Three scenes in the Star Wars canon demonstrate that Kylo Ren was a more formidable villain than anyone previously thought. As the primary antagonist of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, the character faced significant pressure both within and outside of the story to live up to the legacy established by his grandfather, Darth Vader, one of cinema’s most iconic villains. Though Kylo Ren was certainly wild, unpredictable, and powerful in his own right, the narrative’s need to connect his ambitions to those of his grandfather diluted his villainy to some extent, forcing comparisons between him and his family for years to come.
When Kylo Ren’s story became more intertwined with Rey’s, his desire to fulfill his grandfather’s abandoned destiny appeared to fade, making the character even more intriguing. Finally, he was pursuing something for himself, rather than because others expected him to emulate someone else. Unfortunately, the sequel films never did a good job of explaining how Kylo Ren came to be, what truly drove him to the dark side, or the breadth of his Force knowledge. Fortunately, supplemental materials (and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) have revealed Kylo’s true potential as a villain and dark sider.
Kylo Ren Knew How to Bleed Kyber Without Guidance
Charles Soule and Will Sliney’s Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren comic series fills in the gaps in Kylo Ren’s history with Luke, Snoke, Palpatine, and the Knights of Ren. Crucially, it depicts parts of his gradual descent into the dark side, aided by Snoke in his mind and the former leader of the Knights of Ren as well. After several perilous encounters with Luke, his fellow Jedi students, and the Knights, Kylo begins to build his signature volatile red-bladed crossguard lightsaber by bleeding a kyber crystal and forcing it to turn from blue to red.
Bleeding a kyber crystal is the process by which dark side Force-wielders corrupt a pure kyber crystal, infusing it with pain, anger, hatred, and dark side power. These crystals are typically stolen from a Jedi whom the bleeder has bested and killed in combat, or, in Kylo Ren’s case, Ben Solo’s old crystal. In Star Wars canon, however, bleeding a kyber crystal is no easy task; some crystals refuse to be bled because they are naturally associated with light, and some crystals crack under pressure, which is, incidentally, what made Kylo’s lightsaber so unstable.
What’s important here is that Kylo was able to complete this process without any formal instruction or training. Not only does this demonstrate that he was, to some extent, naturally attuned to the dark side, but it also suggests that he likely spent time researching the dark side of the Force long before that fateful night at the Jedi Temple. Snoke and Palpatine may have incited his demise, but there was clearly more to Ben Solo than first thought.
Kylo Ren instinctively unlocked a powerful Dark
Side ability
The Rise of Kylo Ren is an invaluable resource for learning more about this unpredictable character. Bleeding his kyber crystal without prior knowledge wasn’t the only dark side trick he pulled off all by himself. In the same comic, Kylo effortlessly uses the difficult dark side Mind Probe, which is invasive and violent. He admits that Snoke told him about it once, but he had never learned how to use it. The Mind Probe is a dangerous yet powerful weapon, and in that scene, Kylo demonstrates how intuitively he understood the dark side. He would later use it against Rey, too.
Kylo Ren was nearly as familiar with Sith lore as Palpatine
There’s also a moment in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that demonstrates Kylo Ren’s true power. One scene in the film clearly shows that Kylo Ren was aware of his and Rey’s Force Dyad bond before Palpatine was. Palpatine, who knew more about the dark side than anyone else, had been unable to discover the truth. Perhaps more astonishing is Kylo’s ability to conceal this knowledge from Palpatine before the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
After all, Palpatine had been invading Kylo’s mind since he was born. They were inextricably linked, but Palpatine had not been able to see into Kylo’s mind and use the Force Dyad against him. To resist Palpatine to this extent would have required a great deal of power and effort, which Kylo Ren clearly possessed. Though Ben Solo’s descent into the dark side was tragic, and his trademark Star Wars redemption arc was arguably rushed, it’s difficult to deny that Kylo Ren was indeed a formidable dark side adept after all.