Darth Bane

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Star Wars character
Darth Bane
Position Dark Lord of the Sith
Homeworld Apatros
Species Human
Gender Male
Height 2.00 meters (6' 7")
Affiliation Sith
Portrayed by N/A

Darth Bane is a fictional character in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. He is first mentioned in the novelization of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and is the main character of the novel Darth Bane: Path of Destruction.

Contents

[edit] History

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the Star Wars universe, Darth Bane was a powerful Sith Lord who lived a thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. He resurrected the Sith Order after it was nearly destroyed in the Great Sith War, and instituted the rules and dogma that would aid it in taking over the galaxy a millenium later.

[edit] In Path of Destruction

As revealed in Path of Destruction, he was born Dessel on the planet Apatros, the son of a miner named Hurst. Dessel's father blamed him for the death of his wife, and often mocked him as his "Bane". His father took him into the mines at a young age, and the boy was bullied and abused well into his teen years.

After he killed a Republic Navy ensign in a bar brawl, he was forced to flee Apatros and join the armies of the Brotherhood of Darkness, a band of Sith Lords. His instinctive use of the Force (which he initially believed to be a myth) brought him to the attention of the Sith Lord Qordis, who trained him in the dark side at the Brotherhood's Academy on Korriban. Dessel (now renamed Bane) never completed his formal training, however. Bane killed another Sith apprentice after being mocked for losing a lightsaber duel. Following this incident, the instructors, particularly the Blademaster, Ka'sim, took an interest in Bane, as did Sirak, the top student at the Korriban Academy.

In spite of the newfound personal attention Bane received, however, he eventually fell out of favor at the academy, until Qordis refused to give him any further training. Apparently after using the dark side to kill the other apprentice he subconsciously retreated from the darkside losing his control over the force. Thus while his raw force power remained he was unable to tap into it becasue of his own subconscious barriers. Many months later, in a vain attempt to reestablish himself as a prominent student, Bane challenged Sirak to a fight and is completely obliterated by Sirak's superior swordsmanship.

Humiliated, Bane immersed himself in the old tomes in the academy archives, but got nowhere until he met another apprentice named Githany. The two bonded over their mutual hatred of Sirak, and plotted to bring him down. With a newfound motivation, Bane convinced Ka'Sim to train him in private. Under this tutelage, Bane's swordsmanship improved exponentially. Just as importantly, Githany began tutoring him in the force and re-establishing his connection to the darkside by showing him in secret what the Sith Lords were teaching her. Most importantly however Bane studied tomes from the golden age of the Sith, and realized that the new teachings of the Brotherhood of Darkness were incomplete.

Bane kept his development in swordsmanship and Force power secret from Githany and Ka'Sim respectively, until Githany told him that she was going to try to kill Sirak in the practice ring. Bane knew Githany would lose, and elected to fight in her stead. Bane crushed Sirak and regained his prominence as a student. Emboldened by his victory, he then told Qordis that he was going to seek further Sith knowledge in the Korriban crypts. He returned with no additional knowledge, but was not discouraged; he blatantly humiliated Qordis, and declared that the Brotherhood was a mere shadow of true Sith power.

As such, Bane (who had taken up the title of 'Darth' that other sith refused to take) left the Brotherhood and traveled to the Forgotten Planet of Rakata Prime, the site of the final battle between the Republic and Darth Malak's forces. There, he discovered a Sith Holocron left behind by Darth Revan. Bane completed his training, learning new Sith techniques, including the devastating "thought bomb."

Bane realized from the Holocron that any Sith order with multiple lords was doomed to failure. He then created the "Rule of Two": Only two Sith Lords, a master and an apprentice, were allowed to exist at one time ("One to embody the power and one to crave it.") He then resolved to destroy the Brotherhood and begin the Sith anew.

At this time, Kaan's forces on Ruusan were spread thin. Kaan ordered that all of the students on Korriban be made into Lords and brought to the battle. Knowing Bane's incredible untapped power, he sent his former student's swordmaster to find him. Upon meeting his former master, Bane offered to take him as an apprentice. The swordmaster refused to listen, however, so Bane killed him.

Working to now destroy the "new Sith," Bane sent a message to Kaan begging to rejoin the brotherhood and offered the knowledge of how to use the thought bomb as leverage. Kaan, fearing Bane's power, sent Githany to kill Bane, knowing that Bane was attracted to her. During their meeting, she poisoned him with a kiss. Bane was stronger than either Githany or Kaan thought, however, and fought off the effects of the poison long enough to find a cure. He returned to Ruusan to observe the preparations for battle.

Shocked by Bane's return, Kaan agreed to follow his instructions to defeat the Jedi through the power of the dark side. The Sith joined together in meditation, and Bane unleashed a wave of destruction upon the unsuspecting enemy.

Sensing the smothering darkness and ambition in Bane's heart, however, the other Sith Lords broke the circle, intending to finish off the Jedi with more conventional tactics. During this strike, Bane went back to camp and ordered the commander of the space forces to engage the Jedi fleet. This allowed several gunships and transport craft to slip through the Sith blockade.

Realizing he was facing defeat, Kaan retreated to underground caves with the other Sith Lords to nullify the Jedi's air advantage. Fearful that Kaan would use the thought bomb on some other world if he was allowed to escape, Lord Hoth asked for volunteers to accompany him into the caverns. When the thought bomb detonated all of the Sith lords and the 99 Jedi plus Hoth were destroyed, their spirits trapped in limbo after the thought bomb's explosion and residual Force vacuum.

Shortly after this happened, Bane met a young girl called Zannah. She had been brought to Ruusan by the Jedi and had formed a friendship with a bouncer. When Zannah's friend was killed mistakenly by two Jedi troops, anger drew her to kill using the Force, snapping both of the Jedi's necks. Bane thought he had found his first apprentice, and took her under his wing.

Eventually, Bane inducted his new apprentice, giving her the name Darth Zannah, and set his new order in motion. Future Sith Lords were taught the virtues of patience, planning, and secrecy, and each was to take on the title of Darth, a tradition that had dated back to before the Jedi Civil War, nearly three millennia before.

[edit] In other Star Wars fiction

As revealed in The Phantom Menace, the Sith were thought to have gone extinct after Bane's death. Though the Jedi had heard of Bane's Rule of Two, they paid no heed to the rumors until the emergence of Darth Maul.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] References

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