Kylo Ren, the greatest Star Wars bad guy?

Every film has its villain and Star Wars The Force Awakens is not short of them. Supreme Leader Snoke, General Hux, Captain Phasma and of course Kylo Ren. The First Order is not short of figure heads. 

Throughout the build up to TFA Kylo Ren has taken centre stage. Snoke stayed in the shadows and we only saw fleeting glimpses of Hux and Phasma. Understandably, Kylo Ren's appearance and the mystery of who he is have made him the poster boy of the First Order. 

And this bias doest alter at all in the film itself. Yes, we do get to see Snoke and he has a big role. Hux also makes several appearances and the hostility between  Hux and Ren is palpable. Phasma's lack of screen time was disappointing and her involvement didn't really do her justice. So it was left to Kylo Ren to steal the show and leads to the question. Is Kylo Ren the greatest Star Wars bad guy?

Kylo Ren may not be the all powerful being that Sidious was or the Chosen One like Vader. But few can match him for sheer cold, ruthless madness. 

In 1977 Vader was the ultimate bad guy but in the modern day he's not going to give anyone nightmares. He's the big bully in the school playground that pushes the other kids round because he's so much bigger than them. Kylo Ren is the villain for a new generation, sinister, evil and believes whole heartedly he is doing the right thing. 

Adam Driver's Kylo Ren is brutal. A villain up there with Heath Ledger's Joker. By all accounts Driver stayed in character all the time he was on set. That must have been one intense, movie set. With his mask on he is a smoldering, yet when that mask comes off Driver gives just as little away.

Watching Kylo Ren go loco and smash up the inside of the his Star Destroyer because his troops didn't bring the map back gives a glimpse of the madness and the sheer anger that lurks beneath. This is one unstable bad guy.


But it's a big claim to call Ren the greatest villain in Star Wars so lets consider some of the competition. 


Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious

There is no doubt Sidious is all powerful and has scant regard for people's lives. However he may have been a Sith lord but he rarely got his hands dirty. 


Darth Vader 

Vader is the chosen one and therefor is one of the most powerful force sensitive being the galaxy has ever seen. And while he is evil you know what you're getting with him. There's little unpredictability in Vader.  Barring a few force chokes we see very few of his really terrifying acts. 


Count Dooku

Count Dooku has to count as one of the biggest non-events. Both in terms of Lucas's storyline and Palpatine's vision Dooku was merely filler until Anakin Skywalker completed his turn to the darkside.


General Grievous

The general was certainly power hungry but even considering his appearances in The Clone Wars he's a one dimensional character. The cyborg comes across as nothing more than an over sized battle droid. 


Darth Maul

So much potential but it was never realised. Only really a terror to a couple of Jedi. He came, he killed master Qui Gon Jinn then got chopped in half by Kenobi. It may have been a mistake to kill him off but it was an even bigger mistake to bring him back with robo-legs. 

A new type of evil

Star Wars has always been for all ages and perhaps with the exception of the end of Revenge of the Sith (the whole Order 66 thing) has always played a little safe. We know Vader murdered thousands but we never saw it. We knew the emperor was evil but he was also a straight forward 'I'm going to blow up worlds' kind of bad guy.

Kylo Ren is different, we see him give the order to murder innocent villagers on Jakku, carrying out phsychological torture and showing he is not in possession of all his marbles. But while JJ Abrams has to be commended for creating the villain we all wanted and Star Wars needed there are a few minor gripes. 


Spoiler coming up - stop reading now if you've not seen The Force Awakens!! You have been warned 


It's a mind game

We see Ren use mind control to torture people yet Rey manages to enter Ren's mind while he is trying to read hers. Surely something as practised and powerful in the force would be able to block out someone with no force training.


Rey1 - Ren 0

We see Kylo Ren literally stop a blaster bolt in mid air but then gets bested by Rey (who has never held a lightsaber) in a duel. I know this was all done to emphasise how powerful Rey is with the force, even if she doesn't realise it yet. However as the first in the new series of films I would have preferred for the heroes to escape Ren by the skin of their teeth. It gives them something to aim for. We now already know Rey can beat Ren. What happens when Rey gets more powerful. 

Is it a contradiction to suggest Kylo Ren is the greatest Star Wars bad guy then say he's too weak? No necessarily, the weaknesses come from the storyline and the need for Rey to be the next great hope. As a combination of the character, the acting and the role he plays in the storyline there aren't many bad guys that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Kylo Ren.

Spoiler - coming up. Hold on tight and stop reading if you don't want to know.

Darth Maul was one of the few good things to come out of the prequels and it is one of the biggest travesties that he gets killed off so early. Maul was a brooding, killing machine and his death at the hands of Obi Wan was such a waste of a potentially great character.

One of my big concerns was Kylo Ren would suffer the same fate. JJ would create a villain the fans loved, only to see him killed off cheaply in the final scenes. At least Kylo will return to strike fear in to the people of the galaxy's hearts again.


So is Kylo Ren the best Star Wars bad guy? In terms comparison there are others with similar or more power. Yet few are as much of a mix of bubbling, unstable hatred. He's also got so much more to come. We now know he has few morals and isn't afraid of tough decisions. Kylo Ren was one of the stand out characters and it will be awesome to see where Episode VIII takes him. 

As the Joker so famously said, "whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you....stranger."