“I like your shirt. Necklace is cool. But I’m a Vader fan.” 
This comment made to me about my apparel, on a visit to Disneyland, last week, encapsulates my current observations made in the realm of social media as I work to expand my Star Wars experience. I have seen the displeasure with all things post-episode VI, particularly, curiously arguments made against Kylo Ren as a method of favoring Darth Vader, and I wonder why it is necessary to choose between them.
Siren wrote a piece evaluating Kylo Ren, without having to choose between him and Darth Vader. It concluded with a reconciliation of feelings for both of them, and I feel that love for both is possible if fans can judge each on his own terms. I seek further perspectives on this divide because I am only well-versed in the films, ignorant of the expanded universe. Hence I am merely a squire of the Knights of Ren. I am counting on the Star Wars community to guide me in understanding this phenomenon of implying one has to choose Darth Vader or Kylo Ren.
My obsession with Kylo Ren is also at apprentice level compared to others (which helps prove to my loved ones that having a life-sized Kylo Ren cardboard cutout is not a sign that I have a problem) but urges me to spend more time savoring my dark side cupcake…er master…to support him. But, I am by no means a newbie: I was 6 when I saw A New Hope in ′77 —instant addiction. I found a strong, brunette (like me) role model in Princess Leia, in a
time when blond, weak, objectified women were the standard being imposed. My sister loved that handsome scoundrel, Han Solo, best; I loved Darth Vader. That little girl in me is so giddy (yes, I can be giddy on the dark side) to be a grown up living in a Star Wars-saturated world. It infuses my life, but I know that compared to many, I am an amateur.
Darth Vader is beloved—how can you not love him? After A New Hope, audiences loved this villain so much that they didn’t want his life to end, spinning into the oblivion of space. Thus the “Darth Vader Lives” campaign took hold. We rooted for this most iconic villain. I think people expected the villain in The Force Awake
ns to have that same impact, especially one with Vader’s blood. However, Darth Vader happened in a particular point in cinematic history, world history, and our individual histories. I met him through a child’s eyes and have had time to refine that admiration through a more sophisticated perspective. I met Kylo Ren through an adult’s perspective, complicating the matter with the unexpected lust factor (I did not know who Adam Driver was until I saw The Force Awakens). I do not have the temporal distance to effectively reflect on his true impact. So, although a comparison between Darth Vader and Kylo Ren is unavoidable, needed, it should not be used as the sole method to judge Kylo Ren.
The ability to have love enough for both Darth Vader and Kylo Ren sometimes upsets fans. The guy who commented on my necklace was not angry, but a comment on Facebook in response to my last blog was a slightly tangy tone: “ill take issue with anyone whos master is kylo crybaby. runt aint even a sith” [sic]. (I take issue with the misspelling of “whose” and lack of punctuation and capitalization). I kept my response lighthearted. I don’t discount nor minimize this point of view; I’m very curious about it. If I shouldn’t serve the house of Ren, current preeminent force on the dark side (well, according to the the film), who on the dark side should I serve?
Others are angrier and more hostile in their feelings about Kylo Ren—ironically lashing out emotionally in opposition to him. Good. GOOD! Let the 
anger flow through you. The criticism of Kylo Ren is understandable, and it is because of his flaws that I am uncontrollably attracted to him. I love Kylo Ren because he is emotional, because he is not Sith but admires a great Sith—you know he has a “Darth Vader Lives” button, too! As far as being a runt? I don’t know—he seems pretty shredded to me (and thank you HBO’s Girls for making Kylo Ren take it off!), man enough to cry, and evil enough to use it as manipulation.
Kylo Ren is not Darth Vader—there should be no debate about that. Neither is he meant to be taken as a replacement. He is still young and foolish but learning to wield a power greater than probably even he understands. And he has those temper tantrums—behavior so unbecoming of a Sith because he is not! But he could be much more. He is an underdog (I like to root for the underdog) desperately trying find a place, make a name for himself because of and despite the shadow of his ancestry.
Maybe he could try harder to differentiate his appearance from Darth Vader—but he’s a fanboy! And he looks damn super-ultra sexy, sizzling lava hot in that outfit! In me, he stimulates intense, unrestrained lust—I cannot resist him. And this attachment, of course, impacts the clarity of my perspective. To melt with love for a character despite the fact that he killed one of my favorite scoundrels (yes, I bear this conflict) forced me to admit his power and my carnal weaknesses…or perhaps strengths.
So why imply or insist on the necessity of choosing one over the other? Perhaps Kylo Ren should have chosen a different path because he will always exist under Vader’s shadow (The filmmakers certainly knew they had that burden). People will always compare Kylo Ren to the greatness of his grandfather; he knows that. Yet he still persists with finishing what Darth Vader started; I find that admirable, a strength, but others find it futile and pathetic, and it makes some angry to find that they feel like that about a Star Wars villain.
I refrain from imposing on Kylo Ren the burden of serving as replacement for the great and masterful Darth Vader, for now. Kylo Ren was born of the Sith order—the blood of one of the greatest Siths runs in his veins. If he can take that genetic foundation and build upon it, imagine how powerful the dark side can become. If not him, then to whom should the dark side have turned, or whom should the dark side work to turn? A worthy, necessary conversation this is for the fate of the dark side.
Ultimately, if you don’t want Kylo Ren, I know someone who does—I will happily, willingly, ravenously take him.
Diary of a Sith Chick 
