JJ Abrams Explains Kylo Ren’s Extremely Creepy Table of Ashes

Rey challenges Kylo Ren, telling him to take off his helmet and, to the surprise of viewers, he does. He’s not a scarred mess or looking much older than he is because of his use of the dark side of the Force. He’s just a guy, a few years older than she is, with a decidedly boy-like quality to his face. He places his helmet with a heavy thud on what looks like a pile full of ashes on a tall table. The weight of it is almost as surprising as the face we saw beneath it.

Many Star Wars: The Force Awakens fans were likely so engrossed in those two surprises, and in the conversation and mental invasion that went on afterwards, that they didn’t give that pile of ashes a second thought. As it turns out, it was one of the most disturbing, creepy parts of the whole scene.

“The backstory is, that that table has the ashes of the enemies he’s killed,” director J.J. Abrams told EW.

That brings Kylo Ren’s desperate clinging to the dark side to a whole new level. While villains will sometimes keep trophies, even in the Star Wars universe (like General Grievous’s collection of lightsabers from fallen Jedi for example), this is a literal podium of nothing but death.

Interestingly, the table of ashes, and Kylo Ren’s helmet coming off, was originally shot for his private moment in his quarters when he was talking to Darth Vader’s helmet. When they re-shot that scene with the helmet on, they held onto the footage, and wound up using it in the interrogation scene, almost out of necessity.

“He used to place his mask gingerly onto a piece of the set,” Abrams said, laughing, “Which was incredibly unimpressive. So this moment made it a much cooler beat.”