Star Wars is a film series known for its iconic and intimidating villains, so when Disney bought the rights to the franchise and announced Episode 7: The Force Awakens, they had to make a good bad guy. Someone who could stand alongside Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and Emperor Palpat🦂in꧟e. The writers and filmmakers delivered with Kylo Ren, a.k.a. Princess Leia and Han Solo’s erstwhile son Ben Solo.
Played by Adam Driver, Kylo Ren may have come across as a Darth Vader clone at first. But whether it was his unique crossguard lightsaber, his ability to stop blaster bolts in mid-air, or just the mystery ಞof why he wore that mask, the character made a big impact. The films and supplementary material have painted him as a complex, tough-as-nails antagonist in his own right with the revelation of his parentage making him more intriguing. Ren has made his mark among his contemporaries, which makes one wonder what kind of heinous acts he’s gotten up to offscreen.
Much of the era between Episode 6: Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens is still unknown, with the ultimate fates of several old characters and the origins of new ones unrevealed. But such is the fascination mustered by Ben Solo/Kylo Ren and his turn to the dark side that key details of his life have been told to us. And brother, some of them are a doozy. Here are 20 of the craziest things Kylo Ren did between Episode 6 and 7.
20 🍨 He Dug Up His Grandfather’s Grave
One of the first things audiences learned about Kylo Ren from The Force Awakens trailer was that he was in possession of the burned and twisted helmet of Darth Vader. That’s creepy enough by itself, but it becomes worse when we learned who Kylo Ren really was. Knowing that Ren was Vader’s grandson, this means he🐎 traveled to Endor and violated his grandfather’s resting place, where Luke Skywalker cremated Vader at the end of Episode 6, to reclaim the helmet. It’d be one thing if Ren were just a follower of Vader’s, idolizing the fallen Sith Lord, but knowing there’s a familial connection only adds to the horror. That he talks to the helmet when he’s alone doesn’t help.
19 ♈ He Started A Dark Side Team
He may be the most prominent, but Kylo Ren isn’t the only Ren out there in the galaxy. The surname of Ben Solo’s chosen alias is al🌊so used by the cult he founded, a group of Dark Side worshippers called the Knights of Ren. Formed by Ben Solo and several of his fellow students from Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Temple, the group pledged their allegiance to Supreme Leader Snoke and the First Order after destroying their master’s school. Little else is known about the Knights, but they are one of many Dark Side cults that sprang up after the Empire’s fall. Similar groups like the Acolytes of the Beyond scoured the galaxy for old Sith artifacts, like Darth Vader’s lightsaber, treating them as objects of worship.
18 He Destroyed Luke Skywalker’s Temp⛎le
What signaled Ben Sol🔜o’s turn to the Dark Side was his destruction of his uncle Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Temple. The entire incident was a tragedy, not just because Ben ended the lives of his fellow students, but also because he almost wiped out the last remnants of Jedi history as well.
Following the destruction of the second Death Star, Luke went on a quest to uncover any artifacts about the Force that Emperor Palpatine hadn’t destroyed.
He was successful, finding a sapling from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and a compass to the original temple on Ahch-To among other relics. But even these were nearly lost agﷺain when his nephew burned down their new temple. What little remained Luke took with him into exile.
17 💛 ♋ He Was Strong With The Force In The Womb
Both Snoke and Luke Skywalker have remarked on how much raw power Kylo Ren has in the Force, partly as a result of his bloodline. This was evident even before he was born. As her pregnaꦯncy progressed, Princess Leia could actually feel her unborn son reaching out to her through the Force.
She described him as a band of light struck through with darkness.
His father Han Solo regretted that he couldn’t have the same connection with the boy, but hoped to form a fatherly bond with him despite it. No🙈t to dump on Han, but given 💦that his son would wind up ending his life in the future, maybe he should have tried harder.
16 𝓡 He Was Born The Day The War With The Empire Ended
From the beginning, it seems like Ben Solo was destined to be at the center of Galactic events. Sure, there were probably plenty of babies born the day the Empire officially surrendered and ended the Galactic Civil War, but none of them were born to people who played such a big part in ending it. This was aft🔥er the Battle of Jakku, roughly one year after the Battle of Endor when the second Death Star was destroyed. And while this hasn’t been officiall♔y confirmed, it’s led many to believe Ben Solo was conceived at the Ewok Celebration seen in Episode 6. Must have been a wild night.
15 He Was Raised By A Robot Nan🤪ny
There are downsides to having two prominent war heroes as parents. Though Princess Leia and Han Solo loved 🔯their son, they were also extremely busy putting the galaxy back together after the🦩 Empire’s collapse. Meaning that the baby Ben Solo was most often left in the care of his droid nanny, T-2LC. This backfired on the married couple though, as Leia’s political rivals bugged the droid to gain dirt on her. It was also loud and would wake up baby Ben on the rare occasions Han and Leia could watch their child themselves.
14 ಌ 🐲 He Played With Han’s Famous Dice As A Toddler
Though they started out as just an easter egg, the Corellian dice Han Solo hung up in the Millennium Falcon have come to the forefront recently. They were an important symbol in Episode 8: The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story. But it turns out they were more meaningful in The Last Jedi then we knew.
A good luck charm of Han’s from his youth on Corellia, his son would actually play with them as a toddler.
The dice were a symbol of young Ben’s adoration for his father. So when the adult Kylo Ren finds them on Crait in Episode 8, or Luke’s Force illusion of them, it’s another insult from his old master. One last reminder of the love he 𓆉destroyedꦛ.
13 𒆙 He Had A Near-End Experience When He Was 2
One thi🐽ng most people can tell about Kylo Ren right off the bat is that he’s got a few issues. Part of that’s not his fault though; he’s been through some rough stuff. Like when he was two years old and his family’s cooking droid tried to attack him with a knife. This was part of a plot by Fyzen Gor, an old enemy of Han’s, who used a device to turn any droid into a rampaging monster. The device activated while the droid was preparing Ben Solo a meal and tried to harm him instead. Thankfully the device was stopped in time, but the toddler was still left a whimpering mess from the experience. A trauma like that would affectඣ anyone.
12 H🐼e Was Almost In Charge
Princess Leia isn’t just a name, as she actually holds that as a title. Or did, until the Empire blew up Alderaan. Still, she is genuinely a person of importance to that planet, making her son equally important. In fact, Ben Solo was almost granted something of his own. When the Lord of the planet Birren passed, Leia was found to be his closest living relative so the people offered his role♏ to her. She was uninterested in the position and it would have passed to Ben, but he was busy with Jedi training so Leia declined on both their behalves. Ironically the person it would later go to was a collaborator with the First Order, much like the future, Kylo Ren would become.
11 He Learned Hi🦂s Grandfather Was Darth Vader
Out here in the real world, it’s a pretty well-known fact that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were the same person. But in the Star Wars galaxy, this was a huge secret. So much so that when it was revealed, it ruined both Princess Leia and her son’s life. When the public learned that her real father was the Empire’s brutal enforcer, Leia’s political career was ruined and many friends turned their backs on her. But this truth had a bigger effect on Ben, stirring up all his conflicting feelings and pushing him closer to the Dark Side. Learning his heritage was the first step in his idolization of Vader. Th🌃e first step toward becoming Kylo Ren.