ST Kylo Ren and Darth Vader Relationship

So, how do you think Kylo Ren's fixation on Vader came about?

Kylo obviously doesn't need his parents approval or any other 'good guys' he sees. He doesn't seem all that devoted to Snoke either. There isn't even the deference Vader showed Palpatine. He was willing to contradict his order with BB-8. He's not seeking validation or feeling inferior because of these people. He was asking Vader for strength and promising to finish what Vader started. That's where his sense of self is coming from. Another thing: Rey reads Kylo and says he fears not being as good as Vader. Fears? Why?

I love that they played a 'Vader Legacy' angle by adding this, but I'm so impatient to know why it's so important to him.And where are the force ghosts in all this? Was Han's line about too much Vader in Kylo a nod to his ancestry or is there literally Vader in Kylo (reincarnation)? So many sane and insane possiblities...

 

Here's my spin

He's clearly aware that his grandfather was a powerful Sith Lord, but I doubt he knows that he was redeemed
From what I interpret, Ben seems to have sort of an inferiority complex and a lust for power. He's aware his grandfather was this insanely powerful Force-sensitive whose peak of power happened to be when he was using the dark side. He might have felt like he was lacking compared to Luke's other students and so when Snoke promised him power, he became Kylo Ren and indeed gained some power from that conversion

 

Well, Kylo complains about Han not being a great father, so it seems he started looking towards Vader at some point as a father figure. Leia also said that they should have sent Kylo to Luke sooner. This also suggests that he may have been able to bond with Luke as a father figure before he began obsessing on Vader.

I think Kylo is the typical spoiled black sheep of the family. He has all these great heroes to live up to who are probably too busy for him. So what creates the most attention? Imitating the person in the family everyone fears most.

But the visual dictionary also suggests that Snoke told Kylo he has a unique mix of light and dark in him that makes him important. So he also thinks he's "chosen" in a way like Vader.

EDIT: And I think Kylo is more than aware that Vader came back to the light and was redeemed. Snoke and Kylo actually see this as a weakness he must combat.

 

My take is that Snoke was the one who told Kylo who his grandfather was, and used Vader's legacy to ensnare him. As pointed out above, Ben Solo suffered from a serious inferiority complex and was probably frustrated with his lack of progress in his training. Then along came Snoke saying, "Your Grandfather was no mere Jedi, but rather a Sith Lord who ruled the galaxy and you can be just like him."

 

A few weeks after Han and Leia left him with Luke, Luke took him on an expedition to the Endor Moon. On the way Luke told young Ben the tale of Darth Vader and his fall, cut a long story short, by the time they got there Luke had scared the **** out of young Ben. Luke went to the Ewok village while he made Ben go to the site of Vader's cremation to pay his respects, Ben found a pile of ashes and a few melted pieces of armour and the remains of Vader's helmet. Ben secretly hid the helmet from Luke and took it back to the academy. Fear turned to intrigue and in time Ben learned more and more about his grandfather, admiration and infatuation followed and the realisation that Luke was responsible for the defeat of Vader and his chance to meet his grandfather......

Well that's what I imagine until LFL tells me different

 

Wish that they expanded on this a bit.

 

He wants power, that's really all their is to it. Vader was extremely powerful. Kylo wants to become extremely powerful more than anything. He doesn't know if he is capable of doing so, hence he fears that he will be unable to.

As for why he chose Vader rather than another Sith to look up to... partly because Vader is one of the most recent Sith. Maybe it had something to do with finding Vader's helmet. Or maybe he chose Vader over Sidious to look up to just because Vader was more well known in the galaxy as a Sith lord, where Sidious just did stuff behind the scenes. Or because he is related to Vader.

The only thing that isn't really clear in my mind is why he wants to finish what Vader started and what exactly that means. Taking over the galaxy? Creating a Sith Empire? I would love to see that happen. End of IX, Kylo Ren (perhaps now Darth Kylo or Darth Ren), having overthrown Snoke, turns the First Order into a Sith Empire, takes on an apprentice, creates an army of Dark Jedi/Sith servants. Eventually gets killed by his apprentice who becomes Sith Emperor and who is the main bad guy for X-XII. Then instead of an empire based more on politics like the Galactic Empire and First Order, we have one that is instead based more on Sith ideology and the Force.

 

I could see a scenario where the truth about his grandfather was hidden from him until his early teenage years, and perhaps he was lied to by his parents or uncle about it as well (Kylo sure has some daddy issues). Upon finding out that his grandfather was the most prominent and arguably the most powerful sith lord in recent history, he became angry about not being told the truth and this fueled his obsession with Darth Vader.

Whether or not Kylo knows about his grandfathers eventual redemption and return to the light is hard to say, but he could quite possibly not believe it is true (especially if he had been lied to about it in the first place), and might believe it is a lie concocted by his family to turn him away from the dark side.

I definitely don't think Kylo has had any sort of force connection with his grandfather either. We know that Anakin was able to force-ghost after his death, but I don't think he has communed with Kylo (yet?). If that were possible, Kylo's turning to the dark side may have been avoided with guidance from his redeemed grandfather.

Kylos perceived relationship with Vader seems like pure idolatry to me. I can't help but think that at some point, Kylo will gain a clear understanding that his grandfather DID in fact return to the light, and that it will play a major part in the story.

 

Young Ben saw a picture of Vader on the mantelpiece, looking dapper suited up in his finest costume, and thought "damn, grandpa was on some badass ****!"

That's when he met Snoke, and the rest is history.

NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE!