Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 5 Clues To What Kylo Ren Really Is

2. He's Part Of An Extreme Empire Offshoot

We're stepping away from Vader for a moment before I make my final conclusion, but this is something that will nonetheless be very important. One of the most unexpected twists to the Star Wars mythos made by Episode VII is the redefining of the villains - no longer the Empire, our heroes are going up against the First Order, who from their cult-ish procession ceremonies, further Nazi-inspired fashion choices and deadlier weapons are looking like an even more extreme version of the already pretty over-the-top evil of the Empire. There's even a shot in the trailers of Stormtroopers en masse saluting Domhnall Gleeson's General Hux. I mean, c'mon! They are, then, not just the inheritors of the Imperial crown, but a fanatical group inspired by the ethos of the original, pushing everything to its extreme. The nature of Ren's relationship with them isn't clear, but given Star Wars' penchant for rhyming it'll be similar to Vader's with the Empire - an intrinsic, if not political, position of power. It's obviously a parallel to his idol, but there's also an intriguing suggestion here that he'll be ramping up the Dark Side menace.