Star Wars: The Force Awakens Documentary Clip Details How Snoke Converted Kylo Ren
How is Kylo formed?
In honor of the digital release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens today, Disney has released a clip of Adam Driver and J.J. Abrams discussing how Kylo evolved from Ben Solo to a Knight of Ren. Like the Poe Dameron and John Boyega clips we saw earlier this week, this video doesn’t reveal any totally new information, but it’s interesting to see what Driver in particular thinks of his character’s arc.
Speaking of where Kylo’s anger comes from, Driver is extremely sympathetic to his character’s circumstances:
If you really imagine the stakes of him, in his youth, having all these special powers and having your parents kind of be absent during that process on their own agendas, equally as selfish. He’s lost in the world that he was raised in, and feels that he was kind of abandoned by the people that he’s closest with. He’s angry because of that, I think, and he has a huge grudge on his shoulders.
J.J. Abrams also addressed how Snoke groomed Ben Solo for The Dark Side, saying, “It’s more than just having a ‘Bad Seed’ as a kid. Snoke had targeted this kid and new that this kid was going to be incredibly powerful in The Force and wanted him as an ally. So this mother and father had a target as a son, someone who’s watching their boy, and these parents aren’t their enough to guide him.”
Although it was clear in The Force Awakens that Leia and Han felt considerable guilt over who their son became, I never really wondered before just how absent they might have been from his life. But given the tumultuous nature of Leia and Han’s relationship, and how often Leia was probably off killing it as a Senator and Han was probably off being a scoundrel, it makes total sense that Ben Solo would have been left feeling vulnerable and unwanted. It should go without saying that feeling vulnerable and unwanted is in no way an excuse for joining The First Order and wreaking havoc across the galaxy, but still, this offers some interesting insight into Kylo Ren’s martyr complex and sense of self-justification.
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