Perrilous Progression: Zannah's Quest to Surpass Bane (DoE Spoilers)

"Dynasty of Evil" Spoilers are included, so proceed with caution?
***
My Impetus: Vader on bended knee, then his sales-pitch to Luke about overthrowing his Master. That?s what started this madness. 20 years later, Malak bombs Revan?s ship, then Darth Sidious spoke of killing his Master while he slept and finally, Wyyrlock fried Krayt right after he survives a monumental beating. More often than not, subterfuge and treachery were the chosen paths to ascension. With Zannah?s defeat of Darth Bane, we are treated to an apprentice who surpassed and then overcame her Master. I?ve read scores of posts that have blasted DOE over Bane?s defeat and Zannah?s arc. I started digging, and in so doing I found that Zannah?s Wookiee-pedia page left something to be desired. I have taken the liberty to research her Novel history, as the comics are too hard to find.
*My notes and condensed quotes are ~~{{Inside these}}~~

Perilous Progression:
Zannah?s Quest for Power
?Evil is a word used by the ignorant and the weak,? she snapped. ?The dark side is about survival. It?s about unleashing your inner power. It glorifies the strength of the individual.??Zannah [RoT p259]

Beneath the surface he could feel her passions burning: She was angry and resentful over their deaths; she blamed the Jedi for what happened, and she would never forgive them. Her rage would always be a part of her, simmering below the surface. It would serve her well in the years to come.? ?Bane?s assessment of Zannah [RoT: page 31]

?Remember: power alone is not enough. Patience. Cunning. Secrecy. These are the tools that we will use to bring down the Jedi. The Sith are only two now ?one Master and one Apprentice. There will be no others.? [RoT: page 42]

Early days:
~~{{Rain?s quiet and introspective nature was the foundation for what would become a cold and calculating Sith Lord.}}~~

?Do you remember when we were kids? Everyone thought I was so strong in the Force, and nobody believed you had any power at all.? She didn?t answer, but she did remember. As children Darovit was the one who could levitate objects, and bat away fruit tossed in the air without a stick while blindfolded. Her powers hadn?t manifested until she found herself alone on Ruusan. ?I didn?t realize it then, Zannah, but the power O showed, all those tricks I did?that wasn?t me, it was you! Even as kids you knew how badly I wanted to be a Jedi, and you wanted to help me. So you channeled your own power through me, allowing me to do those things . . .
. . . Think about it, Zannah. After we lost you on Ruusan, it was like my powers disappeared. That?s why I failed as a Jedi and a Sith. My power is weak. That is why I survived the thought bomb when all the Sith and Jedi around me were destroyed by its power. It only affected those with a strong affinity for the Force. And what about you? You have so much power. Why do you think it took so long to show itself? You were always channeling it through me.? [RoT p261]

Touching darkness:
~~{{During the Sith Battle of Ruusan, Rain was thrown from a Jedi vessel as it came under attack from Sith Buzzard-Fighters. The Jedi assumed that she had perished, but in truth, Rain had been saved by a Bouncer, one of the species native to Ruusan. Rain?s fall was cushioned by the Bouncer known as Laa, and they bonded as the child recovered from her ordeal. A few days later; two Jedi who had been tasked with putting down Bouncers that had been driven mad by the war, came across the young girl and her green furry friend. The Jedi killed Laa because they assumed the Bouncer had gone mad like the rest of the species.}}~~

Bane found her there: a young human child weeping over the remains of one of Ruusan?s native bouncers. The corpses of two young Jedi lay nearby, their heads twisted at obscene angles to their bodies. It took him only an instant to piece together what must have happened. The girl looked up at him as he approached her

 

Man, that is one long post.

 

This all just serves to remind us that if DoE ended with Bane gaining control of her body, all of this would have been for naught.

 

Lucky for me, then.
(And Drew, now that I've thought about it)

 

I love this series the way a fat kid loves cake.

 

Wow. I'm not even gonna attempt to read that right now. That is one massive post.

 

Oh! Sorry. Forgot to mention that that was an excellent essay regarding Zannah. I only read the first novel and never got around to reading the other two yet, but after reading this topic I believe I have a clear feel for her character.

Again, nice essay. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

 

Who says Bane did not? After reading the book, I would say he did.

 

The Author Says...

 

Ok, I've read SithStarSlayer's post. Whew!

And I've come to this conclusion. Zannah killing Bane or "overcoming him" by whatever means kept his rather flawed idea for an order alive.

I have to say, Bane really comes off fairly self-destructive. He nearly betrayed his own vision several times. It surely would diminish him in my eyes if I didn't already think he was one big, dumb yet crazy-powerful madman.

It was truly nice to see brains overcome braun. Lord, it would have felt like a cheat had Bane expelled Zannah from her body. If he thought he would have trouble kicking Serra out of her shell, how difficult would taking over Zannah be? That sense of desperation also would diminish him to me if I didn't think he was already being fairly hypocritical throughout DoE already.

I'm left with the question, do fans like Bane simply because he's so bloody powerful? The man is a dimension short of being two dimensional. Long live Darth Zannah!

 

Well in the first book I liked him because he was taking down arrogant people, such as Lord Kaan and Githany. That's what made him appealing. After reading this, I feel that he's appealing as a Sith Master in general,just because of the way he keeps Zannah on her toes. If he wasn't powerful then Zannah could've killed him right off the back.

SithStarSlayer, in DoE was her training more or less already complete by the start of the book? Or was there a few final training scenes between the two?

 

Equal parts Flawed and Brilliant, imo....

As I said in the DoE thread, Bane was a little different in this novel. Almost as if he sat around for a decade, staring at his tremoring hand while wondering when Zannah was going to make her move. Bane had a death wish for sure.

Right. On one hand, Bane is soo fast and in shape that he can spin his lightsaber fast enough overhead, to remain dry during a downpour. And on the other hand, now in his 40's, the darkside has ravaged his body to the point that he thinks he needs a new one...

Funny you mentioned that, because Zannah openly questioned whether Bane was faking the tremor or not. She was not about to get duped into challenging him before she was ready. As for the training, again funny to me... but only because I think Drew nailed it without calling attention to it. There were no 'new-training' scenes; to answer you question, but there were a couple of slick passages that clearly illustrated just how different their Master/ Apprentice relationship had become since we last saw them in RoT. The first, was when Bane was in his study/office and he muses about "never being found without his lightsaber" whenever Zannah was in his presence. And the second was even less obvious. After the fight in the dungeons on Doan, Zannah retraced the steps in their showdown, looking at all the angles... and then it dawned on her. Bane's final lesson was that to become the Master, she must make the fight on her terms, not his. She realized that she could never overpower Bane with a lightsaber, but she also understood that he was no match for her knowledge of the Force/Sith Sorcery.

 

Well, that takes the fun out of the book. Takes away the mystery, the debate, the anticipation for the true answer in the next book. Kind of like knowing what you are going to get for Christmas 6 months head of time. *yawn*

 

Without reading the whole novel, how can you be sure?

Like Drew said, for people to conclude that Bane won, they had to make some pretty bold assumptions on their own. Not only that, but they would also have to ignore the story's narrator. The irony is that all of them were basing their opinions on spoiler crumbz.

After the book's release, the "Bane took over Zannah's body" clamor died down significantly, if not immediately.

 

Can anyone post the passage in question, or is it too long?

 

It shouldn't be dismissed either that Drew didn't just come out and say "Zannah won" he also said "Bane might still be in there somewhere, who knows?" so he shouldn't be knocked for taking the fun out of it, as he's still left something open; the only thing he's done is clarify that "I am Darth Zannah" meant, um, that she's Darth Zannah. Exactly what Bane's fate is he's still left unspoken even in his afterthoughts.

He's probably gone for good, sure, but Drew's not commented on that anymore than the novel doesn't.

 

Ah, what I said "next book" I was talking about anticipation of the next book, if there is one, and not the third book of the trilogy, which I did finish yesterday. I had figured Bane won, though, to me, it looked like it was left like it could be either way. I do hope to see more books about Zannah, I just miss the ambiguity that rose my anticipation of the next book to such levels.

 

Ah, I suppose that is true. Something to think about, for sure. Lots of possibilities there. Could be anything from a whisper in her mind, to a louder conscience, to nothing. Time will tell.

 

Not everyone. Since certain miscreants spoiled notable portions of both ROTS and Mindor for me, I stayed well away from spoilers for this book, other than accidentally finding out there was some "ambiguity" in one of the plot developments, which is a pretty general spoiler. And I thought it was Bane until I read the blog.

We could have a Baron Harkonnen and Alia situation on our hands.

And we know how that turned out.

 

First off, great post Slayer, interesting to say the least.

How is Bane a "madman" and "dumb?" I don't think he ever betrays his vision at all either. He stated many times throughout DoE that he felt Zannah wasn't worthy of the mantle of Dark Lord anymore because she hadn't challenged him and she was just waiting for him to die. His only mistake IMO is that he assumed this about Zannah. So going after the essence transfer was his move to keep himself alive to train someone else. If he was betraying his vision then he wouldn't have agreed to train Darth Cognus. He just would have killed her and taken his holocron and lightsabre from her on Doan.

I agree with Long live Darth Zannah. Let's not forget though that her master taught her well. He recongnized Zannah strengths, pointed them out to her (Sorcery,) and she used that against him to defeat him. She was more powerful and won the way Bane intended. If the essence transfer worked then she didn't deserve to win, and he would have trained Cognus to defeat him. I liked him because he respected history, overcame a lot, and became powerful. He had an idea, and had the courage to die for his idea. How is that one dimsensional? Don't just caught in the fact that DK loves to point out Bane's powers, muscles, and lightning. He starts his order from nothing, and wants to destroy the Jedi. Where would any of us start to do that? Bane's ideas were as good as any on the matter. Knowledge is power, and that is why he starts building his network of informents, and still collects Dark Side momentos for more knowledge. Bane's building the foundation, he knew he would never see the Sith rule the galaxy, he knew he was just the beginning.

 

[She(Cognus) couldn't help but notice that, as she was speaking, Zannah was continually clenching and unclenching the fingers of her left hand.] Thing is, Cognus never saw Bane's hand tremor. Not once. So all she sees is a battle weary Zannah making a fist over and over again.

Actually, Drew went right out and said exactly that: "So, there it is. Zannah won ? Bane tried to possess her and failed." Sorry, Zor.

Spot on this time!! Drew said: "But he(Bane) wasn?t *completely* destroyed? though how much of him remains is something I?m going to leave open for now."

And Fenn, I wasn't clear enough, I was talking about the tone in the thread before the book release.

 

DBTI would argue with you.

 

It doesn't matter. The out-of-universe audience saw Bane's hand tremor, and Zannah's hand clenching is an obvious reference to Bane for the audience. Those who thought Bane won also thought that he lied to Cognus about it, so Cognus wasn't necessarily supposed to get the significance of the clenching anyway.

 

I wish I had this for earlier discussions.

PS_ I think wrapping things up in a satisfying conclusion is far more important than constantly leaving plot threads dangling.

 

Totally agree with you. It was cool of DK to come and clarify for everyone the ending, because Slayer was a one man show fending off all the posters who were convinced Bane had won. Props to you Slayer!