Kylo Ren's Original Identity Would've Been Too Dark For Disney
The Star Wars sequel trilogy’s antagonist, Kylo Ren, was initially imagined as a darker character who was perhaps even too dark for Disney, leading to his cinematic form. Kylo Ren is a different sort of dark side villain in the main Star Wars saga, whose inner conflict and emotional outbursts set him apart from colder and more calculating villains like Emperor Palpatine and Count Dooku. One of Kylo’s first conceptualized incarnations, known as the “Grave Robber,” seemed to have come from a more familiar school of thought as far as Star Wars saga villains go, but his more vicious early appearance and name suggest that Lucasfilm and Disney toned things down, which was ultimately the right move.
Kylo Ren’s finalized origin is comparable to that of the Legends character Darth Caedus, albeit significantly simplified. Like Caedus, Kylo Ren is an alias for Han Solo and Princess Leia’s son (and their only child, unlike the Legends continuity). Originally known as Ben Solo, Kylo Ren’s fall to the dark side occurred while he was a student of Luke Skywalker’s, leading him to join not the Sith Order like Darth Vader and Darth Caedus, but the Knights of Ren, which he soon became the new leader of. Aside from being part of a philosophically different dark side religion than the Sith, Kylo Ren has several key differences from his idol, Darth Vader, with the biggest one being that he wishes to be like Darth Vader instead of resigning himself to this fate.
Related: Star Wars: How The Knights of Ren Are Different From The Sith
These sort of fascinating complications and contradictions might not have existed in Kylo Ren’s Grave Robber concept, with artwork depicting a more macabre and intimidating character than the Kylo Ren seen in the
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