Kylo Ren

"Forgive me. I feel it again...the call from 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 Benjamin Solo) is a member of the First Order and the Knights of Ren and the main antagonist of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He is the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, the grandson of Darth Vader, and the apprentice of the Supreme Leader Snoke. He wields a unique crossguard lightsaber that he constructed himself.

Development
Kylo Ren's design 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 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 Darth Revan from the popular video game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. However, Caedus never struck down his own father and was slain by his own sister, Jaina Solo.

Powers

 * The Force: As the grandson of the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker, Kylo is immensely powerful, and has an amazingly strong connection to the Force, stronger than any force user currently alive. He is just as powerful as his grandfather and uncle.
 * Telekinesis: Kylo is extremely proficient in telekinesis, capable of stopping a blaster bolt in mid-flight.
 * Mind probe: Kylo utilizes mind probe to sift through the thoughts of a sentient being, for the purpose of interrogation or torture.
 * Force sense: Kylo 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 dark side.

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

On Takodana, Kylo 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 Solo. Intent on gaining information from Rey, Kylo 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 Kylo to chase her with 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 his father's words before stabbing him 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 in his side, severely wounding him as Finn and Rey escape. Before he could react, Kylo 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 into battle with Finn, who is using Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber against him, much to Kylo's rage. Due to Finn's lack of Force-sensitivity, Kylo defeats and wounds him with his crossguard lightsaber, but not without receiving a wound to the shoulder. Afterwards, he tries to reclaim his grandfather's lightsaber. However, Rey uses the force to claim it as her own and fights him. Kylo tempts Rey to join him, but she refuses and Kylo lets her defeat him, but not before Rey scars his face. Before the planet implodes, Snoke instructs General Hux to retrieve Kylo before departing to begin his apprentice's final training.

Trivia

 * Kylo Ren is the first Star Wars film villain to completely originate from Disney.
 * He is also the newest Star Wars film villain to appear after 10 years.
 * 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.

Kylo Ren