6. He Was Never Originally Supposed To Wear The Helmet All The Time
It's impossible to separate Darth Vader from that helmet - without it he's just a crispy Hayden Christensen - which makes it all the more shocking that the character was initially designed without one. That's right: originally he was just a regular faced baddie. It was only when concept artist Ralph McQuarrie painted a scene of the character wearing a spacesuit based on the events of Lucas' initial script. The idea was that, whilst moving on a planet with a particularly hostile atmosphere, Vader would adopt a special helmet and suit in order to breathe, something Lucas hadn't considered. As McQuarrie himself explains it:
"I created this mask so he could breathe in space, with a suggestion of teeth in the masks grillwork."
Seeing this particular rendition of the character inspired Lucas, who decided to have Vader permanently confined to a suit (the backstory involving Anakin Skywalker becoming seriously deformed was added in a further draft). With the iconic suit, of course, comes that mystery control panel on the front, often thought by fans to be totally useless. Well, it isn't; according to the Star Wars Databank, that control panel does serve a necessary purpose: it works as part of an intricate "life-support system" which "regulates his respiratory functions." Sure the costume designers had that planned all along.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
