Production information
Type Body armor
Owners Darth Vader
Physical and technical specifications
Size 6'6" (2.00 m)
Range Darth Vader's entire body
Usage and history
Era(s)
Rise of the Empire era Rebellion era New Republic era Nexu and the Wolf universe
Affiliation Darth Vader
"He's more machine now than man. Twisted and evil." ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, speaking of Darth Vader[src]
Darth Vader's armor, or serial number: E-3778Q-1, was a distinctive durasteel covered body armor over a sealed black body glove worn by Anakin Skywalker (LadyVader). It was designed to protect the young man while exuding an air of intimidation and control.
Design[]
Darth Vader's suit was made to be both intimidating and fearsome. His helmet was black, with a highly polished finish. The front was carved out to fit around his head and show his "face." This helmet had a raised ridge that ran from between his eyes to the back of his head, where it merged into the durasteel, obsidian, and plasteel of the helmet itself.
The mask itself went halfway around Vader's head. The mask's appearance was given a similar appearance to a skull in order to enhance the fear factor of the Dark Lord. The top of this mask was crowned with a circular interface dotted with an array of square slots around a disc of silver. This disc seemed to serve as an interface between the mask and the helmet. Made of black durasteel, these components were hermetically sealed and connected with a flat backpack that cycled air to Vader's lungs.
The air pump itself was located inside the top of the mask, which, via a ventilator, supplied a distinctive rasp. An implanted enunciator linked to an electronic voice processor enabled Vader to produce speech more clearly though in a lower pitch. Around the unseen part of the mask, the part covered by the helmet, were wires arranged in a design. Also hidden beneath his mask were four grill-like squares of red, accented by ridged crisscrosses of yellow wire. The face of the mask was somewhat exaggerated and angular, with two ridges above his eyes that fit in with those of his helmet. The eyes appeared bulbous. This front part of the mask was of a more highly polished black material than that of the back, being the more flexible of the two. The ridged bridge of the nose seemed lost in the largeness of the eyes, but jutted out in a manner similar to a bare skull.
The mask's cheekbones were generally angular, curving slightly to join the nose at its base. The base of the nose offered one of the only hues presented other than black and silver on the mask. This silver piece, which acted as a multipurpose detector that acted as the suit's primary environmental sensor, and could measure radiation, temperature, and atmospheric toxicity and displays the information in the HUD, was rounded in shape, with a triangular grill growing out from beneath it that served as an air filter, further contributing to its skull-like appearance. The eye lenses acted as optical filters, allowing for Vader to expand the limits of human vision by detecting infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths, while also blocking out excess light, due to the inability to repair Vader's damaged retinas. In addition, the lens also came equipped with a HUD that supplied critical data automatically as an overlay if Vader entered new environments, including information about atmospheric composition, nearby bio-signatures, and others, which could also be selected via the mouth controls.
The lens, likewise, came equipped with secondary eyeshields that activate within 5 milliseconds and automatically sliding over the optical blisters to prevent blindness when approaching intense light. Components for a disassembled SoroSuub DH-57 comlink were also built into the mask's interior, as a result of it being a cheaper solution compared to custom-designing a new unit. It also was equipped with audio enhancers and sonic dampeners, the latter of which were also capable of reducing noise as a defense against sonic weapons, and they can extend Vader's hearing range to 40 kHz, enough to be higher than a Ronto.
Vader's pauldrons and chest armor appeared to be one piece that protected his entire upper torso. The durasteel material was gray in hue with several black vertical stripes. Around the neck of the full-shoulder pauldron connected to the upper seam of the armor was Vader's black, flowing, nearly floor-length armorweave cape. Coming from beneath the pauldron was a black tabard that was open in the front and reached down to the ground. The shoulder armor itself weighed 12.2 kg overall, was resistant to both blasters and energy blades, and was capable of withstanding hits from both weapon types with only minor surface pitting.
Vader wore a ribbed, padded, multi-ply body glove that covered everything below his neck. This flexible, quilted suit was blast-dampening, and was made of a fireproof material that provided some protection against flames and corrosive gasses. On his hands he wore black gloves, or more accurately gauntlets, were also made of a Micronized Mandalorian iron weave to protect Vader against glancing lightsaber blows during the patient's physical therapy sparring sessions, as well as deflecting a direct hit from a blaster bolt. Around his entire abdominal area, he wore a plastoid girdle that protected his internal organs, and on his back, hidden by his cloak, he wore a flat black backpack. Over his solar plexus, he wore a chest unit. His belt, which went over his tabard, and also was mostly black, had three metal boxes around the front. The middle one had a silver electromagnetic clasp adorning it that included the release button and audio sensors. The other two boxes were symmetrical blocks decorated with several green, yellow, and gray buttons. The left box was the respiratory controls, which contained six gray knobs for manual adjustment; a red system active indicator button; two green buttons composing of a reset switch (left) and an auto/manual toggle (right); and a gray rectangular surface that acted as a CO2 vent. The right box were the temperature controls, containing two green buttons that had the same purpose as the green buttons on the respiratory controls; a heat vent below the green buttons; a system active indicator button and manual adjustment knobs.
Vader's shiny black all-terrain combat boots contained shin armor of durasteel that hinged on the sides of the foot of the boot to allow him to walk. The boots' soles also contained a ferromagnetic core which could be activated by Vader's mouth-operated controls to generate a strong magnetic field similar to that of zero-g spacesuits used by soldiers to cling to starship hulls, and the shin armor was among the heaviest items in the armor's assembly. In particular, the shin armor's durasteel make also renders him invulnerable to stabbing strikes or shrapnel spray. The outer cape, and to some extent, the tunic (the latter being 50%), was made out of armorweave, as it provided protection from environmental damage and was light enough for adequate movement. The cape also acted as a protective cloak designed to block fire and acid jets, thus helping to protect him.