Darth Bane Trilogy Retrospective

In this video, I discuss my retrospective on the Darth Bane Trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn. Enjoy!

[@dylanperkins4182]

When I first started reading Star Wars novels I started with the Bane trilogy, and to this day they’re still my favorite. It’s so great seeing them so respected. And can I just say, great video. This is how everyone should be, you don’t personally like it because it’s not your thing and that’s perfectly ok, and you acknowledge and respect why other people like it. It’s so genuinely refreshing in a fandom where you mostly see “grrr I don’t like something so it’s garbage and everyone should hate it” so thank you for that

[@jonathankoan]

Thank you for watching. I also wish the fandom was like this. I have more fun discussing what I like than bashing what I dislike, but I try to drive people to the kinds of books they’ll enjoy, even if I don’t like the book, so I even try to read what I don’t enjoy to be further educated to give better suggestions.

[@DriveLaken]

My reply to Jonathan’s review is: The darker the Dark Side is, the more righteous the Jedis’ are. So, how righteous do you want them to be?

[@DieMeiseWasabi]

I'm definitely one of those Nolan-guys, so I'll put that trilogy on my list ;-)

[@FromTheShadows66]

The Darth Bane Trilogy is a Very Big Very Important Piece Of The Star Wars Universe!!! He created the Rule Of 2. I love this Trilogy and IT NEEDS TO BE MADE INTO MOVIES

[@forcesmuggler7667]

I love this trilogy. Path of Destruction is probably the best book, but love Rule of Two as well. Dynasty of Evil was good, but not as good as the first two imo. At least it wrapped up things from the first book. The Gloomwalkers in particular. Really wish we got a sequel following Zannah and Cognus, but Darth Plagueis works as a spiritual successor. Bane's character journey in POD is probably top 2 Character driven stories in SW imo. The other being NJO Traitor. Can I just say, Caleb was a bad ass. His daughter though. Understandable, but she didn't deserve her fate. Ka'sim vs Bane has to be one of the best lightsaber battles in all of SW imo. And Tython was a fun romp.

[@wintersoldier164]

the books were great for me because they let darth bane be a villain. He does terrible stuff, and still you know where he comes from. i feel that people demand the main character be likeable to the point they won't let a villain be a villain

[@mattroxursoul]

Good review. One of the things I always loved about this trilogy is it gives a good idea of being a Sith. If you just watch the movies you get nothing but the light side perspective on things. You never get to truly comprehend why someone would want to be a Sith. When you read the Bane book you question why you would ever want to be a Jedi.

[@osirissmith5254]

Yes! As a kid with the prequels being my SW movies and the sequels being my adult movies.. YOU GET NO OBSERVATION OF THE SITH! Revenge of the Sith is the only one.. I’ve stop liking the light and Jedi order because their beliefs are flawed to me. Bane’s whole story gives you the perspective that the Sith can actually be human and a real taste of a doggy dog like world. I feel as humans, we can relate to the Sith In emotions, perspective of life and the “go get it” mentality that we have in life. Overall, this also showed us what a Sith academy could be like and I was in love with this series.

[@mattroxursoul]

@@osirissmith5254 I still love the movies. But the Jedi view is just Sith bad/evil. Of course they are pretty much bad and evil. But it goes so much deeper than that alone. The light side thinks being a darksider is what makes the Sith behave that way. Like they fell from grace to be something completely twisted by the Darkside. That is more in line with what happens when a Jedi goes dark, without the control of the Bane Sith order.

[@marstu968]

I was never really interesrted in those books, but the way you described them.. Now I am going to have a closer look at them 😅

[@jonathankoan]

I hope you enjoy them! I always hope my videos will bring more people to reading new books.

[@thenationaltimelyactionhou9328]

I remember reading the first book around the time it was first published and I enjoyed it, I didn't read the other two until a few years after the third book was published, but I agree the later two weren't as strong as the first but I still enjoyed them.

[@GuardianKyle]

My favorite trilogy within the old EU/Legends continuity! Path of Destruction, every time I read Banes training from beginning to when he claims the title Darth, damn I can barely put the book down!

[@Rocky-yt7kv]

I just finished reading Path of Destruction, and coming from reading the Thrawn trilogy, I wasn't prepared for the tone shift, but it left me intrigued as I was reading it. If the tone gets darker in Rule of Two, that leaves me a little hesitant to start reading it and finish the trilogy.

[@jonathankoan]

I’d say two is definitely the darkest. But it raised interesting questions and themes.

[@TruthJuice]

Don’t be a 🐈 finish the trilogy.

[@daniloa.ferreira2298]

For me the first one was the best by a longshot bacause it gives us everything that we were expecting: the creation of The Rule of Two, what Bane had to do in order to achieve it and a bunch of Star Wars lore references and Old Republic conection and it ends with the bond of the first two Sith to iniciate this new chapter for the Sith. I know there was room for new stories and a development of these two characters, but I felt like it would be best leaving them there and filling what happened next with our imagination because guess what, of course they aren't around anymore and we all have a pretty clear idea of what end they met; and this is my biggest problem with the other two books. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being introduced to new characters and plots that wouldn't add to anything meaningful. And for me at least it was kinda of a drag to keep going with the reading because I was right... of course there were some rewarding moments of lore expantion and character development, but for me at least, these didn't made whole journey worth the while. At the end I only keep up because I knew there was going to be a clash between the characters, wich was pretty good, but as I said at the begining, it was expected.

[@hugosalcedo691]

Yeah I felt similar….I actually enjoy the Sith and was super excited to dive into Bane; but the first one took me longer to finish than I would have imagined, and I quickly jumped to number 2 and that’s as as far as I’ve gone. Definitely on my list to finish up!

[@jonathankoan]

It’s definitely worth reading for the value it brought to Star Wars books. One of the most pivotal series, just didn’t work for me.

[@ScottCastle]

I respect your opinion! Zannah is one of my favorite characters in Legends and I get the most enjoyment out of the books because of her.

[@myoldchannel0690]

I must have a book purchasing problem. From listening to your discussions on this trilogy, I wouldn't be too interested in it...but I still want to buy it, haha.

[@DriveLaken]

5:24 If the Force is gonna set you free, Ya gotta break those chains, man

[@jonathankoan]

It’s still not the type of thing I enjoy in my books. 😂

[@DriveLaken]

@@jonathankoan I understand. I didn’t like the fisherman and his sons scene and when Zannah was in the ship with the family throwing food and stuff in the back & the healers daughter….like, enough using kids already It was a bit much putting kids & families in the mix. I’ve always thought using kids to create a revolt emotion was the easy way out, or cheap & lazy writing in books & movies.

[@SteveHolm89]

Just finished the Trilogy. Personally loved it overall, the first book being very good and the 2 others def had some feel of "oh the first book did well lets pump out some more quick". Drew even said the Rule of 2 was made in just 6 months. I have read all of Drew's SW books and sad thats all, really enjoy his writing style. Totally understand and respect your opinion on the trilogy tho.

[@jonathankoan]

I am happy other people love it. It’s definitely got a special place in the fandom. Just too dark for my taste.

[@Revan-sk4qx]

I’ve wanted to hear your thoughts on these books for a while, as this is my favorite set of Star Wars books, so this broke my heart a little lol. But I understand your reasoning for not loving these as much. I’m a big fan of the Old Republic era and the Sith of that period especially, so these books are ones I really enjoyed. Plus the games are my favorite Star Wars content ever, so all the little references really made me happy. I’d like to re-read these soon since I’ve only read them once, and that was at the beginning of last year. I’m curious how they’d hold up

[@jonathankoan]

Sorry to break your heart. I totally get why everyone else likes it. Just not my cup of tea.

[@BrianAurorasDad]

Dude this trilogy is great! I enjoyed them very much! The dark side is super dark that's why it's darkside

[@shashatarot9084]

I ❤ the darth bane trilogy my all time favorite ❤❤❤

[@giannissx6527]

The Bane trilogy books were some of the first Star Wars novels I read and I really loved them! Generally I do believe that the second book was a bit lackluster compared to the other 2, also although I really liked the third book but I believe it was a bit rushed to conclude the story and so I believed the ending didn't feel so right (for me)

[@blueberrycomics]

me seeing this video is exactly 10 mins: perfectly balanced as all things should be

[@jonathankoan]

That was not the intention, but a happy accident. “A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one”.

[@evilmindreader]

Just finished the Bane trilogy. Great read, for sure. It's dark, I guess. But this is a book series about dark side users. Star Wars is a dystopian universe. The galaxy is too big to be peacefully governed. It's either the ongoing civil war, ongoing war between Sith and Jedi, or any number of planetary trade wars. Citizens tend to be in the small percentage of the ultra rich or multitudes of people living in squalor or indentured servitude (if not outright slavery). The whole thing is kinda dark.

[@user-yy3sj9ny6l]

Can you tell me about the old republic please i just heard about it a couple of days ago from a Twitter user

[@user-yy3sj9ny6l]

I only know the high republic

[@jonathankoan]

There are several books spread out in the Old Republic era, and some of them tie more towards the movie stuff, some of them tie to the video games, and some of them are more standalone, not quite as structured as the High Republic, but still very entertaining!

[@hhhggbg3000]

Understandable. Personally I feel if you’re going to write a series focusing on the sith its got to be dark. I think Red Harvest is probably the darkest piece of Star Wars material I’ve ever read.

[@jonathankoan]

Indeed. And even if it’s not a series that appeals to me, I can certainly appreciate the value it has to the franchise. Thank you for watching!

[@BuddhaMelffyQueen]

Well you see I just bought the trilogy. Didn't even look to see how good they are but idrc I'm sure they're good books. I also got the Thrawn Trilogy and Revan because Revan is my favorite of all time and Thrawn is THE GOAT.

[@jonathankoan]

Almost every single reader says these are the best, so they’re worth reading, just not my preference of style.

[@user-yy3sj9ny6l]

I like the idea of pure evil. I think it’s fun and more unique than just a broken villain. Look at palpatine he’s a genius a real pure villian. I’m currently with a sith book “darth pleaguis” i wanna know the tragedy the jedi won’t teach So far i love it. He’s a pure evil but until now it’s not too dark

[@blueberrycomics]

what did you think about the batman?

[@jonathankoan]

I really enjoyed the Batman. It’s definitely my favorite iteration of Batman. I like the mystery aspects to the story. However, as a whole I don’t really care for Batman in general as a character, he just doesn’t appeal to me.

[@blueberrycomics]

@@jonathankoan I understand that. In my opinion this is the best/ most faithful batman reincarnation. I also adored the neo-noir elements as it is one of my favourite genres. I asked, cause I was curious when you said you found the dark knight trilogy too dark, what you would think about this one

[@TruthJuice]

Bane is not the “villain”. He sees his order is broken and goes about to fix it. He single handedly destroyed the dark brotherhood, he handed the Republic and the Jedi 1000+ years of control over the galaxy. Even the way he joined the Sith army wasn’t because he was a bad person but because Republic soldiers tried to kill him in the dark after a game of cards. Prior to that he lived a miserable life as a slave forced into labor which he cant escape, all so that those same republic troops get the precious metals they need in order to fight the Sith. The bane trilogy teaches that while you may think your actions are righteous or good those same actions are causing pain and suffering elsewhere (“the outer rim”).

[@jonathankoan]

Interesting thoughts. Karpyshian certainly did a good job personifying him and making him sympathetic.

[@TruthJuice]

@@jonathankoan when I read a story I try to understand the characters from their POV and not my own. Absolutely nobody is born evil not even Satan himself. I love and find stories of why and how they become so, infinitely more interesting than the hero saves everyone and all is good cliché.

[@lautapinter]

I get where you're coming from. You can still be sympathetic to him and even root for him, but that doesn't make him any less evil. Yeah he lived a life of slavery to an exploitative system but does that justify all the evil things he did, like murder innocent children and getting joy out of it ? He was so corrupted in the end he didn't even remember Lucia

[@thebadbaptist]

I am currently reading the trilogy… I have really enjoyed where I am (about chapter 10/11 of the first book), but now I am worried 😬..

[@jonathankoan]

Most people love the trilogy, so don’t let me get you down. The ending of the first book is shocking.

[@canic08]

It’s a great series. Literally read the second book in a single day. Definitely some unexpected moments. If you read them all together in a short period of time it’s amazing. If you don’t want to read then listen to the audio books.

[@thebadbaptist]

@@canic08 I got the entire trilogy put into one book from the Kindle store. I am at the beginning of chapter 22 I believe now.

[@thebadbaptist]

@@jonathankoan I am enjoying it so far. It seems an interesting look at how nurture can dominate the given nature of a being. I was so enthralled by the writing of Plagueis that I had to get some Sith lore!