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nuckles87 on 31 December 2015
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Carl2291 said:
amp316 said:

Oh, and Kylo Ren is by far the weakest main villain in the entire series.  At first I really thought that they were on to something with a sinister and powerful force wielder that was prone to temper tantrums.  Turns out that he isn't a bad ass at all.  In fact, he can be defeated in a lightsaber duel by someone that has zero training.  And I also wasn't too impressed with Supreme Leader Snoke or whatever his name was...

 

I just want to pick up on this part of your OP with a few points of my own. The whole Kylo being weak thing is not exactly a con on his character. It's deliberate.

 

  • At 3 different parts of the film we are shown how immature he is compared to the likes of Vader, Maul, Dooku or Sidious with his lightsaber tantrums and Rey slapping him down on how insignificant he is compared to Vader.
  • At the end of the film, we are told that he has yet to finish his training. We are told directly that he isn't at the level of his predecessors.
  • During the fight with Finn and Rey, you have to look at a bigger picture of what just happened. He killed his own father and was shot in the gut by Chewbacca's ultra-powerful Bowcaster. Not only is he emotionally unstable at that point, but the guy has a hole punched right into his stomach. He's bleeding out.

 

Actually, after my second viewing of the film I noticed that not only is he injured during the fight but he's playing with Finn all the way up until Finn gets the lucky shot in. Kylo knocks him to the floor and lets him get up. He pins him up against the tree to torture him with the cross-guard. He was punishing Finn until he got caught. As soon as Finn gets the lucky swipe, Kylo pushed his shit in. After this, he isn't actually trying to kill Rey. He's trying to recruit her. 

Kylo is third to Vader and Sidious when it comes to just how good they are, because his character actually has significant development. He's trying to live up to what Vader was, yet knows he can't leave that ever looming shadow of his grandfather.
                               

What a lot of people also don't seem to realize is that Kylo Ren is one of the youngest villains we've had in Star Wars. Vader, Palpatine, and Dooku were all fairly old, experienced Sith. Palpatine was in his friggin 90s by Jedi. Darth Vader Would have been in his 40s. Dooku was in his 60s or 70s. Maul is the only one who's a mystery, because pretty much everything ABOUT him is a mystery unless you dive into the now-defunct expanded universe.

Compared to other villains, Kylo Ren is a friggin baby. Unlike these other villains, Ren will be able to grow in strength and skill over the course of the movies. Not a bad thing.