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In Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, in the Darth Vader helmet mask we can see some digital symbols & red shade to the lenses.

Why did Darth Vader need extra equipment to clear his vision even his burned on fire but can see from his normal eyes?

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    Do you think you could rephrase your last line? Do you possibly mean "why did Darth Vader need extra equipment to clear his vision even if he had perfect vision before?"
    – Boolean
    Oct 15, 2020 at 9:02

5 Answers 5

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Strangely, I require lenses to correct the vision of my aging eyes - without ever having been burned by lava... or even dismembered by a light saber. It just so happens that I can also see without my corrective lenses in a pinch. So, it is possible - by really stretching our imaginations - to conceive of a scenario wherein he would need vision correction for non-plot defined reasons. If you look very closely, you might even find some people walking around in our galaxy who also need corrective lenses.

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    Hi, welcome to SF&F. A lot of things are possible but without any evidence one way or the other they are just speculation. Do you have any evidence that Vader suffered from presbyopia, or any other age-related vision problem?
    – DavidW
    Oct 16, 2020 at 17:16
  • The age at onset of presbyopia is usually between 38 and 45 years, and the prevalence is 100% by age 55 (Borish, 1975)
    – benxyzzy
    Oct 17, 2020 at 12:49
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    That would explain why his vision might be worse by Episode VI but it was apparently fine before he got burned in Episode III, when he was only in his twenties. He got the lenses right after that, so I think we can safely put at least a little bit of blame on the lava.
    – Withad
    Oct 17, 2020 at 21:16
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It's not clear if Vader actually needed the lenses on his helmet to see properly. Given that he had to cover his burned flesh anyway, the helmet lenses offered other benefits, such as viewing different light spectrums, a heads-up display, and making him intimidating. Those alone could be enough to justify covering his eyes.

However, it's perfectly plausible that his eyes were injured by the lava, like the rest of his body.

The one source I could find to say his eyesight was damaged was a Legends continuity book, Darth Vader: A 3-D Reconstruction Log (as cited in another Sci-fi Stack Exchange answer, which provided the image below - thanks, Valorum). According to that, Vader's retinas were damaged beyond repair.

Repairing the patient's damaged retinas proved impossible. But optical filters in the mask block excess light and expand the limits of human vision by detecting infrared and ultraviolet light.

Description of Darth Vader's "optical filters" from Darth Vader: A 3-D Reconstruction Log.

It's not clear how bad the damage was, though. We know he's not completely blind because he can see the helmet display and he can see Luke's face with his own eyes in Return of the Jedi. With those two examples, it's possible he's just short-sighted and the lenses compensate for that, like a very evil pair of glasses.

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    There's definitely a deleted scene somewhere in which Anakin yells "Argh! My retinas!" Oct 15, 2020 at 11:47
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    It's over A akin! I have the eye ground Oct 15, 2020 at 15:50
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    You had my +1 anyway, but if you hadn't you would have earned it for "very evil pair of glasses".
    – tardigrade
    Oct 15, 2020 at 16:16
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    At least in Legends, one of the things Vader did in his mediation chamber was slowly heal his injuries. It was emphasized to be an incredibly gradual process — years of work to let his lungs function on their own just for a few minutes at a time — but that would plausibly explain why he initially needed the lenses to see, but by his death, could see Luke without them.
    – Daniel B
    Oct 15, 2020 at 20:31
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    @PaulD.Waite "Where are my retinas? Are they safe? Are they all right?" "It seems, in your anger, you damaged them."
    – Withad
    Oct 16, 2020 at 8:52
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His eyes are, according to the film's junior novelisation, "burned and weakened". The official novelisation refers to his "scorched-pale eyes".

In both cases it's confirmed that the lenses are there to help him to see properly despite damaged eyes.

“Lord Vader,” Darth Sidious said. “You may rise.”

A deep voice, distorted by the speakers inside the mask, responded. “Yes, my Master.” The helmet turned, as if the burned and weakened eyes within were scanning the room, adjusting to the screens in the helmet that magnified and intensified everything so that they could pretend to see. “Where is Padmé? Is she all right?”

and

And you can’t, not in the way you once did. Sensors in the shell that prisons your head trickle meaning directly into your brain.

You open your scorched-pale eyes; optical sensors integrate light and shadow into a hideous simulacrum of the world around you.

Or perhaps the simulacrum is perfect, and it is the world that is hideous.

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Broadly for the same reason he needed a mask, or help breathing. Even on the dark side, the Force isn't "interested in" that kind of detail.

A skilled warrior might use the Force to see more clearly at special need in something vaguely like the same way you or I might use adrenalin to perform normally-impossible feats in emergency, and Vader's vision is an every-day thing, not even special need, let alone emergency.

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I postulate that a deliberate inbuilt purpose of the helmet, given that his reconstruction was directed by Palpatine, is to corrupt him. The view he sees through his computer-enhanced lenses is artificial, and therefore detached, darkened and twisted, psychologically speaking. False colors, enhanced spectrums, anxiety-raising callouts directing the viewer's attention to what the helmet's designer determines is important.

At the end of episode VI, he removes his helmet so he can see Luke with his own eyes.

Therefore, he doesn't really need it to see. He needs it to not see.

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    Hi, welcome to SF&F. This is an interesting theory, but can you provide any evidence for it? Note also that Anakin had gone pretty much full Sith already by the end of ep.III when he was reborn as Vader, so I don't know how much more corrupted he could become.
    – DavidW
    Oct 18, 2020 at 1:13
  • I don't hold that the helmet is a major or determining factor in his corruption. I do believe that the mechanization of his body, along with the artificial and menacing view provided by his helmet, does help promote a state of being insulated from and superior to the concerns and sufferings of others. Evidence? We've seen the view from within his helmet - rose-colored glasses in nightmare form. He tells Luke he wanted to see him with, literally, his own eyes. There's nothing with his vision, as we know he can see quite well in his helmet, so why else remove it to connect with his son? Oct 20, 2020 at 8:21

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