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Force Mastery: Bane displays the ability to direct a lightning attack across an entire planet (this was PoD Bane, with only a few years of training, who then went on to refine his abilities for an entire decade), and use his powers on the sub-atomic level (that was his Ro2 self).

Force Power: Bane displays the strength to absorb a level of energy that was stated to have been able to destroy the entire planet of Ruusan, and contain it rather than get torn apart by it. His power is also stated to be far greater than that of the entire BoD, a force strong legion of Force users.

Force Knowledge: He possesses the sources of knowledge of three great Lords of the Sith: Darth Revan, Freedon Nadd, and Belia Darzu, having studied extensively the knowledge bases of the first two.

Overall Lightsaber Ability: On equal footing with Kas'im, and before receiving the benefits of the orbalisk armour, he was able to completely dominate the battle, and this was against a foe that had mastered and spent decades perfecting every single form of the lightsaber, was extremely physically conditioned, and was strong enough in the Force that he was able to defend against an attack that would have instantly decimated his entire body. He was stated by the omniscient narrator to be the greatest swordsman of his age, and possibly the greatest there had ever been up until his time.

Speed in Combat: His displays of speed in the middle of combat are completely unparalleled, where he's been described to move far too quickly for powerful Force users (the likes of Kas'im) to see, and where he's been described to fight so quickly that his lightsaber appeared to be everywhere at once (from the perspective of someone as powerful as Darth Zannah).

Physical conditioning: Bane was described as a "mountain of muscle," and stood 2 metres tall.

Orbalisk armour: The orbalisks cover his entire body, with the exception of his head, and are immune to almost any type of physical damage there is (with lightning stated to be the only weakness), and enhance Bane's physical capabilities (via adrenaline) and strength in the Force (via darkside energies) to substantial degrees. In lightsaber combat, this enables him to focus nearly completely on offence without having to sacrifice defence, use his body to block attacks, and throw melee attacks without having to worry about his limbs being sliced off, making him a far more effective, and alien fighter.

Intelligence: Bane is consistently displayed to be a smart fighter, where he's shown to use his surrounding to his advantage, and make full use of the advantages he has over his opponents. Outside of combat, he's described as being a genius, and visionary, and his learning rate is shown to be more extreme than that of any other (fully mastering force lightning in under an hour for instance). Aside from all of that, his prowess in manipulation is described as being pretty phenomenal, similar to the likes of Darth Sidious and Darth Traya, as can be seen here:

Bane was a visionary, able to see far into the future. He understood how to exploit the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the Republic. he knew how to draw the eyes of the Jedi away from the dark side, while at the same time leading them down the first steps that would end in their complete annihilation. He could manipulate people, organisations, and governments, planting seeds that would lay dormant for years--even decades--before they burst forth. - Ro2, PG 288.

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To recap, he's displayed the ability to defend against a planetary level of power, and his control of his powers is so great that he can use them with a planetary level scale, or alternatively a sub-atomic level scale. He was already an extremely capable lightsaber wielder even before obtaining the orbalisk armour, and with it, he's pretty much unstoppable. He's physically as impressive as it gets, and one of the more intelligent characters there's shown to be in SW Canon. He excels in all areas, and based on what we know, Luke doesn't possess a single advantage over him, and is far from as complete a combatant as Bane is.

So... as I said, Bane wins this one.

quote: (post)

Originally posted by E-Hotshot
During the part of their fight where they were on equal footing:

Kas'im lunged in again, and the room was filled with the hiss and hum of lightsabers striking each other half a dozen times in the space of two heartbeats. Bane would have been carved to ribbons had he tried to react to each move individually. Instead he simply called upon the Force, letting it flow through him and guide his hand. He gave himself over to the dark side completely, without reservation. His weapon became an extension of the Force, and he responded to the Twilek's unstoppable attack with an impenetrable defense.

Then he went on the attack. In the past he had always been afraid to surrender his will to the raw emotions that fueled the dark side. Now he had no such limitations; for the first time he was calling on his full potential.

He drove Kas'im back with furious slashes, forcing his old mentor into a backpedaling retreat across the floor of the chamber. Kas'im flipped back and out through the door into the hall beyond, but Bane was relentless in his pursuit, leaping forward and coming within a centimeter of landing a crippling blow to the Twilek's leg.

His strike was turned aside at the last second, but he quickly followed it up with another series of powerful thrusts and stabs. The Blademaster continued to give ground, pushed inexorably back by the raging storm of Bane's onslaught. Each time he tried to change tactics or switch forms, Bane anticipated, reacted, and seized the advantage.

The outcome was inevitable. Bane was simply too strong in the Force. Only some unexpected maneuver could save Kas'im, but they had fought too many times in the past for him to surprise Bane now. Over the course of his training Bane had seen every possible sequence, series, move, and trick with the double-bladed lightsaber, and he knew how to counter and nullify them all.

The Blademaster became desperate. Leaping, spinning, ducking, rolling: he was wild and reckless in his retreat, seeking now only to escape with his life. But he didn't know the Temple like Bane did. Bane kept the routes to the outside cut off, slowly herding his opponent into a dead-end hallway.

Recognizing what was happening, Kas'im blew open the heavy door of a side room with the Force and dived inside. Bane knew there was no other exit, and he paused at the threshold of the room to savor his victory.

The Twi'lek stood in the center of the empty chamber, panting heavily, stooped ever so slightly, his head bowed. He looked up when Bane stepped through the doorway. But when his gaze met Bane's, there was no hint of defeat in his eyes.

"You should have finished me when you had the chance," he said. – PoD, pgs 242–243.

As can be seen, Bane was able to defend against the best that Kas’im had to offer with an “impenetrable defense,” went on the attack, and completely dominated the battle, pushing Kas’im back constantly, and even hammering the Twi’Lek with strikes that came within a centimetre of his body, which were just parried at the last possible second. As the battle continued, Kas’im was described as becoming desperate, and losing the will to continue, where his only goal was to escape. The battle ended with him giving up, and attempting to flee, where he recognises that Bane was in fact toying with him, and could have already defeated him if he had chosen to. He got curbstomped, plain and simple.

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I just gotta ask. Are you stupid? Did you even read the rest of the fight?

quote: (post)

Originally posted by Gideon
You claim that the perspective of Luke appearing to use twenty lightsabers at once is subject to hyperbole, but the statement of Bane's blade appearing to be "everywhere at once" isn't?

Single standards only, please.

quote: (post)

Originally posted by IKP
Gideon, we all know you absolutely love to nitpick (see Janus), but if you're going to go out of your way to butt in on a discussion that you're not a part of, to do it, at least do it right.

1. I never denied the fact that Bane's blade appearing to be everywhere at once was subject to hyperbole.

2. I never claimed that absolutely no value could be gauged from such quotes (which is why I'd still bring them up in different arguments).

3. The difference between me and Lightsnake, is that I wasn't the one trying to -- undoubtedly -- place a hyperbolic statement over a factual one (I think you'll notice that the exact quote I was referencing at the time, was that Bane was able to move faster than the eyes of powerful force users to see, which isn't a hyperbolic statement, but a factual one) in terms of the quality they speak for. That was all I was pointing out to Lightsnake - that it was a factor that he wasn't taking into account.

So no, not a single double standard there, I think you'll find; those would be what you go by when you'll act as if Palpatine's lack of recent training with a lightsaber (and by extension, lack of technical prowess with the weapon) doesn't really make too much of a difference to his overall ability, and then support you claim with a bunch of his showings with a lightsaber that were achieved primarily through his force ability, yet when it comes to force demigods such as Nihilus and Sion, you'll treat their lack of prowess (and even then, you'll be relying on absence of proof) as the big be all end all, and ignoring that the latter of the KotOR demigods has Palpatine's best showing beaten by a mile.

Now really Gideon, I can understand the need you appear to possess to constantly try to counter as much of my points as you can (which, like in this thread, usually only equates to a single line per argument), I would quite possibly be like that as well if someone had been dismantling my almost every argument, but you're coming off as a tad bit desperate, and obsessive (call the cops kind of obsessive), and you're losing on the logic front every single time. I'd suggest you put an end to this odd, and quite frankly creepy vendetta you appear to have against me, and stick to what you do best: writing poetry.

quote: (post)

Originally posted by IKP
Gideon, we all know you absolutely love to nitpick (see Janus), but if you're going to go out of your way to butt in on a discussion that you're not a part of, to do it, at least do it right.

1. I never denied the fact that Bane's blade appearing to be everywhere at once was subject to hyperbole.

2. I never claimed that absolutely no value could be gauged from such quotes (which is why I'd still bring them up in different arguments).

3. The difference between me and Lightsnake, is that I wasn't the one trying to -- undoubtedly -- place a hyperbolic statement over a factual one (I think you'll notice that the exact quote I was referencing at the time, was that Bane was able to move faster than the eyes of powerful force users to see, which isn't a hyperbolic statement, but a factual one) in terms of the quality they speak for. That was all I was pointing out to Lightsnake - that it was a factor that he wasn't taking into account.

So no, not a single double standard there, I think you'll find; those would be what you go by when you'll act as if Palpatine's lack of recent training with a lightsaber (and by extension, lack of technical prowess with the weapon) doesn't really make too much of a difference to his overall ability, and then support you claim with a bunch of his showings with a lightsaber that were achieved primarily through his force ability, yet when it comes to force demigods such as Nihilus and Sion, you'll treat their lack of prowess (and even then, you'll be relying on absence of proof) as the big be all end all, and ignoring that the latter of the KotOR demigods has Palpatine's best showing beaten by a mile.

Now really Gideon, I can understand the need you appear to possess to constantly try to counter as much of my points as you can (which, like in this thread, usually only equates to a single line per argument), I would quite possibly be like that as well if someone had been dismantling my almost every argument, but you're coming off as a tad bit desperate, and obsessive (call the cops kind of obsessive), and you're losing on the logic front every single time. I'd suggest you put an end to this odd, and quite frankly creepy vendetta you appear to have against me, and stick to what you do best: writing poetry.