45 years after The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars’ new interactive galaxy map has revealed a haunting parallel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. The Empire Strikes Back changed everything we thought we knew about Star Wars. Luke Skywalker wasn’t just the son of a long-ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, noble Jedi, an unlikely hero from a backwater planet. He was the son of one of the galaxy’s most feared Force-users.

Most of Luke’s training took place on Dagobah, a remote planet in the Outer Rim. It was clear in The Empire Strikes Back that Dagobah was a planet strong with the Force, though it was only later confirmed through Star Wars: The Clone Wars and other supplementary Star Wars stories that Dagobah was one of the “purest places in the galaxy,” and represented a vergence in the Force.

A vergence, otherwise known as a Force nexus, is a natural, unusually strong concentration of the Force’s power connected to a person, place, or thing. On Dagobah, the center of the vergence was found in the Cave of Evil, though Yoda’s strong light-side presence and the rich life found in Dagobah’s swamp kept the darkness of the nexus contained. Dagobah’s not the only vergence in the Outer Rim, however.

Mustafar, the volcanic planet first introduced in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, is also a place of great power. The Sith have been attracted to Mustafar’s dark side nexus for millennia; Darth Vader even made it his “home.” Though Dagobah and Mustafar have played different roles in Star Wars’ storytelling, they’re much closer than I ever realized – physically, as well as narratively.

I Never Realized How Close Mustafar & Dagobah Really Were

Star Wars’ incredibly detailed new galaxy map reveals that Mustafar and Dagobah are located less than 10,000 light-years from one another. Though that may sound like a lot, the distance between Tatooine and Dagobah, according to the galaxy map, is roughly 20,000 light-years. Suddenly, Dagobah and Mustafar feel a lot closer.

Though Mustafar didn’t become the official site of Vader’s Castle until Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it was originally conceived by George Lucas and writer Leigh Brackett for The Empire Strikes Back, as they toyed with the idea of the villain’s lair built on a lava field. Famed Star Wars artist Ralph McQuarrie created concept art to illustrate Lucas’ and Brackett’s vision, though the idea was ultimately scrapped for Empire.

Knowing that a version of Vader’s castle, with the lava environment to go with it, existed as far back as The Empire Strikes Back’s pre-production days makes Dagobah’s and Mustafar’s proximity all the more intriguing.

Mustafar & Dagobah Are Mirror Images Of One Another

Essentially, Dagobah and Mustafar are mirror images of each other. Dagobah is a “pure” planet, ruled largely by the light side of the living Force, while Mustafar is steeped in the dark. It’s interesting, then, that both Luke and Vader honed their powers on their respective planets. Vader strengthened his connection to the dark side on Mustafar, while Luke rejected the dark in the Cave of Evil and embraced the light instead.

What’s even more interesting is that Mustafar was once, eons ago, a light side planet, too. Tragically, it was corrupted by dark side acts, as Mustafar’s then-ruler, a woman named Lady Corvax, sacrificed the entire life of the planet and channeled that power through a mᴀssive kyber crystal to resurrect her husband, who had died defending her world from a Sith invasion.

Naturally, as most attempts to resurrect the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in Star Wars go, she was unsuccessful, as the process was somehow interrupted. Rather than bring her husband back to life, she’d succeeded in creating a dark side nexus instead, one that would attract the Sith and their acolytes for millennia to come.

In that sense, Mustafar’s background is a lot like Darth Vader’s. Incredible raw strength aligned with the light, corrupted by a desire to resurrect or save a fallen loved one. Dagobah, too, reflects Luke’s journey. Both Luke’s and Dagobah’s affiliation with the light side was cultivated and cared for by Master Yoda.

I Do Love That Luke Was Trained Under Darth Vader’s Nose

There’s something tragically poetic about Luke being trained so close to Darth Vader’s home base. What if Vader had discovered Yoda’s hiding place before Luke could find him? How might that have changed the trajectory of Darth Vader’s and Luke Skywalker’s lives?

Of all the Force vergences in the Star Wars galaxy – Malachor, Ilum, Lothal, Exegol, Dathomir, Coruscant, Ahch-To, Mortis, and more – Luke and Vader ended up on two undeniably close but opposing planets. How much of a hand did the Force have in bringing them so near to each other before Luke discovered the truth of his parentage? As ever, it seems there’s a reason for every narrative choice in Star Wars.

Source: Star Wars