15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Mustafar And Darth Vader's Castle
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Darth Vader Crafted His Red Saber At An Ancient Sith Shrine On Mustafar
Photo: Marvel ComicsWhen Anakin Skywalker embraced the dark side of the Force to become Darth Vader, he had something of a problem. He lost his lightsaber when Obi-Wan Kenobi took it after their fight on Mustafar, and he needed a new one. More than that, he needed to acquire a lightsaber from a Jedi and corrupt its Kyber crystal so that it emitted a red plasma blade before he could truly be called a Dark Lord of the Sith.
Vader managed to defeat Jedi Master Kirak Infil'a and take his Kyber crystal so that he could "bleed" it. He found a cave on Mustafar that was strong with the dark side of the Force. Inside, he found a Sith shrine, where he poured all of his anger and pain into the crystal. It began to sing a hymn of darkness. He thoroughly corrupted the crystal, making it into what he needed to power his new Sith lightsaber. Once complete, Vader's red blade became one of the most feared weapons in the galaxy.
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Native Mustafarians Used The Force To Manipulate Lava And Challenge Vader
Photo: Marvel ComicsWhen Darth Vader's castle was finally completed on the ninth attempt, he had little time to celebrate. Almost immediately, the native Mustafarians attacked his Imperial Guard, slaughtering many of them with little effort. They were heavily outnumbered (10 to one) and were desperate for Vader's assistance. Without hesitation, Vader jumped into the fray, where he denied his soldiers' appeal for a retreat.
The native Mustafarians had several advantages, including their knowledge of the area and their ability to manipulate lava using the Force. Unfortunately for them, Vader knew a little something about manipulating objects with his mind, as well, which made him an incredibly formidable foe. As the Mustafarians used their skills to send waves of lava at their enemy, Vader turned it back on them, slaughtering them all. That said, the fight was brutal, and it left Vader tired and injured, but he was victorious.
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Vader Attempted To Use Mustafar To Bring Padmé Back To Life
Photo: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith / 20th Century FoxDarth Vader set up his base of operation on Mustafar for several reasons. He saw the planet as his birthplace, as it was where Anakin Skywalker "died" and Darth Vader was born. On top of that, it was where things went so wrong with Padmé, and he believed it might be possible to use the planet's strong connection to the dark side of the Force to bring her back to life.
His castle was designed to open a door to the dark side of the Force, and once this was achieved, he walked through the portal. He saw visions of his past and future, including one of Padmé, but she ran from him, choosing to take her own life rather than be saved by the man he became. The vision frustrated Vader, angering him to the point of destroying the altar in the Sith cave. This action destroyed the portal, and Vader walked away with the understanding that he saw what he needed to see.
Later, Vader attempted to resurrect his fallen wife once more by taking the Bright Star artifact, but a descendant of Lady Corvax managed to stop him, destroying the artifact in the process. Vader was never able to bring his beloved Padmé back from the grave, but that wasn't for lack of trying. He was obsessed with his desire to be with her once more, but in the end, he failed.
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Vader’s Castle Was Designed To Channel The Dark Side
It took numerous attempts to build Vader's castle because of his specific requirements. He wanted to make it so the castle could channel the power of the Sith cave to open the door to the dark side of the Force. After each attempt, Vader tried to use the fortress to tap into the energy of the Sith cave to open the door to the dark side, but he failed, which didn't make the already impatient Sith Lord very happy.
He failed to open the door through eight attempts. Each time he failed to open the door, Vader killed Lord Momin's host out of anger. Finally, the ninth design was built, and Momin felt he'd achieved his goal. Vader was somewhat impatient at this point, but he found that the door could be opened, so a 10th attempt was never made. Lord Momin used the door to regenerate his own body, but when he attempted to challenge Vader, he learned (the hard way) that few are capable of defeating the Dark Lord.
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Cultists Guard Vader's Crumbling Castle Long After His Demise
At the beginning of The Rise of Skywalker, Kylo Ren is seen in a forest, slaughtering people to get his hands on a Sith wayfinder. Few could have guessed that the planet he was on was Mustafar. He was in one of the few regions that still had vegetation and wasn't constantly covered in lava. Among the Iron Trees, he found the Sith wayfinder, making it possible for him to locate the Sith planet of Exegol.
The beings Ren slaughtered were the Alazmec of Winsit, a Sith cult tasked with protecting the memory of Lord Vader. They colonized the planet after the Sith Lord's demise and protected his crumbling castle while planting Iron Tree forests where they could. They opposed the First Order and fought Supreme Leader Kylo Ren to protect the wayfinder. Ultimately, Ren proved too much for their forces, and all of them were slaughtered.
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Darth Sidious Used The Mustafar System To Train The Inquisitors
Photo: Star Wars Rebels / Disney XDDarth Sidious's plan to train Force-sensitive spies failed when his secret base was discovered by Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano. While the project didn't work out as planned, he didn't give up on the Mustafar system as a base of operations. After the Empire was established, things changed for the galaxy's residents. Instead of Force-sensitive children being educated and trained by the Jedi Order, they were taken to the Mustafar system, where they were trained in the dark side of the Force.
The Emperor had an underwater fortress constructed on Mustafar's moon Nur to keep it close to Vader's domain. The base served as the headquarters of the Imperial Inquisitor Program, and because it was underwater and out of the public eye, hardly anyone in the Empire knew of its existence. Any captured Jedi and Force-sensitive people were taken to the Fortress Inquisitorius to be tortured, broken, and molded into dark side adherents.
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An Ancient Sith Spirit Helped Design And Build Vader’s Castle
Photo: Marvel ComicsDarth Vader believed that Mustafar was an important planet, as it was where he was reborn as the Dark Lord of the Sith. Because of this, he asked the Emperor to give him ownership of the planet, a request his Master obliged. When Vader established himself on Mustafar, he did so by erecting a great Sith castle, but he didn't do it all on his own. He had some help in the form of Imperial architects and an ancient Sith mask.
The mask proved vital in designing the castle, as it once belonged to an ancient Sith named Lord Momin. Lord Momin was talented at using the Force to create all manner of objects and structures. A powerful engine he created to destroy a city and trap the victim's anguish in time ended up destroying him. His mask remained, and it was taken by the Jedi Order to be stored away in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
Momin's mask was acquired by Vader after he found and killed Jocasta Nu. The Emperor gave Vader the mask, which proved useful when it reanimated the corpse of one of his architects on Mustafar. With the mask activated, Lord Momin's spirit returned, and he helped construct Vader's castle. The structure was built nine times before it satisfied Vader, but it also worked to restore Momin's original body. He challenged Vader after he put down a Mustafarian uprising, but Vader managed to destroy him.
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George Lucas Had The Idea For Mustafar Back In 1977
George Lucas had a lot of ideas that never made it into his original Star Wars trilogy, and one of them was the planet Mustafar. After the first movie's release, plans were set in motion to incorporate Vader's castle into the next film. Ralph McQuarrie, the concept artist who came up with the idea, created detailed drawings of what Vader's castle might look like and where it would be located.
The need for Vader's castle came as a result of the Death Star's destruction, as he needed a new base of operations. McQuarrie's ideas had Vader on a world covered with snow and ice. He considered the opposite - a planet covered in fire and lava. Ultimately, the plan wasn't used in The Empire Strikes Back, and Vader's base was moved to his massive Star Destroyer.
Ultimately, McQuarrie's concept of a lava-covered planet came to fruition in Revenge of the Sith. It was also used as the place where Anakin Skywalker "dies" and is replaced by Darth Vader. Eventually, his castle would be built, and while this idea never made it into the prequel films, it was seen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Vader's castle and the planet Mustafar have been featured heavily in various animated series and comic books, so McQuarrie's original concept made it into canon.
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Footage Of The 2002 Mount Etna Eruption Was Used In ‘Revenge Of The Sith’
Photo: Romgiovanni / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 3.0In 2002, Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy, erupted, and it spewed lava for a long time. The eruption went on for so long, footage was shot and used in Revenge of the Sith to create the planet Mustafar. That means that not all of the lava seen in the movie was computer-generated - some of it was actually lava that flowed down the sides of Mount Etna just a few years before the movie was released.
To be clear, there weren't any scenes shot on location during the eruption. The production scouted out the site to create plate photography for use as backdrops during the Mustafar scenes in the film. Essentially, the production team took advantage of an ongoing situation, as the eruption was going on while the movie was being filmed. George Lucas dispatched a crew, they captured some video, and they managed to create a realistic depiction of flowing lava because that's what they used!
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Mustafar Was Once A Lush, Forested Planet, But Became A Volcanic Hellscape Thanks To An Artifact
Photo: Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series / Disney Electronic Content, Inc.Looking at Mustafar, it's difficult to imagine it as a lush and verdant planet. Most fans likely assumed it was a young planet still molten from forming, but in reality, it was once considered something of a paradise. Mustafar became the lava-covered hellscape depicted in Revenge of the Sith because of a powerful artifact called the Bright Star.
A Force-sensitive woman named Lady Corvax lived on Mustafar with her husband Dorwin, but after he passed, Lady Corvax went off the deep end. She stole the Bright Star and used it to bring her husband back to life. Unfortunately, it didn't work as planned, and the energies it released completely scorched the planet's surface and trapped Dorwin between life and death.
Eventually, a descendant of Lady Corvax managed to destroy the Bright Star, freeing Dorwin. The Bright Star's destruction also left the planet time to repair and heal from the damage. The lava flows ceased, and the planet's surface was once more home to plants and animals, though it would take some time to heal completely from the eons of destruction that plagued the surface.
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Darth Sidious Had A Facility On Mustafar To Train Kidnapped Force-Sensitive Children
When Anakin Skywalker was dispatched to Mustafar at his new Master's behest, it was so that he could kill the remaining leaders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. This made it possible for Emperor Palpatine to declare victory, end the Clone Wars, and establish his new Galactic Empire. The facility Skywalker found the Confederate leaders in was one of many kept by Darth Sidious on the planet.
Darth Sidious established a secret base in the southern hemisphere of Mustafar, where he planned to train Force-sensitive children. He filled it with children he'd kidnapped throughout the galaxy, but his plan didn't exactly work out as planned. During the Clone Wars, Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano discovered the plot and rescued the children. When Sidious learned what was happening, he had his nanny droids destroy the facility to erase all evidence of his plans.
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The Planet's Natives Live Underground Below The Lava Fields
When Mustafar's surface was destroyed by the Bright Star artifact, the planet's natives migrated underground. They remained there, living in elaborate cave systems, for years. Eventually, the Mustafarians branched off into two distinct subspecies. The Mustafarians in the north grew into tall, thin creatures, while the Mustafarians in the southern hemisphere became short and stocky.
Mustafarians rarely come to the planet's surface and only do so to mine the lava for its various resources. Because the Mustafarian people lost so much when their planet was scorched, they weren't exactly willing to let others come along and take control of their world. They allowed a trade agreement with the Techno Union, but when the Empire came calling, they defied them. Many Mustafarians banded together to fight Vader and his Imperial Guard when the Sith Lord established his base on the planet.
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Mustafar's Surface Isn't Lifeless
Photo: Marvel ComicsIt stands to reason that Mustafar's surface is lifeless, as it is covered in lava, but this isn't true. There are several species that adapted to the harsh environment, making it their home. Lava fleas adapted to life on the burning planet to enable their survival. They are covered in a thick exoskeleton that is resistant to burning and lava, making it possible for them to survive the harsh environment.
Lava fleas burrow into the crust, making massive cave structures, which are home to the native Mustafarians. Additionally, there are lizard-crows, rodents called "fire ants," spark-roaches, and other fascinating creatures. Another interesting creature that doesn't mind all the molten rock flowing about the surface is the Eye of Webbish Bog (pictured). This strange creature was locked in a symbiotic relationship with a blind giant.
The Eye of Webbish Bog met Vader after the Dark Lord awakened it through the Force. During their encounter, the Eye questioned Vader's past actions, but after some time, it deemed him worthy. The Eye gave Vader a Sith wayfinder, which made it possible for him to find the Sith world of Exegol. Years later, the Eye met with Kylo Ren, and also determined him worthy of learning the artifact's location.
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Mustafar Aligned With The Confederacy Of Independent Systems During The Clone Wars
During the Clone Wars, the planet Mustafar belonged to the native Mustafarians. During this time, the natives forged a trade agreement and alliance with the Techno Union so that it could mine the planet's lava for valuable resources. As the conflict grew in scope, Mustafar provided a place for the Confederacy of Independent Systems to build its droid army, and it was used in this manner until the end of the war.
When Darth Vader was dispatched to take out the remaining leaders of the Confederacy, he found them on Mustafar. They relocated to the planet sometime earlier, and among the various representatives were some native Mustafarians. Vader killed all of them, and the structure was destroyed in his ensuing fight with his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. After the war, Mustafar fell to the Empire, and Emperor Palpatine eventually gave it to Lord Vader as a gift.
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Thanks To Constant Volcanic Activity, It Became A Valuable Resource For The Techno Union And Mining Guild
When Mustafar's surface was destroyed, it didn't automatically lose its appeal. Sure, nobody could or would want to live there, but the lava that flowed across the planet's surface proved valuable to the Techno Union and Mining Guild. This was primarily due to the vast amount of minerals found in the lava, which the organizations mined for centuries.
The Techno Union maintained control of Mustafar for over 300 years before the Clone Wars. When conflict erupted across the galaxy, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which included the Techno Union, used it to produce battle droids for the droid army. This went on for some time and only came to an end when Darth Sidious's machinations, which brought him into power as the new Emperor, came to fruition. At that time, the planet's resource extraction was taken over by the Mining Guild.
