Star Wars Finally Answers Questions About the Knights of Ren After The Rise of Skywalker

As the end of the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has more than a few mysteries to unfold. Among those mysteries are the Knights of Ren, the mysterious group of all black clad guards led by Kylo Ren first seen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The group had only a brief appearance in that film and didn’t appear at all in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, leaving fans with many questions about the group. Now that the Knights do appear in The Rise of Skywalker — and that’s not a spoiler by itself as they previously appeared in various television spots leading up to the film’s release — Star Wars is finally offering more information about the group.

Before we jump in just a warning: there will be spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker beyond this point.

Going into The Rise of Skywalker our information about the Knights of Ren is limited and it doesn’t improve much in the film, either. Ultimately what viewers learn from the film is that, despite Kylo being their leader, the group isn’t exactly beholden to a specific leader when Kylo shifts back to the Light and reclaims his Ben Solo identity. This is specifically seen near the end of the film when, Ben has to face the Knights on Exegol in order to get to and aid Rey against Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine. It’s an interesting situation, but a deeper explanation for the group comes not in the film, but in supplementary materials, specifically in The Rise of Kylo Ren comic.

Written by Charles Soule with art by Will Sliney, The Rise of Kylo Ren serves as a prequel to the new trilogy of sorts and documents how Ben Solo becomes Kylo Ren. In order to do so, the story also digs in a bit about exactly who the Knights of Ren are — and who they aren’t.

“They can use the Force, the dark side of the Force, to varying degrees,” Soule told StarWars.com. “They’re not as powerful as a Jedi or a Sith, but they use it when they fight…. They have some sort of code, like a motorcycle gang, but it’s not as elaborate. They’re flexible. Mostly they’re just kind of out to live their lives the way they want to live them and take what the galaxy will give them and eat what the dark side sends.”

In another interview, Soule also explains a bit about the Knights long before they became a part of Ben Solo’s story, something that is revealed in The Rise of Kylo Ren. In the comic, readers learn that the group is originally led by someone named Ren, who Soule described in another interview as a character he wanted to come across as “a charming Darth Vader.” The comics further explain that Ren is also the term the group uses for lightsaber — and ultimately, it’s the leader of the group that is the only one among them to actually use one.

The comics also offer another interesting detail about the group: Ren (meaning the leader) references someone called “the master” and notes that this master will find a new Force user for the group to recruit. It’s a detail that reveals that there is someone even above the Knights’ leader. It’s something that may explain why, in Rise of Skywalker, the Knights turn against Ben: they ultimately don’t really answer to him. They answer to someone or something else.

All of this information adds up to a lot more about the Knights of Ren than what fans knew previously, but there’s also likely more to come. The Rise of Kylo Ren‘s first issue just dropped last week on Wednesday ahead of The Rise of Skywalker hitting theaters.

What do you think about this additional information about the Knights of Ren? Let us know in the comments below.