Kylo Ren

Born the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, esteemed leaders of the Rebel Alliance, a movement which opposed the dictatorial rule of the Galactic Empire, which ended in the Battle of Endor, which cost his maternal grandfather's life, the Sith Lord Darth Vader who became the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker once more to free the galaxy of Sidious' iron fist. The heir of the Skywalker bloodline, the young son of Vader's daughter had the untainted raw power in the Force and thus a capacity for limitless power. His namesake was the legendary Jedi Master who died rescuing his mother, Obi Wan Kenobi.

Luke Skywalker disappeared since the destruction of his new Jedi Order, and Kylo Ren, who became a commander in the First Order, began searching for him. His quest brought him to the planet Jakku, where the last piece of a map leading to Luke's suspected location was held. On Jakku, he crossed paths with Poe Dameron, who had been sent by General Leia Organa of the Resistance, and captured him. Ren failed to retrieve the piece of the map, which Dameron stored in his astromech droid, BB-8.

In the chase for BB-8, Ren was brought to the planet Takodana, where he encountered Rey, a scavenger from Jakku. Ren managed to capture Rey with little difficulty.

Some time later, the Resistance launched an attack on Starkiller Base, the planet-sized superweapon of the First Order. A group consisting of Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Finn infiltrated Starkiller Base to rescue Rey and to assist the Resistance's X-Wing fighters in destroying the weapon. Although the group was successful in their mission, Solo was killed by his son.

Ren later fought Finn in a lightsaber duel, overpowering the former stormtrooper. Ren then attempted to use the Force draw Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber, which Finn had been using, to him, but the weapon instead flew toward Rey. The two were evenly matched at first, but Rey managed to overpower Ren.

During Ren's fight with Rey, Poe Dameron destroyed Starkiller Base's thermal oscillator with his X-wing, causing the planet to disintegrate. First Order leader General Hux contacted Supreme Leader Snoke about the situation. Snoke ordered Ren to be brought to him, so that his training could be completed.

Kylo Ren, Solo's dark side persona, was a ruthless and efficient combatant on the battlefield, as well as master swordsman by the time of his apprenticeship to Snoke. Ren, who pulled from the teachings of the light and the dark to hone his power, possessed superb skills in lightsaber combat. The destruction of Skywalker's new generation of Jedi earned him the nickname of "Jedi Killer" amongst the First Order ranks, and his abilities with a lightsaber were what ultimately prevented the art of lightsaber combat from returning to prominence as he eliminated the remnants of the Jedi. In combat Ren typically utilized his lightsaber in the standard grip form, but he was also proficient in the unorthodox reverse grip. Kylo uses a red crossguard lightsaber.

With his proficiency in the art of lightsaber combat, Ren could fight outnumbered and prevail against multiple adversaries. Ren was also distrustful of others; having isolated himself from his family and friends, the only people in Ren's life were subordinates and a master that he hated.

Ben Solo was drawn towards the dark side by Snoke beginning in his childhood. Through telepathic contact, Snoke acted as a confidant while sowing doubt. After destroying the Jedi temple, Solo sought out Snoke, whom he regarded as the only friend he had left. Snoke, in turn, used the situation to further discredit Skywalker in Solo's eyes, convincing the boy that his youth had been wasted learning the ways of the Jedi. Encouraged by Snoke, Solo sought the Knights of Ren, and became their leader when he killed their master and turned to the dark side.

Snoke promised Ren a future in which he was "heir to the Force" with no Jedi to oppose him. Ren's inner conflict grew as his Master encouraged him to use the heritage of both the light and the dark, honing Ren into a weapon of the First Order and the archetype of a new kind of dark side user that filled the void left behind when the Sith were destroyed during the Battle of Endor.

The First Order, or simply the Order, was a fascist military junta in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy during the era of the New Republic. The First Order was ruled by a Supreme Leader from their mobile headquarters instead of a traditional planetary capital. A militaristic dictatorship that wished to remove disorder from existence and had a fanatical devotion to the totalitarian notions of order and a disdain for democracy. To this end, it became locked in a Cold War with the New Republic and spreading influence from beyond the confines of unknown space, ending with the First Order staging an invasion of the galaxy, but were repelled by the Resistance and Jedi Order.

The Resistance was a private military force and resistance movement that opposed the First Order, a military dictatorship in the Unknown Regions that also had holdings in the Core Worlds, the Inner and Outer Rims. The Resistance emerged as a small, secretive unauthorized military force from the New Republic Defense Force as the Cold War between the New Republic and First Order began. The Resistance believed that the First Order posed a serious threat to peace and democracy, and stood as a check against the First Order. However, the Galactic Senate did not believe them and regarded them having a fixation on the past. The Resistance fought the First Order after they launched a preemptive strike on the New Republic and subsequently occupied large swathes of the galaxy. Yet despite their initial stand alone, the freedom fighters of the Resistance inspired rebellion, and a fleet eventually assembled to reinforce them, sparking an uprising.