"Palpatine has risen from the dead. The most powerful Sith Lord who ever lived had returned."
I would not call a sourcebook to DE valid by today’s standards, especially [/i] given the publication of BOTS, POD, and the movie’s own rendition of Sidious’ power.
BOTS and POD, by actual evidence and not simply hyperbole supports its quotes putting Bane on top of Sidious as of ROTS. If the quote that puts Sidious on top is not supported by evidence [b]within the mythos, then it is simply an unsupported quote. Unless I can see these quotes properly backed, they remain what they are, hyperbole. If it contradicts the highest form of canon on Palpatine’s capabilities, I consider it hyperbole.
As per the highest form of canon, Lucas’ own Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine’s power does not match a person of say, Revan, Kun’s, or Bane’s caliber. He has shown some simple TK (throwing pods downwards which would be easy considering gravity), and some abilities in force lightning. And he was fighting against his mortal enemy at the time. There is no reason why he is performing at anything less than his full power. Even the novel’s elaboration doesn’t put Palpatine any higher than the movie depicted.
He is the most powerful practitioner of the Sith ways in modern times.
AC, are you joking? You’re very own quote serves to emphasize that Palpatine was the strongest Sith of modern times. Seeing as how Bane is a good millennia before “modern”, I consider the quote irrelevant.
He studied the ancient ruins on the Sith mausoleum world of Korriban. He unlocked secrets of the Force from a captured Jedi Holocron.
Every great Sith Lord has done his homework. I am still not seeing where you get your conclusions from. Much of the knowledge from Korriban was lost and burned after Kun sacked the place.
"Bane watched the spectacle of the temples IMPLOSION from the safety of the ground at the foot of the stairs," -pg 245
Lol, I think you are referring to this passage. “A second later, the rest of the roof caved in, drowning out the Twi’lek’s dying screams with a deafening rumble. Bane watched the spectacle of the temples implosion from the safety of the ground at the foot of the stairs,” The implosion was happening after Bane “tore the foundations of the great Rakatan temple.”
In fact, DK makes it a point to emphasize the temple was in fine condition. “The stone was neither worn nor cracked despite its age.” Clearly there was some supernatural force permeating and keeping the temple in fine condition.
As I said, the ground of Dxun is LITTERED with ships. Its not utterly ridicules to assume that Bane found one in working order, the Duros ship from KOTOR 2 is still on the plant and it was completely unsaved as far as I know of, The Mandalorian encampment's remains are there, The Sith used ships to access the planet.
Bane studied the creature for a moment. Then, like the fabled ancient beast-riders of Onderon, he climbed onto the flying monster's back, ready to ride off. This was a good omen, a sign for his future, and Darth Bane smiled.
He yanked at the flying beast's neck, and it flapped its leathery wings, raising him into the heavy air. It spat and thrashed, but finally relented to the presence of the Sith Lord on its back. Bane rode his new mount.
Now that he understood the depths of Sith powers, he thought he might even have control over worlds and moons, able to play with orbits and gravity like a child might play with colored balls.
Long ago, Dxun had grazed the planet Onderon, close enough that it was possible for creatures to pass across the conjoined atmosphere. Perhaps Bane could nudge the beast moon close enough so that he could travel to the nearby planet that filled the sky. In bloodshed and chaos, Darth Bane would go to Onderon... and there he would find his apprentice.
We know for certain that Bane was on a flying mount and intended to connect the two atmosphere’s. Anderson was content to leave it at that, not to explore how Bane pushed the two atmosphere’s together.
The ghost ships that pervaded the landscape were probably reduced to nothing more than worthless slag, and it was stated that the moon was a graveyard. There were no ship’s traveling in or out.
How do you possibly imagine Bane traveled to Onderon?
We have on one hand, possibilities that were not even explored or hinted by Anderson, which you seem to tend towards to downplay Bane. Then we have the possibility which Anderson seems more favourable towards, and which seems the most plausible. Clearly it is the most logical conclusion. What you are effectively doing, AC, is leading us into “wild goose chases” on what Bane “might” have done, when a simpler and clearer option is presented to us by Anderson.
You conveniently left out the fact that Bane had been gathering up the force energy to do that and once he unleashed it it was gone.
Bane was savoring his soon to be victory against Sirak, not “gathering energy” as you seem to believe.
“Bane probably knew he could probably beat Sirak now…. he’d never leave himself exposed the way Bane had. Not at first. Not unless Bane somehow lured him.”
“Yet even though he was battling the Zabrak, Bane’s real struggle was with himself. Time and again, he had to pull back to keep from lunging through an opening…”
He was controlling his desire (that is unleashing his blinding speed). He wanted to humiliate Sirak first, before utterly destroying him. The rest of the passage details how hungry he was for the need to destroy Sirak, not that he had to gather energy at all.
Kas’im even later emphasizes on Bane’s technique, stating how he was keeping his true strength “hidden,” not that he had to gather it up or anything of the sort.
Thats so dumb, if were going by Kas'im definition a fallible character, then all you simply need to be is leet in the force and have basic understanding of the forms to be uber at dueling. Thats bull shit. If that was the case then WHAT THE F*CK did Kas'im spend decades mastering them for?
There is a misinterpretation here on your part. Kas’im emphasized that a connection to the force was the most important factor. Knowing different sequences can be useful because it gives you more options, but it is far from making you a master at lightsaber dueling.
But by the end of PoD, Bane has seen almost all forms of dueling, and observed it from someone who devoted his life to honing every skill in the lightsaber, one of the strongest duelists in the galaxy. Vader is not going to have more options than someone who dedicated decades mastering every ligthsaber form.
No he used Djem So and his OVERWHELMING connection compared to Kas'im to beat him. Thats it. When faced with someone with an equally strong connection (Yoda, Anakin, Vader, Sidious, Dooku, Revan, Exar) it doesn't happen.
Bane’s capabilities in the force outshine Vader’s as per the ending of BOTS and POD. Vader’s abilities were never fully recognized. If it’s OT Vader, he had his abilities greatly reduced from falling into lava. If it is ROTS Anakin, he still has not reached all his potential since Obi Wan was able to use Soresu effectively to slice him into pieces. In fact, as per the highest form of canon, Vader doesn’t even know how to manipulate lightning. His abilities have all been instinctual, and hence cannot be relegated to a specific combat scenario. Bane is not going to have as much difficulty as Kenobi, he is far less predictable and far more powerful in the force.