Momin

"If people feel nothing when encountering something you have created&hellip; then you have created nothing."

- Momin

Momin was a Sith Lord and sculptor. From a young age, he sculpted his own unique creations using his mind and the force. However, his ideas and aspirations got him imprisoned by those who despised his work. That was until a Sith named Shaa came to free him. Lady Shaa claimed him as her Sith apprentice and she trained him in the dark side of the Force. Momin, though, did not think of himself as second to anyone, and killed Shaa during a training session. Without a Sith Master, Momin was free to explore the lore of the dark side and came to build his own superweapon. Momin's superweapon had the power to destroy a city, but what he actually wanted was to freeze the people in time as they were about to be incinerated. Momin attempted this, but when the Jedi intervened, he lost control of the energy he wielded and burned to death, leaving only his mask with his consciousness inside.

After the death of his physical body, his story was suppressed, and by the time of the Age of the Empire, all of his works were believed to have been lost. After Order 66 and the hunt for Jocasta Nu, Darth Sidious recovered the Momin's mask from the Jedi Archive vault. After learning from the mask of Momin's story, Sidious gave it to Vader as a gift for his journey to Mustafar, where Vader sought to make the world his own personal stronghold. There, the mask killed Vader's Chief Imperial Architect, Colonel Alva Brenne, and possessed Lieutenant Roggo, her aide. When Vader examined the mask, it told him of Momin's past, like it did with Sidious. Vader then let it possess a Mustafarian and grant Momin's consciousness a body. Vader discussed a creation Momin had designed, using Roggo's body, and agreed to let him build it for him.

Years later, when infiltrating the Imperial yacht Imperialis, Korin Pers, an expert in antiquities, told Lando Calrissian that she believed the Sith artifacts on the ship were created by Lord Momin. Unfortunately for them, Momin's mask corrupted two of their team and they were forced to abandon and destroy the ship.

Quest for power
"I, Momin, was a sculptor of the mind. They locked me away so they would not have to see it."

- Momin, to Darth Vader

From a young age, Momin experimented with the Force and created things. One day, his mother was searching for their rada-cat, Flitta, when she found that Momin had mutilated the animal to make his own sculpture. Momin developed his use of the Force to sculpt more of his creations, but when he showed his work in front of others, they scowled and looked with abject horror at it. Subsequently they took his tools and locked him away.

Although he was imprisoned, Momin's name spread throughout the galaxy, and eventually, a Sith Lady named Shaa came and freed him. She made him her Sith apprentice and taught him about the dark side of the Force. Many things that Momin knew about himself but never fully understood finally became clear to him. However, finding the role of an apprentice distasteful, he killed his Master in a duel. Now without a Sith Master, Momin aspired to learn about the dark side and visited many great sites. He never took an apprentice of his own and, instead, became enamored with the idea of creating a work of art that would be worthy of the dark side of the Force itself. To that end, he continued his journey and sought the knowledge of places strong in the dark side, as well as Sith holocrons.

Afterwards, Momin embarked upon his newest project. With resources he had inherited from Shaa, and the assistance of acolytes who were desperate to help him in his work, he designed his own weapon: an engine with enough power to obliterate an entire city. Momin planned to pour the Force into his engine at the moment of ignition and use it to slow down time, forever trapping the expressions of horror and pain on the city's inhabitants forever. When the Jedi found Momin, though, the presence of the light side of the Force disrupted his concentration and made him lose control over the engine, which led to his own destruction. In the aftermath, only his mask remained, with his consciousness engraved in it.

Journey back to the Sith
"The paths he walked were deemed&hellip; heretical. His story was suppressed."

- Darth Sidious, on Momin

Momin was considered a heretic by the Sith and his teachings were covered up. His name was never recorded in either Jedi holocrons or Sith holocrons, and his unique uses in the force were never replicated. Many years after his death, his works were thought to have been lost.

Momin's mask was stored in a secret vault in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. 19 Years before the Battle of Yavin the Sith Lord Darth Vader fought the former Chief Librarian Jocasta Nu in the Temple, she fled into the vault which led to Vader learning of its existence. After killing the former Jedi Vader informed his master Darth Sidious of the vault and the Sith Lord took the helmet into his collection of Sith artifacts.

Aiding Darth Vader
"You created this design, in your last body. Tell me what it is.''" "''The door to the dark side is locked. This is the key. Your beloved waits for you there, Vader. My fortress will tune the energies of the locus. It is your first step towards using the power of the dark side to pierce the veil of time, between life and death."

- Darth Vader and Momin

When Sidious later examined the mask, Momin's consciousness revealed his past to him. Years later, Sidious gifted the helmet to Vader, believing that the artifact would guide his apprentice during his studies on Mustafar. The mask came to possess Lieutenant Roggo during Vader's visit, and Momin used the officer's body to design a fortress. When Vader discovered what had happened, Momin had completed it, as well as murdering Vader's original sculptor, Alva Brenne. Vader took the mask to the Sith cave on Mustafar and reached into it with the force. Momin responded by showing his past to him. As he closed his story, he attempted to possess Vader with the mask, but Sith Lord resisted.

When leaving the cave, however, he ran into a group of Mustafarians. Vader killed many of them, but used the mask to possess one of them, giving Momin a body again. The two returned to the cave and Momin claimed the fortress he designed could tune the energies of the locus inside the Sith cave and open the door to the dark side. Momin then told Vader he would find his love, Padmé Amidala, there. Vader did not believe this and Force choked him. Momin, though, assured Vader he was not lying and yearned to build the fortress he had designed. Vader let him build it, but assured him he would suffer if he betrayed him.

Corrupting others
"Lando, unless I miss my guess, these are the pieces by Lord Momin--an ancient Sith sculptor. All of his works were thought lost."

- Korin Pers, to Lando Calrissian

A short time after the Battle of Yavin, Momin's was stored on Sidious' personal yacht the Imperialis. It was located in a vault of Sith artefacts, under the guard of the two of the Emperor's Royal Guard. The guards came to be corrupted during their time guarding it, but were relieved of this when Lando Calrissian and his team&mdash;consisting of Lobot, Korin Pers, Aleksin, and Pavol&mdash;stole the ship and killed them. Pers believed the Sith artifacts were created by Momin. While they examined at the artifacts, Momin's mask corrupted Aleksin and he turned on the others. Pavol was soon corrupted as well, and the others were forced to abandon and destroy the Imperialis.

Personality and traits
"If the work is to grow, we must never stop learning. Especially about ourselves."

- Momin, to Darth Vader

Momin was a male individual with blonde hair, hazel eyes, and gray skin. From a young age, he came to believe that if an individual did not feel anything when encountering a creation, then its creator had made nothing. He did not realize how powerful he could be until Lady Shaa began training him. Momin, however, considered himself second to no one and killed her during a duel. Afterwards, Momin became very independent and sought out the lore of the dark side for himself. Despite being a Sith, Momin was different than most of the Sith Lords. Rather than gain power and influence by destroying, he preferred to create. Momin came to realize that normal people did not understand his creations and that only the Force was his audience. In order to be worthy of it, he cultivated an idea that involved freezing a city of innocents in their expressions of horror and pain. His views of the Force were so extreme, that neither Jedi nor Sith holocrons mentioned him.

Skills and abilities
"I learned much from her, about the Force, and its dark side."

- Momin, on his training with Shaa

Although Momin was a sculptor, his creations were made in ways that others look at with horror. As a result, he was locked away because of it. Momin created unconventional uses for the Force that were never again replicated. His expertise in creating outweighed that of Alva Brenne's when she attempted to satisfy the needs of Darth Vader for his castle on Mustafar. Momin's skill in combat was learned from the Sith Lady Shaa. She trained him in the ways of the dark side and trained him in the art of lightsaber dueling. After killing Shaa, Momin began learning more for himself and discovered a great deal about the lore of the dark side.

Equipment
During his time as a Sith Lord, Momin wore his mask frequently, almost never being seen without it. He also wielded a pair of red Sith lightsabers resembling rapiers.

Behind the scenes
"Wrote Darth Vader #22 today - FORTRESS VADER Part 4, or "The Tale of Lord Momin." I really like it. I've had this story in mind since my Lando book (with @alexmaleev & @paulmounts) in 2015. Wasn't sure I'd ever get a chance to tell it."

- Charles Soule, on Twitter

Lord Momin was created by writer Charles Soule for the fourth issue of the Star Wars: Lando comic book series, published on September 6, 2015. Soule since had a further story in mind for Momin and wrote it in the form of Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 22: Fortress Vader, Part IV, the twenty-second issue of the Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith comic book series. Momin's backstory was first revealed in the prior issue Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 21: Fortress Vader, Part III, published on September 12, 2018. Momin first appeared in Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 22: Fortress Vader, Part IV, where his backstory was subsequently continued.

Appearances

 * Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 21: Fortress Vader, Part III
 * Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 22: Fortress Vader, Part IV
 * Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 23: Fortress Vader, Part V
 * Lando, Part IV