It is easy, especially by some intellectuals, to ignore the beauty or depth of something simple while being carried away by the sheer magic of complex sentences and obscure statements. However as an unmistakable fan of Hegel, Lacan and Zizek i can't help but think the real magic is in telling or expressing something complex in a relatively simpler way.Think about this quote from Hegel:"It is manifest that behind the so-called curtain which is supposed toconceal the inner world, there is nothing to be seen unless we go behindit ourselves as much in order that we may see, as that there may besomething behind there which can be seen."If Lao Tzu had said something about this, he would have said probably:"We like to think there is something mysterious beyond our very selves, beyond our very shells." :) (of course this sentence is not from Tao te Ching, i totally made it up)I am not trying to undervalue the deep philosophy made and being made by these great people for probably that is what teaches me to understand the value of interpreting things in simpler ways, although it is driving me crazy how people can ignore one of the most profound philosophical approaches to how evil works just because this book is based on a fantasy fiction movie/game.By the way i must say that the rest of the text contains lots of spoilers for those who would like to read the trilogy of Darth Bane and i’d strongly suggest anyone who is into Star Wars lore and/or ethical philosophy to read it. Spoilers don’t spoil the fun i get from a book or movie, but this doesn’t apply to everyone.First of all what Bane tries to do in the first book is all about understanding how evil can work properly in a society. Despite the vertical hierarchy and militarism concepts of an army and competitive and non-Egalitarian structure of Sith society clash with the concept of social state and democratic society, an army in itself harbors the concepts of sacrifice and selflessness in battle and a society relies on mutual benefits/helps and not hurting each other. The Dark Army formed by the Brotherhood of the Sith is an army nevertheless and the Sith are trying to maintain a society in the first book. You can't build an army or form a community by glorifying concepts such as individualism, power hunger, do-whatever-it-takes-to-survive, etc, directly. That is why concepts such as teamwork are boosted in today’s companies, whereas these teams in the same company are expected to compete with each other. And even the individuals compete with each other within the same teams.G. K. Chesterton in his ‘Orthodoxy’ says: “Christianity is the only frame for pagan freedom.” In ‘God in Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse,’ Zizek claims, that only a religious Christian could have dreamed of such a glorious pagan universe, regarding to ‘Lord of the Rings’ of Tolkien. On the contrary of the conventional belief, Zizek claims Paganism is melancholic compared to Christianity. Paganism says; ‘enjoy your life the best you can, but in the end death and decay awaits you.’ Christianity dictates a life of renouncement and constraints, but in the end it promises eternal joy and glory. Zizek says, if you like to enjoy the delightful Pagan life without paying the melancholic cost of it, you need to choose to be Christian.People don't want to live in expectancy of betrayal from one another. The constant pressure of stress hormone would make them age sooner, lose their health and composure. Instead, people want to feel the assurance of written or verbal laws based on common care, respect, common good, etc and meanwhile they want to weave their own individual and selfish intrigues secretly. So if having an ambitious and greedy lifestyle that is fostered by Capitalism seems to be delightful to some, having such a lifestyle is properly possible only by praising and boosting concepts such as sacrifice, selflessness, teamwork, etc.Therefor the selfish individual, the one who wants to get it all, must conceal his/her intentions and work in a society where the good notions such as altruism, brotherhood and selflessness are being praised. That's what Bane comes to understand. And i think that's how our modern world works today. That's how real Sith lords in their nice suites rule the world with their nice person masks on while billions of people are exploited and few warlords and dictators are put on the stage as scapegoats. I am not saying these scapegoats are innocent. I am saying they are like Darth Maul :) Darth Bane is what a real dark lord is though. There is a lot to learn from this book about how the system in our own galaxy works where we lack of force and lightsabers.Also on the contrary of the common belief, the concept of competition never helps the society to improve itself. In fact it has always hindered the society to reach to its full potential, not to mention the hatred, distrust or at least the dislike it creates between the members of the society. Sith society in the book is based totally and directly on competition, power and selfishness. In our world, capitalism boosts altruistic concepts or at least mutual benefits, but meanwhile it encourages companies and especially white-collar workers to compete each other so that a possible solidarity and awareness against the chaotic, speculative and destructive system that rises upon exploitation is constantly undermined. Our Sith lords know how to manipulate the masses. Heed the words of Darth Zannah, apprentice of Darth Bane:"Evil is a word used by the ignorant and the weak. The dark side is about survival. It’s about unleashing your inner power. It glorifies the strength of the individual.”Isn't this all about cynicism? Cynics use the term survivalism often or at least they imply it often:"You should do whatever it takes to achieve success.""That's the rule of the world. If you don't do it to them, they will do it to you."...And so on, and so on; Cynicism in its purest form. So when we read Zannah's words in reverse, we can infer that cynicism itself is evil. And just like Zizek says, we should look for their hamster :) Zannah's fetish object (hamster) was probably Laa the bouncer.Walter Benjamin said that Capitalism is a form of religion. Zizek says; “It is not true when people attack capitalists as egoists. And ideal Capitalist is someone who is ready to stake his life, to risk everything, just so that production grows, profit grows, capital circulates. Her/his personal happiness is totally subordinated to this.”It is true that in Capitalism, the motivation to grow the capital starts to work as a big other in Lacanian sense and overcomes the primal egotistical drives. But I think there is always a part of the ego that doesn’t totally submit to the superego; a part that might actually prevent one from giving her/his life for a code that fuels the individualism. So on the contrary of Marx’s ideology definition, “they do not know it but they are doing it,” the cynical individual might seem to know it all, but secretly believe in it. This is the first inversion. But there is a second inversion, which makes it a double inversion; they might seem like believing in it, but secretly their cynical survival instincts might overcome their devotion to this belief. I think that is what has happened at the end of the trilogy. Bane tried to become immortal and violated the Sith code he created himself. His egotistical drives overcame it all. However Bane had a hamster too. His hamster was the comradeship he and his comrades once shared among the ranks of Brotherhood. He almost had let his hamster to overcome him, before his egotistical drives did.In the end, the ultimate survivor of the books was Set Harth, a dark Jedi (not a Sith) who likes to enjoy the luxurious and cosy lifestyle. His survival was the deepest message of the book probably. The subject that keeps a distance towards the system and ordeals, to which its agents who try to manage things endure, can have a joyful and reckless life. So the subject who still thinks s/he is a subject turns into an object controlled by true subjects; a typical modern time white-collar worker for example. Yet s/he is the ultimate survivor ;)As last, combine all of these and think about the increasing number of contest programs in today’s TV, especially the combination of contests and survival concept; giving the subliminal message of ‘you all are against each other, you should do whatever it takes to survive,’ to masses; but giving this message always secretly, never directly ;) And also think about the increasing number of movies, TV series, video games and novels based on survival concept.I could write much more about the correlations between deep core philosophy and so-called superficial philosophy, but that is probably needless and boring for the one who is reading this essay now. I would just suggest people to read this trilogy if they are into Star Wars (and if i couldn't spoil it enough yet) and plus into understanding how evil works in its purest form so that they can differentiate the light from the dark easier and see the taints in seemingly good actions and sparkles in seemingly bad actions.May the force be with you guys! ;)
He’s a young man, portrayed by Mark Hamill at some point, who is plunged into a battle between two warring states, taught to wield the Force with agility, destroys the current manifestation of the Sith, and reshapes the Order he belongs to into something that barely resembles the old order. Oh, you thought I was talking about Luke Skywalker, didn’t you? But I wasn’t. I was talking about Darth Bane, the man who destroyed the Sith, only to remake it and prepare it for its ultimate victory.Drew Karpyshyn does a tremendously skillful job at portraying Bane’s perspective. Bane is that rarest of protagonists – a villain that only gets eviler as we go through the story. Granted, Bane doesn’t indulge in the sort of cruelty that his successors do. But don’t mistake him for a pacifist, either. He’ll gladly kill anyone in his way and anyone whose death will profit him – even a child. And Karpyshyn is so good at portraying his perspective that we watch on in awe, and maybe even cheer him on.Philosophy has always been a particular interest of mine, and I’m pleased to see that Karpyshyn does a great job of portraying the Sith’s philosophy. It’s not just evil for it’s own sake. Their ultimate goal is to free themselves from everything that holds them back through the application of brute strength. Unfortunately, this freedom comes at a great cost to human lives. Bane comes to believe that he’s worthy of ruling the Sith because everyone else around him is a weak-minded fool.One of the things that makes Bane such a unique villain is not his strength, although that is considerable. No, it’s his mind that made him the man whose teachings would lead to the revenge of the Sith. Combining a soldier’s bold pragmatism with a Social Darwinist viewpoint of the galaxy, Bane creates a plan to destroy the Sith that is chilling in its simplicity. Will he be successful in his endeavors? Well, yeah. He kind of will. This was known. But how will he achieve success? You’ll just have to find out.Darth Bane: Path of Destruction is the tale of an Ubermensch. It is the tale of one of the greatest – and one of the least known – Dark Lords of the Sith, one who transformed the Star Wars universe forever. And it is an amazing read. From the very beginning, Karpyshyn manages to create a spellbinding portrayal of one of the most effective villains of the Star Wars galaxy. Your perception of Star Wars history won’t be the same. I implore you to read this book.
What do You think about Path Of Destruction (2007)?
The story of Darth Bane's journey from a cortosis miner with an abusive father to a member of the Dark Brotherhood to reigning Sith Lord is a fascinating, amazingly entertaining read.Science fiction novels, Star Wars titles especially, can get muddled down with technicality, which appeals to some, but I don't want to read a detailed ship analysis, I am more drawn to stories. Drew Karpyshyn delivers a great story, that also is very important to the overall history of the Brotherhood of Darkness and the history of the Lords of the Sith.It is well written and compelling, plenty of story, plenty of humanism to pull you in. There are satisfying obligatory battle scenes, constructed really well, and presented in a way that makes you care about the losses and the cost.One thing I didn't anticipate was my own reaction to the philosophy. I found myself identifying with many of the faults in the Jedi philosophy, their code of honor, strict line of morality and it really helped me understand how some, so skilled, intelligent and capable like Bane, might find themselves on the opposite side of the spectrum.The characterization is superb, and each has a distinct purpose in the book and I had my favorites and I had those that I despised, yet all were interesting.I recommend this book to anyone who loves science fiction, being a Star Wars aficionado is not a requirement, you will love this book.
—Zoe Blackwood
"The Force will change you. It will transform you... the teachings of the Jedi are focused on fighting and controlling this transformation... True power can come only to those who embrace the transformation. There can be no compromise." - Darth RevanAs a fan of Jedi, I was disappointed in the small glipse of their troops and characters. General Hoth (nice name) was more like a dictator wanna-be than an enlighted Jedi leader. Then there's Farfalla, a vain man who likes to show off his dazzling clothing and well-groomed apeparance. Isn't vanity kind of completely against the Jedi nature? Very disappointing Jedi in this book.Darth Bane has redeemable qualities, despite being the lord of all evil, such as he's philisophical, works hard, studies, learns, and is not some crazy Sith. He does not kill senselessy but does so when necessary. I think there were some good contrasts between the Brotherhood of Darkness (Sith) and the Army of Light (Jedi). The author shows some thoughtful similarities between the two camps of the Force. They can be quite similar and are based on how you weild your power. The delving into the dark side rules and philosophy was interesting and done well. The rule of 2 makes sense now. **SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT***There were some cool Sith characters. Blademaster Kas'im is cool and unfortunately met his end the way of Sirius Black (quickly and like a chump). Githany and her weapon were both unique and interesting. Unfortunately, the author completely underused her character and you never actually see her in a full-fledged battle with her whip.Overall, I thought it ended well. Its not a surprise because you know the characters are being manipulated. The suprise comes in some of the fates of the characters based on the choices they made along the way. The ending also left possiblities open for the next one, but I'm not rushing out there to read it. This book was not a thrilling big page turner for me. It left me feeling kinda "blah" versus exciting for more.
—J. Else
After hearing Darth Bane mentioned several times as one of the seminal members of the Sith Order, it was interesting to finally read his story. Bane isn’t an instantly likable character, and of course he gets more and more evil throughout, but somehow he grows on you, perhaps because the reader is looking over his shoulder through it all. But it’s easy to see where Bane goes wrong, even from the beginning of the book. There’s something slightly off about Dessel’s attitude, even making allowances for his awful environment and appalling upbringing, hints of the dark side show through. Thus, Bane’s fall doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Then again, I already knew he was going to be a Sith before picking up the book, so maybe that contributed to the lack of surprise when Bane finally falls.One of the most interesting things about the book is undoubtedly its Sith perspective and the chance to learn so much more about them. Even the Jedi Order still has many aspects left to explore, and they are usually the protagonists. I was anticipating this book revealing more about the Jedi Order’s opposite, the culture surrounding this Order, their beliefs and codes, the techniques they use in contrast to the Jedi way of approaching the Force. Sadly, Bane conveniently exists in a time where the traditional way of the Sith has been distorted and abandoned, and where he must patch the pieces together himself to restore the old ways, and very little of what Bane finds in his Holocrons and ancient library texts is revealed to us, the readers. One of the surprising elements was Bane’s struggles to connect with the dark side. According to Jedi lore, the dark side of the easy path, but Bane’s spirit begins to violently reject it partway through his training. Seems the dark side path isn’t that easy after all. Bane’s progression and development feels natural, his level of power doesn’t feel contrived.I've never been a big fan of the "Sith alchemy" stuff though, and there were a couple of continuity bloopers afoot in this one. The character of Dessel/Bane, with his fall and his forceful personality definitely carries the day here.8 out of 10.
—Iset
