Since the release of A New Hope in 1977, Darth Vader and his dark suit of armor have become synonymous with Star Wars and placed the Sith Lord in the upper echelon of fictional villains. On top of his command of the Dark Side of the Force, though, his armor itself was an effective intimidation factor, demanding absolute loyalty from his subordinates and inspiring fear in anyone that dared to oppose him.

Vader’s armor is literally a part of him, and since he constantly wears it, only taking it off on a few occasions, many have come to believe that he could not survive without it. In fact, some scenes in the Original Trilogy even appear to reinforce that idea. However, that isn't how Star Wars architect George Lucas intended things to be.

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After being dismembered on Mustafar, the man that was once Anakin Skywalker was a shell of himself. Both physically and in terms of the Force, he would never be able to reach the great potential he once had. But Vader would've died without Sidious’ intervention, and after that point, his dark suit of armor became as much a part of him as anything else. The only times he was seen without it was when he was inside of his pressurized meditation chamber or in his bacta tank on Mustafar.

According to George Lucas, though, that wasn't by necessity. In a book titled The Making of Return of the Jedi by J.W. Rinzler, Lucas describes the scene where Luke takes off Vader’s helmet at the end of the film. “It has to be a real father. It’s got to be like your father, when the mask comes off, otherwise it doesn’t work," he explains. "The whole point is that he might have been able to live without all that stuff, but he would have been a weak pile of nothing. Now that he was on the dark side, he wanted to be greedy, he wanted to have all this.”

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Darth Vader face is revealed after his helmet is destroyed

While the suit was necessary to save Vader’s life after Mustafar, Lucas makes it clear that, in his mind, after a brief period, he could have survived without it. Of course, he wouldn't be the physical presence he is in the suit, which doesn't work for someone so enthralled and held captive by the Dark Side. So, in reality, Vader didn't need his armor to survive, but he did need it for enhancement. He wouldn't have been able to dominate the galaxy without his suit to sustain him, so he chose to bear the pain it caused him and remain inside.

Vader's armor also allowed him to stay distant and aloof from the world. Believing he could never be Anakin Skywalker again, he tried to suppress every bit of his former self, which is what makes Luke's actions in Return of the Jedi so meaningful. He allowed his father to embrace his humanity one last time, without donning the suit that held him captive for all those years.

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