Kylo Ren's unstable, bladed lightsaber was his signature weapon in the Star Wars sequels, but how exactly did its red blade end up that way? Introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Adam Driver's character was poised to be the trilogy's big bad, paralleling Darth Vader in the original movies. Like his grandfather, he started off as a Jedi who fell to the Dark side after being manipulated by Emperor Palpatine. Kylo Ren was also the poster boy of the First Order, similar to Darth Vader's role for the Empire.
Born as Ben Solo, the son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, the character had a lonely childhood as his parents were busy minding their personal missions instead of caring for him. By the time he was sent to train with Luke Skywalker, he was already an easy target for Supreme Leader Snoke who slowly turned him to the dark side. Not really understanding what's going on, a split-second mistake from Luke further pushed his nephew down the dark path, causing him to transform himself into Kylo Ren. Inspired by Darth Vader, Ben was adamant about following the footsteps of his grandfather, even tailoring his whole look to match him.
However, Kylo Ren's weapon was unique and not something that's inspired by Darth Vader's lightsaber. Instead of the traditional stable red blade of Dark Lords, his was shaky, with excess frizzing and radiation that he had to add lateral vents on either side of its handle to redirect extra heat from the gem. This was all because of its cracked kyber crystal. As with how the Siths get their red lightsabers, Kylo Ren made his kyber crystal bleed to get its signature color, but typically, this process doesn't result in a defective gem, hence why no one else has a ragged blade in Star Wars. This was due to Kylo Ren's inner turmoil while creating his Sith weapon; despite his insistence that he fully embraced the dark side, there was always a tiny glimmer of light inside him. He was never totally sure that it was the right path for him to take, hence why he had to work double hard to convince himself that he was. This personal conflict caused his kyber crystal to break, similar to how he truly felt.
In hindsight, Kylo Ren's lightsaber was a physical representation of his inner turmoil in the Star Wars sequels: It's erratic and shaky, just as he was mercurial and indecisive. Despite his public stance, it's clear that he was never really fully able to get rid of the light in him. This was why he had to great lengths to prove that he's the cruel villain that he wanted to be including killing his own father — something that he wasn't really sure he wanted to do and regretted as proven by his vision of Han in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It remained ragged because he preferred it that way; he could've fixed it, but decided not to. If anything, keeping his lightsaber this way might've been his way of secretly asking for help. His decision to join the Dark side and be the First Order's leader wasn't because he's really evil, it was an act of rebellion against his family who neglected and betrayed him.
This is why when he finally decided to come back to the light following his imagined conversation with Han, his first act was to throw away his red lightsaber. It meant that he was no longer conflicted about where he stood in the conflict between Emperor Palpatine and the Resistance. There's so much the Star Wars sequels could've done to better explore such a fascinating character like Kylo Ren, but at least out of all the main characters in the trilogy, he had the best arc.
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April 01, 2021 at 06:06AM
