Could Kylo Ren be the living incarnation of Darth Vader or will the Light side of the force emerge more powerfully in the second instalment? The natural symmetry is self- evident between the emotional conflict of the father and son in Han Solo and Kylo Ren and the classic plot reveal in the Empire Strikes Back, with Luke Skywalker discovering the truth about his own father. But Star War fans are still puzzling the over the plausible future direction of the First Order disciple.

The excising of his father and internal conflict associated with lingering paternal sentiments, at least temporarily, appeared to be the motivation behind the striking down of Han Solo, a nod to the Dark side of his nature becoming stronger. The Darth Vader shrine and motivation to emulate his grandfather authenticates the theory that Ren is taking a comparable journey. He and Snoke both comment on the Light side of the force as being a strength, but also a flawed characteristic that served to undermine. Snoke claims that “Had Lord Vader not succumbed to emotion at the crucial moment the Empire would have prevailed”.

But, predictably the fans are in full disagreement mode. With broad speculation on Kylo Ren, the undercover members of the Resistance, infiltrating the First Order to instigate its very demise. Are Ren and Rey otherwise secretly interlinked? At the beginning of the film Ren instantly reacted to the news of the mysterious girl connected to Poe Dameron’s escape on Jakku as though prior awareness of this characters great importance was in play.

What is the connection between Ren and Rey, could they be brother and sister, in parallel to Luke and Leia? Rey’s identity and backstory is a mystery. We are told that she is waiting on Jakku for the return of hitherto unknown family relations, but she is informed at the end of the film that nobody would be coming back. Her ability to perform Jedi mind tricks and use a light sabre while relatively untrained speaks to an individual imbued potently with the force. Is Rey another from the lineage of Luke and Anakin Skywalker? An intriguing alternative theory persists that Rey is the descendent of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The debating is proving immensely entertaining to the devotee and nobody will be satisfied until watching the next instalments.