Nearing the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the film will kick off with Kylo Ren as the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Various theories, leaks, and rumors have been coming out since the first trailer was released and it looks like one of them turned out to be true.
Back in April, fans were surprised to see Kylo Ren's helmet in the first trailer. The helmet was first seen in The Force Awakens but Kylo Ren later destroyed it in The Last Jedi. However, Abrams' upcoming movie touches on a more sensitive note regarding the villain's helmet.
The helmet was present in almost all of the promotional efforts for the movie. Besides the trailer, it was seen in the first official poster and toy advertisements for the Triple Force Friday. And out of all the theories made, one of them proved to be true according to the director.
In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams shared how the helmet was actually a visual representation of the villain's inner struggle.
"Having him be masked, but also fractured, is a very intentional thing," says Abrams (via Reddit). He continued, "like that classic Japanese process of taking ceramics and repairing them, and how the breaks in a way define the beauty of the piece as much as the original itself."
Abrams is talking about the Japanese art of Kintsugi, also known as Kintsukuroi. This is the concept of repairing broken pottery and gluing the pieces back together. The point is to treat this brokenness as something that is not to be ashamed of. Abrams connects this saying, "as fracted as Ren is, the mask becomes a visual representation of that. There's something about this that tells his history. His mask doesn't ultimately hide him and his behavior is revealed."
Kylo Ren's character has this "complicated nature," Comic Book reports. Seeing that Kylo is conflicted, thinking that there may be good left within him or that he'd completely went to the Dark Side. This reference isn't a surprise for the fans since Star Wars is known for having Japanese cultural influences in their movies. George Lucas was inspired by many Japanese films, specifically, Akira Kurosawa's.
It's definitely a beautiful and sentimental piece to bring back in Chapter IX. Fans still hope for Kylo Ren's redemption and for him to be able to find himself once and for all.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premieres on December 20, 2019.
Also Read: Lucasfilm Confirms The Other Knights Of Ren Actually Have Names
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Star Wars: Episode IX