Where were the Knights of Ren during the events of The Force Awakens?

Question

As far as I know, we only see them in one brief flashback.

Did they play any significant role off camera, or in a deleted scene perhaps?

Are they even still alive?

Singing "We're knights of the Ren table, we dance whenever we're able", and hurting Kylo's feelings by gossiping behind his back — user56reinstatemonica8, Jan 12 '16 at 13:58
Continuing their endless, epic, ancient war with the Knights of Stimpy? — user56reinstatemonica8, Jan 12 '16 at 14:02
@PaulD.Waite is Ren a verb now? To ren, he rens, she rens, we ren. To have been reened? — Daft, Jan 12 '16 at 14:02
@Daft To Ren [v]verb (used with object): The act of doing Knights of Ren stuff. Such as appearing in backflashes and possessing weird shaped lightsabers. example: Kylo Rens a lot lately. — yondaime008, Jan 12 '16 at 14:16
Ren is actually the company that makes the galaxy's finest rain gear. The "Knights of Ren" is a made up team for marketing purposes, much like The Swedish Bikini Team. The picture above is from one of their magazine ads. — Mohair, Jan 12 '16 at 14:18
My guess is that much like the jedi knights before them, there are relatively few of them compared to the size of the galaxy. So most missions, even if they are of the utmost importance, only get one or two knights assigned. — stonemetal, Jan 12 '16 at 16:48
@user568458 - I joined this stack exchange, just to upvote your comment....that was awesome! — Dave, Jan 12 '16 at 17:06
They are all casually waiting to be the antagonists for Ep. VIII. — RLH, Jan 13 '16 at 13:48

score 31 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 12 '16 at 14:29

31

Training

At the end of the film, Supreme Leader Snoke instructs General Hux to find and return Kylo Ren so that Kylo

"...can complete his training."

Earlier in the film, Snoke calls Kylo the

"...Master of the Knights of Ren."

If Kylo still needs training and he is in command of the Knights of Ren, it is logical to conclude that the rest of them are also in training during the film's events.

answered Jan 12 '16 at 14:29

Praxis

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@DVK, I had assumed up until now that the Knights of Ren were all dark-force users. But looking at the picture, Kylo is the only one with a lightsaber ... perhaps they're not, which is why someone who hasn't yet completed training in the Force can be their Master? If they're just some sort of militant religious order, worshiping the Dark Side without actually being part of it, that might make more sense. – Harry Johnston Jan 12 '16 at 21:10
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@HarryJohnston For all we know, Ren and the others may have been more or less fresh in their training with Luke when they staged their mutiny. Ren may have jumped ahead to build himself a lightsaber when the others were not yet ready to. – Raphael Jan 13 '16 at 07:00
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The alternative explanation is, that Kylo's training is actually a management course. "Congratulations, Kylo Ren. You are now a being entirely of the dark side. I pronounce you to be a Master... of Business Administration" - Star Wars VIII: The Force Touches Base – user56reinstatemonica8 Jan 13 '16 at 10:01
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You can also conclude that most of them are absolutely terrible. – Jan 13 '16 at 22:39
@DVK : Thanks, bud. :-) – Praxis Jan 14 '16 at 22:33
@HarryJohnson The “Ren,” of the eponymously-titled “Knights of Ren” wielded a red lightsaber: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/e/e5/Ren_lightsaber_TROKR_2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200126170234 – Silly but True Jan 03 '22 at 18:56

BCdotWEB · Answer 2 · 2018-01-31T13:27:50.007

Nobody knows. Expect this to be answered in one of the many future Star Wars-movies. Slashfilm delves into this as one of "26 Unanswered Questions of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’":

In Rey’s vision/flashback, we see Kylo Ren destroy Luke Skywalker’s new Jedi Academy with “the Knights of Ren.” But who is this organization? The only thing J.J. Abrams has said on record about the group is this:

He is a character who came to the name Kylo Ren when he joined a group called Knights of Ren.

It does seem the organisation does not exist anymore at the time of TFA, depending on how you interpret Adam Driver's words when he says "It was a group":

Adam Driver gives a little more insight to the LATimes:

It was a group that existed before him, that he was a part of. Their place within everything is maybe more of a satellite group than I would say … This is really tricky.

However, judging from what Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson said in an interview on the Empire podcast (as transcribed by io9), the Knights appear to still be alive:

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we got a teaser for Kylo Ren’s team of Sith wannabes, the Knights of Ren. Several fans figured Kylo’s posse would play a big role in The Last Jedi. But lo and behold, apart from that one scene where Luke explained the tragedy that had befallen him and Ben Solo, the Knights of Ren were nowhere to be found.

In an interview on the Empire podcast, Johnson explained his reasoning: the movie was already stuffed to the brim with plots and characters, and he didn’t really have anything for the Knights of Ren to do. Besides, the most likely option he saw would’ve resulted in their premature deaths.

I guess I could’ve used them in place of the Praetorian guards but then it would feel like wasting them because all those guards had to die. And if Kylo had some kind of connection to them it would’ve added a complication that wouldn’t have helped the scene… Truth is, I just didn’t see a place for them in the movie.

Most likely we will learn more about them in Star Wars IX which is scheduled for release on December 20, 2019.

"This is really tricky" sounds like an actor struggling to answer a question when under strict orders to give nothing away — user56reinstatemonica8, Jan 12 '16 at 14:05
Those quotes don't say "the organization does not exist any more". Rather, it says that the "Knights of Ren" predate Kylo Ren. "existed before X" does not (strongly) imply they do not exist. "Iron weapons existed before the Iron age, they where just rare and/or brittle." as an example. — Yakk, Jan 14 '16 at 20:34
@Yakk I'm going by "It *was* a group". Of course, that might just be a poor choice of words by the actor. — BCdotWEB, Jan 14 '16 at 22:44
@BCdotWEB: I disagree and agree with Yakk. This doesn't look like it's meant to imply the Knights don't exist anymore. Do your careful parsing all you like, but when VIII comes out, you'll see. — ThePopMachine, Jan 18 '16 at 17:43
@ThePopMachine Actually, it looks like we still don't know... — The Dark Lord, Jan 31 '18 at 12:39
In an article from a month ago: "None of the Star Wars books, comic books, video games, etc, have delved into their background yet, so they remain enigmatic." — BCdotWEB, Jan 31 '18 at 13:13
Hah, reading the phrase "one of the many future Star Wars-movies" at the start of 2022 makes me chuckle a bit. — BCdotWEB, Jan 04 '22 at 14:16

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 03 '22 at 18:33

This is addressed in the tie-in comic The Rise of Kylo Ren. In short, Kylo takes down the Jedi Temple on his own, Anakin-style. He then leaves and goes off to meet with Snoke who tells him that he'd like him to hook up with the Knights of Ren.

The specific whereabouts of the Knights is given in issue #2. They're halfway across the galaxy in a bar on the mid-Rim planet of Vanrak, drinking and waiting for their next assignment from Snoke. It's not clear how long they've been there for, but they certainly don't play any significant part in events prior to this.

Where were the Knights of Ren during the events of The Force Awakens?

3 Answers3

Training

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