Kylo Ren

"Forgive me. I feel it again...the call from the light. Supreme Leader senses it. Show me again, the power of the darkness, and I'll let nothing stand in our way. Show me, grandfather, and I will finish what you started."

- Kylo Ren to Darth Vader's melted mask. Kylo Ren (real name Ben Solo) is a member of the First Order and the Knights of Ren and the primary antagonist of Star Wars: The Force Awakens alongside Supreme Leader Snoke.

He is the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, the nephew of Luke Skywalker, the grandson of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and Padmé Amidala, and the apprentice of Supreme Leader Snoke. He wields a unique crossguard lightsaber that he constructed himself.

Background
Born as Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, Ben was sent to study alongside other Jedi students at a young age, being instructed and led by his maternal uncle and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Like his maternal grandfather Anakin Skywalker, he struggled with the Dark side of the Force. He reveared his maternal grandfather and feared he would never be as powerful as The Chosen One.

An enigmatic individual named Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the First Order, preyed on Ben's internal conflict, and he fell to the Dark side of the Force. He took on the name Kylo Ren, and aided by the Knights of Ren, he killed several of Luke's apprentices. This act greatly delayed his uncle's plan to restore the Jedi Order to it's former glory and left his uncle despondent while Ren went on to terrorize the galaxy as a leader of the First Order.

Ben's uncle Luke was one of the few who managed to survive and escape the Jedi massacre.

Personality
In his youth, as Ben Solo, he admired the power of his maternal grandfather Anakin Skywalker, particularly in his Darth Vader incarnation. Because of this, Ben struggled with the Dark side of the Force due to this obsession.

As Kylo Ren, he is ruthless, brutal and emotionally unstable, but appears to carry at least some guilt and remorse for his actions. Like Anakin, he is short-tempered, and hot-headed. However, unlike his maternal grandfather, Ren is far less able to control his temper and emotions, as well as the fact that he is far less level-headed and far more prone to bouts of rage. To establish his rejection of his past life, Ren serves the First Order with great passion towards it's leader and his master Snoke. He carries on his attachment to Vader into adulthood, where he desires to uphold the Sith Lord's legacy by destroying all the Jedi.

Ren is not without fear; he is afraid that he will never become as powerful as his maternal grandfather. Whereas Vader was very patient and honorable, Ren, on the other hand, finds conflict with these traits of the Light side of the Force, especially towards the idea of his family. Feeling this care is what holds him back, Ren believes that to fully be as great as Vader - to embrace the Dark side - is to finally abandon these traits.

Powers

 * The Force: As the grandson of the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Ren has a strong connection to the Force. Though Ren is not quite as powerful as his maternal grandfather, he is still an exceptional Force user.
 * Telekinesis: Ren is extremely proficient in telekinesis, capable of stopping a blaster bolt in mid-flight.
 * Mind probe: Ren utilizes mind probe to sift through the thoughts of a sentient being, for the purpose of interrogation or torture.
 * Force sense: Ren utilizes Force sense, to sense another sentient being's emotions, the future, ripples in the Force caused by momentous or traumatic events, or impending danger and the presence of the light side.

Abilities

 * Lightsaber Skills: Ren is highly skilled in lightsaber combat and a highly gifted duelist. He is one of the greatest lightsaber duelists alive; it was his exceptional skill with a lightsaber that ultimately prevented the art of lightsaber combat from rising back to prominence with his massacre of the new, fledgling Jedi Order. His destruction of this new generation of Jedi also earned him the nickname of "Jedi Killer" among the members of the First Order. Despite this, however, he was ultimately unable to defeat Rey, despite being far more skilled and experienced in lightsaber combat then the latter. However, it should be noted that Ren had already been wounded by Chewbacca and Finn, and thus was not at the peak of his strength.
 * Genius-Level Intellect/Master Tactician/Leader: Ren is amazingly intelligent. As a Field Commander of the First Order, Ren is a highly skilled tactician and a very capable leader.
 * High Tolerance For Pain: Ren has a high tolerance for pain; as he was able to continue fighting despite being shot in the side by Chewbacca, and slashed on the shoulder by Finn. In his battle with Finn, he was also seen beating the wound inflicted by Chewbacca, using his pain and anguish to fuel his connection to the Dark side of the Force.

Lightsaber
Ren's valued weapon and possession is his red-bladed lightsaber.
 * Crossguard lightsaber: Kylo had built a red-bladed crossguard lightsaber. Ren's lightsaber was crudely built off an ancient design dating back to an event known as The Scourge of Malachor and operated using a cracked Kyber crystal. It thus had an unstable blade, necessitating the use of exhaust ports to channel and vent the weapon's excess energy so that it would not overload. The excess energy served as the lightsaber's quillons (crossguards). The weapon's blades also crackled and arced like electricity and funneled like fire, giving the weapon a ragged, menacing appearance and a deep, growling hum.

The Force Awakens
Kylo Ren first appears on Jakku searching for a map leading to the missing legendary Jedi, Luke Skywalker. After failing to recover anything from the planet, Ren and his forces capture the Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, where Ren interrogates Poe by mentally torturing him with the Force. Poe escapes with the aid of AWOL storm trooper FN-2187, nicknamed Finn, and Ren is outraged. He implores on his maternal grandfather, Darth Vader, to help him. Eventually, the First Order figures out that Poe's droid, BB-8, is on Takodana, and with it a map to the location of Luke Skywalker. On Takodana, Ren leads the ransack for the droid. Encountering the Force-sensitive Rey, he takes her to Starkiller Base to discover the Resistance Base. To gain her trust, he tries to read her thoughts, discovering that she has seen his father, Han Solo. Intent on gaining information from Rey, Ren is ordered by Snoke to bring her to him for interrogation. However, Rey manages to tap into the Force and escape her bindings by using Jedi mind-control on a guard, leading Ren to chase her with stormtroopers. In the reactor shaft of the base, Ren is discovered by his father, Chewbacca, Finn, and Rey. When Han confronts his son and offers to help him with his emotional pain, Ren briefly thinks of his father's words before giving in fully to the dark side and stabbing him through the chest with his lightsaber; Han then falls into the shaft below them. An enraged Chewbacca shoots Ren in his side, leaving him severely weakened. Finn and Rey flee. Before he can react, the wounded Ren is briefly caught in the explosion caused by the detonations that his father and Chewbacca had planted around the area prior. He finds Finn and Rey in the woods of the base and engages in battle with Finn, who is using Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber against him, much to Ren's anger. Due to Finn's lack of Force-sensitivity, Ren defeats and grievously injures him, but not without receiving a minor wound to the shoulder. Afterwards, he tries to claim his grandfather's lightsaber, but Rey uses the Force to claim it as her own and fights him. Ren tempts Rey to join him, but she refuses and, giving herself over to the full power of the Force, overpowers Ren, knocking away his lightsaber and slashing him across face. With the planet collapsing with the destruction of the weapon, Rey abandons Ren and escapes. Before the planet implodes, Snoke instructs General Hux to retrieve Ren before departing to complete his apprentice's training.

Disney Parks
Kylo Ren will be a live character at Disneyland in California, as well as Walt Disney World in Florida, starting in February, 2016. The Disney Parks blog has stated that he will temporarily replace the Darth Vader meet-and-greet.

Trivia

 * Prior to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, many fans questioned if Kylo Ren and Darth Vader were related due to their similarities, which turned out to be true.
 * In the Movie Novelization of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren is revealed to believe that the reason the Galactic Empire lost to the Rebellion was because of sentiment, and that Darth Vader's feeling for Luke were what caused the Empire to collapse.
 * In the Movie Novelization, Snoke is also revealed to have chosen Kylo Ren as his apprentice because the former believes the latter to be a focal point in the Force; a perfect blending blending of light and dark due to his heritage as Darth Vader's grandson.

Kylo Ren