The Most Iconic Kylo Ren Scenes
"I know what I have to do. But I don't know if I have the strength to do it."
-Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, The Force Awakens
Despite being a newly established Star Wars character and appearing in only three Star Wars movies (with other appearances in Star Wars Resistance, the newer Battlefront II, and the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special), Kylo Ren makes a substantial impression in the Star Wars canon with no shortage of iconic scenes spread throughout the sequel trilogy. Kylo Ren is a particularly significant character within the Star Wars universe, not only in terms of his identity as a Force-wielding acolyte of the dark side of the Force and an admirer of the late and infamous Sith Lord, Darth Vader, but through his heritage and original life as Ben Solo, the offspring of two of the most famous heroes of the original trilogy and leaders of the Rebel Alliance against the Empire, Han Solo, and Leia Organa.
RELATED: 10 Of The Biggest Mysteries From The Sequel Trilogy
Right from the beginning of The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren makes a dramatic entrance on the desert world of Jakku, where he has arrived with a detachment of First Order troops searching for a map that they believe will lead them to the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker. He immediately demonstrates his mercilessness by striking down artifact collector and Resistance sympathizer Lor San Tekka and ordering the destruction of an entire village of men, women, and children. His prowess in the use of the Force is also quite dramatically illustrated by freezing a single blaster bolt in mid-air after being fired upon by Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, who has arrived on Jakku to retrieve the map as well.
As the movie progresses, we are treated to a variety of smaller scenes where it is established that Kylo is an admirer of the late Sith Lord Darth Vader, at least what he knows of him from his service to the Empire. He also seeks out his master and Supreme Leader of the First Order Snoke's guidance dealing with the pull he feels from the light side of the Force, which he is struggling to extinguish. He later captures the young scavenger Rey, who he brings back with him to Starkiller Base, where he attempts to probe her mind. Rey, however, dramatically and unexpectedly turns it back on Kylo, pointing out his insecurities about his ability to live up to his idol, Darth Vader.
Perhaps the most significant moment for Kylo in The Force Awakens occurs when he meets back up with his father, Han Solo, who has come to Starkiller Base to save Rey and help the Resistance destroy it. Han, at Leia's urging, approaches Kylo and tries to get Kylo to leave the First Order and come back home to him and Leia. Kylo finally removes his helmet and approaches his father, apparently struggling with his decision about returning to the light or staying with the dark. Ultimately, Kylo unleashes his lightsaber blade, impaling Han, sending him tumbling off the catwalk to his death. Kylo then pursues Rey and Finn alone into a snowy forest as they attempt to flee. Kylo quickly dispatches Finn in a lightsaber duel but finds himself subsequently bested by Rey, who is beginning to come into her own power as a Force user.
In The Last Jedi, Kylo is seen continuing to struggle with the pull he feels from both the dark and light sides of the Force. He is chastised by Snoke for losing his duel with Rey on Starkiller Base. In a dramatic scene in an elevator, he furiously smashes his helmet to pieces. There is an amazing scene where he is communicating wordlessly with Leia through the Force, which causes him to ultimately resist firing on her command ship.
Throughout most of the rest of the movie, he is communicating through the Force over a great distance with Rey as they begin to learn about each other and develop a "Force Bond" with each other. This leads to Rey, who was previously being trained by a reluctant Luke Skywalker, coming to Kylo, thinking that she might be getting through to him, although Kylo instantly dispels that notion and brings her to Snoke instead. In what is such an amazing moment and one of my absolute favorites in the sequel trilogy, Kylo, having been ordered by Snoke to kill Rey, turns the tables and kills him instead. Him and Rey subsequently fight back to back to eliminate Snoke's guards. Sadly, despite his inner conflict and desire for Rey to join him, Kylo does not reject the dark side of the Force, nor the desire to seize control of the First Order, which Rey can't accept.
Rey later escapes and rejoins the remaining Resistance forces on Crait and helps them escape. Meanwhile, Kylo, in another amazing scene, confronts the Force projection of Luke Skywalker, who appears on Crait to stall the First Order advance against the Resistance. Despite his rage and anger at his former Jedi Master, Kylo finds that he is unable to successfully attack Luke. Kylo ends the confrontation in a display of humiliation and empty rage as he comes to the realization of what Luke has just accomplished.
The first several minutes of The Rise of Skywalker completely belong to Kylo Ren, now established as the new Supreme Leader of the First Order, as he cuts a merciless swath through a horde of aliens on Mustafar in his attempts to obtain the Wayfinder, which then leads to a careening flight through hyperspace to the mysterious Sith planet of Exegol, where he finds the resurrected Emperor Palpatine. He is eager to engage and kill Palpatine at first, but ultimately decides to ally with him in order to complete the First Order's domination of the galaxy.
Following the Sith Lord's command to find and kill Rey, Kylo spends most of the movie attempting to find Rey, which initially leads him and his "Knights of Ren" to the desert world of Pasaaana. He first attempts to run her down with his TIE silencer. After Rey singlehandedly knocks it out of the sky by slicing one of its wings off with her lightsaber, Kylo emerges unscathed from the wreckage to engage in a game of "tug of war" over a First Order transport that Rey is attempting to stop from fleeing, which drives Rey to accidentally unleash a stream of Force lightning in a fit of rage that destroys the transport and (she thinks) has killed Chewbacca.
Later, Rey and Kylo have a lightsaber duel through their Force Bond in an amazing split-scene while Rey is in his quarters aboard his Star Destroyer and he is searching for her down on the planet Kijimi. He finally returns to the Star Destroyer and, in a dramatic moment, reveals to Rey her heritage as a descendent of Emperor Palpatine and offers Rey a chance to join him again to confront Palpatine. Rey once again rejects him and she and her friends escape.
Kylo and Rey have one final confrontation aboard the wreckage of the second Death Star, where Rey is searching for another Wayfinder to get to Exegol. After Kylo smashes the Wayfinder she just found, their confrontation dramatically explodes into a final lightsaber duel throughout the wreckage, ending with Rey delivering a fatal blow by stabbing him in the gut. However, instead of leaving him for dead, Rey decides to mercifully heal Kylo of his wounds, before fleeing the planet in his Tie silencer. In one of my favorite scenes of this movie, Kylo, while still on the wreckage of the Death Star, confronts a vision of Han and relives their last confrontation aboard Starkiller Base and "Han" encourages Kylo to renounce the dark side and become "Ben Solo" again, which he finally decides to do, as dramatically illustrated by throwing his red lightsaber overboard and rushing to Exegol to help Rey confront Palpatine.
Before he can get to her through, he has to face down his former comrades, the Knights of Ren singlehandedly and without the benefit of a lightsaber. In an amazing reversal of fortune and use of their established Force bond, Rey is able to teleport Leia's lightstaber blade to Ben, who is then easily able to dispatch the Knights and make it to Rey's side to finally face Palpatine together. Unfortunately, Palpatine quickly puts Ben out of commission for the duration of the confrontation with Rey, sucking out their Force/Life energy and seemingly sending Ben to his death down a bottomless chasm. However, it is revealed later, after Rey has vanquished Palpatine, that Ben is still alive and manages to crawl painfully back up to the main chamber and over to Rey's side. Upon seeing that Rey is apparently dead, Ben, in a major redemption moment for his character, decides to transfer his remaining life force to Rey through the use of the Force, which ultimately succeeds in restoring Rey to life, just as she had healed him from his fatal wounds earlier. They are granted a brief and beautiful moment to fully connect with each other in a loving embrace before Ben, sadly, passes away into the Force.
I would argue that the mere fact of Ben's death is sort of iconic because of the mixed feelings many Star Wars fans have about his death, as well as the fact that his death officially ends the Skywalker lineage established by Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy (although Rey assumes the mantle of the family name at the end of the last film).
Fans known as "Reylos" (and I am including myself among them), who "shipped" Kylo/Ben and Rey with each other throughout the sequel trilogy and were hoping for a happy ending for both of them together, were obviously disappointed with the ending. Many have gone on to write their own stories and artwork that explore alternate endings for The Rise of Skywalker where Ben survives and continues his relationship with Rey. Some hope that perhaps Ben might return somehow in post-The Rise of Skywalker content. There were other fans who didn't like the idea of any kind of romantic relationship between the two of them and/or even saw it as problematic. Whatever your stance is on the life and times of Kylo Ren/Ben Solo (and I'm not judging one way or another), there is no doubt that he is one of the more complicated and iconic villains in the Star Wars Saga to date, which is reflected by many of his scenes throughout the sequel trilogy, as well as the expert performances delivered by actor Adam Driver.
READ NEXT: How The Sequel Trilogy Can Be Improved By the Disney+ Shows