Momin

"Empires have risen and fallen since my birth, great ages of the galaxy have passed&hellip;but here I stand."

- Momin

Momin was a male Sith Lord and sculptor. At a young age, his ideas and aspirations got him imprisoned by those who despised his work. A Sith lady named Shaa freed him, claiming Momin as her Sith apprentice and trained him in the dark side of the Force. Momin, though, killed Shaa, feeling he was second to none and began exploring the lore of the dark side. He eventually built a superweapon which had the power to destroy a city, Momin, however wanted to freeze the people in time during their moment of terror. As the Jedi intervened during Momin's attempt, he lost control of the energy he wielded and his physical body was destroyed, leaving only his mask with his consciousness inside.

Many years later, Darth Sidious recovered Momin's mask from the Jedi Archive vault. After learning of Momin's story from the mask, Sidious gave it to Darth Vader as a gift for his journey to Mustafar, which Vader sought to make his personal stronghold. There, the mask killed Vader's Chief Imperial Architect, Colonel Alva Brenne, and possessed her aide, Lieutenant Roggo. As Vader examined the mask, it told him of Momin's past. Vader then allowed it to possess a Mustafarian and grant Momin's consciousness a body. Vader discussed a creation Momin had designed, and agreed to let him build it for him.

Momin, with the help of Imperial resources supplied by Vader, began designing a fortress that could tune the energies of the dark side locus on Mustafar and open the door to the dark side of the Force. The ninth design became successful, and whilst Vader was distracted by an invasion of Mustafarians, Momin undermined him and opened the door to the dark side. He used it to resurrect his physical body. Vader soon returned to the fortress and used it to obliterate the Mustafarian attackers. Momin then confronted him and, after a short duel, Vader used the Force to ram him with a rock. Momin was crushed against the wall and died.

Years later, Momin's mask was on the Imperial yacht Imperialis. During the ships infiltration, the mask corrupted two infiltrators and the others were forced to abandon and destroy the Imperialis.

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. Momin received a pair of lightsabers which he used to sculpt his own mask, before disfiguring his face to wear it. During his training, 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 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 apparent destruction by vaporizing into nothing, leaving only his mask which contained his spirit.

The living mask
"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, Vader ran into a group of Mustafarians. He killed two of them, but used the mask to possess another one, 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.

Construction began with Momin's design for Vader's fortress. With the help of Imperial resources sent to Mustafar, it soon finished. However, when Vader attempted to open the door to the dark side, it failed, and the fortress was wrecked. The pair tried again with four more designs, but they too failed. Vader's efforts to open the door also affected Mustafar, causing lava storms to ensue chaos on the Mustafarians. Lava fleas began attacking the construction site regularly due to this. Following the failure of Momin's fifth design, Vader killed his body as a punishment, having his mask possess a stormtrooper. Momin's sixth design joined the streak of failed designs and Vader killed his newer body and had the helmet possess an Imperial officer. Momin had confidence in the seventh design, but it too failed, and Vader replaced his body with a lava flea's.

Resurrection and death
When Momin's eighth design failed, Vader once again killed his body and had the mask put on an Imperial construction worker. This time, Vader assured Momin he would not be having another chance. Momin's faith in the ninth was fresh, giving him a great amount of confidence in it. Vader began to channel the Force from inside the Sith Cave and the pair realized it was working. Momin, though, told Vader he may want to wait for the right moment to open the door to the dark side. Vader pushed him away with the Force and concluded that that the moment was then. Captain Junus, the commander of the fortress' garrison then contacted Vader about another lava flea attack, one the Imperial forces could not thwart. Vader was forced to leave the Sith cave and deal with this. That was when Momin double crossed Vader and opened the door to the dark side himself. There, he resurrected his original body and his substitute body gave his mask to him. He then killed the Imperial construction worker.

Vader fought the attacking Mustafarians, but they were able to wipe out his Imperial army using the lava flow. Vader survived and returned to the chamber where Momin was waiting. Momin stayed out of sight as he controlled the fortress with the Force to obliterate the invading army. Momin then stepped out and accused Vader of attempting to control the dark side, whereas he should have been seeking to serve it. Momin then attacked Vader and claimed that he was weak, lamenting the apparent regression of Sith power in the millennia since his death. He also claimed that Vader would not be able to open the door to the Dark Side, as the dark side would have rejected him. As the two Sith Lords dueled, Vader was dealt several devastating wounds. Reaching out with the Force, he rammed a massive stone slab into Momin. The stone crushed him against the wall and he died.

Legacy
"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 mask 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
"The dark side does not serve us. We serve the dark side. If we glorify it through our acts and our work and our art, it gives us power. It gives us life. Even life eternal."

- Momin, to Darth Vader

From a young age, Momin 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. Following her death, Momin became very independent and sought out the lore of the dark side for himself. He came to realize that normal people did not understand his creations, having locked him away when he was younger, and 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.

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. He eventually believed that if he served and glorified the dark side, it would give him eternal life. His views of the Force were viewed as so extreme, that neither Jedi nor Sith holocrons mentioned him.

Momin, like all Sith, was deceitful and power hungry. He considered himself second to no one and killed his Sith master Shaa during a duel. When Momin first conversed with Vader, he showed himself to be eager to build a design he created. To Vader's disillusion, he really wanted to resurrect himself by opening the door to the dark side. When the door was able to be opened, Momin took his chance and reunited his helmet with his original body.

Momin was a male individual with gray skin and hazel eyes. He had long, blonde hair which spiked out more as he got older. He disfigured his face during his training with Shaa, hiding this with his mask.

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 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. Following Momin's death, his spirit became trapped inside his mask and could possess other individuals.

Equipment
During his time as a Sith, Momin wielded a pair of red Sith lightsabers resembling rapiers. Using these lightsabers, he sculpted his own helmet, which he wore frequently for as long as he lived.

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. Momin later appeared in Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 22: Fortress Vader, Part IV.

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
 * Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 24: Fortress Vader, Part VI
 * Lando, Part IV