Some Thoughts On Kylo Ren

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redbrunja asked, and I didn't think Twitter could contain me.

So when I walked out of the theatre on the afternoon of Friday December 18, I was so pleased. With everything. But there was one thing that kind of bugged me: I cared about Kylo Ren.

Let's back up.

I am never here for the villains. Ever. The gif "Cool Motive, Still Murder" is basically my motto, if I had a motto. I don't care about their tragic backstory. I don't care about the actor who plays them. I. Don't. Care.

But I cared about Kylo Ren.

Part of it is his face. Adam Driver has an amazing face. I'm not very good at remembering what people look like, but I am pretty sure I'll have Ren's face after he takes off his helmet the first time burned into my mind forever. He's perfect.

I also had no intention of learning Adam Driver's name (I'm sure he's lovely, but: villain), except then he did that a cappella version of The Imperial March and couldn't keep his shoulders still while he was hitting the high notes and, well, I learned his name.

But I couldn't figure out why I cared about his character.

I think it's that he's just written so well. There's none of the grossness we get with Hiddleston's Loki or Tennant's Kilgrave. There's no sexual element to his torture (I mean, it's still a violation, but no one takes a stitch of clothing off, except the mask, and he talks to Rey the same way he talks to Poe, and also that old dude whose name I keep forgetting). He, to put it bluntly, knows what he's about.

(Dear Grant Ward, FUCK YOU FOREVER)

*ahem*

Anyway, so he has a nice face and he's well written and I don't want him to die in a fire. All of this would be okay, except I also wish to know his backstory, and I don't usually care about the villain's backstory. Except, of course, the villain's backstory is in this case ALSO THE HEROES' BACKSTORY, and so that is why I want it.

(It took me 24 hours to figure that out, btw. It was an uncomfortable time and I doubted myself a lot.)

I hate that KyloR3n joke account on Twitter. I hate it because Ren is the white boy I'm afraid of, and the white boy I'm also pretty likely to meet. A lot. PROBABLY AT A STAR WARS CONVENTION. Ren is, probably literally, a school shooter. At the very least he's a mass-murderer. You know, the sort we put bullet proof vests on, and show nice pictures of on the news, and then say "he was mentally unstable" and "no one would sleep with him".

Ren is the fanboy I've spent my whole life avoiding. Ren is the reason I don't tell people I like Star Wars unless I trust them. Ren is everything that creeps me out about Star Wars marketing (why is there so much dark side merch? Why is the stormtrooper the iconic Star Wars motif? WHY THE FUCK WOULD ANYONE WANT THAT?). Ren is the boy you don't trust with your drink. Ren is such a dick.

What was it like to be Leia Organa and have your son look at you and say "Tell me more about my grandfather. No, my real grandfather."? What was it like to be Luke Skywalker, and have your nephew named for your mentor, and then have that child grow up to idolize the man who MURDERED him? What was it like for Han, who didn't even believe all this in the first place until Ben Kenobi showed him how, to blame the darkness in himself for this? What is it like for Rey, who wanted a family? What is it like for Poe, who could have been Ben Organa's best friend?

Star Wars has never been nuanced when it comes to evil, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. We see Rey - poor, starving, scavenging, desperate, Rey - choose kindness over and over. Ren, like Anakin before him, wanted something without having to work for it. Like a spoiled white boy. He even gets Anakin's lines, to remind us of that fact.

Kylo Ren killed HAN FUCKING SOLO and it's not enough to make fandom dislike him.

Damn right, he's scary. Frankly, I'm still in shock that someone was self-aware enough to write him.

More character essays to follow, I am sure.