Darth Bane : Dynasty of Evil Darth Bane : Dynasty of Evil is the third novel in the Darth Bane trilogy written by Drew Karpyshyn . It was published by Del Rey and released on December 8 , 2009 . A preview of the book was published in " " . The paperback version was released on September 28 , 2010 . Publisher ' s summary . Hardcover . Back cover . If the dark side ' s most powerful master can capture the ultimate secret , the Sith will never die — and neither will Darth Bane . Internal flap . " Twenty years have passed since Darth Bane , reigning Dark Lord of the Sith , demolished the ancient order devoted to the dark side and reinvented it as a circle of two : one Master to wield the power and pass on the wisdom , and one apprentice to learn , challenge , and ultimately usurp the Dark Lord in a duel to the death . But Bane ’ s acolyte , Zannah , has yet to engage her Master in mortal combat and prove herself a worthy successor . Determined that the Sith dream of galactic domination will not die with him , Bane vows to learn the secret of a forgotten Dark Lord that will assure the Sith ’ s immortality – and his own . " " A perfect opportunity arises when a Jedi emissary is assassinated on the troubled mining planet Doan , giving Bane an excuse to dispatch his apprentice on a fact - finding mission – while he himself sets out in secret to capture the ancient holocron of Darth Andeddu and its precious knowledge . But Zannah is no fool . She knows that her ruthless Master has begun to doubt her , and she senses that he is hiding something crucial to her future . If she is going to claim the power she craves , she must take action now . " " While Bane storms the remote stronghold of a fanatical Sith cult , Zannah prepares for her Master ’ s downfall by choosing an apprentice of her own : a rogue Jedi cunning and cold - blooded enough to embrace the Sith way and to stand beside her when she at last wrests from Bane the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith . " " But Zannah is not the only one with the desire and power to destroy Darth Bane . Princess Serra of the Doan royal family is haunted by memories of the monstrous Sith soldier who murdered her father and tortured her when she was a child . Bent on retribution , she hires a merciless assassin to find her tormentor — and bring him back alive to taste her wrath . " " Only a Sith who has taken down her own Master can become Dark Lord of the Sith . So when Bane suddenly vanishes , Zannah must find him — possibly even rescue him — before she can kill him . And so she pursues her quarry from the grim depths of a ravaged world on the brink of catastrophe to the barren reaches of a desert outpost , where the future of the dark side ’ s most powerful disciples will be decided , once and for all , by the final , fatal stroke of a lightsaber . " Paperback . " Twenty years have passed since Darth Bane , reigning Dark Lord of the Sith , demolished the ancient order devoted to the dark side and reinvented it as a circle of two : one Master to wield the power and pass on the wisdom , and one apprentice to learn , challenge , and ultimately usurp the Dark Lord in a duel to the death . But Bane ’ s acolyte , Zannah , has yet to prove herself a worthy successor . Determined that the Sith dream of galactic domination will not die with him , Bane vows to learn the secret of a forgotten Dark Lord that will assure the Sith ’ s immortality – and his own . " " Zannah knows that her ruthless master has begun to doubt her , and so she prepares for his downfall , plotting at last to wrest from Bane the title of Dark Lord of the Sith . Zannah pursues her Master from the grim depths of a ravaged world to the barren reaches of a desert outpost , where the future of the dark side will be decided by the final , fatal stroke of a lightsaber . " Plot summary . " Darth Bane : Dynasty of Evil " picks up ten years after the end of " " . Since Darth Bane ' s recovery at the end of " Rule of Two " , he and Darth Zannah have been living on the Outer Rim world of Ciutric IV under the assumed identities of Sepp and Allia Omek , a pair of wealthy merchant siblings . Bane ' s constant use of the dark side has begun to take a noticeable toll on his body , along with the damage inflicted by his decade - long experience with the orbalisk s and the natural aging process . He realizes that he is slowly but surely growing weaker each day , a realization crystallized by a recurring tremor in his left hand . Zannah , however , has made no move to challenge him for the role of Dark Lord of the Sith , a fact that Bane finds extremely troubling , unsure of whether she is afraid of him , unsure of winning , loyal to him or simply wanting him to be more vulnerable physically before she attacks . He refuses to initiate their confrontation himself , believing that to do so would weaken the Sith again : if Zannah won , the Sith would be in the hands of a Lord who did not fully follow Bane ' s teachings ; and if Bane won , his body would fail him before he could find and train another apprentice . He decides that he must rejuvenate or replace his body , and theorizes that the secret to doing so is in the long - lost teachings of a Sith Lord named Darth Andeddu . On the mining world of Doan , Jedi Knight Medd Tandar meets with a rebellious group of miners to both bring their grievances to the ruling family and to confiscate some possible Sith artifacts they have unearthed . Tandar tells the miners that the king is unlikely to listen to them , as an ill - planned attempt at capturing the crown prince several months prior led to the man ' s accidental death . As he argues with the miners , a disturbance in the Force manifests itself , and an Iktotchi assassin storms into the meeting area , killing the rebels . Tandar attempts to fight back , but finds his ability to touch the Force tainted by the dark side , making him almost physically ill . Gathering his concentration , he manages to disarm the assassin , but , anticipating his move , she set her blaster on overload , and Tandar is killed in the explosion . Princess Serra of Doan , widow of Crown Prince Gerran , is awakened from her sleep by a nightmare of the healer Caleb confronting the poisoned Bane on Ambria , and of her own near - death at Bane ' s hands : Serra is Caleb ' s daughter , who married into the Doan royal family . Her personal bodyguard and close friend - Lucia , who once served with Des in the Gloom Walkers , brings word that the king wishes to speak to her and they head to the royal chamber . The king raises the possibility that the assassin who killed the rebel miners followed the Jedi there , and that since he had asked the Galactic Senate to send a Jedi mediator , they might assume that he hired the assassin to do so , not intending the Jedi ' s death . He says that the assassin was not acting on his orders , which Serra believes , and in turn he believes Serra ' s view that any of the nobility might have hired the assassin , not realizing that a Jedi would also become involved . She offers to go to Coruscant and present this view to the Jedi , and the king gives her leave to go . Once they are alone again , Lucia confesses to Serra that she hired the assassin , and though she is thanked by Serra , Lucia finds herself disturbed at the scope of Serra ' s anger and hatred toward the miners for her husband ' s death . Back on Ciutric IV , Bane meets a man named Argel Tenn , who knows Bane only as a " collector " of Sith artifacts , and finds them for him and other clients . After haggling , Bane receives a single scroll that points to Darth Andeddu living on the Deep Core world of Prakith , and of the temple being built there to glorify him . Knowing that Zannah would be suspicious if she knew Bane was leaving , he sends her to Doan , ostensibly to gather the Sith artifacts that led to the Jedi ' s death . Zannah does so , though she doubts Bane ' s reason for sending her , and comes to think that perhaps Bane has mistaken her caution in challenging him before she has found a suitable apprentice for hesitation to think that she can defeat him . She decides that the time has come , and that upon returning from Doan , she will challenge Bane for the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith . Serra and Lucia , meanwhile , make their way to Coruscant and are granted an audience with Ithorian Jedi Master Obba , a member of the Jedi Council of First Knowledge . Serra uses her knowledge of the Jedi ' s tenets and behavior to subtly manipulate Obba into accepting her side of the events surrounding Tandar ' s death , and Obba then surprises Serra by revealing that a former pupil of his , a Dark Jedi named Set Harth , may have been involved in the circumstances of the Sith artifacts . Obba also shows Serra the memorial plinth that was erected after the deaths of Masters Valenthyne Farfalla , Raskta Lsu , Worror Dowmat , Knights Johun Othone and Sarro Xaj , and the healer Caleb . Serra realizes that Bane had returned to Ambria as her father had foreseen he would ; however , she also realizes from Obba ' s description of the man killed there that it was not Bane , and after leaving the Temple , she tells Lucia to take a message to the assassin who killed the rebels . As Obba suspected , Dark Jedi Set Harth is on Doan , knowing that the real reason Tandar would have journeyed there is because Obba sent him to claim the Sith artifacts . He bribes Quano , a Rodian bartender to find out who has them , but is forced to kill the Rodian ' s bodyguards when they spring a double - cross attempt on him . He then follows the Rodian to a new meeting of the rebel miners , who are being led by a voiciferous individual named Draado ; Harth quickly realizes that Draado is being influenced by the Dark Side energies in the artifacts , and he dashes in , using his blasters and lightsaber to make quick work of most of the miners , and Force Choking Draado to death before taking the artifacts . Zannah , in the meantime , has made her own way to Doan , and following Harth ' s trail leads her to Quano , the Rodian bartender . Faking sympathy for him , Zannah gets him to lead her to his contact at the spaceport , who tells her Harth ' s ship came from Nal Hutta . When Zannah finds out that the contact also knows that she came from Ciutric IV , she kills him and Quano , then dumps their bodies onto a ship in Doan ' s sun as she leaves orbit . In the Deep Core , Bane arrives at Prakith , having had to make hundreds of small hyperspace jumps that lengthened his trip significantly to avoid the dangers of that area of space . He lands at a spaceport and passes himself off as a visitor from another city on the planet , and quickly learns the location of Andeddu ' s temple . Traveling there , Bane sets his ship , the " Triumph " , down on the landing pad at the top of the temple , attracting the attention of almost two dozen of Andeddu ' s cultists , who he easily dispatches with the Force and his lightsaber . Heading into the temple , Bane effortlessly kills the few who dare to oppose him , soon finding Andeddu ' s holocron and leaving Prakith . At the same time , Lucia journeys to a Muun space station called Paradise to enlist the services of the Iktotchi assassin , who is known only as the Huntress . She dislikes acting as she is , but realizes that something in Serra ' s past hurt her deeply . Meeting the Huntress , Lucia gives her the coordinates to Caleb ' s camp on Ambria , offering triple the assassin ' s normal rate for the meeting . The Huntress agrees , and Lucia returns to Doan . Zannah has made her way to Nal Hutta in search of Harth , and soon finds his home , lavishly decorated in a style that obviously means he enjoys the good life . He also , however , has a stash of Sith artifacts hidden away , and Zannah decides that despite his flaws , it might be advantageous to see if he would be a fitting apprentice . Harth returns home and engages Zannah in a suggestive conversation , then attacks without warning , causing her to think that he may be a worthy student . They battle , and Zannah soon realizes that Harth is tiring , then she unleashes one of her spells on him , casting his mind down into a pit of hopelessness and despair , knowing that if he possesses the will to fight out of the trance , he will have shown that he is strong enough to be her apprentice . The Huntress , in the interim , makes her way to Ambria and finds Serra there . Serra flatly says that she wants the assassin to track down and capture Bane , and the Huntress uses her Force abilities to sense the memories of the camp , getting images of Caleb , Bane , and Zannah . Serra offers the Huntress ten times her normal fee and a force of mercenaries , and the Huntress accepts . Serra then gives the Huntress a drug called senflax , which will incapacitate Bane , and the Huntress begins to make her plans . Heading back to Ciutric IV from Prakith , Bane learns of the ritual of essence transfer , which will allow a powerful enough Sith to transfer their essence to a new body , though their own body will be destroyed in the process . Additionally , if their would - be host is strong willed enough , the transfer will fail and the Sith attempting the transfer will suffer an eternity of torment as a disembodied consciousness . Bane grows angry at the arrogance of Andeddu ' s holographic gatekeeper , and forces his own mind into the holocron , taking the ritual into his mind by force . On Nal Hutta , Harth awakens to find Zannah sitting in his bedroom , and she tells him she needs an apprentice . Harth is reluctant to follow Zannah , knowing that he chafed under the Master / Apprentice system of the Jedi Order , but finally decides to commit to her out of a lust for the power she exhibits . Zannah , for her part , realizes that Harth is flawed , but reasons that she can teach him to believe in the ways of the Sith and make him into a worthy apprentice , deciding that if he fails to become one , she is young enough that she can find another apprentice and start again . On Ciutric IV , at the Omek home , the Huntress prepares to spring Serra ' s trap on Bane . While shutting down the automated security systems , she finds Bane ' s library of Sith artifacts and takes his personal holocron . When Bane returns , still exhausted from his mental battle with Andeddu ' s gatekeeper and preoccupied with thinking about finding a victim for the essence transfer , he only realizes he ' s walking into a trap an instant before two sonic detonators go off on either side of him , staggering him . He uses the Force to shield himself , but the Huntress ' power interferes with his and he is hit by a stun rifle . Bane quickly recovers and kills three of his attackers with Force lightning , but is incapacitated by flash grenades and webbing guns which connect his supine body to the floor . Bane finally manages to overpower the Huntress ' ability and taps into the Force , shredding his restraints and avoiding the diving stabs of the Huntress , only getting cut on the arm . Bane kills several more of his attackers , then he flips up to the balcony to face the Huntress ; he knocks her off and she lands safely , even managing to avoid a bolt of Force lightning . Bane follows her down , but as he lands the senflax takes effect and he is immobilized . The Huntress takes Bane ' s lightsaber and duffel bag , then directs the clean - up effort that takes Bane and the bodies of the dead mercenaries back to Doan . Zannah touches down on Ciutric IV a short time later only to find the evidence of Bane ' s confrontation , and she deduces that he ' s been captured . Harth finds evidence that someone from the Royal House of Doan was there , and Zannah dispatches Harth to find out any information he can about where they might have taken Bane . Zannah meets with Argel Tenn , but Tenn refuses to tell her what he ' s been buying for her " brother " and she is forced to torture him for the information , killing him afterward . Returning to the Omek house , Harth tells her he knows everything about Doan , and when Zannah makes the offhand comment that she should have had him research Darth Andeddu , Harth surprises her by revealing that he studied Andeddu as a Jedi , and that the Jedi believed Andeddu had found a way to make himself immortal . Zannah is enraged by this , seeing it as Bane ' s betraying his own teachings and possibly preventing her own ascendancy , and she realizes that whoever took Bane has Andeddu ' s holocron , leading her and Harth to travel back to Doan . Serra has had Bane taken to the Stone Prison , a complex built several kilometers under the foundations of the Doan castle . She goes to see Bane and is confronted by Lucia , who is worried about the effect this is having on her friend . The Huntress says she wants to see Bane as well , and when Lucia voices the same wish , all three women head into Bane ' s cell . Serra administers a powerful stimulant to Bane and as he raises his head , Lucia gasps in shock as she recognizes her former commander . Serra begins torturing Bane with various drugs , demanding to know why Bane killed Caleb , but Bane answers that he did not , that he considered Caleb to be a valuable tool that he might have had need of again someday . He derides Serra for her attempts at hurting him , twisting her actions into an affirmation of the teachings of the dark side , and Serra is horrified by his words Serra and the Huntress leave , and Lucia uses the stimulant drug to give Bane a chance to escape , more out of concern for what torturing Bane will do to Serra than of wanting Bane to go free . She leaves the cell and orders the guards to sound the alarm if anything goes wrong , then heads off to find Serra . Zannah and Harth arrive at the Stone Prison and land undetected ; Zannah goes off in search of Bane while ordering Harth to guard their ship . A bored Harth begins to run through his options , weighing his desire for greater power against abandoning his new apprenticeship and living with the fear of Zannah or Bane finding him one day . He searches with the Force and easily locates Zannah and Bane , then also finds Andeddu ' s holocron . The temptation of eternal life proves too much , and he leaves to search for it . In his cell , the stimulant finally overpowers the senflax , and Bane manages to free himself from his bonds . He breaks out of his cell and kills the guards outside , but guards on the next level trigger the alarm before Bane can reach them . He uses the Force to dispatch those soldiers , then senses Zannah searching for him . He begins trying to track down Serra and escape , while at the same time avoiding Zannah , as he still has some of the senflax in his system and doesn ' t have his lightsaber . A distraught Serra turns to find the Huntress shadowing her , and the Iktotchi tells her that Lucia has freed Bane . Serra refuses to believe her , but then the alarm sounds and she heads for the prison control center , intending to activate detonation charges that will collapse the entire prison on itself . While searching for Serra , Lucia hears the alarms go off , and she runs into the Huntress , who tells her that she informed Serra of Lucia ' s betrayal . She tells Lucia which way Serra went , and Lucia realizes that Serra is going to collapse the prison . The Huntress , who still has Bane ' s lightsaber and holocron , decides that she wants the power the Sith can give her and heads to the landing pads to wait . Zannah is tracking Bane through the prison , though she soon realizes that Bane is leaving traces of his power at certain points to confuse her . She focuses on Bane and begins tailing him again , eager to battle him . Harth finds the office where Serra earlier hid Andeddu ' s holocron in a safe and takes it , then heads to the main landing pads to leave . After entering the code incorrectly several times in her agitation , Serra manages to get inside the control room and enters the self - destruct code for the prison , hesitating to press the " confirm " button . At the landing pad , Harth admires the Huntress ' ship before she confronts him . He attacks her but soon falls victim to her ability , finding it difficult to battle her without full access to the Force . Bane , tracking Serra down , is stopped by Lucia , who asks Bane to let Serra live in exchange for her freeing him . Bane refuses , and Lucia stands in his way . But Bane is no longer " Des " , and he prepares to kill Lucia , before a wave of Force energy hits both he and Lucia . Bane manages to shield himself , but Lucia is killed . Zannah confronts Bane , telling him in a voice filled with contempt that he has betrayed the Rule of Two . Bane argues that he only sought Andeddu ' s holocron because Zannah had not challenged him and that if Zannah wants the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith , she must take it from him while he is in his prime , not once he has been weakened by old age . Zannah advances on him and realizes that he hasn ' t found his lightsaber , then she attacks . In the control room , Serra cancels the self - destruct , then goes in search of Lucia , soon finding her friend ' s broken form . She finally realizes that revenge was never what her father would have wanted , then she hears a high - pitched hum and sees Bane and Zannah fighting . Dragging Lucia ' s body to the control room and putting it in the escape shuttle , she activates the detonation charges and leaves in the shuttle . At the landing pads , the Huntress finds herself unable to corner Harth , who realizes that he can ' t beat her with her interfering with his connection to the Force . Harth switches tactics and disables two of the four shuttles on the pads before stopping and offering to let the Huntress leave if she will do the same for him . She reluctantly agrees and Harth steals a shuttle and flies off , with the Huntress noting that he is the first person to escape her , but believing it to be a minor inconvenience compared to the power the Sith can show her . Fighting Bane , Zannah finds herself uncomfortable with being the aggressor and , even without his lightsaber , Bane is able to use his other Force powers to keep himself from being cornered or trapped by her , and he finally manages to distract her long enough to trigger one of the detonation charges with Force lightning , separating them with tons of rubble . Realizing she ' s missed her opportunity , Zannah retreats to her ship and leaves . Bane races to the landing pad and finds the Huntress there ; she kneels before him , presents Bane with his lightsaber and holocron , and asks to be his apprentice , sweetening her offer with knowledge of Serra ' s location . Bane accepts and they leave . Serra lands on Ambria and buries Lucia ' s body , then recounts the events that led her here , beginning with the desire for revenge that Gerran ' s death evoked in her , and she realizes that the lust for vengeance has cost her everything she had left . She finally decides that no matter what else happens , she will face it with the strength of will her father showed , and that she will never again allow the dark side to influence her decisions . In conversation with the Huntress , Bane learns of how she tracked him with her visions , and that she is having visions of Bane and Zannah battling , though they shift between Bane and Zannah winning their battle . He realizes that she could be a valuable addition to the Sith , as while he can predict the future , she could be trained to actually see it . They land on Ambria at Caleb ' s old camp , and as Bane walks up to the tent , Serra emerges and confronts Bane , asking if he saw Lucia ' s grave . When Bane discounts Lucia ' s saving his life , Serra says her death was pointless , and Bane retorts that Caleb ' s death was pointless , and that he would not have killed the man . He tells Serra that if she has Caleb ' s power , he could use her , but Serra says she will never help Bane . She attempts to warn the Huntress that following Bane will lead to her destruction , but the Huntress disregards the warning , saying that Bane will lead her to her destiny . Serra again disagrees , saying that the dark side and Bane are evil and again reiterating that she will never serve Bane . The Huntress asks for and receives Bane ' s permission to kill Serra , doing so quickly when Serra doesn ' t resist . In orbit around Doan , Zannah is thinking on the events of the previous day , wondering if what Bane said about waiting for her to challenge him really reflects a weakness in her , before deciding that it was only a psychological ploy on Bane ' s part to get her to doubt herself . Going over their battle again , she realizes that Bane had tricked her into fighting his way , instead of her way , and she resolves to not make the same mistake if they meet again . On Ambria , Bane initiates the Huntress as a Sith apprentice , and she takes the name Cognus , impressing Bane that she realizes her mind is her most important weapon . He questions her further about the battle she sees between him and Zannah , and realizes that it has to happen or the Sith will be forever weakened . He heads to Cognus ' shuttle and sends Zannah a coded message telling her to come and face him at Caleb ' s camp . Zannah receives the message and heads to Ambria , determined to end their confrontation . Landing on Ambria , Zannah sees Cognus in the background , but Cognus declares that her loyalty is to the Sith and that she will not interfere in their battle . Zannah declares that she has surpassed Bane ; he tells her to prove it , and their battle restarts . Zannah realizes in moments that even with his orbalisk armor , Bane never sparred with her at his full speed , as it is all she can do to keep him at bay . Bane , likewise , realizes that her defense is better than he knew , and settles back in anticipation of a long , grueling battle . Zannah has decided to use some of her Sorcery on Bane , but while she backs up and prepares a spell , she trips over Lucia ' s freshly dug grave and Bane instantly advances on her , kicking her in the side and breaking a rib . Zannah puts some distance between them , then hits Bane with a spell that causes him to see horrific creatures staring at him with his father ' s eyes . Seeing Zannah gives him the strength to banish the phantoms , but Zannah then calls on the dark side itself , causing tentacles of pure dark side energy to rise out of Ambria ' s contaminated ground and attack Bane . Bane attempts to destroy them , but his lightsaber passes through them like smoke , and one touches his shoulder and disintegrates a chunk of flesh , causing such pain that Bane almost goes into shock . Bane realizes that he can ' t affect the tentacles and must kill Zannah , and he dodges them in an attempt to do so . He leaps to the attack and Zannah blocks him , but with part of her powers tied up in controlling the tentacles , Bane is able to disarm her . But as he brings his lightsaber down to kill her , one of the tentacles wraps around his forearm , severing the limb and dropping Bane to his knees in silent agony . Marshaling all his remaining power , he grabs Zannah ' s wrist with his left hand and begins the ritual of essence transfer , his body obliterated in an instant as his mind invades Zannah ' s body , looking out through her eyes and hearing through her ears . Zannah fights back , both seeking to destroy the other , seeming evenly matched , before it ends . Cognus has watched the entire fight from the camp , and having felt Bane ' s essence leave his body , she knows it could only have gone into Zannah or been cast out . She watches Zannah rise unsteadily to her feet , unsure if it ' s because Bane is now in control of the body or if it is merely exhaustion from the battle . Cognus hesitantly approaches and asks who it is , with Zannah replying dismissively that Bane is gone and that she is now Darth Zannah , Dark Lord of the Sith . She accepts Cognus as her apprentice and directs her to take Bane ' s lightsaber until she can construct one of her own , and as Zannah explains that one day Cognus must face her just as she faced Bane , Cognus notices that Zannah is flexing her left hand repeatedly . In the Doan shuttle , Set Harth begins to examine Darth Andeddu ' s holocron , eager to one day learn the ritual of essence transfer . Continuity . The final battle between Bane and Zannah led a number of fans to post theories regarding its outcome , including the theory that Bane not only had successfully cast Zannah out of her body , but that he had done so for each Sith Lord over the thousand years before the events of the original trilogy , up to and including Darth Sidious . Less than two weeks after the book ' s release , Karpyshyn personally clarified the situation with a post on his website saying that Zannah had won the battle . Karpyshyn said that he " wanted to introduce just a hint of subtlety about how much of Bane survived , " and that he left open the possibility of revisiting the situation at some point , saying that what was supposed to be left ambiguous was whether or not Bane was " still ' alive ' in some way , " or if " just a small part of his identity imprinted on her . " Cover gallery . This is a gallery of different cover variations of " Darth Bane : Dynasty of Evil " .