This is the twisted story behind Kylo Ren's ash table

It was only on screen for about two, maybe three seconds, but one object in The Force Awakens left us with a whole heap of questions.

What the heck was with Kylo Ren's weird dusty table?

You know the one. During the interrogation of Rey (Daisy Ridley), Kylo (Adam Driver) doffs his imposing mask before slamming it into a table of black charcoal. Either the cleaners of the Star Killer base had made a habit of missing a spot, or the black dust had some weird material properties that were perfect for keeping ominous masks in pristine condition.

It turns out the story behind the macabre furniture is much, much darker.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, JJ Abrams revealed that the table was actually intended to appear in an entirely different scene:

"Sometimes bits and pieces of one scene end up being something that you use in another scene that you didn’t expect," explained the director. "That’s always kind of fun, when you realize that something you’ve shot actually has a use you didn’t expect."

Anyway, getting to the dark, twisty point...

"The backstory is, that that table has the ashes of the enemies he’s killed," said Abrams. "That moment was actually shot for, and meant to be used in, the scene where he was talking to the Vader mask."

Yep. Kylo Ren likes to rest his evil face mask in the ashes of his fallen foe. All those trainee Jedi from Luke Skywalker's academy, the various figures who have stood in his way of discovering the location of the hidden Jedi master - he keeps their remains in his personal chambers. It adds to his hoarding tendencies: if he stores ashes, clings to Vader's burnt out mask and lusts after obtaining Luke's lightsaber, what else does he hide under his bed?

Abrams' explained that this shot was moved from the Vader monologue in order to delay Kylo Ren showing his face.

"He originally had his mask off the first time we shot that scene. Then we reshot it with his mask on, but we had that shot which I loved and thought was so cool of the mask being slammed down into that ash," said Abrams says. "So that shot was stolen from the scene that we had changed and put into the scene with Rey."

Kylo Ren - the teenage emo villain the Star Wars saga has been sorely lacking. 

(Image: All Star, Entertainment Weekly)

[Via: Entertainment Weekly]