Fortress Inquisitorius
In “Part IV” of Obi-Wan Kenobi, it is revealed that Fortress Inquisitorius, the headquarters of Darth Vader’s Jedi-hunting Inquisitors, is located on the moon of Nur in the Mustafar system. The moon’s association with Mustafar is significant: the planet Mustafar was the site of Vader’s duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith a decade prior, and Mustafar is now the site of Vader’s castle. The differences between the planets Mustafar and Nur, and between the structures Vader has built on them, are symbolic of the state of Vader’s psyche.
Mustafar is a fiery planet covered with rivers of lava, whereas Nur is covered in water. In Star Wars, fire is associated with the untamed, destructive passions (recall Vader’s unbridled rage at Obi-Wan while fighting on Mustafar). On the other hand, water — in keeping with Jungian archetypes — is associated with knowledge submerged within the repressed unconscious (recall the secrets hidden on water-covered planets like Kamino, Ahch-To, and Kef Bir). It is fitting, then, that whereas Vader’s castle on Mustafar is built atop a rocky cliff, the Fortress Inquisitorius is built upon the ocean floor, with many levels submerged underwater — and that one of those underwater levels entombs the mummified remains of Jedi massacred by Vader during the siege of the Jedi Temple. All this suggests that Vader, still ruled by the passions that led to his becoming a Sith, is intent on suppressing his memories of once having been the Jedi Anakin Skywalker. (As he will tell his son later, in Return of the Jedi, “That name no longer has any meaning for me!”) This is why he oversees his operations from the heights of fiery Mustafar, while on a separate planet in the same system — close enough for him to control, but far enough for him to put out of mind — his Inquisitors work to erase or contain all traces of Vader’s past by killing Jedi and burying them in the watery depths of Nur.
But the Inquisitors’ failure to stop Obi-Wan from breaking into and escaping from Fortress Inquisitorius, which forces Vader to leave Mustafar and visit Nur, shows the futility of Vader’s attempts to forget the past represented by his old master who has come back, in a sense, from the dead. The memories that the passions have suppressed cannot be ignored indefinitely. In “Part VI” of the show, Vader will literally try to bury Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan prevails because, unlike his old friend, he is willing to come out of hiding to confront his past.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader / Obi-Wan Kenobi
Shows: Obi-Wan Kenobi
GO DEEPER INTO THE ARCHIVES…
Concepts: burial / duality / fire / hiding / memory / oceans / passion / repression / water
Influences: Jung
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