Star Wars: Here’s Why Kylo Ren Wasn’t a Sith

One of the main characters of Star Wars’ sequel trilogy was Kylo Ren, who was once Ben Solo but turned to the dark side and became one of the leaders of the evil First Order. Kylo Ren, of course, used the power of the dark side of the Force, and this power has always been what the Sith Order used for thousands of years. But for some reason, there was no indication of Ren being a Sith Lord. So, why wasn’t Kylo Ren a Sith?

Kylo Ren wasn’t a Sith Lord because no one indoctrinated him into the Sith Order. As far as everyone was concerned at that time, the Sith Order was rendered extinct with the deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. As such, no one can be a Sith Lord if no one can indoctrinate them into the Sith.

The thing about the world of Star Wars is that semantics can be quite important, especially when referring to the different people that use the Force. A user of the dark side of the Force isn’t necessarily a Sith, just like someone who knows how to wield the Force isn’t necessarily a Jedi as well. That goes the same for Kylo Ren. So, let’s look at why Kylo Ren was never a Sith Lord.

Why is Kylo Ren not considered a Sith?

Since he was introduced as the new villain of ‘Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens,’ Kylo Ren started making people wonder why he wasn’t a Darth. Of course, we always knew that Ren used the power of the dark side of the Force, as evidenced by the fact that he wielded a red lightsaber and was known to do evil things using the Force.

And we also know that he used to be a Jedi named Ben Solo, who fell to the dark side of the Force after some misunderstandings with his parents and Luke Skywalker.

So, with that said, he became one of the leaders of the First Order and was the apprentice of Snoke, the Supreme Leader of this evil organization. But while that may be true, there were no indications that Ren or Snoke were Sith. They don’t even use the “Darth” name, and we all know that the Sith Lords are called Darths.

Of course, the reason why Kylo Ren wasn’t a Sith Lord could be traced to the events of ‘Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi,’ where Luke Skywalker defeated Darth Vader and was the catalyst to his father’s return to the light side of the Force.

As Emperor Palpatine was prepared to destroy Luke using his Force Lightning, Darth Vader became Anakin Skywalker again and killed the emperor to save his son. In doing so, he redeemed himself and perished not as Vader but as Anakin.

Due to the Rule of Two, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader were the only Sith Lords alive in the galaxy at that time. The Sith Lords weren’t allowed to take in new members as long as there was a master and an apprentice. And only after the apprentice surpasses and overthrows the master can they become the new master and take in an apprentice.

So, because Palpatine and Vader were the only Sith Lords then, the Sith Order was destroyed with their deaths. No one could have continued the Sith Order because the apprentice also died while killing the master.

This means that neither Snoke nor Kylo Ren were Sith Lords at all. Instead, they were Force wielders that employed the power of the dark side of the Force. In Snoke’s case, he saw himself as a scholar of the Force as he was willing to learn the power of both the light and the dark side of the Force. And because he saw Ben Solo’s power, he thought he could be the ultimate Force wielder in the sense that he could learn how to handle both sides of the Force to perfection.

As such, Kylo Ren fell to the dark side without necessarily becoming a Sith Lord because there were no Sith Lords around as far as everyone was concerned. But we all know that “for some reason,” Palpatine returned but was cooped up in Exegol because he was too weak to leave the planet. This version of Palpatine was a weak clone that had his soul and memories but not his power. 

So, while the Sith Order lived through Palpatine, neither Snoke nor Kylo Ren were his apprentices. The only apprentice that he was eyeing was Rey, who happened to be his granddaughter. As such, he didn’t even turn Ren into his apprentice during the events of ‘Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker’ because it was Rey whom he wanted to succeed him as the next Sith Emperor.

Did Kylo Ren want to become a Sith?

Throughout the events of ‘The Force Awakens,’ one of the things made clear about Kylo Ren was that he wanted to be his grandfather. It took him a while to discover that he was the grandson of Darth Vader, as his parents and uncle hid this fact from him because they didn’t want him to learn about the true legacy of the Skywalker family. Knowing more about Darth Vader was what allowed him to become curious about the dark side of the Force.

In fact, Snoke used Vader as a way to lure Ben Solo to the dark side of the Force. He told him that he could be as strong as Darth Vader once was by learning how to use the dark side of the Force. And because he idolized his grandfather’s power, Ben went to the dark side and became Kylo Ren.

But while he idolized his grandfather and his power, the thing about Kylo Ren was that there was no indication of him wanting to be a Sith Lord. He craved power, just like any other user of the dark side of the Force. But he never wanted to have anything to do with the Sith, even though Darth Vader was a notorious Sith Lord.

In ‘Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi,’ Kylo Ren killed Snoke and worked with Rey to defeat the Praetorian Guard. After that, Ren told Rey that they could restart the entire galaxy without the Jedi or the Sith. In that regard, it was clear that he didn’t want to be a Sith Lord, even though the things he wanted being very much in line with what the Sith wanted.

Nevertheless, Kylo Ren wasn’t the same as the Sith Lords that craved power and control over everything. He was more of a confused and conflicted man who thought that he could remedy his family problems by destroying his past and creating a new future that he could control. As such, he didn’t act like a Sith Lord, as he didn’t crave absolute and unchecked power and control over the entire galaxy.

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