In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we are introduced to the Knights of Ren, but we are not given any backstory or context for them. I have an idea, but it is more about what the Story Group was thinking than it is about the history or composition of Knights in the setting.

Warning: Spoilers follow.

The Knights of Two Peopleness

The first thing that came to my mind when I watched the movie was how Kylo Ren exhibits three Confusion values of Li, Ren, and Yi.

Li- The Ritual of Kylo Ren

Li is the virtue of proper ritual observance. We see Kylo talking to Darth Vader’s skull. In this prayer/ritual, Kylo focuses on what he sees as his need to live up to his lineage, and the legacy of his grandfather. He then says, “I will finish what you started.”

What work is Kylo wanting to finish? Anakin Skywalker was prophesied to bring balance to the force. He did this by destroying both the Jedi and the Sith. Lor San Tekka says at the beginning of the movie, “Without The Jedi, There Can Be No Balance In The Force.” Snoke and Kylo seem to have a different plan, and that plan is focused on Kylo (and maybe the other Knights of Ren).

Yi- The Righteousness of Fulfilling your Role

When Kylo and Han meet on the bridge, Kylo asks, “Father, can you help me.” He feels the pull of the Light Side of the force, and it is causing him pain.

A lot of people assumed that Kylo killed his father because this was how he could turn completely to the Dark Side. I disagree.

Kylo, like most sons, needed to reconcile with his father, but a proper moment of reconciliation requires him to come back to the light. So what really happened?

In his attempt to bring balance to the Force within himself, he has the moment of light side reconciliation with this father, and follows that with dark side reconciliation of killing him. Ritually, he sacrifices his father in an attempt to forge what he sees as a righteous balance within himself.

Ren- The Perfect Virtue of Two Peopleness

Ren is hard to talk about. It has been translated as benevolence, compassion, perfect virtue, and goodness. What is most important for this discussion is that the Chinese character that could be read as two separate characters meaning people and two.

I believe that this is where the Knights of Ren got their name, again, from the point of view of the Story Group, not Snoke and Kylo.

What sealed the deal for me is when Snoke says that Kylo has the potential to the most powerful force user because he was once a Jedi. This is how they plan to bring balance to the force, by being both light and dark together.

You can see this idea of two peopleness throughout the movie in Kylo’s Jekyll and Hyde nature and the tantrums where his two sides break out in open conflict.

Do you agree? Do you think this explains the Knights of Ren or maybe just Kylo Ren? Let me know.