- "What I mean to say is that I think this belongs to Vader, and that Vader was able to follow us to Fial, then Galidraan, by tracking his property."
- ―Artoz
Darth Vader's meditation chamber, also known as the Qabbrat, was a life support pod that allowed the Sith Lord Darth Vader to survive for extended periods without the helmet and mask of his suit. The injuries Vader sustained during his duel against Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar normally made this impossible.
Description[]
Some three meters in diameter,[2] the Sith Lord Darth Vader's meditation chamber[6] was flattened on the bottom, designed to nestle in a hexagonal dais. It had neither a proper hatch nor a control panel; and had two longitudinal seams which allowed the device to open into two hemispheres.[2] The chamber, also known as the "Qabbrat," was part of Darth Vader's personal quarters on his flagship Executor[7] or placed within other locations the Sith Lord found himself based.[2]
The chamber supplied Vader with high pressure and sterilized hyper-oxygen, which, combined, allowed Vader a chance to safely remove his life-support armor, even his helmet,[7] while the chamber was enclosed around him.[1] While within the life support pod,[5] Vader would also meditate.[2]
History[]
Five years after the Proclamation of the New Order, Darth Vader was in possession of a mobile meditation chamber which he ordered to be transferred from a Victory-class Star Destroyer to Moff Wilhuff Tarkin's Carrion Spike for their mission to Murkhana. During the transferral, Vader selected a dozen stormtroopers to accompany him and had them load the chamber onto Tarkin's corvette; during the maneuver, the sphere collided briefly with the edge of the ship's cargo hold hatch, for which Vader grew angry at Sergeant Crest, the one controlling the repulsorlift crane.[2]
When the Carrion Spike was stolen by Berch Teller's rebel cell on Murkhana, Vader used the meditation chamber as a homing beacon of sorts, allowing him to track and pinpoint the rebels' exact location despite the corvette's stealth system. Thanks to it, the Sith Lord and Tarkin pursued the ship from Murkhana to the Fial and Galidraan systems. During the Imperial attack on Galidraan Station, Teller and Artoz decided to jettison the device just as they made their escape to Lucazec.[2]
Vader acquired a new meditation chamber, which he kept on his flagship, the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor. In the prelude to the Battle of Hoth, Vader was using the chamber when General Maximilian Veers informed him that Admiral Kendal Ozzel had emerged from lightspeed too close to Hoth, alerting the Alliance's Echo Base, for which Vader Force choked Ozzel to death for his incompetence, and then appointed Captain Firmus Piett as the new Admiral on the spot, while sitting in the open chamber.[1]
Piett later entered before Vader had finished putting on his mask, and informed him that the Millennium Falcon had entered a asteroid field. Vader then ordered the entirety of Death Squadron to begin sweeping the field so as to find Han Solo's freighter.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
- "When the first scene with the meditation chamber played, I thought it was a wonderfully graphic shape and the contrast between the black outside and brightly lit inside could look nice on a poster. I quickly scribbled a thumbnail and I knew right away that was the way to go."
- ―Matt Ferguson, on creating his Empire at 40 poster
Vader's meditation chamber scenes for The Empire Strikes Back were filmed at Elstree Studios outside of London. An unused take from Empire was going to be used for a scene early on in Return of the Jedi, where Vader telepathically attempts to communicate with Luke Skywalker, though this sequence was cut from the film prior to release. It lasted long enough in the cut to be fully scored by John Williams.[source?]
The meditation chamber was used as the key design feature for Matt Ferguson's official Empire at 40 film poster.[8]
Appearances[]
Sources[]
- Darth Vader: The Man, The Warrior, The Commander (First identified as Qabbrat)
- Star Wars Helmet Collection 1 (Helmets: Darth Vader, Master of the Dark Side) (Picture only)
- Star Wars: The Card Game — Galactic Ambitions (Card: Vader's Meditation Chamber) (backup link)
- Star Wars Bust Collection 1 (Star Wars Universe: Darth Vader) (Picture only)
- Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
- LEGO Classic Star Wars (Set: 75296 Darth Vader Meditation Chamber)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi Photos and Details Revealed on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Star Wars 100 Objects (First identified as Darth Vader's meditation chamber)
- Jedi at 40 | A Guide to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi's Deleted Scenes on StarWars.com (backup link)
- The Force in the Databank (backup link) (Picture only)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Tarkin
- ↑ "No Good Deed..." — Darth Vader (2017) 1
- ↑ Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lords of the Sith
- ↑ Star Wars 100 Objects
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Darth Vader: The Man, The Warrior, The Commander
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Empire at 40 | Matt Ferguson Discusses the Making of His Incredible Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Poster on StarWars.com (backup link)