YMMV / Darth Bane

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • While Bane believes the Brotherhood of Darkness has weakened the Sith with its togetherness and loyalty, it's actually said that a large part of that is Kaan's using the Force power Battle Meditation at times to alter the Brotherhood's opinions. Kaan even tries it on Bane; it doesn't work. Bane doesn't respect Kaan any more for this though, since in his eyes it merely proves how weak Kaan himself is (for needing to rely on it in the first place) and the rest of the Sith under his command are (for being weak enough to be controlled by it).
  • There's a fan theory that Bane actually succeeded in demonically possessing Zannah at the end of the trilogy. For what it's worth, Karpyshyn says any such implications are unintentional.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Darth Bane and Zannah. They're both wholly, completely evil, but also sympathetic and engaging Villain Protagonists. And Bane is a tall, muscular Hunk of a Sith Lord, while Zannah is slender, lithe, and beautiful.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Go here.
• Epileptic Trees: Karpyshyn intended for it to be clear that Zannah won the duel at the end of Dynasty of Evil and fought off Bane's possession attempt, but it didn't take. Subsequently, fans theorized that not only had Bane succeeded in taking over Zannah's body, but that he had repeated the process since with every Sith apprentice down to Sidious. The Rise of Skywalker added some fuel to this speculative fire, what with Palpatine's claim to be "all the Sith."
• Evil Is Cool: Darth Bane. His victory is what ultimately leads to the rise of Darth Sidious and the entire Skywalker Saga playing out, so it would already be easy to root for him...but he does so with such style, power, intellect, and brutality that he's surprisingly engaging.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Go here.
• Les Yay: Lucia in Dynasty of Evil is really devoted to Serra. Really, really devoted. Probably in an unhealthy way, given her method of avenging Serra's husband's death was hire a sadistic killer.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Darth Bane himself began life as Dessel, the abused son of a miner, but grew to become much more. A hulking beast of a man with great power in the Dark Side of the Force and an intellect to match his might, Bane, upon shedding his old name and joining the Sith, quickly became one of the most powerful among them, making his own way in defiance of the established order. After realizing that the Brotherhood of Darkness is hopelessly flawed, Bane engineers its annihilation and devises the "Rule of Two", planning to turn the Sith's greatest weaknesses, their greed and ambition, into their greatest strengths. Spending the next two decades training his apprentice, Darth Zannah, and laying the groundwork for the Sith's domination of the galaxy, Bane endures every setback and challenge that comes his way with his iron will and near-infinite patience, holding firm to his self-imposed ideals, even managing to turn a parasitic infestation into an advantage. Ultimately meeting his end in a duel with his apprentice in accordance with the Rule of Two, Bane's legacy endures, setting a standard for the next thousand years of Sith Lords and setting the stage for the eventual fall of the Jedi and the Republic.
  • Darth Zannah, Bane's apprentice, shows her manipulative acumen when still a girl named Rain, using her wits to convince a spacer to take her aboard his ship before murdering those on board to join Bane on Onderon. Becoming an adept apprentice, Zannah infiltrates numerous factions for Bane to manipulate them into conflict and remove the rivals of the Sith, in one such mission meeting a man who knows of the Sith and intends to become Zannah's apprentice, prompting her to lure him into conflict with Bane to either deal with the problem or leave her as the Master. When Bane is critically injured, Zannah destroys her own cousin's mind to make him appear as the true Sith Lord to the Jedi and secure Bane's survival so she may complete her own training. Enraged ten years on when Bane seems to betray his own teachings, Zannah engages him in a contest ending with a battle of wills that she is triumphant in, proving herself worthy of the title of Dark Lord of the Sith and continuing Bane's plans to see the fall of the Jedi and Republic.
  • Lord Kopecz made a rational and reasoned decision to betray the Jedi for the Sith, believing the latter offered the best hope for Galactic peace. Becoming one of the strongest of the Sith Lords and known for his skill and brilliance, Kopecz's lack of depravity brought him respect even by his enemies. One of the first to join Skere Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness, Kopecz proves invaluable in battle, almost singlehandedly leading the defeat of the Jedi and Republic forces in one key confrontation. When he realizes the dangers of the Thought Bomb, Kopecz refuses to flee the side he had chosen long ago and opts to lead a charge so he may give the Jedi the information on what Kaan plots, as well as securing his own death in combat.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Bane crosses this for most when he kills a couple of children to survive, though readers still like him. So it's more a Kick the Dog or I Did What I Had to Do moment.
  • Zannah also has such a moment after torturing her cousin to madness and using him to deflect attention from the Sith, though for some other readers it's when she destroys another woman's mind with her sorcery just because the woman was a romantic rival.
• Nightmare Fuel: The Thought Bomb. A highly destructive Dark Side power that even the Ancient Sith feared. It doesn't just vaporize every force user caught in the radius, but it also shreds their souls and traps them in an orb, leaving them in constant agony. Bane later visited the epicenter and described their screams as bestial shrieks, rather than humanoid ones.