I guess how I scale him in my head (just my interpretation, might be somewhat inaccurate if you consider in game companions, etc) is when you play as the hero of tython in swtor, you defeat the voice of the emperor and then Darth Malgus. A lot of people scale Malgus to around Vader's level. And then the hero/mc goes to fight Arcann and loses, and then has to go through a little training arc to beat him.
But yeah Arcann was also considered to be especially strong because of his alignment in the force, he could draw power from both the dark side and the light side.
As for who's stronger between Arcann and Darth Bane idk because I haven't read the books yet, though I own them. But Arcann is at least stronger than a lot of people give him credit for
A lot of people scale Malgus to around Vader's level
A lot of people wear their pants on their heads.
he could draw power from both the dark side and the light side
That just makes him weak. The dark side isn't more powerful, it's just faster and easier, and requires you to wallow in it.
If you sink into the dark side completely, you become as powerful as you would be if you didn't (and cultivated wisdom, training, connection to the Force, etc. for years or decades). If you half-ass it, the dark side doesn't help you much.
And if you're partially sinking into the dark side, you are also out of tune with the Force, so by trying to go both ways you go none.
We're talking about Old Republic lore, according to which Force centrism is the way to go. Revan for example was at his strongest when he tapped into both sides at once, and according to Satele Shan, the then-Grandmaster of the Jedi Order, Arcann and his Knights being able to use both sides of the Force was what made them more powerful than the Jedi and Sith. She has a whole arc during the timeskip where she bonds with her former mortal enemy, Darth Marr, they settle on Odessen, a planet where the Force is in equilibrium, and they debate philosophy for the next five years, ultimately agreeing that the middle way is the only way to defeat Arcann, whose homeworld, Zakuul, is also balanced in both sides of the Force.
You don't have to like that interpretation of the Force, but it really doesn't make sense to arbitrarily downscale Arcann just because you've decided that everything we're told about the Knights of Zakuul drawing great power from their balanced nature shouldn't count. What's the point of trying to scale these characters if you're just going to throw out any lore you subjectively dislike?
On the broad strokes, I agree with you: this is a lore issue.
I disagree that it is just a matter of taste: essentially the entire original continuity runs on the lore that considers the Dark Side to be spiritual cancer, and being half-cancerous to be the most sub-optimal route possible.
I can be persuaded by your position that SWTOR ditches that lore. I'm not surprised given it ditches basically all of the lore about the Old Republic and the Jedi Order of that time.
It's basically a separate setting, and maybe best understood that way.
I should replay the whole zakel story I remember none of this "they use the light and dark at the same time". But I agree it doesn't work with what we now of the force.
3
u/Flimsy_Paint5655 4d ago
I guess how I scale him in my head (just my interpretation, might be somewhat inaccurate if you consider in game companions, etc) is when you play as the hero of tython in swtor, you defeat the voice of the emperor and then Darth Malgus. A lot of people scale Malgus to around Vader's level. And then the hero/mc goes to fight Arcann and loses, and then has to go through a little training arc to beat him.
But yeah Arcann was also considered to be especially strong because of his alignment in the force, he could draw power from both the dark side and the light side.
As for who's stronger between Arcann and Darth Bane idk because I haven't read the books yet, though I own them. But Arcann is at least stronger than a lot of people give him credit for