When we first meet Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it’s clear he owes a lot to Darth Vader, with his love of black cloaks and scary mask. As the movie continues, we discover that the helmet isn’t a functional object as it was for Vader, though, but is simply decorative. With Kylo Ren revealed as Ben Solo, the grandson of Anakin Skywalker, we’re left to work out that he designed his mask in honor of his iconic ancestor.
A new comic, Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #3, gives us a little bit more insight into Kylo’s reasoning behind the mask, though. In the issue, the young Ben Solo is trying to prove himself to the Knights of Ren and goes to see their original leader, Ren, on Varnak. Ben is clearly intimidated by the helmeted figure, so Ren removes it to ease the tension. “Here. Relax,” he explains. “The mask’s kind of intense — that’s the point — but you and me, maybe we’re gonna be friends. Snoke thinks so anyway.”
Clearly, young Ben takes this line to heart. When he bests Ren and takes over the Knights himself, he remembers Ren’s use of his mask to induce fear. And, of course, Vader also achieved much the same – even more so – with his own model. There’s also an additional reason that’s very much unique to Kylo, too. He can use it to hide his own emotions, which often come to the fore when he’s struggling with the mix of light and dark within him.
As we saw in the Sequel Trilogy, Kylo became very dependent on his mask. He destroyed it in a fit of rage in The Last Jedi, when Snoke mocked him over it, but once he had killed his master and taken over as Supreme Leader himself, he had the helmet fixed. Only at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, when he properly became Ben Solo again, was he able to let the helmet go and everything it symbolized.
Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #3, from writer Charles Soule and artist Will Shiney, is available now.
