Kylo Ren is a better villain than Darth Vader

The mockery of Kylo Ren just shows how good the character is

SPOILER WARNING: I assume you have seen The Force Awakens already. If not, see it first and then read this article.

I love the Star Wars-universe. I grew up with it, I built a crappy plastic-lightsaber when I was a child and was a huge fan until it was too embarrassing for a young teenager to say so. Later, I guess after I realized that Episode 1 really sucked, I lost interest in a more and more dull and pointless space-opera (though Episode 3 is not that bad).

Now I’m 30 and feel fine being called a Star Wars-fanboy. After rewatching Episode 1 to 6 I realized just how good A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, and also how cheesy most parts of Return of the Jedi were. I also remembered that Star Wars is not about space ships or epic battles, even if the title is suggesting this. Instead it’s about ambiguous characters, who struggle to find their place.

Both, the Prequels and the Original Trilogy, are not about saving or ruling the galaxy. It ultimately boils down to a story about more or less fragile characters trying to find their purpose. Not only the Jedi and Sith are tempted and sway between the light and the dark side. Every major character in the Original Trilogy is in some way selfish and also a victim of politics and religious ideas.

This struggle is the main theme of the Star Wars-universe. It’s not about good and evil, it’s about how fluid and fragile this concept is. Empire Strikes Back is a masterpiece in terms of capturing the essence of this very concept: Han’s plan to leave Hoth, but then showing his good side and saving his friend Luke; Luke mocking Yoda, just to get his ass whipped and learning to respect him; Lando framing Han, but later helping Leia after a brief catharsis; Vader unable to kill Luke and trying to build up some kind of weird father-son-connection.

With this in mind, Kylo Ren is not only the most elaborate Star Wars-character so far, he basically is the personification of this concept of ambiguity. In Force Awakens there are numerous scenes which very clearly describe his fear of not being as badass as his grandfather, whom he obviously admires (for reasons yet unknown) and show his inner unrest and weak self-esteem.

These are also the reasons why some people think he is a lousy villain, mock him with a (quite funny) fake Twitter-account, complain about his haircut or just think Adam Driver is not a good choice for the role. While I think that exactly this emotional and fragile characterics make him the best Star Wars-character yet, there are even more obvious reasons why Kylo Ren could surpass (or already have) Vader in terms of evilness.

Darth Vader was a lousy villain in A New Hope

Darth Vader is the most iconic movie-villain of all time. But back in 1977 even George Lucas wasn’t so sure about his villain. He was so uncertain, that Vader even wasn’t the only antagonist and was more or less some kind of super-soldier serving Grand Moff Tarkin, who was played by the award winning, experienced actor Peter Cushing. This is emphasized by this line Leia says in A New Hope: “Governor Tarkin. I should have expected to find you holding Vader’s leash.“

In fact, if you complain that Kylo Ren hasn’t got his shit together like Vader, you may want to recall what Vader did in A New Hope: he had 12 minutes of screen time, less than 3 minutes of dialogue, tortured a harmless prisoner (Leia), killed a defenseless old dude (Obi-Wan) and failed to fight off a young farmer-boy (Luke), who then successfully destroyed the death star.

One of the biggest accomplishment of Empire Strikes Back is that it managed to establish Darth Vader as the evil, powerful character he is known for today.

Darth Vader gave in to the light side

Vader killed the Emperor, not Luke. I admit that this twist in Return of the Jedi gave the character of Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader a good bottom, but ultimately the most badass villain in the universe gave in to the light side. Coward, right?

Funny thing about all this? According to the The Force Awakens-novel Kylo Ren knew all this. He knew that his grandfather gave in at last and was too weak to either kill his son or successfully rule the galaxy with him. So maybe, just maybe that’s also troubling him, knowing that his big idol, who is nothing less than the embodiment of the dark side, was ultimately weak and could not resist the light side of the force.

Kylo Ren is radically embracing the dark side

Knowing this, it’s pretty clear that Kylo Ren doesn’t want to make the same mistakes like Vader by being even more radical and ruthless. The Vader helmet-scene in The Force Awakens has to be seen in the context of Kylo Ren’s task to kill his father Han Solo. The Han Solo-encounter on the bridge clearly resembled the scene from A New Hope in which Obi-Wan fights Vader, just to let Vader kill him (and to finally radicalize Luke and make him join his religious cult).

While Vader killed his former master, in whom he saw a brother once, Kylo topped him by killing his own father. If you have in mind that Vader wasn’t capable of killing Luke, tried to seduce him and ultimately saved his life, then Kylo Ren successfully made sure that he doesn’t make the same mistake like Vader.

Kylo Ren is unpredictable

Kylo Ren is no Sith, but was trained an unknown period of time by Luke Skywalker and later recruited or taken by Supreme Leader Snoke. Unlike Anakin Skywalker, who was once a real Jedi, Kylo Ren seems to have been just one out of a group of kids, who were trained by Luke. It’s very likely that Luke and Kylo didn’t get along all too well and Kylo never submitted to the codes of the Jedi. It also means that it’s very likely that Kylo never really lived with the orderly, self-controlling mindset the Jedi and Sith have in common.

Adam Driver described this interesting character-traits in an interview, in which he also emphasized, that Kylo Ren is „nothing like Vader“:

“I feel there’s a recklessness about him that’s maybe not normally associated with the Dark Side. You normally think of order, and structure, and full commitment and no hesitation … he’s just a little bit more unpolished. It’s in his costume, in his lightsaber — how you kind of get the sense that it could just not work at any moment; that it could just blow up. That’s kind of like a big metaphor for him.“

The Skywalkers have always been whiny idiots

Remember how Luke behaved in most parts of A New Hope? The spoiled brat, who is constantly complaining and insulting everyone from R2-D2 to Han Solo? I’m sure you do.

Okay, Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo is not exactly a Skywalker, but he incorporates most of the negative traits of his uncle and (surprise) his beloved grandfather. What about the young Anakin Skywalker in Episode 1, who may be the most annoying child in movie-history?

And don’t forget the badass things the grown up, flirty Anakin had to say about sand:

You see, Skywalkers may be good pilots and quick learners when it comes to the force, but they are also arrogant dudes, who can’t stop complaining. Now combine these things with a quick-tempered character like Han Solo …