A Suit of Sables

"Let the devil wear black, for I'll have a suit of sables."
The Tragedy of Hamlet,Prince of Denmark, Scene 3 Act 2, by William Shakespeare 

Kylo Ren wears black. He's conflicted and complex. He has father issues. He contemplates a skull-like mask, presumably taken from a grave site. 

If you search for "Kylo Ren Hamlet" you will find that plenty of folks have made this comparison already. For purposes here, it's even simpler: like Kylo Ren, Prince Hamlet is a member of a generation that is, in his fictional universe, of the Artist archetype.

To start, recall that Artists are members of generations raised during Crisis periods, born after a Hero generation and before a Prophet one. Their negative attributes have come up a few times now: They are "indecisive neurotic guilt-ridden" which Prince Hamlet matches across the line. He also seems to have been born at the end of a previous Crisis, a war between Norway and Denmark.

Hamlet's father, the recently murdered King of Denmark, was a renowned Hero who "smote the sledded Polacks on the ice," who took on King Fortinbras of Norway in single combat, his life and kingdom on the line. Prince Hamlet expounds on his father's exceptional reign to anyone who is around, even the dead king's Queen, Gertrude. He's not the only one, either: Marcellus and Bernardo open the play with a discussion of these very campaigns.  In Act V, the gravediggers still talk of that fight against Fortinbras many years before, while their assessment of Prince Hamlet is little more than "mad, and sent to England." 

(The first mention of the name "Hamlet", in Prince Hamlet's own play, is of his father, the King.)

Hamlet's own actions, meanwhile, are not those of a warlike monarch. He was studying at university when summoned home for his father's funeral. While he carries a sword, and is proficient in its use, he is mostly seen in artistic pursuits: He composes poetry for Ophelia, directs the troupe of actors, writes new dialogue for them, and, of course, acts mad himself. One can imagine the Prince being carefully protected as the war ended, barely let out of the castle and never alone, allowed to go away to school but only to relatively nearby Germany. With his father, vigorous and relatively young, in charge of a now-peaceful kingdom, there is little interest in involving the Prince in affairs of court. 

Hamlet, like other members of Artist generations - like Kylo Ren - simply has no chance of being as amazing as his father, or any others around for that Great War. Their adventures are legends, spoken of later in hushed tones, with memories of accompanying portents, assurances about how it really did happen. Measured against those giants of the past, he's always going to fall short. 

As an Artist, don't expect a Redemption for Kylo Ren. As Change was futile for Hamlet, so it will be for him. The best he can hope for might be a pyrrhic attempt to set things right. Trying to save him would be a cheat. Not only is it too similar to Darth Vader's arc, it's not the way that Artists' stories turn out.