Knights Of Ren To Storm Fortress Vader
2021 has been a big year for Star Wars comics. Things started off with a bang this year with the release of the Into the Fire arc as part of Greg Pak's Darth Vader series. The comic follows the famous Sith Lord and his discoveries about Darth Sidious between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Into the Fire saw Vader discover the existence of Exegol from a Sith Wayfinder on Mustafar, prompting him to invade the planet to get back at his master for nearly killing him over his failure to turn Luke to the dark side. The arc ended with the Emperor showing Vader the true extent of his power on Exegol, putting his apprentice in his place, and blinding one of his assassins, Ochi of Bestoon.
Things only got more hectic as every current running Star Wars comic converged in the War of the Bounty Hunters. The epic, six-month-long crossover event saw Boba Fett lose the still frozen Han Solo to the reemerged crime syndicate Crimson Dawn and their new leader, Qi'ra. Despite ultimately losing her prize, Qi'ra managed to gain the attention of the Empire and survive an encounter with Vader himself, thus solidifying Crimson Dawn's power in the eyes of the criminal underworld. Now, Qi'ra's story continues in Crimson Reign, a five-issue miniseries that debuted its first issue on December 8.
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Written by Charles Soule, the same writer as War of the Bounty Hunters, Crimson Reign follows Qi'ra and her many allies in Crimson Dawn as they wreak chaos in the underworld to divert the Empire's attention and create an opening for them to assassinate the Emperor himself. The first issue of the series saw Qi'ra sending her associates to different corners of the galaxy to stoke her syndicate war. While the issue mainly focused on Chanath Cha, a returning character from Soule's Lando miniseries, and her group known as the Orphans, we also got glimpses at Qi'ra's other partners and their own current assignments. One of the most interesting of these partners is undoubtedly the Knights of Ren.
Since their first mention in The Force Awakens, the Knights of Ren have been an enigma, mysterious and threatening but never thoroughly explored onscreen. That's where Charles Soule comes in. Beginning with his The Rise of Kylo Ren miniseries, Soule has taken the time to flesh out the Knights of Ren. From their history and philosophy to their weapons and armor, the Knights and their original leader, Ren, have been given the kind of development and intrigue for which the sequel trilogy never had time.
One of the most exciting revelations about the Knights of Ren is their existence not just before The Force Awakens but during the original trilogy. Readers were given their first glimpse at the Knights before Return of the Jedi in a two-page spread in the final issue of War of the Bounty Hunters. Here, we can see that aside from their leader, Ren, and possibly one or two other members, the rest of the Knights seen in the comic have never been seen before, implying that they've replaced certain members over the years leading up to the sequel trilogy.
While we don't see the Knights do much in the first issue of Crimson Reign, we do see them sparring on their ship, the Night Buzzard, before bringing up a hologram of Fortress Vader on Mustafar. Ren exclaims that this will be the biggest job they'll ever pull and that they'll be legends for it. The panel heavily implies that the Knights of Ren have been sent by Qi'ra to infiltrate Vader's castle and attack the Sith Lord himself. This would make sense for Qi'ra's plan since Vader is easily one of the most powerful people protecting Darth Sidious. With Vader occupied, it would give Crimson Dawn an even greater chance of killing the Emperor. The only question now is this: how will the Knights of Ren fare against Darth Vader?
Though the Knights of Ren are formidable in their own right, we ultimately know that they won't succeed in killing the Dark Lord. Also, as mentioned before, most of the current Knights are not seen in anything after this miniseries. From this, I think it's easy to guess that the Knights of Ren will lose to Vader and have most of their members killed during the fight. We also have yet to see how the Knights become indebted to Sidious by the time of the sequel trilogy. So perhaps Vader besting them will earn the Knights' respect and motivate them to abandon Crimson Dawn and join the Emperor, eventually leading them to aid in his plan to turn Ben Solo to the dark side.
There are many possibilities for where this whole story could go. But however it turns out, one thing is for sure: the expanded universe of Star Wars continues to make its movies all the better.
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