Originally posted by DarthAnt66
As per the databanks? That's only up to 4 ABY, I believe.Your second point doesnt apply to DE Palpatine, as you pointed out.
As per current policy, Palpatine > the Son and Abeloth.
Originally posted by Azronger
Valkorion lived, so it applies.
Full explanation here: http://www.killermovies.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=640189&pagenumber=5#post16125202
Originally posted by DarthAnt66
Actually, according to yourself, no source refers to DE Palpatine as a Sith, so the first quote is pointless too.As per current policy, Palpatine > the Son and Abeloth.
Yeah, I literally backflipped on this in the other thread. There really is no source identifying him as a Sith, is there? Part of that comes down to when it was published and the definition of the term "Sith" then, or whether that term existed at all.
In any case, you're right. It's down to things like Leland Chee claiming that the Father is the most powerful Force user in history and the Father (being able to see the future) claiming that his family could wield the Force in ways that nobody else can.
The further one branches away from the movies, the more interpretation and speculation come into play. LucasBooks works diligently to keep the continuing Star Wars expanded universe cohesive and uniform, but stylistically, there is always room for variation. Not all artists draw Luke Skywalker the same way. Not all writers define the character in the same fashion. The particular attributes of individual media also come into play. A comic book interpretation of an event will likely have less dialogue or different pacing than a novel version. A video game has to take an interactive approach that favors gameplay. So too must card and roleplaying games ascribe certain characteristics to characters and events in order to make them playable.
The analogy is that every piece of published Star Wars fiction is a window into the 'real' Star Wars universe. Some windows are a bit foggier than others. Some are decidedly abstract. But each contains a nugget of truth to them. Like the great Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi said, 'many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view."
From Christopher Cerasi
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Throwing this here since I can't my original post. Emphasis on different perspectives of characters and sources only providing nuggets of truth.
Thus, taking said nuggets as absolute truth is ridiculous.
I think gereral quotes like "the most powerful sith" or "the most powerful ___" are a little tricky and shouldn't always be taken literally since the author might not be taking something into account, like entities or they might have just forgotten about certain characters when they wrote it. But quotes that put someone directly over someone else that come from a valid source should be. Like if it says "____ is more powerful than ____", or something like that
Well, as I said earlier in the thread, I actually agree with this. I've said before that no quote is outright gospel, but unless something's seriously amiss like Bane harnessing more knowledge and power than any Sith before him by PoD, you're better off not trying to contradict established material.
As NewGuy said, the more established and concrete statements like Palpatine's supremacy among the Sith (which has remained as such across a vast spectrum of sources, source types, and authors) pretty much cannot be challenged. If something is based entirely on an obscure reference and doesn't fit an agreed holistic portrayal, then we can question it.
Originally posted by DarthAnt66
@Rebel95: What you see in Legends is changes in the abilities of characters, however.The power set of the classic Darth Vader isn't what we get in TFU.
Grievous, Mace Windu, and Asajj Ventress, in particular, are all over the place depending on the source and time period it was written.
For that matter, which sources refer to RotJ Palpatine as a Sith? The first (and currently only) thing leaping to my mind right now are quotes about how with Palpatine's death in RotJ, the Order of the Sith Lords was finally terminated.
When Palpatine was reborn, however, no source ascribes him a Sith moniker, and his apprentice is listed as a Dark Jedi rather than as a Sith Lord. Part of that has to do with the time it was written, of course, but without any clarification from the present, we're unfortunately devoid of answers as to whether they're Sith or not.