Please do not share the details of this article openly on social media and spoil Star Wars: Episode IX for those that want to remain spoiler-free. Do not spoil those that do not appreciate spoilers. This is article contains legitimate rumors with SPECULATION to connect the rumors into some semblance of a narrative.

Sometime ago, I spoke to a source about Star Wars: Episode IX who told me that things would get interesting for Kylo Ren when a threat from The Beyond reveals itself, making Kylo Ren vulnerable. This threat would serve as a motivating factor for Kylo and Rey’s interactions as the story progressed but the source wasn’t sure which act it happened in or how it unfolded. It should be noted that a lot of what that source told me, in terms of accuracy, has come to fruition since that conversation. However, with just that info in hand, the understandable but knee jerk assumptions from fans would likely have gone right to the Expanded Universe and The Yuuzhan Vong. Now, I think I may have got the information that relieves that ambiguity a bit more.

Very recently, another source with a great track record said it was really important that The Knights of Ren have returned from The Beyond. The pregnant pause after that bit of information has led me to believe there’s a lot to that. The fact that there is some plot significance to the Knights of Ren in the film is something else most sources have also echoed.

Another rumor I have heard a few times pertains to those red troopers I wrote about sometime ago. I have heard that the red troopers are called “Sith Stormtroopers.” Now, are they called that behind the scenes because Kylo is actually a Sith Lord now or do we have a game of synonyms at play where “evil” is the same as “Sith”? Anyways, the pertinent info here is that these red troopers answer only to Kylo Ren and The Knights of Ren exclusively. Maybe they’re just the Knights of Ren’s infantry?

It also seems that in Episode IX Kylo has accumulated private armies and militias under The First Order banner to strengthen any opposition to his rule. Worlds that have their own defense forces are also aligned with The First Order. So it sounds like the scope of the battles in the film could be pretty large and not just have the rebellion fighting against white Stormtroopers.

Do these rumors connect? Let us speculate that they do as they really might connect like this. It would seem Kylo Ren is putting together a large force to dominate the galaxy. But the first rumor says that a threat from The Beyond eventually reunites Kylo Ren with Rey (who seems to pretty much have the same hair as last time, by the way). Maybe the Knights of Ren are like The Sith. Perhaps the #2 person of power in the knight’s order knows that they have to kill Kylo to become The Supreme Leader and things get out of control for Kylo as the Knights of Ren, now generals of The First Order, try and usurp The Supreme Leader just like Kylo Ren did in The Last Jedi? This is pure speculation on my part, but if these rumors are all accurate, that could potentially be how these things connect together.

Remember, these are real rumors that have come with information that has been validated in various aspects of Star Wars on screen. So the rumors by themselves have validity. The connective tissue between them was speculation about how they connect, assuming all the building blocks to that narrative have been interpreted correctly.