KMC Forums - Darth Tenebrous vs Novel Vitiate

Alright, let's start with a holistic/logical inference side of the argument, then move on from that to the power scaling/showings side. Logically, Vitiate, even at this stage, should be Tenebrous', superior. Tenebrae, by the age of 13, had already:

- Mind dominated his father and powerful Sith who governed over the entire planet in Lord Dramath [while stripping his power in the process]

- He was also knowledgeable/masterful enough in the Force to make complex Holocron's and even trap the essence of Dramath in one.

- Made short work of any Sith that got in his way, and took over an entire planet by the time he was 13.

_______________________________

The dominance Vitiate displayed at such a young age is unprecedented by nearly anyone in the mythos. Even before the Nathema ritual, his potential in the Force was phenomenal and his intrinsic aptitude in using it, even better. So,I think it goes without saying, that Vitiate's raw power is utterly unholy, as his accolades back. With sources listing him as a"Force prodigy", while others call him "supremely powerful". Even Marka Ragnos recognized his great"incredible" power in the Force and personally bestowed onto him the name Lord Vitiate. Albeit, out of all these accolades, the one I find the most interesting is the supreme quote, mainly because it can potentially entail:

1. By it's most technical definition, supreme and by extension, the adverb supremely, meansthe highest of rank, the best, or the greatest. So,one way it could be read it as Vitiate being the most powerful Sith Lord in the galaxy, even at the tender age of 13.

2. Supremely strong -- could have been referring to his potential rather than actualized power --- which makes sense given what he later accomplished. Also, the fact that many characters who had top-tier potential, but relatively lacking actualized power, has been afforded hype/accolades similar to the above, despite not being at the level vaunted level bestowed on them at[ E.I. Anakin being the most powerful Jedi; Luke being a threat to the Emperor, Kyp sharing parity with Yoda, etc]. If this proposed hypothesis is true, it would meanever before he vastly increased his capacity as a Force user, his Force potential superseded the likes of Marka Ragnos and Naga Sadow - two of the most powerful and revered Sith Lords to ever live.

3. The supremely powerful bit could have been strictly used as a hyperbolic term used to say Vitiate is very powerful. This seems to be the most likely and logical conclusion, but number 2 at least gives you food for thought.

____________________

Over the next decade or so, Vitiate gained moreknowledge and mastery of the Force, as evidenced by the fact he personally applied the aforementioned mastery and understanding of the Force to concoct, by far, the most complex Ritual the galaxy had ever seen and further honed his skills until the end of the HyperspaceWar where he was, to quote, stronger than ever:(please log in to view the image)Vitiate then reached the pinnacle of his power when he orchestrated the ritual of Nethama, anact of Sith sorcery stated to be more complex than anything that came before, with the help of 8,000 other Sith Lords. In the aftermath of it all, Vitiate consumed all life on the entire planet, extending his life, vastly increasing his capacity as a Force user, and fueling his powerand forever leaving Nethama a complete and utter void in the Force:(please log in to view the image)

quote:
Lord Vitiate takes command of the Sith Empire, now in shambles following the Great Hyperspace War. He executes the Sith Council and consumes the life force of thousands of Sith Lords in a terrifying ritual that extends his life and vastly increases his capacity as a practitioner of the Force. LordVitiate declares himself Emperor of the Sith. Under his sovereign rule, the Empire retreats into deep space to rebuild its strength and prepare for vengeance.

--Excerpt taken from The Old Republic
Encyclopedia

To summarize this all, even before devouring all life on Nethema - Vitiate was an exceptionally powerful Sith Lord having seemingly draining/severing his father from the Force, and dominating an entire planet at the age of 13, afterward, his strength only increased majorly - afterward. He further increased multiplied his power via draining an entire planet of the Force, brimming with life and filled with 8,000 fully Sith Lords. Even afterall this, Vitiate still had 1,000 years to further increase his power, as evidenced by experimenting and draining the knowledge/power of his captives over a thousand year span:

quote:
Burial place, prison, and reliquary, the Dark Temple was built on the orders of the Emperor to seal away powerful artifacts and the Emperor's enemies, both alive and dead. The temple became a nexus of dark side energy as the Emperor performed rituals within, drawing strength and knowledge from his captives.

---Excerpt from Star Wars: Old Republic Encyclopedia

Having said all that, I can safely say, emphatically, that there is no way possible that Tenebrous has more Force power at his disposal than Vitiate.

Knowledge/Mastery? Vitiate absolutely has that in spades. Even as nothing more that a neophyte, Tenebrae was able to construct complex Holocron that could trap powerful Sith Lords in metaphysical prison, at the age of 8. He only honed his mastery even further and design the most complex ritual of Sith sorcery the galaxy has even seen, capable of defying the omnipresence of the Force itself by completely stripping its presence from an entire planet. He would further increased his knowledge over a thousands year period, including draining knowledge from The Dark Temple's captives, among other things.

Potential? He arguably set in this more than he is in knowledge. Not only was he pulling off showings that would be impressive to the likes of Darth Maul as a 10-years-old, while sporting accolades hailing him "supremely" powerful" he exponentially increased this by swallowing up planet, including 8,000 Sith Lords.

Intrinsic aptitude? The dude was pulling of feats at 10 that most Sith Lords couldn't at their peak.

Time? Vitiate had literally had a thousand years to grow and maximize the colossal potential highlighted in the paragraphs.

I just don't see am argument for Tenebrous being superior in the Force. Tenebrous being vastly above Bane? So what? I'd argue pre-Nethama Tenebrae is Bane's superior by virtua of what we know of his raw power, mastery knowledge - and peak novel Vitiate is so far above his pre-ritual self it ceases to be funny.

The feat game? Don't make me laugh. Nothing Tenebrous has done supersedes Vitiate - demolishing the DC, mind dominating Revan and Malik, frying Revan with lightning, among other things.

Holistically? In the novel, Vitiate was painted as the biggest threat the galaxy ever seen - more-so than even the capital ship raiser/planet eater in Darth Nihilus. I don't think an argument can really be made for Tenebrous being the bigger deal here either.

All in all, I see Vitiate taking it 10/10 every time based on being better in everything sans, martial combat and maybe barrier [logically he's better at that too].

That's all for now - ball's in your court.