Kylo Ren

"Nothing will stand in our way. I will finish what you started."

- Kylo Ren to Darth Vader's melted mask. Kylo Ren is the main antagonist of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He is a member of the First Order and the Knights of Ren and the apprentice of the Supreme Leader Snoke, and wields a unique crossguard lightsaber that he constructed himself. Born as Ben Solo to parents Leia Organa and Han Solo, Kylo became obsessed with his family's lineage, particularly his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

Development
Kylo Ren's look went through various phases during production. In his earliest incarnation, he was an alien with one red eye, and wielded a lightsaber with a Wampa bone for a hilt. Later in production, he was a cyborg, with metal parts covering his face and arms. His final design shows him as human, but he wears a mask heavily reminiscent of Darth Vader and Darth Revan's mask.

It should be noted that Kylo Ren is based on the popular Expanded Universe (now referred to as "Legends") characters Darth Caedus/Jacen Solo from the New Jedi Order novel series and the fan favorite Darth Revan from the popular video game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. However, it should be noted that Darth Caedus never struck down his own father and was slain by his own sister, Jaina Solo.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Kylo Ren first appears on Jakku searching for a map leading to the missing Luke Skywalker. After failing to recover anything from the planet, Kylo and his forces capture the Resistance pilot Poe Dameron where Kylo interrogates Poe by mentally torturing him with the Force.

On Takodana, Kylo Ren leads the ransack for the location of BB-8, the current possessor of the map. 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. Intent on gaining information from Rey, Kylo is ordered by Snoke to bring her to him for interrogation. However, Rey managed to tap into the Force and escape her bindings, which leads Kylo to chase her with the stormtroopers.

In the reactor shaft of the base, Kylo is discovered by his father, Chewbacca, Finn, and Rey. When Han confronts his son and offers to help him with his pain. Kylo briefly thinks of Hans' words before stabbing Han with his lightsaber as the dark powers have developed in him even more, with Han plummeting into the shaft below them. An enraged Chewbacca shoots Kylo on the side, severely wounding him as Finn and Kylo escape. before reacting to everything else, Kylo is briefly caught in the explosion caused by the detonations hi father and Chewbacca had planted around the area prior.

He finds Finn and Rey in the woods of the base and engages into battle with Finn, Finn using Luke's own lightsaber against him, much to Kylo's rage. Due to Finn's inexperience, Kylo defeats and wounds him and tries to claim Luke's lightsaber. However, Rey uses the Force to claim it as her own and fights Kylo. Kylo tempts Rey to join him, but Rey refuses and Kylo lets her defeat him, but not before Rey scars Kylo's face. Before the planet implodes, Snoke instructs General Hux to retrieve Kylo before departing to begin Kylo's final training.

Gallery
Kylo Ren