Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now less than four months away (!!!!!) and every passing day is more exciting and full of information. On today’s agenda? Learning more about our villains.
Here’s what we know about them so far: taking place thirty years after Return of the Jedi, our antagonists belong to a group known as The First Order and the Big Bad of the film is Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver).
Now, in this week’s issue of Empire, director JJ Abrams sheds more light on these characters.
We already know Kylo Ren isn’t his real name, now we also know something else important about him thanks to Abrams: “Kylo Ren is not a Sith. He works under Supreme Leader Snoke, who is a powerful figure on the Dark Side of the Force.”
Snoke, played by Andy Serkis and who we heard in the first trailer, sounds an awful lot like the Palpatine to Ren’s Vader.
Abrams also reveals the inspiration behind The First Order:
“That all came out of conversations about what would have happened if the Nazis all went to Argentina but then started working together again? What could be born of that? Could The First Order exist as a group that actually admired The Empire? Could the work of The Empire be seen as unfulfilled? And could Vader be a martyr? Could there be a need to see through what didn’t get done?”
History buffs will know that Nazi leaders fled to Argentina after World War II and as recently as this year, remnants of a Nazi camp were found there.
It’s an apt parallel to draw, especially given the World War II parallels the original trilogy made.
However, regardless of fun history trivia, this also sheds light on what The First Order is all about. Are they a wish fulfillment group, trying to continue the work of the Empire? And Kylo Ren is not a Sith, but perhaps he’s the one who sees Vader as a martyr and that’s why he’s mimicking him, even going as far as to make his own lightsaber. They sound like a radical group – and a formidable enemy.
It could turn out to be a lot more personal than all this, though. A lot of fans have noticed the parallels between Kylo Ren and Jacen Solo, Han and Leia’s son from the novels who becomes a Sith Lord. We know the novels are no longer canon, but that doesn’t mean Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan, the screenwriter, couldn’t have drawn inspiration from the novels.
In the books, Jacen has a twin sister, Jaina, who many fans think could turn out to be Rey in the film. Either way, the more I hear about this film, the more excited I get so props to Abrams and team for that!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams and starring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Daisy Ridley, Domhnall Gleeson, Adam Driver, and Gwendoline Christie, is set to come out on December 18, 2015.
What do you think about The First Order and Kylo Ren? Would you want Ren to be a version of Jacen Solo? Let us know in the comments!
