In the first ‘The Force Awakens’ trailer, when a lean hooded figure ignited his cross-guard lightsaber, everyone figured it’s the bad guy. His lightsaber was red, he was wearing black garbs; all indicators pointed at him being A Sith. Pretty cut and dried, right?
Some time later it was revealed that his name is actually, Kylo Ren. J.J. Abrams explains that Kylo was not only given the name Ren (in much the same way that Anakin Skywalker inherited the title ‘Darth Vader’) but that he’s a member of an order known as the Knights of Ren. Thanks to the new book, Aftermath, we might finally have some information on how the Knights Of Ren began. In a nutshell, the war is over and the Empire is in tatters. With only a handful of ships left, and one Star Destroyer, the Emperor’s forces are trying to regroup, though there is much debate on what their next move should be. In the confusion, we have turncoats and scavengers galore, one of whom has managed to acquire Darth Vader’s missing lightsaber (lost along with his hand in the final battle with Luke Skywalker). The lightsaber is highly sought after, and the merchant in question sells the weapon to three mysterious figures, cloaked all in black. Their answer is as ambiguous as you would expect. ‘We are adherents. Acolytes of the Beyond. We are not violent. Not yet…’ It is not too much of a stretch to speculate that these mysterious Acolytes may indeed be the beginnings of the ‘Knights Of Ren’. They clearly revere Darth Vader, as Kylo Ren does, and have some kind of cultish obsession with preserving his memory.
However, what is not clear is who or what is a “Ren”. Is it a holy location or the patriarch/matriarch of the order? Another thing that’s almost certain is that the KOR and the First Order are not the same thing. They might be tightly affiliated, but the First Order is more of resurgent set of imperial loyalists. The Knights of Ren on the other hand seem to be Vader loyalists. There’s a very apparent Vader inspiration. J.J. confirmed that Kylo Ren’s helmet is an intentional homage to the dark father. There’s definitely a connection between the two. This may not necessarily be a blood tie (although some have alleged that Kylo is a actually an estranged Skywalker-Solo). The bond shared between them is most definitely a spiritual one, where Kylo follows/venerates Vader by virtue of being a Knight. Or Maybe the Supreme Leader turns him on to the Sith teachings, and Kylo becomes obsessed with the ancient religion, in particular Vader. Or perhaps this episode’s villain is actually a psychotic believer that he is the real successor to Darth Vader.
Circling back to Snoke and a little more speculation. For a long time fans theorized that he was Darth Plagueis (Palpatine’s mentor) but that wouldn’t make an awful lot of sense given what we know now. The motion-capture aspect would lead you to believe that he’s an alien, but a while back his appearance was described as…well, “zombie-like”. Don’t be too shocked if Snoke is an ancient Sith who wants to reform the Order with the Knights of Ren, or at least an ancient Dark Side user.
-Dagobot
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