"You can still save him." / "How can I save him when Luke couldn't?" / "Luke was a Jedi, your are his father."
- Leia and Han had conversation about their son.
Ben Solo, also known as Kylo Ren, is the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa. Ben assumed the name "Kylo Ren" in order to create a new identity for himself. As Kylo Ren, he serves as an agent of the First Order, though it is unknown in what capacity. He is shown to serve directly under Supreme Leader Snoke, as an apprentice of the dark-side.
Personality & Traits
Ben appears to be emotionally unstable and prone to fits of unchecked anger and frustration. His motives for joining the First Order are unclear, though it can be assumed that he joined in-part due to a desire to disconnect from his former life as Ben Solo.
Kylo is shown to have immense inner turmoil and fear associated with the burden of command and the inability to live up to his grand-father's image as Dark Lord of the Empire. These insecurities manifest in fits of uncontrollable anger and temper tantrums, which Kylo demonstrates several times by violently bashing objects in his vicinity. Due to his erratic, unpredictable behavior he created an atmosphere of fear and distrust around himself, as evidenced by the reactions of the military officers and troopers around him.
In addition to the social repercussions of his unstable nature, Kylo also suffers from significant mental obstacles. When Rey is being interrogated by Kylo, she puts up a strong resistance to Kylo's mind manipulation techniques. At this point, Rey is completely untrained in the Force and just beginning to learn of her powers, so it can be assumed that Kylo's failure is largely due to his inability to focus his mental fortitude against her. This loss of focus is demonstrated again, later the film, when Kylo attempts to Force Pull his grand-father's lightsaber from the snow. Once again, his powers failed him, as Rey was able to pull the lightsaber from Kylo's hold, even though she was at a much further distance.
History & Biography
As a young man, Ben was trained in the ways of the Force by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. For reasons unknown, Ben Solo rejected his training and left the Jedi Academy in pursuit of a new life. Ben turned to the Dark Side, which caused Luke to blame himself and lose faith in his ability to train a new order of Jedi Knights. Shortly after, Luke dissolved his Jedi Academy and disappeared without a trace. Ben Solo then assumed the name "Kylo" to separate himself from his old identity. It is assumed that he adopted the surname "Ren" when he joined a group known as the Knights of Ren.
Hoping to find and destroy Luke Skywalker, Kylo set out to track down the last remnant of the map that led to Luke's final destination. Kylo led a team of stormtroopers to Jakku to recover the map fragment, however he was beaten to it by Poe Dameron, who managed to give the map to his personal droid BB-8 before getting captured. The First Order then hunted BB-8, Rey, and turncoat Finn on the surface of Jakku, but were unsuccessful as the trio of refugees escaped at the last minute in the Millennium Falcon. Tracking them to Takodana, Kylo abandoned the search for the droid having decided that he could easily pull the information from Rey. Kylo then attempted to extract the map information using his Force powers, but met formidable resistance, as Rey learned to use the Force to form mental blocks. Rey managed to break Kylo's focus by exposing his insecurities. Having met his match, Kylo left to consult his master, Snoke, informing him about Rey's sensitivity to the Force. Rey was then able to escape as the Resistance mounted an attack on Starkiller Base. Meanwhile, Finn led a rescue mission to find Rey within the Starkiller base, aided by Han Solo and Chewbacca.
During the Resistance's raid on the thermal oscillator base, Kylo was confronted by his father, who hoped to appeal to Kylo's sense of goodness and lead him away from his life of servitude to Snoke and the First Order. Believing that it was his father's love that was weakening him, Kylo betrayed his father's misplaced trust, driving his lightsaber through Han's chest, delivering a fatal blow. Chewbacca, overcome with rage from the lost of his life-long friend, fired a bolt into Kylo's side, severely injuring him before setting off a series of detonations in the core of the thermal oscillation chamber. Kylo, alerted to Rey and Finn's presence, chased the duo into the woods, where he was confronted by Finn, wielding Anakin's blue lightsaber. Kylo was injured further by Finn in the duel, but eventually his skill with a blade helped him overcome Finn's attacks and he left Finn critically wounded. Kylo then reached out to Force Pull his grandfather's lightsaber from where it landed in the snow. To his bewilderment, the hilt dislodged and flew past him, into the hands of Rey, who had recovered from being thrown against a tree by Kylo, prior to his fight with Finn. Rey managed to overpower Kylo, striking him several times and severely injuring him to the point where he lay defeated at her feet. With Starkiller Base imploding, Snoke instructed General Hux to take Kylo and abandon the base, delivering the apprentice so that he may complete his training.
Han murdered by his son.
Appearance & Equipment
In the film, he is seen wearing a black hooded cloak and a helmet which echoes the design of Darth Vader's, while retaining a look similar to the Stormtrooper armor designs. He wields a red-bladed lightsaber with a distinctive cross-guard. Due to the nature of the damaged crystal used, this excess energy is unable to be contained within the main blade of the weapon and must be redirected through lateral vents near the beam's emitter, creating a cross-guard of sorts. The three beams are observed to be extremely unstable and crackle violently with tendrils of energy. The reason behind this unstable blade are due to Kylo's use of a cracked Kyber crystal in the lightsaber's construction. This type of forked-lightsaber is uniquely original to the film universe, though similar cross-guard lightsabers have been seen before in the Expanded Universe.
Kylo's Upsilon-class command shuttle