Rogue One: What’s the Deal with *That* Castle?

The prequel’s Mustafar setting pulls from classic Star Wars, but what does it say about the Sith Lord’s troubled life?

By Scott Collura

Spoilers follow for Rogue One.

So Darth Vader’s castle is in the new Star Wars movie… how about that, eh!? My kid, upon seeing it, called out “the Tower of Orthanc!” I get that, only the Tower of Orthanc didn’t sit amid treacherous lava rivers on a planet of death and horror. Darth Vader’s home, apparently, does.

Because yes, the castle is on Mustafar, that awful world where the Sith Lord’s final transformation from Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader took place as he battled Obi-Wan Kenobi and lost several limbs, and his soul, for his trouble. (Oddly, while Rogue One goes out of its way to tag each planet’s name with onscreen titles, Mustafar is not specifically named. But Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo recently all but confirmed that’s where the castle is located.)

It’s a creepy scene, as we see an obscured but unmasked Vader floating in a bacta tank. The guy has never been the same since his duel with Obi-Wan, and this rare glimpse into his inner sanctum shows us how tortured his day-to-day must be, struggling to heal himself of wounds that ultimately cannot be healed. He has two Imperial guards protecting him during this vulnerable time, and a pale Imperial creep of a toadie who Google tells us is called Vaneé.

Vader castle concept art from The Empire Strikes Back (Image from The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back)

Living on Mustafar of all places poses some interesting questions about Vader’s state of mind, but first let’s talk a bit about the history of Darth Vader’s castle. In fact, Vader’s castle was almost in The Empire Strikes Back. Legendary concept artist Ralph McQuarrie created art depicting the structure (with at least one image placing it amid lava, as per George Lucas’ request), though of course the idea didn’t make it into the final film. Decades later, the castle almost showed up in The Force Awakens, with Vader’s daughter Leia now in possession of it (and using it as a front for the Resistance). That’s a cool idea, that Leia would inherit dear old Dad’s place, but it didn’t pan out either in the end. (The idea morphed into Maz Kanata’s castle.) But the notion of a palace on a volcanic world can also be traced back to McQuarrie’s Return of the Jedi concepts, where the Emperor’s throne room was originally depicted in some kind of lava lake.

Additionally, the idea of showing the Emperor’s right-hand man’s home isn’t new to Expanded Universe (a.k.a. Legends) fans. Known as Bast Castle, the spot where Vader hung up his cape in the EU wasn’t on Mustafar but rather a world called Vjun. It was an equally inhospitable planet, however, soaked with acid rain and barely capable of sustaining life. (In the EU, Vader also had other pads, including a skyscraper-like palace on Coruscant and a “fortress retreat” on the Great Western Sea of Coruscant. Wait, Coruscant has seas?!)

Concept art of the Emperor’s throne room from Return of the Jedi (Image via StarWars.com)

So while it’s very cool to finally see the castle in live-action and on the big screen, the implications of Vader choosing to live on Mustafar are pretty troubling. Think about it: This is the world where he was mutilated and burned, scarred almost beyond recognition, requiring robotic limbs and an artificial lung to live… and he received these wounds from his best friend and mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Also, Mustafar is where Anakin slaughtered dozens of helpless Separatist leaders, but even worse, this is the planet where he choked out his wife, Padme Amidala. He ended Revenge of the Sith thinking he had killed her, and really in a way, he kind of did.

So why would Vader choose to live on the planet where so much of his suffering originated? Perhaps he returns to Mustafar, lives on Mustafar, because that’s where he was truly born. Vader wasn’t born on Coruscant when Palapatine named him Darth, and it wasn’t when he betrayed the Jedi, invaded the Temple, and killed those younglings. His birth came, literally in fire, with the culmination of his hatred and anger after being defeated by Obi-Wan. On Mustafar he lost his friend, his comrades the Jedi, his pregnant wife, and, as a result, himself.

So when Vader returns to his castle on Mustafar to soak in his bacta tank, he’s going home. It’s all he has left in the wake of Anakin’s destruction -- fear, anger, hatred, and probably, inconceivable regret.

Talk to Senior Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura.

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