carthage
PLEASE PROTECT ME STONES
Not true. In terms of power - we know for a fact that Desann utterly mastered the dark side, before he visited the Valley of the Jedi, which amped his power to a significant degree:
That's not what the quote says it says he learned to use his emotions to compensate for his lack of experience which is necessary to master the darkside. It even makes it a note to show that he isn't fully experienced, i,e he was on the pathway to mastery but not quite there yet:
Desann fled the Jedi Praxeum on Yavln 4 and continued his training on his own, experimenting with the Force and using his powerful emotions to compensate for his lack of experience. He dabbled, fumbled, and eventually learned to harness the hatred and anger necessary to master the dark side.
This is in comparison to Malgus who at the end of Deceived, achieved a state of power that surpassed his feats from the trailers/novel onward, and In the Book of Anger Malgus's strength in the Darkside enabled him to unlock the ability of Maelstrom and becoming powerful enough to be considered one of Palpatine's most powerful predecessors:
Thinking of Eleena blew oxygen on the embers of his anger. In life, Eleena had been his weakness, a tool to be exploited by rivals. In death, she had become his strength, her memory the lens of his rage.He resided in the calm eye of a storm of hate. Power churned around him, within him. He did not feel as if he were drawing on the Force, using it. He felt as if he
were the Force, as if he had merged with it.
He had evolved. Nothing split his loyalties any longer. He served the Force and only the Force, and his understanding of it increased daily.
-Deceived
Through the principles of anger, I will structure and maintain my Empire. The writings of Darth Malgus confirm that anger, combined with will, is the key to power. When anger intensifies to rage, it is unstoppable.
Malgus submitted utterly to the dark Side, and doing so made him an exemplary warrior. His battlefield feats have ever been duplicated.It must be understood that anger can be funnelled through the body and released near the heart at the "vital gate." The destruction that can be unleashed by this method is immense. Thousands of enemies can be annihilated in a single act of malice.
In time, the channeled anger of the dark side will prove just as destructive as the Death Star. there will no longer be a need for costly constructions. Already, I have perfected the Force maelstrom, which creates an invulnerable energy sphere to block incoming attacks while bombarding enemies with debris and electrifying them with bolts of lightning.
-Book of Anger
Malgus at his peak being more powerful than the version that fought Zallow, and even prior to his peak at the end of Deceived/False Emperor flashpoint Satele remarked he was the most powerful darksider she's ever seen:
"There in the hangars I encountered the most dangerous embodiment of the dark side I have ever experienced-the man who would later be known as Darth Malgus."Source: The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural
So Hope Malgus was already being compared to Dark councilors like Darth Baras/Darth Mekhis and in Satele's opinion was greater, and that was decades before his prime. I find these quotes to be of greater weight than quotes that blatantly say Desann was barely mastering the force, and was a "potent" foe of the NJO given Malgus was already amongst the greatest bladesbeings even as of Hope. Zallow being able to compete with him would place him above Kao Cen Darach, Satele Shan, Vindican (in sparring), as Zallow was regarded as Malgus's most notable (kill)/the only Jedi worth his attention in the sacking of Coruscant:
Malgus considered Zallow the "only Jedi present to be worthy of his attention":Malgus knew the battle had turned, that it would soon be over. He glanced around, still seeking Zallow, the only opponent on the field worthy of his attention.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2jjQz2fWAc
3:57 Its shown he was his most notable kill (Star Wars The Old Republice Timeline🙂
Who Also blitzed the Sith Empire's most skilled Swordsmen:
Republic leaders have traveled to Alderaan to engage in promised peace talks with the Sith Empire. The most powerful Jedi have accompanied them to safeguard against an Imperial deception. The Empire’s real motive, however, was simply to lure the Republic’s strongest defenders away from Coruscant and set the stage for an audacious attack. Under the command of Lord Angral, the Sith fleet approaches the Republic’s capital planet for the first time in centuries. In advance of the fleet, the strongest Sith Warriors have flown a stolen Republic ship into Coruscant’s orbit
As far as actual feats go, Desann was able to;- Absolutely stomp Merc Kyle, who has stalemated the notorious Jedi Boba Fett in combat.
- Trade blows with Luke Skywalker for sometime, landed a Force push on him, and dropped a structure on him via saber throw.
Boba isn't even force sensitive and while he's a bounty hunter of Renown, Malgus would simply annihilate him via the force. Mercenary Kyle at best has some Imperial training and beaten Dark Jedi with the Aid of Qu Rahn. None of these is explicitly outside of Malgus's capabilities as a duelist, given he was already contending with some of the best Jedi of the Old Republic era.
While the latter feat is grossly overrated, and not as exceptional as some hype it to be given Luke's tendency to hold back --- it still is noteworthy considering the aforesaid Jedi, thought Desann a no less a "threat".
Its interesting to me that you call the feat 'grossly overrated' yet attempt to pass it off as legitimate. Luke as of that time period is above Darth Vader who in turn in Legends is well above Malgus, Desann, and Kyle. On top of that its not even a duel, he fled and they clashed blades for a few seconds. None of this is outside the realm of Malgus, and most emphatically its an inconsistent showing and outright nonsense. The best you could argue is Desann is good enough to clash blades, but by that same logic Lumiya, Gantoris, Flint, and a host of other people are comparable to him. Clashing blades briefly can't be used to scale as a valid feat, and it doesn't place him above Zallow or Satele for that matter.
In the three things that make someone a skillful duelist:
1. Mastery/strength of the Force: Desann has completely mastered the darkside, casually brought down decently sized metal structure with a gesture, created illusions that affected the likes of Katarn, and Force shoved Luke.
It didn't state he mastered it it even said he was inexperienced and on the path of learning the darkside due to using his emotions. Malgus could implode ships/blast away tons of rubble from two buildings decades before his prime. Collapsing that structure wouldn't even place Desann above him as of Deceived, the same Malgus that killed Zallow
2. Technical adroitness: Desann was the one who taught the - Medium, Strong, and Fast style of combat to the Reborn, who mastered the forms. Which imples, Desann himself was a mastered the the aforesaid lightsaber forms
Solid. But wouldn't prevent him from being killed by Malgus whose already faced more skilled duelists than Desann
3. Physical capability: We don't actually know much regarding this topic, besides the fact he has no problem competing against other power/fast Jedi, and he's a primarily Strong Style user, which implies the practitioner possess a decent degree of power.
You can't really claim he's more powerful when unamped, given his showings against Kyle all take place in the Valley of the Jedi. Also physically speaking Malgus is well above Kyle in physicals/durability. Kyle at best can withstand a speeder slamming into him, but was KOED by Caedus's lightsaber. In comparison to Malgus being blasted into a cliffside and being crushed by tons of rubble, Malgus being stabbed by Aryn's lightsaber and using his pain to keep fighting, being hit by flash grenades/missiles, withstanding Adraa's/Vindican's lightning, he's far more durable than either Desann or Kyle. Physically Kyle's best showing is throwing Vong around iirc, compared to Malgus who could crack Marble with his blows, send Zallow flying ten meters with a kick, shatter stone pillars, break ribs with his strike, literally pound Aryn Leneer's guard down, smack away large chunks of metal debris in the Return trailer, i,e he's strong enough to wear Kyle down overtime in a prolonged duel. Desann's physicals aren't comparable to his at all. And given Zallow withstood punishment from him and is greater than Satele, Vindican, the Zabrak Jedi master, and Kao Cen Darach per being his most notable kill- I'd argue he's better than someone like Desann who was still learning the ways of the force per the quotes you posted.
To hammer in the point more; what reallymakes Kyle's feat of besting the Dark Jedi so impressive is the following: Kyle had to fight through armies of Dark Jedi/Reborn/Shadow Troopers, just to battle Desann. Combine all of the aforesaid circumstances together, and I find Kyle's showing on Yavin to be greater than Malgus' killing Zen, tbh. All of this is done before Kyle further increased his skill with a blade via becoming proficient in the newly discovered forms of the Old Republic: Shii-Cho, Djem So, and Ataru.
I'll condense my reply to this without quoting the following parts related to fodder/technical skill. Given Malgus had already beaten a Battlemaster i,e Kao Cen Darach Kyle's technical skill won't be anything to him, and would at worst be him finding out how to combat the NJO style.