| “ | Your son is gone. He was weak and foolish like his father. So I destroyed him. | „ |
| ~ Kylo manipulating Han into thinking that he is not his son (which he does not). |
| “ | Let the past die; kill it if you have to. It's the only way to become what you're meant to be. | „ |
| ~ Kylo Ren to Rey. |
Kylo Ren, originally born as Ben Solo, is the main antagonist of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, serving as the main antagonist of the first installment The Force Awakens, and the second installment The Last Jedi. He is very likely set to return in the third and final installment Star Wars: Episode IX. Ren is the dark, powerful, and extremely obsessive master of the Knights of Ren, as well as the new Supreme Leader of the First Order. He is the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa Skywalker, the nephew of Luke Skywalker and the grandson of Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) and Padme Amidala.
He was portrayed by Adam Driver.
Description
Personality
| “ | You're afraid... that you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader. | „ |
| ~ Rey reading Kylo Ren's mind. |
In his youth, Ben Solo was unaware of his true heritage, but suffered from feelings of abandonment due to the struggles his parents had with their lives. He admired the power of his maternal grandfather Anakin Skywalker, but particularly in his Vader incarnation. Because of this, Ben struggled with the Dark Side of the Force.
After he became Kylo Ren, he is extremely ruthless, brutal, confident, and manipulative, but appears to carry at least some guilt and remorse for his actions. Like Anakin, he is irresponsible, uncompromising, temperamental, short-tempered, hotheaded, and torn by internal conflict. However, unlike his maternal grandfather, Kylo is far less able to control his temper and emotions, as well as the fact that he is far less calm, tolerant, phlegmatic, level-headed, reasonable, patient, and far more prone to bouts of rage. To establish his rejection of his past life, he serves the First Order with great passion towards his master Snoke. Despite this, he carries on his attachment to Vader into adulthood, desiring to uphold the Sith Lord's legacy by destroying all the Jedi. He even proceeds to murder his father Han to sever his hold on the Light side, as well as murdering Snoke to take over as the new Supreme Leader.
Kylo is not without fear; he is afraid that he will never become as powerful as his maternal grandfather and fears what the Light side's hold has on him. Unlike Vader, he finds conflict with these traits, especially towards the idea of family. Being seen as a focal point between the heritage of both the Light and the Dark also furthered his inner conflict. Despite this, he chooses to believe that Vader's sentimentality was the weakness that led to the fall of the Galactic Empire. Feeling that this care is what holds him back, Kylo believes that to be as powerful as Vader and embrace the Dark side is to completely abandon the Light side.
Kylo still showed signs of conflict as during his telepathic conversations with Rey, his weakness was shown and she used that to try to convince him to break free and join the Light Side. Rey almost succeeded in that regard and she might've succeeded in the end, but Kylo by the time he brought Rey to Snoke onboard the Supremacy had already submitted to the Dark Side and only killed Snoke and his guards to take over the First Order for his own personal gains. Kylo himself is opposed to the past; the Jedi, Sith, the Rebels ect, and seeks to recreate the galaxy in his own image and to establish a legacy that's far different than that of Snoke's or Luke's and even wanted Rey to join his cause. Upon taking over the First Order and becoming its Supreme Leader, Kylo lead the First Order to invade Crait and during the battle, he showcased an obsessive nature with destroying the Resistance and when dueling Luke Skywalker, he showcased his mentally unstable nature and had an irrational obsession with killing Luke to finally end the Jedi and finally erasing their presence from the galaxy all together.
Appearance
| “ | That happens when you are being hunted by a creature in a mask. | „ |
| ~ Rey being interrogated by Kylo Ren. |
Kylo is a tall, dark, and gangly young man. He has broad proportions, including unusually long and thin arms and legs, as well as a large nose and full lips. His hair is black, thick, curly, and approximately chin-length. Following his defeat at the hands of Rey on Starkiller Base, Kylo bears a scar across the left side of his face.
While fully clothed, Kylo initially wore a metal mask that envelopes his whole head, which features ornamental patterns that draw contours around his visor. His mask was designed by him to take inspiration from the late Darth Vader. He later destroyed this mask in a fit of rage and decided to go without it, after Snoke mocked him for wearing it, and ostensibly in order to "break" with his past. His clothing is black and tailored around his lean physique. The clothing is predominantly made from a soft, flexible material, though his belt and boots are leather-based.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- The Force: As the grandson of the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Kylo has a very strong connection to the Force. Despite this, due to his conflicted nature, Kylo is not quite as powerful as his maternal grandfather and struggles to reach his full potential. he is still an exceptionally powerful Force-user. Kylo's Force potential is rivaled only by Rey and surpassed only by his maternal uncle Luke Skywalker.
- Telekinesis: Kylo is extremely proficient in telekinesis, capable of freezing and influencing the movement of a person or even keeping a blaster bolt suspended mid-air and changing its direction before leaving and releasing it.
- Force Choke: Like his grandfather and most Dark Side users, Kylo Ren has the power to use the Force to constrict the organs of living organisms in order to suffocate and kill them.
- Force Push: Kylo utilizes Force Push to send his opponents flying through the air, causing them serious injury or temporarily incapacitating them/knocked them unconscious.
- Force Pull: Kylo utilizes Force Pull to pull his opponents or objects towards him, enough that he can hold people up with one hand while still pulling them with the Force.
- Telepathy: Kylo utilizes Mind Probe to sift through the thoughts of a sentient being, for the purpose of interrogation or torture. He was also able to induce sleep with a wave of his hand, as he did to Rey on Takodana.
- Force Sense: Kylo utilizes Force Sense to sense another sentient being's emotions, the future, ripples in the Force caused by momentous or traumatic events, impending danger and the presence of the Light side. He could sense Finn's fear after the massacre on Jakku.
- Telekinesis: Kylo is extremely proficient in telekinesis, capable of freezing and influencing the movement of a person or even keeping a blaster bolt suspended mid-air and changing its direction before leaving and releasing it.
Abilities
- Lightsaber Skills: Kylo is highly skilled in lightsaber combat and a highly gifted duelist. He is one of the greatest lightsaber duelists currently alive; it was his exceptional skill with a lightsaber that ultimately greatly delayed the art of lightsaber combat from rising back to prominence with his massacre of most of the new, fledgling Jedi Order. His destruction of this new generation of Jedi Knights also earned him the nickname of "Jedi Killer" among the members of the First Order. Despite this, however, he was defeated by Rey in a duel, despite being far more skilled and experienced in lightsaber combat then the latter. However, it should be noted that Kylo had already been wounded by Chewbacca and Finn, and thus was not at the peak of his strength. In addition, Rey's new-found abilities allowed her to meditate on the Force to gain enough strength to physically overpower him.
- Form V: Kylo is highly skilled in Shien/Djem So.
- Expert Engineer: Kylo is amazingly skilled in engineering. He was able to successfully construct his own red-bladed crossguard lightsaber in his first try.
- High-Level Intellect/Expert Tactician/Leader: Kylo is amazingly intelligent. As a Field Commander of the First Order, Kylo is a highly skilled tactician and a very capable leader.
- Indomitable Will/High Tolerance For Pain/Expert Survivalist: Kylo has an indomitable will and a high tolerance for pain; as he was able to continue fighting despite being shot in the side by Chewbacca and slashed on the shoulder by Finn. In his battle with Finn, he was seen beating the wound inflicted by Chewbacca, using his pain and anguish to fuel his connection to the Dark Side of the Force. Furthermore, while armored Stormtroopers were violently blasted through the air and killed instantly by the bowcaster's explosive blast, Kylo has no armor, but only doubled over in pain when shot.
- Skilled Pilot: Like his grandfather, father and uncle, Kylo Ren is a skilled combat pilot and pilots a TIE Silencer, an advanced prototype starfighter.
Weapons and Equipment
Lightsaber
Kylo's valued weapon and possession is his red-bladed lightsaber.
- Crossguard lightsaber: Kylo had built a red-bladed crossguard lightsaber. Kylo's lightsaber was crudely built off an ancient design dating back to an event known as the Scourge of Malachor and operated using a cracked Kyber crystal. It thus has an unstable blade, necessitating the use of exhaust ports to channel and vent the weapon's excess energy so that it would not overload. The excess energy served as the lightsaber's quillons (crossguards). The weapon's blades also crackled and arced like electricity and funneled like fire, giving the weapon a ragged, menacing appearance and a deep, growling hum. It is unknown if this is the same lightsaber he possessed when he was still a member of the New Jedi Order, but is unlikely given that Jedi do not use red bladed light sabers (the blades of Dark Side user's lightsabers are red as they ritualistically bend the Kyber crystal to their will, causing the crystal to "bleed" and become red).
Relationships
Han Solo
| “ | Han Solo. I've been waiting for this day a long time. | „ |
| ~ Kylo Ren and Han Solo reunites. |
Kylo apparently had a poor relationship with his father, and upon Rey waking up after he captures her, he probes her mind using the Force, realizing that she feels like Han is the father she's never had, before coldly stating that he would only have disappointed her. He later rejected Han's attempts to bring him back to the Light and brutally murdered him, although he appeared to have some inner conflict and showed remorse after doing so. Han's death haunted Ren, proving that he did love and care for Han.
Leia Organa
Not much is known about his relationship with his mother; however, Ben likely had a loving relationship with Leia. Prior to his fall to the Dark Side, when he started to struggle with the Dark Side of the Force, Leia was terrified that her son might end up like his maternal grandfather Anakin Skywalker and so sent him to study under the tutelage of her brother Luke.
Unfortunately, Luke was not able to prevent Ben from falling to the Dark Side, as Snoke preyed on Ben's internal conflict. Ben, upon conversion to the Dark Side, became known as Kylo Ren. Leia was heartbroken that her son had become evil and mourned his fate bitterly. Yet, despite all the atrocities that Kylo had committed over the years, Leia still believes that Ben can come back to the Light and be redeemed. After realizing there's no longer any good in him when she senses him killing Han, she had no choice but to declare her own son an enemy.
Kylo Ren does show that he still loves and cares for Leia when, while leading a TIE Fighter attack on the Resistance Cruiser Raddis, he hesitates to blow up the bridge of the ship after sensing his mother was on board and notably he was unable to bring himself to do it but his wingmen did so. As of currently, Kylo considers his mother an enemy, even after killing Snoke and taking over the First Order.
Luke Skywalker
When Ben started to struggle with the Dark Side of the Force, he was to sent to study under his uncle Luke's tutelage at the request of his mother Leia in the hope of preventing him from ending up like his maternal grandfather Anakin Skywalker. Luke taught Ben the ways of the Light Side of the Force and lightsaber combat. It's assumed they had a good relationship.
Unfortunately, Luke made a disastrous mistake by attempting to kill Ben out of fear of his connection being stronger to the Dark Side and this made Ben lose his faith in his uncle and proceeded to become Kylo Ren and recruited some of his fellow apperanrices to the Dark Side and killed the rest; this act greatly delayed his uncle's plan to restore the Jedi Order to its former glory and left his uncle despondent, while Ren went on to terrorize the galaxy as a leader of the First Order.
Luke was one of the few who managed to survive and escape the Jedi massacre. In the aftermath of the Jedi massacre, Luke was deeply grieved and racked with guilt, blaming himself for his students' deaths and his nephew's turn to the Dark Side.
Luke then mysteriously disappeared on a quest to seek out the First Jedi Temple. Kylo, under Snoke's orders, was instructed to find and kill Luke. Snoke knows that, as long as Luke is alive, a new generation of Jedi Knights can rise once again.
Also, in contrary to what he believes of Vader, Luke believes that Kylo can't be brought back into the light because of the latter's conflicted nature after learning that Kylo has killed both Han and Snoke out of pure anger. Both Kylo and Luke despised each other, with Kylo despising Luke for initially trying to kill him, which he deemed as a great betrayal, and Luke despising Kylo for destroying the New Jedi Order. When they met, Kylo showed great desire to kill his uncle, though Luke showed some remorse for failing him. Although Luke was not truly there and was merely projecting himself through the Force, Kylo proved incapable of defeating the Projection, who merely toyed with him and dodged all of his attacks without being even touched by Ren. Luke's last words to Ren is that the war has just began and that his death would not mean the end of the Jedi, and that he'll be seeing him around in death.
Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader
| “ | Show me, grandfather, and I will finish what you started. | „ |
| ~ Kylo Ren to the mask of Darth Vader. |
Anakin died before Ben was born. However, Ben come to greatly admire and revere his maternal grandfather's power, but, also came to fear that he may never be as powerful as the Chosen One. He admired and revered more of his maternal grandfather's dark aspects, than his light aspects, believing that his grandfather's love and sentimentality for his family were weaknesses.
Like his maternal grandfather before him, Ben fell to the Dark side of the Force, becoming known as Kylo Ren. Kylo has seemingly become far worse than his grandfather; although Vader was brutal and ruthless, he did genuinely care about his family, as he never killed a member of his own family in cold blood, not even for power, ultimately leading to his redemption. Kylo, on the other hand, was willing to kill his whole family to keep feelings such as love and compassion from making him feel weak and pull him back to the Light side of the Force.
Kylo became enraged when Finn and Rey respectively used his grandfather's lightsaber against him, as that weapon rightfully belongs to him.
Supreme Leader Snoke
| “ | No. The Supreme Leader is wise. | „ |
| ~ Kylo Ren speaking of his master. |
Snoke met Ben by unknown means, and was deeply interested in him due to his embodiment as a focal point of both light and darkness (which was unusual for a Knight of Ren or any Dark Side master to be attracted to). He eventually turned him to the dark side, and anointed him with the name of Kylo Ren, who serves him loyally, believing that the Supreme Leader was wise and right to overthrow the New Republic.
Ren was unaware (or in denial) that Snoke does not truly care about him, as he is only using Ren for his power. Even when Han tries to point that out and stating that Snoke will just get rid of Ren when he gets what he wants, Ren angrily refuses to believe this and instead kills Han for it. However, as Snoke captures Rey, he confessed that he used the mental connection between Rey and Kylo to lead him to Luke. Snoke then tried to goad Kylo into killing Rey by insulting and humiliating him, which finally made Kylo realize that Han was right about Snoke. Filled with hatred against his own master for using him, an enraged Kylo kills Snoke by slicing him in half with Luke's lightsaber and briefly joining forces with Rey killing Snoke's Praetorian Guards before taking over as the new Supreme Leader.
Armitage Hux
Kylo and Hux have a rivalry with each other. They both seek favoritism from Snoke and they usually argue with each other for problems that go with The First Order and the plans to destroy the New Republic and the Resistance as shown when Kylo blames Hux for Finn's betrayal by seeing Hux making a mistake with his men being programmed to follow orders directly and Hux blaming Kylo in front of Snoke for losing the map to Skywalker by capturing Rey instead of BB-8 due to Rey seeing the map. However despite their differences, they work well together with The First Order's operations and Hux did end up saving Kylo under Snoke's orders.
After discovering that Supreme Leader Snoke is dead and Kylo Ren lying unconscious in the throne room, Hux contemplates shooting Ren, but abandoned this idea after Kylo regained consciousness. Kylo then lies to Hux that Rey killed Snoke, and announced that he is taking over as the new Supreme Leader. Hux strongly objects at the idea of taking orders from Kylo, but is forced into compliance after being force-choked by an angry Kylo.
Rey
| “ | She's strong with the Force! Untrained, but stronger than she knows. | „ |
| ~ Kylo Ren about Rey's Force sensitivity. |
Kylo and Rey have been enemies ever since Rey located and purchased BB-8. Kylo is convinced of her power, believing even she does not know it. He very much longs to turn her to the dark side and train her, but this ultimately backfires for the time being. Rey's hatred of him increased after he killed Han Solo, and she tried to kill him with Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber, unaware that Kylo is in fact Anakin's grandson, and the weapon does rightfully belong to him. During their battle, Kylo noticeably holds back because he does not want to kill her but train her instead; this costs him the fight as Rey allows the Force to truly flow through her for the first time and overpowers him, even disfiguring his face with a slash.
However, Rey has developed a certain connection within the Force as she was able to communicate with Kylo with their minds. She soon learns that Kylo has succumbed to the Dark Side not only due to Snoke's corruption, but also Luke's attempted murder after sensing the darkness within Kylo, something which a remorseful Luke admitted to. Kylo even learned that Rey was abandoned by her parents for money and revealed this to her after he killed Snoke. Realizing now that Kylo's fall to the Dark Side wasn't entirely his fault, Rey decided that there may be some good in Kylo and tries to convinces him to join back the Light after killing Snoke and his guards, but Kylo refuses as he wanted to create a legacy far away from that of Luke's and Snoke's. Kylo even tried to convince Rey to join him in his pursuit, but she refuses and instead escapes with the Resistance, much to Kylo's anger. He even put the blame of Snoke's murder on Rey to cement his new role as Supreme Leader. When fighting a force projection of Luke, he vows to destroy Rey and the Resistance, however when he later storms the abandoned shelter, the connection between himself and Rey mysteriously re-opens and he is distressed at Rey closing herself off from him with a look of disappointment.
Finn
| “ | TRAITOR! | „ |
| ~ Kyo Ren to Finn. |
Kylo and Finn have been enemies ever since he captured Rey and killed Han Solo, he became enraged when Finn used Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber, when he stated that weapon belongs to him, Finn mocks Kylo (unaware that he is in fact Anakin's grandson, and the lightsaber does rightfully belong to him) telling him to come and get it, the two engaged (as Finn was trying to avenge Han's death) in a lightsaber duel, although he was able to hold his own reasonably well for a relatively short period of time and even managed to lightly wound Kylo's right shoulder. Ultimately, however, Finn was defeated by Kylo, partly due to his lack of Force-sensitivity, and mainly because of the latter's superior experience and skills in lightsaber combat, as Kylo disarmed him of Anakin's lightsaber and dealt him a severe wound to his back.
Poe Dameron
| “ | I had no idea that we had the best pilot in the Resistance on board. | „ |
| ~ Kylo Ren interrogating Poe Dameron. |
Kylo and Poe become enemies when Kylo and The First Order capture him and Kylo forced Poe to reveal the location of the Map of Skywalker in BB-8 by using the Force to make him reveal it.
Reception
Both the character of Kylo Ren and Driver's performance have been positively received. Many complimented Ren's conflicted nature and depth, as well as his costume design, and noted there were many places the character could be taken in future installments. Terri Schwartz of IGN also called Driver's performance "spectacular", noting that "his performance adds great depth to a character who could have come off as one-dimensional, and the implications of his arc leave a viewer with plenty to think about after they leave the theater".
Collin wrote, "To describe Kylo Ren as this film's Vader would be accurate in a sense ... But it would also be to undersell the deep ingenuity with which this astonishing character has been crafted by Abrams, Kasdan and Arndt, and also the wells of emotional tumult Driver invests in him." Comparing the character to the one-note Vader of the 1977 film, Leon calls Ren "a living battleground between darkness and light, making him a far more resonant and familiar portrayal of that struggle than we've ever seen in Star Wars ... makes him a far more interesting villain."
Abrams told Entertainment Weekly, "it was a great joy to work with Adam Driver on this role, because he threw himself into it in a deep and remarkable way." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter noted, "Ren is given a pronounced inferiority complex, a clever bad guy twist that could be taken to interesting places both in the writing and performance." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "The bald-faced attempt to clone Vader, one of the greatest ######## in film history, is clankingly obvious, but Driver, masked and unmasked, gives him hypnotic and haunting contours." Kyle Buchanan of Vulture.com was underwhelmed by the reveal of Driver under the mask. Leon, however, argued: But that face—that of a normal, vulnerable young man—is the most subversively terrifying thing about J. J. Abrams' reimagining of A New Hope. Rather than pure evil, Ren is something far more familiar: He is human. Just like the real-life young men with minds clouded by fear, hate, and anger who commit unspeakable acts in our world every day ... all the visual cues that leave the character open to criticisms of not being "evil" enough—are all signs of Ren's struggle between the Dark Side and the Light.
Driver won a 2016 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Quotes
| “ | I'll show you the Dark Side. | „ |
| ~ Kylo Ren to Lor San Tekka. |
| “ | Forgive me. I feel it again... The pull to the light. Supreme Leader senses it. Show me again, the power of the darkness, and I will let nothing stand in our way. Show me, grandfather, and I will finish what you started. | „ |
| ~ Ren to the charred mask helmet of his grandfather. |
Trivia
- It is possible that in order to complete his training of whatever Snoke wants him to be, Kylo Ren had to hunt down and kill Luke Skywalker.
- While this could be possible, he seems to have failed since Luke became one with the Force in peace.
- Kylo Ren was one of the many characters featured in the Glove and Boots video Presidential Candidates: They could be worse. In the video (which is obviously mean to parody the U.S Presidential Election of 2016), Kylo Ren enters the U.S Presidential Election and speaks at a presidential debate against his competitors; Vladimir the Impaler (who turns out to actually be Dracula in disguise) Gargamel, Bluto, Mojo Jojo, The Borg and Elmo.
- According by Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson: Kylo Ren will have the ability to redeem himself, declaring that ’’Darth Vader was worst’’.
- Even though Supreme Leader Snoke is the founder of the First Order and the one who seduced Kylo to the Dark Side, Kylo was the main antagonist of the trilogy as a whole because he was the immediate threat that Rey had to face and turned out to be more dangerous than Snoke, and also had bigger plans than anyone else.
- On another note, Kylo's betrayal of Snoke is similar to that of Darth Vader's betrayal of Emperor Palpatine and in turn, the latter's betrayal of his former master, Darth Plagueis.
- However, Vader only killed Palpatine to save Luke, which led to his redemption; Kylo, on the other hand, killed Snoke out of pure anger before taking over the First Order.
- On another note, Kylo's betrayal of Snoke is similar to that of Darth Vader's betrayal of Emperor Palpatine and in turn, the latter's betrayal of his former master, Darth Plagueis.
