According to a post on We Got This Covered, The Knights of Ren will be the main villains
in Star Wars episode 9.
The Knights of Ren are a group that intrigued the fandom when we saw them in Rey's vision
in episode 7, and people felt cheated when Rian Johnson didn't use them in The Last Jedi.
People have short memories because the fake story some less reputable YouTube channels
were selling was that the Knights of Ren were going to likely be killed by Luke Skywalker
and Rey or executed by Kylo Ren for failing to capture Luke and Rey.
Rian Johnson said that if he had used the Knights of Ren, they would have been in Snoke's
throne room, and we know what happened to the Praetorian Guard.
Anyway--after the Knights of Ren were featured in the poster that surfaced two weeks ago--
there is a lot of buzz around this group and what their role will be in the final installment
of the Skywalker Saga.
So I'm going to chime in on this topic and tell you what I think the Knights of Ren will
be in episode 9--along with another group inspired by something from Legends that you
might not even know about.
What's Up Star Wars Fans?
My name is Prince, and I am an Urban Acolyte.
In this video, I want to return to a topic I've been discussing a lot lately regarding
The Knights of Ren.
So according to a post on We Got This Covered, The Knights of Ren will act as the main villains
in Star Wars Episode 9.
Now I don't have a good opinion when it comes to information on We Got This Covered when
it comes to Star Wars.
Their Marvel stuff might be on point, but the stuff they've been posting about Episode
9 has been a little bit suspect.
Before I get too deep on the Knights of Ren-- I just want to say that if you're new here,
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Allright-- now recall that poster that allegedly leaked online and revealed a bunch of new
details about the characters in episode 9-- now first off, Mark Hamill said the poster
was fake.
He called it a really bad Photoshop job.
When I saw the poster, I thought it looked like something you would see on promotional
material--like on toys for episode 9, but it was very low-res.
It looked like someone took the character sheets and pieced this poster together--which
is what happens with the actual promotional stuff, but the images are high res images.
Anyway-- the piece on We Got This Covered mentions that the Knights of Ren have only
been glimpsed in Rey's forceback vision in The Force Awakens.
They go on to say that The Knights of Ren are going to play a large part in Episode
IX and will display "a great understanding of the Force."
The bit about them having this deep understanding of the Force throws off a number of people's
theories because what I keep seeing is that The Knights of Ren were Luke's former students
who left the Jedi Order with Ben.
Now if you've been here for awhile, you know that I never subscribed to that particular
hypothesis.
The Art of the Force Awakens says,and I quote, "The as-yet-unnamed Jedi Killer and the gang
he fell in with as a young man slowly evolved, as well, but an approved design was still
months away."
Now that line is referring to the process of going through all of the concept art work--because
some of the Knights of Ren's costumes were actually designs for Kylo Ren-- just like
Captain Phasma.
Captain Phasma's chrome stormtrooper look was originally a concept design for the Jedi
Killer--which became Kylo Ren.
Now maybe the backstory for the Knights of Ren changed as things became more fleshed
out, but for now, I'm going with The Knights of Ren were already active and Kylo Ren, and
maybe Luke's other students who left joined the Knights of Ren.
What I said in my last video on this topic is that you already have a group that follows
the Sith Religion.
Now people hear that and start to argue that they aren't Sith-- and I think they missed
the part of that discussion where I stated that this group, called The Acolytes of the
Beyond, follow the Sith religion-- just like some of Palpatine's advisors.
There was Yupe Tashu from the Aftermath trilogy, Vanee from Rogue One who was at Vader's castle,
and there's that other guy on Lothal that we see towards the finale of Star Wars Rebels.
These guys were all aware of who Palpatine really was-- in Legends those guys were supposed
to be prophets of the Dark Side.
It's not too far off to say they may not be force sensitive.
They were not Sith Lords, but they can still be devoted to the Sith religion.
Just like you have people who follow the light side of the Force in their various religions,
there can also be religions devoted to the dark side.
So right now, we don't know anything about what happened with the Acolytes of the Beyond.
Back in 2016, everyone was saying that The Knights of Ren came from the Acolytes of the
Beyond--but jump forward to 2019, and all of a sudden people forgot, even though it
makes the most sense.
So the Knights of Ren are dark side force users.
That was confirmed in a Star Wars resource book in 2017 before The Last Jedi hit theatres.
The Last Jedi novelization revealed that the Knights of Ren have been active in the decades
leading up to the events in the sequel saga-- so that's not consistent with the hypothesis
that they are Luke's students-- not if Ben turned in between the 4-5 year gap between
the Bloodline novel and The Force Awakens.
The Knights of Ren have worked with The First Order.
Kylo Ren appears to be the leader, or at least holds the rank of Master, of the Knights of
Ren-- but they are not First Order, and although I think they have ties to the Sith-- they
aren't actually Sith, as in the Bane Order of Sith Lords from the previous 6 movies.
So this brings us back to the question about if the Knights of Ren are actually the main
villains in Episode 9?
I'm going to say that I don't think they are.
Like I said, I don't trust We Got This Covered.
What Making Star Wars reported a month ago was that The First Order and the Resistance
would have to deal with a threat from the Beyond.
Now what "the Beyond" actually is--we don't know.
The assumption was that it could be The Knights of Ren.
Since we got "a threat from the Beyond," I thought that it could have something to do
with the Acolytes of the Beyond.
What I am really starting to think is that the threat from the Beyond is going to be
the canon version of the Yuzaan Vong-- now don't get all excited.
I haven't read that stuff in Legends, so if you want to have that discussion about books
I'm not going to read--you can miss me with that.
I said the canon version--and the canon version would be the Grysk species.
If you're not up on the Thrawn trilogy--the canon one-- Thrawn basically came to Republic
space to enlist help dealing with the rising threat of the Grysk.
Some of the Chiss Ascendency had allied itself with the Grysk, so the Chiss were dealing
with this threat.
The Grysk have actually been in the shadows, studying the Republic and the Empire from
the edges of the Unknown Regions.
The Grysk played a part in Palpatine's plan to execute Order 66.
Did you know that?
Thrawn may have prevented the Grysk from beginning their invasion with his acts in Thrawn: Alliances,
but maybe The First Order, or at least someone within the First Order, like Snoke, was aware
of the threat of the Grysk, and the First Order was not just arming itself to retake
the Republic in order to establish a new Empire--they could have also been arming themselves to
deal with this warrior species from the Unknown Regions.
I think the Knights of Ren will add an interesting part of the story to Episode 9, but I think
it will deal more with Kylo Ren having to walk this line of being the Supreme Leader
of the First Order, and possibly the leader of some type of religious order.
So the Knights of Ren will probably be part of whatever is going on with Kylo Ren's story,
but not all that important to the bigger story.
I think this threat from the Beyond is going to be something that also isn't a real big
part of episode 9, but it's something that some players have to think about because it's
coming next.
Episode 9 is going to be about the war between the Resistance and the First Order--and I
feel like The Knights of Ren, possibly the Grysk, or whatever the threat from the Beyond
is-- I think these are all things that might set up Rian Johnson's trilogy.
Like this is the end of the Skywalker Saga, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's
the end of Star Wars.
These 9 movies have had the Skywalker family at the center of the galactic events that
we're seeing in the films, but if there are other threats out there--now the focus gets
shifted to other characters and other events even though Ben Solo, Leia, and Luke, as a
force ghost, could still be involved.
So we'll have to see.
Like I said-- I don't really see Ben Solo having a redemption in episode 9.
This guy is basically the emperor at this point-- Rey just spurned him, and she represents
everything he hated about Luke.
I don't see his love for Rey making him fall on his sword to be some sacrificial lamb--
that was Anakin's story.
We're dealing with Ben, and Ben is doing everything that Anakin could not do--minus getting the
girl.
Like Anakin turned to the dark side because of his unhealthy attachment to Padme.
Ben willingly turned to the dark side.
Miss me with the "but Snoke manipulated him, and his parents isolated him."
He still made a choice.
He killed Snoke.
He killed Han.
He came close to killing Leia.
He's dropped all kinds of bodies.
He cremated his enemies, and he saves their ashes.
Ben chose to do those things--so miss me with the stuff about how he was manipulated.
He didn't seem to be under duress when he killed Lor San Tekka.
Ben Solo gets no redemption, and I don't think he's gonna die either.
If the Skywalker blood is so great, if he's supposed to be so strong with the Force--
I say let's see Ben Solo become the most powerful dark side force user we have ever seen.
Let's see him really accomplish everything that Anakin could not.
That's what makes the most sense to me--but hey, I don't work on these movies-- I'm only
looking at how a person becomes the Tyrant in Joseph Campbell-- it's the reverse of the
Hero's Journey, and what we were teased, from the beginning, was that Kylo Ren would be
the reverse of Luke Skywalker in the Original Saga.
Ben kills the wise old mentor who reveals the knowledge of the Force to the heroes in
The Force Awakens.
In Empire Strikes Back, Luke meets Yoda, learns the truth, and he actually bonds with Vader
at the end of the movie.
Ben kills his mentor in Snoke, he isolates himself from his allies, and he has his bond
severed with Rey.
So you're telling me that Ben is on the same trajectory as Anakin, and he will be redeemed
in 9?
Redeemed by who?
Even Leia has accepted that Ben has willingly given himself over to the dark side.
Rey wants nothing to do with him.
Sure he can change, but he has to want to change--and right now, there is nothing pointing
to him wanting to change-- the hell everyone keeps saying made him Kylo Ren is a hell that
Ben created all on his own.
So this got kinda heavy...but it seems like every video I do on this topic kinda goes
there, you know?
Anyway--do you think the Knights of Ren will be the main villains in episode 9?
Right now, without seeing any footage or knowing anything outside of a few crappy pictures
of costumes, I'm going to say that I don't.
I don't think the Knights of Ren will be the main villains-- I just think they'll add more
to Kylo Ren's story.
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If you liked this video and you want to see more, be sure to check out these videos on
the top Star Wars Episode 9 Theories.
I've actually got a new one to get out to y'all really soon.
You can also check out this other video from my channel that was picked specifically for
you.
Well, that's all I've got for this video, so thanks for watching.
Y'all keep on breathing, and May the Force of Others be With You, Always.