New details continue to emerge from Entertainment Weekly's forthcoming cover story on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. EW.com just posted a second article online that explains much more about villain Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) than we've heard yet.
Here's a rundown of the new information.
• "Ren" is a title, just like "Darth," only it functions as a surname this time. The title was given to him when he joined something called the "Knights of Ren." Is that an offshoot of the Sith? A cult of Vader worshippers? A club for angsty teenagers who are angry at their fathers? Director J.J. Abrams says you'll have to wait until the movie hits theaters to find out.
• Ren is obsessed with Darth Vader, and his metal mask is an intentional "nod to the Vader mask," according to Abrams. The mask's origins will be explained in the movie.
• EW theorizes that Ren could be an inverse of Luke Skywalker: a character who rises from obscurity to cause upheaval throughout the galaxy — only embracing the Dark Side to do it this time.
• Abrams says Ren is different from other anti-Jedi baddies because "he isn't as fully formed as when we meet a character such as Darth Vader." Ren is more dangerous, ragged, and far more emotional, yet like most of cinema's best villains, he sees himself as the hero of the story.
• His homemade lightsaber and its unrefined, jagged appearance is symbolic of the character who built it.
Entertainment Weekly's Force Awakens cover story goes on sale this Friday, August 14. Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be in theaters on December 18, 2015.
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