#Githany

[cohmacvitusstanartbackup]

Darth Bane books stuff from early 2024!

[yorblair]

I can’t with the first Darth Bane novel where Bane’s sorta love interest Githany kisses him.

Bane is like ehhh, but then realizes she kissed him with POISON and he’s like OMG that’s my girl and KISSES BACK and his attraction to her SKYROCKETS.

Then later he realizes she used not one but two poisons to poison him and he becomes even more impressed.

Imagine if they included a scene in later novels where somebody tries to poison Bane again and Zannah goes “NOO DONT HE will do something horrible, HE WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU !!”

[rew0lta]

so i read the first book from Bane's trilogy so here's quick painting of githany

[editsulli]

Lost love

[swtorpadawan]

Loved "Path of Destruction", and the Bane / Githany dynamic was peak.

Thinking about Bane and Githa is a choose your own adventure between laughing about a couple continually trying to out-evil the other or heartbreaking analysis of the pitfalls of Sithdom and doomed relationships. And I'm obsessed with both

[tremendouskoalachild]

still can't believe we're getting a lightwhip in live action actually. and being wielded by an important light side character too

anyway let's give it up for all the evil ladies who were using one before it was cool (it was always cool)

(Lumiya in Legends comics and later novels; Githany in Legends Darth Bane novel and related comic; Silri and another unspecified Nightsister, who are known to sometimes use them in either continuity; Am in non-canon Visions episode)

[kaaragen]

Thoughts on the Darth Bane Trilogy

Recently, I reread the Darth Bane Trilogy (for *reasons*). Well, I say reread, I only originally read the first book in the series. I remembered very little about it, apart from Bane's first two fights with Sirak, Lord Kaan and his nervous breakdown and Githany (though I didn't remember her name). Revisiting it, all three books are nicely written, well paced for the most part, but there are some obvious flaws here and there. Most particularly it has a familiar Legends Brain with a male writer writing women characters.

Every major female character in the book is hot. And aware of how hot they are. And willing to use it. Which I guess sort of makes sense when it comes to Sith but at the same time...

There is genuinely a scene wherein Zannah tortures a woman to insanity with Sith Sorcery for having the audacity to have a crush on the man Zannah was fucking. The same man Zannah tricked into getting killed to further her plans. The only quasi explanation offered for this is natural competition/jealousy among women. No, I don't get it either.

You can also see this in the weird way 'punishments' are handed out. Githany, for example, is a rogue constantly trying to manipulate her way around who has the most power, dumping and picking up Bane etc. Her reward for this is to be trapped for a thousand years in agony inside the Thought Bomb until Kyle Katarn released it. Then in book three we're introduced to Seth, a similar rogue out for himself who Zannah recruits as her initial apprentice. His reward for this behaviour is to....[checks notes. Rubs glasses, checks again] unlock the key to eternal life and spend a thousand years in near constant debauchery.

As for the rest it, reading through it was having a feeling of something being off, and mulling it over I think I've hit on what the issue with the trilogy is for me: Bane is the least interesting character in each of the books.

In the first one, we have his journey to the Dark Side, introduced to him as Dessler (Presumably because Lucasfilm vetoed calling him Dexter on the grounds they were not going to deal with the 'omelette du fromage' jokes), or Des, a miner on Apatos with little in the way of prospects in his life. An abusive father who he, he later realises, murdered with the Force, and his father's abusive friends. There's a nice kind of inversion with Luke Skywalker here - he's possessed of the same wanderlust, stuck at the arse-end of nowhere, while big things are going on without him.

But aside from that we don't really get a sense of his motivations. He kind of falls in with the Sith by accident. It's possible what we're going for here is a 'for want of a nail' kind of story, but I never really get what is drive is. Why does he want to be a Sith Lord? Why does he want to destroy the Jedi Order? Why does he think the Rule of Two is the best way? I don't really get a good sense of this throughout. Part of this is because the philosphising in the book is confined to the Sith Code, and it's sub-Nietzschean musings, but it's not a lot to hang on.

The problem is that Bane, unlike say Sidious or Plagueis, doesn't believe he's going to be one to bring down the Jedi. He's actively looking forward to the time when his apprentice is going to kill him and take over the mantle. Which is to say, it requires a different kind of ideological fervour and belief and that doesn't really come across with Bane. He just does things because the narrative says he has to; and this is evident in the fact that, post book one, he's always off on some side quest or another.

There are moments of interesting internal conflict, as when Bane decides that Zannah may not be up to snuff and seeks out a way to extend his life. This could have been engaging - perhaps as the time approaches Bane is getting cold feet. He doesn't, at the last, want to die, and seeing Zannah as a failure is his way of self-justifying breaking his own rule. But no. Turns out he was just really worried she was a failure. He attempts the body stealing trick anyway, but that feels less like a desperate gambit than a final test for her. It's ultimately voided of what could have been an internal conflict and meaning.

Which brings me to Zannah who, book two onwards, is the most interesting character (relatively speaking). Zannah is, essentially, a child groomed to be Bane's replacement, who he picks up in the aftermath of the Brotherhood of Darkness' destruction. All of her actions are geared around, essentially, trying to justify her murder of two soldiers who threatened her friend, when she was ten. And subsequent steps into the darkness. And this also resolves the problem that Bane has, which is that it makes sense that Zannah doesn't do much more than repeat the Sith Code because that's what she's indoctrinated into. It makes sense that her ambition is to destroy the Jedi because...well they need destroying, because that's all she knows. She has to believe this stuff because it keeps her from examining herself and what she did and is.

But none of this really gets a look in. There's lots of moments where we seem to be heading toward Zannah having to interrogate herself (as when she's given a chance to turn herself in), but it never really gets much of a consideration. This isn't necessarily the wrong choice, but it's not really handled too well and we don't get much of a sense that she is having any conflicts or doubts.

Ultimately, the narrative also undermines her. In book three we're finally gearing up for the Big Battle, and it doesn't really work. Zannah doesn't show much agency, and when she does it goes wrong. Her first choice of apprentice is a dud. She messes up her attempt to kill Bane. At the end, her apprentice ends up being the one Bane selected as her apprentice who she just acquires by default, and the final conflict with Bane comes about from him pinging her a text saying 'yo, on this planet. Wanna fight?' It's a strange decision as by the end, I have no real idea who Zannah is, what her plans are, how she intends to see them through or...anything really.

Again, all of that could work if the narrative was working to reinforce the idea that she doesn't really know what she's doing, because she's just doing it for the reasons set out above. She's running from herself and she doesn't know how to stop. And she's terrified of what will happen if she does. But it isn't really. It's suggesting that she is the brand new badass of the Sith.

So overall, there's some interesting potentials there, but it doesn't really get drawn out. The narrative is too focused on making Bane the Ultra Sith, without considering why he wants to be such, and ultimately can't let go of the idea and the expense of building up Zannah as someone competent and powerful in her own right.

Which I guess does ironically mean that I can understand why the Jedi Order didn't think they had anything to worry about from these bozos.

[dracothulhu]

Here's a moderately comprehensive list of fallen Jedi, spanning about 7000 years across both canons. I've excluded Jedi who fell in the period between Order 66 and the creation of the New Jedi Order, because those aren't really examples of failings in the Jedi Order itself - they're responses to desperate situations, or the result of specific indoctrination programs (the Inquisitorius).

UNKNOWN ERA Deelguh Lexia Ginorra Drevveka Hoctu (knight) Lerred Lyrrad Yrral Sol Mogra Ter-Idi Tsubaki the Twins Bavik Vannor

THE HUNDRED-YEAR DARKNESS (6900 BBY) The Exiles (twelve Dark Jedi expelled by the Jedi Order)

OLD REPUBLIC (5000-3500 BBY) Exar Kun (knight) Crado Revan (master) Malak (knight) Acaadi Bandon (padawan) Cheiko Bes Bruhn Dar'Nala Desolous (master) Ako Domi (knight) Relin Druur (master) Nomen Karr (master) Karrid Kla Kral Haazen (padawan) Vald Inosp Zona Luka (knight) Lyla (padawan) Suz-Anz (master) Freedon Nadd Nayama Larad Noon Shaela Nuur (knight) Razer/Shakren san Jukii Saes Rogon (padawan) Ki Sazen Nikkos Tyris (knight) Dace Vinagar Voren Renstaal Jaesa Willsaam Kalatosh Zavros

INTER-SITH WARS (3500-2000 BBY) Saalo Morn (padawan) Phanius

NEW SITH WARS (2000-1000 BBY) Radaki (master) Skere Kaan (master) Volfe Karkko (master) Kopecz Githany Set Harth (padawan) Wud Mortell (padawan) Murrtaggh (master)

HIGH REPUBLIC (500-100 BBY) the Stranger Byrch Dyshkava (padawan) Kibh Jeen (padawan) Polvin Kut (master) Azlin Rell (knight) Ruu

BEFORE THE CLONE WAR GENERATION Arath Tarrex (initiate) Reess Kairn (knight) Aurra Sing (padawan) Tel Angor/"the Force Vampire" (knight) Kosa-Yin Hadu (padawan) Xanatos (padawan) Komari Vosa (padawan) Lycan (knight) Raik Muun Karae Nalvas Crymsin Ost Rajine Sardoth (knight)

CLONE WARS Anakin Skywalker (knight) Pong Krell (knight) Barriss Offee (padawan) Dooku (master, left the order before fall) Asajj Ventress (padawan, technically) Sifo-Dyas (master; possibly) Quinlan Vos (master; depending on the canon) Sora Bulq (master) Nax Cirvan Vydel Dir'Nul (knight) Dustrose (knight; Jensaarai) Jedgar (initiate) Kadann (knight) Bleth Fahr Telloti Cillmam'n/Malleus (initiate/corps) Rav Naaran (knight) Quarmall Kadrian Sey (knight) Shon-Ju (initiate) Tol Skorr (knight) Sukarr Rhad Tarn (knight) Travgen

NEW JEDI ORDER Jacen Solo Dolph/Kueller Desann Bey Gandan Alema Rar

...So, in all of Star Wars canon (some of which is highly suspect) and 7000+ in-universe years, there's been less than 150 fallen Jedi worth noting (who can be confirmed as having fallen while there was an Order capable of placing strictures for them to rebel against). That would amount to a 1.5 percent failure rate against even just the CW 10,000 population, much less the hundreds of thousands (possibly even millions) that actually span that amount of time. The number of Jedi who can be thought of as having fallen in 'living memory' by the time of O66 (i.e. everyone under the Clone Wars and Pre-Clone Wars; i.e. people who can reasonably count against that 10k) is 36, or 0.36 percent.

A retention rate of greater than 99 percent is insanely good.

Like, people can say the Jedi teachings are great and that Anakin was the architect (or at least author) of his own fall/mistakes/etc all they want, and they're not wrong about the latter, and the former is sorta mostly kinda ish true...

And yet

and YET

There is a reason why Jedi keep turning Sith, over and over and over - every darksider group that ever managed to become a major threat to the Republic, in one form or another, has it's origins in one or more Jedi falling.

When it happens again and again and again and again, maybe there's room for some acknowledgement that there's issues there.

[nosferatuwarrens]

met a woman at work introduced herself as githany and i think i’m in love

[mackthemuser]

Star Wars: Ladies of the Sith

Star Wars: Ladies of the Sith

The Star Wars franchise features some memorable (and terrifying) Sith Lords, from the acrobatic and menacing Darth Maul to the imposing and mechanical Darth Vader, his sinister master Darth Sidious and the suave and duplicitous Count Dooku. The franchise’s villains have always stolen the show, which makes it a shame that we still haven’t seen a female Sith Lord grace our screens. Although, Dark…

[jedivoodoochile]

Githany.

Art by Emilia Varga.

[itsagrimm]

throwback to the Darth Bane books when Bane gave a shoulder massage so good that "the most beautiful woman ever"-Githany has a crush/falls in love with him over that?!

sure.

some people shouldn't write romance.

[ofcorpsesarch]

nobody :

me : what if i add darth talon and darth atroxa 🥺👉👈

[jaguarys]

My favorite characters are actually women who show up in for 0.5 seconds to be love interests to more prominent male characters because you can just OCify them and rewrite them the way they deserve

[does-nihilism-matter]

Like if Bane can tap it with his Martian Manhunter lookin ass, you can too

[henpeckedho]

Boring life update:

1) I moved my hammock indoors because I got tired of not being able to use it. 10/10 move wish I had done it when it first started getting cold.

2) I remembered tonight how easy cream cheese wantons are to make, even with rice paper wrappers. I chopped up all my remaining veggie scraps from the fridge very very tiny and it was a great dinner.

3) I just finished the first Darth Bane book and it was extremely good. I started the second Darth Bane book and almost immediately had to take a break because I'm the first Bane book, Bane and Githany very *explicitly* do not do more than kiss. It's clearly stated at the end of the book before the final betrayals they had a bond but nothing else. But in the first chapter of book 2 Bane is thinking about Githany....his former lover??? Evidently???? I'm guessing this is the work of the editors either missing the part where they talk about not doing more than kissing or the editors taking out other scenes and forgetting to update the lore.

Anyways, the Bane books are written by my least favorite Star Wars author so I'm going to enjoy the one book I did like and then grit through the next few since he is back on his bullshit.