Darth Vader's grim black attire was a life-support system, his labored mechanical breathing the sound of a walking iron lung. Critically injured in a
lightsaber battle with
Obi-Wan Kenobi on
Mustafar, Vader became "more machine than man," kept alive only by the devices built into his suit. Kenobi's lightsaber sheared off his lower legs and his left arm,
![[ Darth Vader's suit ]](/databank/technology/darthvaderssuit/img/movie2_sm.jpg)
while exposure to the fire and radiation of Mustafar's searing surface burned his flesh and ravaged his body throughout. A team of droids rebuilt Vader in an
Imperial rehabilitation center on
Coruscant, adding cybernetic components to his body and encasing him in black armor. The fearsome visage of his breath mask reflects the dark identity that he assumed after his fall from the light side of the force.
Vader could only remove his mask in a special hyperbaric chamber, such as the one on board his Star Destroyer Executor. Allowing no one to assist him, Vader relied on mechanical devices to remove and replace his helmet and metal breath screen.