CT Ralph McQuarrie coming up with Vader's breath mask

One of the well-known bits of Star Wars development lore is the fact that Ralph McQuarrie was the one who came up with the idea for Vader to wear a breath mask, reasoning that he'd need some way of breathing when he crossed over through space to get into the Rebel blockade runner. But is this true? McQuarrie himself seems to indicate otherwise in The Making of Star Wars:

But another quote by McQuarrie is cited in The Secret History of Star Wars, indicating the opposite:

Is there any particular reason we should privilege the second quote over the first? I know that the first quote is contemporary to when the original film was being made, but I cannot immediately determine when the second quote is from. In any case, I find it far more likely that McQuarrie would later misremember having come up with the idea himself, as opposed to the reverse scenario where he somehow misremembered it being someone else's idea. I also find it curious that in the second quote McQuarrie claims that George immediately said he "loved it," while in the first quote he relates that Lucas's immediate reaction was, "That's not right, I kind of like the hat, but maybe you should fool around with it a little bit more." This further indicates that the second quote is likely a muddled memory whose details have been streamlined.

For these reasons, the account in the first quote strikes me as far more credible. My verdict is that George Lucas came up with the idea for the breath mask and played an important role in overseeing McQuarrie's refinements until it reached its final form. Ralph McQuarrie's Wikipedia page and the various widely read publications (including The Washington Post) which have repeated the claim over the years are all in error.

 

Lucas probably wanted Vader to be wearing some sort of breath mask in the initial scene, given that he'd just come in from the vacuum of space. It would also fit with Deak Starkiller, his opponent in the lightsaber duel in the second draft opening, wearing a mask as well (as mentioned in the script and depicted in McQuarrie's painting).

 

McQuarrie may not have had the original idea, but he certainly developed it into its final form. I'd give both McQuarrie and Lucas equal credit for the ultimate result.

 

I'd say Lucas was also drawing upon his rough draft, where "a large, sinister SITH warrior in black robes and a face mask" attacks Kane, Deak, and Annikin Starkiller on the surface of Utapau, killing Deak. This indicates to me that the face mask he wanted Vader to wear in his showdown with Deak in the second draft was probably meant to be a permanent part of the character's design, much as were the stormtroopers' face masks.

Combined with the information that the final product was the result of multiple refinements overseen by Lucas, this paints a far more intentional picture of Lucas's conception of Vader's design, as opposed to the narrative which attributes the development of the face mask as a mere serendipity arising from McQuarrie's own initiative.

Fair enough, I suppose. But Lucas had the initial idea and played an important role in developing it into its final form. Personally, I'd say that merits him at least more than half credit.

Just take a look at the design process. It certainly sounds like Lucas played an integral role in the final look, as opposed to just letting McQuarrie run wild. Even McQuarrie seems to admit so:

 

Good point. As I recall Lucas also suggested to McQuarrie that Vader might wear some sort of veil over his face. And the second-draft Sith Knights were meant to be disfigured by the Dark Side anyway, so them covering their faces as a matter of routine is plausible.

 

I think I read somewhere that George was inspired by samurai helmets, so I guess the basic design for Vader's helmet (and mask?) came from him. Wasn't he a fan of old Japanese movies and even used certain story elements (the story being told from the eyes of minor characters, the droids) from one?

 

That would be Akira Kurosawa's classic film The Hidden Fortress.

 

Lucas was also inspired by Conrad Veidt's cloth hood that concealed the lower half of his face in the 1940 Thief of Bagdad film. That's one reason he suggested to McQuarrie at first that Vader's face covering might be made of cloth like a Bedouin hood.

 

The actual design of the mask in it's final form bears a more than passing resemblance to another caped, armoured villain - Doctor Doom, who had been around long before Vader was ever given any physical design. I'm not remotely calling it a direct rip-off or copy (there's only so much variation on the basic ''skull-face'' design possible and the differences are striking) but I do wonder whether it informed the final design in any way.

 

Yes. And Kylo's facial scar in the Sequel Trilogy harks back to Jack Kirby's idea of Doom being handsome but having a scar line on one cheek.

 

That's very interesting I didn't really know that

 

This site seems to have some information on the original concept(s) for Vader:
http://fd.noneinc.com/secrethistory...arwars.com/visualdevelopmentofdarthvader.html

 

I've always wondered where Kaminski sourced that drawing of a Sith Lord (?) in white armor. In other places I've only seen that sketch colored black.

 

Of course Kaminski also provides the impression that McQuarrie came up with the respirator mask idea, which, as I have shown, a slightly deeper examination of the evidence contradicts.

 

Did not mean to contradict your findings -- its all in good fun!