So, I wrote my summary for Path of Destruction for the October 15 editon of my Star Wars Timeline Gold a few days ago. I had initially intended to have two different summaries for the Battle of Ruusan (in other words, a summary for Path of Destruction and another for Jedi vs. Sith). However, with the helpful answer provided by Leland Chee as to how they are to be integrated, I was able to go ahead and do so for this next release.

For those who did not catch the exchange on the Holocron Continuity Database Questions Thread, the exchange went as follows:

Nathan P. Butler:
Had a question about the Battle of Ruusan:

The order of events and how they intercut between Bane, Kaan, and Hoth in Path of Destruction and in Jedi vs. Sith are different. Most of the events are basically the same, but, for instance, Pernicar dies a lot later in the comic, and it seems that Farfalla's return is handled as one event in the comic but two separate events in the novel (between when, Hoth pushes Farfalla away).

The two cousins, Bug and Tomcat, also don't appear in the scenes with Githany and Kopecz that they do in the comic, while young Zannah/Rain doesn't meet Bane until after things calm down in the novel, whereas she's with Bane before that in the comics.

I was curious as to which of the two different versions of the battle (and the actions of its key players) is now considered accurate. (I'm guessing that it's like with the Battle of Coruscant, where we're seeing it from two different historical perspectives, so the truth is a blending, but I wanted to be sure before I tried to summarize POD for my timeline and integrate it with JvS.)

Thanks.

(By the way, if anyone is still having concerns as to the gender of Revan or the outcome of the first KOTOR, definitely check out POD. That'll help clear things up rather well.)

Leland Chee:

Yes, "integrated" with the more recent source being being favored for dealing with the concrete inconsistencies.

So, we have an official answer now as to what to do about the places in which POD and JvS diverge. With that in mind, I then set about to merge the two summaries. You'll see the results in the SWT-G #41 when it hits the 'net late tomorrow night (alongside a new episode of Fan Audio Made Easy), but I thought that I'd take a moment to briefly chart out how the novel and comics overlap with each other, for those who are trying to figure it out. (Hey, if I took the time to figure it out, why should folks need to duplicate the efforts, right?)

So, as best as I can tell, here are the overlaps, barring any that I've missed, of course:

(Note: For the comic books, I'll be noting the individual issues, and I'll count pages WITHOUT including the advertising pages.)

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Path of Destruction p. 264 - 265 = Jedi vs. Sith #1 p. 1 - 3

Path of Destruction p. 271 - 273 = Jedi vs. Sith #1 p. 20 -22

Path of Destruction p. 274 - 277 = Jedi vs. Sith #2 p. 3 - 5

Path of Destruction p. 277 - 281 = Jedi vs. Sith #2 p. 10 - 12

Path of Destruction p. 281 - 283 = Jedi vs. Sith #2 p. 17 -18

Path of Destruction p. 284 - 285 = Jedi vs. Sith #3 p. 20 - 21

Path of Destruction p. 286 - 287 = Jedi vs. Sith #4 p. 4 - 5

Path of Destruction p. 291 - 296 = Jedi vs. Sith #4 p. 6 - 19 *

Path of Destruction p. 304 - 309 = Jedi vs. Sith #5 p. 5, 9 - 10 **

Path of Destruction p. 310 - 311 = Jedi vs. Sith #6 p. 2

Path of Destruction p. 314 - 317 = Jedi vs. Sith #6 p. 7 - 9

Path of Destruction p. 321 - 324 = See below. ***

* The parallels between POD (291 - 296) and JvS (6 - 19) are only partial. Kaan, Githany, and the Sith strike against Hoth's forces, and they are saved by the arrival of Farfalla. That much is the same. In the novel, this is mostly done on fliers, for the most part, and they leave without taking on any new recruits. Also, at this point in the novel, Pernicar has died in a previous battle, after which Hoth berates Farfalla. In the comics, this is where Pernicar dies, leading to the berating of Farfalla. Also, in the comics, Githany ends up on the ground, fighting Kiel Charny, which leads to the recruitment of Tomcat (AKA Darovit) into the Sith ranks. Whereas in the comics, Darovit is with Githany for the rest of the story, Darovit does not appear in the novel at all, outside of a brief mention in the epilogue when giving Zannah's background. This is where the story starts to diverge rather visibly.

** In the comics, Githany, Kopecz, and Darovit enter the caves together (JvS #5 p. 5), then Githany and Darovit decide to leave because they believe Kaan's plan is nuts (JvS #5 p. 9 - 10). Then, Kaan starts his briefing of the troops (JvS #5 p. 10). In the novel, Kaan begins his briefing, then Githany and Kopecz (without Darovit) both independently decide to leave as the ritual begins (p. 304 - 309).

*** The epilogue of POD (321 - 324) is our only exposure to Zannah/Rain and her family in the novel. It shows Bane meeting Zannah after the events of the rest of the novel, whereas the comic series has her meeting with Bane earlier, intercutting with the final Thought Bomb episode. Since the epilogue has to explain who Zannah is in the grand scheme of things, it also contains references and flashbacks to events that took place earlier, most of which are events from the comics. I felt that those deserved their own list here:

1. In POD (321), Zannah remembers being recruited by Torr and sent to Ruusan, only to be shot down and saved by Laa. The recruitment is found in JvS #1 (4 - 9). The ill-fated trip to Ruusan is found in JvS #1 (13 - 19). We then learn that Laa has saved her in JvS #2 (22).

2. In POD (322), Zannah has a somewhat different but conceptually similar version of the events in JvS #5 (13 - 16), wherein Laa warns her of impending doom, Laa is killed, and Zannah then uses the Dark Side by instinct and kills Petja.

3. In POD (322 - 323), Zannah meets Bane, telling him that she is a killer too. This takes place in JvS #6 (3). Bane takes her with him from this point forward, though the comic has more scenes with them after this point.

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Hopefully, this will help those who are trying to piece the two together, or who might not recall JvS very well when reading POD. Personally, I found POD a great read, and while I find it odd that the events on Ruusan were changed, it did certainly seem to fit better with Bane's story to keep the focus on the Sith Lord, rather than him being a secondary character, as he was, more or less, in JvS. I'd simply say that POD is Bane's tale, while JvS is the children's tale.

(It's just too bad that Elizabeth Hand's rumored Darth Bane novel won't come to exist. It'd be nice to see another one of Bane's adventures after "Bane of the Sith." I guess we'll just have to enjoy seeing him in Legacy #5.)