The 25 most influential Star Wars characters

19. Kylo Ren

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren is a worshipper of Darth Vader, his grandfather. Kylo aspires to become Vader, but he’ll never be able to live up to Vader’s frightening power. Kylo has little control over his emotions in his first appearance. He literally throws temper tantrums when things don’t go his way. He lacks the control that Vader had shown throughout the years.

Even in the climactic moments of The Last Jedi, Kylo can’t help but take Luke’s bait only to realize that Luke isn’t even there and that fighting no one, which allows the rebels to escape. Kylo is far from perfect, but I find his relationship with Rey intriguing. The two of them have a mysterious connection via the Force, and it definitely makes their dynamic a lot more complex.

By the time we get to The Rise of Skywalker, we see that through his mother and father, Kylo had the determination to go back to the light, becoming Ben Solo once more. During his brief amount of time back in the light, Ben teamed up with Rey and successfully brought down Emperor Palpatine after the assumed-dead Sith returned to the scene.

It would have been interesting to see what choices Ben would have made if he hadn’t died by sacrificing his lifeforce to give to Rey. But that act alone showed just how much he had grown in the years where he once struggled with his pull to the Light.