When the new Star Wars trilogy was first unveiled, it was the lightsaber of Kylo Ren that became instantly iconic, even if fans didn't know what its strange design meant, or who wielded it. But now that the story of Kylo Ren and Ben Solo is over, his unforgettable lightsaber has remained a total mystery... until now.
Even before The Rise of Skywalker was released, fans were warned that not every one of their questions would be explicitly answered. While several major Star Wars details have been explained by the novel since the film's release, the story of how Ben Solo became Kylo Ren has been explored in a comic miniseries all his own. While the comic's explanation of what the name Kylo Ren actually means, or the bigger secret behind Ben Solo's blue lightsaber reveal are all a bonus, one riddle remains. And now that The Rise of Kylo Ren has finally explained the creation and design of Kylo Ren's red lightsaber, it's a story no Star Wars fan will want to miss.
Even those excited by the prospect of witnessing, in writer Charles Soule's words, the journey "from Ben to Ren" could have assumed the overall arc of the story. Given the doomed encounter between Luke and Ben, the dots seemed easy enough to connect. Sadly, Ben's path to the dark side is even less sinister in the origin comic, showing he didn't actually kill any Jedi to start with, and only sought out Ren and his murderous knights in desperation. Once Ren forced Ben to fight for his life, the rage, anger, and resentment forced him to kill... taking the first step into his new identity. And the creation of his red lightsaber was the next.
Succumbing to the dark side and killing Ren and his sole surviving Jedi classmate, Ben commands the Knights to begin a journey on their--his spaceship. This allows Ben time to deal with his lightsaber, as the last memento he holds of his family and legacy. It's difficult to know exactly how Ben knows to create a red lightsaber by 'bleeding' his kyber crystal, but since it's a safe bet Luke never taught that bit of Sith history, the dark side of the Force (or the long distance influence of Snoke/Palpatine) gets the credit. But what Ben lacks in direction he makes up for in raw power.
Channeling the emotions surrounding his father, his mother, his uncle, his friends, and his family into this 'bleeding,' the comic shows his fist -- and the blue kyber crystal contained within -- erupt in an explosion of red Force lightning spreading throughout the ship and into the vacuum of space. At first glance, the process looks similar enough to how Darth Vader bled his lightsaber crystal. But where that was an act of Force alone, Ben's result is different for two important reasons. Readers can see for themselves in Will Sliney's artwork that Ben pouring his rage into the kyber crystal results in it cracking in two, not to mention drawing literal blood from Ben's flesh. By this point, it is only the crystal Ben has sought to change, leaving his existing lightsaber exactly as it had been while a Jedi student under Luke Skywalker. But upon replacing the now-broken kyber crystal and igniting the weapon, the highly sophisticated instrument of balance, precision, and focused Force is as out of control as one would expect.
The weapon overloads, for lack of a better term, unleashing a completely unstable and crackling blade of energy as a result of the kyber crystal being broken. A single panel shows Ben considering the still red hot weapon, and evidently deciding it's time to throw his saber aesthetics out the window completely. If his blade is as wild as its wielder, then both need a means to unleash their new, overflowing power.
The fact that Ben Solo creating his now iconic lightsaber is paired with Snoke's lingering question -- "What is your name?" -- puts an exclamation point on the end of the sequence. The question is first raised in a previous issue, as the still soft-spoken Snoke encourages Ben Solo to embrace the truth about himself despite his family's plans for him. Recalling the childhood name he dreamed of for himself, Ben Solo connects the name "Kylo" with "the part of yourself you want to cut away. The part you want to kill." The comic scene merges both ideas -- his reforged blade and his new name -- into the same act. One might even argue that Ben Solo's story is richer than Anakin's in this specific regard.
From the moment he was revealed to the world, Kylo Ren was assumed to be an imitation or pale reflection of Darth Vader (a notion that the films themselves leaned into, and is outright stated through Snoke in The Last Jedi). But the name "Darth Vader" doesn't mean anything, it is simply given to Anakin by his master. And his iconic, red Sith lightsaber is created in the exact same way as all other Sith before him.
Contrast that with Ben Solo, and he becomes a completely different kind of apprentice for Emperor Palpatine. He names himself as part of the process of severing his light side bonds. And rather than seeking out a Jedi to slay so he might take their kyber crystal, he commits the act upon his own sacred weapon (perhaps a far more accurate version of "killing" or "destroying" his former self than even Vader famously claims). In the case of Ben Solo, the crystal, the saber, and the man are visibly split in half -- an idea which will define Ben Solo's journey through his entire trilogy.
With the reforged blade's ignition, the miniseries comes to an end, as Kylo Ren's first firing of his blade solidifies his identity and purpose just as a young Jedi's is intended to. The scene may be one every fan will have preferred to have seen on film, but it remains just one more reason why Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren is required reading for Star Wars enthusiasts.