Ben Solo, later known as Kylo Ren, was a Human male Knight of Ren and the lost son of Han and Leia Solo.
Born a year after the Battle of Endor, Solo was abducted by Sith agents and raised by the man known as Snoke, spending most of his early life on Amaxine Station. When he was sixteen, he was sent away to be trained by the Knights of Ren, where he adopted the name Kylo. After seven years of training, Kylo usurped leadership of the Knights from their master Ren and adopted the name "Kylo Ren."
In 41 ABY, Kylo Ren became known to the public galaxy when he helped lead the assault on the Ossus Jedi Temple as part of Darth Taral's army of dark side users. After Snoke decided to abandon Taral, leading to the Sith Lord's failure at the Battle of Mandalore, Ren and his Knights eliminated the remaining members of Taral's followers, sparing only Karis whom Kylo decided to take on as his apprentice. Later that year, he led an attack on a Jakku village, where he killed Lor San Tekka in his search for the map to Ahch-To.
The following year, Ren was sent by Snoke to retrieve an artifact belonging to the House of Solo.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Ben Solo was born approximately a year after the Battle of Endor. At the young age of three, he was abducted by agents loyal to the Sith Lord Darth Vorath, who wanted a member of the Skywalker bloodline under his control. The captured Solo child was then brought to Amaxine Station to be looked after by Snoke until he was ready to be trained as a Sith.[1]
Meanwhile, Ben Solo's abduction caused a panic in the Skywalker-Solo clan. Suspecting an Imperial warlord to be responsible, the New Republic dedicated its resources towards finding the young Solo. Ben's father Han Solo particularly suspected Admiral Zsinj to be behind the abduction and developed a vendetta against the warlord.[1] Shortly after Zsinj's defeat however, New Republic Intelligence operatives discovered the body of a young boy on Birren which they deduced to be Han and Leia's child. As a result, Ben Solo was declared dead.[2]
In truth however, the young Solo was in fact alive and in the care of Snoke on Amaxine Station. Raised to believe that his family had abandoned him, Ben Solo grew to resent his parents and came to see Snoke as a father figure.[3]
Knights of Ren[]
In 21 ABY, Snoke sent the sixteen-year-old Solo to Varnak to seek out the Knights of Ren, who would continue the young boy's training. Adorning a mask forged by Albrekh, Solo adopted the name "Kylo" as he began his training under the Knights of Ren.[3]
In 28 ABY, the Knights of Ren traveled to Naos III to retrieve one of the lightsabers of the Sith Lord Darth Atrius. When said lightsaber proved to be a dud, lacking a lightsaber crystal, Ren killed the Pantoran collector who had sold it to them. The Knights then traveled to Endor, where Kylo was sent out to recover the charred mask of his grandfather Darth Vader. Upon making contact with the mask, Kylo instantly fell under its sway, communicating with a voice that supposedly belonged to the spirit of Vader himself.[4]
Eventually, Kylo overthrew the Knights' leader Ren and became the new Master of the Knights of Ren, taking on the name Kylo Ren.[5]
Master of the Knights of Ren[]
The Sith insurgency[]
Kylo as a Knight of Ren
Around 40 ABY, Kylo Ren was tasked with monitoring the activities of the renegade Sith apprentice Varon Krul, another pawn in Snoke's game. While Varon gathered his army, Kylo traveled to Mandalore in search of Starkiller, a former apprentice of Darth Vader, in the hopes that he could gain more knowledge of his grandfather. Not long after apprehending Starkiller, Kylo Ren joined the Marked Ones in leading an assault on the Jedi Temple on Ossus.[2]
When it became clear to Snoke that Varon would not succeed in his plan, Kylo Ren was sent to Bastion to execute the Moff Council and bring the Imperial Remnant's forces to the Unknown Regions. Returning to Mandalore, Kylo boarded Varon's flagship and confronted the would-be Dark Lord. After an intense duel, Varon managed to escape while Kylo was faced with his family, who had sensed his presence for the first time in nearly forty years. Despite their pleas, Kylo refused to turn his back on the dark side and instead allowed them to flee Varon's Star Destroyer before it was destroyed.[2]
Although Varon had managed to escape, Kylo was able to track down the remaining Followers of Taral to Abeloth's planet Vitae, where he and the Knights of Ren killed all but one of them. Kylo then approached the sole survivor Karis, who had been the one to summon the Knights of Ren to their location, and offered to make her his apprentice, to which the S'kytri agreed.[2]
At some point after the Battle of Mandalore, Kylo Ren led a detachment of First Order forces to the village of Tuanul on Jakku, where he confronted Lor San Tekka and demanded the map to the First Jedi Temple. When San Tekka refused, the Knight of Ren killed him before ordering Captain Phasma and her stormtroopers to execute the villagers of Tuanul.[1]
The Corellian conspiracy[]
In the following year, Snoke tasked Kylo Ren with going to Corellia, his father's homeworld, in order to sow discord as well as to confront the legacy of his family. Upon arriving on Corellia with his fellow Knights, Kylo Ren traveled to the town of Kor Vella to retrieve an heirloom that belonged to the House of Solo. After verifying its authenticity, the Knights of Ren traveled to Coronet to deliver the heirloom to the curator Sal Tyrius.[5]
Sal Tyrius, the Curator
Upon reaching the star yacht First Light, which Tyrius was utilizing as his headquarters, Kylo and his Knights encountered Jedi Master Toah Jarsan and a team of Resistance agents who were trying to sneak onto the First Light. After a brief skirmish and a subsequent chase, Kylo and his apprentice Karis were invited to Tyrius's office along with the Jedi in exchange for a temporary true. Shortly after arriving at the Curator's office, the First Light unexpectedly began to lift up toward the sky, being remotely controlled by its true owner Queen Kestora. Not wanting to let himself be captured, Kylo smashed the office window open with his lightsaber and had Karis carry him off while the other occupants of the First Light were taken captive by Queen Kestora and the Veiled Sorority.[5]
Returning to the Night Buzzard, Kylo Ren reported his progress to Snoke, only for his master to express displeasure upon learning that the heirloom had not been delivered to Tyrius as Kylo had not been informed of him beforehand; Snoke had hoped that his apprentice would have inferred such information rather than needing to be told outright. Hoping to appease his master, Kylo Ren agreed to deliver the artifact to its intended receiver, Queen Kestora herself, and had the Night Buzzard take pursuit of the First Light. The Knights of Ren followed the pirates to Ord Mantell, where they came into conflict with Wraith Squadron, before finally landing on the planet. After a terse reunion with Han Solo, Kylo Ren delivered the heirloom to Queen Kestora, who revealed herself to be a Solo by blood. His mission complete, Kylo took his Knights and departed from Ord Mantell, after which Snoke summoned him to the Supremacy to receive further instructions.[5]
Legacy of the Sith[]
Following the mission to Corellia, Kylo Ren was given the task of tracking down and eliminating all remaining traces of Darth Vorath's Sith Order, as well as the successor Sith Order of Darth Sedriss. Among his first stops was Serenno, where he broke into the chambers of Count Tyr Valmar—formerly the Sith Master Tyran—and extracted the whereabouts of the remaining Sith Masters from Sedriss' Sith Order. After Valmar gave him the information he sought, Kylo Ren took from him the holocron of Darth Tyranus and departed from Serenno, leaving Count Valmar to the political fallout of his actions.[1]
After eliminating Su Koda and Vizun Naris on Cato Neimoidia and Talravin respectively, Kylo Ren traveled next to Damosus, where Darth Sedriss herself—living under her birth name of Lysira Naris—was living alongside her husband Varon Sendor—formerly Darth Taral. Shooting down their transport with his TIE silencer as they tried to flee, Kylo headed down to confront Varon and Lysira only to be attacked by their son Kalon. As a Force storm gathered over Damosus, a vergence in the Force allowed the spirit of Darth Vorath to emerge from the depths of chaos and possess the body of his grandson.[1]
At that moment, the Bestoon Legacy arrived carrying Ben Solo's uncle Luke Skywalker, who had also been brought back to life. Vorath proceeded to reveal to both Skywalker and Kylo Ren that he had been the one behind the young Ben Solo's abduction and had intended to turn him into a Sith. This revelation shook Kylo Ren to the core, as he had been raised by Snoke to believe that he had been working to destroy the legacy of the Sith rather than serve it. Snoke's flagship then arrived at Damosus to retrieve Kylo Ren, taking Darth Vorath and Luke Skywalker captive in the process.[1]
Still conflicted over what he had learned on Damosus, Kylo Ren confronted the imprisoned Darth Vorath in his holding cell in the hope of getting answers regarding the Sith Lord's intentions for him. He was then given one last trial by Snoke in order to prove himself to the Supreme Leader. Traveling to Mustafar, Kylo Ren encountered the Eye of Webbish Bog. After wiping out a tribe of Alazmec, the Eye of Webbish Bog granted Kylo passage to the ruins of his grandfather's fortress.[3]
As he explored the ruins of Fortress Vader, Kylo Ren encountered what he believed to be the voice of Darth Vader himself. However, this voice was in fact an illusion as the actual spirit of Anakin Skywalker manifested before him and tried to save his grandson from the Vader voice's lies. Torn between what he had been told by Snoke throughout his life, the conflicting words of Vader and Anakin, and his own memories, Kylo Ren ended up becoming even more conflicted than he was before beginning his trial. As his memories went back to his mother, whom he had met for the first time in over thirty years at Mandalore, the ghost of Anakin Skywalker directed him to Naboo, where Leia was at that moment. This prompted Kylo Ren to depart from Mustafar, leaving his mask behind.[3]
Upon arriving at Naboo, where the Supremacy had arrived to seize control of the planet, Kylo Ren boarded the Supreme Leader's flagship and entered the throne room. There, he found his mother and uncle being held captive by Snoke, who proceeded to torture the Skywalker twins with Force lightning. This was interrupted by Darth Vorath, controlling the bodies of Kalon Sendor and his parents, and the Sith Lord did battle with Snoke and his Elite Praetorian Guards. After Vorath's two adult vessels had been defeated, leaving only the young Kalon Sendor, the ancient Sith implored Kylo to fulfill his grandfather's legacy as a Sith and take the mantle of Dark Lord. Convinced that his apprentice would not turn against him, Snoke ordered Kylo Ren to kill Kalon's body, only for the Knight of Ren to then cut him down, killing the Supreme Leader.[3]
Taking control of the First Order, Kylo Ren sent Luke and Leia to the Supremacy's brig before ordering Captain Yago to crush the Resistance forces that had arrived to rescue the Skywalker twins. Ultimately, the Resistance succeeded in rescuing Luke and Leia, and Kylo Ren ordered the Supremacy to withdraw from Naboo, relocating the ship to the Mustafar system. While Vorath questioned his decisions, the Knight of Ren ignored him as he reclaimed his mask and contacted the Supreme Council, informing them that Snoke had been incapacitated and that he would be delivering the Supreme Leader's orders as his Executor. Unaware of the truth behind this deception, the Supreme Council accepted this shift in the chain of command as Kylo Ren ordered them to focus on crushing the Resistance and sending spies across the galaxy to locate Resistance operatives.[3]
Executor of the First Order[]
Not long after assuming the role of Executor, Kylo Ren contacted Admiral Vin Borgas, who was stationed at Batuu in search of the Resistance agent Vi Moradi, and tasked him with locating a Sith holocron that Kylo believed to be on Batuu in the possession of Ithorian curator Dok-Ondar.[6]
Shortly after he had given this order, the Resistance agent Rey found the holocron herself, causing a disturbance in the Force which Kylo sensed. Traveling to Batuu himself, Kylo located Rey and fought her over possession of the holocron. Realizing Rey's raw strength and potential, Kylo offered to train her only to be harshly rebuked. In the end, Kylo decided to end the duel and allow Rey to keep the holocron, calling off the search so that she and her allies could escape, in the hopes that she would eventually turn around and accept his offer.[6]
Upon departing Batuu, the Supremacy received coordinates directing them to the Resistance's base on D'Qar. As Kylo commanded the Supremacy and oversaw the assault on D'Qar, he sensed the return of Supreme Leader Snoke, whom he thought he had killed back on Naboo. Ignoring the taunting of Darth Vorath, Kylo took his TIE Silencer and engaged the Resistance's forces in battle himself.[6] However, he quickly found himself distracted when he sensed the presence of his mother Leia among the fleeing Resistance ships. While pursuing the pilot Poe Dameron, he was caught off-guard by the arrival of the Errant Venture and broke off in order to deal with the crimson Star Destroyer.[7]
As a result of his still-present subconscious feelings for his family, Kylo ordered his forces to allow the surviving Resistance ships to escape, reasoning that they had nowhere to turn to since they had recently lost the support of the Galactic Alliance as well as their base. When Resistance bombers began to drop their payload on one of the Star Destroyers, Kylo then gave the order to withdraw from the system, leading to him clashing with General Hux. Once Hux had acquiesced, Kylo returned to the Supremacy only to learn that Vorath and the Sendor family had escaped, taking a Xi-class shuttle from the Mega Star Destroyer's hangar. Giving into his rage, Kylo executed Captain Yago before retreating to his quarters.[7]
Equipment[]
In 28 ABY, Kylo Ren created his first lightsaber using the hilt of a lightsaber that once belonged to the Sith Lord Darth Atrius, powered by a kyber crystal that he bled from a lightsaber that once belonged to Karre.[4]
Appearances[]
- First Order of Business
- The Final Destiny (First appearance)
- The Corellian Conspiracy
- Walkers in the Sky
- The Seventh Heir
- There Be Dragons
- The Balancing Act