Darth Bane's Prime

[Emperordmb]

On this page I will be discussing what I believe to be Darth Bane's prime, and why I believe it to be his prime. I will be using his on page prime only, meaning I will not pick from Bane's off page appearances when choosing his prime.

Though most are of the opinion that Bane's peak was his orbalisk encrusted incarnation, I respectfully disagree and believe that Bane's peak was in DOE.

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First off I have an analytical comparison of their respective force power. A lot of people are of the notion that Bane's force powers while encrusted with the orbalisks were greater than they were later in life, coming mainly from this quote:

"But he also learned that, in addition to boosting a host's physical abilities, it was possible to tap into the parasites' ability to feed on the dark side to greatly increase one's own command of the Force."-ROT

From this quote, it is clear that the Orbalisks boost Bane's base power (force power without amps), however I am of the belief that Bane's base power in Dynasty of Evil was greater than his base power in Rule of Two. With this in mind, as well as the fact that there is no failing in any of Bane's force feats in DOE that would suggest his limit with the force is lower than it was in ROT, it is hypothetically possible that Bane, by the time of Dynasty of Evil could've caught up to or passed up his Orbalisk encrusted self in terms of force power. With this barrier broken I am now free to compare feats in order to determine the difference in power between Orbalisk encrusted Bane, and Bane as he appears near the end of his life.

The first of my arguments is based off of physical augmentation. In Rule of Two, Darth Zannah saw Bane fight the Shadow Assassins and then herself while he was encrusted in Orbalisks and completely bloodlusted. Describing him as a physical manifestation of the Dark Side's power, and marveling at his speed.
“The assassins fell on Bane again, but instead of repelling them with the Force, he allowed his body to become a conduit, turning himself into a physical manifestation of the dark side's tumultuous power. As he spun like a whirlwind, his blade seemed to be everywhere at once: hacking, slashing, and slicing his enemies to ribbons.”-ROT
"Giving in to his orbalisk-fueled bloodrage, he was like a wild animal, raining savage blows down on her from all angles, the strikes coming so fast it seemed as if he wielded a dozen blades at the same time."-ROT

In Dynasty of Evil however, Bane moves faster than Zannah could've ever imagined.
“He was faster than she could ever have imagined”-DOE
This means that Bane is significantly faster in Dynasty of Evil than he was in Rule of Two while encrusted in his Orbalisk armor.

In Rule of Two while encased in Orbalisk armor and in a bloodlust, Bane pounces on Zannah, leaping high in the air and unleashing a power blow on her, which she manages to block and twist out of the way of Bane landing on her.
"Instead of trying to pierce her guard, Bane leapt high in the air and came down almost right on top of her. She deftly parried his blade, redirecting it to the side as she spun away to keep his body from slamming into her."-DOE

In Dynasty of Evil however, the force of Bane's blows staggers a more powerful and skilled Zannah.
“He opened with a series of two-handed overhead chops, using his great height to bring his blade hacking down at her from above. She easily blocked each blow, but the momentum of the crushing impact caused her to stagger back, throwing her off balance."-DOE

This greater showing of strength against a superior Darth Zannah suggests that Bane was physically stronger in Dynasty of Evil than he was when he was encrusted in Orbalisks in Rule of Two.

With these two showings of superior strength and speed to his Orbalisk encrusted self, it is important to remember that aside from boosting his force powers, the Orbalisks also directly augmented his physical capabilities through chemical compounds released into Bane's bloodstream. So not only did Bane's force based physical augmentation in Dynasty of Evil surpass his force based physical augmentation in Rule of Two, his force based augmentation in Dynasty of Evil surpassed the combined might of his force based physical augmentation in Rule of Two and his chemical based physical augmentation from the Orbalisks.

TO BE CONTINUED