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- "You’re giving this to me?"
"Today you proved you were worthy of it." - ―Bane and Kas'im
Darth Bane's lightsaber was the weapon wielded by the Dark Lord of the Sith for most of his career. The weapon was given to him by his lightsaber instructor, Kas'im, who had in turn taken it from his own master upon killing him.[1]
Specifications
- "He taught me how to use the double-bladed lightsaber, though as you can see he preferred a more traditional design for himself."
- ―Kas'im
While Na'daz was a master duelist, with knowledge in all manner of lightsaber variations such as saberstaffs, he favored a more standard design for his own weapon. The single blade was a dark ruby color when the weapon was presented to Darth Bane,[1] though Bane swapped out crystals, settling on a synth-crystal provided by the Brotherhood of Darkness that produced a bright bloodshine blade.[2] When she took the lightsaber for herself, Darth Cognus noted that the blade was purely weightless.[3]
History
- "This was the weapon of my Master. As a young child I would watch for hours as my Master performed his drills. My earliest memories are of dancing ruby lights moving through the sequences of battle."
- ―Kas'im recounts his early memories of the weapon.
The origins of this weapon beyond its possession by Na'daz remain unknown, though he had wielded it for at least two decades. Kas'im stated that his earliest memories were of his master practicing with the weapon. The weapon ultimately saw use against Kas'im when the apprentice challenged the master, as was the Sith way. Kas'im was victorious, taking the weapon as a trophy.[1]
Bane's gift
- "Does Qordis approve?"
"The decision is mine, not his. I haven't held on to this blade for ten years just so Qordis can decide who I give it to." - ―Bane and Kas'im
Kas'im held on to the weapon for ten years, ultimately gifting the weapon to his best student at the Korriban academy where he taught. Bane had just defeated the academy's top student, Sirak, in a vicious sparring match, an act that Kas'im felt had made him worthy. Provided with a few tips on how to wield the weapon by Kas'im, Bane spent many hours practicing with it before reluctantly going to bed.[1]
Following a disagreement with the academy headmaster, Bane stormed across the Korriban wastes to the Valley of the Dark Lords, examining the tombs. During the latter course of his expedition, he was attacked by a pack of Tuk'ata. Repelling the initial assault with the Force, he was forced to draw his new lightsaber when they regrouped and came on again. Only four of the twelve left alive. Bane returned to the academy soon afterwards.[1]
After recuperating from his journey, he was confronted by Githany, one of his secret teachers and a potential romantic partner. She quietly pick pocketed Bane's lightsaber before leading him to the academy archives, where he was ambushed by Sirak and his cronies, working with Githany. However, Githany revealed herself to be a double-agent, allying with Bane to kill Sirak and returning his lightsaber. Bane wielded his lightsaber alongside the whip-waving Githany against the three saberstaffs of Sirak and his two escorts. Sirak's cronies went down fast, and seeing that he was outnumbered and outmatched, and attempted to surrender. Bane decapitated the grovelling Zabrak with his lightsaber.[1]
Renegade Sith's weapon
- "You’re better than you were when we last fought."
"So are you." - ―Kas'im and Darth Bane during their final duel.
Dissatisfied with the Brotherhood of Darkness, Bane left the academy. Stealing the headmaster's ship, the Valcyn, Darth Bane departed Korriban for Lehon on another search for answers. Landing on the world, Bane made his way for the Rakatan Temple of the Ancients, locating Darth Revan's Sith Holocron within. After perusing the holocron's contents, Bane entered into a meditation, trying to determine what to do next. His reverie was interrupted by Kas'im, who had been sent by the Brotherhood leader, Lord Kaan, to either recruit Bane, or kill him. The two drew their lightsabers and engaged.[1]
Kas'im opened the duel with a rapid attack sequence intended to overwhelm Bane quickly, though Bane managed to fend him off and counter. When Kas'im came on again, Bane used the Force to guide his blade and continue to fend off Kas'im's saberstaff strikes. Seizing the offense, Bane rapidly gained ground on his old mentor, his experience against Kas'im from their frequent sparring matches back at the academy coming into play. Driven into a back chamber of the temple, Kas'im played his last card, splitting the hilt of his saberstaff into two separate lightsabers. Now Bane was forced to retreat, having neither training with or against dual-blades. Bane retreated to the entrance of the temple before caving in the entire structure with a massive Force wave, burying Kas'im alive under the rubble.[1]
Darth Bane journeyed to Ambria, while sending a message drone to Ruusan, where Lord Kaan's Sith armies were locked toe-to-toe with their Jedi counterparts. Bane "gifted" Kaan with the instructions on how to create an ancient Dark Side weapon; the thought bomb, and awaited his emissary. Kaan sent Githany, who poisoned Bane before leaving. Wracked with the symptoms of Synox, Bane hurried across the Ambrian desert to the dwelling of the healer Caleb, though he fell off his vehicle as the poison paralyzed him before reaching his destination. However, he was saved by the arrival of a family of scavengers, who found his lightsaber. Taking up his lightsaber in a telekinetic grip, Bane killed them all, saving the lone parent for last so he could feed off the poor soul's pain and fear to strengthen himself. Cutting down the father, Bane continued on his journey. When he reached Caleb's hut, he blackmailed the healer into treating him with his daughter's life.[1] Traveling to Ruusan, Bane convinced Kaan to use the thought bomb against the Jedi, effectively committing suicide as the Bomb killed all Force-sensitives within range, not just Jedi. While the rest of the Brotherhood of Darkness joined in the summoning ritual, Bane retreated out of range and found his apprentice; a little girl named Zannah. While the Brotherhood died, Darth Bane enacted the Rule of Two.[1]
Usage by the Dark Lord
One of the Dark Lord's first actions that called for his lightsaber consisted of simply executing a number of salvagers ransacking the former Brotherhood of Darkness camp. Bane destroyed the camp in a massive frenzy of unchecked rage, killing all but two of them. These two, Bane intentionally allowed to escape, the point being to let them to spread easily discredited rumors of his existence to throw off any Jedi, as no one would believe them. Before leaving the planet, however, Bane effectively abandoned Zannah, tasking her with making it to Onderon on her own to meet him. He then left for the planet himself aboard his ship.[2]
However, along the way, he was accosted by the Force ghosts of Kaan and Qordis, crash-landing on the Onderonian moon Dxun. Picking his way through the untamed jungles of the world, Bane found the Tomb of Freedon Nadd. As he explored the structure, he entered a chamber containing Freedon Nadd's holocron… and a colony of Orbalisks latched to the ceiling. Bane managed to bat several aside with his lightsaber while retrieving the holocron, though two managed to latch themselves to his torso. Unable to remove them, as they proved invulnerable to his lightsaber and instantly healed any of his own flesh when he attempted to amputate, Bane resolved to endure. Ultimately, the orbalisks proved to be a blessing in disguise, becoming a suit of living armor for him while instantly regenerating any injuries he suffered, as well as acting as repositories of Dark Side energy that he could call on to strengthen himself.[2]
Taming a drexl with the Force, Bane flew to Onderon, crossing the atmospheric bridge between the two worlds. Saving Zannah from a gang of Onderonian beast-riders, Bane departed the planet with his apprentice. Over the next ten years, Darth Bane's lightsaber saw frequent use in sparring matches with his apprentice, with Bane adjusting his fighting style to take advantage of the now full-body orbalisk armor. However, Bane didn't actually wield the lightsaber in true combat until a Sith acolyte named Hetton and his entourage of Shadow Assassins attempted to kill him, on a tip from Zannah. While Hetton held back, Bane assaulted the five assassins with the Force, blasting all but one back and quickly cutting the one down with a rapid attack sequence. The same fate befell the remaining four assassins, and Bane turned on Hetton. He cut off Hetton's sword arm and impaled him with the lightsaber. However, in his rage, Bane then fell on Zannah, driving her back and disarming her, only relenting when she revealed that she had brought Hetton here to die so they could claim his hoard of Sith artifacts.[2]
Engaging the Jedi
Traveling to Tython to find the holocron of Belia Darzu, Bane breached her aged fortress, evading the active defenses and making it to the holocron chamber. While he was able to get to the holocron without difficulty, he was challenged by a horde of Darzu's Technobeast when he attempted to remove it. The resulting battle was little more than vicious hack-and-slash, Bane shredding the creatures with his lightsaber while the orbalisks healed any injuries he suffered. After a long, one-sided engagement, an exhausted Bane extinguished his lightsaber and claimed the holocron.[2]
Shortly afterwards, Zannah arrived with her cousin, the healer Darovit, in tow. During her infiltration of the Jedi Temple, she found her cousin preparing to reveal her and Bane's existence to the Jedi, as they had encountered him years earlier on Ruusan. So she fled to Tython with a Jedi ship in pursuit. Retreating in Belia Darzu's fortress, they holed up in a large sparring room, stashing Darovit and their equipment and artifacts in a small side room, and awaited the Jedi. Bane paced back and forth across the room, lightsaber drawn, gathering his energies and rage for the coming battle. Four Jedi burst in, two from each entrance, while a final Jedi quietly slipped in and held back, reinforcing his fellows with Battle meditation. While Zannah engaged the other two, Bane charged Raskta Lsu and Valenthyne Farfalla, relying on his orbalisk armor to take them head-on. Bane's relentless assault and impenetrable armor forced the Jedi to adopt more evasive tactics. Lsu began attacking Bane's unprotected face with her dual-blades, forcing the Sith Lord to give ground.[2]
With Bane on his back foot, his opponents called for help, being joined by Johun Othone from the group engaging Zannah. Standing toe-to-toe with his three opponents, Bane was briefly caught off guard when Othone attacked the small gap in his armor at the wrist, nearly severing Bane's lightsaber hand and disarming him. Bane blasted his opponents back with the Force and quickly reclaiming his lightsaber, the injury instantly healed by the orbalisks. Attacking the final Jedi and disrupting his battle meditation, Bane allowed Zannah to finish off her opponent and come to his aid. Lsu fell to his apprentice, and Bane quickly amputated Othone's lightsaber hand and decapitated Farfalla. Falling on the final Jedi, Bane cut all four of the Ithorian's throats before attempting to finish Othone with a blast of Force lightning. However, the Ithorian used his dying breath to generate a Force shield around Bane, causing the lightning to backfire, nearly killing him. Bane was only saved from certain death by the efforts of Darth Zannah.[2]
Over the course of the next ten years, Bane continued to practice with the weapon. During a practice session in the grounds of his estate on Ciutric IV, he even began using Form III defensive sequences to intercept raindrops during a storm, ending the session without being hit once. However, as Zannah had failed to try assassinating and succeeding him, Bane began to question her worthiness as his apprentice. Seeking to attain immortality in lieu of a good apprentice, Bane traveled to Prakith and entered the Temple of Darth Andeddu, searching for his holocron. Assaulted by Andeddu's worshipers, Bane killed most with the Force, though some he cut down with his lightsaber. Never even breaking stride, Bane entered the crypt of Andeddu and claimed his holocron, casually slaughtering any resistance.[3]
Stolen
Darths Bane and Zannah brandish their lightsabers.
Upon his return to his Ciutric estate, Bane was ambushed. A Force-sensitive Iktotchi assassin and a team of mercenaries had broken into his home and laid in wait. While Bane cut down the soldiers with ease, the assassin proved to be a threat, disrupting his connection to the Force and hampering his efforts. However, the team managed to bring him down when the assassin poisoned Bane with Senflax; paralyzing his body and disrupting his brain activity, preventing him from calling on the Force. The assassin then took Bane's lightsaber for herself, performing a few experimental swings with it before secreting it away. The lightsaber remained secreted away in the assassin's equipage while she brought Bane to Doan. The assassin never actually used the lightsaber, returning it to Bane when he escaped and attaching herself to him as a new apprentice; Darth Cognus.[3]
Line of succession
- "Eventually you will construct your own lightsaber. For now, take Darth Bane's."
- ―Darth Zannah to Darth Cognus
Darth Bane and Cognus traveled to Ambria and awaited Zannah. Zannah didn't disappoint, and the two drew their blades and engaged. Bane came on aggressively, opening the melee with a series of two-handed chops. Zannah was initially caught off guard, but quickly adjusted, forcing Bane to back off and rethink his tactics. Rather than simply blundering forth, Bane wielded his lightsaber in a pattern of feints and sudden thrusts, probing Zannah's defenses for a weakness. Gaining ground and causing Zannah to trip over a patch of uneven earth, Bane fell on her like a wild animal. Zannah was quick to regain her feet, retreating with a series of back handsprings before lancing her saberstaff forwards, expecting to impale the pursuing Bane. However, Bane had anticipated the maneuver and stopped short, only to open himself up to a barrage of Sith spells that Zannah favored.[3]
Ultimately, Bane was brought down, his lightsaber arm hewn off by a tendril of Dark Side energy, the blade deactivating as it slid from his dead fingers. Darth Zannah was now the Dark Lord, taking on Cognus as her own apprentice. Zannah presented Bane's lightsaber to Cognus for her to use until she constructed her own.[3]
Behind the scenes
When Darth Bane was first depicted in the short story "Bane of the Sith" and the comic series Jedi vs. Sith, he was depicted wielding a Purple-blade lightsaber with a standard hilt. However, this depiction was retconned by the novel Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, which showed Bane wielding a curved-hilt weapon with a red blade. However, images and pictures of Darth Bane produced after the publishing of Path of Destruction, continued to depict Bane wielding a standard hilt. Even the cover art of the follow-up novel, Darth Bane: Rule of Two, demonstrated this error, though it did correct the blade color to A more pinkish-red rather than purple.
One possible reason for all the inconsistencies is that Bane wielded multiple lightsabers over the course of his career. However, all the aforementioned sources, though contradictory, credit him with only a single weapon.
Appearances
- Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
- Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith
"Bane of the Sith" — Star Wars Gamer 3 (First appearance)- Darth Bane: Rule of Two
- Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil
Sources
- The New Essential Guide to Characters (Picture only)
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Special Edition (Picture only)
- Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force (Picture only)
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded (Picture only)
- The Essential Reader's Companion (Picture only)