JediX will hate me for this.
Bump.
This fight is actually more complicated and even than the posts in this thread portend, mine included. I would like a comprehensive analysis and debate on the various skills of the two, despite whatever misgivings JXM will doubtless have about it. Contrasting the two, they are roughly equal to one another in raw Force power, and in fact, the versatility edge passes to Vader. Addressing each facet point by point, Bane's most prodigious telekinetic feat is crumbling the temple on Lehon, which stood at its apex at twenty meters. A nice feat. Vader has demonstrated similar power, having seemingly collapsed a building on himself and toppled an immense tree on the Dark Woman (the latter of which feats cost him no strain). The former example occurred in Vader's early career Post-Mustafar, and we know for a fact, based on what the RotJ novelization states, that Vader never reached the pinnacle of his ability and potency until then. As an added point in Vader's favor, he has demonstrated Lightsaber Throw on multiple occasions, while Bane never has, to my recollection. It should be within the scope of Bane's ability to do so when taking into consideration his level of power and control, but he has never done so in the past. So the odds of his doing so here is unlikely. Now, as Vader and Bane both possess a natural Force aura, their telekinetic attacks against one another will be blunted in a straight duel, but this hardly renders TK useless. Bane managed to withstand the burst that Zannah sent toward him, but he still lacks Vader's resistance to and tolerance for damage, which grants Vader an advantage.
Not that this would become an issue, but comparing the two in telepathic powers, Vader does have a clear edge here as well. The only time I remember where Bane ever displayed any mind altering abilities was in PoD when he subtly increased the already present aggression the Apatros miners in the cantina felt for the Republic soldiers. Vader has outright probed other minds, twisted other people's thoughts, and has induced fear in the minds of his subordinates. While both are sufficiently protected against TP that it would never become a factor in a battle, it is worth noting the disparity nonetheless.
For powers such as Deflection, Absorption, and Barrier, this is harder. Vader is more evidently adept with Force Deflection as he repeatedly and very casually deflects hails of blaster bolts with the Force. The only occasion in which Bane manifested Force Deflection was in Freedon Nadd's tomb in order to block an orbalisk from jumping on him, which, honestly, is not a very impressive use of it. Force Absorption is more clearly a strength for Bane, as he managed to absorb the explosions of two concussion grenades, while Vader at best has drawn in blaster bolts. Force Shield is harder to determine though, as the only instances I am aware of where Vader has shown this ability were Pre-Mustafar, and they were more to block an enemy rather than an attack. Bane's utilization of Barrier is similarly ambiguous, as the only times I can think of where he uses it, his Barrier is broken or fails to defend him totally. As to how that plays a role for the purposes of this thread, Absorption should be largely irrelevant since I doubt either Vader or Bane could absorb the blade of a lightsaber, and Barrier would probably be out of the question due to the unexceptional appropriations of it by the two. On the other hand, Deflection potentially could be useful to Vader. I have never seen him redirect a lightsaber stroke with Deflection before, as he never seems to bring it to bear in the middle of duel, but it is possible, given his feats. At the very least, it would be of more plausible use than Absorption or Barrier.
Bane does have Lightning, which Vader lacks of course, but there are stipulations to its effectiveness here. For one, Vader could just stop the bolts with his lightsaber. For another, were the Lightning strikes to connect, he may very well be able to withstand a blast or two of it. Bane's Lightning, at best, has been used to char people. While this is noteworthy, it would hardly overwhelm a foe resilient enough to tank explosions and the like. To Vader's credit, he has withstood an electrical discharge from a net and subsequently broke the net. So while electricity, and by extension electricity-based Force powers, can short out his life support systems, the efficiency by which this can be accomplished is suspect, and although I do believe Bane could do this, I don't believe he could do so instantly.
Just to briefly cover Bane's use of Force Drain and Essence Transfer: When Bane employed a variation of Drain at Andeddu's Temple, he had to amalgamate his own Force energies with those residing in the temple itself, because without doing so he would have exhausted himself in the process. So first and foremost, whether he can exercise this application of the Force under his own power is vague. Moreover, even if Bane could use Drain in a fight, Vader is immune to the effects of life draining regardless because of the technique Ulic's hologram/ghost taught him during the Dark Reaper incident in the Clone Wars. So that tactic is invalid. Pertaining to Essence Trasnfer, when Bane finally did attempt this in his duel with Zannah, she was on the ground, briefly incapacitated as he was, and he was holding her arm. So what the parameters are regarding the distance of the transition of his spirit are unclear, as it was never tested at a distance, and it may only be useful for a person within arm's reach. More to the point, he had to enact a ritual in his mind/the Force and then speak an invocation to complete the use of Spirit Transference. Since Zannah was on the ground, he had ample time to do this. In a duel with Vader, unless Vader is weakened and down temporarily, I see no reason why this would be effectual seeing as Vader would never allow him time to perform the ritual before killing him. And assuming hypothetically that Bane did somehow project his Essence, I find it very unlikely that he could possess Vader. Bane failed to possess Zannah, and Vader's will should be at least the rival of hers.
To briefly cover Vader's Force Scream also: Scream has never been a voluntarily used power that a Force sensitive can use whenever they need to. It always seems to come about in a fit of rage. If Bane were incite enough of a reaction from Vader, Vader could release a Force Scream against him, which could be devastating to him. Before overcoming some of the initial obstructions on his powers, Vader unleashed a Scream that ravaged the room he was in when he awoke on the operations table. That could be damaging to Bane, and Bane himself has not demonstrated Scream that I remember. Still, this is still outside Vader's ability to consciously implement; it would be random if it happens here.
On physical stats, the two are a match in some aspects and very different in others. Vader has a definite durability edge. Not much else to say on that, as that point should be pretty much axiomatic. Speed is difficult, because Vader has very few objective speed feats unto himself. We can generally ascertain an idea of his speed based on the enemies he faces, such as Rebellion era Luke, Obi-Wan, Darth Maul, or the countless Jedi he fights, all of whom are very fast, and the first two in particular have comparable in speed with Bane. It is worth mentioning that Force sensitives don't have to be perfectly equal with one another in combat speed in order to fight one another, since skill and Force senses also play a role in the matter, and as such, Vader may not be a complete parallel to his opponents in speed just because he fought them. With that said, even if Vader is slower than Bane in fighting speed, because he is not required to be altogether even with Bane in speed, he could still fight him anyway (I doubt Vader is slower at all though). For the few speed feats Vader does have unto himself, he has produced afterimages of his blade a few times in comics during duels (the ANH and RotJ comic adaptions come to mind). In respects to running speed, Bane should be obviously faster. He can run fast enough to appear as a blur to regular people; while this may not help him against Vader since Vader is significantly faster than ordinary people, it is a superiority Bane has regardless. In strength, I would favor Vader but marginally. Both have shown strength feats such as tearing steel doors off their hinges and throwing them (although I believe Vader did this with one hand while Bane did with two), but Vader has also ripped nets, broken steel restraints, destroyed a column he was tied to, and casually lifted/thrown people. And as Bane and Vader are both Djem So practitioners, physical strength is a huge factor in their fighting style.
On the subject of their fighting skill, we know that Bane is proficient in Djem So, Soresu, and Juyo (and possibly Niman). Vader, conversely, prefers Djem So just as Bane does, but he incorporates techniques of several forms into his standard Djem So style. He knows Shien, Soresu, Niman, and very probably others as well. This makes it so that the similarity in their preference toward Djem So does have a mentionable distinction. In dueling feats, Bane never impressed me much to be honest, primarily because he just never won duels by skill but instead through circumstantial factors or a Force attack, as was the case with Kas'im and the Jedi he and Zannah fought in Belia Darzu's temple. In the former, Bane lost and killed Kas'im by destroying the temple on Lehon, and in the latter, he had the orbalisks, which rendered him immune to lightsaber blows and amped his speed and strength, and was aided by Zannah, who killed one of the Jedi from behind granting Bane a distraction to be exploited. Bane did fight as a rough equal with Zannah, but she is largely featless herself in this way, aside from beating Set Harth. As for Vader, he has defeated Celeste Morne, the Dark Woman, Roan Shryne, the six/seven Jedi who accompanied Olee Starstone, Bol Chatak, and numerous others (many of the names of whom are just not worth remembering). Vader did also fight as an equal with Darth Maul, Obi-Wan, and Luke. To be fair, Vader's lightsaber skill is more well documented than Bane's is, but considering the portrayals of Bane's lightsaber prowess that we do have, I have to conclude a skill supremacy would be on Vader's side. I think Bane could certainly give him a close duel, but Vader just has better feats.
All in all, the two are very even, but lightsaber combat does take a precedence as far as the importance of each factor. And with that in concert with everything else, I would give Vader a 6/10 majority.
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