How is that Lor San Tekka knows Kylo Ren's true identity in Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Max von Sydow's Lor San Tekka is a fleeting figure in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, but as one of the first faces the audience glimpses in the modern batch of films, his brief impression is a vital one. It's clear from the off that San Tekka has extensive knowledge of the Force and is aligned to the Jedi/Resistance, while his information regarding Luke Skywalker's potential whereabouts hints towards a more spiritual leaning. Even more intriguing, San Tekka clearly knows both Poe Dameron and Kylo Ren. Unfortunately, the wise veteran is ruthlessly struck down by Kylo before his history can be explored further.
Tekka plays no further part in the Star Wars sequels, and his relationships with the central characters remain no more than allusion and innuendo. Because of this, it's hard not to think of Von Sydow's Jakku hermit as little more than a plot device to provide the film's McGuffin, and paint a big question mark over Kylo Ren's true heritage. Fortunately, this is where wider Star Wars media can come into its own. The Poe Dameron prequel comics recounted how the Resistance allied with San Tekka, explaining why he and Poe had a clear bond in The Force Awakens. But what of the old man's connection to Kylo Ren?
Lor San Tekka's role in the fight against the First Order began long before The Force Awakens. As a man who had studied the Jedi for many years, San Tekka proved incredibly useful to Luke Skywalker in the Jedi Master's hunt for Ahch-To and the original Jedi temple. San Tekka and Luke worked side by side to uncover the secrets of their shared faith, and it was during this period that Von Sydow's character came to know a young Ben Solo. The Rise of Kylo Ren comic series charts the events of Ben's life after violently departing Luke's academy and includes a key flashback where Luke, Ben and San Tekka explore an abandoned Jedi outpost and bump into the Knights of Ren, allowing San Tekka to witness Luke's formidable power first hand.
While the focus of the story is to further explain Ben Solo's connection to the Knights of Ren, the flashback mission also reveals the meaning behind Lor San Tekka's line, "I know where you come from. Before you called yourself Kylo Ren" in The Force Awakens, as well as Kylo's insult about San Tekka looking old.
The role of Star Wars books and comics in plugging gaps from the movies has been a prominent issue following the release of The Rise of Skywalker and the subsequent novelization that helped explain vital pieces of story, such as Palpatine's resurrection and the Force dyad between Ben and Rey. As the character of Lor San Tekker proves, however, this has been an issue from the very first scene of the sequel trilogy, although the problem wasn't so obvious since The Force Awakens was generally well-received. There's a thin line between Star Wars films leaving material for the books and comics to cover and neglecting to explore vital areas of story, and Lor San Tekker arguably comes under the later. While not as significant as the method of Palpatine's return was in The Rise of Skywalker, San Tekker's dialogue throws a ball that The Force Awakens neglects to strike, and if it wasn't for comic books picking up the slack, fans would be left to make their own assumptions as to how Max von Sydow's character knows so many secrets.