Mustafar is a planet that every Star Wars fan will know well. Not only is it the location of Vader’s fortress, but it’s also the planet in which Anakin Skywalker was fully lost to the Dark Side and battled his former master and best friend, Obi Wan Kenobi. After the battle of the heroes in Revenge of the Sith, Anakin was left to die on the planet by Obi-Wan who fled with Padme and the two droids back to friendly space. Unknown to Obi-Wan at the time, Anakin managed to survive and was repaired using cybernetics by his new master Sheev Palpatine aka Darth Sidious.
Due to his severe injuries suffered while battling Obi Wan, Anakin lives in a constant state of pain which helps to amplify his Sith powers. While his suit allows him to move around and interact with others, prolonged use of the suit can be excruciating on him. Due to this fact, he is required to regularly remove the suit and submerge himself in a Bacta tank to relieve some of the pain. While Vader could create a space anywhere to be treated in the Bacta tank he has constructed many fortresses and palaces throughout the Expanded Universe and the new Disney canon to do just that.
Prior to the new Disney Canon, the fortress was originally an old Sith temple that Vader restored and occupied for several years during the Galactic Civil War. With the new Canon, the origins of the fortress have been expanded on and deliver a much greater explanation as to its creation.
NEW CANON
During the time of the Inquisitors and the hunt for any Rogue Jedi, Vader was chasing two Inquisitors that had gone rogue from the Empire. As the chase continued across Couruscant Vader eventually captured and dispatched the two rogue Inquisitors earning him the Emperor’s praise. For his services to the Empire, Darth Sidious offered Vader to build himself a fortress on any planet that he wanted. Sidious had expected Vader to take his seat of power in a central area to exert maximum influence over the Empire; however, Vader chose to build his fortress on the planet Mustafar, the site of his greatest defeat. Knowing that this planet was crucial in Vader’s connection to the Dark Side, Sidious agreed and dispatched Vader along with Colonel Alva Brenne and Lieutenant Roggo to commence construction. Sidious also sent along the possessed mask of the Sith Lord Momin, a sculptor and art lover.
DARTH MOMIN
Darth Momin was a Sith Lord and sculptor who lived during the hundred year darkness and was killed roughly 1032 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin). Momin was able to sculpt using his mind and the force from a young age; though, his creations earned him the scorn of many. Eventually, he was imprisoned for some of his designs where he remained for several years until Darth Shaa freed him and took him as her apprentice. Lady Shaa began training Momin in the ways of the dark side where he excelled and his pride grew. Believing himself to be second to nobody, Momin murdered Lady Shaa during a training session and declared himself a Dark Lord of the Sith. Now uninhibited by his old master, Momin was free to design to his heart’s content, which he did and eventually developed a super weapon. Momin’s superweapon was powerful enough to turn a thriving metropolis to ash, but that wasn’t enough for him. Momin resolved to pour the Force into his weapon and then the expressions of his victims would be frozen in time by the force for all of eternity. Momin maneuvered his super weapon over a city and began the process of destroying the city and freezing it in time. Unable to allow this to occur, several Jedi stormed Momin’s weapon which in turn disrupted his concentration. In the end the Jedi disabled the weapon and Momin’s body was incinerated leaving his spirit trapped in his mask which the Jedi stored in their secret vault in the archives.
It was in this vault that Momin’s spirit lingered for nearly a thousand years before being discovered by Darth Sidious following Darth Vader’s defeat of Jedi Master Jocasta Nu.
MOMIN REBORN
When Vader’s construction party arrived on the planet, Vader decided to build his structure over top of an ancient Sith cave. The same cave where he had bled the Kyber Crystal of Jedi Master Kirak Infil’a in his quest to create his own crimson Sith blade. Vader once again entered the cave to meditate and commune with the force only to be interrupted by Brenne who had a proposed blue print for Vader’s fortress. Vader rejected the idea and Brenne returned to the ship where Roggo and Darth Momin’s mask lay waiting.
As Brenne returned to the ship the Spirit of Darth Momin that was possessing his mask made its move. Exerting its control over the Dark Side, Momin killed Brenne and possessed the body of Roggo. Finally having an actual body after several generations, Momin used Roggo’s body to design the fortress that Vader would eventually build.
Vader returned to the ship after his meditation to discover the colonel murdered and Momin having possessed Roggo’s body. Vader proceeded to murder the possessed Roggo and took Momin’s mask back to the cave where he had forged his lightsaber. It was in this cave that Momin tried to possess Vader and showed him his story and deemed his superweapon a failure. During the attempted possession, some native Mustafarians attacked Vader while he was meditating in the cave. Vader managed to defeat them with Momin’s mask possessing one of them in turn, this granted Momin a new body without costing the Empire another officer.
In his new body, Momin stated that his new design would act as a sort of tuning fork to the dark side and could open up a doorway to the Force allowing Vader to finally meet his long lost love, Padme, once more. While Momin believed that this would excite Vader, he was met with skepticism and threats. Vader stated that Sidious had already lied to him about this type of thing and that, if Momin failed to deliver, he would kill him without hesitation.
Roughly around 5 BBY the fortress was completed. The central tower and it’s tuning forks were made out of pure obsidian mined from the planet and the outer pieces were made of a Doonium Alloy.
Between 2 BBY and 0 BBY, a Rebel Alliance Strike team infiltrated the fortress to attempt to discover Imperial secrets. They discovered a proto-saber being constructed by Vader. The proto-saber was of a unique design featuring a cross-guard (as made famous by Kylo Ren) but without the two vents. Instead it had two prongs that ran up from the base and when ignited, white energy would light up the space between the prongs. The pilot of the Rebel strike Force, Athnex, attempted to scan the saber in order to take it back to the Alliance but never finished his scan. Vader arrived, having been alerted to the Rebels, and pulled Athnex through the air toward him stabbing him through the back with his lightsaber. As the other Rebels attempted to flee, Vader began cutting them down. K2SO crashed a shuttle into the fortress and began firing a weapon at Vader to allow the rebels time to escape.
In 0BBY, Director Orson Krennic arrived at the fortress to consult Vader on his plans with the Death Star.
In the expanded universe, Vader not only had his fortress on Mustafar but also had a palace on Coruscant in the Diplomatic District near the Senate and Bast Castle on the planet Vjun. Vader later abandoned his castle on Vjun to provide it as headquarters for the Dark Side Elite. The Dark Side Elite were a band of seven dark Jedi that were established by Darth Sidious in the Expanded Universe following his return using clone bodies.
There you have it! The real purpose for Vader’s fortress on Mustafar! Not just badass looking but so he can finally be reunited with the love of his life. See you next time!
The Multiverse 
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