[tps_header][/tps_header]6. Kylo Ren
If you think that Kylo Ren is a cheap rip-off of Darth Vader, you’re dead wrong for two reasons.
Reason #1: Vader was stable. He had been killing Jedi, working with the Emperor, choking Stormtroopers, and mastering the Force for twenty years before A New Hope starts. He is confident, and knows his morals. Throughout the series, Vader lectures Luke about the power of the Dark Side like a father would lecture a son. Kylo Ren is everything that Vader wasn’t: new at his job and exploding with rage. Ren tortures not with an honorable “force choke” like his grandfather, but with his own “force brain squeeze”. He can only read a bit of Rey’s mind, whereas Vader could talk to Luke’s brain from planets away as if through a cell phone.
Vader needed his mask to live, Ren made his for intimidation. Pretty big difference…
Reason #2: The Force Awakens knowingly bases Kylo Ren’s persona off of Vader! It’s a part of the film’s story. Ren talks to Vader’s mask, worrying he won’t be able to live up to his “achievements”. Ren is all about emulating a tough image, but he hasn’t grown enough to justify his peacocking. It’s all subtext about the film’s status as a franchise reboot, and it is subtle. It makes Ren one of the more-interesting film villains in recent memory. His timid reaction is awesome when Rey says “You’re afraid… that you’ll never be as powerful as Darth Vader!”.
Advertisement
