Empire Online has released the collector covers for their upcoming January 2020 Rise of Skywalker issue. On the cover are a variety of new and familiar characters along with a handful of new additions, including the mysterious Knights of Ren.
Of all the covers, the one featuring the Knights of Ren is easily the most interesting. This is mostly because the Knights have been mentioned in the new trilogy, but not really explored. And seeing as this new cover features them, we know that the Knights will have at least some interesting backstory to be visited. Even more so, we already know that TROS writer/director J.J. Abrams wants to do an anthology film featuring the Knights, so hopefully, we get some great arc involving them.
Who Were the Knights of Ren?
The Knights of Ren were a group of dark force users, not technically Sith, that surfaced before the slaughter of Luke Skywalker’s new age of Jedi apprentices and pretty much worshiped Darth Vader. Among them, Ben Solo, the grandson of Vader/Anakin, who became their de facto leader after having been seduced by the dark side and took on the name Kylo Ren (Kylo being a hybrid of Skywalker and Solo). Kylo then joined up with Snoke, wiped out all the Jedi apprentices, and he along with the Knights continued to operate as members of the dark side.
Even though the Knights were not featured in Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, there were plans to put them into the film in replacement of the red royal guards that protected Snoke. However, the reason the guards were there instead was that Johnson stated since all the guards had to be killed off, the scene would have become far too complicated with Ren’s emotions and mysterious connection to them. Abrams has stated that the Knights will be involved in The Rise of Skywalker, but to what extent, we do not know. However, the fact that they are on the cover of Empire Online’s magazine suggests that they will likely have a somewhat significant role in the movie.
Within these collectors edition magazines will be a handful of new content such as interviews, images and more. You can pick up these exclusive magazine covers when they go on sale starting on November 28th.
