The State of Mustafar After Vader Immortal

Remember Mustafar? Sure you do. Not only was the infamous mining world the location for Anakin Skywalker’s final transformation into Darth Vader, but the molten planet has featured in many other Star Wars media, such as the Star Wars the Clone Wars animated series, as well as more recent films such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker. Another place it prominently appears is in the VR game Vader Immortal, in which this mysterious planet’s origins are finally revealed.

The Cost of Resurrection

In-game screenshot, just before entering Mustafar’s atmosphere

Through the course of the game, it is explained that Mustafar was once a lush, beautiful forest world, possibly somewhat similar to Endor or Naboo. The planet was reduced to the volcanic state depicted in the majority of Star Wars media by a cataclysmic event where a powerful Force user named Lady Corvax used a device known as the Aeon Engine. This engine was built to harness the power from an artifact held sacred to Mustafar’s natives, known as the Bright Star crystal.

The Engine was supposedly designed to bring the dead back to life, as Lady Corvax had intended to do with her late husband, but in attempting this it instead shifted the planet out of orbit and placed it in between two gas planets, heating the planet and leaving it as the rocky molten wasteland we see in Revenge of the Sith.

Furthermore, the importance of keeping this Bright Star from Vader’s possession in Vader Immortal is stressed by stating that there are hundreds of worlds for him to consume in pursuit of using the Aeon Engine to restore his own lost love, Padmé Amidala. So, basically, “No pressure or anything, but if you don’t succeed, the whole galaxy could end up looking like Mustafar, or worse.”

Terra Nova?

In-game screenshot, the surface of Mustafar

Regardless, the Aeon Engine is ultimately destroyed during the events of Vader Immortal, allowing the Bright Star to be brought back to its rightful owners, who can begin using it to restore Mustafar to its former glory.

This explains, then, why by the time Episode IX rolls around that the planet is seen as a forest world, having regained some of its vegetation. Though it does seem to have taken quite a while, it is interesting to see Mustafar slowly regaining its natural beauty. Certainly makes us wonder what will be in store for it next.

Vader Immortal is available on Oculus and PlayStation VR.