Who is Kylo Ren?
According to Entertainment Weekly, which features The Force Awakens’ masked man on its new cover along with a slew of new photos in its fall movie preview, that’s not the name he was born with:
“He is a character who came to the name Kylo Ren when he joined a group called the Knights of Ren,” (director-producer J.J.) Abrams says. But that’s as far as the writer-director will go. What are the Knights of Ren? You’re going to have to wait until Dec. 18 to find out.
So he’s a member of the Knights of Ren, and he crafted his own unique cross-bar lightsaber.
“The lightsaber is something that he built himself, and is as dangerous and as fierce and as ragged as the character,” Abrams says.
Also, we have learned that Kylo Ren’s mask is a deliberate homage to Darth Vader’s menacing visage, on both the part of the new character and the production team.
“The movie explains the origins of the mask and where it’s from, but the design was meant to be a nod to the Vader mask,” Abrams tells EW. “[Ren] is well aware of what’s come before, and that’s very much a part of the story of the film.”
Check out the full EW cover, and a dozen or so other images from The Force Awakens.
