Mustafar

This Star Wars Legends article contains information that is affected by the Star Wars: The Clone Wars project. A definitive Legends Clone Wars timeline was never established by Lucasfilm. The exact chronology of the events described in this article is unknown.

Mustafar was a small, young planet in the Mustafar system of the Atravis sector in the Outer Rim Territories. Orbiting the star Priate, the planet was situated between the gas giants Jestefad and Lefrani, the gravity from the two worlds tearing Mustafar apart and causing its unstable geology, despite it having once been a lush world orbiting Jestefad. The world experienced rains of ash, and its surface was covered in volcanoes, obsidian mountains, and lava rivers. The skies above Mustafar contained ash, smoke, and bits of rock and glass, and cyclonic updrafts and thermal currents caused turbulence. Though the catastrophe that turned the planet hellish had wiped out all life above ground, Mustafar was the harshest environment known to have still allowed for the evolution of native lifeforms. The celestial body was home to the sentient Mustafarians, themselves split into the Southern and Northern Mustafarian sub-species, as well as the lava fleas, Sher Kars, Jawenko lava beasts, tanrays, kubaza beetles, jundaks, xandanks, and blistmoks.

Around 5300 BBY, Mustafar was the location of a Jedi Enclave that was home to Jedi Master Chu-Gon Dar, who created a Force-sensitive artifact called the Chu-Gon Dar cube. Roughly 1,300 years later, the Jedi discovered a crystal on Mustafar that was deeply connected to the Force. The Sith learned of the crystal and assembled an army to take Mustafar, resulting in a battle in 3996 BBY. During the battle, the crystal exploded with a force so intense it killed all Jedi and Sith in the battle and sent the planet out of its orbit around Jestefad, thus pulling Lefrani into the gravitic duel that began to tear Mustafar apart.

Centuries before the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems, a cataclysmic volcanic eruption destroyed most Mustafarian settlements, excluding Fralideja. Then, in 300 BBY, the Techno Union arrived on Mustafar, signing a treaty with the Mustafarians where the indigenous peoples would mine resources in exchange for technology. The Klegger Corporation was created by the Techno Union to mine the planet on their behalf, and the corporation constructed the Klegger Corp Mining Facility.

By 51 BBY, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious brought the youngling Darth Maul to Mustafar to train him to be a Sith assassin. Early during the Clone Wars, decades later, Separatist General Grievous tasked the battle droid EG-07 to locate a superweapon capable of releasing a deadly virus, which the droid eventually located on Mustafar. The Jedi learned of the weapon and dispatched Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Kit Fisto, Yoda, Mace Windu, and Commander Cody, who were able to destroy the weapon. Also during the war, Sidious hired the bounty hunter Cad Bane to kidnap Force-sensitive children and deliver them to a secret facility on Mustafar. The Jedi Skywalker and Tano were able to locate the facility and rescue the children; however, Sidious's nanny droids managed to destroy the facility, eliminating any evidence that could be traced back to Sidious.

Later in the Clone Wars, Maul visited a Black Sun fortress on Mustafar with his apprentice, Savage Opress, and the leader of Death Watch, Pre Vizsla, to recruit the crime syndicate into their Shadow Collective criminal empire. After their offer was rejected, Opress beheaded the entire Black Sun council, and Lieutenant Ziton Moj, now the leader of Black Sun, agreed to join. Shortly before the end of the war, Neimoidians aligned with the Separatists discovered the wreckage of a Hammerhead-class cruiser that had crashed on the planet ages ago, and within the wreckage they uncovered the droid HK-47. Finding the droid more advanced than anything they knew, Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray ordered the construction of a factory to product an army of droids based off HK-47's technology. Though the facility was completed, the droids manufactured inside never saw operation.

As the war drew to a close, Sidious had General Grievous relocate the Separatist Council from Utapau to Mustafar to escape the eyes of the Republic. While they hid in the Klegger mining facility, Sidious dispatched his new apprentice, Darth Vader, who was secretly Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side, to execute the Council to bring an end to the Clone Wars. After Vader arrived and wiped out the entire Council, Senator Padmé Amidala—Vader's wife—and Obi-Wan Kenobi—Vader's former Jedi Master—arrived on the planet. Feeling betrayed by his wife for her bringing Kenobi, though she was unaware Kenobi had stowed away on her ship, Vader Force choked her until she was unconscious. Kenobi then approached, and the two dueled. The duel resulted in the destruction of much of the mining facility, and in the end Kenobi arose victorious, with Vader being burned on the shores of a lava river with three of his limbs severed. Kenobi left with Vader's lightsaber, and Sidious arrived shortly after to rescue Vader from the riverbank.

After the end of the Clone Wars and the transition of the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire, a Geonosian fugitive named Gizor Dellso came into possession of dataplans for an experimental Imperial starfighter. Dellso spent years building up an army and navy. The Empire uncovered Dellso's plot and dispatched the 501st Legion. Imperial forces defeated the rebel navy and army, destroyed the dataplans, and killed Dellso, later destroying the Geonosian's droid factory from space.

In 1 BBY, Mustafar's main continent was shifted by a massive earthquake, uncovering the ruins of the Jedi Enclave that had been buried for centuries. In the following months, archeologists, historians, treasure hunters, and mercenaries arrived on Mustafar to explore the ruins. Many visitors became corrupted by the dark side, which was still present in the ruins. This attracted users of the dark side to the planet. Over the next couple years, several regions were taken over by mercenary crews and dark side cults. In 0 ABY, a group of spacers assisted the company Mensix Corp, who itself had been imposed by the Empire to work for them, with repairs to mining facilities, negotiations with striking workers, and exploring the wreckage of the crashed Hammerhead-class cruiser. In the cruiser, the spacers uncovered the artificial intelligence of HK-47. The droid tricked the group into helping him build a droid army, though the army was defeated in the Battle of Koseyet, with HK-47 escaping.

In 1 ABY, Lord Vartonis, who had hired the Brotherhood Mortalis mercenaries, was close to discovering the largest shard of the broken Force crystal that had torn the planet apart centuries before. The Force ghost of the now-deceased Kenobi enlisted a group of Force-sensitive and non-Force-sensitive individuals to destroy the crystal before it fell into the hands of Vartonis. The group managed to access the Lair of the Crystal and defeated Vartonis and the Brotherhood Mortalis, destroying the remains of the crystal thereafter.

Following the defeat of the Galactic Empire at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, a Force-sensitive clone named X1 attempted to build his own empire, dubbing himself a Sith Lord and constructing a fortress on Mustafar. X1 was hunted by fellow clone X2, who had aligned with Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Order, and X2 eventually arrived on Mustafar with Grey Squadron to face X1. The latter clone dispatched Wookiee clones and Imperial Royal Guards, but all were defeated by X2. Eventually, X2 leaped over X1's lightsaber as the latter used the Force to manipulate it, causing the dark side clone to be impaled and fall into the lava to his death.

Description

Astronomy

The young planet of Mustafar^[1] was located in the Mustafar system^[2] of the Atravis sector in the Outer Rim Territories,^[3] situated along the Tosste Spur, an offshoot of the Rimma Trade Route hyperspace lane.^[2] A tiny world^[1] at only 4,200 kilometers in diameter, Mustafar orbited the star Priate in the third orbital position between the gas giants Jestefad and Lefrani, though it had once orbited Jestefad itself.^[2] With Mustafar orbiting closer to Jestefad and at a similar rate to both dueling planets,^[18] the two giants were involved in a gravimetric battle that, while tearing Mustafar apart, also prevented it from becoming a moon of either celestial body.^[1] A single rotation of the planet took 36 standard hours, and the planet orbited its sun once every 412 standard days,^[2] as well as the same number of local days. Mustafar had no moons of its own.^[5]

Surface and climate

Mustafar was once a vital and green world orbiting Jestefad, though the relocation of Lefrani from its original orbit put the small world in the middle of a détente between the two larger bodies. Locked in an erratic orbit, the conflicting gravitational forces created in Mustafar a chaotic world^[20] with unstable geology.^[21] Mustafar's molten core was roiled by immense tidal stresses, resulting in a mountainous, cavernous crust covered in volcanoes,^[2] jagged obsidian mountains, rivers and towering fountains of lava, and fire.^[22] 35% of the the planet's surface was molten,^[5] and the world experienced rains of ash.^[21] Unique and valuable mineral allotropes^[1] such as Mirkanite^[23] permeated Mustafar's crust and mantle, and the world's lava, which contained mineral riches, was cool enough^[1]—800 degrees Celsius (1,500 degrees Farenheit) due to the lower melting point of the unusual allotropes^[4]—to be harvested by specialized equipment.^[1]

The skies above Mustafar were cloaked in choking black clouds of ash, smoke, tephra,^[22] and bits of volcanic rock and glass; breathing was thus a chore for most humanoids.^[18] The world's turbulent atmosphere was rattled by cyclonic-force updrafts and thermal currents. Significant geological activity created a natural interference for scanners that kept the planet undetected by prying eyes for much of its history.^[22] Due to being swamped by Jestefad's electromagnetic field,^[4] Mustafar also experienced frequent,^[20] wild^[4] electromagnetic storms.^[20] Due to the planet's volcanic nature, versions of the phrase "until Mustafar freezes over" were commonly used in the galaxy,^[24] and the planet was used in comparison to explosions.^[25]

Flora and fauna

Despite the geologic catastrophe on the planet's surface that destroyed all non-subterranean life,^[2] Mustafar was home to an array of species,^[26] thought the environment on Mustafar was the harshest known to have still allowed for the evolution of native lifeforms.^[4] The docile and intelligent^[26] arthropod lava fleas evolved underground and were domesticated by the sentient Mustafarians as a mode of transport more reliable than technological alternatives.^[12] The Mustafarians farmed fungus and non-sentinet insects on the planet.^[27] Despite local farming the planet did still import foodstuff and livestock from the planets such as Taanab.^[28] The shape of the kahel cave fungus was the inspiration for Mustafarian architecture.^[4]

The large, spiked, omnivorous tulrus inhabited the planet's northeastern regions and were known to be ill-tempered. They shared this region with the enormous Sher Kars, at least one of which dwelt in a lair. The predatory blistmoks traveled in packs of up to ten and favored the Burning Plains and Smoking Forest. The feline xandanks stalked and ambushed their prey and were observed in Berken's Flow, which was also home to the agile lizards known as tanrays. The planet's central regions were home to the aggressive jundaks, which would ingest nearly anything. The vicious kubaza beetles were hive-minded insects the lived all over Mustafar and survived off minerals in the lava, which occasionally caused them to explode when killed.^[26] Mustafar's lava flows were also home to the jawenko lava beasts, which could dwell within the lava itself. The creatures were capable of naturally refining xonolite into a liquid that, when injected into one's bloodstream, had a strangely euphoric effect. The drug was exported to Nkllon to be further refined into Nkllonian lava extract.^[29]

History

Early history

Once a lush green world,^[31] Mustafar was home to a Jedi Enclave established around 5300 BBY.^[2] The enclave included several complexes of structures located in different areas of Mustafar's main continent^[32] and was used by the Jedi used to cultivate their abilities and train their students.^[31] Jedi Master Chu-Gon Dar, an individual whose mastery of Physical Force was unmatched, lived there at that time.^[33] His mastery of the Force allowed him to alter the molecular structure of the matter.^[2] Dar created a unique Force-sensitive object known as the Chu-Gon Dar cube which was used to both channel and manipulate the physical Force to alter the physical properties of an item placed inside it.^[33]

Around 1,300 years later,^[2] the Jedi on Mustafar discovered a magnificent and colossal crystal that was deeply connected to the Force.^[32] However, during the Great Sith War,^[2] the Sith discovered the existence of the crystal and assembled an army to conquer Mustafar.^[32] A climactic battle took place on the planet in 3996 BBY.^[2] As the Sith assaulted the planet, Jedi Masters channeled the Force through the crystal, allowing the Jedi on the battlefield to use more powers than ever while the Sith could barely use theirs. However, the Jedi Master engaged in the battle ignored that the crystal was cracking. Eventually, the crystal exploded and wiped out all of the Sith and Jedi in the battle. The explosion was so intense that it sent the planet itself out of its orbit.^[32] The gas giant Lefrani was tugged out of its orbit and entered into a gravitational detente with the gas giant Jestefad and Mustafar was caught in the middle of these untenable gravitational forces. Immense tidal stresses roiled the planet's molten core, inundating the crust with lava and decimating all life at the surface.^[2] The only survivor was Jedi Master Erg Krow who miraculously managed to use the power of the Force to protect himself from the cataclysm. Before dying, Krow used his last forces to put a protective Force shield around the shards of the crystal and make sure that no other Force-sensitive could ever discover it.^[32]

After the battle, the planet Mustafar became a hellish volcanic world. The environmental hazards caused by this forced the Jedi to abandon their temples on the planet.^[2] As a consequence of the battle, the ruins of the Jedi Enclave became a vergence of the dark side of the Force. Over the next millennia, the intense tectonic and volcanic activity of Mustafar shifted the surface of the planet. Most of the ruins of the Jedi Enclave eventually disappeared under the surface of the planet.^[34] This caused all knowledge of Chu-Gon's cube to be lost.^[33]

Centuries later, some time after the Galactic War,^[35] a Hammerhead-class cruiser crashed on the planet.^[36] One of the cruiser's passengers was HK-47,^[37] an assassin droid that served the Sith Lord Darth Revan during the Jedi Civil War.^[38] HK-47 survived the crash^[37] but the volcanic activity of the planet buried the wreck under lava, rock and ash.^[36]

Near the end of the New Sith Wars,^[39] around 1000 BBY,^[2] Mustafar became the home of the dark side organization known as the Blackguard. Led by Vulta Daanat, they settled the Southern Jedi Ruins,^[39] in the Smoking Forest region of Mustafar.^[40]

Over time, the ancient history of Mustafar was totally lost. During the Imperial Era, historians were unable to reconstitute the history of the planet beyond the last few centuries,^[30] namely before the arrival of the Techno Union and the beginning of the mining activity.^[2]

Galactic Republic

A mining world

Mustafar was home to two variants of sentient Mustafarians—the northern Mustafarians, who were tall and thin, and the southern Mustafarians, who were short and squat.^[18] Centuries before the Clone Wars, a cataclysmic eruption destroyed the majority of Mustafarian settlements except for Fralideja.^[4]

Mustafar became a major mining world during the Old Republic era,^[2] when the Mustafarian explorer Jesl Berken discovered rich mineral deposits in the region that was later named Berken's Flow after him.^[42] The Berken's Flow was for some times the richest source of natural resources in the galaxy.^[43] Mustafars mining prominance eventually fade but the Mustafarians continued to harvest the liquid resources and traded it with the few traders that ventured to Mustafar.^[27] Then, in 300 BBY,^[2] the Techno Union claimed Mustafar which would allow them to collect rare ores from its surface without the need for deep-bore mines. To this end the Techno Union signed a treaty with the native Mustafarian which allowing them to mine the resources in exchange for advanced technology suited to the high temperatures on the planet.^[44] The Techno Union created a mining company, the Klegger Corporation, to mine the planet on its behalf.^[45] Klegger became the dominant mining company on the planet.^[46] The company built the Klegger Corp Mining Facility that used electromagnetic and tractor beam extraction technologies to collect liquid ores from the lava flow. The facility also processed lava manually collected by native Mustafarians and mining droids.^[4]

Sometime before 54 BBY, a reclamation station on the planet owned by a Black Sun Vigo named Cabra had been used to dispose of enemies and evidence. However by 54 BBY it had been made available to Damask Holdings which turned it into an accounting facility.^[14]

Training Maul

Around 54 BBY, Darth Sidious was given Maul, a newborn Dathomirian Zabrak from a Nightsister named Kycina while in the Blue Desert City on Dathomir. Kycina was seeking to save the boy from his fate of serving as a Nightbrother for Mother Talzin but unbeknownst to her, she was giving him to a Sith Lord. Sidious brought the boy to the Damask Holdings facility on Mustafar and left him in the care of custodial droids. Less than a year later, Sidious informed his master, Darth Plagueis about the child who instructed him to train the boy as a Sith assassin.^[14]

When Maul was three, in 51 BBY,^[47] he was first allowed to see a chamber in the facility designed for Sidious. When Maul first entered the room he was transfixed by a large fish tank in the center of the room and did not notice Sidious. Sidious eventually demonstrated his use of the force by killing all by two of the fish in the orb. Maul asked his master if it was possible to learn the power he demonstrated which delighted Sidious who answered that it was possible with patience and proceeded to led Maul to be training room where he would receive his first personal instruction from Sidious. Over the next few months, Maul was by the droid in a new training room. One exercise taught Maul the vulnerabilities of nearly every native creature on Mustafar. Later during a sparing match with the droid, Maul first used the force to instinctively pull the droid's staff from the ground and into his hands. Much later, after returning from a training session off planet on Tosste where Maul flinched as the sight of a dinko, Sidious filled Maul's room with dinko. It took Maul almost an hour to kill all of them, after which Sidious told Maul not to flinch again.^[48]

In 44 BBY,^[47] after the droid had broken several of Maul's ribs during a training exercise, Maul first learned the droids while it treated his wounds and it expressed some kindness for Maul. However when Sidious learned of the exchange he punished Maul by forcing him to repeat the exercise with broken ribs and the droid was then forced to break Maul's arm to stop the exercise. Maul later drew an image of the window from his former room on the wall of his room with his own blood to remember it. Upon learning of this Sidious had Maul brought to him and said that if he missed seeing Mustafar then that could be arranged before having Maul darted and taken outside and left with no provisions. Determined to survive, Maul tracked a group of Mustafarians, killed them and stole their supplies. Maul spent a total of seventeen days outside on Mustafar before returning to Sidious's facility. After being cleaned up and having some injuries healed, Sidious destroyed the droid saying he had no use for it any more and informed Maul that he would be taken off world to be trained on Orsis. Years later, Maul returned to Mustafar for fourteen days where he was put through a series of intense tests by Sidious, which he passed.^[48] Due to his time on Mustafar, Maul would considered it to be his homeworld.^[49]

Clone Wars

During the Battle of Christophsis the clone trooper, Slick, used a BARC speeder that had the phrase "Send'em to Mustafar" written on it in aurebesh.^[50]

Rogue General

During the early years of the war, the Cyborg General Grievous begun plotting to rebel against Count Dooku. To this end he employed a battle droid designated EG-07 to locate an ancient superweapon capable of releasing a deadly virus that he had learned about. EG-07 eventually located the weapon buried on Mustafar. By the time the Jedi Order had learned of Grievous's plans and tracked the weapon to Mustafar, Grievous had placed a battlesphere in the atmosphere of the planet and was planning to use the battlesphere's lasers to charge the weapon's long depleted power source. In order to stop Grievous, the Jedi dispatched Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Kit Fisto and Commander Cody to disrupt the sphere's three firing platforms. While working to disable the third platform, Skywalker and Tano were confronted by EG-07 who despite being defeated was able to delay the Jedi long enough for the weapon to be recharged. The Jedi proceeded to deploy Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Yoda to the planet and from there each worked their way down to the weapon where Windu was able to engage Grievous in the control room. Before Grievous was defeated by Windu and forced to retreat he activated the weapon however during the duel Yoda was able to reach and destroy the weapons core. Dooku later learned of Grievous's treachery but decided to forgive Grievous as his actions served as a distraction for the Jedi and allowed Dooku to progress is own plans.^[51]

Future Lost

Later in the war, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, in his guise as Darth Sidious, tasked the Duros bounty hunter Cad Bane with kidnapping Force-sensitive children. Bane used his starfighter, the Xanadu Blood, to delivered the children to Sidious' secret facility, where the Sith was planning to use the children to create an army of spies strong in the Force. The two of the stolen children, a Gungan named Roo-Roo Page and a Rodian named Wee Dunn, were to be prepared for a surgical procedure meant to enhance them, as Sidious aimed at having an army of Sith spies to counteract the Jedi. The Xanadu Blood was later captured by the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano who were investigating the disappearances of the children. Skywalker and Padawan Tano used the Xanadu Blood's fuel logs to deduce that they might find a lead on Mustafar set out to rescue them. As the Jedi arrived at the facility, Darth Sidious who was overseeing the enslavement procedure via a hologram, ordered the nanny droids to evacuate the children and to turn off the facility's gravity supports to have it sink to the lava below thus destroying any evidence of the plot. The Jedi were able to find and rescue the younglings from the nanny droids before they were able to relocate the children. However the facility sank into the lava below it destroying any further evidence of Sidious's involvment.^[8]

While in the realm of Mortis the Son, an embodyment of the dark side of the force lured Anakin Skywalker to the Well of the Dark Side. There the Son broke the rules of time and showed Skywalker his future fall to the dark side as well as his future battle on Mustafar.^[52]

Schemes in the shadows

By the time of the Clone Wars, the criminal syndicate Black Sun,^[53] under the leadership of Xomit Grunseit^[7] and a cabal of Falleen nobles, moved its headquarters to a fortress on Mustafar. With the Jedi focused on the war and the Separatists Black Sun flourished during this time.^[53] During 20 BBY, renegade Sith Lord Maul, his apprentice Savage Opress, and Pre Vizsla, the leader of the Mandalorian terrorist organization Death Watch, traveled to the Black Sun fortress with the intention of recruiting them to their newly founded criminal empire, the Shadow Collective.^[7] As their ship approached the world Maul remembered his childhood on Mustafar before pushing thoughts down to focus on the meeting with Black Sun.^[54] A Black Sun lieutenant named Ziton Moj,^[55] greeted the group when they arrived at the fortress and led the group before a council of the syndicates leaders. After negotiations with the leaders went sour, Savage beheaded all of the council with his lightsaber. With the previous leaders dead, Moj became Black Sun's new leader and agreed to join the Shadow Collective, providing them with weapons, soldiers, and supplies. Shadow Collective forces then began to load all of the supplies the Black Sun had at their disposal onto ships.^[7]

Building an army

During the Clone Wars, Neimoidian separatists discovered the wreckage of the ancient Hammerhead-class cruiser that had crashed on the planet eons ago.^[56] They excavated the wreckage^[34] and discovered the droid HK-47. The Neimoidian engineers soon realized that HK-47's technology was superior than anything they knew. However, as they reactivated HK-47, the droid attacked the engineersand and killed many of them before one successfully placed a restraining bolt to stop it. Since they were unable to perform a memory wipe, the engineers transferred the memory and thought patterns of the droid into a sub-system of the crashed cruiser in order to study the technology of the droid safely. Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray then ordered the construction of a droid factory on Mustafar in order to produce an army of battle droids based on HK-47's technology. The new droid models developed by the Separatists included new HK-series droids, such as the HK-57 and HK-67,^[37] and the larger Union Sentry Droids.^[57] Unfortunately for the Separatists, the construction of a droid factory was only achieved in the last days of the Clone Wars and the new battle droid models were never deployed. In the meantime, HK-47 remained conscious but stuck in the ruined system of the crashed Old Republic cruiser.^[37]

End of the War

As the war's end drew nearer, Darth Sidious had Grievous relocate the Separatist Council to a Klegger Corp Mining Facility on Mustafar under the leadership of Viceroy Nute Gunray.^[17] Before the council departed, Gunray privately questioned the move to Grievous, noting that they had been told that Utapau would be safer for them. However Grievous responded that Utapau was meant to be a temperately move and now with the newly finished defenses the confederacy installed on Mustafar, it was the most secure planet for them, stating that it could withstand the entire Republic Navy. Gunray accepted this reasoning stating that it better be safe due to the high construction cost of the base on Mustafar.^[58] At somepoint before before traveling to Mustafar with the Separatist Council, Wat Tambor, Foreman of the Techno Union, visited the Power Mounds of the Elders on Skako where he was told he would meet his end on Mustafar.^[59]

Shortly after the Separatist Council was relocated the Jedi Anakin Skywalker agreed to become Sidious's new Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, following the failed arrest of Sidious by the Jedi and the death of Dooku at Skywalker's hands. Thus, Palpatine ordered the execution of Order 66. This order commanded all the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic to hunt and slaughter every Jedi in the galaxy, initiating the Great Jedi Purge. After attacking the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Vader was tasked with traveling to Mustafar and eliminate the Separatist leaders. After informing his wife, Senator, Padmé Amidala of his destination Vader traveled to Mustafar in his interceptor alongside his droid R2-D2.^[17] R2-D2 recorded this exchange and later displayed it as a hologram to Anakin and Padmé's son, Luke Skywalker.^[60]

In the meantime, Order 66 was also executed on Mustafar. Clone troopers of Grey Squad attacked their commander, a Jedi Knight stationed on the planet during the war to keep watch on the Klegger Corp Mining Facility. The Jedi managed to escape the initial attack but was presumably killed some time later.^[61]

An hour before Vader arrived on Mustafar, Nute Gunray, under the direction of Darth Sidious, transmitted the deactivation code for the Separatist Droid Army immediately, effectively ending the Clone Wars.^[58] When Vader arrived at the Separatist facility's war room, he ordered R2-D2 to remain with his interceptor before he promptly slaughtered the Separatist Council, it's aides and guards.^[17] While fighting in the facility, Vader was also force to destroy an armed Sheathipede transport shuttle to prevent a member of the council from fleeing.^[62] With the Jedi Order and Seperartist council being destroyed, Darth Sidious then took the opportunity to transform the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire with himself as the Emperor, fulfilling the Sith Grand Plan to seize control of the galaxy. Afterward, Vader informed Sidious that the council had been dealt and Sidious instructed Vader to have all droid units aboard Trade Federation ships shutdown.^[17]

Duel on Mustafar

After being informed of her husband's alleged fall to the dark side, by his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Amidala rushed to Mustafar to discover what she earlier could not believe. She arrived on the volcanic world shortly after the slaughter of the Separatist leaders, and Vader met her and embraced her outside the facility. She began pleading for Vader to turn away from the dark side when Kenobi himself came down from Padmé's ship, having stowed-away against her knowledge, the enraged Vader Force choked his wife, leaving her unconscious.^[17]

Darth Vader then gave his old master and former friend an ultimatum: either he was with him or against him. Refusing to listen to Kenobi's attempts for him to renounce the dark side, Vader attempted to murder Kenobi by engaging him. The pair fought through the separatist facility causing damage to it and eventually causing the section they were fighting on to fall into the lava below. Forced to fight across the lava streams, Vader was fueled by hatred and, in his hubris, attacked without regard to his own limitations, and fell victim to Kenobi's blade beside a lava river. As the Sith Lord lost himself to the dark side's corruption, his remaining limbs were severed and his entire body was incinerated by Mustafar's lava. Leaving his former pupil to die, Kenobi took Vader's lightsaber and departed the planet with C-3PO, R2-D2 and Amidala. Despite being medically health Amidala died shortly after giving birth to twins, Luke and Leia, having lost the will to live following Anakin's fall to the dark side.^[17]

Having sensed the battle between Vader and Kenobi, Sidious traveled to Mustafar aboard a Theta-class T-2c shuttle piloted by Captain Kagi^[17] and escorted by two Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing starfighter.^[64] Sidious arrived in time to rescue Vader from the heat^[17] and brought him back to Coruscant in a medical capsule,^[65] where he was rebuilt into the feared cyborg executor of the new Galactic Emperor at his Surgical Reconstruction Center.^[17] The scorching heat had left ragged scars on Vader's head and had melted away his ear drums beyond repair.^[63] Vader was treated with a special strain of bacta for server burns along with a set of drugs related to heavy metal contamination.^[66]

As Vader adapted to the use of the new prosthetics he wondering if Sidious had deliberately engineered it as a prison to punish him for his failure to kill Kenobi. As Vader dwelt on the failure of Mustafar, Sidious wondered what he would have to do with him, even wondering if he would have to send him back to Mustafar. Even though Sidious did not for see Kenobi's defeat of Vader both him and Vader would later believe that if not for the events on Mustafar the two would have fought each other for control of the Empire. As time went by Vader's memories of his life as Anakin grew fainter and Vader would later consider Mustafar as the death of Anakin Skywalker and the birth of Darth Vader.^[63] By 3 BBY, Wilhuff Tarkin had seen enough privileged information that led him to suspected that Skywalker had become Vader after the supposed death of Skywalker on Mustafar.^[67]

Imperial era

Aftermath of the Clone Wars

The Klegger Corp Mining Facility was severely damaged during the confrontation between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a part of its structure collapsed into the surrounding lava.^[17] Immediately after the formation of the Empire, the HoloNet News reported that an industrial accident on Mustafar drove the price of Dolovite to 760 credits per barrel.^[68] Nevertheless, Klegger Corp never recovered from the damage of its main facility,^[41] leaving the company, the most important on Mustafar, bankrupt.^[69] After the destruction of the Separatist Council, the Techno Union was Imperialized and Mustafar was largely forgotten.^[1] The Mustafarians quickly took over the mining operations of the Techno Union.^[45] Milo Mensix, a local corporation executive, salvaged the assets and the staff of Klegger Corp, preventing the mining business from falling apart.^[36] Mensix Corp eventually became the largest mining corporation on the planet.^[69] The Mensix Mining facility was built shortly after the end of the Clone Wars,^[70] in the neighborhood of the ruins of the Klegger Corp Mining Facility.^[71]

While aboard the Sundered Heart, C-3PO commented on their recent experiences on Mustafar and its corrosive atmosphere to R2-D2 shortly before C-3PO was forced to have a memory wipe performed.^[19] The events on Mustafar haunted Obi-Wan who saw Anakin's fall as his failure.^[72] Obi-Wan would continue to reflect and relived his experiences on Mustafar, even tasting ash in his mouth and fire in his lungs,^[73] in 19 BBY^[47] while he was tracking down a group of Tusken Raiders on Tatooine in order to recover a number of moisture vaporators for the Lars homestead.^[73] Although Obi-Wan believed that he had killed Vader on Mustafar, he later discovered that Vader survived after hearing a HoloNet News report about a battle on Kashyyyk where Vader killed a number of Jedi survivors.^[63] The revelation of Vader's survival would continue to weigh on Kenobi, wondering if leaving Vader to die ultimately deepened his fall to the dark side and later telling the spirit of this master Qui-Gon Jinn that he should have made sure Vader was dead.^[74]

After becoming part of the Inquisitorius, former Jedi Ferus Olin begun investigating Vader's origins eventually getting access to information from a break-in at the surgical reconstruction center. Olin forward the data to doctor Amie Antin, who noticed the shipments of an emergency shipment of burn specific bacta and detoxification drugs related to treating heavy metal exposure. One of which was only used to treat a specific allotrope that can only survive in cooler lava, like that found on Mustafar.^[66]

Following the funeral of Amidala, her head of security Gregar Typho during her time as Senator was motivated to find the truth behind her death and opened an investigation as he always held an unrequited love for her. Over the next year, Typho searched for records regarding the events on Mustafar. He eventually obtained the official records detailing Skywalker's death on Mustafar, however he noticed that the record did not list the cause of death which led him to conclude that it was not a normal death and eventually speculated that Vader had been responsible for the death. Typho later paid 5000 credits to Boulad, an information broker on Coruscant, who had obtained additional travel records that included Darth Sidious's journey to Mustafar, which reinforced Typho's belief that Vader had travelled to Mustafar and killed both Padme and Skywalker (not knowing Vader was actually Skywalker himself). Typho eventually confronted Vader who confirmed that he indeed killed both Padme and Skywalker before killing Typho when he attempted to fight Vader.^[75]

Gizor Dellso's rebellion

Following the end of the Clone Wars a Geonosian fugitive named Gizor Dellso, who had refused to surrender at the end of the war, came into possession of stolen dataplans for an experimental Imperial starfighter. In order to safely plan his next movies, he made his way to to Mustafar and reactivated a hidden droid factory. There he spent years building up his forces including a army of battle droids and a fleet of ships.^[9]

The Empire discovered Dellso's activities on Mustafar^[9] sometime between 17 BBY and 12 BBY,^[76] for which the 501st Legion was dispatched by Lord Vader to eliminate Dellso. The 501's mission began in orbit over Mustafar, where Dellso's fleet engaged the Imperials. During the battle, the 501st repelled the droids that had boarded their Star Destroyer, destroyed a number of droid starfighters and crippled a Providence-class carrier/destroyer.^[9]

The 501st then landed on the planet and stormed the mining facility near his droid factory in other to destroy the schematics for a new type of battle droid. After the legion's troopers successfully destroyed the plans, Dellso joined the battle personally. Despite being accompanied by other armed Geonosians and battle droids, Dellso was eventually killed in battle. After which the Empire destroyed the Klegger Corp mining facility and Dellso's droid factory from space.^[9]

Galactic Civil War

Operation Skyhook

Shortly before the Death Star plans were stolen, the Alliance to Restore the Republic hired Rianna Saren, a Twi'lek mercenary, to investigate a research ship on Alderaan that was seized by a Black Sun Vigo named Slak Sagar that the Alliance had connected with a secret Imperial project. After making her way through the ship to the communication center, Saren overheard a conversation between the Sagar and Zarien Kheev, an Imperial slaver communicating via hologram. During the conversation they discussed shutting down their project on the ship due to Saren's inflation as well as a final shipment of a drug to Mustafar. Saren later relayed the contents of the conversation to Leia Organa who pieced together that the drug was being used on slaves working to produce Mirkanite on Mustafar. Saren proceeded to volunteer to investigate the facility on Mustafar for the Alliance hoping to catch up with Kheev who had previously owned and mutilated Saren.^[10]

After landing on Mustafar, Saren made her way to the facility while gliding over lava rivers using her hovering droid companion Zeeo. Once Saren reached the edge of the facility she proceeded on foot past a number of Stromtroopers. Rianna eventually made her way to a control room where Zeeo discovered that Kheev had left for Tatooine. Rianna vowed to follow Kheev to Tatooine after the mission to get her vengeance. Rianna then made her way to the main drilling shaft where she and Zeeo sabotaged three vents which caused lava rise and destroy the facility. After making it back to her ship she fought through a number of TIE fighters before being able to jump to hyperspace. After her mission to Mustafar, Saren began utilized a martial arts move called the Winds of Mustafar. When Saren caught up Kheev in his compound on Tatooine, Kheev expressed his anger over the destruction of the Mustafar facility.^[10]

The treat of the Conqueror

Around 1 ABY,^[78] the Galactic Empire completed the construction of the Conqueror, an Imperial-class Star Destroyer armed with a superlaser. As a final test, the Conqueror traveled to the Mustafar system where the ship successfully destroyed a planetoid with its superlaser. In the meantime, a group of Alliance Special Forces, Renegade Squadron, discovered the existence of the ship during a mission on Naboo. Renegade Squadron swiftly headed to the Mustafar system in order to destroy the ship. The objective was to infiltrate one of the supply shuttles that traveled regularly from the surface of Mustafar to the Conqueror. On Mustafar, Renegade Squadron was attacked by the Director Ysanne Isard and a squad of Blackguard elite minions. The Rebels defeated their enemies and finally stole a shuttle. They then boarded the Conqueror where they were soon discovered by Imperial troops. After a series of firefights, including with Admiral Victor Strang and his storm commandos, the Alliance Special Forces managed to plant detonation charges in the ship's reactor core. Darth Vader later attacked the Rebels in the docking bay but Renegade Squadron succeeded in escaping the Star Destroyer before it exploded. Darth Vader also managed to escape the detonation of the Conqueror in his TIE Advanced.^[77]

The rediscovery of Mustafar

In 1 BBY, a massive earthquake shifted the surface of Mustafar's main continent. The tremor uncovered several series of ruins of the Jedi Enclave that were buried under Mustafar's surface for centuries. This unexpected event attracted attention of offworlders to the remote planet.^[40] In the next months, numerous archeologists^[33][13] and historians,^[30][80] as wells as treasure hunters^[13][81] and mercenaries^[80][32] arrived on the planet to explore the ruins.^[40] Around the same time, Mustafar was advertised as a vacation destination where visitors could ride lava fleas and float down a river of lava on heat shielded repulsorlist platforms.^[82]

Alarmingly, many of the offworlders who explored the Jedi ruins were corrupted by the power of the dark side of the Force, still strongly present in the ruins millennia after the devastation of Mustafar.^[40] Also, other individuals were corrupted by Force artifacts found in the ruins.^[81][83] Thus, Dark side adepts and Dark Jedi also got interested by Mustafer and landed on the planet.^[32][84]

By 1 ABY,^[78] the work of the historians and archeologists arrived on Mustafar had well progressed. The historian Epo Qetora had discovered in an Old Republic research facility information that allowed him to reconstruct the history of the battle that caused the devastation of Mustafar.^[30] In addition, Doctor Ithes Olok excavated in the Jedi Temple ruins a hidden underground storage chamber filled with hundreds of Chu-Gon Dar cube, similar to the device originally created by the Jedi Master Chu-Gon Dar millennia before.^[33] However, the exploration of the Jedi ruins by scholars was significantly obstructed by various criminals and dark side adepts. The northern Jedi Ruins were overran by a group of Coyn mercenaries known as the Razor Runners.^[80] The southern Jedi Ruins was contested by Colonel Narl's mercenary crew and the Dark Jedi of the Blackguard.^[13] In 1 ABY,^[78] various groups of spacers were hired to deal with those problems. The historian Pletus Croix recruited spacers who defeated Commander Hal Razor and the Razor Runners in the northern Jedi Ruins.^[80] Elsewhere, Doctor Mi Fon Lu hired a group of spacers who killed many Blackguard cultists and their leader, San'sii the Kursk, in the southern Jedi ruins.^[13]

The situation was more confusing in the eastern Jedi Ruins. These ruins had become the stronghold of a dark side cult led by an individual known as the Storm Lord. In fact, the Storm Lord and his adepts were originally Professor Namdaot and his team of archeologists who were all corrupted by the power of the dark side of the Force while searching the ruins.^[85] In 1 ABY,^[78] two journalists for the Corellian Times, Jural and Talper, arrived on the planet to cover Professor Namdaot's excavation of the ruins. However, they were attacked by the Storm Lord cultists who attempted to turn them into new adepts. Both escaped but Talper soon became deathly ill, apparently due to one of the Storm Lord's dark side Force powers. A band of spacers who visited the area later found Jural and a dying Talper. The desperate Jural convinced the adventurers to attack the dark side cultists to save his brother. The spacers assaulted the ruins and slayed many Storm Lord zealots. Finally, the Storm Lord himself was also killed, releasing Talper from his affliction.^[85]

The trouble with HK-47

As the Galactic Civil War escalated after the Battle of Yavin, the Galactic Empire needed more natural resources.^[36] In 0 ABY, Darth Vader directly contacted Milo Mensix^[86] and imposed Mensix Corp. to work for the Empire. Mensix accepted but the Empire requested more that what the company could produce. As the Empire threatened to nationalise Mensix Corp, Milo Mensix pushed his staff and machinery to work over capacity.^[36] By 1 ABY,^[78] the Mensix Mining Facility was solicited to run at close to 200 percent capacity, causing damage to the equipment.^[87] Finally, a wide strike of the mining crews erupted, making the situation even more desperate for the Milo Mensix.^[88] Fortunately, the company was able to hire a band of spacers who were eager to help.^[41] The spacers performed several tasks to deal with several immediate problems, including repairs of the mining facility.^[41][87][89] They also negotiated with the miners on strike.^[88]

Later, the Milo Mensix tasked the spacer with exploring the wreckage of an Old Republic cruiser in order to find ancient lost technologies that could be used to improve his mining technology.^[36] In the crashed Hammerhead-class cruiser, the spacers discovered the artificial intelligence^[90] of the assassin droid HK-47, still confined in a wrecked computer since the Clone Wars.^[37] HK-47 tricked the spacers into helping him to escape the ship's computer. The droid claimed that he could help Mensix Corp to find the wanted technology if they transferred his memory to the computers of an old research facility,^[90] and then to an abandoned Separatist droid factory, both located in the Berken's Flow on Mustafar. The spacers followed HK-47's instructions^[91] but they eventually realized that they inadvertently allowed HK-47 to begin the production of a large droid army. Furious at having been stuck in a crashed ship for two decades, the assassin droid wanted to take revenge by destroying all organics on the planet.^[37]

The spacers returned to the Mensix Mining facility as quickly as possible to warn Milo Mensix that the mining complex was the main target of HK-47's droid army. The Mustafarians had limited defensive capabilities but the miners fought heroically the battle droids and, thanks to the intervention of a large group of spacers hired by Milo Mensix, they finally defeated the droid army at the Koseyet Mining Camp.^[37] Eventually, HK-47 and the remnants of his army were defeated by the spacers in an epic battle in a volcano crater. Nevertheless, HK-47 survived the battle and escaped. After the conclusion of HK-47's droid revolution, Mensix Corp took control of the old Separatist droid factory with the intention to sell the resources stockpiled there to the Empire, and therefore prevent the Empire to interfere with the activities of the company.^[92]

The trials of Obi-Wan

At the end of the battle that devastated Mustafar,^[32] in 3996 BBY,^[2] the powerful Force crystal used by the Jedi against the Sith exploded and wiped out life on the planet. Just before dying, Jedi Master Erg Krow created a shield of Force to hide the shards of the crystal forever. However, the power of the Force shield diminished over the next thousand years and finally vanished during the Galactic Civil War.^[32] The situation caused a great disturbance in the Force.^[93] All the dark side adepts on the planet sensed the presence of the Crystal and began to search for this considerable source of power. The most dangerous of them was Lord Vartonis, a powerful Dark Jedi who had hired the Brotherhood Mortalis mercenary unit to support him in his quest.^[32]

In 1 ABY,^[78] Vartonis was dangerously close to found the largest shard of the broken Force crystal. This alarming situation drew the Force ghost Obi-Wan Kenobi to the planet. Kenobi's spirit enlisted a group of would-be Jedi and non-Force sensitive spacers to help him to destroy the crystal before it fell into the hands of evil, and therefore correct the imbalance in the Force. Guided on their path by the spectral form of Kenobi, the adventurers acquired a small shard of the crystal from a crazed Mustafarian hermit. Thanks to this shard, that was slightly destroying the sanity of the spacers, the group got access to the Lair of the Crystal, beneath the Jedi Temple ruins. There, they confronted Lord Vartonis and the Brotherhood Mortalis that just arrived to claim the crystal. However, the Dark Jedi was too powerful and the adventurers were obliged to use the power of the crystal to fight him. Eventually, the adventurers defeated Vartonis and his mercenaries. Then, following the advice of Obi-Wan's spirit, they destroyed the Force crystal once for all, finally removing the influence of the dark side on Mustafar.^[32]

Zann Consortium's corruption

After escaping imprisonment on Kessel prior to the Battle of Yavin, the crime lord Tyber Zann rebuilt his criminal organization known as the Zann Consortium. Following the destruction of the first Death Star the Consortium used a defiler to bribe officials on Mustafar into aiding him in his pursuits. Corrupted officials alerted Zann of Imperial fleet movements in the system while Mustafarian militias tolerated the presence of Consortium criminals on the planet.^[94]

Post-Endor

Following the Battle of Endor, the death of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader the Empire was left shattered. A force-sensitive clone trooper named X1, who was serving the Empire, used the shattering of the Empire as an opportunity to create his own Empire. As he built up his forces he eventually began calling himself a Sith Lord and constructed a fortress on Mustafar. Determined to stop him, his brother a fellow force-sensitive clone named X2 who left the Empire and worked with the rebellion and eventually joined Luke Skywalker's new Jedi Order. After raiding Bast Castle on Vjun, X1 recovered a Hologron belonging to X1 which directed them to X1's fortess on Mustafar. Skywalker arrived on Mustafar first and was captured by X1 who planned to use him as a template for an army of Dark Jedi clones.^[15]

X2 later arrived at Mustafar with Grey Squadron to confront X1 and rescue Skywalker. After reaching the space above the planet, X2 infiltrated an orbiting Star Destroyer. After sabotaging the Star Destroyer's power reactor and causing it to begin falling to the surface, X1 confronted X2. As the two fought, X1 continued to try to tempt X2 to the dark side. X2 eventually forced X1 to retreat to a TIE Advanced x1, X2 pursued in an X-wing and the two resumed their fight in orbit over the planet before X1 retreated to to the planet's surface. X2 regrouped with Grey Squadron on the surface at the wrecked of crashed Star Destroyer. From there they proceeded to an Ion Cannon control room on the surface and deactivate the fortress's ground defenses which allowed a Y-wing starfighter to perform a bombing run. After defeating stormtroopers, dark troopers and hovertanks X2 made it into the cloning laboratory where he faced X1 again.^[15]

X1 soon dismissed his brother as an unworthy opponent and retreated, but not before releasing his Wookies clones to combat X2. After defeating the Wookiee clones, X2 made his way to his brother where he was protected by Royal Guards. After another brief fight and defeating the Royal Guards, X2 pursued X1 to a mining platform where they engaged in one final battle. After being defeated by X2, X1 in a final act, manipulated his dropped lightsaber with the Force to kill X2. X2 jumped over the lightsaber, causing X1 to be impaled by his own blade. With the lightsaber in his chest, X1 stepped back over the edge and fell down into a lava river to his death.^[15]

Inhabitants

Indigenous people

Main article: Mustafarian

Mustafar was the homeworld of the Mustafarians, a sentient species of arthropod humanoids. Mustafarians were divided into two main subspecies, the Northern Mustafarians and Southern Mustafarians. The Northern Mustafarians were taller, though weaker, and often served as sentries or security forces and frequently donned mechanical prosthetics to enhance their physical capabilities. The Northern Mustafarians were the subspecies that domesticated and rode the backs of the lava fleas. The Southern Mustafarians were smaller, sturdier, and hardier than their northern counterparts and typically handled the more physical tasks, working in cooperation with their genetic cousins. Because they were more capable of withstanding the higher temperatures, they spent more time on the surface than Northern Mustafarians, wearing armor and breath masks to protect themselves from the extreme elements.^[18]

The Mustafarians evolved from extremophile arthropods and contained very little water within their biology. Living in cooler hollows of dormant volcanoes, they ventured to the surface following trails left by lava fleas. They established townships that were loosely stitched together through peaceful trade, banding together in the face of extreme conditions. They spoke a clicking, insectiod language, and as a result of their skin being resistant to the heat of most blasters, they armed themselves with a type of native blaster that emitted bolts of kinetic force. The indigenous people of Mustafar paid little attention to the concerns of offworlders, choosing instead to focus on harvesting the minerals found within their homeworld's lava flows.^[44]

Religious seekers

Around 5300 BBY, a Jedi enclave was constructed on Mustafar and became home to Jedi Master Chu-Don Gar. After an attack by the Sith in 3996 BBY that resulted in Lefrani being pulled closer to Jestefad, originating the tidal stresses that constantly pulled Mustafar apart, all surface life on Mustafar was destroyed.^[2] Following a search for Force-related artifacts after the Battle of Ruusan^[39] in 1000 BBY,^[2] Vulta Daanat learned many secrets of the dark side and settled in the Southern Jedi Ruins on Mustafar, taking on several apprentices to pass on his knowledge to a new generation. The group became the Blackguard and fluctuated in size from mammoth proportions to a mere handful. Eventually, the cult came under the control of San'sii the Kursk, who began the practice of recruiting non-Force-sensitives to help the cult survive.^[39] He, along with many members of the Blackguard, was killed^[13] in 1 ABY.^[78] By approximately 138 ABY,^[95] the Sith of Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire had a presence on Mustafar.^[16]

Behind the scenes

Mustafar, originally known as "Mufasta" in early drafts^[1] made its first appearance in the 2005 film Revenge of the Sith.^[17] However the planet and Vader's injuries there were alluded to since August 25, 1977, when in an interview published by Rolling Stone, George Lucas said that Vader fell into a volcanic pit while dueling Obi-Wan and that the resulting injuries are why he wears his armor.^[96] Lucas also mentioned this backstory to Lawrence Kasdan during the writing of Return of the Jedi^[97] and this backstory is mentioned in the novelization of Return of the Jedi.^[98] The concept of a lava duel also appears in the Rough Draft and Revised Rough Draft of the script for Return of the Jedi, in which Luke Skywalker battles Darth Vader over a lava lake in Palpatine's throne room in the lowest levels of the Imperial Palace.^[97]

Mount Etna was scouted for Revenge of the Sith, to capture plate photography for backdrops in the Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader fight on Mustafar. Conveniently, Etna erupted during the making of the film, so Lucas sent a team which included Rick McCallum and Ron Fricke to film it. The resultant moving image of lava flows could be used as backgrounds for the duel.^[1] These images could have been done by CGI, in theory, but it would have been more difficult and expensive than sending a few people to Sicily with cameras, as Lucas states in the audio commentary to Episode III.

The film relied heavily on blue and green screens when filming scenes on Mustafar however the final lava river bank was practically built and included a dyed methylcyl which was lit from below to simulate the stage lava. The scenes utilized red lighting, wind and smoke machines extensively during filming. In post production, the Industrial Light & Magic team used digital models including digital lava that would flow and burst realistically to composite with the scenes.^[1] Several versions of the scene where Padmé and Anakin meet on Mustafar were filmed, in at least one the two shared a kiss but ultimately it was cut along with a story angle involving Anakin developing jealousy of Obi-Wan.^[99]

In 2010, Abrams Books published Star Wars Art: Visions which featured artwork from 100 different artists set in the Star Wars franchise. Two pieces depicted Anakin standing on the surface of Mustafar; Portrait of Darth Vader by Steven J. Levin and Anakin Skywalker by Richard Piloco.^[100]

Non-canonical appearances

In "Old Wounds", a short non-canon comic written and illustrated by Aaron McBride, and published in Star Wars: Visionaries by Dark Horse Comics on April 2, 2005, Mustafar makes a brief appearance as one of locations where Darth Maul searches for Obi-Wan Kenobi after surviving his injuries on Naboo. Maul encountered a wounded Anakin Skywalker on Mustafar and was relieved to realize that he was not Kenobi, before following the Jedi's trail to Polis Massa. Maul later recounted his journey after tracking the Jedi down to the planet Tatooine.^[101]

Concept art galleries

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith

Storyboards

Concept art

Digital renderings

In-progress artwork

Storyboards

Typho and Amidala approach Mustafar, Derek Thompson^[102]

Typho and Amidala land on Mustafar, Derek Thompson^[102]

Typho and Amidala disembark, Derek Thompson^[102]

Typho and Amidala disembark, Derek Thompson^[102]

Typho and Amidala are attacked by droidekas, Derek Thompson^[102]

Typho and Amidala are attacked by droidekas, Derek Thompson^[102]

Typho and Amidala are attacked by droidekas, Derek Thompson^[102]

Typho is killed, Derek Thompson^[102]

Amidala witnesses Typho's death, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader emerges from the facility, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader emerges from the facility, Derek Thompson^[102]

Amidala sees Vader, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader approaches, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader destroys the droidekas, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader and Amidala meet, Derek Thompson^[102]

Amidala embraces Vader, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader paces angrily, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader and Amidala converse, Derek Thompson^[102]

Amidala grabs Vader, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader and Amidala kiss, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader noticed Kenobi, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi faces Vader and Amidala, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi braces for battle, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader begins to choke Amidala, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader chokes Amidala, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader lifts Amidala, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi calls to Vader, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi faces off with Vader, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader continues choking Amidala, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader throws Amidala, Derek Thompson^[102]

Amidala lies on the ground, Derek Thompson^[102]

R2-D2 watches, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi shouts angrily, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader ignites his lightsaber, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader points his lightsaber, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader face off, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi faces Vader with saber ignited, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader throws debris at Kenobi, Derek Thompson^[102]

R2-D2 rushes to help Amidala, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader leap down a level, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader Force pushes Kenobi, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader Force pushes Kenobi, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader severs Kenobi's platform, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader leap down several levels, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader severs complex arm, Derek Thompson^[102]

Severed arm falls toward Kenobi, Derek Thompson^[102]

Severed arm falls toward Kenobi, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel on debris floating in lava river, Derek Thompson^[102]

Debris floats toward lavafall, Derek Thompson^[102]

Debris drops off lavafall, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader leap onto platforms, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel on hovering platforms, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi and Vader duel on hovering platforms, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader hurls a wave of lava at Kenobi with the Force, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi leaps onto Vader's platform, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi severs Vader's legs, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader falls from the platform, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader burns, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader burns, Derek Thompson^[102]

Kenobi watches, Derek Thompson^[102]

Vader burns, Derek Thompson^[102]

Concept art

Early sketch of Mufasta finished using traditional acrylic/gouache techniques in Corel Painter, Ryan Church^[103]

Very early concept art of Mufasta sketched in Corel Painter, Ryan Church^[104]

Volcano Planet (Mufasta),^[105] a concept of a more technological Mustafar,^[106] sketched in Corel Painter,^[104] Ryan Church, June 7, 2002^[105]

Very early concept art of Mufasta^[104] mining installation^[107] sketched in Corel Painter;^[104] explored the industrialization of the planet; buildings hanging down give a sense of scale for the mining chamber; Ryan Church; June 1, 2002^[107]

Mufasta Crash, Ryan Church, July 25, 2002^[107]

Mufasta Bunker View, Ryan Church, October 3, 2002^[107]

Mufasta Sketch 4, Ryan Church, October 3, 2002^[103]

Mufasta Mining Droids, Warren Fu, October 18, 2002^[107]

Mustafar Building 01, Feng Zhu, October 2002^[105]

Mustafar Saber Duel, Ryan Church^[105]

Vader creates a wave of lava, Derek Thompson, November 8, 2002^[108]

Lava Monster, Iain McCaig, November 8, 2002^[109]

Dramatic Cliffs, Erik Tiemens^[110]

Mufasta Battle Concept, Erik Tiemens^[105]

Mustafar Monster, Sang Jun Lee^[105]

Mustafar Collection Arm Base, Ryan Church, May 2003^[105]

Mustafar Balcony, Ryan Church, May 2003^[105]

Mustafar Floating Battle;^[105] done in Corel Painter in a no-layer, chalk brush quick style during pre-production,^[111] Ryan Church, May 23, 2003^[107]

Concept art of Vader burning in lava, JAK Films Art Department^[112]

Inverted version of Mufasta Duel with larger figures and an altered background^[107] done in one layer on Corel Painter with heavy use of Glow, Scratchboard, Square Chalk, and Water Rake tools,^[113] Ryan Church, 2004^[107]

Mustafar Cyclorama Lavascape Version 03, Erik Tiemens, December 2003-February 2004^[105]

Mustafar, first concept from space, Ryan Church, December 2003-February 2004^[105]

Lava Cyclorama, Erik Tiemens, December 2003-February 2004^[105]

Lava flow, Erik Tiemens^[105]

Vader considers his actions, Erik Tiemens^[105]

The surface of Mustafar, Erik Tiemens^[105]

Digital renderings

Animatic framegrab of Vader's Force wave^[114]

Appearances

Explore all of Wookieepedia's images for this article subject. Red Harvest (and audiobook) (Mentioned only) Star Wars: The Old Republic (Mentioned only) Darth Plagueis (and audiobook) (Mentioned only) "Restraint" — Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (Mentioned only) Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (and unabridged audiobook) (Retcon) Star Wars Journal: Darth Maul (First appearance) (In flashback(s)) (Retcon) "End Game" — Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace novelization, 2012 edition (Mentioned only) Star Wars: Battlefront II The Clone Wars: Shadowed (Written in aurebesh only) Star Wars: The Clone Wars novelization (and audiobook) (Mentioned only) Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels (Non-canonical appearance) Republic Commando: Triple Zero (Mentioned only) Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (Nintendo DS edition only) Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Children of the Force" The Clone Wars: Children of the Force The Clone Wars: Decide Your Destiny: The Way of the Jedi (Mentioned only) Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Ghosts of Mortis" (Vision to Anakin Skywalker) The Wrath of Darth Maul (In flashback(s)) The Clone Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Eminence" Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Shades of Reason" (In flashback(s)) Reversal of Fortune (Indirect mention only) Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel (Mentioned only) Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith novelization (and unabridged audiobook) Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith junior novelization Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Movie Storybook Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Cine-Manga Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith video game "Wat Tambor and the Quest for the Sacred Eye of the Albino Cyclops" — Star Wars: Visionaries Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith 1 (Mentioned only) Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith 3 Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith 4 Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron "Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:241" — Star Wars Insider 84 (Mentioned only) "Memory Loss" — Star Wars Comic 7.13 (In flashback(s)) "Lone Wolf: A Tale of Obi-Wan and Luke" — SkyeWalkers: A Clone Wars Story (Mentioned only) Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (and unabridged audiobook) (Mentioned only) Imperial Commando: 501st (Mentioned only) "The Last One Standing" — Legacy of the Jedi/Secrets of the Jedi omnibus (Mentioned only) The Last of the Jedi: The Desperate Mission (Mentioned only) Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows (Mentioned only) The Last of the Jedi: Master of Deception (Mentioned only) The Last of the Jedi: Reckoning (Mentioned only) Coruscant Nights III: Patterns of Force (Mentioned only) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Mentioned only) Death Star (Mentioned only) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (Nintendo Wii version, multiplayer only) Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (Advertised destination only) Star Wars: Lethal Alliance Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption "And Leebo Makes Three" — Star Wars Insider 128 (reprinted in Star Wars Insider: The Fiction Collection Volume 1) (Mentioned only) Shadow Games (Mentioned only) Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game — Galactic Hunters (Destroy All Droids promotional scenario) (Mentioned only) Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game — Threat of the Conqueror (Light Side scenario campaign) The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi (In flashback(s)) The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader (In flashback(s)) Star Wars: Return of the Jedi novelization (and unabridged audiobook) (Indirect mention only) (as molten pit) Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen (Mentioned only) Dark Nest III: The Swarm War (Appears in hologram) Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines (Mentioned only) Legacy of the Force: Revelation (Mentioned only) Legacy of the Force: Invincible (Mentioned only) Fate of the Jedi: Outcast (and audiobook) (Mentioned only) Legacy (2006) 50

Non-canon appearances

• LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
• "Old Wounds" — Star Wars: Visionaries (In flashback(s))
• "Star Wars -Phantasmagoria-" — Star Wars Manga: Silver (In flashback(s))
• LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (PSP version only)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
• LEGO Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith DK Reader
• Jedi Academy (Mentioned only)
• Angry Birds Star Wars II
• Star Wars: Tiny Death Star
• Angry Birds Star Wars II: Path to the Pork Side
• LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles — "Attack of the Jedi"
• LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles Trilogy
• Jedi Academy: Return of the Padawan (Depicted in drawing)
• LEGO Star Wars: Yoda's Secret Missions
• LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles — "Clash of the Skywalkers"

Sources

Non-canon sources

• LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga: Prima Official Game Guide
• LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
• LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary: Updated and Expanded
• LEGO Star Wars: The Dark Side
• Ultimate Sticker Collection: LEGO Star Wars: Mighty Minifigures
• Jedi Academy: Attack of the Journal

Notes and references