'Star Wars' Comic Reveals Backstory Of Kylo Ren

Kylo Ren’s story is about to reach its end with the release of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” The new trilogy of films has revealed some background into how Ben Solo turned to the dark side and became Kylo Ren, but a new comic book has gone deeper into revealing more details on the character’s origins.

In the new comic “The Rise of Kylo Ren,” readers will see the inspiration behind Ben’s alter ego Kylo Ren, according to Slashfilm. The first issue, which is out now, reveals a character named Ren whom Ben meets that motivates him to turn into the man he becomes in the films. We don’t know where the Knights of Ren came from, but we do figure out how the name came to be.

Author Charles Soule told StarWars.com about what kind of character Ren is when readers meet him. “I wanted [Ren] to read like a charming Darth Vader. A Vader who is charismatic and who is appealing. That’s why [Ren’s] skin is burned and he sort of looks the way that he does. He’s embracing the seductiveness and the damage that the dark side does.”

The author also spoke about the comic’s theme is of legacy and how it defines a person. Soule says that its “a story about family and expectations and the fact that Ben Solo is part of a vast network of galaxy-changing individuals from his mom and his dad, to his uncle, to his adopted uncle, Lando, to his namesake Ben Kenobi, to his grandfather, Darth Vader.” Soule added, “So his story is their story and you can’t tell Ben Solo’s story without knowing all the other ones backwards and forwards.”

The comic also shows that Supreme Leader Snoke has already met Ben long before his turn to the dark side. Snoke is portrayed as a younger person before we meet him in the films, revealing that Luke Skywalker may have been the one who scarred his face. We also get more information on what happened to the Jedi Temple, which was destroyed in the films. Ben was blamed for its destruction, but the comics reveal that there is more to the story of what actually happened.