15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Mustafar And Darth Vader's Castle

When 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.

When 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.

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.

Darth 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.

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.

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.