Who Are The Knights Of Ren, And Could We See Them Again?
Image Source: Star Wars
The Knights Of Ren is a terrifying, shadowy group of Force users. They are not as powerful as Jedi or Sith but can use the dark side of the Force when they fight. They were eventually led by Kylo Ren. Fans first saw this group in a brief flash during The Force Awakens. They weren’t seen again until The Rise Of Skywalker, He brings them to Pasaana during his pursuit to find Rey. Later, he fights the group on the planet Exegol. Even then, fans didn’t get to learn more about this mysterious group. Who exactly are the Knights Of Ren?
With their brief appearances during the sequel films, not much is known about the Knights Of Ren. However, a comic by Charles Soule, The Rise Of Kylo Ren, dives deeper into Kylo Ren’s backstory and gives us more insight into the Knights Of Ren. The group was founded after the demise of Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, sometime after the events of Return Of The Jedi. The group has a code, but it's flexible. They are in it for themselves and live their lives the way they want. The group operated way before Kylo attacked Luke’s Jedi Temple and was originally led by a scarred fighter named Ren, who wears a featureless helmet.
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Image Source: Digital Spy
The Knights Of Ren also use the word rent to refer to a lightsaber, and it’s the Ren that they pledge to follow. Ren doesn’t stop to think about right or wrong, it just is. It consumes and doesn’t apologize, it’s nature. Ren, the leader of the group, is the only member to carry a lightsaber. The Knights seek new initiates who can “touch the shadow”, their way of saying Force wielder, under Ren. The initiation process involves the recruits killing someone, but according to Ren, it has to be a good death.
Enter Ben Solo. When Ben is just a boy and still training under his uncle, Luke Skywalker, they go on a mission to the Unknown Regions where they face the Knights Of Ren in battle. While training Ben, Luke senses the Dark Side in him and goes to kill him. He stops himself, however, but it’s too late, the damage is already done. In retaliation to this, Ben destroys the Jedi Temple, and at the time, even Luke himself. Ben eventually goes to see Snoke, where it’s revealed that Snoke was influencing him from afar this entire time. Ben goes on to tell Snoke, that he has been thinking about the Knights Of Ren. Ren also plays a significant role in luring Ben to the Dark Side. When Ben sees Ren for the first time, he realizes that there is someone like him in the universe and that there could be a path for him in the universe.
Image Source: IGN
Palpatine returns in The Rise Of Skywalker, where it's revealed that he engineered Snoke to manipulate Ben. Ben, now going by Kylo Ren, at this point has been leading the Knights Of Ren for quite a while. According to the Visual Dictionary, it revealed the Snoke’s entire purpose was meant to be a final test for Kylo Ren on his ability to further the Sith legacy. Later in the movie, Kylo Ren brings the Knights Of Ren to the planet of Pasaana in his pursuit of Rey. During the final lightsaber duel in the film, when he has turned back to the light side thanks to his mother, he fights the Knights of Ren on Exegol. The Knights are too far rooted in the Dark Side, and it appears that Darth Sidious was their master all along.
This was the last we saw of the Knights Of Ren, and unless you read the comic that gave them more backstory, we didn’t see much of them. This begs the question, however, will we see them again? Most recently they appeared in Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #25, which sees the group hunting down a group of bounty hunters. As for visual media, they could appear in the upcoming Rey movie, without Kylo Ren as a leader. With such a mysterious and menacing group, they were definitely underutilized in the films, and it would be interesting to see the group in future Star Wars media.
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