, all of them slipping into a meditative trance as one. Their minds drifted deeper and deeper into the well of power contained within each individual, drawing on their strength and combining it through a single conduit. Bane stood in the center of the circle, urging them on.  "Touch the dark side. The dark side is one. Indivisible."  The night sky filled with dark clouds and a fierce wind swirled across the plateau, tearing at the cloaks and capes of the Sith. The air shook with the thunder and crackle of a mounting electrical storm. Bolts of blue-white lightning arced through the air, and the temperature suddenly dropped.  "Give yourself over to the dark side. Let it surround you. Engulf you. Devour you."  The Brotherhood slipped deeper into the collective trance, barely even aware of the storm now raging about their physical selves. Bane stood at the eye of the storm, drawing the bolts of lightning into himself, feeding on them. He felt his strength surge as he channeled and focused the dark side from the others.  This is how it should be! All the power of the Brotherhood in one body! The only way to unleash the full potential of the dark side!  "Do you feel invincible? Invulnerable? Immortal?"  He had to shout to be heard above the howling wind and thunder. A web of lightning spiraled out from his body, connecting him to each of the other Sith. He shivered then suddenly went stiff, arms spread out at his sides. Slowly, his rigid body began to rise into the air.  "Can you feel it?" he screamed, feeling as if the raw power of the Force roaring through him might rip his very flesh asunder.” POD novel). Some of these Sith Lords went on to create the Thought Bomb, which, as a requirement, could only be done so by powerful Sith Lords. (“Yet within its pages it contained a detailed description of one of the most fearsome creations of the ancient Sith: the thought bomb.  An ancient ritual that required the combined will of many powerful Sith Lords, the thought bomb unleashed the pure destructive energy of the dark side. There were risks involved, of course.” POD novel). Powerful here is not “powerful for their time”, it means “powerful in general”. They were legitimately powerful Sith Lords. They survived to the end of the war, they managed to build up a ritual to rain fire upon a whole army, and they generated a Darth Revan-level ritual. Yet two orbalisks are more than enough to surpass that power. ROT Bane had a whole body’s worth. After the timeskip, Bane is now a completely different being. Far more skilled, powerful, and cunning. He now had all the time in the world to train and master techniques, to grow more powerful, so even though he has a body’s worth of orbalisks that he can use, they are simply a greater tool than what his POD self had, which would be used by Bane leagues above his POD self. No wonder he thinks that a thousand men are needed to kill him, and that he has more power than what the Brotherhood had together.

Multiple powerful Sith Lords + POD Bane << POD Bane using 2 orbalisks <<< ROT Bane with a whole body’s worth.


ZANNAH SCALING: PART 1-


       This will be brief, but needed to understand Bane’s growth in power between POD and ROT. First, I will need to establish why Zannah is important, and what she represents here. Zannah, is, first and foremost, by ROT, a much better trained POD Bane. She is what Bane would have become if he had the proper training from the start, and a decade of it, instead of 6 years, with only half of that being meaningful force training, if not less.. She had better resources, a more powerful master, and a longer time to perfect her techniques. She could do things in 10 years that ROT Bane could not do even with 16 years of training. It should be obvious enough that ROT Zannah is, by all means and purposes, more powerful than POD Bane. Not just more powerful, but an overall better force user. Here are a few quotes regarding her potential in the force:
       “The girl's eyes opened wide. Then they narrowed as she focused intently on what he was saying. "You have the potential to surpass me," he continued.” ROT novel.
       “Zannah was smart and cunning, and her powers in the dark side might be even greater than his own.” DOE novel.

        All this is almost completely unimportant if it were not for a single statement: “She could feel the heat of his anger, and she knew one wrong word and he'd snap her neck in two with the Force.” ROT novel, chapter 23.
       The statement comes from after Bane goes through surgery, getting all of his orbalisk removed. He is in bed, almost completely unable to move. No orbalisk regeneration, no increased rage, no adrenaline boost, not a single orbalisk advantage that he would have otherwise had. This is Bane at his lowest, weakest point in the whole novel. But I suppose it gets no simpler than that. ROT Bane, without orbalisks, while injured and bed-ridden, can snap a POD Bane level being’s neck without much trouble. There is also this: "It was easy enough to guess what had happened. Bane had failed yet again in his attempt to create a Holocron, then in a blind rage lashed out at the world around him with all the power of the Force. If she had been here when it happened, Zannah wondered, could she have stopped him? Would she even have been able to survive?" ROT novel, chapter 11, but it's not as clear, even though it states that Bane could accidentally have killer her with his power.

BANE’S FIRST OPINION


Bane by this point has certain views of himself that I will be addressing below:

“Was it possible there was some other essential element in the process that he was missing? Was there one more secret waiting to be unlocked that would finally allow him to create a Holocron so he could pass his wisdom and knowledge on to his successors? Or was the failure in him? Did he simply lack power? Was his command of the dark side somehow less than that of the ancient Sith Lords like Freedon Nadd? It was an uncomfortable line of speculation, but it was one Bane forced himself to consider. He had read the histories of the great Sith Lords; many were filled with feats almost too incredible to be believed. Yet even if these accounts were true, even if some of his predecessors had had the ability to use the dark side to destroy entire worlds or make a sun go nova, Bane still felt that his power measured up to the described abilities of many of those who had successfully created Holocrons of their own. But how much of your power is wasted on the parasites infesting your body? The question sprang unbidden to his mind, posed not in his own voice but that of his apprentice. Zannah had expressed her concerns about the effect the orbalisks might be having on him; it was possible she was right. He had always believed the drawbacks of the orbalisks-the constant pain, the disfiguring appearance-to be offset by the benefits they provided. They healed him, made him physically stronger, and protected him against all manner of weapons. Now he began to question that belief. While it was true that he could channel his power through the creatures for a temporary increase in his abilities, over the long term they might actually be weakening him. They were constantly feeding on the dark side energies that flowed through his veins. Was it possible that, after a decade of infestation, his ability to draw upon the Force had been subtly diminished? It was an idea he would have once dismissed out of hand. But his continued failure with the Holocrons had forced him to reevaluate his symbiotic relationship with the strange crustaceans. He could feel them even now, feeding, drawing on the Force that flowed through his veins.” ROT novel, chapter 15.
^^
His assumption is that he is normally > ancient sith in ROT. He then fails to make a holocron, and thinks “Either I am missing something crucial, OR, as stupid as it sounds, the ancients are above me.” He then thinks of the feats made by the great siths of the past, and thinks that even if the most ridiculous feats did happen, he would still compare to many of the sith who pulled them off and went on to make holocrons as well. Meaning that if there was a great sith of the past who pulled off such a feat and made a holocron, there is a very high possibility that Bane could also pull it off, without an amulet or helping tool. He then starts to consider the effects of the orbalisks on his body when he is not angry, meaning that the state of himself that he compares the ancients with is a weakened one. He then goes on to think of a third possibility- the orbalisks were making him too weak to make a holocron. It is revealed to us ,and Bane later, that there was in fact a missing step.
His first hypothesis/theory was proven right, making the second likely not true, and likely no longer applicable. The third possibility was true though, which inclines me to believe that his doubts are not well founded, and that there is no reason for the past sith to be more powerful than him simply because they could do feats that are normally not possible without help, or without being a god tier of some sort. In fact, Bane ponders more later on the fact that it was the orbalisks’ fault, instead of his ‘lack of power’, that led to his failure in creating his holocron: “Bane still could not discount the theory that the orbalisks were responsible for his failure, bleeding him of the dark side energies he needed to draw on to complete the procedure. There were other considerations, as well. Twice now he had lost himself in a bloodrage, thought and reason replaced by the mindless urge to destroy anything and anyone in range. The first time it happened he had left their camp in ruins: a foolish and pointless waste of resources. The second time had almost been far more costly. Had he succeeded in killing Zannah, he still would have found Helton's datacard on her. But he would also have been forced to find a new apprentice. A decade of training would have been lost, thrown away because of his temporary madness. Zannah had saved herself by explaining the motives behind her actions. She had acted in perfect accordance with her Master's teachings-a fact Bane should have realized on his own. But the orbalisks blinded him to her skilled machinations, and he now understood that the raw power they granted him came at the expense of subtlety and cunning.” ROT novel, chapter 16.
This quote seems quite funny as well, since Bane already scales over a sith sorceress whose ritual went haywire and then razed and turned a whole planet into quite a strong dark side nexus pretty casually, by POD, which is a feat not different at all from “destroying a world”, if one does not it take it as literally obliterating a planet; he also managed to do something by the end of ROT that Nadd never could- fully control, master, and rid himself of the orbalisks and their power. (“Through the gatekeeper, Bane learned of the Dark Master's experiments with the orbalisks, and his only partly successful efforts to control their power. He discovered not only what they were called, but also all the details of their ecology. Some of the information merely confirmed what he already knew: once attached to a host the orbalisks could not be removed. But he also learned that, in addition to boosting a host's physical abilities, it was possible to tap into the parasites' ability to feed on the dark side to greatly increase one's own command of the Force.” ROT novel, chapter 8). Ridding himself of it is the more interesting part, since he actually conjured so much power that the orbalisks died from overeating it. (“Somehow the Jedi's barrier had trapped Bane inside the center of the dark side storm. The electricity had enveloped him, millions of volts arcing through his body, cooking his flesh from the inside and throwing his muscles into an endless series of violent seizures that threatened to rip his body apart. The energy had coursed through the orbalisks embedded in his skin, too. The creatures absorbed the power, hungrily devouring it until they became so engorged that the soft, pliant flesh of their underbellies had begun to swell. Squeezed ever tighter against the unyielding chitin of their own exterior shells, they'd begun to burrow deeper into Bane. He remembered screaming as thousands of tiny teeth started sawing away at subcutaneous tissue, chewing through muscles, tendons, and even bone. But burrowing deeper hadn't stopped the creatures from feasting on the electricity coursing through Bane's frying innards. They'd continued to expand until they had begun to pop, rupturing like overfilled balloons pinched beneath the hard shells. Bane had stayed conscious through the torture of the electricity cooking him alive and the agony of the teeth burrowing into his flesh. But the indescribable pain from the chemicals released by the exploding orbalisks dissolving his body on a cellular level finally caused him to black out... only to wake up here.” ROT novel, chapter 23). ROT Bane’s belief that only the most absurd of feats -making stars/suns go supernova and such things, which were done with tools that hugely amped force users- may be out of his reach (if he believes that most of them are believable, and if he thinks that he is more powerful than they are, than the logical implication is that yes, he can also pull them off as well) is actually quite normal, since no force user has actually pulled off such feats without some sort of help, without being a god tier of sort, or without being Nihilus. IE, Bane is saying that the feats out of his reach are the ones done by Sadow in his meditation sphere, Nihilus and Vitiate’s planet-wide drain, and such things that no other force users could ever normally do. Then again, Bane would never even attempt such a thing in the first place. He is in hiding, and in the Book of Sith, he instructs the future generations to do the same. Bane is very often considered to be an extremely intelligent person, who reveres what the ancients taught and did, and yet thinks that he surpasses them. There is really no need to think that Bane overestimates himself- in fact, it makes more sense that he underestimates himself when compared to his likely overestimation of the ancients. The intent seems to be just as obvious. Bane finds a ‘tool’ that Nadd could not ‘master’, but he masters it. Bane finds a technique that he cannot learn, and thinks that it’s because he is weaker than Nadd, but later he is proven wrong. Bane then rids himself of something that Nadd never could, through pure raw power. It seems so obvious to me, but alright. Moving on to the next part, though.

THE MINI STRIKE TEAM


       Before I move on to DOE Bane, I would like to talk about ROT Bane’s duel against the Jedi strike team sent. All in all, Bane dueled against two very strong and very skilled Jedi- Farfalla and Raskta Lsu. Farfalla was one of the 7 strongest Jedi alive at the time, while Raskta was the order’s most skilled combatant. The fight contained a third participant, Worror, who was a master of battle meditation. All of the following are from the ROT novel.

      Farfalla:
“Farfalla released the power he'd been gathering in a single concentrated burst. Bane was suddenly encased in a shimmering stasis field of light-side energy, freezing him where he stood.”

“On her opposite side Farfalla struck with clean, elegant blows, his form perfect as he harried Bane's right flank. Yet though they were able to hold their ground, they couldn't drive him back or defeat him.”


      Raskta:
“It was said that, by the end of the war, as many Sith Lords had fallen under her twin blades as had been killed by the thought bomb.”
“Raska's blue blades flickered too quickly for the eye to see, neutralizing her enemy's initial, wild attack then landing half a dozen lethal blows to his chest and abdomen” - the eyes here are Farfalla’s eyes.
“Then suddenly Raskta was there to save his life, repaying a debt that was only a few seconds old as she threw herself in front of him. Fueled by Worror's battle meditation, she switched styles seamlessly, and her arms and blades became a blur as they carved figure eights in the air to catch and absorb the bolts of dark side energy.”
“She seemed to be everywhere at once-in front of Bane, beside him, behind him, circling low, leaping to come in high, deflecting his blade with one of her own then stabbing three quick times in succession at his eyes. The big man's head ducked and bobbed, twisting and turning to avoid her blows as he tried to mount a counteroffensive.”
“Raskta's mastery of her blades was unparalleled, but even with her talents augmented by Worror's battle meditation she wasn't able to land a telling blow on such a small target through Bane's defenses. Still, the ferocity of her new strategy had turned the momentum in her favor ... or so Farfalla thought.''
“The young Jedi marveled at the speed and savagery of Raskta's blades. And while Johun's own clumsy efforts had actually seemed to impede Sarro when they fought side by side, Raskta appeared to thrive off his presence. When he went high, she went low. If he came from the left, she came from the right. It was partly a function of her choice of weapon: individually each of her lightsabers was more precise and accurate than Sarro's giant double blades. But it was more than that. Her reactions were so fast, her combat instincts so pure, that she was able to sense and anticipate what he was going to do even as it happened, then use his attacks to her own advantage.”


        Worror:
“He had been one of General Hoth's advisers on Ruusan, and a key to victory in many battles, even though he didn't even carry a light-saber. The Ithorian's role was not to engage the enemy but rather to provide support through both his healing abilities and the rare art of battle meditation. Although his talent was not strong enough to single-handedly alter the outcome of a large-scale conflict, in close quarters Worror could draw upon the Force to give strength to the bodies, minds, and spirits of those around him, enhancing the skills and abilities of his allies.”
“It was more than just his talent and training. Zannah sensed some type of greater power at work: the Force flowed through him as if it was being channeled by another, giving even greater strength to her opponent.”
“It had been many years since Farfalla had fought while empowered by Worror's battle meditation. He had forgotten how much quicker and stronger the Ithorian's amazing talent made him feel. The Force flowed through him with greater power, filling him with its might."
“Then he, too, leapt to the side to avoid being crushed, surviving only because his reflexes were heightened by Worror's power.”
“Johun felt his strength and energy plummet, A wave of exhaustion and fatigue overwhelmed him, the beneficial effects of the battle meditation vanishing as Worror's concentration was broken. But the Jedi Master was still alive, and Farfalla and Raskta were back on their feet. If they could hold Bane off for just a few seconds, the Ithorian could resume his meditations and restore their advantage.”
“Gathering the dark side around her, Zannah created a concealing cloak to mask her power as she had done at the Jedi Temple. While she did so, she saw the Ithorian slowly rise to his feet and close his eyes in concentration. She felt the surge of light-side energy rolling across the room, as did Bane's opponents. Suddenly invigorated, they backed her Master up against a wall, concentrating their attacks on his face and the joints of his wrist where the orbalisks had left tiny gaps in his armor.”
“Zannah felt the gathering dark side power of her Master, but in the instant before he unleashed the storm of deadly purple lightning, the Ithorian reached up from the floor and clutched him by his ankle. A shimmering blue globe surrounded them both as the mortally wounded Jedi released his own power in his final, dying act. Instead of arcing across the room to destroy the one-armed Jedi, the lightning that flew from Bane's fingers reflected off the inside of the shimmering blue globe encasing him. The bolts ricocheted around wildly inside the globe, creating a storm of energy so intense that Zannah had to shield her eyes and look away. She heard Bane's scream rising above the sharp crackle of electricity, and when she looked back she saw the globe vanish and her Master fall to the ground in a charred and smoking heap.”

I hope now some of you can realize the quality of the Jedi that Bane faced. Two very strong and skilled council member level jedi who were amped, quite impressively so mind you, by a third high caliber Jedi’s battle meditation, that also weakens one’s enemy. Now I will show some quotes in Bane’s favor from the duel:

“Yet even with their enhanced abilities, he wondered if they would survive the coming battle.” - Farfalla’s thoughts.
“Bane unleashed a barrage of Sith lightning, gathering and releasing his power at the speed of thought. The Jedi threw up a Force barrier to shield himself, but the electricity tore right through it and arced toward him.”
“Even so, the strength behind the attack tore Farfalla's golden blade from his grip, sending his lightsaber skittering across the floor.”
“Farfalla released the power he'd been gathering in a single concentrated burst. Bane was suddenly encased in a shimmering stasis field of light-side energy, freezing him where he stood. But his command of the dark side was too powerful for it to hold him for more than a split second. The shimmering field exploded into fragments as the Dark Lord broke free, though the momentary delay had allowed the Echani to place herself between the Ithorian and the Sith.”
“He's too strong, Farfalla realized, even as he ran to help her. Both physically and in the power of the dark side. It's like trying to fight a force of nature.”
"It was inevitable she would one day challenge him for the title of Sith Master, but Bane was incredibly strong-both physically and in the Force. Encased in a suit of living armor that augmented his powers and protected him from virtually all known weapons, he was nearly invincible." ROT novel, chapter 11


       Fighting two council member level Jedi, who were severely amped, (while weakened) is a feat only Count Dooku (against Obi Wan, Anakin, and Asajj Ventress over the years), Volfe Karko (against the totality of the Jedi council of his time), Darth Sidious (against the B team and against Darth Maul and Savage Opress), and Vitiate (against the Dark Council) have replicated or surpassed.


If after all this, you still think that Bane is weaker than Nadd by ROT, then I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe your take of the quotes and feats I posted is not the same as mine (Harrison, me boy). You might be in denial, or maybe you are biased. Maybe you know something I don’t, but if that is the case, please just tell me.

CULMINATION AND EVOLUTION…


Onto to the bigger fish: DOE Bane. There is a very common, popular belief that ROT Bane, due to his younger age and orbalisk armor, is Bane at his peak. I highly doubt this to be the case. Quite honestly, debunking this is not that hard.

DOE Bane’s superiority over ROT Bane comes from a few different things added together.

1- The orbalisks do not make one more powerful, they simply allow for one to summon more dark side power when needed, from the energy taken in/eaten by the orbalisks themselves. This means that, regardless of the orbalisks being there, Bane is growing in power no differently than he ever would without them, and may in fact be growing more, as I will later explain. (“He discovered not only what they were called, but also all the details of their ecology. Some of the information merely confirmed what he already knew: once attached to a host the orbalisks could not be removed. But he also learned that, in addition to boosting a host's physical abilities, it was possible to tap into the parasites' ability to feed on the dark side to greatly increase one's own command of the Force.” ROT novel)

2- While not directly mention power growth, DOE Bane has now far more knowledge at his disposal than he ever did, and is confirmed to have trained and grown (“Stagnation and complacency were the seeds that would lead to the ultimate destruction of the Jedi; as the Dark Lord, Bane had to be vigilant against allowing his own Order to fall into the same trap. It was necessary not just to train his apprentice, but also to continue to increase his own skills and knowledge.” DOE novel, prologue). Bane himself said his knowledge, wisdom, and experience EASILY make up for the physical stats that the orbalisks seemed to give him. (“Bane accepted this; what he lost in strength and speed he could easily compensate for with wisdom, knowledge, and experience.” DOE novel, prologue). This is what just a few orbalisks did for him without him having to even draw upon the force: “The alien fluids burned like acid as they were absorbed into his circulatory system; it felt as if every drop of blood were boiling ... but the benefits were too powerful to be ignored. In addition to his miraculous healing abilities, he felt stronger than he ever had. His senses were keener, his reflexes quicker. And on his chest and back where the creatures had latched on, their virtually impenetrable shells would serve as armor plates capable of withstanding even a direct strike from a lightsaber.” ROT novel, chapter 8.

3- Ironically enough, the orbalisks actually eat away at Bane’s power when he is not using them. (“He was particularly vulnerable to the orbalisks in this state. Normally they fed off the dark side energies that naturally flowed through him, but the creation of the Holocron demanded that he channel all his power directly into his work.” ROT novel, chapter 10) This means that by removing them, he would get stronger (not when drawing on their power, of course, which makes him more powerful instead). In theory, since the orbalisks eat away at his power normally, then his growth in power between ROT and DOE would actually be greater than his growth in power between POD and ROT, in which he had his powers lessened and taken away by the orbalisks constantly for an entire decade. Give ROT Bane 10 years of nonstop learning, training, and power upping and you have DOE Bane, whose body cannot withstand his own power anymore. Simply put- POD to ROT Bane grew in power 10 points, but the orbalisks took away 2 of those points from him. ROT to DOE Bane also grew in power 10, but no orbalisks were there to take away points from his growth. I would like to mention that there is no reason for ROT Bane’s growth to have been smaller than his POD growth. He had far more mastery of the dark side (making learning new abilities easier and less time consuming), far more knowledge to study from, more free time, an already trained apprentice, and had an easier time in using the force for such, since the lack of orbalisks made it easier for him.

4- Following point 3, Bane’s body in DOE cannot handle the power he has, as stated above. It took his body 10 years to start suffering these effects after ROT, meaning that they were not applicable in the past, and that he has indeed grown in power over the years. Mind you, age was not the cause of it- he was only 46. But the damage suffered and the dark side degradation were only taking effect now. They aged his body, and made his eyes sunken. In fact, he says that the previous year was worse than ever before, meaning that what the orbalisks caused is less worse than his previous year’s degradation. (“He couldn't help but smile at the grim irony: through the dark side he had access to near-infinite power, but it was power that came with a terrible cost. Flesh and bone lacked the strength to withstand the unfathomable energy unleashed by the Force. The unquenchable fire of the dark side was consuming him, devouring him bit by bit. After decades of focusing and channeling its power, his body was beginning to break down. His condition was exacerbated by the lingering effects of the orbalisk armor that had been killing him even as it gifted him with incredible strength and speed. The parasites had pushed his body well beyond its natural limits, aging him prematurely and intensifying the degeneration wrought by the power of the dark side. The orbalisks were gone now, but their damage could not be undone. The first outward manifestations of his failing health had been subtle: his eyes had become sunken and drawn, his skin a touch more pale and pockmarked than was normal for his age. The last year, however, had seen more pronounced deterioration, culminating with the involuntary tremor that seized his left hand with increasing frequency.” DOE novel, prologue)

5- DOE Bane’s power accolades, feats, and what not else are hilariously better than anything ROT Bane ever had. There is simply no comparison between the two on this matter. He is now an all powerful sith lord ("That mantle must be earned," Bane countered. "You wanted to wait, to take it by default." "You taught me patience," she reminded him. "You taught me to bide my time." "Not in this!" Bane shouted. "Only the strongest has the right to rule the Sith! The title of Dark Lord must be seized, wrenched from the all-powerful grasp of the Master!" DOE novel, chapter 21), with unlimited/nigh infinite powers (“He couldn't help but smile at the grim irony: through the dark side he had access to near-infinite power, but it was power that came with a terrible cost” DOE novel),

who can cause disturbances in the force by waking up and using the force to break open a door while completely drugged (“She had gone less than a hundred meters when she felt a sudden and powerful disturbance in the Force. An instant later alarm bells rang out, and Zannah knew what had happened-Bane had escaped!” DOE novel, chapter 20.), who is the culmination of an extremely strong line of sith lords (as will be talked about later). He thinks ancient sith amulets and tools are too weak to even make a difference, that their dark side power is like that of a rain droplet being added to his ocean of power, and that they are simply toys. (“By the light of her glow lamp, she could see an array of jewelry carefully arranged in the display case: rings, necklaces, amulets, and even crowns, all imbued with the power of the dark side. Zannah had seen collections like this before. Ten years ago Hetton, a Force-sensitive Serrenian noble obsessed with the dark side, had shown her a similar trove of Sith artifacts:an offering he had hoped would convince Zannah to take him on as her apprentice despite his advanced age. Unfortunately for Hetton, his baubles and trinkets hadn't been able to save him-or his trained guards-when they confronted Zannah's own Master. Bane had shown Hetton the true power of the dark side, a lesson that had cost the old man his life. Bane also collected the treasures of the ancient Sith, but he preferred the wisdom contained in the ancient texts. Zannah knew he looked on the rings, amulets, and other paraphernalia with disdain. The spark of the dark side that burned within them was like a single drop of rain falling into the ocean of power he already commanded; he saw no need to augment his abilities with gaudy jewelry fashioned centuries ago by ancient Sith sorcerers.” DOE novel // "You are strong in the Force, and you have rejected the Jedi and their teachings. You are intelligent and resourceful. But your potential is unfulfilled. You have not dedicated yourself to the dark side. In your quest for the talismans of the ancient Sith you are like a child playing with his toys.” DOE novel, chapter 13). Future sith like Tenebrous and Plagueis viewed Bane as a deity, and considered his powers legendary (“Plagueis kept his thoughts to himself. The aptly named Darth Bane, who had redefined the Sith by limiting their number and operating from concealment, had mined cortosis as a youth on Apatros long before embracing the tenets of the dark side. In the thousand years since his death, Bane had become deified; the powers attributed to him, legendary.” Plagueis novel). Sidious himself considers Bane to be one of his most powerful predecessors (“In his quest for domination, Darth Sidious tracked down what remained of five pivotal Sith texts written by his most powerful predecessors.” Book of Sith). In DOE, Bane says that his understanding of the dark is far greater than that of ‘men like Andeddu’, who in this case, could actually be argued to be both the teachers in the Sith Brotherhood and that of the ancient sith whom Bane compared Andeddu to. (“He had learned nothing new about the Force, though the gatekeeper's words had revealed much about Darth Andeddu's personality and beliefs. Like many of the ancient Sith, he was cruel, arrogant, self-centered, and shortsighted. His lessons mirrored those of Bane's instructors at the Sith Academy on Korriban; lessons Bane had rejected decades ago as flawed. He had moved beyond their teachings. His understanding of the dark side had evolved. In creating the Rule of Two, he had ushered in a new era for the Sith. He had transcended the limited understanding of men like Andeddu, and he was done listening to the gatekeeper's ignorant litany.” DOE novel, chapter 12)

6- Will power. A huge difference in will power. DOE Bane outdoes ROT Bane on two fronts. First and foremost, he withstands pain far worse in his final battle against Zannah than what ROT Bane could ever handle (“Once, orbalisks had fused themselves to his body with a burning chemical compound so intense it had nearly driven him mad. Ten years ago they had been removed when Bane's flesh had been literally cooked by a concentrated blast of his own violet lightning. During her interrogation, Serra had pumped him full of a drug that had felt like it was eating him alive from the inside. But the excruciating pain he felt from the mere touch of the dark side tendril was unlike anything Bane had ever experienced before. The damage was far from life threatening, but it nearly sent Bane into shock. He fell hard to the ground, his jaw slack and his eyes rolling back into his head. His mind was reeling from the brief contact. The pain radiated through every nerve in his body, but what he felt went far beyond any mere physical sensation. It was not the raw heat of the dark side but rather the empty chill of the void itself spreading through him. It touched every synapse in his mind, it clawed at the core of his spirit. In that instant he tasted utter annihilation, and felt the true horror of absolute nothingness.” DOE novel), and secondly, he pulls off a will power feat that ROT Bane would never even consider attempting- the ability to impose one’s will upon a holocron. Bane dominates Andeddu’s holocron, but never even thinks of doing so to Nadd’s holocron, which took him years to fully learn from. The first part is incredibly significant. While arguing will power can be considered a slippery slope when comparing different characters, this would not apply here. Quite the opposite- the greater a force user’s will power, the more power they can draw from. Darth Vader when trying to save Luke from Sidious, or Yoda when realizing that he must defeat Sidious no matter what- those are very easy, simple ways to understand it. In truth, it gets no simpler than the fact that wanting it to happen more would be an obvious means of making a mental-based power more potent. If Bane’s full potential was that of 100 points, and his ROT self had the willpower to draw 50 points from that, then DOE Bane has the willpower to draw far more than 50, due to far greater will power (ROT Bane was conscious during his electrocution, but fainted shortly afterwards, while DOE Bane took something far worse in pain, and was fully awake, but downed nonetheless).

7- At the end of the DOE novel, Bane escapes a prison, and leaves it more powerful than when he entered. If there was not enough proof that Bane grew from DOE to ROT, then this statement says it all. (“Bane was well aware how close he had come to dying at Zannah's hand in the Stone Prison. Yet he was still alive, proof of his enduring strength and power. He had gone in a prisoner, but he had emerged more powerful than when he had entered.” DOE novel, chapter 24)

Well, Bane is so much more skilled and knowledgeable now that the orbalisks are easily replaced, they never made him more powerful than he would ever normally be in the first place, the orbalisks may have actually stunted his growth in the long run, they actually lessened his actual control over the dark side, his powers now harm his body more than they have ever done, he has massively better power accolades, has grown in will power by considerable margin, and actually has a confirmed growth in power towards the end of the book, AFTER all the previous point were already being applied to him. It is safe to say that DOE Bane is not just above ROT Bane, he is significantly above ROT Bane. He would always come out on top in a duel, regardless of durability, stamina, or regeneration, as he is much smarter, a much better force user, knows many more powers, and is not under constant pain and anger that can blind him from logic. Not to mention the fact that he already has the power necessary to kill ROT Bane’s orbalisks. There is simply really no comparison between the two.

ZANNAH SCALING: PART 2


This second part is not as needed as the first part. It is more of another way to look at DOE Bane > ROT Bane, if you will. As we have talked about in PART 1, Zannah’s growth is that of a far greater quality than that of Bane, as much as it hurts for me to say. Therefore, her growth between ROT (the one talked about before, who is > POD Bane) and DOE (the current one) is also greater than POD Bane (weaker and less skilled than ROT Zannah) and ROT Bane’s (who will be compared to DOE Zannah now). Yet again, Zannah had another decade to grow in power, preparing to kill Bane, the most powerful being she ever met. She went from being fodder to ROT Bane, to being DOE Bane’s nigh-equal. This is a huge power growth. As shown with Bane, the decade of growth between POD and ROT was enormous. Her growth between ROT and DOE would’ve been far greater, as she not only started out more powerful, she also had far more resources. To put it into perspective-

POD Bane < ROT Zannah <<< ROT Bane in the statement used << ROT Bane healthily << ROT Bane using orbalisks < DOE Zannah < DOE Zannah using Ambria amp (the amp could be higher by all means, since she managed to pull off a technique that almost instantly took Bane out without much effort at all) ~ DOE Bane post prison (he was not fighting to kill her, but instead to simply defeat and possess her, while she had been trained to kill Bane since day 1)

Thing is, her power growth was phenomenal. She may very well be >> ROT Bane, considering the fact that it was already confirmed that Bane thinks she would surpass him back in ROT anyhow. Add that to the fact that she equals DOE Bane, ROT Bane’s significant superior, and it all falls into place quite nicely.

BANE’S SECOND OPINION


       Onto the second of Bane’s opinions. This, though, takes place sometime before the end of DOE, meaning that this is not prime Bane, as I have mentioned above.



^^
       Per feats, and two other statements/sources, Bane has proven and shown superiority to two of the sith up above, pre prime. Fact file #85 --[2003] (and another source posted up above from the same Book of Sith) tells us that Bane is the most powerful sith in centuries by 1000 BBY, putting him above Darth Ruin by POD, while ROT tells us that Bane thinks himself superior to the ancient sith, which included Andeddu, whose spirit he then overpowers without much strain in a completely disadvantageous position in DOE, pre prime as well. Bane did not put Sion, Nihilus, Bandon, and Traya on that list, by the way, even though all are powerful sith in their own rights, with impressive feats and accomplishments. At the end, Bane goes on to say that they (Andeddu, Revan, Malak, Malgus, and Ruin) culminated with him (Bane)- no different from how the Banite line culminated with Sidious, signifying some sort of superiority, and a power growth over time. It does seem possible, and maybe even likely, if we consider the fact that Malgus > Malak ~ Darth Revan > Andeddu, which is the order shown to us there, by Bane. The word ‘culminate’ has that meaning anyhow, therefore insinuating Bane’s supremacy over the 5 other sith mentioned (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/culminate).
       The wording also signifies that he did not simply pick good examples, but that he chose them specifically, when he says that their line, a line of Darths, whose title signifies power, led to him. They could be the reason as to why he chose the Darth title, and/or they could be the ones who inspired him. They make a straight line towards Bane, without the mention of any other Darths, making them more important or significant than the rest, which means that there is no reason to believe that he only picked the best of examples, instead of the ones who came at the top of his head. Why would he include any Darths aside from the most powerful ones? The ones who most signify what being a Darth is? The ones who have the most power? While he may have picked those 5 specifically because he wanted to show the chronology of the title and its famous and powerful wearers, it does not mean that he was willing to only pick the best examples of each era either.
       He chose to name BOTH Revan and Malak, meaning that he would have added whomever he so wished to the list, regardless of time, so long as he deemed the Darth in question worthy of his title. He did not say “Nihilus, Traya, Malak, and Revan”; and there was no mention of Rivan alongside Ruin. I suppose a final comment to be made here could be the fact that Bane gives himself the Darth title (a title of power that only the truly worthy sith should be allowed to have, such as the above mentioned ones) when he gained mastery of the dark side in POD. Therefore, by POD, Bane considers himself powerful enough to be worthy of that title. Possibly more worthy than Nihilus, Sion, and Traya, for example, makes sense, since he is more powerful than Adas and the exiles.
       As a side note, Bane says that the ‘potency’ of the sith were returned to their (his and Zannah’s) hands. Potency can be attributed to might, but in an influential sense. This does not apply here (two people in hiding, believed to be dead). Other meanings of the word potency are ‘the ability to reach a state or to achieve a particular result’ and ‘power/force’. Either one of those can be used here- the sith’s goal to dominate and defeat the jedi and become all powerful would be the state and particular result, while it’s (the sith army’s) power was now all for Zannah and Bane to have. Yet again makes sense, since POD Bane managed to gain power greater than that of all the most powerful Sith Lords the Brotherhood had.

ANDEDDU’S PLACEMENT


To further progress with this blog, I will have to talk about Andeddu, an extremely underrated ancient sith lord. I will start at the start: his fight against Wyyrlok III. It is a telepathic battle, in which Andeddu overestimates himself, and underestimates his opponent, and gets fooled by a trick he himself knows of- believing that the illusion is real. Mind you, this is far more effective here due to the fact that Andeddu is a crazy man, obsessed with his knowledge, enough to fool a group of people to protect his knowledge thousands of years after his death, for no reason whatsoever (Legacy comic, issue 27). He kept stalling Bane’s training for essence transfer, by the way, as a means of trying to buy time so as to not teach Bane said technique.

Onto more important things- his standing in the verse. POD era Bane is very much impressed by Sadow and Nadd’s power that let them live for centuries upon centuries, but doesnt seem to feel the same way about Andeddu, in DOE, who had some of Sadow’s and Muur’s techniques (if not maybe a great part of them) that allowed him to live just as long, and would have lived for much longer, if he had not been killed. The only character who stands above Andeddu as of his time, in lore, is Marka Ragnos, due him being the only confirmed supreme dark lord of Korriban. Naga Sadow, while the dark lord of the sith, and while extremely famous/infamous, has no superiority over Andeddu. Freedon Nadd did have, and learned from, Andeddu’s holocron, but was never stated to have been his superior. Andeddu, no different from Nadd, left his world as a dark side nexus, something that Sadow could not do on Yavin, after living longer than Nadd ever did. Andeddu also considered himself superior to Wyyrlok III and Vong Krayt, but lost against the former in a telepathic battle due to his insanity and obsession. Andeddu may have very well been more powerful than the Exiles as well, due to having been a very dominant sith lord in Korriban possibly just before Sadow and Ragnos’ time, who were in fact more powerful than the exiles due to a very long process of selective breeding that was very much in effect during Andeddu’s time and reign. He left Korriban afterwards, and headed to Prakith, where he devised the techniques and powers that let him live for so long, based on Muur’s own techniques and powers, meaning that he grew there in power as well. Mind you, according to Dooku, Andeddu power is far above that of someone like Sora Bulq or Quinlan Vos -


Considering the fact that the Jedi felt it was necessary to get rid of Andeddu’s entire existence, over many other extremely powerful sith, I find it hard to place Andeddu any lower than Nadd himself, who seems to have similar feats and power showings.
Andeddu is a believer of will, and that the mind is the path to power. Due to this, he places his mind, essence, and spirit on his holocron, which by itself can possess a body (Legacy comic, Issue 27) or mind fuck a weakened Vong Krayt (Legacy comic, Issue 5) or drain a force user’s essence (Legacy comic, Issue 27). I would like to mention that Krayt says that Bane mastered the orbalisks- the one thing Nadd could never do, in 6 centuries of life (Legacy comic, Issue 5).

Now, onto DOE Bane’s connection to Andeddu and his feat. The feat isn't underrated, only Andeddu is. But now that I have shown Andeddu’s more impressive side, I will try to put Bane’s feat into perspective. The feat itself is not complicated at all. Bane is tired of listening to Andeddu’s babbling and stalling, and decides to shove his ‘mind’ into the holocron, imposing his will, and ripping out every single piece of information stored in it, which is done in mere hours. Andeddu is simply powerless to do anything, and probably had his memories ripped out by Bane in the process, if one takes into account the sounds, sights, image, and thoughts that flooded Bane’s brain. ("If you will not give me what I want," he shouted at the gatekeeper, "then I will take it!" Reaching out with the Force, he plunged his awareness into the depths of the pyramid's inner workings as the gatekeeper let loose a howl of impotent rage. Thrusting his consciousness directly into the capstone, Bane let his will invade the small four-sided talisman just as he himself had invaded the stronghold of Andeddu's cult back on Prakith. For a brief instant he could feel the burning inferno of power trapped within threatening to consume his identity. Bane welcomed the pain, feeding on it and transforming it along with all the frustration and anger he had built up over the past four days into a raging, swirling storm of dark side energy. Then, bit by bit, he began to impose order on the chaos, bending it to his will. Using the Force, Bane began to make subtle adjustments to the Holocron's crystal matrix. He began to manipulate the arrangement of the filaments, twisting, turning, and shifting them with subtle, immeasurable adjustments as he worked his way deeper and deeper into the data in pursuit of what he sought. In many ways it was like slicing a secure computer network, only a million times more complex. With each adjustment, the gatekeeper's image flickered and cried out, but Bane was oblivious to the simulation's artificial suffering. For several hours he continued his work, his body perspiring heavily, until he finally found what he sought: the ritual of essence transference; Andeddu's secret of eternal life. With one final push of the Force, he reached out with his mind and seized what he had been searching for. With the aid of the gatekeeper the information would have taken weeks to absorb and learn. Bane, however, had gone right to the source. The knowledge streamed directly from the Holocron into his mind, raw and unfiltered. Thousands of images flooded his consciousness, an explosion of sights, sounds, and thoughts that caused him to drop the Holocron to the floor, breaking the connection.” DOE novel, chapter 12).
Note that Bane did not know that Andeddu was in the holocron. He overpowered it just that badly. It's as if Bane tried to lift a weight that he thought only weighed 50 pounds, but instead weighed 200- and yet, after he lifted it, he never even noticed the difference. Mind you, he learns nothing new aside from essence transfer, and is far beyond Andeddu in knowledge and understanding of the force by this point, which is a crazy good accolade, considering the fact that characters like Nadd, Krayt, Dooku, and Wyyrlok learned from him, while Andeddu himself based his knowledge off of what Karness Muur knew (Legacy comic, Issue 30).

DARTH DREW, THE ALL KNOWING


Last but not least, I would like to talk about Drew, the trilogy’s writer. Drew plays a big part here. The senior writer and director to KOTOR 1, who had Naga Sadow called the most powerful of the sith buried in Korriban, also has ROT Bane think he is stronger than Nadd, a superior of Sadow. Drew very much so respects the ancient sith, and yet, has Bane completely overpower and overwhelm one of the most important ones in DOE. He also has Darth Revan captured by the Jedi, who decide not to kill him, and instead, to save him so they can try to use him, regardless of the possible consequences; while in ROT, Drew writes the Jedi as wanting to kill Bane as soon as possible.
Drew, when pressed for an answer regarding Darth Bane vs Darth Revan, decides to put the two as equals, just before saying that stats would be more reliable. ('Who’s stronger – Darth Bane, Darth Revan or Darth Vader?' “It’s a tie. Seriously, I can’t answer this. First, it’s not really up to me to make that kind of call. Second, it really depends on the situation. You can probably find rule books for various Star Wars role-playing games that will give you stats allowing you to compare relative strength.”). Stats often favor Bane over Darth Revan, as far as I know. Drew’s opinion on the matter is quite reliable though, as Leland Chee himself considers Drew as just about as much of an official source as one can get in regards to Bane/TOR related stuff.

STATS FOR BIG BOYS


       Simple concept, I will be talking about stats for Bane here. In SE Saga stats, Bane’s stats are amongst the best. I added some of the characters being talked about here, for reference. Note, this is only for ROT Bane, and not for DOE Bane.

https://1drv.ms/x/s!Aopf9EI9Jwj2hiNdzh8tadzPk6x2?e=H85kYb

       The same applies to Miniatures here. My only intent here is to prove his superiority to the previously mentioned characters, such as Revan, Malak, Nadd, Sadow, Thon, etc.
















Pretty self-explanatory.

RAIN RAIN, GO AWAY


To end this, I will simply talk about the (in)famous ‘rain deflection’ feat. Quite honestly, the feat is meant to be symbolic- a way to show superiority over his POD self. It is somewhat impressive by itself, due to how Bane manages to feel/sense every droplet during the downpour as well, but nothing that someone like TCW Obi Wan could not pull off, for example. The feat in question: “Feeling a blast of cold wind blow in, he crouched low and opened himself up to the Force, letting it flow through him. Drawing on it to extend his awareness out to encompass each individual bead of rain as it fell from the sky, he resolved not to let a single drop touch his exposed flesh. He could sense the power of the dark side building inside him. It began, as it always did, with a faint spark, a tiny flicker of light and heat. Muscles tense and coiled in anticipation, he fed the spark, fueling it with his own passion, letting his anger and fury transform the flame into an inferno waiting to be unleashed. As the first fat drops splattered onto the patio stones around him, Bane exploded into action. Abandoning the overpowering style of Djem So, he shifted to the quicker sequences of Soresu, his lightsaber tracing tight circles above his head in a series of movements designed to intercept enemy blaster bolts. The wind rose to a howling gale, and the scattered drops quickly became a downpour. His body and mind united as one, he channeled the infinite power of the Force against the driving rain. Tiny clouds of hissing steam formed as his blade picked off the descending drops while Bane twisted, twirled, and contorted his body to evade those few that managed to slip through his defenses. For the next ten minutes he battled the pelting storm, reveling in the power of the dark side. And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the tempest was gone, the dark cloud scurrying away on the breeze. Breathing hard, Bane extinguished his lightsaber. His skin was sheened in sweat, but not a single drop of rain had touched his bare flesh.” DOE novel, prologue
The impressiveness of the feat is only known to those who know that POD Bane found such a feat impossible to pull off. (“Suddenly realizing he was in grave danger, Bane made a lunge for the Holocron. As his hand closed around it, the colony of crustaceans broke free en masse and cascaded down on him in a chitinous swarm. With one hand clutching the Holocron, he swiped at them with his lightsaber and deflected others with the power of the Force. But there were too many to keep them all at bay; it was like trying to ward off raindrops in a storm.” ROT novel, chapter 7). Bane, though, is not Obi Wan. He is an attacker, a striker. This showing is of a far lesser quality than what he could pull off when on the offensive. Mind you, Bane by POD could already defend himself against Kas'im, a duelist on the level of Exar Kun and Tulak Hord. It is not ridiculous to think that DOE Bane could probably duel two or three Kas’ims / POD Banes at the same time, which is reminiscent of his showing against a greatly amped Raskta Lsu (a duelist of a caliber equal to that of Kas’im) and Farfalla (one of the most powerful and skilled Jedi alive at the time). The showing is not Bane simply lifting a rock that POD Bane never could even deem possible to be lifted. He lifted it, then threw it 50 feet away.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have no opinions yet. I think the intent is there for Bane to have been the greatest sith prior to Vitiate’s ascendance, due to his Sith’ari status and accolades, but now things are blurry. Dumb people make dumber mistakes, such as TOR. Being more powerful than Malak, Revan, Ragnos, Malgus, Nadd, means nothing now. Take that as you will. His ‘Ambria superiority statement’, his ‘ROT opinion on the ancients’, his ‘orbalisk mastery and control feat’, his ‘culmination of the darth’s’ stance, his heavily supported ‘predecessor superiority’, his ‘Andeddu stomp’, and his stats all put him a good deal above even the strongest of the ancient sith, and that’s pretty much a fact.

THIS IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS


I am well aware of how much SW debaters like scaling chains, so I would like to do a few of them:



ROT Bane vs Freedon Nadd, in terms of power-

Thon < Arca Jeth (Arca has better stats, so I give him an edge here) <<< King Ommin (he fought a dark side weakened Arca, but still dominated him thoroughly) <<< Freedon Nadd (the power that Ommin had was only a portion of Nadd’s full power)

vs

Thon <<< POD Bane (Thon is nothing compared to POD Bane, per the Huntress) < POD Bane (fire ritual with 5 other sith lords) < POD Bane (using a couple orbalisks, he has greater power than ever before) <<< ROT Bane << ROT Bane (using all orbiks, which gives the wearer a much greater ability to draw upon the dark side of the force)

I personally lean Bane’s way here.


ROT Bane vs Naga Sadow, in terms of power-

King Adas < Jedi Exiles (greater than any before) < Ajunta Pall (greatest of the Exiles) < Sadow (through selective breeding over thousands of years) < Sadow (centuries later) << Sadow (with amulets)

vs

King Adas < Jedi Exiles (greater than any before) < Ajunta Pall (greatest of the Exiles) < Sith Sorceress’s ritual (greater than what any previous dark sider could ever pull off) << POD Bane < POD Bane (fire ritual with 5 other sith lords) < POD Bane (using a couple orbalisks, he has greater power than ever before) <<< ROT Bane << ROT Bane (using all orbiks, which gives the wearer a much greater ability to draw upon the dark side of the force)

Yet again, I lean towards Bane here.



Dueling skill scaling chain for Bane-

Tulak Hord, Exar Kun, etc <= Kas’im (possibly greatest duelist in the galaxy’s history) = POD Bane << ROT Bane (could duel a greatly amped Raskta Lsu (who has accolades comparable to Kasim's accolades) and Farfalla, while weakened by battle meditation) << DOE Bane (his greater skill easily makes up for the effects of the orbalisks, meaning that he is now far more skilled than he was before)


Bane’s power progression-

POD Bane < POD Bane (fire ritual) < POD Bane (couple orbalisks) <<< ROT Bane << ROT Bane (using orbalisks) < DOE Bane (I’m being generous to ROT Bane here. DOE Bane is possibly much more powerful than ROT Bane due to accolades and statements, but I won't stretch the rope too much) < DOE Bane (after leaving the prison)