Because the new Star Wars trilogy skips over more than 30 years of the Star Wars timeline, there’s still a lot we don’t know about Ben Solo’s transformation into Kylo Ren and his connection to the Knights of Ren. That’s where Marvel’s newest Star Wars comic comes in. Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren sets about chronicling that story, and already the series is revealing important new details about the Knights of Ren.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #1!
The series opens with a flashback sequence featuring the Knights of Ren. Here we learn the group was once led by a man named Ren, a lightsaber-wielding, heavily scarred warrior with an affinity for the Dark Side. Ren reveals that his name is both a title he bestowed on himself and a philosophy that prizes the wanton destruction of all things, good or evil. The Knights of Ren are so named because they all follow that philosophy and sow chaos across the galaxy.
Source: IGN.com Star Wars: The Meaning of the Ren Name Revealed