MARTIAL ARTS
Darth Bane, Dark Lord of the Sith, had a surprisingly narrow view on martial arts combat. Outside of Form seven, Juyo, Bane believed the Sith Order should only ever use two fighting styles: Form three, Soresu and Form five Djem So. Realizing Zannah wasn't even close to physically capable of mastering Djem So, Bane instructed his apprentice almost exclusively in the use of Soresu. To put it in the words of the Inquisitor, Darth Zannah favors Form three to ridiculous extremes. She may have an almost impenetrable defense, but she is at a major disadvantage on the offense, to the point of borderline incompetence. That being said, her defense was truly impressive, protecting her from Darth Bane's brutal onslaught and several Jedi at once. Zannah is basicly the direct opposite of fellow Soresu master Obi-wan Kenobi: Whereas Kenobi bolsters his considerable defense with a capable offense and a incredible amount of tactical genius, Darth Zannah's offense amounts to "wait for your opponent to tire and then strike". However, where Kenobi has the occasional defensive lapse, Darth Zannah's defense is complete: She has defeated skilled Ataru masters, held her own against her fearsome Master several times and took part in a battle against five Jedi at once, alongside Bane. Zannah also had some skill with unarmed combat and (although it's mostly irelivant) ambushes and surprise attacks. Darth Zannah may have nothing but a shield and patience, but it's one heck of a shield.
While watching other Versus series with Darth Zannah, I have noticed a major trend: Zannah almost always loses the martial arts edge, for the simple reason she has no real skill or tactic beyond stalling for time. Generally I would agree with such reasoning, but here I must disagree. Although I would say Satele Shan is the better martial artist, I don't think she outclasses Zannah by a high enough degree she won't be able to hold her off. This turns it, unsurprisingly, into a waiting game, with Shan expending energy while trying to breach Zannah's defense, with the Dark Lord trying her best to find her own way to victory. The question of who would secede first is a tough one, and one that is decided by physical endurance not swordplay: Zannah may be able to stall the Grand master, but the Grand master will be able to pressure the Sith lord just as effectively. In the end, this martial contest is an undecided matter, with neither warrior truly being able to claim themselves capable of out dueling there opponent. Thus, I declare Satele Shan and Darth Zannah equals with the blade and in terms of martial arts.
FORCE POWERS
Born with a raw, primal connection with the Force, Darth Zannah demonstrated an incredible amount of natural, brutalistic power with telekinesis from an early age. Although In A normal combat situation Zannah had no outstanding ability with the power, when extremely pressed, she could display such shows of force such as disintegrating limbs and breaking through Jedi's Force shields, snapping there necks. However, by fare and away her greatest strength was with archaic Sith magic. She could both conceal herself and erect a false Light side aura, and when powered by a Dark Side nexus Zannah could summon Dark Side tendrils of reality destroying power. However, her most lethal and combat effective power was with Sith spells of fear. A dangerous ability to say the least, Zannah could mentally pray on her opponents deepest fears and weaknesses, distracting them and in extreme cases driving them insane. However, beings powerful enough in the Force, lacking deep fears or with enough will power could fight through these effects, at least to some degree.
Even at her emotional highest, Darth Zannah's skill and magnitude with telekinesis is still below that of Satele Shan's, and the dark ladies average skill with this power is even further dwarfed. Unusually for a Sith lord, Zannah has no skill with Force Lightning, limiting the effectiveness of Shan's energy absorption. All of there other respective skills cancel out, leaving us with a signal question: Can Zannah subdue Shan effectively with spells of Sith madness? Well, let me put it like this: Zannah can take Shan down, but not effectively. Everyone has some sort of fear or weakness that could eventually be exploited, but for a lot of them, Zannah would have to work and concentrate hard, not something she could do in a pitched battle. And as a peaceful Jedi Grandmaster who has come to terms with her past, present and future, I believe Shan to be such a person. Zannah could eventually break the Jedi, but the time and effort she would have to put into it would actually weaken the Sith much more than it would the Jedi. This leaves nothing but a contest between Shan's overwhelming strength in telekinesis and Zannah's...ducking ability. I give Grandmaster Satele Shan the edge in Force powers.
PHYSICAL SKILLS
As previously mentioned, Darth Zannah was of slim enough build that Darth Bane only briefly entertained the idea of teaching her the kinetically strong Djem So form. Zannah partially made up for this somewhat lax physical strength (which has been reinforced several times) by being very swift and acrobatic, able to dodge most attacks. This did, however, have it's limits, and her lacking physical strength remained a problem for her. Despite being a Dark lord of the Sith, Darth Zannah displayed little to no Dark Side degradation, her beauty being noted on several occasions, although it is possible she was merely masking her true nature, in the same vane as Darth Zash.
Although Satele Shan may not have a noted physique or any outstanding physical achievements, at least she is not attributed with a sub par constitution and weakness with power blows. Although these two are practically identical in terms of acrobatics and swiftness, Satele Shan is bringing much more strength and endurance to the game here, giving her the edge in physical skills.
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT
On the surface, Darth Zannah's weapon appeared to be little more than a standard red bladed Saber Staff, with no weaknesses or benefits. However, looking closer, it did in fact contain several edges over more standard weapons. Its blades were slightly shorter then the norm, to accommodate Zannah's defensive fighting style, while it's power source (The Bane's heart crystal) would shock anyone but Darth Zannah if they tried to wield the weapon. Aside from these however, it really was a standard Saber Staff.
A battle between two Saberstaff wielders...would like kind of silly if I am completely honest, but that's not the point. Darth Zannah's Saberstaff has several advantages over Satele Shan's comparatively standard armament, although not really enough that it would be decisive. I suppose Zannah's weapon couldn't be stolen and wielded by Shan, but that scenario is more than unlikely. Zannah gets the edge, although just barely, and don't expect it to come up in the verdict.
THE VERDICT
Unlike most versus matchups, this battle will be decided by a combination of all four edges (well, three edges anyways) instead of a single area of expertise. First, we have martial arts where, as I have said before, neither woman can really claim to be able to overcome the other with bladework alone: a duel between these two would begin and end with Shan charging forwards and working hard to keep up the pressure, with Zannah falling back and working hard to defend herself. This, again, turns the battle into a countdown to death, the victor decided by who can take and dish out more punishment. And that person, unsurprisingly, is Shan, a much tougher fighter and more skilled at unarmed combat. However, this is not enough to secure the Jedi a victory, as we also have the supernatural to consider: Darth Zannah is one of the absolute best masters of Sith sorcery, very comparable to the likes of Naga Sadow. However, a good majority of these powers are not usable in a one on one sense, even her spells of Sith madness taking a good deal of effort on her part, which leaves Zannah at a disadvantage, forced to rely on less arcane abilities witch she was much less skilled with. In contrast, Shan is almost the exact opposite: although she has a wide variety of skills, both mundane and unusual, her greatest skill remains with simple telekinesis and Force blasts, powers she can easily and effectively use smack dab in middle of even the most heated duel. This is not to say, by any means, that this is an easy or even clear cut victory for the Jedi, far fAR from it. It is entirely possible that Zannah would outlast the Grand master with her energy conservative fighting style, leaving the Jedi open to her Sith spells, allowing Zannah to first drive Shan insane and then outright kill her. However, to me at least, the more likely scenario (albeit by a very slim margin) is that Shan would keep Zannah tp pressured to use these powers, until the Jedi finds an opening to use either her blade or telekinesis to strike down the flagging Sith. Thus, since you can't end a versus video in a tie, as I have discovered, I declare Satele Shan the winner, twice in a row.
Unlike most versus matchups, this battle will be decided by a combination of all four edges (well, three edges anyways) instead of a single area of expertise. First, we have martial arts where, as I have said before, neither woman can really claim to be able to overcome the other with bladework alone: a duel between these two would begin and end with Shan charging forwards and working hard to keep up the pressure, with Zannah falling back and working hard to defend herself. This, again, turns the battle into a countdown to death, the victor decided by who can take and dish out more punishment. And that person, unsurprisingly, is Shan, a much tougher fighter and more skilled at unarmed combat. However, this is not enough to secure the Jedi a victory, as we also have the supernatural to consider: Darth Zannah is one of the absolute best masters of Sith sorcery, very comparable to the likes of Naga Sadow. However, a good majority of these powers are not usable in a one on one sense, even her spells of Sith madness taking a good deal of effort on her part, which leaves Zannah at a disadvantage, forced to rely on less arcane abilities witch she was much less skilled with. In contrast, Shan is almost the exact opposite: although she has a wide variety of skills, both mundane and unusual, her greatest skill remains with simple telekinesis and Force blasts, powers she can easily and effectively use smack dab in middle of even the most heated duel. This is not to say, by any means, that this is an easy or even clear cut victory for the Jedi, far fAR from it. It is entirely possible that Zannah would outlast the Grand master with her energy conservative fighting style, leaving the Jedi open to her Sith spells, allowing Zannah to first drive Shan insane and then outright kill her. However, to me at least, the more likely scenario (albeit by a very slim margin) is that Shan would keep Zannah tp pressured to use these powers, until the Jedi finds an opening to use either her blade or telekinesis to strike down the flagging Sith. Thus, since you can't end a versus video in a tie, as I have discovered, I declare Satele Shan the winner, twice in a row.
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