The Star Wars bad boy to rule them all has a few secrets. Don’t let the (recent) past die!
Early concept art of the Star Wars: Episode VII villain was dubbed “the Grave Robber.” Spooky, right?
As explained in The Art of the Last Jedi, by author Phil Szostak, a select few concept artists for the film were told in 2013 that “the Jedi Killer” was “Han and Leia Organa's son.” The concept art for “the Jedi Killer” murdering Han Solo wasn’t even published until 2017.
In all of the Star Wars films, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren is the only character to use both a red-bladed lightsaber and a blue-bladed lightsaber at different points in the same movie. Kylo swings both red and blue in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, albeit in different scenes.
In addition to collecting Darth Vader swag, Kylo Ren also loves the art of calligraphy. At least, he did when he was Ben Solo. In the book The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary, it was revealed that, right next to his lightsaber, Ben Solo had a “calligraphy set.”
In the Daniel José Older novel Double Shot, we learned that, even as a tiny toddler sleeping with his dad, Ben Solo “kicked Han in the face.”
Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage/Getty Images
The idea that Ben Solo was a troubled child is further revealed in the in-universe history book Star Wars Skywalker: A Family at War by Kristin Baver.
In the canon novel Aftermath, Lando tells Lobot he really wants to buy Ben “a cute little cape.”
In The Last Jedi, this scar is way smaller. Rian Johnson says it changed because it “looked goofy running straight up the bridge of his nose.” In Rise of Skywalker, when Rey uses Force-healing to restore Kylo, this scar evaporates.