The official Darth Bane: Rule of Two discussion thread (spoilers allowed)

I was particularly annoyed by the appearance of a Chiss (with reference to "Chiss" rather than "blue-skinned alien") in that time period as well as Belia Darzu being made a Shi'ido. Considering, y'know, the Shi'ido wouldn't even go near the JEDI with a 100' foot pole so becoming a Sith makes perfect sense!

 

But Belia Darzu's always been a Shi'ido.

 

>I was particularly annoyed by the appearance of a Chiss (with reference to "Chiss" rather than "blue-skinned alien") in that time period as well as Belia Darzu being made a Shi'ido. Considering, y'know, the Shi'ido wouldn't even go near the JEDI with a 100' foot pole so becoming a Sith makes perfect sense!<

Both are pre-established bits of information, though. Abel designed Darzu to be a Shi'ido in the first place, and revealed her species several articles back. The Chiss in the Old Republic era was first suggested by the Geonosis and the Outer Rim sourcebook, which had a Sith Academy on Thule, still running in secret, with several Chiss students. This was done in order to explain the various anachronistic Chiss in the prequel era, particlarly the Force-users.

TC

 

What other Chiss appeared in the prequel era?

And when was this Sith Academy on Thule supposedly in operation? During the PT?

 

I always assumed it was a New Sith Wars one. At least, the Thule in the Clone Wars video game about the Dark Reaper looked pretty abandoned.

As for Chiss other than Thrawn... there was Sevrance Tann (I think that was her name) from the Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns expansion, who was one of Dooku's dark acolytes. Basically a Chiss Asajj Ventress.

 

There was at least one in New Droid Army, too. And that Bpfasshi Dark Jedi strongly resembled one, although that might just be a figment of my imagination.

 

Right. That doesn't make it any less stupid or antithetical AS A SPECIES for her to be one.

 

And why exactly is a Shi'ido Sith stupid?

 

Because Shi'ido are specifically described as avoiding the Jedi at all costs because of their ability to detect them. Which makes the concept of a Shi'ido *Sith* that much more inane.

 

As did I. Certain I was; that Bane was going to die, and that we would get to meet the next in line. And I thought the ending was well done.

Makes Bane's survival more believable, he no longer has to worry about drawing unwanted attention to himself.

I agree that it was too easy, but enjoyed it because it reminded me of when Palpatine took Maul to visit the Temple. Zannah one upped them by walking the halls and fooling a Master up close and personal. It also illustrates how powerful the arcane Sith spells of concealment were.

Well, since Maul is really the only other Sith of note to have been proficient at this "Force-skill" it may have been written in an attempt to highlight him as well. The fact that her (long been dead) "warbeasts" took Bane to the edge of his physical limits says something about that talent. Another possibility is that from Drew's POV, mechu-deru was used to create Vader. A reach on my part, but worth thinking about.

Since I was the one who PM'd U with those exact words allow to clarify now that you've read it. The whole business of Kibh Jeen is obsolete because the book went out its way to show and say that the Sith purposefully exposed themselves. By revealing themselves to the right 'sources' they ensured that over time, they would be nothing more than a rumor. The way the ending came across to me was, the Jedi believed Darovit to be Bane... and that whatever rumors they heard after that would fall upon deaf ears.

That is they way I'm running with it.

The Jedi were said be 'tired' and RoT sets it up for them to not look soo stupid for not jumping every time someone mentions the word 'Sith' for the next thousand years.

RoT also was crafty in that it gives us the reason the Jedi couldn't sense the return of the Sith as mentioned in TPM. Also explains how Palpatine sipped tea with them for over a decade without them so much as sniffing his Sithiness.

The Chiss stuff didn't bother me at all.
I never read any of the post ROTJ Novels, so maybe that's why.

 

I don't see how. It's not like she's a Banite Sith who needs to stay hidden. I'm really not seeing a problem. At all.

 

Why?

A Sith stands a better chance of learning how to negate Jedi detection than a non-Force using Shi'ido.

 

Alternately, we could just tell the entire notion of "every member of this species has these traits and believes these things and acts this way" to kriff off and accept that individualism is not limited to Humans.

 

Riiiiiight, but presumably there are some absolutes about species. Things like "these species can't be Force sensitive" or "Hapans don't like bright lights" and things of that nature. If Havac can be perturbed that a small entry -- which was wrong to begin with -- has been negated as canon then I can be upset when species traits are ignored as well.

 

Never!

All Rodians are pirates! All Neimoidians are cowards! All Kermits are Jedi Masters! All Corellians are space jocks! Tarfang was an Aqualish in an Ewok costume! All Twi'leks are sexually promiscuous! All Gungans are brainless dolts!

No, wait, that last one is actually true.

 

Hey, Captain Tarpals was kickass.

 

SPOILERS

Just finished the book an hour ago. I gotta say that I enjoyed it. Darth Zannah was an awesome character with a special power, Sith sorcery. She's much darker than when we first met her in PoD. But I didn't like how her encounter with Darovit after 10 years made her question her place as a Sith. Darth Bane is yet again awesome. The orbalisks, even though they came with restrictions, made him even more powerful.

Single Parts I liked in the book:
The use of the Umbaran Shadow Assassins was nice. You have to remember, there are still sith out there.
The use of Valorum's name, and the Counts and Serenno.
Hoth having an apprentice we didn't know much about at all.
How much gore was really allowed in the book (like Zannah's power she used on the Chiss)
How Farfalla was decapitated. Hehe.

Little Things I thought were misplaced in the book:
Bane becoming blind in rage that he almost strikes down his apprentice sometimes, which would set him back 10 years...
The fact that the other Zabrak Academy wasn't even touched.
Caleb's fate (though necessary)
Darovit's fate (I knew he had to die, but not like that...)
Is Root still alive?

Evidence that there should/has to be a third book:
Zannah AND Bane both lived
Bane STILL hasn't made his holocron, which he in fact does
The other academies of sith still exist
Drew Karpyshyn fleshes out Bane well
Zannah needs to find another apprentice!!!

 

dp4m, are you saying because Calamarians dislike smugglers, you can never one as a smuggler?

 

Well, I'm glad to see that the touching ending given to Darovit in Jedi vs. Sith was adhered to and the character not trashed at all.

 

Decent book. Like PoD a lot better, but it was good.


Stuff I liked:

- Vallorum & the Ruusan Reformations
- Serenno and the Counts (although, I was almost expecting to see the name Dooku somewhere)
- Hetton. He was kind of like a cool combo of Dooku & Palpatine.
- Johun. Cool, original character.
- Belia Darzu and the Technobeasts. Bane's battle for the holocron presented some very awesome imagery!
- Zannah and Darovit's respective paths.
- Mention of Shadow Assassins and the Echani.

Stuff I didn't like:

- Bane's temper-tantrums. I know they were from the orbalisks, but they were dumb.
- Hetton's quick death.
- The death's of Farfalla, Johun, etc. Just didn't seem entertaining.
- Darovit's death. Rather anti-climactic. Would've liked to see him vs. Zannah

Stuff I'd like in a 3rd book:

- Zannah's apprentice
- Bane's finished holocron
- Bane's death
- Further references to the prequals. Maybe Yoda.

 

It's still far too early to have Yoda, unless you want the third book to end a century after RoT.

 

I think that's less of a cultural imperative than the Shi'ido desire to stay hidden. But when it says "Shi'ido won't become Jedi because..." and that reason is because of the Jedi tendency to be able to suss out them hidden then logic would dictate EXTRA SPECIAL hiding from the Sith...

 

In this book hyperspace travel is much, much slower than what's depicted in the films ( ROTS in particular, but also the OT ). 5 days, a week?

At least we have something else to point to when the question of technological development between 1000 BBY and 0 BBY comes up... hyperdrives got a lot faster!

 

It's not simply a matter of hyperdrive speed. It also has to do with the directness of the hyperlane.

 

I've always taken the basic view that anything along the major hyperlanes can be reached within a matter of hours, a day tops, but that if you go "off the beat and track" so to speak that it becomes harder. I try to visualise it as turning off the highway and going cross country.