Mask of Lord Momin

The Mask of Lord Momin was a blue helmet created by the Sith Lord and sculptor, Darth Momin, using his newly acquired lightsabers. It had a central horizontal opening, an enclave in the center connected to the horizontal opening, and a second vertical opening positioned on the elevated faceplate of the mask. Additionally, the mask extended to the neck with a small gorget. The mask was also damaged as it had several cracks that ran along the surface.

When individuals were left alone with the mask in an enclosed area, they were susceptible to being corrupted by the dark side of the Force. One way the mask could corrupt an individual with the dark side was when two red, glowing eyes appeared and emitted a flash of red light when an individual gazed upon them. The corruption was strong enough to control and influence bodies even after they had been decomposed, despite that the mask did not have to be worn but could be in close proximity to individuals in order to do so. The Mask of Lord Momin not only had the ability to corrupt and control individuals, but could communicate with them as well, as the mask had communicated with Darth Sidious to tell him of its history. Once an individual had been possessed by the mask and worn it, the mask could control the individual's actions, as was the case with Lieutenant Roggo. Roggo became possessed by the mask and wore it, allowing him to architecturally design Fortress Vader, the castle of Sith Lord Darth Vader in mere minutes.

From a young age, Momin had made creations that many considered abominations. Momin eventually used the Force for more of his creations, but they eventually locked him away until he was rescued by Sith Lady Darth Shaa. Under Shaa's tutelage, Momin learned many aspects of the dark side of the Force and Momin eventually created his mask after purposefully disfiguring his face. Eventually, however, Momin killed Shaa in a lightsaber duel as he believed that being called an apprentice was offensive. Always wearing the mask, Momin traveled to many Sith sites and undertook a quest for more knowledge.

Afterwards, Momin embarked upon his newest project. With resources he had inherited from Shaa, and the assistance of acolytes who were desperate to help him in his work, he designed his own weapon: an engine with enough power to obliterate an entire city. Momin planned to pour the Force into his engine at the moment of ignition and use it to slow down time, trapping the expressions of horror and pain on the city's inhabitants forever. When the Jedi found Momin, though, the presence of the light side of the Force disrupted his concentration and made him lose control over the engine, which led to his own destruction. In the aftermath, only his mask remained, with his consciousness engraved in it.

Considered to be a powerful Sith artifact, the Jedi took the mask and stored it away in the Jedi Temple vaults. Records of Lord Momin and his activities were suppressed by both the Sith and the Jedi Order.

When Dooku and Sifo-Dyas were still initiates at the Jedi Temple on the Core World planet of Coruscant, the Mask of Lord Momin was kept in the Archive of Forbidden Artifacts, a Bogan Collection, along with many Sith scrolls, the lightsaber of Darth Krall, and artifacts relating to the Sorcerers of Tund and the Yacombe. By 19 BBY, the Mask was housed within a different in the Temple, along with other rare artifacts such as a lightsaber rifle, a Sith holocron, another , and a black starfighter.

Shortly after the creation of the Galactic Empire, Dark Lord of the Sith and Galactic Emperor Darth Sidious tasked his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, with hunting and capturing Chief Librarian Jedi Master Jocasta Nu. Coincidentally, Master Nu arrived on Coruscant to obtain a memory crystal that contained a list of Force-sensitive younglings in order for her to establish her school and rebuild the Order.

When Nu arrived at the Jedi Temple and secured the crystal from the vault, she confronted the Grand Inquisitor in the Jedi Archives. When Darth Vader arrived, Nu fled to the Archive vault and utilized the lightsaber rifle against him, eventually blowing a hole through the temple wall and escaping outside. Nu was eventually captured and later killed when she told Vader that Sidious was seeking to replace him, and that the list of younglings was what he was after.

Some time following the confrontation, Sidious and an entourage of droids and Imperial Royal Guards were at the vault examining the trove of artifacts when Vader arrived following several assassination attempts on himself. Sidious was holding and examining the Mask of Lord Momin when Vader began asking about the attempts.

Eventually by 18 BBY, the Jedi Temple was transformed into the Imperial Palace, and the Mask of Lord Momin continued to be housed there, along with other artifacts. At some point during Sidious' possession of the Mask of Lord Momin, the mask told Sidious of Lord Momin and its history. Years following the establishment of the Empire, following a chase of two rogue Inquisitors, Sidious gave Vader three gifts; the planet Mustafar to be used as Vader's personal stronghold, the Naboo Royal Starship as Vader's own vessel, and finally the Mask of Lord Momin. Sidious believed that by Vader having the mask on his mission to Mustafar, Vader would be able to unlock the secrets contained in the Sith cave and grow stronger in the dark side of the Force.

The Mask of Lord Momin, along with Vader, architect Colonel Alva Brenne, and Lieutenant Roggo traveled to Mustafar on board the Naboo Royal Starship, when en route Colonel Brenne examined the mask as she pondered Vader's architectural preference. After a tenuous landing on Mustafar, Vader meditated in the Sith cave while Colonel Brenne and Lieutenant Roggo drew up plans for Fortress Vader. After Brenne gave Vader an initial design that he rejected, Brenne returned to the Royal Starship but was killed. Vader, hearing Brenne's cries entered the Royal Starship to find Brenne's body and Roggo wearing the mask of Lord Momin, which had activated.

Vader used his lightsaber to cut down Roggo, and shortly after a hologram was activated showing a new design for Vader's fortress, which the mask had created during its corruption of Roggo. Picking up the mask with the Force, Vader brought the helmet into the Sith cave and asked what it was. The mask activated and a pair of red eyes formed, when suddenly, the mask emitted a beam of red light at Vader, giving him a Force vision of Momin's past.

From there, Momin revealed his past to him and attempted to possess Vader with the mask. The Sith Lord resisted, but when leaving the cave, he ran into a Mustafarian scout party. Vader killed two of them, but used the mask to possess another, giving Momin a body again. As the last Mustafarian retreated, Momin and Vader reentered the Sith Cave. In a brief exchange of words, Momin explained the intentions of Fortress Vader, being a tuning fork for the Force to open the door to the dark side. Vader let him build it, but warned him the consequences of betrayal.

Construction began for Momin's design. When it was finished, Vader tried using the fortress to tune the Force energies of the Sith Cave and open the door to the dark side. He failed, and the fortress was wrecked. So Momin redesigned the fortress, and when it too failed, he tried again a further three times. After the fifth fortress failed, Vader killed Momin's host and placed the mask on one of the Magma troopers at the construction site. Momin designed a sixth fortress, and a seventh, and an eighth, all while his mask took up new hosts due to Vader's punishment of killing them.

When the ninth design was finished, it felt right to Momin, and Vader assured him there would be no tenth. When it proved able to open the door to the dark side. Vader was reluctant to wait any longer for it. However, the trial and error process of using the fortress designs had affected Mustafar's climate. As a result, Vader was distracted by a Mustafarian uprising. Momin took this chance to open the door to the dark side himself, and he resurrected his original body. Momin's host handed over the mask to its owner and Momin killed them.

The Mustafarian army wiped out the Fortress Vader Imperial garrison and almost killed Vader. After barely surviving, he returned to the fortress and tuned the Force from the Sith Cave to obliterate the Mustafarians. Once this was done, Momin stepped out and confronted Vader. He challenged his beliefs in controlling the dark side, saying they must serve it. As he said this, he badly injured Vader with his lightsabers and attempted to kill him. Vader, though, rammed a large stone into him, crushing him into the wall. Momin died in disbelief, and his mask fell onto the ground.

Vader returned the mask to Sidious, who came to store it aboard his personal yacht, the Imperialis, along with other rare artifacts. However, Momin's influence remained within the helmet. When Lando Calrissian and his crew stole the ship, they discovered the helmet and the other artifacts. There, the helmet corrupted Aleksin to attack his brother, Pavol. Calrissian trapped the two inside the room and Pavol became corrupted as well. Calrissian was forced to abandon and destroy the Imperialis.

The Mask of Lord Momin first appeared in the 2015 canon comic, Lando 3, which was written by Charles Soule and illustrated by Alex Maleev. It wasn't until 2018 with the comic Darth Vader (2017) 21, also by Soule and illustrated by Giuseppe Camuncoli, that the mask was formally identified. In Star Wars: Crimson Reign issue four, the mask was again seen under Vader's fortress despite having been aboard the Imperialis in Star Wars: Lando. Soule, however, revealed this was not a mistake because the "mask" seen in Crimson Reign had merely been a ghost that appeared to the Knights of Ren. When asked why it seemed like the ghost could react to blaster bolts, he merely responded with "Yes" to keep the mystery.

• Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
• The Star Wars Book
• Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith
• Star Wars The Dark Side Pocket Expert
• Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide