Duel on Mustafar/Legends

The Duel on Mustafar was an event in the Great Jedi Purge where new Sith apprentice Darth Vader was severely injured by Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar, and would later be entombed in his cybernetic form. It was one of the greatest battles in Jedi and Sith history and influenced the Force and the whole galaxy forever.

Prelude


The duel occurred in the aftermath of the Mission to Mustafar, in which Darth Vader slaughtered the Separatist Council and ended the Clone Wars. His wife, Padmé Amidala, came to him with Obi-Wan Kenobi hiding in the cargo hold of her Naboo Skiff. Vader misunderstood Kenobi's presence, thinking Padmé had brought the Jedi to kill him. In his rage, Vader strangled his wife to near death, rendering her unconscious. Kenobi attempted to reason with Vader, but the Sith Lord would have none of it. Unable to see eye-to-eye with his former best friend, Kenobi drew his lightsaber, stating that he would do what he must. Vader countered that Kenobi would try, before leaping at his former master.

The Duel
"My duel with Vader was awful in its savagery."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Using the jump as a fulcrum for a vicious overhand, Vader began a sudden flurry of bladework, brutally driving Kenobi back. As they reached the end of the platform, Kenobi found himself with his back to the edge and attempted to rally, working his way around Vader. However, Vader easily held off Kenobi's half-hearted attacks and kicked him in the chest, sending the Jedi flying. Fortunately, Kenobi was able to recover and landed on his feet. With that, Vader attacked, viciously driving Kenobi back along the corridors and catwalks towards the control room. However, Kenobi was able to hold off Vader's brutal Form V with his own defensive Form III training.

As they entered a small antechamber outside the control room, Kenobi attempted to take advantage of an opening in Vader's offense, seizing the Sith Lord's left hand, pulling him into an arm-lock and striking at the back of his neck. He was unsuccessful, as Vader managed to bring his blade up to defend himself. Quickly wrestling himself free, Vader renewed his attack, forcing Kenobi to retreat through a small corridor into the control room. As they dueled through the control room, they eventually fought their way into the conference room.

As their fight degenerated into a violent brawl, Kenobi attempted to use his lightsaber against an unarmed Vader, only for Vader to take hold of Kenobi's wrist with one hand and his neck with the other, bending him back. Kenobi managed to kick Vader off him and regain his feet. Vader suddenly charged at Kenobi, drop-kicking him. As Kenobi fell, he dropped the lightsaber, but was able to quickly stand up again. Vader followed suit, charging again, prompting Kenobi to respond by 'clothes-lining' him. As Vader flipped over and landed heavily on his back, Kenobi called his lightsaber to his hand and attempted to finish the battle with an overhand blow. He was too late, as Vader retrieved his own weapon and blocked the blow.



As their duel resumed, their battle took them back into the control room, where they engaged in a swift flurry of swordplay that ended with a bladelock. Kenobi attempted to end the lock with a sudden Force push, but Vader countered with his own, beginning a vicious power-struggle. Eventually the air-pocket compressed by their combined Force pushes ruptured and exploded, sending both duelists flying against opposite walls. Vader recovered first, leaping across the control room at Kenobi, who managed to evade the attack. As Kenobi pinned Vader's blade against the console, their misdirected weapons accidentally destroyed the power controls for the facility's shields, allowing heat and flying lava to weaken the collection arm systems on the complex exterior.



As Vader renewed his attacked, Kenobi managed to direct one of his blows against the door controls behind him. As the door opened, Kenobi kicked Vader back to give himself a moment to regain his composure. Vader quickly charged again, driving Kenobi out onto the exterior balcony. As they battled along the balcony, Vader kicked Kenobi hard in the face, driving him further back, and returning the favor for Kenobi's kick.

Driven to the edge of the balcony, Kenobi leaped backward onto a steam pipe and retreated along it, with Vader in close pursuit. Attempting to gain the offensive, Kenobi attacked first, only to be driven back by Vader's relentless assault. Leaping off the pipe onto one of the collection arms below them, Kenobi again attacked. However, his blows were easily fended off by Vader, who knocked Kenobi aside with a backhand blow. Vader quickly seized the offensive, viciously driving Kenobi back along the arm, despite Kenobi staunch resistance.

As they neared the end, a massive spurt of lava erupted onto the collection arm. Retreating to the relative safety of the structure at the end of the arm, they watched as the heat and weight of the lava melted the superstructure of the arm, without the shield to protect it. As the arm broke off the complex, the combatants fled up along its length, the arm plummeting into the lava river below. As the collection arm was dragged along by the river, Vader kept up his onslaught, driving Kenobi further up the arm. As the river dragged the collection arm towards a lava fall, Kenobi leaped onto one of the severed support cables, with Vader following. After a quick bout of swinging attacks, Kenobi swung out away from the arm to the utmost limit of the cable and let go, landing on a large repulsorlift platform.

As the arm began to topple over the lava fall, Vader swung back onto it and charged along its length before leaping onto a droid lava collector. Directing the collector towards Kenobi's platform, Vader resumed his attack.

Fall of Vader


As Kenobi attempted to make it to shore, he was easily cut off by the nimble lava collector droid Vader was perched on. Slashing at Vader, they began another bout of bladework before Kenobi broke off. Again attempting to reason with the Sith Lord, Kenobi only received more pro-dark side rhetoric and a threat. With that, Vader leaped above Kenobi onto the platform, landing awkwardly and almost losing balance. Kenobi attempted to take advantage of this and attacked, but Vader defended himself and counter-attacked, beginning another flurry of swordwork. As they locked blades, the platform neared the shore, allowing Kenobi to disengage and leap to the "high ground".

Perched on a rise above the lava river, Kenobi warned Vader not to attack, but the Sith Lord, in his arrogance and rage, ignored him. Vader leapt at Kenobi, blade angled for the kill. Unfortunately, he left himself open, allowing Kenobi to executed a vicious Mou kei finishing move, dismembering Vader with two swift strikes, severing Vader's left arm and both his legs. Dropping his lightsaber, Vader rolled to the brink of the lava river. Attempting to scramble up the shore with his remaining arm, Vader only slid closer to the lava.



Kenobi took Anakin's lightsaber while expressing his regrets, shame, and disappointment. Vader's clothing ignited from the lava, burning him horribly. Kenobi refused to kill the Sith Lord, believing that his ultimate fate would be decided by the Force, and doing so would cause him to start down the path of the dark side. Kenobi left Vader to whatever end as the flames slowly calmed down from the immolation. So ended the kinship of two of the greatest Jedi in history. Their fate would be decided by the Force.

Aftermath
"Obi-Wan? Is Anakin all right?"

- Padmé Amidala



Palpatine, sensing that his new apprentice was in danger, left Coruscant after his duel with Yoda, and, accompanied by a squad of shock troopers, journeyed to Mustafar in a Theta shuttle. They landed in the Klegger Corp Mining Facility and recovered the injured Sith apprentice. Darth Vader's maimed, crippled body was taken to the Emperor Palpatine Surgical Reconstruction Center on Coruscant for treatment. Darth Vader would wear a respirator and full body suit for the rest of his life.

Padmé Amidala knew Anakin Skywalker had turned to the dark side, and, even though she believed there was still good in him, her heart was too badly broken, and she died shortly after giving birth to Luke and Leia&mdash;on Polis Massa. Kenobi went into exile after helping to deliver Padmé's children. He took Anakin's son Luke to Tatooine to be raised by Anakin's stepbrother and his wife, while his twin sister, Leia, went to Alderaan to be raised by Bail Organa and Queen Breha. Kenobi hid on Tatooine, and waited for the day when Luke would be trained as a Jedi.

Obi-Wan, who had assumed Vader was dead for good, was shocked to learn that he was still alive after watching a HoloNet news report in a cantina on Tatooine about Vader's victory at Kashyyyk. Qui-Gon's Force ghost, however, told Obi-Wan that Vader would never return to Tatooine, as the planet held the remnants of his former persona of Anakin Skywalker, which would be too painful for Vader to face.

Twenty-three years later, Darth Vader confronted Luke Skywalker onboard the second Death Star. The young Skywalker tried to use high ground to his advantage. Apparently, Vader had learned from his mistake at Mustafar and did not leap up after his son, instead opting to dislodge him from his perch using a throw of his lightsaber and shifting the advantage to himself.

Behind the scenes


During the animatics stage, Steven Spielberg participated in the production of this duel.

In the video game adaptation, an alternate ending would have Vader impale Obi-Wan's torso, and have Vader receive his new red lightsaber from Darth Sidious, which he would then plunge into Sidious's chest, declaring that he now ruled the Empire. In addition, Padmé was not even present in the duel of the video game and a number of lines were not there.

This battle is the second of only two times in the whole Star Wars series that the same colored lightsabers fight each other. The first is Obi-Wan's fight with General Grievous.

Star Wars: Complete Locations appears to map the battle incorrectly, showing the combatants abandoning the arm almost immediately, never even making it to the falls, and traveling downriver on the droid and repulsor platform.

It was already established in Lucas' notes and canon that Master and Apprentice had a semi-final duel, and Vader owed his injuries to lava. Mentions of that duel and Vader's fall had been mentioned in EU sources years before the movie, and the duel was a highly anticipated event in Star Wars fandom.

Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen practiced the duel constantly for several months. As a result of their practice, the speed in which Obi-Wan and Vader engage the duel (in the completed film) is the speed in which it was filmed, and was not digitally accelerated.

In other media and the novel, Anakin's line I hate you! was spoken after Obi-Wan says ''You were my brother Anakin! I loved you!''

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith game
 * The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * The Last of the Jedi: Against the Empire
 * The Farlander Papers
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi novel
 * Star Wars -Phantasmagoria-
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War