Star Wars fans slam Skywalker Saga’s most pointless characters

If I were to pick out every plot hole, discrepancy, or questionable decision within Star Wars’ sequel trilogy, we’d perhaps be here all day.

I will highlight just one though, and it’s one that the Star Wars fandom has recently taken to discussing.

“What even was the point of these guys?” one Reddit user recently asked, featuring a photo of the notorious Knights of Ren.

It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves.

The Knights of Ren surfaced in a couple of scenes in The Rise of Skywalker, typically acting as back-up for Kylo Ren before, of course, Kylo turns on them in the film’s finale.

Aesthetically, the Knights of Ren looked incredibly cool and it’s not usual that someone like Kylo is constantly flanked by tactical support.

The key issue surrounding the Knights of Ren is that their significance was never explained.

Why wasn’t Kylo just backed up by troopers of some variety?

Why did this group of individuals dress like him? It almost looked like they were all cosplaying Kylo with whatever black scraps they could find.

It’s just all a bit odd when you don’t provide an explanation or context.

“All set up, zero pay off,” remarked Exhaustedfan23.

“Clearly originally intended to be Luke’s surviving students that joined Kylo (that’s what they were in Trevorrow’s script),” added wendigo72, adding some interesting background information.

That would make a lot of sense; if they’re essentially a ragtag group of ex-Jedi led to liberation by Kylo Ren, it explains why they’d want to dress like him.

But, naturally, that doesn’t mean anything when none of that contextual information was present within The Rise of Skywalker.

If you didn’t know, Colin Trevorrow was originally due to pen and direct the sequel trilogy’s third film, then titled Duel of the Fates.

Eventually, Trevorrow dropped out and was replaced by JJ Abrams.

You can seek out his original script online if you so wish, with many fans hailing it as far superior than The Rise of Skywalker.