Darth Bane

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Star Wars character
Darth Bane

Darth Bane
Portrayed by Not applicable
Position Dark Lord of the Sith
Homeworld Apatros
Species Human
Gender Male
Affiliation Sith

Darth Bane is a fictional character in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. He is first mentioned in the novelisation of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and is thereafter consistently referenced in Expanded Universe material. He is a major character in the Jedi vs. Sith series, and the protagonist of the novels Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction and Darth Bane: Rule of Two.

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[edit] Character overview

In the Star Wars universe, Darth Bane is a powerful Sith Lord who lived a thousand years before the time line of the films. He resurrects the Sith Order after it is nearly destroyed, and institutes the rules and dogma that would aid it in taking over the galaxy in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. He made the rule that the Sith's power was spread too thin and too far, so that there can be only two Sith: a master and an apprentice.

[edit] Character arc

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[edit] In Path of Destruction and Jedi vs. Sith

Bane's backstory is established in Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn. He is born as Dessel on the planet Apatros, the son of a miner named Hurst. Hurst, an abusive alcoholic, blames the boy for the death of his wife in childbirth, and often calls him his "Bane". His father takes him into the mines at a young age, and the boy is bullied and abused well into adulthood. He is powerful in the dark side of the Force, and unconsciously uses this power to kill his hated father. The authorities did an autopsy, and said Hurst had died of natural causes. Years later Dessel will learn he killed his father with the Force.

After he kills a Republic Navy ensign in self-defense, Dessel flees Apatros and joins the armies of the Brotherhood of Darkness, a band of Sith Lords. His instinctive use of the Force (which he initially believes to be a myth) brings him to the attention of the Sith Lord Kopecz. Dessel is sent to the Brotherhood's Academy on Korriban to be trained in the ways of the dark side. Dessel (who renames himself Bane) becomes a star pupil after killing another student in cold blood. In particular, he attracts the attention of Sirak, the top student at the Korriban Academy.

After Bane realizes that he had indeed killed his father with the dark side, he subconsciously retreats from the Force, losing his power. Bane falls out of favor in the Academy, and is eventually refused any personalized training. Months later, in a vain attempt to reestablish himself, Bane challenges Sirak to a fight and is seriously injured in the ensuing duel.

Bane's training in and ascension to the Sith is detailed in both Path of Destruction and Jedi vs. Sith. As a student, he meets a new apprentice (and former Jedi) named Githany, who secretly plans to use him to bring down Sirak. Githany reestablishes his connection to the dark side by showing him in secret what the Sith Lords are teaching her. Most importantly, Bane studies tomes from the Golden Age of the Sith, and realizes that the new teachings of the Brotherhood of Darkness are incomplete.

Githany tells Bane that she intends to challenge Sirak, assuming that Bane would offer to assassinate him to spare her. However, Bane surprises her by revealing his intentions to destroy Sirak personally in the dueling ring, and that he had known all along she was using him. During the duel, he seriously wounds his opponent, but stops just short of killing him.

Bane leaves the academy, hoping to find the secrets of ancient Sith Masters in the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban. To his disappointment, however, he finds nothing. He returns to the academy to fill himself up from his starvation; there, Githany lures him to the archives, apparently intending to kill him. When the trap comes to fruition, however, Bane realizes that the trap is actually meant for Sirak. Githany kills Sirak's henchmen, and Bane defeats and kills his old nemesis in a lightsaber duel.

Bane takes the long-abandoned Sith title of Darth, leaves the Brotherhood, and travels to Rakata Prime. There, he discovers a Sith Holocron left behind by Darth Revan. Bane completes his training, learning numerous Sith techniques, including the "thought bomb" designed to kill all Force-sensitive beings in reach.

Bane then devises the "Rule of Two": Only two Sith Lords, a master and an apprentice, are allowed to exist at one time ("One to embody power and one to crave it.")

At this time, Kaan orders that all of the students on Korriban be made into Lords and brought to battle on Ruusan. Kaan sends Swordmaster Kas'im to bring him back to Ruusan to join the Brotherhood on pain of death. Upon meeting his former teacher, Bane considers taking him as an apprentice, but ultimately kills him after being refused.

Bane sends a staged message to Kaan asking to join the Brotherhood; Githany volunteers to kill Bane. Unknown to Githany, Bane had also sent the thought bomb, supposedly as a token of goodwill to the Brotherhood. Githany finds Bane, and pretends to accept his offer to join the Brotherhood. He is then rendered violently ill by poison Githany slipped him in a kiss. Barely alive, Bane eventually finds a healer named Caleb, and extorts his help by threatening his daughter. Caleb cures Bane of the poison and brings him back to health.

Bane returns to Ruusan, where Kaan agrees to follow his lead in battle. During meditation, Bane uses his own body and power as a focusing agent to unleash a wave of destruction upon the forests of Ruusan, where the Galactic Republic's unsuspecting troops are hiding.

When the other Sith Lords mutiny, Bane goes to camp and orders the commander of the space forces to engage the Jedi fleet. Realizing he is facing defeat, Kaan retreats to underground caves with the other Sith Lords. When the thought bomb detonates, it destroys the Jedi and Sith armies. The thought bomb was eventually destroyed by Kyle Katarn, thousands of years later.

In both Jedi vs. Sith and the end of Path of Destruction, Bane meets a Force-sensitive young girl named Rain, who had been brought to Ruusan by the Jedi. When Rain's friend is accidentally killed by two Jedi troops, her anger draws on the dark side, snapping both of the soldiers' necks. When Bane happens upon this scene, he realizes he has found a worthy apprentice.

[edit] In Rule of Two

In Darth Bane: Rule of Two, Bane goes to Onderon's moon, Dxun, to scavenge an ancient Sith temple. He leaves his new apprentice, whom he has dubbed Darth Zannah, with her first mission: to find her way to Onderon in 10 days by her own cunning and strategy. Bane finds his objective, Freedon Nadd's holocron. During the quest, however, parasites called obarlisks cover his body. He uses the holocron to gain further knowledge of the dark side, as well as information on the obarlisks. He learns that Freedon Nadd faced the same problem with this obarlisks, so the Dark Lord before him created a suit that would stop the obarlisks growing on his face, hands and feet. Meanwhile, his apprentice sabotages a Republic craft and lands in an unknown strip of land which belongs to Dxun's infamous beast Riders. She nearly dies in the attempt, but Bane saves her. Then, the pair goes into hiding on Ambria, establishing illegal contacts through the galaxy through the use of an information broker.

Over the next decade, Zannah acts as Bane's lieutenant, carrying out his orders as she grows stronger in the dark side. He orders her to coerce secession movements to move against the Republic too early; The secessionists are subsequently crushed, both removing threats to the Sith's power and deflecting attention off of the two Sith lords.

After a botched assassination attempt against the Chancellor, Zannah discovers a dark side user, Tomcat, who has uncovered the location of a tomb of an ancient Sith on the Deep Core planet of Tython. It is rumored that this tomb contains a Holocron with the key that Bane needs to produce his own. After killing the pseudo Sith, Bane and Zannah set off on their respective missions: To recover the ancient Holocron, and infiltrate the Jedi Archives for information on removing the orbalisks.

Upon arrival on Tython and entering the tomb, Bane is attacked by scores of technobeasts, creations of the ancient Sith to guard her crypt. He eventually defeats them and successfully recovers the Holocron. Zannah is able to obtain the information she needs, but her cover is blown at the last minute by her cousin Tomcat, now a healer in the care of the Jedi. Realizing she will need him to remove the Orbalisks, she takes him hostage and heads for Tython, with the Jedi on their trail.

Once Zannah and Tomcat arrive on Tython and warn Bane, they retreat to the interior of the temple, waiting for the attack. When it finally comes, the two sides are evenly matched, despite the Sith being outnumbered. After a lengthy battle, the Sith find themselves on the verge of victory. When Bane is about to unleash an attack on the last remaining Jedi, a crippled Jedi left for dead, suspends a Force Shield around Bane. The lightning bounces off the interior of the shield and cooks Bane alive for seconds, melting his flesh and causing his orbalisks to burrow further into his flesh, resulting in unbearable pain. Bane blacks out and is almost killed by the Jedi while Zannah beheads the attacker and takes her master to Ambria, dragging Tomcat along.

Once there, Zannah convinces Caleb and Tomcat to treat her Master by sending a message drone containing their coordinates to the Jedi, disabling her own ship so the Sith cannot escape. After several days, Bane awakens, infuriated when he hears that his apprentice has sent a message to alert the Jedi of their presence. Begging her to kill him, he over-exerts himself and passes out again. Zannah, realizing what she has done, comes up with a solution. Killing Caleb and disabling Tomcat, she hides herself and her Master in a secret compartment under Caleb's bed. When the Jedi arrive, Tomcat attacks them in his delusional state, and he is dispatched. Finding no other living beings, the Jedi assume they have finally killed the last of the Sith. Zannah nurses Bane back to health — even as she pledges to destroy him when her training is complete — and they return to hiding.[1]

[edit] In Legacy

Bane is also featured in Star Wars: Legacy, set 130 years after Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. In "Shards", he appears with two other long-dead Sith Lords, Darth Nihilus and Darth Andeddu, in a vision to the series' chief villain, Darth Krayt. Bane condemns Krayt for taking more than one apprentice, and prophesies that Krayt's new Sith Empire will collapse.

[edit] Appearances

  • Path of Destruction
  • Rule of Two
  • Jedi vs. Sith
  • Bane of the Sith
  • Legacy: Shards

[edit] References

  1. ^ Darth Bane:Rule of Two

[edit] External links