Duel on Mustafar

"I have failed you, Anakin. I have failed you." "I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over!" "Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil!" "From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!" "Well, then, you are lost!" "This is the end for you, my master."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader

The Duel on Mustafar was a confrontation where the recently apprenticed Sith Lord Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker, fought his former best friend, and Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, on the planet Mustafar in the Outer Rim. After learning of Skywalker's downfall from Grand Master Yoda at the Jedi Temple, Kenobi arrived on Mustafar, where he attempted to reason with Vader, not believing Emperor Palpatine, also known as the Sith Master, Darth Sidious, had taken control of his mind. However, Vader no longer cared for their friendship, and quickly claimed that Kenobi was his enemy; the pair then ignited their lightsabers and locked blades, fighting through the murder scene in the Mustafarian mining complex, where Vader had recently slaughtered the members of the Separatist Council, the legislative branch of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

The fight progressed on the structures of the massive facility that hovered over the deadly lava of Mustafar. Kenobi and Vader soon found themselves trapped on a structure collection arm connected on the facility when it was separated from the facility by the lava and descended onto a hot stream. Kenobi managed to fall onto a lava skiff that was heading in the opposite direction of the fallen collection arm in the stream. Vader soon followed and jumped onto a droid collector where the two continued to fight. Kenobi managed to jump onto a high lava bend slope, and claimed that the duel was over due to his advantage. The Sith attempted to follow, but Vader, in his hubris, failed to block Kenobi's final attack, a powerful maneuver, which severed Vader's remaining organic limbs, and Vader rolled down to the edge of the lava bend, bringing the duel to an end.

Then, Kenobi—overcome with disgust and remorse over his friend's transformation—cried out that he had believed that Vader was the Chosen One and his destiny was to destroy the Sith, but instead he joined them. Unable, but most likely unwilling, to connect with his former best friend, the Sith was consumed by the fires of the lava that leaked onto the lava bend; leaving Vader to die, Kenobi retreated and took his fallen apprentice's lightsaber. Afterwards, Vader's new master, Darth Sidious, found his injured apprentice and took him back to the galactic capital of Coruscant, now known as Imperial Center, to be rebuilt; the suit that Vader donned there would be one that the Dark Lord would wear for the rest of his life.

Prelude
"Don't make me kill you." "Anakin, My allegiance is to the Republic, to Democracy!" "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy." "Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must." "You will try."

- Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, before the beginning of their duel

During the Clone Wars, the Son lured Anakin Skywalker into the Well of the Dark Side and corrupted him with a premonition of the duel on Mustafar. The duel began after Darth Sidious, as the newly appointed Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine, tasked Darth Vader, his new apprentice, with the assassination of the leaders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems on the volcanic Outer Rim planet Mustafar, in order to bring an end to the Clone Wars. Vader was followed to Mustafar by his wife, Padmé Amidala, whom he wounded after seeing Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi; Vader wrongly believed that Amidala had led Kenobi, his former master, to Mustafar in order to kill him.

The duel
"It's over Anakin, I have the high ground." "You underestimate my power." "Don't try it!"

- Moments before Vader attempted to attack Obi-Wan

The duel was lengthy and brutal with neither of the combatants gaining the edge as their abilities countered each other's. The duel took place across the Mustafarian mining complex, with the two combatants making their way through hallways, conference rooms, and command centers, the last of which led to their inadvertently triggering a meltdown on the facility when their misdirected weapons cut across a control panel. As a result, the facility's shielding deactivated and the large stalks overhanging the lava river collapsed when covered with erupting lava. The fight moved onto the lava river&mdash;where Mustafarian workers witnessed it, unaware that the Confederacy was defeated as the facility collapsed&mdash;before ending on an embankment where Obi-Wan leaped. He begged Vader not to attack, but Vader, in his anger, refused to listen and attacked, to no avail as his left arm and both legs were severed upon attack.

Following an impassioned indictment by Kenobi of how Vader, believed to have been the Chosen One, was meant to destroy the Sith instead of joining them, Vader's body burst into flames from the intense heat from the lava river, and he was burned alive. Unwilling to murder his defenseless enemy in cold blood, Kenobi took Vader's lightsaber and remorsefully left him on the embankment for dead, before leaving the planet with the dying Amidala.

Aftermath
"Your majesty, this way!" "There he is. He's still alive. Get a medical capsule, immediately." "Yes, sir. Right away."

- A Clone shock trooper and Emperor Palpatine, upon discovering Vader's immolated body.

Sidious sensed his apprentice's struggle from across the galaxy and personally traveled to Mustafar to retrieve him. Sidious then brought Vader back to Imperial Center, where he placed his badly wounded apprentice into a cybernetic suit of armor that would keep him alive for the rest of his life. Kenobi, meanwhile, brought Amidala to Polis Massa, where she died shortly after giving birth to her and Anakin's twins, Luke and Leia. Kenobi delivered Luke to his former apprentice's step-brother Owen Lars and his wife Beru on Tatooine and went into exile on the same planet where he kept watch over him and took on a new name - Ben Kenobi. The final encounter between Kenobi and Vader took place on the Death Star, where Vader killed his former master. Years later during the Battle of Endor, Anakin, inspired by his son, found redemption, sacrificing himself by killing Sidious and rejoining Kenobi in the Force.

Behind the scenes
The duel on Mustafar was first indirectly mentioned in the 1977 original Star Wars film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The origins of the duel traced from the original trilogy, such as the conversation between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader aboard the Death Star or Vader's numerous visible scars. The duel itself was first depicted on-screen in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith as the climactic battle of the film. By then, it had already become a highly anticipated event in Star Wars fandom.

The duel itself took George Lucas nearly two weeks to complete, and only took up half of a paper. During the animatics stage, Steven Spielberg, Lucas' friend and a renowned Hollywood filmmaker, participated in the duel's production. Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, who played Obi-Wan and Anakin, practiced the duel constantly for several months. As a result, the speed in which Vader and Kenobi engage the duel in the completed film is the speed in which it was filmed, without being digitally accelerated. Lucas named the duel during an interview in the documentary Within a Minute: The Making of Episode III.

In the DVD commentary of Episode III, George Lucas pointed out that during the scene in which Vader Force chokes Obi-Wan, the latter is holding the former's lightsaber, because Obi-Wan was at one point going to take Vader's blade and shots for such scene were actually filmed, but edited out from the final cut for pacing reasons.

As seen in The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, concept art by Sang Jun Lee shows it was originally intended for Kenobi and Skywalker to fight against a being known as the Mustafar Monster while having the duel. This idea was scrapped by the finished version of the film. Additionally, Vader was meant to beg Kenobi for help reaching out for him, but Kenobi, while acknowledging he loved him and initially thinking he should help him, refuses to help, with Anakin's eyes turning from blue to the trademark yellow of the Sith.

Controversy
Before the duel's beginning, Vader tells Kenobi "If you are not with me, then you are my enemy!", Kenobi responds with "Only a Sith deals in absolutes". George Lucas intended for this line to reflect what he believed to be the viewers' views on then President of the United States George W. Bush's War on Terror, particularly Bush's black-and-white views of the world.

Non-canon appearances

 * Revenge of the Sith: Episode III (LEGO Star Wars)
 * William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge: Star Wars Part the Third