Kylo Ren, born Ben, was the son of Han and Leia Organa Solo. He was a dark-side Force user in the First Order in 37 ABY.
Biography[]
Early life[]
"Ben's" features without his mask.
Kylo Ren was born with the name Ben to Han and Leia Organa Solo. He was their first child. However, when he was only two years old, he was kidnapped by a mysterious dark figure. Han and Leia, along with Ben's uncle Luke, searched for him for months, but eventually gave him up as dead. In honor of him, Luke named his first son Ben, not knowing that Ben, Han and Leia's son, was actually alive.
Ben was taken to Gavar Khai and renamed Kylo Ren. Khai taught Kylo how to use a lightsaber. As Kylo grew older, he became a vicious, violent person, killing enemies mercilessly and even executing allies who failed him. Khai told Kylo who his parents were, but insisted that they were weak, and that Kylo had been rescued from them to become something more. Kylo became infatuated with Darth Vader, his maternal grandfather, and began wearing a mask that bore similarities to Vader's. He also created his own lightsaber, a unique design that had two extra blades emerging from the hilt as a crossguard. He saw Vader as the only pure member of his family; his parents he saw as weak, and his uncle as deluded.
First Order Uprising[]
Near the end of the year 36 ABY, half of the Moff Council rose up against Head of State Vitor Reige, leader of the Imperial Remnant. These rebellious Moffs joined up with the First Order, the cult that Kylo Ren was a part of. The First Order used this boon to rise up, warring with the Remnant. Kylo was on the frontlines for much of the battle, cutting a swath through the Remnant space.
However, the First Order's initial uprising was stopped when Reige contacted Leia Organa Solo and asked her to create a Resistance. This Resistance fought against the First Order and stopped their advance. However, Kylo was pleased by this, as the Resistance had many Jedi in its numbers, and he was eager to test himself in combat against them. He also knew that Organa Solo was his mother, and desired to show her his true power.
Facing a Jedi[]
Kylo got his chance to face Jedi soon. In 37 ABY, he went to a space station the Resistance had attacked. Four Jedi were present—Kenth Hamner, Jacob Nion, Kam Solusar, and Kirana Ti. Kylo took them by surprise, his three-bladed lightsaber a weapon they'd never faced before. He confronted them in an abandoned hangar and attacked them before they had a chance to react. He brutalized them using the Force, his lightsaber, and physical punches and kicks. Kylo succeeded in killing Hamner, destroying Kirana Ti's lightsaber, and injuring all three surviving Jedi. He then left the station before the Jedi could recover from their surprise.
Vindicated by his victory, Kylo began to believe himself to be one of the most powerful Force-users in the galaxy. He longed for a greater challenge, specifically another of the Skywalker bloodline, who he believed to be the only worthy opponents. However, Khai tried to temper Kylo's feelings, stating that he'd only managed to kill one of the four Jedi and thus was not as powerful as he believed. Kylo became determined to prove himself to his mentor.
Jakku Raid[]
Poe Dameron, the Resistance pilot Ren captured.
Shortly after the Battle of Muunilinst, Kylo was tipped off that a Skywalker would be on the planet Jakku. Along with General Hux aboard the Finalizer, Kylo attacked a village on Jakku, where he captured a Resistance pilot named Poe Dameron. Determined to find out why Dameron was there and where Skywalker was, Kylo had Dameron brought aboard the Finalizer for interrogation, where he was placed into an interrogation chair. First Order interrogators were unable to break Dameron, but they did learn that he was the best pilot in the Resistance, a feat that Ren noted once he began interrogating the pilot personally. Though the dark knight was impressed that Dameron had not yet been broken, Ren began to use the Force to mentally extract the information from Dameron's mind. The pilot, who resisted the Force attack, finally was forced to reveal that he was on Jakku to find out if there were any connections between the First Order and Fyor Rodan, and that Owen Skywalker would be arriving to back him up. He said the information he'd gathered was in the BB unit. Ren informed General Hux of the new development and left the recovery of the droid in the hands of the military, while he prepared to face Skywalker.
Soon, a YT-1000 freighter emerged from hyperspace, and the Finalizer fired on it. The ship ejected an escape pod, which the Finalizer pulled in, and the freighter flew out of range. Inside the pod was a stormtrooper who identified himself as FN-2187. The trooper said that he'd been captured by the Resistance and had been a prisoner aboard the freighter. When the Finalizer had attacked it, he'd fought his captors and made it to an escape pod. Ren was suspicious, but unconcerned with the stormtrooper, as his focus was still on Skywalker.
While the Finalizer tracked the freighter, FN-2187 freed Dameron and the two escaped in a TIE Fighter. Ren was enraged but ordered the crew to continue after Skywalker, unconcerned with the FN-2187, Dameron, or the BB unit. Skywalker continued to evade them and finally made it down to the planet. Ren sent TIEs to pursue, but the freighter managed to escape after picking up several passengers. The Finalizer gave chase, and on the other side of the planet Ren was shocked to see the freighter meet up with an all-too-familiar YT-1300, the Millennium Falcon. All the passengers of the YT-1000 transferred to the Falcon and they escaped into hyperspace. One of the officers who'd been on the ground informed Ren that a local girl had assisted FN-2187 in his escape, which piqued Ren's interest.
Attack on Takodana[]
Owen Skywalker, Ren's target.
Ren, enraged at his father's involvement but determined to track Skywalker, ordered the Finalizer to follow the Falcon's hyperdrive trail. He knew the ship's unique signature, and they managed to track their approximate coordinates, which were confirmed by a First Order spy on the planet Takodana. Ren sensed the girl with Skywalker, and was surprised when her presence felt as powerful in the Force as a strong Jedi, though it seemed untrained. Ren led his forces to Takodana, where the stormtroopers attacked Maz Kanata's castle, a smuggler's den. Ren saw Skywalker and attempted to engage him, but his attention was drawn by the girl, Rey, who was running into the forest.
Solo, Finn, and Chewbacca were briefly captured by the First Order before Dameron and the Resistance Starfighter Corps arrived to recover the droid, but Ren was more concerned with finding the girl. He soon found Rey in the woods. She tried to fire at him with her blaster, but he stalked her and deflected the shots with his lightsaber. Finally, Ren froze her in place with a telekinetic attack. Startled by how powerful she was in person, and realizing her potential as an apprentice, he knocked Rey unconscious and brought her to his command shuttle. Temporarily unconcerned with Skywalker, he ordered the First Order to retreat, and their forces left Takodana.
Interrogation and Discovery[]
Rey, whose Force sensitivity intrigued Kylo.
Ren brought Rey to the First Order base on Ilum, restraining her in an interrogation chair. When she awoke, she asked where her friends were, and Ren told her he had no idea. He sensed she still wanted to kill him, and Rey said it was because she was being hunted by a creature in a mask. The dark warrior removed his mask to show his human face and asked about her. Knowing she was resilient, Ren warned her that he could take whatever he wanted from her mind. He touched her face and began probing her mind with the Force. At first, he felt loneliness and fear, and then he was surprised by mental barriers that seemed to have locked away her childhood memories. Then he sensed Han Solo. Ren could tell that Rey looked at the smuggler as a father figure, but he said that Solo would have only disappointed her. Finally, Rey began to more strongly resistant his mental attacks. She soon turned the mental probing around on him, using the Force within herself to see that Ren himself was afraid—afraid that he would never be as strong as Darth Vader was.
Stunned by the reversal, Ren left Rey behind in the interrogation chamber and contacted his Master, Khai, who reacted with incredulity that a mere scavenger resisted him. Ren told Khai that Rey was strong with the Force, stronger than she even knew. Khai asked what happened to the information about Rodan, and General Hux, who had just entered the chamber, told Gavar that Ren believed he only needed Rey and allowed the droid to escape. Concerned that the Resistance might have information that would lead them to victory, Khai ordered Hux to unleash the full might of the First Order against the Resistance base on the planet D'Qar. Ren continued to implore Khai on Rey's power, so Khai ordered Rey to be brought to him. When Ren returned to the chamber where Rey was being held, she was nowhere to be found—she used her emerging Force abilities to escape. Enraged, Ren ignited his lightsaber and destroyed the chamber.
Battle of Ilum[]
Kylo Ren shortly before the battle.
Ren commanded the First Order troops to be on alert for Rey as she began making her way through the base, as he knew that the longer she was able to tap into her powers while escaping, the more powerful she would become. During the search for Rey, Commander Dameron and Resistance Starfighter Corps—including not only Owen Skywalker but Ren's own sister, Jaina Solo—arrived at Ilum and assaulted its defenses, hoping to destroy it and leave the base easy to capture. Also on the base were Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Finn, who had arrived before the Starfighter Corps in order to find Rey and lower the shields. Ren, who was tracking Rey himself, sensed that his father was near and ordered his troops to find Solo and the other intruders.
Solo, who had discovered Ren's identity as his own son, had promised to try to bring his son home to Leia, saw the dark warrior on a balcony above a huge chasm, and called to him using his birth name. Ren said he had been waiting for this day for a long time, and Solo told him to remove the mask so he could see the face of his son once more. Ren removed the mask but told Solo that he had destroyed Ben, who Ren thought was weak and foolish like his father was. Solo refused to believe that; he said his son was alive and that the First Order was simply using Ren for his power, but Ren did not believe it. Solo pleaded with Ren to come home, saying that he and Leia missed having their oldest boy with them, and they'd believed him dead for so long.
Ren, conflicted by the pull towards the light, told Solo that he wanted to be free of the pain that he was feeling. He knew what he had to do to end the pain, but he did not know if he had the strength to do it. So he asked for his father's help, and Solo agreed, not knowing that it was the light that Ren felt conflicted by. Ren, who was being watched from afar by Chewbacca, Rey, and Finn, held out his lightsaber and Solo grabbed hold of it. As the sun set, Ren ignited his lightsaber and stabbed his father through the chest. A mortally wounded Han Solo touched his son's face one last time before falling to his death in the chasm.
Duel in the Forest[]
Ren advances on Finn, determined to rid himself of the former stormtrooper.
Enraged by the loss of his best friend, Chewbacca fired a powerful shot from his Wookiee bowcaster and hit Ren in the side, seriously injuring the dark knight. The Wookiee killed several other stormtroopers in the area as Rey and Finn, who were high above, began firing into the area as well. Chewbacca ignited charges that he and Solo set throughout the base's defenses, causing a massive explosion that destroyed shields and anti-aircraft guns and gave the remaining Resistance pilots an opportunity to destroy it. As Ren composed himself from his injury, he made eye contact with Finn and resolved to find the former stormtrooper and Rey before they could escape.
Ren followed Rey and Finn into the forests as they made their way back to the nearby Millennium Falcon. He confronted them, lightsaber drawn, and said that they still had unfinished business that Han Solo could not save them from. Rey tried to attack him with her blaster, but he used the Force to throw her into a tree and knock her unconscious. Left alone to confront the dark warrior, Finn ignited the lightsaber that had been given to him for safekeeping by Owen Skywalker—a lightsaber that once belonged to Luke Skywalker, and to Anakin before him. Ren demanded that Finn give him the lightsaber, saying it belonged to him, but instead Finn engaged him in a lightsaber duel. It was a short but brutal contest, in which Ren kept striking his bowcaster injury in order to fuel his anger and power. In the end, Finn, who nonetheless landed one blow on Ren's arm, was no match for Ren's power. Ren overwhelmed and disarmed the former stormtrooper, ending the fight with a lightsaber blow across Finn's back that left the one-time stormtrooper comatose.
Rey pushes back against Ren with unexpected power.
With the duel seemingly over, Ren turned his attention towards his grandfather's lightsaber and attempted to use the Force to draw it into his hand. Instead, it flew past him and landed in the hands of Rey, who used the Force to call it to her—as it was her destiny to wield the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker. Rey ignited the weapon and engaged Ren in a tense duel. At first, Ren had the upper hand, remaining on the offensive as he pressed his attack against the retreating scavenger. Their blades became locked, and Ren told the emerging Force-sensitive that she needed a teacher. It was he, Ren said, who could show her the ways of the Force. Remembering that Kanata and Skywalker had not long ago told her to allow the light to guide her actions, Rey realized she could call upon the powers of the Force and began using that to her advantage. She turned the tide of the fight and pushed her own offensive against the dark warrior, who she was finally able to disarm. In doing so, she slashed her blade across his face, disfiguring him in the process.
Rey left Ren for dead and returned to the injured Finn. Chewbacca soon arrived aboard the Falcon and carried Finn aboard, as Rey followed behind. The ship took off and the Falcon and the Resistance fighters returned to the now-captured base. General Hux, who had escaped the base before it was captured, took the injured Ren into his shuttle and fled Ilum and told the dark warrior that he had orders to bring him to his master—not Gavar Khai, but Supreme Leader Snoke, true leader of the First Order.
Ren was rocked by the loss of his duel with Rey. He began to believe that if he couldn't even beat an untrained scavenger then he'd never have a chance against his cousins or siblings. He was eager to go to Snoke and complete his training in the dark side, so that he could grow in power and take his vengeance upon Rey—and then face his family.
Confrontation with Khai[]
When Ren returned to the First Order headquarters, Gavar and Vestara met him in the hangar and took him to a bacta tank. His injuries during his duel with Rey and Finn were extensive, including the bowcaster injury from Chewbacca, a blow to one shoulder, a deep gash in one leg, and a scar across his face. When Ren was removed from the bacta tank, Gavar was waiting for him. Khai berated him for being defeated by an untrained Force sensitive. Khai continued to goad Ren, until Ren ignited his lightsaber. Khai and Ren dueled, but the fight ended when Ren slashed Khai's right arm off. Before Ren could execute Khai, Hux entered and told Ren that Snoke was waiting for him.
Powers and Abilities[]
Kylo Ren was kidnapped as an infant and trained from childhood in the ways of the dark side by Gavar Khai and Supreme Leader Snoke. As an adult, Ren was tasked with destroying the Jedi Order, including his own uncle, Luke Skywalker, who had proven himself in combat against many darksiders, including a revived Darth Ruin. Ren strove to be as powerful as Darth Vader, who began the elimination of the Jedi at the end of the Clone Wars, but was afraid he would not be as strong as the Sith Lord once was. Though not yet at the heights of his grandfather's power, Ren's abilities still gave him powerful abilities with the Force and in combat. The dark side that flowed through him made him a nearly-unstoppable force, and he was a powerful user of telekinetic attacks and defenses. He was capable of holding a blaster bolt midair for several seconds, and he could telepathically invade the minds of his prisoners and psychologically torture them into revealing withheld information. His telekinesis was proficient enough that Kylo was known to use telekinetic halts in combat.
Ren was also skilled in lightsaber combat. His destruction of several of Skywalker's Jedi earned him the nickname of "Jedi Killer" amongst the First Order ranks. These dueling skills showed when he took on several Jedi Masters at once, including Kenth Hamner and Kirana Ti, both excellent duelists. His own skills at constructing a lightsaber were limited, however; the design and crude components of his unstable weapon reflected a lack of experience at constructing the ancient weapon. Although severely injured from a blast by Chewbacca's bowcaster, Ren displayed a prowess in an acrobatic and offensive form of lightsaber combat in his duel against Finn. Despite his skill with a lightsaber, he was ultimately defeated by Rey, whose own life as a scavenger on Jakku was spent honing her survival skills, and who was able to embrace the light side during her confrontation with the injured Ren.
After his defeat at the hands of Rey, Ren immersed himself in the dark side fully for a time. Upon his return to a First Order base, he showed his skills when, despite his recent injuries, he managed to defeat his former teacher, Gavar Khai, in a lightsaber duel and disarm him. Ren indicated that he would have continued the duel and killed Khai, had it not been for a timely interruption by Hux. Ren's skills were such that Khai allowed him to teach his daughter, Vestara Khai, in the ways of the dark side.