Kylo Ren's helmet

"Take that ridiculous thing off."

- Snoke, ordering Kylo Ren to remove his helmet

Kylo Ren's helmet was a combat helmet worn by the First Order warlord Kylo Ren after turning to the dark side of the Force. It was patterned on the battle gear of the Knights of Ren. Concealing the face of his former persona, the fallen Jedi Ben Solo, the helmet was designed to increase Ren's imposing demeanor. During the Battle of Starkiller Base, Ren was confronted by his father, Han Solo, who implored Ren to remove the helmet so that he could see the face of his son. Although the dark warrior granted Solo's request, he ultimately chose to kill his father in an effort to suppress the pull of the light side of the Force. This act of patricide failed to impress his master, Supreme Leader Snoke, who believed that it only increased the conflict within his apprentice, contributing to Ren's defeat at the hand of Rey&mdash;a Jakku scavenger with no prior experience in lightsaber combat.

Ren returned to Snoke following the destruction of Starkiller Base; displeased with his apprentice, the Supreme Leader insulted Ren's helmet and ordered him to remove it. Observing the dark warrior's wounded face, Snoke derided him as sentimental and unworthy of the legacy of Darth Vader&mdash;a fallen Sith Lord and the grandfather of Kylo Ren. Castigated by his master, Ren destroyed his helmet in a fit of rage and plotted to regain the status he lost as a result of his duel with Rey.

Description
"Take off that mask. You don't need it."

- Han Solo, to Kylo Ren

Kylo Ren's helmet was a battered, face-concealing black combat helmet with a silver inlay that radiated from the eyes as a symbol of power. Modeled on the battle gear worn by the Knights of Ren, the helmet served to hide Ren's former identity as Ben Solo&mdash;the nephew and fallen apprentice of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. In addition, its aesthetic design and integrated voice-projecting vocabulator enhanced Ren's imposing appearance.

Like the mask worn by his grandfather, Darth Vader, Ren's helmet had a built-in vocoder that modulated his voice, resulting in a deep, intimidating voice. The face mask was connected to the helmet via articulated arms driven by servomotors; a hinged mechanism sealed the mask to the helmet. Although he wore the helmet to make himself appear more intimidating, on rare occasions he would remove it via the servomotors to stare down his opponents with unrestrained malice in his eyes. Despite the helmet's design, neither his father or master &mdash;Han Solo and Snoke, respectively&mdash;were impressed by it. Solo deemed the helmet unnecessary whereas Snoke thought it was ridiculous.

History
"You're just a child in a mask."

- Snoke, to Kylo Ren

During the rise of the First Order, Supreme Leader Snoke began training the fallen Jedi Ben Solo in the ways of the dark side of the Force. Adopting the persona of Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren and champion of the First Order, Snoke's new apprentice took to regularly wearing a battle helmet that concealed his former identity as he sought to follow in the example of his grandfather, Darth Vader, who also wore a mask during his time as a Dark Lord of the Sith. In the year 34 ABY, Ren captured a Jakku scavenger named Rey during the hunt for his uncle and former master, Luke Skywalker, and brought her to Starkiller Base for interrogation. Assuming her captor was some form of a creature due to the way Ren concealed his face with a mask, she was surprised to discover that he was in fact a young human male. Ren donned his helmet once more after Rey escaped from her cell, but removed it again at the request of his father. Han Solo confronted his son in the hope of turning him back to the light side of the Force, causing Ren to drop the helmet and offer his lightsaber to Solo. Yet despite Solo's efforts to redeem his son, the First Order warlord killed his father by stabbing him through the chest with the lightsaber.

The act of patricide did not strengthen Ren's connection to the dark side, however. It weakened him and contributed to his defeat in a duel with Rey in spite of her lack of experience in lightsaber combat, as observed by Snoke. Disappointed by his apprentice's failings, the Supreme Leader ordered Ren to remove his helmet, revealing the facial scar inflicted upon him by Rey. Whereas Snoke was once impressed by Ren's raw strength in the Force and the potential of his bloodline, he now regarded Ren as a child who hid behind a mask and had too much of his father's heart. Consumed by rage, Ren smashed his helmet into the wall of a turbolift. Through his anger, the Force gave him the strength to hammer the helmet against the wall until it was destroyed, to such an extent that it was reduced to shards. Afterward he endeavored to regain his status by proving his worth to Snoke.

Behind the scenes

 * Kylo Ren's helmet was first introduced in the 2015 sequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams. It was later destroyed in Rian Johnson's 2017 film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi. Johnson regarded the decision to lose Kylo's mask for The Last Jedi as being somewhat "terrifying," as the helmet was the symbol of the movie on the packaging for merchandise of The Force Awakens and had also proven a popular choice as a Halloween costume with children by the time The Last Jedi began filming. Despite this, and his own love of the helmet, he considered it an important aspect of the film to get inside Ren's character a little more and for viewers to be able to look into his eyes.


 * Though The Last Jedi film and most of its literary adaptations showed Ren destroying his helmet by smashing it against the wall of the elevator aboard the Supremacy, the film's storybook adaptation described Ren destroying his helmet by crushing it beneath his feet.


 * In an interview with SlashFilm.com, Star Wars Costume Designer Michael Kaplan revealed that he was very surprised with the decision to destroy Kylo Ren’s Helmet in The Last Jedi. He stated it took him and J.J. Abrams a while to come up with the right mask for Kylo Ren in the first film. He went onto say, to have it be the first thing to be taken away and destroyed was very disappointing.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Battlefront II
 * Star Wars: Force Arena
 * Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
 * Poe Dameron 26: The Awakening, Part I
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens novelization
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Junior Novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens Graphic Novel Adaptation
 * The Force Awakens, Part I
 * The Force Awakens, Part II
 * The Force Awakens, Part III
 * The Force Awakens, Part IV
 * The Force Awakens, Part V
 * The Force Awakens, Part VI
 * Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi
 * Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Expanded Edition
 * Star Wars: The Last Jedi: A Junior Novel
 * The Last Jedi Adaptation 1

Non-canon appearances

 * Disney Infinity 3.0
 * Jedi Training - Trials of the Temple
 * Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
 * Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens