Knights of Ren

"Well, I'm Ren. These are the Knights of Ren. And we're legendary."

- Ren

The Knights of Ren were a gang of dark side warriors who, during the New Republic Era, served under the command of Kylo Ren&mdash;the master of the Knights of Ren and Supreme Leader of the First Order. The Knights revered the power of the dark side of the Force, or the "shadow" as they called it. As acolytes of the shadow, they immersed themselves in its power, fought its battles, preserved its tools, and consumed everything it gave them. This principle was epitomized by the lightsaber, an ancient weapon of the Jedi and Sith that the Knights referred to as the "Ren." Though the Knights were also Force-sensitive like their master, who inherited his raw power from the bloodline of the Sith Lord Darth Vader, their connection to the Force was stunted and unrefined due to a lack of Force-training.

The Knights were garbed in black robes and armor; they purposely shielded their faces with masks and battle helms to inspire fear in their victims. Some of the Knights used vibro weapons like Ushar's club, Ap'lek's Mandalorian executioner vibro-ax, Vicrul's scythe and Trudgen's vibrocleaver, while Cardo and Kuruk favored ranged weapons such as an arm cannon and a blaster rifle. Unlike the Knights, Ren possessed his own lightsaber, as did his predecessor.

The Knights hailed from the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, where local folklore warned for centuries of marauders known as the Knights of Ren. The modern Knights were Supreme Leader Snoke's gift to his apprentice Ren, who was promised powerful followers if he proved worthy to lead them. As such, Ren became the archetype of a new generation of dark side users that emerged to fill the void left by the destruction of the Sith. During the First Order's war against the Resistance, the Knights served as Supreme Leader Ren's personal bodyguards but were also tasked with hunting Rey, the last Jedi who shared a connection with their master. After Ren renounced the dark side, the Knights regrouped on the planet Exegol where they were slain in battle by their former leader, the redeemed Jedi Ben Solo.

Overview
"You're clumsy. Untrained. You use the dark side like a hammer."

- Luke Skywalker, to the Knights of Ren

The Knights of Ren were Kylo Ren's most mysterious and deadly servants. They were an enclave of masked warriors wielding distinctive weapons for ranged and closequarter combat, making them the elite and fearsome enforcers of Ren's will. The Knights hailed from the galaxy's Unknown Regions where their name and reputation inspired centuries of cautionary tales about the dangers lurking in uncharted space. Though local folklore warned of marauders known as the Knights of Ren, the exact origins of their modern incarnation remained mysterious, for they were either directly connected to that ancient tradition or wrapping themselves in the legacy of legends. The New Republic-era Knights of Ren were nonetheless a force to be reckoned with, as their martial prowess was without equal.

The Knights of Ren were neither Jedi nor Sith, but a new generation of warriors imbued with the power of the Force, though not to the extent of the aforementioned Jedi or Sith. As such, the Knights permitted only Force-sensitive beings to join their ranks. Even if a non-Force user was more inclined to their way of thinking than a potential recruit, the Knights would sooner kill them than accept one who could not feel the Force. Yet despite their own sensitivity to this spiritual energy, the Knights' connection to the Force was muted by a lack of formal training. Nevertheless, the dark side of the Force was with them. When other Force users sensed the Knights' presence, they would feel the cold touch of the dark side emanating through the Force. In past generations, the Knights would have been considered perfect stock for the Galactic Empire's Jedi hunters, the Inquisitorius, if they could be tamed.

The Knights traveled aboard a customized starship known as the Night Buzzard. A modified Oubliette-class transport manufactured by Osseriton Assemblages, the Night Buzzard was originally a dungeon ship from Osseriton, a penal world in the Unknown Regions. The Knights appropriated the transport for their personal use and altered its appearance to fit with their dark style. Additionally, they made crude modifications to the vessel's engine systems, generating greater thrust but at a cost to its insulation baffles. This resulted in the Night Buzzard spewing a trail of thick, noxious smoke.

The dark side surged through the Knights during combat. However, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker found their battle skills and Force abilities wanting. According to Skywalker, who fought six of the seven Knights with the Force as his ally, the group was clumsy and untrained. He compared their use of the dark side to the way one used a hammer, whereas Skywalker, the last fully-trained Jedi Knight, wielded the light side as a blade.

Despite Ren's ties to the First Order, the other Knights were not aligned with the Empire's successor, as Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke were the only Force-sensitive members of that regime. However, after Snoke's death at Ren's hands, the Knights' presence became more common within the First Order's ranks. Where they once traveled the galaxy as marauders and mercenaries, the Knights became enforcers of Ren's reign as the new Supreme Leader. However, only Ren had the authority to command them, as the Knights would answer to no one else. This singular devotion to one individual created friction between the Knights and the members of the Supreme Council.

Membership
"The Knights of Ren could be your first step on that path. They always seek powerful people to join their ranks. But be warned&hellip;the price of admission is steep."

- Snoke, to Ben Solo

Aside from the leaders of the group, the Knights of Ren consisted of six members: Vicrul, Cardo, Ushar, Trudgen, Kuruk, and Ap'lek. The six Knights were commanded, in turn, by a vicious leader known only as "Ren," and the inheritor of his Knights, Kylo Ren.

Vicrul was the self-styled harvester, the reaper of the fallen, and the targeter of souls. Every victim felled by his weapons augmented Vicrul's power in the dark side, which was muted by his lack of Force-training. Yet with each strike his hate grew, allowing the dark side to surge through him. His latent Force talents, though unbidden and uncontrolled, manifested themselves in heightened reflexes and the power to magnify the fear in his prey.

Cardo created wide swathes of destruction, whereas his fellow Knights preferred to strike with exacting precision. He had an obsession with weapon modification, making him the Knights' best armorer.

Trudgen was a collector of trophies from fallen conquests. He incorporated said trophies into his existing armor, weapons and equipment, part of which included a fragment of death trooper armor.

Ushar had a reputation for forcing his prisoners to grovel for mercy. He would take his time with the victims who whimpered for help, believing they deserved a slow punishment. While those who fought back earned his respect, Ushar would kill them all the same, but faster as they had earned a swift death in his view.

Kuruk was the most solitary of the Knights. In addition to his role as the group's rifleman, he served as the pilot of the Night Buzzard. Noted for his precision marksmanship, he could be found perched on a high vantage point, covering an assault conducted by his fellow Knights. While Kuruk's helmet was designed to focus his attention on his target, his aim was further sharpened by concentrating on the Force.

Ap'lek reveled in deception and strategy, employing feints and misdirection to trap an opponent. In this he differed from the other Knights, who preferred a straightforward and violent approach to eliminating their targets. His nascent Force abilities allowed Ap'lek to peer through the smoke screens that he would create to obscure an enemy's vision and disrupt sensors. As a warrior, his preferred lethal weapon was an ancient Mandalorian executioner's vibro-ax.

Prior to the rise of Kylo Ren, the Knights followed the aforementioned leader who was also known by the name of Ren, although he insisted that the group did not follow him but rather their way of life. Nevertheless, Ren was the spokesperson of the group, as he would introduce them by name to enemies and potential allies alike. A devotee of the dark side, he followed the Knights' guiding principle, the Ren, and believed in it on a personal level.

After renouncing the Jedi path, Kylo Ren became the archetype of this new generation of dark side warriors that emerged to fill the void left by the Sith's demise. Adopting the title master of the Knights of Ren, his ability to use the Force granted him many impressive combat skills. Despite his Jedi training and knowledge of arcane dark side lore, Ren was neither Jedi nor Sith, but a combination of both sides' teachings. This created an imbalance within him, however. Though gifted with the raw power of his grandfather, the Sith Lord Darth Vader, Ren struggled to overcome the light side within himself. Following his ascension as Supreme Leader of the First Order, Ren called on his Knights to serve as his personal bodyguards in the same way that the Elite Praetorian Guard protected his predecessor, Supreme Leader Snoke.

Philosophy
"The Ren doesn't stop to worry about what it's burning or the right or wrong of it, or the goals it might achieve. The Ren just is. It lives, and it consumes, and it doesn't apologize. It is its nature and nothing else."

- Ren, on the code of the Knights of Ren

The Knights of Ren lived by a code, to which they were flexible in following: living life the way they wanted, taking what the galaxy gave them, and consuming what the dark side sent them. The Ren, a lightsaber possessed by Kylo Ren's predecessor, also known as Ren, epitomized the Knights' code. The nature of the Ren, according to Ren, was that it just existed. It had no conscience, neither acknowledging or expressing conscepts such as morality, regret or concern for what it might destroy. Ren believed in this principle on a deep, personal level to the point where he did not consider himself the Knights' leader. All of the Knights, including Ren himself, followed the lightsaber and what it represented in their view.

From myth to reality
"Knights&hellip; You are released."

- Ren

After centuries of myth and folklore told by the scattered settlements of the Unknown Regions and adjacent border territories, the legendary Knights of Ren emerged as a gang of dark warriors during the reign of the New Republic. Among their exploits in the Unknown Regions, the Knights were once hired to raid the penal world of Osseriton. After freeing the prisoners, they liberated one of the prison ships, the Night Buzzard, and modified it to serve as their personal transport.

At some point, the Knights of Ren sought out Karrst and his brother Filin with the aim of recruiting the former to their cause due to his connection to the "shadow" and his reputation as a mass murderer. The Knights massacred Sector Security them, and Ren tried to recruit Karrst. However, when Ren mentioned that a good death was needed to be committed for him to join, Filin shot Karrst dead with a blaster, hoping to take the spot intended for his brother. However, because he was not able to "touch the shadow," Ren killed him. The Knights then moved on to find something to burn.

The rise of Kylo Ren
"When you do find them, my friend, you must not fail. You will join the Knights&hellip;or you will die."

- Snoke, to Ben Solo

When Ben Solo arrived to Snoke following the destruction of Luke Skywalker's Jedi temple, he expressed his interest in the Knights of Ren. The Knights of Ren would eventually fall under the command of Kylo Ren, the dark side apprentice of the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke, who gifted the Knights of Ren to Kylo Ren after Ren passed a test given by him. Ren then became the master of the Knights of Ren.

Although the Sith lineage of Darth Bane ended with the death of Kylo Ren's grandfather, Darth Vader, the dark side of the Force endured and was strong with Kylo as well as his master, Supreme Leader Snoke. Kylo, who was originally trained as a Jedi by his uncle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, was seduced by the dark side like his grandfather before him. Discarding his former life as Ben Solo, Kylo adopted the roles of master of the Knights of Ren and warlord of the First Order, while Skywalker hid in exile out of shame and regret for his part in Kylo's fall to darkness.

Having forsaken his family and Jedi heritage, Kylo oversaw the First Order's mission to hunt and destroy the last remnants of the Jedi, including his uncle and former Master Luke Skywalker. However, he still felt the pull to the light, and would turn to one of his artifacts&mdash;the charred helmet of his grandfather&mdash;in hopes of strengthening his connection to the dark side and his commitment to the First Order's cause. As Kylo's quest drew him closer to an eventual reunion with his estranged father, Han Solo, Snoke warned his oft-conflicted acolyte that he would soon face his most difficult task. Confident in his training under the Supreme Leader, the master of the Knights of Ren believed he would not be seduced by the light, and was determined to succeed where Vader and his sentimentality failed.

During the waning hours of the cold war, Rey&mdash;a scavenger native to the forlorn frontier world of Jakku&mdash;traveled to Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana, where the Force ultimately led her to find the Jedi lightsaber that once belonged to Luke Skywalker and his father, Anakin Skywalker, in turn. Though unaware of her dormant connection to the Force, Rey was able to experience several Force visions by touching the lightsaber. Among the things she saw were the Knights of Ren. After the galaxy was cast into a state of war as a result of the New Republic's destruction in 34 ABY, Kylo assassinated Snoke and claimed his throne as the new Supreme Leader of the First Order.

The new Supreme Leader
"Knights of Ren.''" "''Cool."

- Two First Order stormtroopers, upon seeing the Knights of Ren

As a result of Kylo becoming the Supreme Leader, the Knights of Ren replaced the Elite Praetorian Guards as his new personal guard and began following him more closely. However, only Kylo had control over the them, much to the displeasure of the Supreme Council. The presence of the Knights in most places that Kylo went also caused intimidation or general discontent for some First Order personnel, yet there were instances where members of its Stormtrooper Corps reacted with admiration upon glimpsing Knights striding by.

The hunt for Rey
"Prepare to crush any worlds that defy us. My Knights and I are going hunting for the scavenger."

- Kylo Ren

In 35 ABY, the entire galaxy witnessed the return of Sheev Palpatine, the former Emperor of the Galactic Empire and Dark Lord of the Sith, who had perished during the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, but had managed to come back to life. Using a Sith wayfinder retrieved from the ruins of Fortress Vader on Mustafar, Kylo tracked the resurrected Emperor to the Sith world of Exegol in the Unknown Regions with the intent of killing him, as he considered him to be a threat to his reign. However, Palpatine revealed to him that he had created Snoke as a puppet, and then explained his plan to reclaim the galaxy through the Final Order — an armada of Xyston-class Star Destroyers outfitted with axial superlaser cannons which he had been building for decades — and offered an alliance: he would let Kylo take command of the fleet, thus giving him the means necessary to establish a new Empire and rule the galaxy, in exchange for finding and killing his granddaughter Rey.

Kylo accepted the offer, although he secretly planned to convince Rey to join him so that together they could kill Palpatine and rule the galaxy together. Afterwards, Kylo had his helmet rebuilt, with the Knights attending the process. He later returned to his Star Destroyer, accompanied by the Knights, to hold a meeting with the Supreme Council, informing them of this new powerful fleet, although some members were doubtful about trusting this mysterious cult.

Despite this, Kylo truly believed that Palpatine's fleet could finally help him claim the galaxy for himself and began his hunt for Rey, eventually tracking her down to the desert planet Pasaana through their connection. Accompanied by the Knights of Ren, Kylo traveled to Pasaana and confronted Rey after she had him crash-land his TIE whisper, while her friends — Finn, Poe Dameron, the Wookiee Chewbacca, and droids BB-8 and C-3PO — prepared an old, rusty ship, formerly owned by assassin Ochi, for take off. However, after Rey was distracted by Kylo emerging from his destroyed ship, Chewbacca went to inform them that they were ready to leave, unaware that the Knights were also present and watched the entire ordeal. Subsequently, the Knights captured Chewbacca and took him prisoner aboard one of the two transporters, taking him to Kylo's Star Destroyer. The other transport was destroyed by Rey using Force lightning during her confrontation with Kylo, leading her and the others to believe that Chewbacca had perished, although they later discovered the truth and rescued him from aboard the Star Destroyer above Kijimi. During this, Kylo informed Rey of being Palpatine's granddaughter and her parents abandoning her on Jakku to protect her for him, before being killed by Ochi.

Destruction
Kylo later went to Kef Bir after Rey traveled to the moon seeking a Sith wayfinder located amongst the ruins of the Death Star II. Kylo was defeated and fatally injured by Rey after sensing the death of his mother, Leia Organa, who used her last remaining energy to reach out to her son in an attempt to redeem him. Rey, having sensed Organa's death as well, used Force heal to treat Kylo's injury, before leaving in his repaired TIE whisper. As a result of his mother's death, as well as speaking with a vision of his father, Han Solo, Kylo redeemed himself and left his Kylo Ren persona behind, becoming Ben Solo once again.

The remaining Knights later traveled to Exegol and, during the battle of Exegol between the remains of the Resistance and the Final Order, they attempted to stop their former leader, Solo, when he came to Rey's aid. Initially outnumbered and unarmed, Solo reached out to Rey through their connection and she gave him one of her two lightsabers to fight with. Solo proved his skill in combat against the Knights and soon managed to slaughter them all, ending the Knights of Ren.

Equipment
The Knights of Ren wore battered, rusty armor and concealed their faces beneath ominous masks–echoing the helmet of Kylo himself. Each Knight was armed with a unique and lethally effective weapon, suited to both close-quarter and long range combat.

Behind the scenes
"They’re characters that, when we came up with them in Force Awakens and had very brief sighting of them, it was something that we had a lot of ideas of sort of further adventures with them, backstory, you know, and all sorts of things that were not the focus of the central story, and never made it into the movie."

- J.J. Abrams

The Knights of Ren were created for the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens and appear in one of Rey's visions on Takodana. They were based on rejected designs for Kylo Ren. The Knights later appeared in the 2019 film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, where they were portrayed by Martin Wilde, Anton Simpson-Tidy, Lukaz Leong, Tom Rodgers, Joe Kennard and Ashley Beck.

During the Director commentary of The Force Awakens, director J.J. Abrams noted that the Knights had backstory, but it was not revealed at that time. While fleshing out the Knights of Ren for the Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren comic book series, Charles Soule took inspiration from motorcycle gangs, classic Westerns and Samurai tales to dramatize some of the lore behind the Knights.

According to Rian Johnson, writer and director of the 2017 film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, the reason why the group do not appear in the film is that the movie was already full and there was no room for them. Johnson mused that they could have been used in place of Snoke's Elite Praetorian Guards, but it would have been a waste because all the guards had to die and Kylo's connection to the Knights would have added unwanted complications to the scene.

In May 2019, Vanity Fair revealed that the Knights of Ren would finally appear in The Rise of Skywalker. The article also featured a photograph of the Knights during filming at Jordan, alongside director J.J. Abrams. Vanity Fair described the Knights as "masked warriors with specialized weaponry who add an element of chaos to the war between the Resistance and the First Order" and compared their brutish look to those of the characters from the Mad Max films.

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes