Kylo Ren was a Force-sensitive human male and the son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, Ben was sent to study alongside other Jedi students at a young age, being instructed and led by his uncle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. While Ben showed great potential as a Force-user, he began to develop an unhealthy obsession with his grandfather Anakin Skywalker, being inspired by his exploits as the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Feeling that he must uphold the legacy of Vader, Ben betrayed and destroyed his former Jedi peers, preventing Skywalker from fully restoring the Jedi Order.

Having fallen under the influence of the mysterious Force-user Snoke, Ben became his apprentice, joining Snoke's First Order and the Knights of Ren, taking on the name Kylo Ren to abandon his former identity. He built his own lightsaber, a dangerous and ragged design, using an unstable kyber crystal, making the blade distorted and crackle unlike that of a typical lightsaber, and started wearing a metal helmet based on designs used by the Knights of Ren. Ren was at the forefront of the First Order's attempts to destroy the Resistance (an organization that opposed the First Order) and the Jedi, with his primary concern being the location and extermination of his former master Luke Skywalker, apparently the only Jedi known to have escaped Ren's uprising.

Years later, Ren sought the remaining fragment he needed to build a map that would lead to Skywalker's location, so the last Jedi could be destroyed. Ren hunted the astromech droid, BB-8, who carried the map and tracked the droid to Takodana after learning that the droid was in the possession of Han Solo. There, Ren also discovered Rey, a Force-sensitive who had seen the map and was helping BB-8 bring the map to the Resistance. Ren brought Rey to Starkiller Base, a First Order stronghold and superweapon, and attempted to probe her mind for the map information, but she resisted and escaped. The Resistance soon attacked the Starkiller weapon to destroy it.

While searching for Rey at Starkiller Base, Ren was confronted by his father, Han Solo, who was attempting to destroy the thermal oscillator using explosives with Chewbacca, Finn and Rey. Solo pleaded with Ren to turn his back on the dark side and redeem himself for the choices he had made, offering anything he wanted if he would come back with him. Ren held out his lightsaber, seemingly offering it, but then, in an attempt to overcome the light side of the Force completely, he ignited the lightsaber, plunging it into his father's heart. As the dying Solo looked down in shock, Ren thanked him for giving him what he had wanted. An enraged Chewbacca severely wounded Ren by shooting him in the side with his bowcaster, allowing Finn and Rey time to escape. 

Ren tracked Rey and the fugitive stormtrooper Finn to a forest as the Starkiller was under siege. A short but brutal contest would ensue. Though fighting bravely, Finn would, in the end, prove no match for the dark side powers of Kylo Ren. Ultimately, the dark warrior would overwhelm and disarm his adversary, ending the contest with a vicious lightsaber strike across the back and spine of the former stormtrooper (the result of which would send Finn into a comatose state).

With Finn incapacitated, Ren returned his attention to his grandfather's lightsaber, calling upon the Force to draw the weapon to his waiting hand. To Kylo's surprise, a revived Rey intercepted the lightsaber and began to herself engage Ren in a second lightsaber duel. For a time, Kylo would remain on the offensive, pressing the attack against a retreating Rey, the duo felling tress along the way. After eventually locking sabers with Rey, Kylo extended an offer, not to fight, but to train her in the ways of the Force. Upon hearing the name of the Force spoken aloud, Rey became entranced and seemingly empowered. Though ostensibly being the only one of the pair formally trained in lightsaber combat, Ren was put on the defensive and eventually disarmed by Rey, receiving a significant facial wound in the process.

Before Rey was able to attempt a finishing strike, Starkiller Base's surface began to break apart. As the planet began to crumble around them, Rey and Finn were rescued by Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon. As the Starkiller began to implode from the Resistance attack, Supreme Leader Snoke ordered General Hux, the base's commander, to bring Ren before him so his training could be completed. Wounded but alive, Kylo Ren escaped the destruction of the base with the support of General Hux and his First Order forces.

Like his grandfather, uncle, and mother, Kylo Ren possessed a powerful connection to the Force. He was skilled in the use of telekinesis, able to use it to immobilize beings, stop and hold blaster bolts in mid-air for an extended period of time, and send individuals soaring with a Force push. Kylo was able to both telepathically torture individuals (as witnessed in Ren's interrogation of Resistance pilot Poe Dameron), and use the power of a mind probe to telepathically extract information from his victims. Ren was also able to discern disturbances in the Force, sensing an awakening in the Force and intuiting the presence of Han Solo at Starkiller Base. Kylo Ren demonstrated a high degree of proficiency in the use of a lightsaber, utilizing the weapon both to successfully defend against incoming enemy fire and to engage armed opponents in one-to-one lightsaber combat.

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