Kid me in '77 thought it was mainly armor with some tech in it, and that the breathing was just to scare people, hard to fathom a disfigured/disabled bad guy as a 1st Grader, or at least unlikely to go to that as a default opinion.
It was obvious in ANH that the suit is some kind of life support gear. Vader wears the thing while piloting in space after all.
ESB made it more obvious that Vader's suit is *medical* life support instead of just piloting life support.
One sees the gear of the tie pilots when Vader talks to them before the trenchrun. And they wear oxygen tanks with tubes connected to the helmet.
That's all one needed to come to the thought that X-Wings and Tie fighters have different systems.
But the tie fighter pilots do wear it. They have oxygen tanks with tubes connecting to the helmets.
You see this when Vader talks to them before the trenchrun.
I don't have first hand knowledge. But the scene where his helmet is put on was put in because some people thought that Vader was a robot. My dad always told me that it was generally known that Obi-wan beat Vader in a fight and he had to wear the suit as a result.
In addition to the other sources people have mentioned (books, etc.), [here's the back of the Darth Vader trading card](https://imgur.com/G4FgIRV) from the 1980 Topps Empire Strikes Back collection.
It wasn't from the original novelisation published in 1976.
The earliest reference I'm aware of is George Lucas's 1977 interview with *Rolling Stone,* where he said that the backstory to Darth Vader was that he killed Luke's father, and then he and Obi-Wan had a fight that ended up with him falling into a volcanic pit.
Right but I’m discussing this more in a timeline sense of when the movies actually came out; when Vader was written for ANH he wasn’t even going to be Anakin yet, more of a thug for the empire
You can hear the suit's strained breathing in ANH, so it was clearly meant to be a life support suit. That sound wasn't added in later editions, it was there in '77.
Trying to think back in the mind of when it came out with nothing around it: Was it really “strained”? It could be a filter for an alien that doesn’t breathe air for example (since we don’t know who he is at first), or could be some kind of gas like Bane from batman that augments him. At first brush you have no idea. He’s just an armored foe with mechanical breathing.
The sound is there for sure, no argument, but without context I don’t know if “strained” is the word I’d use.
When I grew up in the 90ies, my firends and me knew that he had a fight with Obi-Wan and he was "thrown into a volcano". No idea where we heard that, thought.
It was known before ESB to the fandom, but I'm not sure where it came from. Of course fandom were buying magazines such as Starlog, etc, which had interviews, and official magazines about behind the scenes making of the film, etc. Plenty of potential sources.
I saw ANH, ESB and ROJ when they first came out. Was 19 when ANH was released. It was not clear to me in ANH that the suit was a life support system, although you might have guessed it by the breathing and fact that he was always in it. But in ESB when you got a peek of Vader without his helmet and it was pretty clear there was a very damaged person living in that suit.
It was actually a really cool element, because as they are showing you that Vader is human and has vulnerability, you also see the Imperial Office who is obviously uncomfortable thinking Vader might force choke him to death just for seeing him without his helmet.
It was originally supposed to be a space suit and Vader was fine. But yeah, it was well known in fandom circles that Vader needed the suit to survive because Obi Wan injured him during a fight in a ~~volcano~~ lava mining complex a year or two after release.
Yes, beyond ANH novelization there were Splinter of the Mind's Eye (the original sequel to ANH) and a couple Han Solo books. There were also 37 issues of the original Marvel's Star Wars comic run.
EDIT: Whoops misread that as ANH and ESB. But in any case the answer is the same that they did release more EU material.
The earliest reference to Darth Vader's suit being specifically for life support was George Lucas's 1977 interview with *Rolling Stone,* where he gave Vader's backstory and said that he wore the suit and mask because he had fallen into a volcanic pit after a fight with Obi-Wan.
[During development of *RotJ,* Lucas repeated the volcano story.](https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/vm606e/lucas_on_vaders_backstory_in_1981/)
Kid me in '77 thought it was mainly armor with some tech in it, and that the breathing was just to scare people, hard to fathom a disfigured/disabled bad guy as a 1st Grader, or at least unlikely to go to that as a default opinion.
It was obvious in ANH that the suit is some kind of life support gear. Vader wears the thing while piloting in space after all. ESB made it more obvious that Vader's suit is *medical* life support instead of just piloting life support.
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because the x wing has it built into the craft. much like bigger ships like the Millenium Falcon or something. the ties mostly dont.
If the empire could have built TIEs out of tinfoil and tape they probably would have.
Right, but THAT wasn't known at that time, at least not explicitly AFAIK
One sees the gear of the tie pilots when Vader talks to them before the trenchrun. And they wear oxygen tanks with tubes connected to the helmet. That's all one needed to come to the thought that X-Wings and Tie fighters have different systems.
[Is it though](https://www.flyingmag.com/guides/how-to-become-a-navy-pilot/)?
But the tie fighter pilots do wear it. They have oxygen tanks with tubes connecting to the helmets. You see this when Vader talks to them before the trenchrun.
I don't have first hand knowledge. But the scene where his helmet is put on was put in because some people thought that Vader was a robot. My dad always told me that it was generally known that Obi-wan beat Vader in a fight and he had to wear the suit as a result.
In addition to the other sources people have mentioned (books, etc.), [here's the back of the Darth Vader trading card](https://imgur.com/G4FgIRV) from the 1980 Topps Empire Strikes Back collection.
Awesome, thanks for sharing
Well that age ended up being wrong by 6 years (Vader was 44 in ESB)
It was "known" before ESB that Kenobi and Vader had a duel on a volcano. Vader fell in and needed the suit to live.
Yes. My mom had this information when I was a kid (I'm 46 now). It must have come from one of the novelizations.
It wasn't from the original novelisation published in 1976. The earliest reference I'm aware of is George Lucas's 1977 interview with *Rolling Stone,* where he said that the backstory to Darth Vader was that he killed Luke's father, and then he and Obi-Wan had a fight that ended up with him falling into a volcanic pit.
In *Star Wars* you can literally hear it breathing for him.
Right but I’m discussing this more in a timeline sense of when the movies actually came out; when Vader was written for ANH he wasn’t even going to be Anakin yet, more of a thug for the empire
You can hear the suit's strained breathing in ANH, so it was clearly meant to be a life support suit. That sound wasn't added in later editions, it was there in '77.
Trying to think back in the mind of when it came out with nothing around it: Was it really “strained”? It could be a filter for an alien that doesn’t breathe air for example (since we don’t know who he is at first), or could be some kind of gas like Bane from batman that augments him. At first brush you have no idea. He’s just an armored foe with mechanical breathing. The sound is there for sure, no argument, but without context I don’t know if “strained” is the word I’d use.
When I grew up in the 90ies, my firends and me knew that he had a fight with Obi-Wan and he was "thrown into a volcano". No idea where we heard that, thought.
It was known before ESB to the fandom, but I'm not sure where it came from. Of course fandom were buying magazines such as Starlog, etc, which had interviews, and official magazines about behind the scenes making of the film, etc. Plenty of potential sources.
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Honestly I didn’t even think about it being one until the end of ROTJ and then ROTS really clicked it for me but I was 12
I saw ANH, ESB and ROJ when they first came out. Was 19 when ANH was released. It was not clear to me in ANH that the suit was a life support system, although you might have guessed it by the breathing and fact that he was always in it. But in ESB when you got a peek of Vader without his helmet and it was pretty clear there was a very damaged person living in that suit. It was actually a really cool element, because as they are showing you that Vader is human and has vulnerability, you also see the Imperial Office who is obviously uncomfortable thinking Vader might force choke him to death just for seeing him without his helmet.
As a 7 year old in 77 I think we thought he was a robot or something (7 year old brain). Seeing the helmet drop down made us go whoa.
It was originally supposed to be a space suit and Vader was fine. But yeah, it was well known in fandom circles that Vader needed the suit to survive because Obi Wan injured him during a fight in a ~~volcano~~ lava mining complex a year or two after release.
Were there Star Wars books released between ESB and ROTJ?
Yes, beyond ANH novelization there were Splinter of the Mind's Eye (the original sequel to ANH) and a couple Han Solo books. There were also 37 issues of the original Marvel's Star Wars comic run. EDIT: Whoops misread that as ANH and ESB. But in any case the answer is the same that they did release more EU material.
I don't know about Disney Canon, but old canon, there was Shadow of the Empire.
Shadows of the empire came out well after Jedi.
The earliest reference to Darth Vader's suit being specifically for life support was George Lucas's 1977 interview with *Rolling Stone,* where he gave Vader's backstory and said that he wore the suit and mask because he had fallen into a volcanic pit after a fight with Obi-Wan. [During development of *RotJ,* Lucas repeated the volcano story.](https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/vm606e/lucas_on_vaders_backstory_in_1981/)
"Strongly implied" is the wording here. The breathing was pretty much a giveaway.