Fan Theories About What Kylo Ren's, Like, Whole Deal Is

Redditor CorsairVI makes a very well-reasoned argument for Kylo Run being the best pilot in the galaxy:

"His grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, was considered one of the greatest pilots around. He was the only human podracer due to being Force-sensitive, blew up a Trade Federation battleship at a young age and displayed his talent for flying through a war zone to save Chancellor Palpatine only to 'safely' crash-land a half-destroyed dreadnought onto Coruscant. As Kylo is a Vader fanatic, there’s a chance that, in order to be greater than Vader, he would continuously hone his flying skills.

His uncle, Luke Skywalker, also became somewhat of a prestigious pilot after he helped destroy the first Death Star. He avoided cannon fire, TIE Fighters and even his own father to, without guidance equipment but by way of the Force, launch the photon torpedoes at exactly the right time into the vent that caused the chain reaction to blow it up. Sure, he got shot down during the Battle of Hoth, but he displayed aptitude on a speeder bike during the Battle of Endor. Luke probably told him the story about the first Death Star which may or may not have given him the drive to try and do something just as prestigious as his mentor.

Then you have his father, the legendary smuggler and celebrated pilot Han Solo, Corellian captain of the Millennium Falcon. Corellians are known for being reckless and daring alongside being considered fantastic pilots, and there’s a saying that 'Corellians have rocket fuel for blood.' No doubt Han would have trained Kylo back when he was still Ben Solo to assist in flying the Falcon at a young age.

Kylo Ren is a half-Corellian, Force-sensitive human with great pilots in his lineage, was most likely taught by Han Solo to fly, possesses a drive to be better than his grandfather and his mentor AND there seems to be a hint of both respect and mocking when he interrogates Poe Dameron and says 'I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance on board' as though he’s really saying 'You’re a good pilot, but not as good as me.'"

Tumblr user mother-of-porgs makes an exceedingly compelling argument that the scene we saw in The Last Jedi trailer of Kylo Ren apparently holding out his hand to Rey is legit. Many have speculated that this is a bit of misdirection, but mother-of-porgs takes a deep dive into movie themes as well as technical elements of filmmaking, like lighting and color, to ultimately conclude that Kylo really is offering his hand to Rey in a show of good faith, and their relationship will become one of "compassion."

They don't go so far as to guess the nature of their relationship, whether it be romantic or otherwise, but they're confident that they will join forces and that Kylo will find some sort of redemption.

Redditor coool12121212 believes that Kylo was so obsessed with Vader that he searched through the wreckage on Endor to find his broken lightsaber:

"Okay, so we know that Kyber crystals are extremely durable, right? And that Kylo Ren's saber has a cracked Kyber.

So, what if when the DS2 exploded, with all that Kyber powering the laser, destroyed Vader's saber (which he dropped) and caused his Kyber within it to crack because of the sheer force of the Kyber-fueled explosion. Resulting in the crystal falling down to Endor with some of the debris of the DS2. Staying there forgotten...

Until Kylo Ren went there and found it, his grandfather's Kyber crystal. So he of course takes it and uses it to power his own lightsaber. Which can also explain why he's using a cracked one in the first place, since I'm sure he could have found a perfectly normal one with the First Order/Snoke."

Redditor DrAlcoholocaust has an interesting theory about Vader's helmet and ghosts in the Star Wars universe:

"The last time we saw Vader’s helmet was on Endor with Luke during the final sequence of Return of the Jedi, but it is now in the hands of Kylo Ren. I would like to explain how I think he came to possess it, why he turned to the dark side, and how it will play an important role in episodes VIII and IX.

In The Force Awakens Kylo speaks out loud to his grandfather’s helmet. But why? Exposition for the audience? He is crazy? I don’t think so. Kylo believes he is talking to Vader, much in the way Luke talked to Obi Wan throughout the original films. And something is talking back.

But we know from ROTJ that Vader’s force ghost is Anakin and free from the dark side, so why would he be tempting Kylo to 'finish what [he] started'? First let’s figure out how Kylo obtained it.

Luke likely brought the helmet to the Jedi temple where Kylo would later be trained. In the same way that Anakin’s saber called out to Rey, Vader’s helmet reached out to Kylo. It is at this point that Kylo is fooled into thinking he is communicating with his grandfather, but the voice he hears is actually Supreme Leader Snoke’s. It gradually seduces him, teaches him about the dark side, and makes him destroy the temple.

Han Solo said Snoke was manipulating Kylo for his power, but we never see him actually doing any manipulating. It is quite the opposite. He seems to let Kylo operate in any way he wants and barely scolds him for his mess ups. All a part of the plan. I believe it is through Force telepathy that Snoke is controlling Kylo by pretending to be Vader and feeding him lies about the past, the Force, and his destiny in an effort to turn him into a weapon just like Palpatine did with Anakin."

Tumblr user webofstarwars takes a popular theory and dives a bit deeper into it. Like many others, they believe Kylo Ren has infiltrated the dark side, but has had to do some unspeakable things to get there, including murdering his own father.

But did Kylo really kill Han? In the scene on the bridge, he asks Han to help him do what he needs to do. Only their faces are visible, not their hands, so the theory is that Han actually activated the lightsaber Kylo was holding, thus sacrificing himself for his son's ultimate goal.

Tumblr user KNIGHTS-OF-BEN-SOLO has an interesting "Reylo" theory that the two are more similar than we've realized:

"Ben’s had a history of accidentally blowing sh*t up since he was little (since the Force is so attuned with his emotions), so after several more problems and Ben feeling isolated and resentful, his mom sent him to be with Luke because he was dangerous to people around him. Luke thought he could 'cage the beast' inside his nephew, but it was to no avail. Kylo feels as if he had been thrown away because he wasn’t manageable, and feels like an untamable monster because he knew Luke’s intentions.

Years later, as a padawan, Kylo has a mental breakdown in front of the other students (probably when they find out he’s Darth Vader’s grandkid and retaliate against him), accidentally blows up the academy, and runs to Snoke when he realizes that Luke had washed his hands of his nephew after losing everything he ever built.

Rey finds out about these events through Force visions, and gets mad at Luke for giving up on Ben. Luke tells her he had to nip her training in the bud because she will end up like him if she taps into her powers too much. She says to stop comparing her to Kylo Ren. She says she would never hate her family and they had to leave her on Jakku because –

and that’s when she realizes, and she remembers, she was thrown away too. She suddenly remembers everyone being afraid of her as a kid. She was a danger to everyone around her, so her parents dumped her on Jakku and never came back.

And that’s when Rey realized she and Ben were two sides of the same coin.

'Goodbye Luke,' she’ll say. 'Hello, Ben.'"