Get ready to return to Vader’s Mustafar castle in Crimson Reign No. 4

During the War of the Bounty Hunters, we awaited the Dawn! Now we await the Reign.

The next chapter in the Star Wars saga continues in Crimson Reign # 4 as Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn put forth the next plan of action to deal a blow against the Empire. Starwars.com has released an exclusive preview of the fourth issue and it involves a field trip to Fortress Vader on the hot volcanic planet of Mustafar.

The leader of Crimson Dawn enlists the Knight of Ren, a group of Dark Side warriors (who will play a role in future events leading up to The Rise of Skywalker) to infiltrate Fortress Vader. Their mission is to find something of huge importance within Darth Vader’s abode.

And judging from the pages of the preview, it looks as if breaking into Fortress Vader was only the easy part of the Knights. Not if Vanee, Vader’s attendant, has anything to say about it. And judging by the firepower the Knights unleash on Vanee, it looks as if they are going to be in for a fight trying to steal whatever is valuable in Fortress Vader.

This is not the first time Fortress Vader was introduced in the comics. In addition to the movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the fortress appears in Darth Vader issues no. 21 to 25, written by Charles Soule. The Fortress was designed by a Sith Lord name Darth Momin who utilized the Dark Side of the Force in creative ways rather than destructive. Although he died his physical body against the Jedi, his consciousness would live on in a form of an ancient helmet he created and whoever wore it, was possessed by the Sith Lord.

The helmet would also be locked away in the secret vault in the Jedi Temple until Emperor Palpatine found it. The Emperor instructed Vader to take the helmet with him to Mustafar as a way to be inspired in his learning the ways of the Dark Side.

While possessing several bodies of Imperial personnel and Mustafarian inhabitants that Vader encounters, Momin helped the Sith Lord create his fortress as a key to use the Dark Side to get Padme Amidala back from the dead. But it in opportunistic Sith fashion, he used Fortress Vader to go through the portal to meet his past self and reinhabit his former body. Momin would ultimately meet his end at the hands of Vader who would try to use the portal to get Padme back only to fail. Momin’s helmet makes an appearance in the preview in which one of the Knights of Ren shoots it.

Besides Momin’s haunted helmet, what is the valuable artifact that the Knight of Ren are tasked with retrieving? How is this artifact instrumental to Qi’ra’s mission to defeat the Empire? And the bigger question: will the Knights of Ren have an encounter with Darth Vader himself?

Crimson Reign no. 4 is written by Charles Soule and illustrated by Steven Cummings. The comic will hit shelves on April 27 at your local comic book shop or wherever comic books are sold!

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