Star Wars Just Brought an Ancient Sith Back to Life

Warning: SPOILERS for Darth Vader #24

As if it wasn't news enough for Star Wars fans to add a brand new Sith Lord to the existing mythology, the comics have brought that ancient Sith back to life so he could do glorious battle with Darth Vader.

The comic books have been expanding on the Star Wars lore we know, by confirming that Sith Lords can possess their weapons, to a certain extent. But in the case of Momin, ancient Sith Lords who died even thousands of years in the past can still remain alive in spirit. With Darth Vader's help the evil Sith Lord Momin has just opened the doorway to death, called forth his physical body, and been resurrected into the galaxy far, far away. So it's a good thing that Darth Vader is something of an expert at killing Sith already.

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Lord Momin's Helmet Helps Darth Vader Conquer Death

The latest chapter of Darth Vader's story is shaping up to be one of the most important for fans to know - despite only being told now, in the comics and not the films. What started as the birth of Vader's infamous Mustafar castle quickly turned into a tale of Sith immortality, as Vader's architect was no living person. It was Lord Momin, whose helmet was placed on the head of an unsuspecting victim to allow him to be semi-resurrected. Conscious enough, it seems, to lead the construction of Vader's desired doorway into death... and his own secret masterpiece.

That is where Darth Vader #23 finally led, with Lord Momin making good on his promise to create the perfect temple to to channel The Force. Then, a Sith like Darth Vader could crack open the afterlife. In hindsight, however, Darth Vader should have known an immortal Sith would be more than he claimed. And that if his goal was to bring the dead back to life... trusting a dead man's soul to help him achieve it was more than a little risky.

Lord Momin Tricks Vader To Beat Death Instead

It's a rare case of Darth Vader being flat-out fooled, as Momin proves after helping him to breach the wall between the living, and those who returned to The Force in death. A victory soon put on pause, as the native inhabitants of the planet Mustafar launch an attack on Vader's castle in response to his terrible deeds laying waste to the world, distracting Vader from his goal.

Leaving Momin behind as he tends to the threat, Vader needs witness only a moment of rumbling to realize that he has been deceived. With his designs proven, and Vader possibly even weakening the wall between worlds, the Momin-possessed Imperial makes his move. Repeating the Force ability Vader used before, Lord Momin tears a doorway directly into the land of the dead - and is soon met with his own former body, in need of its former spirit.

Page 2 of 2: The Dead Sith Returns To Fight Darth Vader

Lord Momin Returns To The Star Wars Universe

The resurrection of Lord Momin is going to forever change what Star Wars fans have thought possible, in far more ways than just the "permanence" of death for an all-powerful Sith Lord. Starting with Lord Momin - in the form of an existing Imperial being controlled by what remains of Momin's soul contained in his helmet - managing to open the doorway, which makes Yoda using lightning in The Last Jedi seem like child's play. When he actually does bridge the living and the dead, the fact that his deceased body greets his soul with a simple "Hello, Me" implies a new understanding of the body and the mind, as they operate in and with The Force.

Either way, when helmet and body are reunited, Lord Momin is finally and truly resurrected after thousands of years lost to Jedi history. And for those as determined to catalogue the new changes to the new canon as the storytellers of these comics, the issue also shows that Lord Momin's dead form returns with both of its destroyed Sith lightsabers in hand. But before anyone starts to propose that the returned Momin is merely a phantom, a figment, or any other form of a "Force Ghost" and nothing more, his skill in combat is quickly shown to be better than Darth Vader's.

This is another case of it being difficult to detect honor among Sith, since it seems two can never meet without devoting themselves to killing the other. That said, readers have gotten a chance to read through Lord Momin's entire origin and training at the hand of Sith Lady Shaa. It didn't take long for Momin to assume his own superiority to his "master" and prove it by killing her. And in the fight he launches upon Darth Vader, it's easy to see how he managed the task, outmaneuvering Vader to deliver several fatal blows.

Of course, they would only be fatal strikes against a living person - against a half-robotic monster like Darth Vader, even severing a limb or two can not diminish the strength in The Force that was born into Anakin Skywalker, and remains still. In the end, it's Vader's trust in The Force that brings him to victory... and Momin's pride that brings him to ruin.

Lord Momin is Just Another Sith For Vader to Kill

Talented as Lord Momin may be with not one, but two lightsabers akimbo, millennia without his own body seem to have made him forget the great truth of The Force: fighting is fine, but hurling a gigantic piece of rock at your opponent has a quality all its own. In a great twist of poetic justice, Darth Vader flings one of the massive stone tablets constructed by Momin to open the doorway to death back at its sculptor. Unable to move out of the way, Momin must watch helplessly as Darth Vader trusts his power over his faith in the Dark Side, and grinds his enemy's body into paste.

The head of Lord Momin tumbles down to the ground, leaving its future ability to taint, manipulate, and possess new victims in question. The issue ends with Vader replacing the tablet to re-open the doorway, so we don't yet know if he will close this loophole by destroying Lord Momin's helmet for good. But if his mission to revive his beloved Padme ends as poorly as it has begun, we suspect Lord Momin will be finding a way to guarantee he CAN'T be brought back to life.

One less Sith in the galaxy is always a good thing. But for fans, knowing that a new Sith Lord not only existed in ancient history, but tried and failed to return and slay Vader and his master is a story to be treasured... or, you know, retold in Darth Vader's own prequel movie.

Darth Vader #24 is available now from Marvel Comics.