Kylo Ren vs. Darth Vader: Who Would Win in a Star Wars Dark Side Duel?

The history of Star Wars is a long and complex one. When the movies first came out, it was a simple space opera, but since then, the franchise has expanded to become one of the most lucrative ones in history. Today, we see Disney produce various streaming series related to George Lucas’ original concept, with Andor being the most recent one. In this article, we have decided to dig into the lore of the Disney-era Star Wars works as we are going to compare Kylo Ren, an antagonist from the Sequel Trilogy, and Darth Vader, the original trilogy’s principal antagonist, to determine who would win in this fight.

There is absolutely no doubt that Darth Vader would be able to defeat Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren had a lot of potential, but he never achieved the level of his ancestor, and he himself was aware of that. Darth Vader is simply more skilled in absolutely every aspect we can think of and he wouldn’t really have much trouble defeating Kylo Ren in a direct duel.

The rest of this article will further elaborate on the above-given answer, as we are going to compare Darth Vader and Kylo Ren in more detail. We are going to tell you a bit about the two characters, as well as their skills, feats, and abilities. In the end, we are going to give you a final verdict on why we’re certain that Darth Vader would win.

Kylo Ren and his powers

Ben Solo was a fallen Jedi and a student of the disintegrated New Jedi Order. After the fall of the order, he changed his name to Kylo Ren and joined the Knights of Ren. He was also given the nickname Jedi Killer because he murdered the other Jedi students when he was a student under his uncle Luke Skywalker. The son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, he was part of the Solo and Skywalker families, and he worshiped his grandfather, Darth Vader.

Armed in the guise of Kylo Ren, he wields a red crossguard lightsaber, uses a Ypsilon-class command shuttle, commands the Resurgence-class Star Destroyer Finalizer, and is a member of the First Order. He wore a voice-altering mask, although there were no visible injuries on his face. In the First Order, he was among the top commanders with Captain Phasma and General Armitage Hux, and reported to leader Snoke, who, like himself, was experienced in the dark side of the Force.

He killed his master Snoke with Rey and thus assumed the title of Supreme Leader. With Rey, who belonged to the resistance and was trained as a Jedi, was in a special connection with the Force. As supreme leader, he became aware of the former Emperor Palpatine, whom he sought out in an attempt to secure his power. He briefly allied with Palpatine to locate Rey but fell in a battle with the Jedi who brought him back to life using the Force, but turned back to the light side and took his birth name, Ben Solo.

In the course of events, Rey and Ben got into a confrontation with Palpatine, ultimately killing him in the process. Because Rey died from attacking Palpatine, Ben revived his former adversary with the Force, succumbing to his own death.

Even during his training, Ben often spoke with the voice of Snoke. The voice tried to question the teachings of the Jedi early on and accompanied him in his consciousness on his travels. The voice slowly tried to bring him down the path of the dark side. As Kylo Ren, also heard his grandfather Darth Vader’s voice, but all the voices he heard were instilled in him by Palpatine.

Kylo Ren possessed a short-tempered and unpredictable temperament, with a particular propensity for violent outbursts of anger. This is shown when Rey escapes from captivity, destroying his surroundings with his lightsaber, or when he destroys his mask in a fit of rage after a rebuke to Snoke. Furthermore, there were moments when he felt the light side and had to force himself to reflect on the dark side. In order to feed the dark side in him and fight his inner conflict, he used aggressive emotions and denied his past and origins.

He took the radical view that the strong should rule over the weak. Kylo was also obsessed with his grandfather, Darth Vader, and revered his abilities and achievements, although he was keen to avoid falling into the same sentimentality that he believes killed Vader. However, with this worship came the fact that his midichlorian levels were much lower than Vader’s.

Therefore, it is also questionable whether (even without the constant opposition from Rey) he would have achieved the power that his grandfather had. Although he usually arrived on the battlefield only after victory had been secured by the stormtroopers, he did not shy away from combat. Kylo suggested that clones might be better suited for stormtroopers since they would be more loyal.

Using the Force, he was able to keep laser shots in the air so they couldn’t hit him. Rey could sense that he was scared during her interrogation after she reversed his attempt to enter her mind and used it against him. Kylo Ren could paralyze people to prevent their movements as well as knock them unconscious with the Force.

He also possessed the ability to read minds, forcing the victim to transmit their thoughts to him. Meeting Rey created a bond in the Force between the two, allowing them to contact each other over long distances and even face each other physically. Despite his strong affinity with the dark side of the Force, he was deeply divided in his identity. Rey foresaw that the light side still existed within him. After a vision with his father, Han Solo, he threw away his lightsaber in frustration and reverted to his old identity as Ben Solo.

Darth Vader and his powers

Darth Vader became one of the most powerful members of the Jedi Order thanks to the unprecedented number of midi-chlorians, but this also made him conceited. At the age of nine, when he first entered the Jedi Temple, he started to learn his skills more quickly than his fellow Padawans, to the point of feeding his ego and sense of importance with himself.

Another indication of his propensity to switch to the Dark Side was his ability to smother anyone with the Force. One of the Jedi Order’s most skilled lightsaber users was Anakin. Anakin, being a Padawan, trained Form V: Shien while performing a few quick Ataru moves. After being defeated by Count Dooku on Geonosis, he started learning the powerful modality Djem of Form V, making him more potent.

He was able to overcome and defeat Count Dooku in their second battle thanks to his mastery of Djem and his cunning use of Shien’s open stance. On Mustafar, Anakin fought his former Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, using Djem So as well. The two seemed to be on equal footing during the furious combat, and while Anakin was able to give Obi-Wan a good fight, Obi-Wan ultimately prevailed thanks to his persistence, his knowledge of Soresu, as well as Sokan.

Anakin’s Force abilities were significantly weakened as a result of the defeat. Despite having diminished powers, Darth Vader was one of the galaxy’s best pilots and a clever strategist. With the help of his premonition ability, which he has had since he was a youngster, he was able to foresee his targets’ moves during chases with extreme precision while wearing armor.

His incredible technical skills persisted, as he oversaw the creation of the second Death Star as well as the plans for his two TIE Advanced X1 fighters. His famed skill with the lightsaber was perfected during the fight he engaged in with the Jedi after the Great Jedi Purge, as well as through the numerous conflicts and skirmishes of the Clone Wars and that conflict.

But none of these things mattered compared to his extraordinary command of the Force. He lost a significant amount of his Force potential on Mustafar after having his limbs removed and his body severely burned. He was considered to be about eight-tenths the strength of the Emperor.

Even so, Vader possessed a great deal of power. He would have been nearly ten times as powerful as the Emperor if he hadn’t sustained any of his wounds on Mustafar. By adopting a different stance, the Emperor did his utmost to keep Anakin alive. Palpatine believed that much of the restrictions on Vader’s potential power were psychological rather than physical, even though it was true that he did not have high expectations for an apprentice who was “more machine than man.”

He thought Vader was confronting his decisions and setbacks in order to fully shake off his sadness and reawaken the immense force that had been dormant inside of him. Vader improved in this area, but he was never able to fully embrace who and what he had developed into. Vader had the ability to totally dissipate his energy when he used the Force to deflect laser bolts with his hands, turning it into pure Force energy that he could use.

It was demonstrated that Yoda, Corran Horn, and Jacen Solo were all able to transform the energy of outside attacks into Force power. Also a fan of the Choke force ability, Darth Vader used it frequently during his lifetime. There are various inferences concerning Anakin’s potential Force power based on the fact that he was born with the greatest amount of midi-chlorians in galaxy history and that he was regarded as the Chosen One.

Due to his fate as a tragic hero, Anakin never reached his full potential throughout his lifetime, yet before he turned to the dark side, he was among the most potent Jedi, despite being extremely young. More powerful than any other Force user in galactic history, he might have been the most powerful being to have ever existed if the wounds he received on Mustafar hadn’t occurred.

Obi-Wan Kenobi warned Darth Vader just before he passed away that he would become much more powerful than he could ever imagine in the afterlife. Nevertheless, after his death, he became one with the Force and thus realized his full potential. If this is accurate, it follows that a Jedi reaches the height of his power when he joins the Force.

Kylo Ren vs. Darth Vader: Who would win?

And now for the most important and interesting section of our article – the analysis. Here, we are going to use what we have found out about these two characters and analyze how all these facts would (or would not) help them in a fight against each other. Let us continue.

This one was really a no-brainer as Darth Vader is definitely the winner in this duel. Not only is Darth Vader one of the most powerful characters in the whole series, and only a handful of other characters could actually defeat him, but Kylo Ren himself admitted that Vader was stronger. During his life, all Kylo Ren wanted was to elevate Darth Vader. He saw in him a role model and someone he wanted to become, eventually, but he never achieved that goal.

Kylo Ren was unable to do anything in the series – Luke Skywalker tricked him, and he was unable to defeat Finn and Rey, who had absolutely no experience whatsoever. In comparison, Darth Vader would’ve trashed the latter two into oblivion, and there is a high possibility that he would have sensed Luke’s deception. In comparison, Kylo Ren did absolutely nothing, whereas Darth Vader was feared throughout the galaxy for his deeds. Kylo Ren wanted to be feared, but he was never as notorious as his ancestor.

On the other hand, Darth Vader is a true personality. Not only was he feared around the galaxy more than the Emperor himself, but his feats in the Expanded Universe also demonstrated just how powerful he was. Anakin Skywalker was a Messianic character in the Prequel Trilogy and it makes sense that he possesses so much power.

From any point of view, Darth Vader is simply much stronger than Kylo Ren. He is a better duelist and his mastery of the Force is on a much higher level than Kylo Ren’s. In addition to that, Kylo Ren learned from Vader’s story, and not vice versa, and not only did he not elevate him, Kylo Ren never even reached his level.