History Literature / DarthBane

* FateWorseThanDeath: The Sith and Jedi caught in the Thought Bomb's radius are reduced to fragments of their consciousness, and are trapped in that state forever in caverns under the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Valley_of_the_Jedi Valley of the Jedi]]. At least until Kyle Katarn, the prophesied "knight that never was", swings by and frees their spirits during his fight with Jerec. But that's [[DarkForcesSaga a different series]] and a good few years later. Some of the Sith spirits hang around even then. [[spoiler: Also what happens to Bane when he fails to possess Zannah.]]

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Everyone seems to know of every unimportant planet or person in the galaxy, like Onderon or Caleb, and The Republic is still using the same ship classes that were used during the war with Darth Revan's Sith, some 3000 years earlier.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Bane only reached his potential due to others helping him; Groshik helped him evade arrest, Kopecz overrode his execution order, and he got out of his stupor thanks to Githany. If he had followed his logic, he would have been one of the weaklings he despised.
** Probably not as Kopecz overrode his order in order to send him to the academy to become a Sith Lord and aid in the Brotherhood's war effort. Githany only helped him to use him as a tool against Sirak and withheld knowledge from him and Kasim only helped him to get the credit of making Bane into an expert warrior only after Bane showed his will to fight was back. Bane did receive help from others but they all had ulterior motives. That actually follows with his logic and Bane disposed of them once done with them. The exception is Groshik who probably felt sorry for him.
*** In fact one of the things that makes Bane such an interesting character is that while he is a Monster he is NOT a hypocrite. This makes it possible to simultaneously despise and respect him.

* StartOfDarkness: For both Bane (POD) and Zannah (the last bit of POD and all of ROT).

* TeensAreMonsters: Zannah, kind of. In the books she's either ten(POD), twenty(ROT) or in her early to mid-thirties(DOE), but ''Rule of Two'' throws in some flashbacks of her training at twelve and fourteen.

* BadassAndChildDuo: Bane and Rain have this dynamic pre-timeskip in DB:ROT.

* CanonDiscontinuity: DB: POD replaces ''Jedi vs. Sith'' and DB: ROT replaces ''Bane of the Sith'' in official continuity.

* TheAntiChrist: Bane extensively researches the Sith'ari prophecy that is the Sith's equivalent to the Chosen One. Since he believes the Force is there for him to command, instead of vice versa, he discounts the prophecy, but if the Sith'ari does exist [[spoiler:it's probably Bane himself.]]

* AdaptationDistillation: The second half of the first book coincides with the events of the earlier ''Jedi vs Sith'' comic book series.

Related to the Darth Bane books is an older comic book series entitled ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Jedi vs. Sith]]'', which is set around the same time as the last part of ''Path of Destruction'' and explains how Zannah and her cousins (Darovit and Hardin) arrived on Ruusan during the final battle between the Jedi and the Sith. Although Bane is technically the BigBad in this series, his appearances are sporadic. The story focuses mainly on Tomcat (Darovit) and Bug (Hardin) and is arguably closer in tone to ''TheLordOfTheRings'' than ''StarWars''. Elements of the series are incorporated into the Bane books in BroadStrokes.

* PragmaticVillainy: Bane spares Caleb after the latter heals him in the first book since he might need his abilities again. In general this is common for Bane as well as Zannah and was in fact one of the rules of his Sith order that they be pragmatically evil rather than outright evil.

* PragmaticVillainy: Bane spares Caleb after the latter heals him in the first book since he might need his abilities again.

The books are unusual in the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse in that they are from the perspective of a character aligned to the Sith. Even more unusual, no attempt is made to portray the actions of Darth Bane as heroic or noble. Instead, Bane slowly descends ever deeper into corruption and eventually becomes as evil as one would expect the Dark Lord of the Sith to be.

The ''Darth Bane'' series is a trilogy of books by Drew Karpyshyn set during the period of the New Sith Wars (roughly 1,000 years before the events of the Phantom Menace). It chronicles the life of Dessel, a cortosis ore miner that joins the Sith and eventually becomes Darth Bane, the first Lord of the Sith Order that eventually spawned Emperor Palpatine. The first book ''Darth Bane: Path of Destruction'' was followed by ''Darth Bane: Rule of Two'', and the series concluded in ''Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil'', which was released on December 8, 2009.

The books are unusual in the Star Wars universe in that they are from the perspective of a character aligned to the Sith. Even more unusual, no attempt is made to portray the actions of Darth Bane as heroic or noble. Instead, Bane slowly descends ever deeper into corruption and eventually becomes as evil as one would expect the Dark Lord of the Sith to be.

* AdaptationDistillation: According to some. The second half of the first book coincides with the events of the earlier ''Jedi vs Sith'' comic book series. Some fans feel that the portrayal of events here is more in keeping with the style of StarWars than that series (which was occasionally characterised as ''LordOfTheRings'' [[RecycledINSPACE with swoops and lightsabres]]").*

** Even though his {{plan}} takes [[ExtyYearsFromNow one thousand years]] to pull off.
* {{Badass}}: Bane in a nutshell. Some might say too much. Jedi Master Hoth also qualifies to a large extent despite not being the star.
* BadassAndChildDuo: Bane and Rain have this dynamic pre-timeskip in DB:ROT, although it is darker than most examples.

* BroadStrokes: The events of ''Jedi vs. Sith'' and ''Bane of the Sith'' are incorporated into the story and slightly altered. Some fans of the comics pilloried Karphyshyn for this, but he was only able to do so because of [=LucasBook's=] permission.
* CanonDiscontinuity: DB: POD replaces ''Jedi vs. Sith'' and DB: ROT replaces ''Bane of the Sith'' in official continuity. And of course, some fans complain about ''that''.
* CloseCallHaircut: Lightsaber duels are serious business.
* TheChessmaster: They aren't brought to light, but it's shown that Bane has a network of spies and long reaching plans to take control of the Galaxy. He thinks it'll take a hundred years. [[StarWars It took a Thousand]].
* ContinuityNod: The Temple of the Rakata on Lehon, the Korriban Academy (both from ''Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic''), and Bane's curved lightsaber hilt that resembles Count Dooku's are just a few.
* CurbStompBattle: Bane himself suffers only one in the series when first dueling Sirak; he reverses it later on. Played straight when any enemy who isn't a Jedi or Force user fights against Bane almost always loses immediately.

* DarkActionGirl: Bane's apprentice Darth Zannah, once she grows up.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Awesomely subverted in that the Brotherhood of Darkness does this spiel with Bane. Bane thinks its weak.

* {{Determinator}}: Bane wouldn't be nearly so cool if not for this factor.
* DownerEnding: The Jedi destroy the Sith but only at the cost of their army's greatest leader and ninety-nine other Jedi. And Bane, who no one even knows exists, is left alone to found the order that will nearly destroy them. The end of the second novel is [[ItGotWorse even worse]].
* [[GoodIsOldFashioned Evil Is Old Fashioned]]: The Brotherhood considers Bane a throwback to the Sith's [[StupidEvil pointless and destructive]] past, largely because of his uncompromising preference for [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority the rule of the strong]] as per tradition. Even the (mostly nominal) minimal pretenses of equality made by the Brotherhood are too much for Bane.
* EvilIsSexy: Invoked with Githany, who tries to seduce Bane into doing what she wants. Subverted in the fact that Zannah, while described as "strikingly attractive" has one described sexual encounter, which is undertaken for the express purpose of getting people killed.

* {{Expy}}: From his description, Qordis seems just a ''little'' bit too much like Lo Pan from BigTroubleInLittleChina.
* FateWorseThanDeath: The Sith and Jedi caught in the Thought Bomb's radius are reduced to fragments of their consciousness, and are trapped in that state forever in caverns under the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Valley_of_the_Jedi Valley of the Jedi]]. At least until Kyle Katarn, the prophesied "knight that never was", swings by and frees their spirits with the power of his {{Memetic Badass}}ery. But that's [[DarkForcesSaga a different series]], and a good ''thousand years'' later. Some of the Sith spirits hang around even then. [[spoiler: Also what happens to Bane when he fails to possess Zannah.]]

* GoodIsDumb: Darovit doesn't seem to grasp the fact that after ten years of Bane's tutelage, Zannah isn't the little girl he grew up with. He tries to convince her to turn Bane over to the Jedi and ask their forgiveness for her own actions, and...it doesn't end well for him. And the Jedi Knights have a remarkably low opinion of a Sith Lord who supposedly killed their greatest remaining Jedi Master and a strike team of combat veterans [[spoiler:when they kill an insane barely Force-sensitive Darovit and assume it's him]]. Then again, Zannah's [[spoiler:message to the Jedi that Caleb forces her to send before he'll heal Bane is [[PoorCommunicationKills intentionally vague]].]]
* HarmfulToMinors: Poor Rain. Ironically, she suffers more from the actions of the Jedi[[spoiler:(recruited to fight a war, one cousin dead, the killing of her [[InnocentAliens friend]])]] than from Bane. Bane is a stern taskmaster who is intent on turning her into the perfect evil apprentice, but he never abuses her.

* Hypocrite: Bane only reached his potential due to others helping him; Groshik helped him evade arrest, Kopecz overrode his execution order, and he got out of his stupor thanks to Githany. If he had followed his logic he would have been one of the weaklings he despised.
** In a sense, Bane did follow his logic. Bane acknowledged other people helped him but believed it was unwise to dwell on it or form sentimental attachment, effectively taking Groshik's final advice to heart.
** Bane would say that he used the tools and grabbed opportunity as it presented itself. Remember his quote that "Those who are weak enough to beg for mercy don't deserve it." It's not weakness to use every tool in your arsenal, it's weakness to beg people to help you (which he didn't do).

** Also subverted, since he is extremely effectual.

* ManipulativeBastard: Bane, [[spoiler:when he destroys the Brotherhood by playing on Kaan's ego.]] In the sequel, [[spoiler:a hallucination of Kaan pays him back from beyond the grave]] when he tricks Bane into using a DeadlyUpgrade in the form of parasitic orbalisks.
* MasterSwordsman: Blademaster Kas'im, Jedi Battlemaster Raskta Lsu, and Bane. Bane gets special mention as he outfought both Kas'im and Raskta.
* MindRape: This is one of Zannah's most-utilized powers, from her tutelage in Sith sorcery. She first does it to [[spoiler:Cynda]] on Serenno when she imagines [[spoiler:Cynda and Kel in bed together]], then later uses it to get the upper hand on [[spoiler:Sarro Xaj]] when she and Bane are fighting the Jedi strike team on Tython. She kills [[spoiler:Xaj]] after Mind Raping him, but [[spoiler:Cynda]] isn't so lucky, with her mind torn apart and a tiny bit of it imprisoned in torment until her physical body eventually dies.
* ModernStasis: Averted in the comics, which feature more old-fashioned weapons alongside lightsabres and blasters.
* MoralityChain: The death of [[spoiler:Rain's bouncer friend turns her from a troubled young girl into a murderous sociopath at a very young age.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Dessel's shock when he realizes he had unknowingly killed his own father with the Force is so severe that he loses his connection to the Force and falls into a stupor. Unfortunately for the galaxy, Githany helps him out of it. [[IgnoredEpiphany Bane doesn't spare it a second thought.]]

* PapaWolf: Caleb the healer. He stands up to a ''Sith Lord'' with nothing but sheer willpower (and douses his own arm into ''boiling water'' to show his determination) to keep his daughter hidden and safe. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, but he still gets points for trying]].

** This trait along with CombatPragmatist are the reasons Bane defeats virtually all the enemies he encounters in the series.
* TheRival: Sirak is this for Bane. [[spoiler:It doesn't last.]]
* RichBitch: Serra sort of starts out as this. She got better, only to be killed by Darth Cognus

* ShoutOut: Lots of them to KnightsOfTheOldRepublic and ''Jedi vs. Sith''. Fittingly enough given the fandom's above-mentioned "Lord of The Rings with swoops and lightsabers" comment about ''Jedi vs. Sith'', there is a passage in the latter part of ''Path of Destruction'' (when Kaan's swoop-mounted Sith Lords are attacking Hoth's ground forces) that is almost a word-for-word rewrite of Eomer's thoughts during the Battle of The Pellenor Fields in ''The Return of The King''.

* SociopathicHero: Bane is flat out an amoral monster. Somehow the author makes him likable despite it.
* SoftWater: Averted ''[[IncrediblyLamePun Hard]]''. Johun barely survives a fifty meter dive into the ocean and breaks some of his ribs. His opponent he was holding onto at the time gets a NeckSnap from the resulting surface tension and dies.

* StopHelpingMe: A definite case for Sarro Xaj during the Duel on Tython. Zannah herself remarks that had Johun Othone not consistently got in the way of the more skilled Xaj while trying to double-team Zannah she would've died. Arguably Johun's lack of skill lead to the death of the entire strike team of Jedi.
** Given the fact one of the opponents was Darth Bane, a Sith Lord winning single-handedly against two Jedi Masters assisted by battle meditation, the strike team probably would have been killed more quickly without Johun's help. And to be fair, Xaj let his guard down in the middle of the duel with Zannah.
*** If Johun had stopped diving into Sarro's attacks, Zannah'd be dead. If Johun had managed to just take off Bane's hands without messing up, they'd have won. Really, Johun was a ridiculous joke in that fight.
* SympathyForTheDevil: Bane lived a truly crappy life until the Sith "rescued" him and unwittingly sealed their doom.

* TooDumbToLive: Which seems to describe Darovit in a nutshell.
** Terrorists Cyndra and Paak [[spoiler: flee during an attempt to kill a politician after the single Jedi guard kills a few of their comrades and their leader kills another who tries to retreat. They flee themselves, though it turns out their leader alone was a match for the Jedi, and if they'd stuck around and helped the mission likely would have succeeded. Later when they capture Zannah(who tricked them into the attack) and find a lightsaber on her, they decide she must have stolen it and continue to take her to a meeting with their mysterious leader. There's no mention of mind tricks so these trained assassins completely ignore the possibility she's a force user all under their own mental power. Later, when Zannah reveals she is indeed a force user, both attack her with physical means one at a time. Paak is particularly stupid and tries to stab her with a knife while she's bound, and despite the fact that Zannah had already (and unmistakably) dispatched Cyndra with the force while bound, is still completely surprised when Zannah uses the force to free herself and avoid the attack.]] Plus, Zannah infiltrated the terrorist organization by posing as a sympathetic embassy worker. Nobody bothered to check out her story.
** At the end of Rule of Two, [[spoiler:the Jedi strike team coming to capture an incapacitated Bane is tricked by Zannah into killing Darovit instead. Despite the fact that Darovit is clearly not a Sith (much less capable of killing five Jedi) nor injured, the Jedi close the case without a second thought and leave without looking around, when a cursory examination of the evidence would have clearly shown the Sith were still alive. It's not even as if they didn't really believe the Sith were there-they did. They even leave Banes ship untouched, so he and Zannah can quickly escape after they leave. Plus the vaguely worded message Caleb forced Zannah to send that brought the Jedi in the first place said that only said there was one Sith, not two. Caleb was either was dumb enough to let Zannah compose the message herself or saw it and didn't object to it leaving out the second Sith. Then again, he couldn't have known that the plot would bend over backwards to ensure Bane and Zannahs' survival.]]
** Lucia, Serra's bodyguard, could be qualified as this. [[spoiler: When Serra has Bane at her mercy, she tortures him mercilessly. Lucia is horrified at her mistress's behaviour. So at the first opportunity, she releases Bane and tries to go get the Princess. She did this because she was a young soldier who served under Bane in the war and she felt she owed him after all those years. She also did it because she was trying to get her mistress to realize that torturing Bane was not the way to avenge Serra's father. Sadly, she ended up encountering Bane before she could reach Serra. She actually tried to appeal to whatever goodness or remnants of Dessel was left in Bane. It did not work. She failed to understand that a true Sith Lord has no goodness to appeal to. Although Lucia's plea did cause Bane to hesitate long enough so Zannah killed Lucia instead]]
* {{Tykebomb}}: Rain [[spoiler:who becomes Darth Zannah]].
* {{Ubermensch}}: Bane may be one of Star Wars few genuine examples as he doesn't bother trying to justify himself. Bane just is.

* WordOfGod: Author Drew Karpyshyn purposely wrote the aftermath of the [[spoiler:battle between Bane and Zannah]] to insinuate that not ''all'' of [[spoiler:Bane had died, and that a part of him remained in Zannah, though she had won the fight.]] But many fans took this to mean that [[spoiler:Bane won and cast Zannah out, leading to Bane being in Zannah's body,]] and Karpyshyn finally had to post a clarification on his website where he gave the answer and apologized for writing the scene that way.

** Unsurprising given like Kaan and many of the Brotherhood of Sith, he was a former Jedi Master.
** Kas'im could also qualify; initially it looks like Bane can beat him in a straight-up lightsaber duel after [[TookALevelInBadass taking a level in badass]], but this turns out not to be the case and Kas'im gains the advantage by switching tactics. Bane decides to forget about trying to beat the guy with a lightsaber and blasts him with the Force...but Kas'im is able to shield himself from its effects. (Unfortunately for him, the structure he's standing under does not hold up quite as well.)

** He doesn't need excuses. He's fine with being a CompleteMonster.
*** Bane is a bit of a Deconstruction of a CompleteMonster. He understands he has a blurred sense of morality and does not find any pleasure in killing or torturing people unless he felt they deserved it.

** Even though his XanatosGambit takes [[ExtyYearsFromNow one thousand years]] to pull off.

* HeroicSociopath: Bane is flat out an amoral monster. Somehow the author makes him likable despite it.

* TheAntiChrist: Bane extensively researches the Sith'ari prophecy that is the Sith's equivalent to the Chosen One. Since he believes the Force is there for him to command, intead of vice versa, he discounts the prophecy, but if the Sith'ari does exist [[spoiler:it's probably Bane himself.]]

* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Bane(6' 7") and Zannah(in the neighborhood of 5' 5").

* ShoutOut: Lots of them to KnightsOfTheOldRepublic and ''Jedi vs. Sith''. Fittingly enough given the fandom's above-mentioned "Lord of The Rings with swoops and lightsabers" comment about ''Jedi vs. Sith'', there is a passage in the latter part of ''Path of Destruction''(when Kaan's swoop-mounted Sith Lords are attacking Hoth's ground forces) that is almost a word-for-word rewrite of Eomer's thoughts during the Battle of The Pellenor Fields in ''The Return of The King''.

** Terrorists Cyndra and Paak [[spoiler: flee during an attempt to kill a politician after the single Jedi guard kills a few of their comrades and their leader kills another who tries to retreat. They flee themselves, though it turns out their leader alone was a match for the Jedi, and if they'd stuck around and helped the mission likely would have succeded. Later when they capture Zannah(who tricked them into the attack) and find a lightsaber on her, they decide she must have stolen it and continue to take her to a meeting with their mysterious leader. There's no mention of mind tricks so these trained assassins completly ignore the possibility she's a force user all under their own mental power. Later, when Zannah reveals she is indeed a force user, both attack her with physical means one at a time. Paak is particularly stupid and tries to stab her with a knife while she's bound, and despite the fact that Zannah had already (and unmistakably) dispatched Cyndra with the force while bound, is still completely surprised when Zannah uses the force to free herself and avoid the attack.]] Plus, Zannah infiltrated the terrorist organization by posing as a sympathetic embassy worker. Nobody bothered to check out her story.

** Terrorists Cyndra and Paak [[spoiler: flee during an attempt to kill a politician after the single Jedi guard kills a few of their comrades and their leader kills another who tries to retreat. They flee themselves, though it turns out their leader alone was a match for the Jedi, and if they'd stuck around and helped the mission likely would have succeded. Later when they capture Zannah(who tricked them into the attack) and find a lightsaber on her, they decide she must have stolen it and continue to take her to a meeting with their mysterious leader. There's no mention of mind tricks so these trained assassins completly ignore the possibility she's a force user all under their own mental power. Later, when Zannah reveals she is indeed a force user, both attack her with physical means one at a time. Paak is particularly stupid and tries to stab her with a knife while she's bound, and despite the fact that Zannah had already (and unmistakably) dispatched Cyndra with the force while bound, is still completely surprised when Zannah uses the force to free herself and avoid the attack.]]
Plus, Zannah infiltrated the terrorist organization by posing as a sympathetic embassy worker. Nobody bothered to check out her story.