In Star Wars, long-time series antagonist and ruthless Sith Lord Darth Vader has a habit of getting his armor smashed, shredded, mangled, torn, broken, and destroyed in almost every way imaginable. But thanks to one secret about his iconic suit, this constant cosmetic cliché is finally explained!
A hopeful Star Wars hero turned evil Sith villain, Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader is a character who is one of the most powerful beings in all the galaxy — rivaling even the ultimate power of his master, Emperor Palpatine. Needing his armor for protection against all those that would do him harm but also to keep him alive in general, give him the use of his nonexistent legs and arms in the form of robotic body parts (thanks, Obi-Wan!), and, of course, help him look as intimidating as possible, Vader is more often than not a total wreck at the end of a hard-fought and hard-won battle and constantly needs to repair and refurbish his suit just to function again.
And since Star Wars seems to enjoy destroying Vader's mask more than any other part of his armor, the visual of one human eye looking out of a partially shattered helmet has become a cliché that some fans are starting to grow tired of. Seen in Star Wars films, the various television series Vader has been featured in, and also in any number of comic series released since Marvel took over the franchise, the secret of why Vader’s armor is always breaking is due to one reason and one reason only: it isn’t all that impressive when it comes to protection by design.
Why Darth Vader's Helmet Is So Fragile
As recently revealed in Greg Pak and Raffaele Ienco's Darth Vader #9, Darth Vader's armor is more or less a suit Emperor Palpatine slapped together after Anakin Skywalker’s unfortunate accident on Mustafar, Star Wars has never attempted to strengthen or otherwise improve upon Vader’s forced choice of fashion ever since. Because of this, Vader’s armor purposely doesn’t offer as much protection as its menacing look implies, which is why it's damaged so often and so thoroughly at times, why the cliché image of a half-helmeted Vader is so prevalent in canon (outside symbolic reasons, of course), and why Vader’s robotic bits are constantly exposed yet never worried over enough to get the Empire to do something about it.
Darth Vader's Armor Is Less Protective On Purpose
While Vader's ferocity makes fans think his armor is the most high-end and effective suit in all the galaxy, in truth, it's really only there to help him breathe and give him the ability to use his limbs like he once did. There’s no doubt Star Wars’ Darth Vader has a great armor design that will forever be part of the nerd lexicon, but when it comes to being something other than a badass look for a badass baddie, it comes up a bit lacking.