Fortress Vader

"Few people have the honor of seeing Lord Vader in his sanctum."

- Vaneé, to Orson Krennic

Fortress Vader, also known as Darth Vader's castle and Vader's personal abode, was a stronghold located on the volcanic world of Mustafar. Once the site of a Sith temple, during the reign of the Galactic Empire it served as the personal residence of Darth Vader, a Sith Lord who wore life support armor after sustaining grievous injuries on Mustafar. The castle was designed by the preserved consciousness of the ancient Sith Lord and artist Momin, whose haunted mask possessed an Imperial architect and made him create the fortress's finalized blueprints.

Details
Fortress Vader was a castle designed by Lord Momin and occupied by the Sith Lord Darth Vader. It was constructed by Vader himself as a testament to his own might. It was located on the site of his greatest defeat, and was built over an ancient Sith cave. The complex's location and design came as much from the dark side of the Force as it did Vader's personal history. The central tower was constructed out of obsidian, and its tuning towers served as conduits for the dark side. Within, Vader maintained a bacta tank which he would rest inside.

History
"I suggest you keep all you witnessed to yourself."

- Vaneé, to Orson Krennic before Krennic's departure from Mustafar

Shortly after the rogue Inquisitor chase, which Darth Vader successfully dealt with, Vader's master, Galactic Emperor Palpatine, rewarded him by offering Vader a chance to build a base on any planet of his choosing. Vader chose to live in the unforgiving environment of the volcanic planet of Mustafar, as it was highly linked to his connection with the Dark Side. Palpatine accepted and sent Vader to the planet, accompanied by the Imperial colonel Alva Brenne and Lieutenant Roggo, as well as the possessed mask of the Sith Lord Momin, which Palpatine had found in a hidden room in the Jedi Archives years prior and had already communicated with. Upon arrival, Vader scouted the area and decided to have the fortress to be built over an ancient Sith cave. which Vader had meditated in a few years prior. Vader returned to medidate in the cave, but was interrupted by Brenne, who had created a design for the fortress. Vader rejected it, and Brenne returned to the ship.

Upon her return, Momin's mask killed Colonel Brenne and possessed Lt. Roggo, finally giving Momin a corporeal form after many centuries. During his possession of Roggo, Momin created the first blueprints for the fortress, designing it in such a way to maximize its attunement to the Dark Side. Momin then showed these blueprints to Vader upon his return. Vader killed the possessed Roggo and took Momin's mask into the Sith cave, where the mask gave Vader a vision of Momin's past and his love for art, and then attempted to possess Vader, though Vader resisted. Shortly after, a group of Mustafarians attacked, and the mask possessed one of them. In his new body, Momin stated that the design he had for the fortress would act as a tuning fork for the Force, and promised Vader that if it was constructed, Vader would finally be able to achieve a way to meet his lost love again. Vader threatened Momin, stating that Palpatine had already lied about this to him prior and that Momin would be killed if he did not live up to his word.

The fortress was completed as early as 5 BBY. By then, the Jedi fugitive Kanan Jarrus had heard rumors about Mustafar, specifically referring to it as a place where Jedi survivors were sent to die if captured by the Galactic Empire. Before Jarrus could be taken to the surface, however, he was rescued from the Star Destroyer Sovereign in orbit by his fellow rebels.

Sometime between 2 BBY and 0 BBY, members of the Rebel Alliance conducted a mission to infiltrate an Imperial base near the castle. Once Alliance members were inside, they discovered a proto-saber, although Darth Vader was soon able to recover the lightsaber. After a brief engagement with Vader, the rebels were able to escape.

In 0 BBY, Vader was meditating inside the bacta tank in his sanctum when Director Orson Krennic arrived. Sending Vader's assistant Vaneé to retrieve him, Krennic and Vader discussed the Death Star.

Following the War on Shu-Torun, Vader met with Admiral Kendal Ozzel and General Maximillian Veers to discuss the Empire's construction projects that had been delayed due to the Death Star's destruction. Ozzel and Veers stood behind Vader as the Dark Lord looked out the window of the chamber. Vader spent the majority of the meeting looking out over the Mustafar landscape.

Behind the scenes
"Ralph McQuarrie actually drew quite a few small thumbnail sketches [of Vader's castle] that were very intriguing. They were kind of angular versions of a tower, and I saw the potential of where he was going, and I just exaggerated that quite a bit."

- Doug Chiang

Darth Vader's castle first appeared in the Star Wars Anthology film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which was released in 2016. Inspired by unused Ralph McQuarrie sketches from Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, the design team for Rogue One gave the castle a tuning fork shape, leading director Gareth Edwards to suggest that it is "tuning the dark side." The concept was also used for the Temple of the Kyber, which represents a mirror image on the light side.

During the concept phase of the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, concept art titled "Vader Castle" was created by Erik Tiemens and Brett Northcutt, with the piece depicting TIE/IN interceptors exiting a fortress near a river of lava. In Star Wars Legends, Darth Vader had similar abodes, including a palace on Coruscant and a castle on Vjun.

In the Rebels Recon behind-the-scenes video for "Ghosts of Geonosis," Pablo Hidalgo directly confirmed that Darth Vader's castle is specifically where Tarkin was taking the captured Kanan Jarrus in the Season One finale of Star Wars Rebels. At the time, the series only said that he was being taken to Mustafar, and that Kanan had heard it was "where Jedi go to die." Even in Season One, Hidalgo knew that they were taking him to a castle Vader has on the surface - this wasn't established retroactively but was planned out. Hidalgo also directly established that Vader's castle was definitely constructed on Mustafar by the start of the series, but he stated that he wouldn't reveal exactly when and how it was built.

A hologram of the early design for Vader's castle can be seen in the twenty-first issue of the Marvel comic book series Star Wars: Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith. This was one of the early designs by concept artist Erik Tiemens during the concept phase of Rogue One, supplied by Lucasfilm Ltd.'s art department as noted by Phil Szostak.

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
 * Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire
 * Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series – Episode I
 * Tales from Vader's Castle 1: The Haunting of the Ghost
 * Tales from Vader's Castle 2: Count Dooku: Prince of Darkness!
 * Tales from Vader's Castle 3: The Briar Witch
 * Tales from Vader's Castle 4
 * Tales from Vader's Castle 5
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story novelization
 * Star Wars: Rogue One: A Junior Novel
 * Star Wars: Rogue One Graphic Novel Adaptation
 * Rogue One Adaptation 4
 * Aftermath
 * Aftermath