Cracking Open the Helmet
In The Last Jedi, the second episode of the sequel trilogy, Finn duels Captain Phasma on Supreme Leader Snoke’s flagship. At the end of this confrontation, Finn defeats Phasma by striking her in the head. He then looks down to see that her helmet has cracked open, revealing a glimpse of her human face inside.
This image, with a single human eye looking up out of a broken mechanized helmet, closely mirrors a key image in The Empire Strikes Back, the second episode of the original trilogy, when Luke Skywalker duels a vision of Darth Vader on Dagobah. At the end of this duel, Luke defeats Vader by striking him in the head and then looks down to see that his helmet has cracked open, revealing a glimpse of Luke’s own face (with a single visible eye) inside.
In both cases, the end of the duel underlines a kinship between the hero and his enemy. Luke strikes down the vision of Vader and finds his first clue that, beneath his frightening, mechanized mask, Vader has humanity that can be appealed to. Finn was once a Stormtrooper like Phasma, and in their first scene together in The Force Awakens, she suppressed his humanity by ordering him to put his helmet on. When Finn finally defeats Phasma in their last scene together, he breaks open her helmet and exposes her own humanity, which she has tried to hide and suppress.
However, while the duel on Dagobah hints at the familial kinship between Luke and Vader that will ultimately lead to their reconciliation, the duel on Snoke’s flagship reveals that Finn and Phasma are definitively different. Phasma’s last words are full of contempt for her former subordinate: “You were always scum.” Finn’s reply – “Rebel scum” – affirms that, beneath the mask he was forced to wear, he was never a Stormtrooper at heart.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Captain Phasma / Darth Vader / Finn / Luke Skywalker
Films: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: hiding / masks / nature and technology
READ MORE ABOUT…
Follow The Jedi Archives on…
And I think the apotheosis of this theme is the unmasking of Vader by Luke in ROTJ - the full unmasking revealing the true humanity, and deep connection between the two.