Kylo Ren's helmet

"Alas, you're no Vader. You're just a child in a mask."

- Snoke, to Kylo Ren

Kylo Ren's helmet was a combat helmet worn by Kylo Ren, the master of the Knights of Ren who turned to the dark side of the Force after renouncing his place in the Jedi Order. Patterned on the battle gear of the Knights of Ren, the helmet's theatrics granted Ren a more imposing appearance and concealed his former identity as Ben Solo, son of Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa. He removed his helmet upon encountering his father, who entreated Ren to turn away from the dark side, during the Battle of Starkiller Base. Ren, who struggled to resist the pull to the light side of the Force, killed his father in hopes of completing his journey to the dark side. However, this act of patricide failed to impress his master, Supreme Leader Snoke of the First Order, who saw Ren's actions as a sign of petulance rather than strength.

Displeased with his apprentice's failings, Snoke insulted Ren's helmet and ordered him to remove it. He berated Ren for becoming emotionally unbalanced, to the point where he was defeated by Rey, a Jakku scavenger with no prior experience in lightsaber combat. Having lost the approval of his master, who now regarded Ren as weak, sentimental and unworthy of his grandfather Darth Vader's legacy, 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. However, the helmet was ultimately repaired sometime after Ren's ascension as Supreme Leader and the Battle of Crait.

Description
"Vader wore his mask because he couldn't breathe without it. But you&hellip;you just dress-up to hide the faces of your rebel scum parents&mdash;"

- Armitage Hux, 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 Ren's father nor his master &mdash;Han Solo and Snoke, respectively&mdash;were impressed by it. Solo deemed the helmet unnecessary whereas Snoke thought it was ridiculous. General Armitage Hux, a First Order officer and rival of Ren, opined that the helmet was superfluous compared to the one worn by Vader, who could not breathe without it. Hux further posited that Ren used the helmet to hide his resemblance to Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa, his parents who were famous for their part in the Alliance to Restore the Republic and its triumph over the Galactic Empire.

History
"Take that ridiculous thing off."

- Snoke, ordering Kylo Ren to remove his helmet

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. Rey called her captor was "a creature in a mask." In response, Ren removed his helmet, revealing the face of Ben Solo behind the mask's theatrics. The scavenger was surprised to discover that Ren 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 torso 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.

The helmet was reforged at some point after the Battle of Crait and Ren's ascension to the throne as the new Supreme Leader.

Behind the scenes
Kylo Ren's helmet was introduced in the 2015 sequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams. The inspiration behind it was based on Kylo's insecuirites, and he wore it as an intimidating factor. It was later destroyed in Rian Johnson's 2017 film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi. Johnson regarded the decision to lose Ren's mask for The Last Jedi as somewhat "terrifying," as the helmet was the symbol of the movie on the packaging for merchandise of The Force Awakens and had also proven popular 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 turbolift 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 on to say that to have it be the first thing to be taken away and destroyed was very disappointing.

Non-canon appearances

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