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The story of Darth Vader may be over, as far as Star Wars fans are concerned. But going by recent changes to the mythology of the Dark Side and the Sith equivalent of Force Ghosts, it isn't a stretch to say it seems like Lucasfilm is flat-out explaining how Darth Vader can return for Star Wars: Episode 9. At least, that's our theory.

These clues and teases will be lost on fans following only the Star Wars films, and turning a blind eye to the wider range of comic books - specifically the Darth Vader series following the titular Sith in his first years at the Emperor's side. While it's true that Luke Skywalker managed to "save" his father Anakin before he died, the space taken up by Darth Vader in the Dark Side of The Force doesn't just go away when Anakin decides to repent. As the newest comics show, the evil committed by Vader, the way in which Anakin's body was destroyed, and the fact that his armor survives all mean one thing: Vader can definitely return to end the Skywalker saga in Star Wars 9. Even if Anakin Skywalker doesn't.

STAR WARS JUST CONFIRMED SITH IMMORTALITY

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The issue of Sith Force Ghosts has long been debated by Star Wars fans, since the films suggest that appearing in the world even after death was some how a uniquely Jedi trait. Strange, since the idea of 'conquering death' is made out to be an evil, Dark Side power. And yet the Sith seem to lack the ability - until recently, when the Star Wars comics clarified the issue. Sith Lords are able to exert influence on the living world, just... in a far more Dark Side fashion.

When Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader both came across one of the twin lightsabers of new Sith Darth Atrius, both were soon overcome with uncharacteristic emotions. For Luke, a desire to slay his enemies with the saber. For Vader, to make sure Luke didn't beat his podracing record. Even then, the clear confirmation that Dark Side wielders can imbue their artifacts with traces of their Force acumen was a massive twist. But the comics were just getting started.

Comic fans were first introduced to Lord Momin, a legendary Sith sculptor when his helmet appeared in Emperor Palpatine's private collection of priceless artifacts. Even then, years ago, it was shown that the Sith Lord Momin's helmet could take control of unsuspecting people foolish enough to gaze into its glowing red eyes. Simply by looking upon the Dark Side 'residue' contained within it, the will of Lord Momin could drive a good man to murder. But the true bombshell came when Emperor Palpatine passed the helmet on to his pupil, Darth Vader.

THE BODY MAY DIE, BUT SITH MASKS SURVIVE?

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To make a long, incredibly important story short: Vader needed help in constructing his now infamous Mustafar castle to bring Padmé Amidala back from the dead. Since that job requires a different kind of Sith - a sculptor, in fact - Palpatine entrusts the helmet of Lord Momin to Vader. Apparently, Momin's work was considered too grotesque or evil for the Sith, who had him erased from their history. Naturally, that leads Vader to ask the most obvious question. If Lord Momin was a forgotten Sith, how is it that Emperor Palpatine knows his story?

The answer is delivered nonchalantly by Palpatine, claiming that "the mask told me." Despite how world-changing that update to the new mythology of the Sith and Star Wars, Palpatine isn't using any subjective perspectives in the description. When Vader arrives at the building site of what will be his castle, Lord Momin makes his will known by compelling the Imperial architects, and offering up his own designs. Realizing Palpatine wasn't kidding about communing with the spirit of an ancient, dead Sith Lord, Vader asks to hear the same story... and boy, does it ring some bells for modern fans of the Star Wars movies.

Not only the circumstances of Lord Momin's death, which allowed his Dark Side essence to go on living in his famous helmet, but even return to influence and manipulate those living decades, even centuries later. Paving the way for Vader's own helmet to do the same in Star Wars IX.

LORD MOMIN & DARTH VADER'S DEATHS ARE NO COINCIDENCE

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The story of Lord Momin, which he recounts to Vader personally is remarkable for a few reasons of its own. For starters, it adds the first Sith Lady Shaa to the new Star Wars canon, making her one of just nine official, named Sith Lords. And Lord Momin's murder of his Master, and his own grand plan to create a monument of death to the Dark Side are worth a read, as well. But for the purposes of understanding how and why Darth Vader can still survive into the new Star Wars movies, it's Lord Momin's death we must put under the microscope.

The similarities should be obvious for any devoted fan: Lord Momin prepares to execute his masterwork, a lifetime in the making, until the noble Jedi strike, foil the plan, and Momin's story ends with his body being burned down only to ash. When seeing a masked Sith consumed in flames, it's hard not to think back to Darth Vader's funeral pyre. Or, if you prefer, Anakin Skywalker's. Yet Return of the Jedi doesn't show Anakin's physical form being absorbed into The Force like Yoda, Obi-Wan, or even Luke Skywalker's death scene in The Last Jedi.

Fans may assume that nothing about the distinction is relevant, let alone suspect. However... well, let's just continue on to the major truth about the Dark Side of The Force that Lord Momin only realized after his death.

THE DARK SIDE KEPT MOMIN'S EVIL ALIVE - IN HIS HELMET

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The idea of conquering death has been a mark of the Sith and Dark Jedi from the very start of the expanded Star Wars universe, so it's no surprise that Lord Momin's worship of death and the Dark Side means his own immolation is more than it seems. He is physically consumed by the fires he unleashes upon the innocent, yes. But his masked helmet survives the blaze when all else burns. The helmet that he had crafted upon his introduction to the Dark Side. The helmet that he chose to become his new face, disfiguring the one that once lay beneath it. The helmet that the Dark Side uses to rekindle the fires of Momin's evil even after his body is burned.

As Lord Momin explains to Vader - who, at this point in his, story, has no idea his body will also be burned years down the road - death revealed the true nature of the Dark Side to him. We'll let writer Charles Soule's words convey the epiphany:

"I did learn something important from the disaster, however. Failure is an excellent teacher. The Dark Side is sacred, but it is also hungry. It burns like a flame. An inferno. It must be fed, always. It seeks fuel. If you do not feed it... then it will feed on you."

Those words are ominously paired with images of the scene immediately following his death, caused by the arrival of two Jedi Knights. As Lord Momin describes the "hunger" of the Dark Side, demanding to be fed, his helmet is shown claiming the next meal. Or so it seems, as one of the Jedi Knights raises the helmet, locking his gaze to that of Momin's true Sith face, and watching as the empty helmet's eyes begin to glow. For Lord Momin, his servitude to the Dark Side of The Force granted him immortality - mastery over death itself. And yet that servitude continued beyond death, unable to escape the need of the Dark Side to be fed with new servants, new victims, and new slaughter.

Now, if only Darth Vader had spent his life searching for a way to conquer death, been burned to ash, with only his famous helmet left intact, and an eager young Jedi to spend hours gazing longingly into its eyes for direction and purpose. Oh, wait.

HAS DARTH VADER BEEN WITH BEN SOLO ALL ALONG?

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For a movie series that didn't rely much on images of eager, perhaps even unwitting students holding the helmets of their beyond-the-grave teachers, the Star Wars saga has just gotten a major injection of them. As Lord Momin's story unfolds, artist Giuseppe Camuncoli depicts Momin claiming his "perfect" creation with the unnamed Jedi gazing upon his helmet. At the same time, returning to show Darth Vader taking the same stance to hear that story from Momin - just as much a student to this teacher from within the Dark Side of The Force. But both scenes only appear after Star Wars: The Force Awakens made the worship, or veneration of a Sith helmet speak volumes.

Three generations of masked servants of the Dark Side - but are these echoes depicting the same actual message? Thanks to this new piece of Star Wars canon, it's impossible to observe Kylo Ren looking upon his grandfather's helmet, seeking guidance in how to defy the Light, ultimately driven to feed the Dark Side his own father, when the time comes. Those interested in our theory that it was Vader, not Snoke who claimed Ben Solo for the Dark Side can follow the link above. But ignoring all outside theorizing and expectations of the sequels, it definitely seems that the lore of the comics is giving the imagery of the movies greater significance. Having read the comic - which Lucasfilm certainly wants fans to do - it's hard to see Kylo's veneration of Vader as anything but a parallel to Momin.

Of course, there's one major problem with assuming that it's all a set-up for Vader's true role to be revealed in Star Wars 9...

HOW CAN VADER RETURN, IF ANAKIN WAS REDEEMED?

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It's a fair question to ask: isn't every theory based on the immortality of 'Darth Vader' fundamentally flawed, since the villain was redeemed in the final scenes of Return of the Jedi? Heck, even Anakin Skywalker's Force Ghost appears alongside Yoda and Obi-Wan to Luke, confirming that the Jedi Knight has found peace after death in The Force. And on a broad level, in its most simplistic form, a viewer could presume that story is wrapped up neat and tidy. But the fact that director J.J. Abrams pulled the face of Darth Vader out of the flames, and planted it squarely in front of Kylo Ren's (also covered in tribute to the Sith) means nothing should be taken for granted.

In fact, the actual themes and dialogue of the original Star Wars trilogy and its prequels are done a disservice, if it's assumed to all reduce down to 'Anakin was good, did bad, but then remembered he was good at the end, and everything was fine.' And it all begins with the prophecy claiming Anakin was the boy promised to "bring balance to The Force," or as the 'heroes' of the prequels interpreted it, "bring the Jedi a win for the Light Side only, now THAT's what we call balance!" It's a fundamental flaw that the movies never reckoned with, and one that might actually be better understood through Obi-Wan's claim that his former pupil "ceased to be Anakin Skywalker, and became Darth Vader."

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The existing lore backs up the idea of Anakin and Vader as two distinct people on a thematic level, if not overtly a literal one. When Luke protests Obi-Wan's opinion and claims "the good man who was his father" wasn't destroyed, Kenobi doesn't entirely dispute the idea. He simply shoots back that "He's more machine than man now. Twisted and evil." And fans of the larger mythology and science surrounding Vader know Obi-Wan is right. Even if Anakin's spirit existed somewhere within his physical form, enough to take action and free itself to rejoin The Force, Darth Vader's body is another matter entirely.

Aside from Vader's armor, mask, and robotic parts functioning as life support, it was common knowledge that Palpatine had saved Vader's life through the use of "Sith Alchemy." That detail has yet to be explicitly confirmed to still be the case, but Wookieepedia defines the dark art through use of "the Dark side of the Force to permanently alter an item or living being. It is rejected by the Jedi as an act of treason against the Force's will." That word "permanent" should stand out in this context, since it casts serious doubt on the idea that Anakin's spirit was redeemed... while the body constructed to keep his body alive as a servant of the Dark Side was prosthetics and armor, nothing more.

Of course, to make the idea of Vader surviving to play a role in Star Wars 9 seem at all believable, the Dark Side of The Force would need to be characterized as more than just power and knowledge to be understood and used, then given up and apologized for later. That the Dark Side that created 'Darth Vader' was alive. That it was hungry. And that it would demand to be fed by its servants even after death. Which is exactly what Lord Momin's story has added to Star Wars canon.

Even if Star Wars fans can't buy into the idea that Anakin didn't "cease to be," but that he also didn't just change his name and mind, the practical evidence still makes this potential twist for Star Wars 9 perfectly plausible. Fans may not like the idea just yet, but if the comics are providing context for the new Star Wars universe, it's probably best to consider it a possibility.

Star Wars 9 / Star Wars: Episode IX (2019) release date: Dec 20, 2019