Darth Vader’s helmet was destroyed by Rey and Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but what should have been a powerful moment didn’t work as well as it could’ve done. While Vader wasn’t a physical presence in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, his shadow did loom over his grandson, Kylo Ren. The dark side alter-ego of Ben Solo wanted to live up to the lofty expectations set by his grandfather, aiming to be as strong in the Force and helping to conquer the galaxy with the First Order, as Vader had once done with the Empire.
The charred remains of Darth Vader’s helmet, salvaged from his funeral pyre on Endor, were a key part of this. From Star Wars: The Force Awakens onwards, the mask was worshipped like a shrine by Kylo, who looked to it for guidance and to talk to when he was unsure of his direction. That is, until he duelled with Rey in a Force-connected lightsaber battle in The Rise of Skywalker, which saw the pair, who together make up a Force dyad, inadvertently destroy Vader’s helmet.
It’s easy to see why The Rise of Skywalker decided to destroy Vader’s mask: as the end of the Skywalker saga, it was a lingering symbol of Anakin’s fall to the dark side, and so destroying it can be seen as further returning to his redemption. Similarly, it is inherently linked to Kylo Ren, serving as a tether to the dark side. As he becomes Ben Solo once more, the helmet has no more purpose, and again there’s strong reasoning – narratively and thematically – for its destruction. The problem is that The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t really factor any of these into the moment. Instead, it comes out of the blue, an accident amidst the duel between Rey and Kylo, which is quickly forgotten about, lost in a sea of other reveals like that of Rey’s parentage and not lasting more than a beat.
![The Rise of Skywalker Wasted Its Big Darth Vader Helmet Moment](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Rey-and-Kylo-Ren-destroying-Darth-Vader-shrine-in-Star-Wars-The-Rise-of-Skywalker.jpg)
This could and should have been a big moment: the sequel trilogy had tried (if not fully successfully) to make Vader’s mask into something more important than mere iconography, but even just on that level a core part of Star Wars imagery being destroyed should have weight to it. Given what Vader represents to Kylo, then it could have better factored into his own redemption – for instance, had he himself chosen to destroy it, then it would have better symbolized the conflict within him and the light that was starting to increasingly shine through, reflecting back on him destroying his own helmet in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but arguably with even more meaning behind it. Given the title is The Rise of Skywalker, then one member of the family destroying another’s helmet, and both of them “rising” into the light, could have been a powerful idea.
Instead, it falls into the category of so many of The Rise of Skywalker‘s moments, which is that it’s done because it either looks or sounds cool, but without any greater thought being given to it. In fairness, more could have been done with Darth Vader’s helmet throughout the sequel trilogy, given the potential for it to be a conduit of his dark spirit (even if it was Palpatine all along), and the notion of it being possessed or having greater influence over Kylo than what was shown is an intriguing one. But that goes double for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, given it’s the movie to feature its destruction, and one that could have allowed it to have a real lasting impact.