Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

Author	Drew Karpyshyn
Cover artist	John Jude Palencar
Language	English
Series	Canon C, Darth Bane trilogy
Subject	Star Wars
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	Del Rey
Publication date	September 26, 2006
Media type	Hardback & Paperback
Pages	389
ISBN	0-345-47736-7
Preceded by	The Old Republic: Annihilation
Followed by	Darth Bane: Rule of Two

Path of Destruction is a novel in the Star Wars saga centered on the life of Darth Bane and the fall of the first Sith order. It was written by Drew Karpyshyn and released on September 26, 2006. The book takes place roughly 1,000 years before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Synopsis

The novel centers on Dessel (Darth Bane), who leaves his home and his abusive father after a violent altercation to join the Sith army, entering a bloody war between the Jedi and the Sith. Eventually he is taken to the Sith Academy on Korriban. Initially he believes this is as punishment for disobeying direct orders, but in reality it to initiate him as a member of a group called the Brotherhood of Darkness.

As a student of the Sith, Dessel is studying the secrets of the Dark Side under its greatest masters and embracing his new title, Bane. He eventually becomes disillusioned with the Brotherhood of Darkness and leaves Korriban for the planet Lehon. There he discovers a holocron from Darth Revan, who explains that too many Sith at one time leads only to infighting, and that the solution to this is a Rule of Two--one master and one apprentice.

After assassination attempts from the Brotherhood of Darkness, Bane forms a strategem to destroy his old organization. He contacts the leader of the Brotherhood and offers a gift in the form of a Sith ritual called the Thought Bomb that he had discovered. This ritual would destroy all force-sensitive beings within a large radius. Bane arrives on the planet Ruusan, where the Sith and Jedi have been fighting for weeks. He convinces Lord Kaan and all of the other members of the Brotherhood of Darkness to use the Thought Bomb when the Jedi make their final assault. When the Jedi attack, Kaan and every member of the Brotherhood of Darkness use their collective force powers to summon, and then detonate, the Thought Bomb, killing not only the Jedi but the entire Brotherhood of Darkness, leaving Bane as the only surviving Sith. As he prepares to leave Ruusan, Bane finds a young Force-sensitive girl named Rain. She had just used the force to kill two Jedi scouts in a fit of anger. Sensing her rage, Darth Bane takes her as his apprentice, beginning the Rule of Two.

Reception

Darth Bane: Path of Destruction reached 11 on the New York Times bestseller list on October 15, 2006.^[1]

This novel has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon.^[2]