#There is a scene in the comics where Snoke embraces him in a way that’s almost fatherly and I think about that a lot

[suspiciouslypinkrosegarden]

The fact that he still dreamt of the fire and brimstone was his greatest kept secret. Behind his closed eyelids he still saw it, lightening striking and ash fluttering to the ground like unnatural snowfall, marking destruction and filling his lungs with something disgusting. His anger had soared to new heights that night as his bitterness left him empty, choking on a feeling of what he could only describe to be abandonment and betrayal. He did not know which was more haunting, the screams of those he grew up with, or the look on his uncle’s face as he raised his weapon to him.

The night Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy burned to the ground was the very last Ben Solo was alive, and what remained of it all now was an ugly wound across his very soul. Like something created by a saber, it became cauterized by the heat, a gaping hole which refused to heal as vital organs were scorched in its path. A bacta tank could do nothing to save him from his past.

Under his new name and allegiance, he channeled this very reoccurring nightmare into a powerful weapon against those who had wronged him. Drowning within the pain rather than attempting to swim was how Kylo Ren operated, and he could see no ability to heal as he allowed himself to be pulled under. Under the First Order, he would learn to reopen this gash over and over again, twisting the knife deeper into himself whenever he got the chance. Where Ben Solo once felt hope and aspiration, Kylo Ren felt a melancholy sense of intense loathing. In a way mostly unclear to him, his anger was a method of mourning, manifesting further as he watched the newest Rebel fighter receive what love and autonomy he was denied. They gave to Rey endlessly.

Kylo Ren knew he was the product of familial failure, and that voice inside of his head telling him to look towards the facts isolated him greatly from others in his youth. The galactic heroes of the century he called his guardians, the legends turned bedtime stories for new generations born, all left him to rot in their own ways. He knew he was a monster created by their faults, and they were all to blame for his very fall from “grace”, or that set path they assigned to him. Growing up, if he had told another soul that their dearest Han, Luke and Leia were far from perfect poster figures, he’d only have been named a liar. A spoiled brat complaining about what gifts the universe had bestowed upon them, his heritage a huge leverage in both training, politics and more. Listening to that small familiar whisper in his ear, the seeds of truth finally flourished under the green light of his uncle’s lightsaber hovering directly above him.

To start, if thinking of them all again, he hated the man he called father, Han Solo. In his selfishness, that bastard craved his old life of crime and could not stay grounded. He found smuggling alongside that Wookiee to be more entertaining than his family, and at the end of the day still had very little in common with his mother besides the fact that they had a kid together. Han Solo would have rather been footloose and fancy free, head in the stars above than to have played the role of husband and father. Growing up, Ben felt it all, his mind nagging him that this disconnection was in fact his reality. He hated his true name now, Solo not even being a real surname. His father never really wanted more than a fling with some pretty princess…and yet this new girl was already so snug under his wing like a kid of his own maybe. Perhaps it’s because he chases the rush of new people excited to know him as an old hero of theirs.

Then there was his mother, one of the most important political figure heads of the century. Not only was she famed for being spectacularly beautiful, but strong willed and strong minded in her fight against the empire. She was the number one thing that swayed his usage of the dark side, and he was aware of what he’d have to do in order to fix that. Sever the ties…and to think no more of her soft hands against his cheeks as she sang him to sleep as a child. She already started their separation all those years ago shipping him off to become a Jedi, without being granted the same choice she had to follow something else instead…love in order to have him. His loud inner dialogue thundered at the thought of her, sorting her out to be indeed a hypocrite. While he practiced so very far from his mother, alone and missing her, Rey received training directly from her.

And as for his uncle Luke? He made up his mind about Ben all too quickly, deciding to kill his nephew placed into his care. He had casted the scales of judgment upon him without holding a call to court, and Kylo Ren hated him most of all, for judging his pull to the dark when Luke lived with the same. In fact, Luke spared Rey when experiencing hers.

And yet…even with this map sprawled out before him, he cannot find it within himself to hate the girl they dote on. All of the rage he directs through his power cannot be channeled at her, and it’s yet another thing that makes him weaker. Kylo Ren supposes he takes pity on Rey, being a small desert planet orphan longing to hold the stars that kept her company in her lonesomeness. In time, her heroes will fail her same as they did him. He will be there when it happens, waiting.

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

ohh i saw your answer about the sequels of star wars. id love to read you tear through the whole trilogy

Well, I’ve avoided this ask long enough. Part of the reason is this is really a huge topic, far too much for one ask, so I’m going to have to do this at a very high level.

In short, the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy is what one gets when you slap together the goal of selling merchandise and making tons of money, being as risk averse as humanly possible, adding a handful of warring directors with incredibly different visions, and having virtually no imagination when it comes to the imagining and writing of characters.

And we get this beautiful, awful, franchise that for reasons beyond me people seem to actually like (though interestingly, no one seems to like all of it, they may actually like one or two of the films, but no one says all three are actually in any realm of good).

With that, let’s begin.

The Force Awakens

For me this is easily the most tolerable of the sequel trilogy: it’s not great, it’s not terrible. It’s thoroughly watchable, you can be taken along for the movie’s journey and not raise your eyebrows too much at the action and leave the theater feeling this maybe wasn’t a complete waste of your time.

There’s a good reason for that. That reason is called the most blatant form of plagiarism I have ever seen in cinema in my life.

“The Force Awakens” is just “A New Hope” wearing a mustache. Only, it’s one of those cheap mustaches you get from a party store that, if you stare at it too long, just looks like the most false and awful thing you’ve ever seen. The mustache actively makes it worse. “The Force Awakens” is “A New Hope”, but worse.

Seriously, every major character, every major plot point, every major scene I can go directly back to “A New Hope”.

Our story begins when the Resistance, at great cost to our valiant heroes including torture at the hands of the Emperor’s second in command, sends a file out into the wilderness to be received by his people. This file contains plans for the Death Star.

The film then focuses on Luke, er Rey, getting involved in the Resistance, boarding the Death Star, and successfully destroying at the same time even at the lost of a beloved mentor that she just met (trading in Obi-Wan for Han Solo). 

Our evil empire is run by an evil emperor who is so evil he sits in a chair, is served by very Moth Tarkin-esque human storm troopers, and has a second in command who revels in the Darth Vader get up (for no other reason that it makes him feel cool but we’ll get into this).

It’s “A New Hope”. Rey is Luke, Han Solo is Obi-Wan, Poe is a kind of Han Solo, Kylo Ren is Vader, Snoke is Palpatine, Hux is Tarkin, BB-8 is R2-D2, etc.

“But that’s not terrible,” you say, “I liked A New Hope?”

First, it is terrible, it gives a very bad sign of where the sequel trilogy is headed and is just lazy writing. It means that those who produced this franchise were so terrified of taking risks, of possibly ending up mocked as the prequels were, that they will deliver exactly what the original trilogy was. And what’s that? Uh, evil empires, scrappy desert kids, AND MORE DEATH STARS!

That brings us to point number two, the world of Star Wars after the events of the original trilogy shouldn’t support such things. And, if it does, my god what a bleak existence this place has turned into.

The First Order being able to rise easily from the Empire’s remains means that Luke accomplished nothing. Anakin sacrificed himself and had his moment of redemption for nothing. There was no happy ending to the Original Trilogy, our heroes failed miserably, and there is no indication that our new band of heroes can possibly succeed in their place. (More on this as the movies progress).

We now are in a galaxy where this new Republic is so pathetic that Leia doesn’t even give it the time of day and builds her own private army to battle the Empire. The First Order is able to not only rebuild a massive army by raiding villages on many different worlds and stealing children and do so successfully for at least ten years but is able to build a Death Star bigger than any we’ve ever seen before. 

And the movie tries to convince us these are completely new problems, that Luke Skywalker is a hero (remember this is TFA, not TLJ yet), and that somehow these things just sprung up out of nowhere. BUT YEAH, RESISTANCE, WOO!

As for Rey, she’s like... a worse version of Luke. Her only motivation through the entire series is her trauma at being abandoned by her parents. That’s it, there’s nothing else to her, nothing else she ever wants or feels conflicted by. She struggles with the dark side because... the dark side? Genetics? Unclear? She’s absurdly, ridiculously, powerful in a way that’s acknowledged but never that acknowledged (we’ll get into this) and the movies just fail to sell me on her in any way.

Honestly, an easy fix for me would have just been making Rey a much younger character. I could believe a fourteen-year-old having stayed in the desert, scrounging for scraps, believing her parents are coming back every day now. As a twenty-something year old... It starts getting hard to believe she never left. (Also, this gets the benefit of getting rid of Reylo, which is always a plus for me).

As for Kylo Ren, I legitimately walked out of TFA thinking he was supposed to be comic relief. He’s what happens when someone desperately wants a likable, redeemable, villain and we get... Well, as a reminder his opening scene is one of genocide: he pillages and destroys a town with no regret and brutally tortures a man for information. We’re told he’s like this “because evil evil Snoke” and that may well be but throughout the film (and the series) it becomes clear that Kylo Ren’s main motivation is he deseprately wants to be cool. He wants to be a badass like Vader, he dresses in Vader cosplay (either ignoring or not knowing that Vader only dressed like that because his body was completely destroyed), he has these huge temper tantrums and nobody respects him because he’s a toddler in a Vader suit. 

He murders his own father, his parents who (at least in the films themselves) show every willingness to take him back and forgive him what he’s done, so that he can fully embrace his own “evilness”. In other words, he commits patricide to feel cool about himself, then it doesn’t work. 

And the movie series really banks on me feeling conflicted about Kylo Ren or at least wanting him to be redeemed. Granted, the wider internet seems to love him, I just can’t.

Oh, before I forget, the other thing I love about Kylo Ren is that the movies insist he’s a) strong in the Force b) is equal to Rey. Rey consistently beats the shit out of him with 0 training. Kylo Ren has been training in the Force for years. Guys, they are not a Dyad, Rey is far far far stronger than he is and for whatever reason the films never want to admit it. Because I guess we like things coming in pairs now.

But yes, “The Force Awakens”, at a distance not great nor terrible, but a rip off of a movie we’ve already seen that left me going “Welp, the next one’s probably The Empire Strikes Back then I guess we’re getting Ewoks”. I was sort of right on that and sort of wrong.

The Last Jedi

So, JJ Abrams clearly had a vision of where he wanted this sequel trilogy to go. He set up these big questions such as what’s up with Finn, who are Rey’s parents and why was she left on this nowhere planet, will Kylo Ren be redeemed and how, who is Snoke, etc.

Now, I’m not saying these aren’t stupid questions. To be frank, they kind of are. Finn being Force Sensitive was the most inconsequential thing I’ve ever heard of, Rey’s parents should not have been used to drive the plot the way it was, as spoken above I’m clearly team gut Kylo Ren, and that Snoke was actually just Palpatine being the world’s largest cockroach is a beautiful but hilarious answer.

That said, what Johnson did was he decided, “You know what, I’m going to take every trope of Star Wars and completely flip it on its head and absolutely doom the sequel to this movie.”

And by god, he did.

We get a weirdly pointless movie in which Poe, SINGLEHANDEDLY, completely obliterates the Resistance. He first obliterates their bombers by failing to follow command, then goes and bitches about how he’s not put in command when he clearly shows no ability to understand how a military works, actively subverts orders which in turn obliterates the entire Resistance fleet until the only survivors can fit on the Millenium Falcon. They have no ships, no weapons, barely any people, and are ultimately doomed doomed doomed.

We have Finn’s weird subplot with a suddenly introduced character Rose in which the pair aid in Poe’s blowing up the resistance (they send sensitive information using the communication equipment of a guy they do not know, who fully admits to being shady and out for his own skin, and are flabergasted when he betrays them). 

Rose herself is this weirdly sweet person who seems forced into the plot to a) provide a love triangle for Finn and Rey b) provide this forced sunny outlook that I didn’t really need in the film.

We get Rey never really being trained, going into the Cave of Wonders for a few seconds, falling in love with Kylo Ren over weird Force Skype calls (where I did not need to see him shirtless, thank you film) and being horrifically betrayed when Kylo Ren turns out not to be a great guy. Never saw that coming, Rey. 

As for Kylo Ren, well... God, we get Emperor Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren, the Emperor. I’m not even that upset about the anticlimactic murder of Snoke (that was kind of funny, especially in the context of Palpatine going, “Bitch, please, you’re in my chair” immediately in the next film) but just Kylo Ren being emperor. And also that the Resistance only escapes at all because he’s so dumb he made their dumb plans seem smart (i.e. concentrates all his firepower on an illusion for ten minutes while Hux goes, “Emperor, sir, we could actually destroy the Resistance right now.”

Now, you’ll notice I didn’t complain about Luke. A lot of people are upset he became a grumpy, miserable, old hermit who sits around waiting for death. Frankly though, in this universe, that’s exactly where he is. He left “Return of the Jedi” thinking he’d saved the world, he’s resurrected the Jedi Order, and all is well. Only a decade later, his students are all murdered by his nephew, the Empire’s back, and he accomplished nothing. He’s an utter failure as a Jedi (though Luke never realizes he knew jack shit about the Jedi Order and was in way over his head but I guess that’s beyond him). Why shouldn’t he go sit on a rock and wait to die? 

Now, did he have to drink that blue dinosaur milk? Well, I guess it was funny, gross but funny so... Sure, I guess he did. But I do like that he gave Rey 0 training, they had one meditation session and then he whined about how Obi-Wan was such a stupid asshole. And then Rey ran off to be with her boyfriend, who then told her that her parents were gutter trash (which again, was funny, but I don’t think that was supposed to be funny).

Of the characters introduced in the movie, the only one I really liked was the hacker, and it was for the actor/the beautiful way in which he gracefully exited stage left with zero shame going, “You all knew I was going to betray you!” You beautiful man, you.

Rise of the Skywalker

First, when something is called “Rise of the Skywalker” you know you’re in for a rough time.

But anyways, TLJ was filled with a controversy Disney didn’t want (half their audience hated it, half loved it, but at least they sold those penguin dolls) so they desperately get Abrams back. Only, what he clearly wanted from his series has been shot to hell, and now he’s left with Emperor Kylo Ren, a completely obliterated Resistance, a dead Luke, a love interest he never planned to introduce for Finn, Rey’s parental crisis being solved with trash people, Snoke just suddenly dead, Hux planning revenge, and then some.

And so, Abrams goes the brave and hilarious route of shouting “PRETEND THAT LAST MOVIE NEVER HAPPENED”

We open to a fully functioning Resistance (their bomber fleet is back, their fleet period is back, they have all their fully trained personnel). We have Rey getting the Jedi training she needed this time from Leia, who is now a Jedi, because yay feminism rammed down my throat to make the audience feel better. Rose says “It’s cool guys, I don’t want to join the adventure this film, I’m going to stay here and work on robots” so that she can gracefully exit the entire plot. Kylo Ren is demoted from Emperor in two seconds when we discover that a) Snoke was apparently Palpatine b) for unexplained reasons Palpatine’s alive (and I am now convinced that man will never die). Kylo Ren tells Rey at the first opportunity that he lied about her trash parents AND REALLY SHE’S A PALPATINE! THIS WHOLE TIME, REY! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I’M SUPER SERIAL THIS TIME, REY.

Basically, in the course of an overly long movie, Abrams desperately shoves in everything he was trying to get out of the series, while sobbing, and sobbing even harder when things like Finn being Force Sensitive or Lando having a secret daughter get caught. I actually agree with the Producers on this, by the way, the Finn trying to tell Rey something scenes were weird and indicative of a love triangle but him being Force Sensitive instead... It says a lot that the movies did not change when it was removed, at all. And Lando was just this strange cameo who was in the film to make us feel nostalgic.

And this isn’t even getting to the ridiculous 24 hour time limit (which made me think there should have been some video game style clock in the corner letting us know when Dawn of the Third Day is coming), Palpatine’s other secret army on a secret Sith planet that can be easily taken down by taking out one navigation tower, Rey’s hilarious struggle with the dark side in which she has a vision of herself in a cape hissing, Kylo Ren’s hilarious redemption in which the movie in the form of Leia and Han Solo says, “Alright, Ben, it’s time to stop being evil” and he says “okay”, the fight with Palpatine in which I’m supposed to believe he dies for reals because... I have no idea why I’m supposed to believe he’s dead. The Reylo, god the Reylo, and Kylo Ren’s tragic, hilarious, death.

And then, of course, the ending where Rey decides she’s a Skywalker now.

I actually did laugh all the way through “Rise of the Skywalker”, you can’t not, I mean it’s a hilariously awful movie. The only thing that might have made it more hilarious was if we actually did get those Ewoks.

TL;DR

They’re all bad movies, if you want more specifics than this, you’re just going to have to ask me questions.

[gffa]

I HAVE STRUGGLED WITH THIS CHARACTER SO MUCH, but I think rereading The Rise of Kylo Ren all at once, as well as the final issue, plus the Age of Resistance - Supreme Leader Snoke and Age of Resistance - Kylo Ren issues (and a bit of the TLJ novelization), have at least somewhat coalesced this character for me. The burning question with Ben Solo has always been:  Why?  Why did he not tell anyone about Snoke talking to him in this comic?  Why didn’t he go to his mother, whom he knew still loved him?  Why did he embrace the dark side? None of this had ever really been addressed in the canon itself, it was all down to speculation, but nothing I felt I could connect to what we were actually being given with any real solidity in the canon.  And issue #4 definitely still feels a little wobbly to me, but I think it at least strung up some connective tissue for me. In rereading the first issue, I was back to:  Why doesn’t Ben go to his mother?  If he didn’t attack the school (which I’m not sure how clear it is what he did/didn’t have to do with it, if it truly was Snoke who did it, how much Ben was aware of it, how much of a hand he played in all of this, certainly it makes the timing of the destruction of the Temple INCREDIBLY coincidental if it was Snoke’s plan AND it was the night Luke and Ben fought), if he knows his parents love him (which Age of Resistance - Supreme Leader Snoke [x][x] shows that he does, he literally goes into the same cave as Luke did to show him his fears, the only thing in there is what he brought with him and he sees Luke saying he doesn’t want to fight, which means Ben knows this is true even if he doesn’t want to admit it[x], as well as the TLJ novelization has him knowing that his mother still loves him and he’s angry about it, as well as TFA itself has him not at all surprised that Han’s there to help him and bring him home, even in TLJ he’s snarling about how, oh, is Luke here to save his soul, say Luke forgives him?, which shows that he knows that Luke regrets it and cared about him)--anyway, I’m getting distracted, there’s a lot to go over! If he didn’t attack the school, if he didn’t want this, why did he run from Leia as much as anyone?  In rereading the issue, there’s an interesting flashback that’s place right in the middle of the droid asking Ben where he wants to go, where he’s thinking about his mother and he hesitates.  I didn’t really pay attention to the timing the first time because it felt like just a cool dramatic moment to show further flashbacks.  But looking for the trends I know Soule is capable of and so often puts in his writing, it struck me that the flashback was specifically set on Luke yelling, “Ben, no!” and Luke in the ruins of the Temple and Ben saying, “I didn’t want this!”  [x][x][x] Thus, I’m left to conclude that he didn’t go to her because he himself couldn’t face her, couldn’t look at all of this storm inside him and find a way out of it.  And I think that’s the thing--in reading this issue all at once, it really jumped out at me that the central theme of this comic was about the path people choose in their lives.  That there’s an undercurrent of a legacy to live up to, but that that’s just window dressing for a deeper issue--in that Ben Solo doesn’t know what his path is. On one side, he has a huge legacy to live up--the man he was named for, this larger than life great Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi, he never even met him, he hates the name he was given, Ben.  He hates the name Solo as well, because it’s a made up name, it’s not real, it’s a lie.  [x][x] This contradiction is fascinating, because he’s named through two different aspects--one, a legacy, and two, a chosen name.  Ben Solo hates the legacy name just as much as he hates the name Han Solo created for himself!  So the idea that he’s creating his real persona for himself, when he stops being a Jedi and goes to Snoke, is directly contradicted by how much he hates the chosen name, that he says it’s a lie.  As if Kylo Ren isn’t a lie he’s hurtling himself towards, too. Neither of these really seem to be the true problem, for all that they’re genuine things that anger Ben.  In the final issue, he does tell Tai, "Even my name isn't a choice.  The dark side and the light side both claimed me for their own the moment I was born.  Do you know how that feels?  Whether it's Luke Skywalker or Snoke, neither one sees me as a person.  I'm just a... legacy.  Just a set of expectations." The thing is, Ben Solo is not a reliable narrator.  He talks one minute about how the light and the dark are warring over him, even Ren comments on how he’s been fighting this every step of the way, you don’t really want to live in the shadow.  “I am the shadow,” Ben replies.[x]  He is trying so hard to shove himself onto some path, any path that he thinks will soothe him. The most emotional part of the issue (or at least one of them) is Tai’s pleading speech to him, the conversation that’s been threaded throughout the entire issue about how you choose your path.  Choice is arguably the most important theme of Star Wars, and we see that very clearly in Tai’s conversations with him.  Even in the previous issue, he tells Ben that he keeps himself locked up too tight, he’s not really being himself.[x]  Ben’s recounting of who Voe is (the other important foil for Ben’s character in this comic) is woven together with how he thinks she never really learned to be herself, rather than measuring herself again him.[x] Ren, in their very first meeting, says, hey, you know there are other paths, right? [x]  On Elphrona, Voe says he must face justice, and Ben shouts back, “You think I’m a murderer, Voe?  Is that what you want me to be!?”[x]  Tai’s big speech to him in the previous episode is all about, be who you are, which is another way of saying, “Find the path you’re supposed to be on.”[x]  Tai’s words to Voe on Elphrona are also, “[Ben] thinks [the Knights of Ren] can help him find his true path.”[x] And of course, all of the above.  Paths and choices and being who you truly are, that Ben Solo couldn’t figure out any of these things for himself.  That he didn’t really want to be a Jedi (and that’s fine, it’s not the path for everyone) and we see, we see that he could have chosen otherwise, that Tai offers him a chance to actually walk away from all of it and just go help people, we see the hesitation there before Ren kills Tai and Ben makes his choice.  Because he may not feel like he had any choices, but Tai showed that he absolutely did. Even when he truly falls into the dark--so completely that a multitude of people feel it, Leia, Snoke, Rey, Palpatine, they all sense it--it’s framed around the idea of, “I’m not anyone special, so I can do what I want.”

All of this coalesced for me into two things, especially once I added in other Ben Solo appearances in canon--this is someone who has no strong sense of self or the path he’s meant to be on, so he just sort of careens wildly from one bad choice to the next, each time hoping that it’ll feel like the right path, rather than doing the really hard work of looking inside himself and not just locking everything up into a little box. And, two, he is further trying to gain that sense of self through others.  Even when he’s not fully aware of it, he keeps walking the same paths they do--like on Dagobah, when he goes into the same cave Luke did, to face his inner fears,  he’s walking the same path his uncle did.[x] When he’s offered a choice, when Tai asks him to come back, if you want, you can absolutely read that glowy red backdrop as being similar to Anakin’s fight with Obi-Wan on Mustafar. And certainly, given that Soule was the one to write Darth Vader bleeding his kyber crystal, we can draw parallels between that and Kylo Ren bleeding his:

And that’s one of the things that the character keeps coming back to--and it’s a huge theme for Ben Solo, that he’s constantly being compared to Vader, by others and by himself.  Sure, part of it is that I assume that’s just how bleeding a kyber crystal goes, but the parallels between Kylo and Vader (and thus between Anakin and Ben) do a lot to highlight the issues between them both, that we see TROKR’s visuals are echoing Dark Lord of the Sith’s scene, as Kylo is very defined by Vader in an out-of-universe meta way. But also within the universe, he keeps comparing himself to Vader and is compared to Vader by others, because that’s kind of the point, that it’s not just too much power in an unstable person (though, that, too) or that they were born evil (no, they weren’t), but that they both couldn’t really look at themselves or the choices set before them, to either actually commit to the path they were on or to find another one.  That they both were still loved even after their fall.  That they both had people pleading with them to make a better choice. "Leave [the mask].  I said leave it!  You cannot hide behind a mask here.  You cannot pretend to be Vader in this place,” Snoke says is Age of Resistance - Supreme Leader Snoke [x] “This is where I will succeed.  ...where Vader failed,” says Kylo Ren in Age of Resistance - Kylo Ren. [x] “There’s too much Vader in him,” Han says in The Force Awakens. “A new Vader. Now I fear... I was mistaken.  Take that ridiculous [mask] off,” Snoke says, not long before Kylo smashes the mask to pieces, in The Last Jedi. It’s contradicted by Kylo’s theme of, “Let the past die.  Kill it, if you have to.” in TLJ, but it’s pretty par for the course with him, where he careens back and forth between one decision one moment and another the next, that he still has no idea what his true path is meant to be. So much of his character was patterned off of Darth Vader, both in universe and out of universe, it seems only fitting that he, like his grandfather before him, has no real sense of self or the willingness to look within himself to find what that path really is, whether it means actually committing to the Jedi path and understanding yourself and working to let go of your fears, or whether it’s finding a path away from the Jedi. And both of them felt like their power must be used for something.  "[We're going to] some planet called Elphrona.  All this way to find some old junk Master Luke will lock away in his temple and never use.  [....]  He's an amazing teacher, very strong.  I've learned so much from him... but he never seems to want to let me use any of it."[x] Ultimately, at the end of it, it seems like Ben Solo was someone who didn’t really know what he wanted out of his life and so he kept looking for the thing that would finally make him feel like it was the right path, except he kept looking to those outside himself to figure that out, whether to reject what he thought they were making him into or to use them as a measuring stick to define himself, and the only sliver of it that he ever seemed to find was when he finally stopped trying to force everything to make sense and focused on someone else for what he could do for them, instead of himself.

[kyloren]

«Charles Soule’s The Rise of Kylo Ren has finally revealed how Ben Solo fell under the sway of Supreme Leader Snoke. […] The story has also confirmed what many Star Wars fans had suspected all along; Ben Solo never really fell to the dark side at all. Where Anakin Skywalker was seduced by the dark side, Ben Solo was instead trapped by it. […] Ben Solo never truly fell to the dark side of the Force. Instead, he was imprisoned by it, trapped by the Emperor’s schemes. […] In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, when Kylo Ren told Rey to “surrender” to the dark side — unwittingly hinting at the relationship he himself had with it, one of conquest and defeat rather than conscious choice. Importantly, this reframes the end of Ben Solo’s story, because he isn’t a man of darkness redeemed, like his grandfather. Rather, he is a prisoner who was freed by the faith of his parents and the woman who loved him, and who sacrificed himself to free the galaxy and give Rey the gift of a life of freedom.»

In conclusion, ScreenRant has many rights. 

[ read full article below the cut ]

Star Wars Proves Kylo Ren NEVER Fell To The Dark Side

Star Wars has finally revealed how Ben Solo became Kylo Ren. In the process, revealing that he never actually fell to the dark side at all.

Star Wars has — perhaps unwittingly — proved that Kylo Ren never fell to the dark side at all. Although Kylo Ren considered himself the heir to Darth Vader’s legacy, in truth he never seemed committed to the dark side in the same way his grandfather was. Even in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren was portrayed as conflicted, aware of the pull of the light side of the Force.

Charles Soule’s The Rise of Kylo Ren has finally revealed how Ben Solo fell under the sway of Supreme Leader Snoke. It’s only three issues in, but the miniseries has already shown Ben Solo’s fateful duel with Luke Skywalker, the destruction of the Jedi Temple, and his recruitment into the Knights of Ren. Surprisingly, though, the story has also confirmed what many Star Wars fans had suspected all along; Ben Solo never really fell to the dark side at all. Where Anakin Skywalker was seduced by the dark side, Ben Solo was instead trapped by it.

Anakin Skywalker is a tragic figure, with his own character flaws leading him to choose the dark side every step of the way. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace touches upon his fear, anger swells within his heart in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, and by the end of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith he has chosen the way of hate. The pattern is exactly the one predicted by Jedi Master Yoda; fear leads to anger, anger to hate, and ultimately Anakin himself — and the entire galaxy — suffer because of his hatred. But there’s no such descent for Ben Solo, no moment of choice where he embraces the dark side. Rather, every step of the way, the decisions were made for him.

Ben Solo’s Duel With Luke Skywalker

Palpatine seems to have had no conscious awareness of Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, until he was brought from Tatooine by Qui-Gon Jinn. In contrast, he appears to have been interested in Ben Solo since before the boy was born. In Chuck Wendig’s novel Aftermath: Empire’s End, there’s a scene in which Leia uses the Force to sense the child inside her womb, and momentarily becomes aware of a terrifying and malevolent presence watching over her. It only lasted for a heartbeat, and was soon forgotten, but it’s now safe to assume Leia was fleetingly aware of Palpatine himself. The Rise of Kylo Ren reveals the Emperor’s presence haunted Ben Solo throughout his childhood and into his teenage years, a constant darkness whispering in his ear. That accords perfectly with Palpatine’s own words to Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, when the Dark Lord of the Sith told Ben he had “been every voice you have ever heard inside your head.” Presumably Palpatine hid his presence from Luke Skywalker in the same way he concealed his inner darkness from Master Yoda and the Jedi Council all those years on Coruscant.

Finally, the moment came, and Palpatine personally orchestrated a fateful duel between Ben Solo and his uncle Luke. The Rise of Kylo Ren makes it abundantly clear Palpatine’s dark presence was at Ben’s side that night, when Luke entered his nephew’s room to watch over him. Although it’s not officially stated, the comic strongly implies Palpatine chose to let the mask slip, allowing Luke to sense the infinite evil of the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. Little wonder Luke reacted on instinct, suddenly aware of an infinite darkness and believing it to be Ben himself. It was probably Palpatine himself who stirred Ben Solo at that moment, and the boy defended himself, goaded into action by the Emperor’s words.

The Destruction Of The Jedi Temple

With Luke Skywalker supposedly slain, the entire galaxy believes Ben Solo then turned on the Jedi and destroyed the Temple, slaughtering all of Luke’s students. Star Wars: The Force Awakens intended this to parallel the sacking of Coruscant’s Jedi Temple in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. There, Darth Sidious tested Anakin Skywalker's loyalty to the dark side by having him participate in Order 66, sending his new Sith Apprentice to the Temple to slaughter the Younglings personally. It was a horrific indication of Anakin’s descent into the dark side, and he embraced it wholeheartedly. Anakin’s actions at the Jedi Temple were essentially the point of no return, and Obi-Wan Kenobi gave up on any possibility of redeeming him after he watched the footage.

In contrast, though, Ben Solo was no participant in the destruction of a Jedi Temple; The Rise of Kylo Ren reveals Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Temple was destroyed by Palpatine. The Emperor didn’t want to act openly, fearful Luke would be too powerful for him to defeat. But with Luke down, Palpatine unleashed a terrible Force Storm upon the Jedi Temple, killing everyone there. Ben was nothing more than an observer, watching in horror as almost everyone he’d grown up with was slaughtered. He took the blame for what happened when three Jedi who had been offworld arrived, and found him standing there, grief-stricken because he believed he’d just slain his own uncle and was unable to explain the atrocity he’d just witnessed.

The Death Of Han Solo

There’s a striking contrast between Anakin Skywalker and Ben Solo. Palpatine deliberately provided Anakin with countless moments where he could choose good or evil; the soon-to-be Emperor had stacked the odds in favor of the dark side, but there was a choice nonetheless. But Kylo Ren’s decisions were made almost by default, as he was forced down the path Darth Sidious had chosen for him. His first real moment of choice appears to have come in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when he was confronted by his father, Han Solo. According to the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary, Palpatine intended Han’s death to parallel a Sith initiation ritual, where a would-be apprentice sacrifices someone who matters to them in order to bind themselves to the dark side. It’s quite striking that, all these years after Ben Solo had become his agent, the Emperor still felt the need for an initiation ritual.

But Han Solo sabotaged it. It’s safe to assume the Sith ritual required the unwilling sacrifice, an act of violence that would see the Sith Apprentice abandon their conscience and commit an act of unspeakable evil they could never go back from. Instead, Han seems to have embraced his death, willing to offer his own life if it would ease his son’s pain. It’s true that this act of patricide was still an act of darkness, but Han’s choice essentially corrupted it by adding an intrinsic element of love. In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Ben Solo reimagined the conversation, and it played a key part in his finally stepping out of the darkness and into the light. The Emperor’s initiation ritual had completely backfired. There’s a sense, then, in which Han Solo was ultimately Palpatine’s undoing.

Ben Solo never truly fell to the dark side of the Force. Instead, he was imprisoned by it, trapped by the Emperor’s schemes. The idea is implicit in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where Kylo Ren sensed the truth in Han’s words when he declared Snoke would use him and cast him aside; “It’s too late,” he answered, suggesting he would choose the light if he felt able to. And it’s there in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, when Kylo Ren told Rey to “surrender” to the dark side — unwittingly hinting at the relationship he himself had with it, one of conquest and defeat rather than conscious choice. Importantly, this reframes the end of Ben Solo’s story, because he isn’t a man of darkness redeemed, like his grandfather. Rather, he is a prisoner who was freed by the faith of his parents and the woman who loved him, and who sacrificed himself to free the galaxy and give Rey the gift of a life of freedom.

— by Thomas Bacon on SCREENRANT

[dalekofchaos]

Villains better suited for The Rise Of Skywalker instead of Palpatine

The problem with Palpatine’s return is it undermines the entire story of the  Prequel and Original Trilogies. Palpatine outliving Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, Han Luke and Leia is the ultimate desecration of Star Wars. “it was always the plan to bring Palpatine back” and that is the problem. The mere thought of bringing back Palpatine back undermines Anakin’s sacrifice and redemption. It also undermines the story of The First Order, instead of bothering to make Snoke the big bad or focusing on Kylo Ren as an absolute tyrant as Supreme Leader, they choose to instead go backwards, thus giving a giant fuck you to all 3 trilogies. So here are how I think the villain of Episode IX should have been handled.

Rae Sloane. Rae Sloane founded The First Order! Sloane was loyal to the Empire, so much so, rather than allowing it to cease to exist, she recruited other loyalists and they fled to the Unknown Territories beyond Jakku. She founded the First Order. Together with Hux, she could usurp control of the First Order and become Supreme Leader, which would start a civil war, those loyal to Sloane and those loyal to Kylo. We can have someone who could be a great antagonist to Leia. The founder of The First Order and the mother of the Resistance. What makes Rae a compelling character is the fact that she believes what the Empire is doing is right. In her eyes, the Empire is doing the right thing, purging lawlessness from a galaxy overrun by bureaucrats that care little for the common people. She’s wrong, but like great villains before her, audiences can see where she’s coming from even if they don’t agree with it. Throughout her many appearances in the supplemental Star Wars narratives, she is constantly pushing for the Empire to be “just.” When things start to fall apart after the Battle of Endor, Rae struggles to keep the remnants of the fleet playing by the unspoken rules of warfare and is frustrated to see the Empire careen into backstabbing and incompetence. You can see Rae’s influence in the First Order with its strict hierarchy and minute by-the-books stringency that makes Palpatine’s Empire look positively laissez-faire by comparison. Supreme Leader Rae Sloane would make The First Order a force to be reckoned with and what better way to end it than with the First Order’s founder?

The Grysk. The Grysks were introduced in the new canon novel Thrawn:Alliances. They are what brings Thrawn to the Empire in hopes of co-existing to fight this threat in the Unknown Regions. Grysks are a species living somewhere in the Unknown Regions. Creatures half of myth, whom few have ever seen. It is said that they are nomads, with no fixed home, traveling in spacecraft so numerous they blot out the stars. They are said to be terrifying warriors, overwhelming their opponents by sheer numbers and ferocity. The fact that these intergalactic conquerors are not the main threat in the Sequel Trilogy is baffling. You could've had Ben Solo sense they were coming during his Jedi days and made the ultimate sacrifice to become Kylo Ren and join The First Order because he knew the New Republic was not ready to face such a threat. It wouldn’t make what he was doing the entire trilogy right, but it would make explaiin why he turned and what his motivations are.

Supreme Leader Snoke. Killing off Snoke was a mistake, everyone knows that, so why not reveal he survived. Even Andy Serkis believes he should've lived and why waste such a talented actor? The perfect way to end the saga is to bring Snoke back. I know just how Snoke could have been brought back. The Darth Momin comics could've been the way to bring him back. Darth Momin kept his spirit within his helmet, so who's to say Snoke could not have done the same with his ring? Snoke's ring is from the catacombs of Vader's castle. It was made of gold and was enscribed with glyphs from the Four Sages of Dwartii. Ancient force users and Palpatine had the statues. When Snoke was cut with the lightsaber, everything but his hand with his ring fell off the thrown. It just sits there, untouched. And when Kylo puts the ring on, he becomes possessed by Snoke. It was all apart of the plan to transfer his soul into Kylo Ren, a younger and more powerful vessel.  Or even better, reveal Snoke as Darth Plagueis. It makes sense and ties the three trilogies together. Darth Plagueis was a powerful Sith Lord who could influence the midichlorians to create life and also save others from dying. He taught everything he knew to his apprentice, Sheev Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious), but he eventually lost his power and young Palpatine killed him in his sleep. How could Plagueis not foresee his own demise at the hands of his ambitious apprentice? Why did Plagueis suddenly “lose his power”? The truth is, he didn’t lose his power and he knew Sheev planned to kill him. It was part of the plan. By dying, I believe Darth Plagueis was able to transmit himself into Sheev and assume control of his body, almost like an infectious disease. Ever notice his name? Darth Plagueis. Plague, as in an infectious disease. Darth Plagueis unlocked the secret to immortality by moving from one body to the next, continuing his lifespan through multiple hosts over countless years. Ever wonder why Palpatine was so obsessed with training a powerful young apprentice? Surely he knew that one day the apprentice would want to overthrow him, so why train his own murderer? In Return of the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine continually provokes Luke to strike him down. Why would Palpatine want to be killed if the goal is longevity? Because Emperor Palpatine was assumed by Darth Plagueis and, through his death, he would then be able to transmit himself into a new host body. He wasn’t just looking for an apprentice, he was looking for a new body since Palpatine’s body was growing old. Luke Skywalker was meant to be the next host body for Darth Plagueis. But unfortunately for Plagueis, Darth Vader had a change of heart and defeated the Emperor. Snoke was Plagueis. It’s the only way to make things work. StarWars.com describes Snoke as a seeker of arcane and ancient lore, and the Last Jedi Visual Dictionary shows that he is a collector of rare memorabilia. At some point, Snoke must have found the wreckage of the Death Star on the forest moon Endor, and was infected by Darth Plagueis when he came upon the corpse of Palpatine. Did you ever wonder why Snoke thought it was so important to complete Kylo Ren’s training? It’s because Snoke was Darth Plagueis and he was training his next host body. Plagueis didn’t have a choice but to infect a really old political influencer like Snoke. Kylo was being groomed to become the next host body. Remember the infamous(ly terrible) scene in The Last Jedi where Snoke is “predicting” how Kylo Ren will kill Rey? Wasn’t it a little too obvious? Wouldn’t Snoke have been able to foresee Kylo’s treachery? See through his conflict? It’s because he wasn’t predicting Rey’s death, he predicted his own. He knew Kylo would kill him. He deliberately bullied and provoked Kylo in order to stir his anger into hatred to further fuel his dark side and lead him to completing his training.  So let's say Kylo puts on his ring for his official coronation as Supreme Leader and Plagueis take's full possession of Kylo Ren, Plagueis had an apprentice who has fully cemented himself into the dark side and now a new and more powerful body. Darth Plagueis has everything he needs to way waste to the Resistance and the final destruction of the Jedi.

Kylo Ren and the Knights Of Ren. This entire trilogy has been building up Kylo Ren as the villain and the Knights Of Ren have been built in mystique ever since. Kylo Ren has fully embraced the dark side and The First Order, his story is not of redemption, but condemnation. We need to see his motivations. Show us why he chose The First Order and why he chose to rule it as The Supreme Leader after killing Snoke. Show us his tyranny as the Supreme Leader. We need to see that the Knights Of Ren being completely loyal to Kylo Ren. We need to see them as the only survivors of Luke’s Academy. Show us companionship between Kylo and his knights. We need to see them as being Kylo’s personal army and trump card. Unlike The Praetorian Guards who were faceless Guards who all just die. Let the Knights Of Ren be people and only unmask in the presence of their Supreme Leader and show them as Kylo's only true family in his eyes. We know that the purpose of The Knights Of Ren will destroy The Resistance and finally destroy The Last Jedi. Show us what reasons Kylo has that he thinks he can justify what he’s doing. And show us that Kylo Ren is wrong. Show us that Kylo believes that he’s right, but that his belief doesn’t justify what he’s doing, the people he’s hurt, the lives he’s destroyed, the damage that he thinks will be justified if they can only get what he really wants. Show us that Kylo Ren is wrong, show that his fall will be hard and that he has to suffer with the consequences of his actions.

The climax of the movie should be at Vader's Castle on Mustafar. The new Jedi have risen, The Skywalkers. Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose and Jannah have become the Skywalkers and will face Kylo and the Knights Of Ren. It ends in Kylo's defeat and Rey severs his connection to the force and live the rest of his days out imprisoned for war crimes against the galaxy.

[missbliss12]

hi! i would love to see or hear your take on the “resurrection” theory for TROS. (in short, palpatine taking over kylo’s body and him having to sacrifice himself)

Thanks for the ask @murderous-snake​! 

I feel so under-qualified to answer this specific “resurrection” question, since I mostly guess the flow of a story and the completion of an arc or theme rather than specific plot events. With that disclaimer, I am going to try to apply my readings of symbols and themes to reflect on this theory.

There are some interesting ideas floating around about Snoke being the pawn/possessed body of Palpatine who was grooming Ben to be Palpatine’s next host, like Palpatine groomed Anakin in the prequel trilogy. I find those to be fascinating suggestions that lead me to ask “then why didn’t Palpatine possess Anakin? Was it because Anakin’s body had been so badly destroyed on Mustafar, that he couldn’t follow through with his plan? Is Ben Solo his next choice of the ultimate Force Sensitive host?” I haven’t read a lot of the other tie-in materials, so forgive me if these questions were answered anywhere else. In fact, a lot of them were answered in this post (which I’m sure you’ve seen around by @klaroline84​: https://klaroline84.tumblr.com/post/185591039362/ever-since-those-leaks-about-palpatines-ability) 

Now, breaking down my interpretations of your ask: I. Is the possession likely? II. Do I like the idea of possessed Ben?

I. Is a Palpatine possession likely? I’ve heard that Palpatine possessed bodies in the comic materials, so it is possible, if not necessarily likely. I’m basing my prediction of it being likely with what I see such a possession fulfilling in terms of the narrative. If the possession happens, it couldn’t be early on or take place in a majority of the film - that would make the conflicts and progress between Ben and Rey questionable and moot. What if Palpatine were occasionally possessing him throughout , with Ben surfacing sometimes, and Palpatine others? That’s more likely, and would really obviously hit home that Ben, since his birth, has been wrestling with dark voices fighting over his mind. I’m not sure how much I like this theory (and how likely it would be) since it seems to hit the audience over the head with sympathy strategies, while Ben has always been a subtly crafted conflicted dark knight. 

So I imagine if such a possession were to take place, it would be after Ben and Rey deal the deadly blow to Palpatine and, in a latch ditch effort, Palpatine possesses Ben’s consciousness. To show maximum character growth, Ben would have to be able to successfully fight the darkness this time or at least offer himself up as a sacrifice. And Rey would have to reject his death, seeing Ben as her necessary and complex other half, not a monster to be put down. 

This leads me to question how would a Force Bond act if one of its parties were possessed? Do both minds become corrupted? Is the power of the possession diluted over two minds? I’d kinda like to see the Ben-Palpatine-Rey struggle take place in some shared mental world, a symbol of the Force link they share.

I’ve also seen some theories suggesting Rey will be possessed and Ben will save her. It’d be very interesting in seeing Rey wrestle more with the dark, this perhaps being a culmination of her time in the resistance shattering her illusions of heroes, putting her in the place of behind-the-scenes Young Ben Solo, and feeling the terrible psychologically torturous aspects of being a lone Force Sensitive for a longer amount of time. I think Rey should not be reduced to a flat archetype of goodness, an inhuman paragon of purity who feels no hurt, experiences no significant stumbles, and relates to monsters and others in an alien and patronizing way. I loved the unexpected dark she showed in TLJ - I want more of that in TRoS. So maybe a possessed Rey would be the most interesting development as long as she is not reduced to a damsel in distress or “power drives women mad unless handled by strong man” figure. It would have to be a culmination of her acceptance of the dark within her - how cool would it be if she called on her and Ben’s shared dark/light to fight off Palpatine? If she harnessed the dark she chose to fight and Ben harnessed the light he tried to quash to vanquish this first ancestral evil force? 

II. Do I like the idea of possessed Ben? If possessed!Rey or possessed!Ben happens, I don’t want one saving the other. I want them to offer each other the strength to save their selves (side note: I forgot to put this on my playlist post, but I associate the Kaleo song “Save Yourself” with TRoS). That is the thrill of the throne room, Ben and Rey having each other’s backs as they fight their shared enemies. They should also vanquish Palpatine by helping each other come to terms with the coexistence of light/dark in each other. The more I think about it, the more I want a Palpatine possession to happen of BEN AND REY if it draws them out of a simple physical “kill the dragon” fight and into a complex Force Bond mental battlefield where the bonded pair draw on their combined powers to dispel Palpatine from their shared body. 

IN CONCLUSION: I have no prediction on whether a possession will take place (other folks, please continue to place your bets), but I’ve become very interested in seeing Palpatine possess both Ben and Rey and push them into a mental Force Bond struggle where Ben and Rey embrace a throne room-like union of their own light and dark to vanquish the emperor together. It would be thematically resonant, transcendent, harmonious, transformative, and wonderfully sensual.

Wow, writing this out has changed my thoughts on Palpatine possessions in TRoS! Thank you for compelling me to think more about this. I might do some comics or art to more clearly explore some complications of Ben and Rey possessions. But I hope that wasn’t too confusing to read (I was thinking this through as I was writing, so it lacks coherent development around a focused thesis statement). Anyway, I’d love to get others’ thoughts!

[kindabraveandlittlestupid]

A love/hate review of the Star Wars The Last Jedi and also the disappointment in corporate Disney trimming the extended universe away from the Star Wars. Just to be clear, I don’t stand with those toxic males of the web who attacked Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran and the rest of the cast/crew. The movie is a work of fiction and I above all other emotions value decency as the foundation of my views and beliefs (or at least I try to make that my foundation). I am gonna share my opinions/views as always, I am just a guy on the web with little power what Hollywood makes. If you agree with me, that's great! And if you don't, that's fine too.

Goodbye J. J. (Hate) My first complaint is the change of direction from the first movie. J.J. Abrams had managed to establish some worthwhile intrigue with the characters/plot like Rey's background, the hunt for Luke, and Finn's moral crisis. Seemingly the new director/writer decided to take a step away from these established storylines/characters to explore his own take on these things. Luke is no longer interested in the good fight and embraces apathy, Rey comes from nowhere/no one, and Finns short coma results in him having the same cowardly acts from the first movie instead of giving him personal growth after his heroics at Starkiller Base. It's like whiplash where you have had expectations of these story/plot threads being followed only to have them be ignored or to become completely unremarkable in the next film.

Rose & Paige Tico (Love) I admit there is a lot of things about this movie that rubbed me the wrong way but the addition of Rose was not one of them. The Star Wars has always suffered from a lack of female characters in the movies and they seem to be making some strides to balance out the gender scales. She provided a new character to focus on away from the Roguish Pilot and the Ex-Stormtrooper giving us the optimistic/loveable Mechanic that we could invest out feelings in (which reminded me of another sci-fi female mechanic who I wish I saw more on screen).

What upset me about Rose was the fact I wanted to know MORE about her backstory and her relationship with her sister, Paige. The geek in me would love to have some webisodes dedicated to their relationship (as well as other characters) and how they got into the rebellion in the first place but alas the story relegated her to a secondary plot line on a gambling planet that showed off rich people being assholes which was ultimately pointless to the storyline and failed to further the plot.

I look forward to seeing how they develop her in the next movie, considering so few people are left in the Rebellion... I mean Resistance. On a parting thought, I am still not sure about the Fin/Rose kiss they tried to apply to the movie... felt a little forced if you ask me.

Marvel Humor (Hate) There is a noticeable change to the formula of the Star Wars movies and we know this new formula very well. Disney has been enjoying the tidal wave of cash coming in from the MCU with movies like the Avengers, Ironman, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy and so on which brings in billions (with a B) into the Magical Kingdom. Naturally, they think they struck gold (which they have) but now they are taking that Marvel Universe humor and projecting it into other franchises they own to try and milk money out of them.

This was on full display in Star Wars with the ‘prank call’ Poe used while talking to Hux. This universe enjoyed some banter in its previous movies but this very scene seemed foreign in the Star Wars Universe. As if Hux wouldn't have a laser cannon blow Poe right up. The movie continued to layer more and more MCU humor into the movie with Chewie eating the Porg in front of other horrified Porgs, Luke throwing a lightsaber nonchalantly over his shoulder, and tickling Rey with a piece of grass.

Granted there wasn't AS MUCH humor as you might see in Guardians or Ironman but they are starting to inject it into the films and in my opinion, it undermines the quality of the movie and the universe quite a bit by trying to make it something its not. This is why I enjoyed the grittier Rogue One so much that applied some humor with the android K-2SO but didn't allow shtick with other characters (which was good).

The point is their Gold Equation of humor connecting to the audience shouldn't be transplanted so easily from one franchise to the next, it robs the authenticity of Star Wars and what we know and love.

Vice Admiral Holdo (Love/Hate) Such a disappointing end to what could have been a good transfer of authority to a new female lead. I know we all mourn the death of Carrie Fisher and I appreciate the Luke and Lei scene at the end but the introduction of Holdo only to have her kamikaze the cruiser left me wondering why even make her a part of the movie? I mean really... her fight with Poe and his tactics could have carried into the next film, having her fill in as the new leader of the rebellion would have created a new strong female character and the very ‘heroic’ death she was given could have been done by Leia or Admiral Fucking Ackbar which would have been 10 times better then a random character added only to be killed off.

I blame this (like most things) on Director Rian Johnson who thought he was being clever but making the audience think "Oh she must be taking over for Leia!" only to kill her off as a sort of low-level plot twist. Frankly, it came off as less of a twist and instead of a pointless removal for an otherwise interesting character who could have moved onto the next movie.

Rey and Kylo Tag Team (Love) This might be hands down one of the best lightsaber fight scenes in the Star Wars Universe. If I am going to give the director any credit, it will be for giving us this gem of a scene where Kylo turns on his Master Snoke. This is the sort of action I crave to see in the Star Wars movies and making me wish (badly) that there was a Knight of the Old Republic film in the making. Hell, I just watched it again on Youtube just to remind myself how awesome it was.

Rey and Kylo Shipping (Hate) On the other hand with the whole force connection thing between Kylo and Rey, the idea of them being attracted to each other felt like a betrayal to well... Rey’s logic and mortality. Let us assume she has some attraction to Kylo would she have forgotten everything he did in the previous movie? Destruction of two villages on Jaku, slashing her new best friend in the back (Finn), stabbing her new father figure (Han) thru the chest, killing Lukes students, attempting to torture her for information and lastly being part of the First Order after shooting off Starkiller Base that destroyed 4 inhabited planets with billions (with a B) of lives on said planets? I know Rey might have temptations to the dark side but for fuck sake is she turned on by a literal genocidal maniac?

Rian Johnson & Disney Scaling Back the SWU (Hate) I realized this review is leaning more towards the Dark Side then the Light but I agree with some of the fanboys sentiment on the destruction of the Star Wars Universe. I am not sure if Rian is to blame 100%, I know Disney decided to cut all books, comics, and video games as NOT canon in the SWU but he seemed to have his hand in it with each rebel ship blown to pieces while escaping the Imperial... I mean First Order fleet.

This was hard for me to some degree, I played games like Knight of the Old Republic, The Force Unleashed, Jedi Academy, Shadows of the Empire, Republic Commando and read dozens of comics and books over the years. An yet because the franchise switched hands from Lucas to Disney and Disney had no hand in building all the extended universe they simply cut it away and said: “Nope! None of that counts”. I can understand why some people might get upset having invested time into exploring the Star Wars Universe only to have to evaporate before them like Thanos’s Infinity snap.

Rian drove this point home in the movie burning the Jedi texts (which contents weren't really important but symbolic of the Jedi Philosophy no longer being part of Star Wars), decimating the Rebels (Resistance) to the point the remainder all fit onto the Millennium Falcon, and even killed off or sent away new additions that could have helped expand the new trilogy into something great. Porg Plushies (Hate) *Sigh* I don’t like adding another hate to the list but few things in this movie made me personally feel good about it. We killed off interesting characters (Phasma and Holdo), had pointless side plots on Canto Bight (the Gambling Planet) and the scaling back of a great extended universe. An then we had the addition of Porgs...

I don’t dislike the concept of the Porgs, in fact, these puffin/otter hybrids are kinda cute. I dislike them as they seemed to have the pretty clear purpose of moving merchandise. Now, this isn't new for Star Wars if you know cinema you know that Lucas was highly protective of his own toy sales which is how Spaceballs was able to parody Star Wars so much as long as they didn't sell their own toys. They use the word Toyetic for this very thing of making a character or thing so they can move product off the shelves. Its why the Batmobile had so many changes with each passing movie in the 90′s.

The Porgs are no different, they maxed out the BB8 toy sales from the last movie and introduced an animal to sell plushies, slippers, bobbleheads and backpacks for kids and geeky adults. I am honestly not a fan of this sort of capitalism being pushed off thru movies but there it is and I am sure when episode 9 comes out there will be something new for them to sell us.

DJ (Love) Despite there being literally no good reason for DJ (Benicio del Toro) being in this movie with the pointless side quest on Canto Bight. This character might have some potential for future movies. We certainly explored the good smuggler scoundrel with Han Solo and Lando Calrissian but never explored the bad smuggler element quite yet (save some in the Solo movie).

I particularly liked the whole part with him explaining the manufacturing of weapons for both the First Order and the Resistance. It was perhaps one of the most insightful moments in the movie that could have easily reflected back on our own failings in regards to war. Just like how Canto Bight reminds us that the scum of the Galaxy don't just reside at the bottom but also the top. I hope to see him again but I am not sure how they will explore him in the next plot.

Super Leia (Hate) Lord knows when Leia became adept in the force that she could survive in outer space let alone fly around like Superman! This scene seemed crafted for the trailers making everyone believe this would be the way to double down on the ‘Evil Kylo’ angle and writing Carrie Fisher out of the Star Wars Universe but instead she survives as another pointless twist just like Holdo being the one to ram the ship into The Supremecy or DJ betraying Finn and Rose for money.

Just reminder if you're in space; your air escapes your body (including your butt), the saliva in your mouth begins to boil, air is cut off to your brain, and all the blood vessels on the surface of your body would break. I am glad she didn't die and had another scene with Luke but due to poor writing and trailer bait, they decided to keep this horrible scene in the movie.

Shallowing (Hate) Beyond the new additions (Holdo, DJ, Rose), the reoccurring characters become shallow in their roles. As I said, Luke now doesn't give a shit despite having 30+ years to mature, Hux is reduced to a punching bag for Kylo, Kylo is still emo as ever, Rey is becoming a Mary Sue (or perhaps not with her floundering romance with a mass murder), Finn had the same "coward, not coward" story arc from the first film, Phasma disappointingly is defeated by FN 2178 a second time, Poe is now a one dimensional reckless flyboy, and Leia is secretly Kryptonian. Point is there is no meaningful personal conflict with the characters, not enough time spent with the new ones, and a few of their portrayal betray canon for either a laugh or just because they simply didn't care.

Conclusion The point is, I liked the Kylo/Rey lightsaber battle against the Bodyguards, I enjoyed the battles in space, the silent ramming of the Raddus at light speed into The Supremacy and I still loved the new character (Rose). Most of the problems in this film start not from the characters but from Disney scaling back the universe and the new Director who changed the narrative. It bothers me just a little that everyone is celebrating the film despite these major flaws and aren't more pissed off those decades of content has just been expelled from the Star Wars Universe in exchange for the new “Disney Star Wars Universe" we will be forced to live with. About the only thing that is safe is Chewie and thats because the Wookie doesnt age like actors do. Thanks for the read.

Regards Michael California

[nitrateglow]

Thoughts on The Last Jedi (spoilers under the “keep reading” line)

I originally wanted to just make a small list of things I liked and did not like about this movie, but I’ve come to realize my feelings are a bit more complicated than I expected. I don’t hate it, nor do I think it is the worst film in the series; however, I am baffled by the arguments that it’s somehow a clever deconstruction of the Hollywood blockbuster formula or finding new ground for SW. If anything, I found it an aimless, poorly paced retread of familiar tropes and ideas with only a few interesting elements to save it from being mediocre.

I’ll start with what I considered all-around good: the acting is excellent across the board. Every actor is game, doing their best and even elevating the material at times. It was a bittersweet experience to see the late Carrie Fisher here and even with her limited screen-time, she brings a great deal of dignity and spunk to the princess/general we know and love. Mark Hamill gives one of his best performances as Luke, communicating worlds of pain and regret with his eyes alone. While he isn’t one of the greatest actors of all time outside of the voice-acting world, he is incredibly effective here. Thankfully, Oscar Isaac gets more to do this time around. And everyone else is on the whole fine, even great at times. I was also impressed with the visuals and editing, which are often breathtaking, especially on the big screen. The casino planet was pretty rad too; I can so see the rich and powerful hanging out in such a place. And—everything else is extremely mixed for me.

This movie reminds me of Attack of the Clones in that it is all over the place tonally. I am all for genre hybrids or movies that can touch on several emotional shades at once, but it is a hard thing to do and this movie isn’t up to that. One minute it’s dead serious and in the grand epic mode, then the next we’re dealing with broad comedy more appropriate for a Marvel film. That juxtaposition felt awkward in the prequels and it feels awkward here.

For all the critics’ talk of this movie breaking new ground, I remained frustrated by the same old rehash of lines and themes from the OT. There’s still the good versus evil, the empire chasing rebels Everything is also rushed beyond belief, which seems like a weird conclusion to draw about a 2 ½ hour movie. Rose is barely developed, despite her potential to be a great character (her romantic feelings for Finn are woefully half-baked; I would say the only thing that even makes you believe she was into him was her slight bout of hero worship in her initial scene with him). Finn doesn’t evolve beyond what he was in TFA. Rey doesn’t change, despite the challenges posed to her ideas about the Force by both Luke and Kylo. Her training with Luke, if you can even call it that, is basically nothing, even less than the crash course Luke got from Yoda in Empire. We’re led to believe Luke has some great development, but that’s yet another thing that has little payoff.

Overall, I am torn on Luke Skywalker’s characterization. On one hand, I believe he would become disillusioned with the Jedi after he lost his nephew to the Dark Side—however, do I believe he would stay on that island after hearing one of his oldest friends was MURDERED by the former student he feels he failed? I’m sorry, I don’t. I know people change as they get older and I know enough cranky old people to see how life can beat you down and make you emotionally exhausted. But the thing about Luke is that he’s stubborn and contrarian; when Yoda and Obi-wan told him to give up on Vader (a Sith who committed WAY worse sins on a much grander scale than Kylo-Ren ever did), he went with his hunch that his father could be redeemed, even though he had only his gut instinct as evidence to go on. I have a hard time believing he wouldn’t try to right the wrong he did to his nephew. Him retreating from the conflict feels as false as the strong-minded and very active Padme losing the will to live at the end of Revenge of the Sith. His death sits even less well with me, since I feel the character had more to do and should have been more active in trying to aid the Resistance and train Rey.

Kylo-Ren is more interesting this time around, more conflicted and morally ambiguous. His temptation to turn to the Light mixed with his savagery is great. His interactions with Rey, which are simultaneously uneasy and charged with sexual tension, are fascinating. And yet, like so much else in this movie, it all goes nowhere. I still have no clue why Kylo is drawn to the Dark Side. With Anakin, it was an outgrowth of growing up as a powerless slave and losing those he loved to war and violence, which makes it clear why the idea of a fascist dictatorship would appeal to him. For Palpatine, it was because he was a greedy psychopath. But Kylo? I have no idea what he feels he’s getting on an emotional level from the Dark Side. What do Snoke and the Dark Side promise him that makes turning evil so tempting? He didn’t hate his parents, however lacking he felt they were. Luke was hard on him, though we learn that’s because the kid was already turning to the Dark Side. So where does it all originate? I have no clue and I think, yeah, it’s not unreasonable for me to understand what motivates one of the major villains of this new trilogy. Because otherwise, it is hard for me to be fully invested in him as a character.

In fact, the whole First Order are just disappointing villains, a second-rate empire. I have no idea how they were able to come to power, not only because it’s never brought up in either this film or TFA, but because these guys are about as competent as the Three Stooges. Hux is a punchline subjected to “yo mamma” jokes and proving himself utterly useless time and again. Phasma is pretty much like Boba Fett: she looks cool and fights well, only to get killed off without ceremony. Snoke is a dumber Voldemort, built up as this clever, evil genius only to be proven even worse at underestimating his employees and enemies than Palpatine! I was never a fan of the character to begin with, finding him bland, but here, he just shows up, cackles evilly, then dies in a rather comical manner. How did he come to power? It has to be more than just his powers; even Palpatine was a politician and he preyed on the Clone Wars’ devastation to convince people to make him Emperor. But Snoke? Nothing.

The pacing was also a huge issue for me. Now, I normally dig slow pacing—but this was excruciating, probably because I felt like the story was going nowhere much of the time. Finn and Rose are wasted, given nothing but a McGuffin side-quest. Every time we cut to them, I just lost so much interest. As for the political “subtext” (if you can call an explicitly socio-political monologue subtext) in the Finn and Rose sub-story, I’ll just say I agree with critic Tim Brayton on the matter:

And this plotline feeds right into the absolutely unforgivably terrible subplot, which is the adventures of Finn (John Boyega) the cowardly ex-storm trooper, and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), the class-conscious engineer, who go on a fetch quest that is every bit as pointless as the whole matter of the military nonsense, only even worse, because it hinges on terrible comedy, bad CGI, and a spectacularly horrible moment when Johnson stops the film in its tracks to provide a ruthlessly on-the-nose lesson about economic inequality and the military-industrial complex, and I hate this all the more for the film's message in this moment being one I passionately agree with - if something has to be artless and awful, better that it not take down a cause I hold dear as part of the collateral damage. And it really is awful; the worst thing in the movie, despite the best intentions of various film critics to defend it (I am sorry, but "has politics I like" is not all it takes to make a movie good. If all you want is for a film to spit your ideology back at you, and it doesn't matter if this is done with any grace or artistry at all, congratulations: you are a Stalinist. I like politics in movies - I love politics in movies - but not every political filmmaker is Sergei Eisenstein, and they should damn well not be treated like they are).

I have no problem with this political/social angle being there; hell, I love the idea of the Rose character and the theme of inspiring the downtrodden (the idea of legends and the power of storytelling really appealed to me, and I loved that last scene with the kids re-enacting the OT story in the stables), but like so much else they feel underwritten and clumsily implemented. It doesn’t help that this side plot feels oddly disconnected from everything else and is far less interesting than Poe or Rey’s stories. And once again, I feel like it accomplished nothing whatsoever, much like the majority of this story.

Now, people might argue the main theme of this movie is about failure and how we must learn from it, thus making this side-plot appropriate. The thing is, I don’t think anyone besides Poe learned much of anything from their mistakes or failures, let alone Finn and Rose. According to writer/director Rian Johnson, one of the big inspirations for this film was the 1964 classic Three Outlaw Samurai, a movie in which the titular heroes become disillusioned with the samurai code and the corruption of the culture in which they live. Concepts such as honor and loyalty become muddied. TLJ is clearly trying to weave a similar theme, with Kylo, Luke, and Ghost!Yoda calling for a new age in which the Jedi and Sith are no more. The problem? Kylo still embraces much of the Sith ideology as much as he claims he’s let go of it (okay, yeah, Abrams claimed he wasn’t a Sith, but that seems more like an in-name only affair given the dynamic between Kylo and Snoke), and Luke, for all his “the Jedi gotta go” lip service, ends his life by triumphantly claiming, “I will not be the last Jedi,” implying he’s passing the torch to Rey. So much for questioning the past.

At the end of the day, the movie left me frustrated and hollow. I’m not very excited to see where they take the story next, because it’s clear they’re going with same-old, same-old, only with vague motivations and no sense of direction. I don’t get what the big point of this new trilogy is. The OT is at its heart about Luke coming of age as a Jedi Knight and redeeming his father. The PT is a tragedy about the fall of both a man and a democracy. The sequels though? I have no clue. I don’t think they go far enough in their attempts to challenge our ideas about the Force or the Jedi, or good and evil. It’s the same old rebels versus tyrants fight, only this time around the villains are more inept than usual and the good guys, for all their failures, don’t appear to learn much of anything.

[irinapaleolog]

The fourth and final issue of Marvel’s The Rise of Kylo Ren has been released, bringing an end to the highly popular limited comic series written by Charles Soule. If you haven’t read them, then be warned, there are going to be a lot of spoilers here as we unpack all the information we’ve learned about this fan-favorite character. We’ll also be looking at the various tie-ins into the greater Star Wars lore.

Let’s get to it!

1. Ben didn’t destroy Luke’s Jedi Temple In The Last Jedi, Luke believed that Ben destroyed his Jedi Temple after their brief battle. In Luke’s retelling, Ben burned everything to the ground and took a handful of students. However, in The Rise of Kylo Ren Issue 1, we see a confused and distraught Ben quite a distance away from the Jedi Temple. As he looks on towards the temple, it blows up. Ben is clearly shocked and upset, saying that the destruction of the temple wasn’t what he wanted. We come to learn that it was actually the Knights of Ren who destroyed the temple in an act of revenge against Luke.

2. Young Ben had a good friend While none of this was covered in the film trilogy, nor would we have expected it to, The Rise of Kylo Ren gave us a little look into the life of young Ben Solo. In The Last Jedi, Luke mentions the other students he took on when he started his training Temple, and while we are introduced to three of those students in Issue 1, we don’t really learn about them until Issue 3. There are three students in particular that Ben talks to Ren about: Voe, Hennix, and Tai.

Voe, a student strong in the force, had an adversarial relationship with Ben. While Ben, with his mighty Skywalker blood, was unsurprisingly strong in the force, Voe did everything she could to measure up to Ben. According to Ben, “She wanted to be me, or better than me.” In the end, she felt nothing but anger and shame for feeling that anger.

Hennix was a student who approached the Force much differently that the other students. To him, the Force was a puzzle that he aimed to solve. Ben enjoyed his company because he was different and funny.

And finally, there was Tai. It’s clear that Ben had a different relationship with Tai than he did with the other students. Tai could sense that Ben was walling himself off from the others. And Ben, being as closed off as he was, opened up a little to Tai. This created a strong bond between the two of them that is further seen in Issue 4. Tai encourages Ben to be himself even as Ben is feeling the sheer weight of his bloodline as a Solo, as a Skywalker, and being named after one of the greatest Jedi in history. At this point Ben is struggling with the light and dark side of himself, and Tai, probably sensing that struggle, is the only one to acknowledge that Ben is not as dark side as he thinks he is.

3. Ben met the Knights of Ren while on a mission with Luke In Issue 2, young Ben goes on a mission with Luke and Lor San Tekka to an abandoned Jedi Temple on the planet Elphrona. Once they enter the temple, they encounter the Knights of Ren who are there to steal ancient Jedi artifacts and Ben meets its leader, Ren. After the Knights tangle with Luke, Ren addresses Ben and seemingly tries to recruit Ben into the Knights. Ren tells him that there are other paths to follow and as they leave, Ren purposely leaves his helmet in the temple. The helmet will eventually play a role in helping Ben contact the Knights.

It also shows that Ben has known Lor San Tekka for a long time which makes the opening scenes in The Force Awakens particularly devastating.

4. Snoke and Palpatine were always in Ben’s mind The films only briefly touch upon the idea that Snoke was always in Ben’s head, talking to him and molding him. Leia attributes Ben’s turn to the Dark Side as Snoke’s doing. And in The Rise of Kylo Ren, we see the proof of that. Even as a young boy, Ben could hear Snoke in his head and he would have conversations with him. And after the events at Luke’s temple, Ben makes his way to Snoke, to the only voice that was with him from the beginning.

In The Rise of Skywalker, we find out that Emperor Palpatine was also a voice in Ben’s mind. Which makes sense, since Snoke was a clone created by Palpatine. But in Issue 4, we also see how Palpatine’s voice encourages Ben to fight and ultimately strike down Ren, thereby claiming leadership of the Knights of Ren. In fact, in Issue 4, we see Palpatine in Exegol just as we see him in The Rise of Skywalker. So yes, clone Palpatine was around for a while.

5. Young Rey sensed Ben’s turn In Issue 4, we get the big duel between Ren and Ben Solo. After Ren kills Tai, Ben Solo decides it’s about time to do what he has to do. Taking his dead friend’s lightsaber (mirroring Rey’s dual lightsaber fight with Palpatine), he attacks Ren. The fight culminates in Ren’s death, but not before we see Ben’s final turn to the Dark Side. Claiming that he is the shadow (also mirroring Rey’s “I am all the Jedi”), Ben doesn’t hold back in this fight. Drawing from his anger and his hate and his shame, he can hear the voices of Palpatine and Snoke urging him to strike Ren down and ultimately claim his birthright. As Ben deals the final blow, we see Leia sense his turn, and surprisingly, we see young Rey on Jakku feel something cold. This confirms that the dyad was connected long before the films.

6. Kylo is a name from Ben’s childhood The Rise of Kylo Ren shows us Ben’s dark turn, but we also get a brief story behind his name. Ren, obviously comes from the Knights of Ren and their leader, but Kylo comes from a more innocent place. In Issue 2, Snoke tells Ben that he was not born Snoke but that he became Snoke (or rather, cloned as Snoke?). This leads Ben to consider what name he will take should he join the Knights of Ren, the name that will allow him to bury his past and retain a part of him that he “wants to cut away” since he feels his whole name comes from lies. This means that “Kylo” was who Ben thought he was, his true self, and not the name of a famous Jedi he never met.

7. Snoke was Injured by Luke We never see it, but the injury to Snoke’s face was caused by Luke. In Issue 1, Ben says to Snoke, “Look what Master Luke did to you.” And that’s all the information we get about it. There are some theories as to how it happened, and it would be interesting learn about the relationship between Snoke and Luke. Obviously, Luke and Leia knew about Snoke for some time because of his ties to the First Order, but when and how did Snoke and Luke wind up in the same place?

8. A Jedi holocron reveals a major character from the High Republic When Ben is telling Ren about Luke’s other students, specifically Hennix, we get a look at a Jedi holocron. When Hennix opens it, we see the hologram of a woman who says, “Hello searcher, I will guide you on your way.” It is the same holocron Luke finds in the abandoned temple in Elphrona.

Writer Charles Soule later revealed that the Jedi’s name is Avar Kriss, and she will play a major role in his upcoming book The High Republic: Light of the Jedi.

9. Elphrona In Issue 2, Luke takes Ben and Lor San Tekka to an abandoned temple on the planet Elphrona. In an attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order, Luke travels to this temple to pull whatever Jedi artifacts he can. The outpost on Elphrona was built during the High Republic and this is where the Jedi stored a lot of their artifacts including weapons, Jedi and Sith holocrons, and texts.

Unfortunately, the temple was lost in Issue 2 when Voe, Hennix, and Tai find Ben as he’s trying to locate the Knights of Ren, A battle ensues, and Hennix is killed by Ben (albeit on accident?), and instead of killing Voe and Tai, Ben destroys the outpost in an attempt to bury the two Jedi within it.

10. The Conflicted Nature of Ben Solo Throughout the four issues, we get a clearer picture of the ongoing conflict within Ben Solo. Rey talks about the conflict in the films because she can sense that it’s still very much alive within him. In the series, he constantly feels the pull between the light and the shadow. During his duel with Tai, Tai tries to reach the light within Ben (much like Rey does), but Ben explains his conflict, “Whether it’s Luke Skywalker or Snoke, neither one sees me as a person. I’m just a…legacy, just a set of expectations.” Throughout his life he’s been told which path he must take. He was groomed by Snoke to embrace the shadow, he was taught by Luke, Leia, and Han to embrace the light.  

This all gives new meaning to his “let the past die” mantra. He mentions it twice to Rey in The Last Jedi. First on Ahch-To: “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. It’s the only way to become what you were meant to be.” And, “It’s time to let old things die,” he says after the throne room battle, “Snoke, Skywalker, the Sith, the Jedi, the Rebels; let it all die.” He is tired of the incessant pull of both the light and the shadow on himself (and maybe on the galaxy as a whole), and the only way to be rid of it is if he kills it himself.

But even when he takes on the title of Supreme Leader, he’s still conflicted. Rather than taking his own advice and let the past die, he lets it gnaw at him which culminates in the duel between him and Luke on the planet Crait. Needless to say, his internal conflict is not resolved after that battle.

It is interesting when you consider the amount of people who constantly fought to pull Ben Solo to their side. Palpatine, Snoke, Ren, Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando, Rey, and Tai all actively fought for Ben in some way. The tragedy is that most of them died in that pursuit (and Rey is no exception, she would have used up her life force to save Ben on Kef Bir if the spoilers from The Rise of Skywalker novelization are true). What’s heartbreaking is that regardless of the people who loved him, minus Snoke and Palpatine, Ben Solo believed the dark voices in his head; he truly believed that he’s meant for the Dark Side. “I am the shadow,” he tells Ren. “I am a monster,” he tells Rey.

It’s not until the end of Rise of Skywalker that he finally chooses as side, as Ben Solo, but at a substantial cost. All those who fought for him are gone (or gone-ish). He killed his father, his old friends, and countless others. Only Rey remains. But it’s telling that once Ben Solo renounces the Dark Side, his first and only real act is to fight by Rey’s side, and ultimately sacrifice himself to bring Rey back to life.

Ben Solo’s story takes us on an emotional journey of a young man who never truly found his place in all this. It’s a story of legacies, familial expectations, and the eternal pull of the light and dark. It’s also about redemption, internal struggle, and embracing who one is. These reasons are why Ben Solo will remain one of the most popular and most relatable characters in Star Wars lore.

What do you think? Were there other things you learned about Kylo Ren in this series? Let us know!

The Rise of Kylo Ren Issues 1-4 are available now at your local comic book stories, or you can get digital copies through Amazon’s comiXology app.

[diaryofasithchick]

KYLO REN.. LOVE/HATE?..

Posted on May 3, 2016 by sithladysiren

Whether you’ve seen the newest episode of Star Wars: The Force Awakens or not, one thing you cannot run from was the epic hype our newest Dark Side villain has received over the past months since the release of the newest film in the collection. Kylo Ren has not only made his movie appearance, but has also made his way onto the very funny comedic show Saturday Night Live, introducing a skit about Kylo Ren going undercover on Starkiller Base. He has been all over social media and made into a popular Twitter account called ‘Emo Kylo Ren’ due his temperament and his slight obsession with his grandfather, Darth Vader. One thing we cannot deny is that he has won the hearts of many and the hate of others. He is the most complex dark side villain we’ve seen in Star Wars yet and that’s seemed to of caught positive and negative attention.

Adam Driver, the actor who portrayed the role of Kylo Ren said it best in an interview for The Force Awakens: A cinematic journey. “Instead of this menacing figure you’re use to, or someone that’s more mustache twirly and obvious there was actually someone more human..” In a way, that seems to make him more unpredictable and malevolent. When you’re human, what do you consider human about yourself? I’d say emotion. Emotion is natural to human characters, but with a lot of villains you don’t see that side of their character mostly because the villain isn’t the one most people want to sympathize with. That’s become a common part of human morality in this age. Sinc e the dawn of human civilizations, we’ve been taught evil and good. We’ve always had someone telling us what’s right and what is wrong, so when something so natural to us is messed up by a character who you subconsciously understand.. what do you think happens? Some people embrace that understanding, but others refuse to accept that character’s mere presence. I can say that most of my favorite characters are evil and I love it. I’m not a totally bad person myself, but there is something so intriguing about someone with no morals. That is the exact reason you see the news is full of people who’ve done bad things because it brings more attention than the good people. Chew on that for a bit!

January 14th was the first day I actually got to see The Force Awakens for the first time. Me, being a die hard Star Wars fan, I wanted to go opening night so bad, but I had way too much going on in life to go. I don’t have a lot of close friends who share my same love of Star Wars, so I had gone to the movie alone (Which I prefer, honestly) and I felt such a huge hole in my soul when the ending credits came on the screen because I had enjoyed those two and half hours more than I have enjoyed anything, but one of the biggest things I remember was being introduced to Kylo Ren for the first time. The very first scene in the movie, you see Stormtroopers invade a small village where Lor San Tekka and Poe Dameron exchange a much desired map. Kylo makes his appearance a few minute later once the Stormtroopers have nearly destroyed half the village. Stepping out of his black bat-winged command shuttle, you see his tall lanky body slightly slouch as he stomps his way into the village. I instantly felt like I knew who Kylo was in the scene. Being a huge fan girl for Darth Vader for some many years, I loved the way Vader would enter a room with such domination and poise, but Kylo wasn’t like that. You could tell he was very unsure of himself by the way he carried his own body and Adam Driver made sure you could see all of those mannerisms. Let’s not forget his quick wit, which he definitely got from his father, Han Solo. Through out the movie, his small interactions with many different characters left me chuckling as I nearly choked sipping on my soda. That was another reason why I was instantly infatuated with Kylo was his snarky comments. He is a character who clearly hadn’t had an easy life, but he still seems to have some sense of humor, which you just don’t see in Darth Vader. It goes to show that he was definitely the most progressive character we’ve seen yet.

I’ll go ahead and rip off the band-aid for all you Han Solo fans, IT HAD TO HAPPEN. I truly believe that Han Solo had to die not only for the plot progression, but for the sake of him being a terrible father. Let’s face it, Leia and Han were terrible parents to Kylo and they knew it. In the original trilogy, you got to see what kind of relationship they had. It seemed very love/hate, so we clearly know how they acted towards each other over the course of 30 years. Even Han said it himself..”It wasn’t all bad, was it?…. Some of it was pretty good.” and Leia responded with a sly smile and  “Pretty good..” which is basically saying the sex was pretty good, but goddamn were you a pain in the ass to be with. When Leia said “No matter how much we fought, I always hated watching you leave..” you instantly knew that they’ve probably had some pretty hateful fights, but what I wondered was where was Kylo during all those fights? Probably watching his parents lash out at each other which then presented a very hostile environment for him to grow up in. When Leia said that line, I instantly saw Han leaving to go do what he did best, smuggle. How often did Han leave his son? These are all questions I had after watching the film. I flung myself into a Kylo Ren daze, trying to figure out his childhood and what happened to him. The research I found actually broke my heart because I kept imagining this little boy crying himself to sleep at night because he missed his Dad. Han Solo did leave his son for long periods of time which just isn’t right. I imagined young Ben Solo coming across his force powers for the first time, not quite understand them. He couldn’t ask his Mom for help because she was also busy being what she did best… making sure the galaxy stayed safe from the dark side. This showed another human trait, abandonment. Kylo Ren felt abandoned by his own parents, which I think is the biggest reason he turned to the Dark Side. Snoke seemed to be the only constant figure in his life as a child, which led Kylo to trust him. All any little kid wants to be loved, but where was the proper love when Ben Solo needed it the most? It was gone, like his clueless parents.

I once had I conversation with a friend about the movie. My first question I normally ask someone about The Force Awakens is “What did you think of Kylo Ren?” only because I’m genuinely curious as to what they thought and why. This particular friend, I knew had a really bad anger issue. They would lash out about irrational things and had a very sharp tongue at times, but it was something they couldn’t really control. My friend responded with “I honestly really like him. Mostly because I can relate, I guess.” I sat trying trying to figure how they related because I had really forgotten about their anger issues. I asked them to elaborate as to how they related so much. “Well, I felt like I was walking his shoes. I got irrationally angry just like he did when shit didn’t go as planned and his mannerisms were really similar to mine when I get that angry.” It really clicked with me at that moment and that conversation really stuck with me. People walk through life dealing with mental issues like intermittent explosive disorder and they probably get called ‘whiny’ for being the way they are. How is that fair? Those aren’t childish tantrums, those are the result of a mental illness. Just because it’s a fictional world, doesn’t mean modern day illnesses don’t exist. You see love, hate, betrayal, death, life, and all sorts human emotions.. Why not the uncontrollable ones?

One discussion among fans that I’ve truly enjoyed seeing everyone’s perspectives is how powerful does everyone think Kylo Ren is in comparison to his grandfather, Darth Vader. It’s a very blurred subject for the folks who’ve only kept up with the movies and not any of the comics or novels. In the movies, you don’t see Darth Vader using the force in extremely brutal ways like he does in some of the comics. That’s why Rogue One is going to be extremely important because it’s going to show a whole new side to Vader we’ve yet to see in the film. There are rumors of decapitation and even using stormtroopers as his own shield against the rebel scum! Sounds pretty brutal right? I very much get the feeling that Kylo Ren will one of the most powerful force users ever to exist. Keep in mind that Kylo isn’t fully trained in the force and will require further training, but you still see that he is very strong. The opening scene with Lor San Tekka on his knees in front of Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron shoots his blaster at Kylo Ren and he stops it mid-air and proceeds to go about what he was doing. The stormtroopers grab Poe and as he passes the blast and looks at it, amazed. I believe that was a little hint of Kylo’s true power, but in order to tap into that power, he must let go of the Light side. Which I believe he does once he kills Han Solo. Kylo could kill his father, but Darth Vader couldn’t kill his son? Star Wars plot progression at it’s finest! It takes a truly troubled person to kill their own father, which troubled people do the most damage. Not only do they do the most damage, but they will also do anything to do that damage. Kylo Ren might do just about anything to become more powerful than anyone before him. That would truly make granddad proud!

In my opinion, the snow battle was one of the most epic battle scenes since episode 3 when Obi-Wan fights Anakin on Mustafar. I truly enjoyed how visually pleasing it was, but the biggest hype about it was that Rey kicked Kylo’s ass. Sure she did, but for a good reason. I got to see a peak of the script written for The Force Awaken and it actually explains that scene. Kylo was never intentionally going to kill Rey because he did have compassion for her, which Anakin described as ‘Unconditional Love’ whether that be familiar, platonic, or romantic, Kylo didn’t want to kill her because she may of been some use to him. He was merely toying with her as she continued to strike him. He only defended himself, but he was shot in the side and just killed his father. I’d probably be fighting like shit too if I got shot by a blaster that sent most people flying about 10 feet away from where they stood. Once again, he is still human is does feel pain like the rest of us. That shot really showed me that he was physically very strong because he barely moved an inch when Chewbacca blasted him. Kylo came out alive, so clearly Rey wasn’t as skilled as everyone thinks she is.

As a result of The Force Awakens, I’ve found this character who’ve I’ve become astonished with as I think about every aspect of his being and his handsomeness is just a bonus! I have truly found a character who’ve I have connected with on such a deep level. I want more people to understand who Kylo Ren is and why he is pretty freaking awesome. If you’re a fan of the light side, of course you’re not gonna like him and that’s okay. I’m a little biased due to the fact I love the Dark Side. I say that as I sit here in my Kylo Ren shorts and Darth Vader shirt, sipping coffee out of my Kylo Ren coffee mug. Anyways, folks! Thanks for reading and I’d love to hear your feedback!

Remember,

Peace is a lie, there is only passion..

– Siren

[cinedave]

REVIEW: The Last Jedi - Strong with ambition, weaker with execution

A long time ago on a VHS player far away, a youngling me first watched The Empire Strikes Back... and if I’m honest he wasn’t blown away by it. He may have spent many hours running round his dad’s legs playing AT-ATs and speeders or talking like Yoda; but much of the film went over his little head. It didn’t have the simple, easy to follow story of the Star Wars or its rewarding happy ending. Neither did it have the cute fluffy animals of Return of the Jedi (he was young... forgive him). It was only as the youngling became a Padowan watching back that worn home recorded VHS cassette that he came to see what made the film so special among his favourite trilogy. It took time. It took the patience and understanding that his younger self could never master. It was this journey that the older, now “Master” (he wishes), was reminded of when walking out of The Last Jedi. While on the surface there were mixed feelings of disappointment Vs expectations. Underneath there were seeds of greater purpose and meaning to the film’s content. This is a Star Wars film that may take some time and understanding to be truly appreciated.... but still not without its flaws.

With The Republic’s destruction The Resistance are on the run from the conquering First Order. Finn (John Boyega – Detroit) and Poe (Oscar Issac – Ex Machina) hatch a dangerous plan to save them. While Rey (Daisy Ridley – Murder on the Orient Express) hopes finding the legendary Luke Skywalker will spark a new hope.

In many ways The Last Jedi feels like the Star Wars franchise looking at its own reflection for deeper purpose. It opens with the typically closing, “we must destroy the big thing” set piece. While much of what follows revolves around showing that making change and overcoming an all powerful evil is about more than shooting torpedoes into a thermal exhaust port. There’s a greater emphasis on the cost of such heroism and the difference between being a hero and being a leader; largely through the eyes of Poe Dameron as the impulsive hot head learning to see the bigger picture. That The Resistance and not the rebellion.... they are the spark that will ignite a rebellion within everyone. It shows the story as more than just good guys Vs bad. It’s about the inspiration and belief that both can create. It’s the kind of hidden depth that helped make Rogue One feel so special. This is echoed well within Luke and Rey’s scenes as Luke attributes his failures to overconfidence in being labelled a hero and legend. Or a few touching little moments like new character Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) overwhelmed to meet Finn from reputation or some ordinary kids playing with homemade Star Wars toys. A worthy mention also to Laura Dern’s (Jurassic Park) Vice Admiral Holdo for embodying the teachings of composed leadership.

Where the film falters is not from intent but sadly from execution in film making. The story quickly breaks off into multiple arcs in different locations that the script can’t seem to juggle smoothly. Particularly through the first half the pacing is clunky and uneven as it cuts to and from. This isn’t helped by polarising tones. Many parts of the film have a darker tone revolving around desperation and hopelessness. Yet against this the film still tries to be the kind of fun and enjoyable adventure most would expect from a Star Wars film. Now in places it absolutely nails this contrast, like the side mission of Finn and Rose to a lavish casino. It’s full of joyous mad-cap antics and great laughs but with the edgier undertone of all the wealth being derived from war profiteering over the Resistance/First Order conflict. For the rest of the film there’s a reliance on unexpected humour injections that at many points feel terribly goofy. Case and point, Domhnall Glesson’s General Hux is reduced to slapstick comic relief, best likened to Starscream in the Transformers sequels. Director Rian Johnson clearly wants his movie to contain all the core strengths of the franchise but didn’t listen enough to his lessons about The Force. He doesn’t respect the balance. Then there are The Porgs. They’re adorable and funny yet never overstay their welcome on screen which keeps their comedy effective. Compared to an early unfunny communication problems gag that goes on so long and so awkwardly you’ll wish George Lucas’s head would appear in space shouting, “Get on with it”. It’s creates a frustrating sense that the film is not aware of when it is succeeding or failing; that both appear to happen by chance.

Despite having less of an emphasis on bigger set pieces this is still a Star Wars film that delivers on its action and visuals. The aforementioned opening space battle not only has spectacle but fantastic variety as the fan favourite A-Wings on hulking B-Wing style bombers join the mix. The human element to the bombers also likens the sequence to a WW2 piece like Memphis Belle. The film offers one of the most creative and stunning light sabre battles since Maul sparked up his double on Naboo. There are some moments of genuine beauty. A final act set piece sees forces battle on salt planes of a white top layer and red beneath. Every explosion, every skim against the surface hurls up plumes and clouds of red against the vast white (like the colour themes of the posters) for a truly breathtaking visual effect.  Then there is, quite literally, the best 10 seconds ever. A ship collision sequence shown like samurai movie sword slice. You could have force choked me while that was happening and I wouldn’t have noticed.

Finally let’s pilot things back towards the Empire Strikes Back comparisons. Said 1980 offering is not just considered an incredible film, but many consider it one of the greatest sequels of all time. That is where The Last Jedi crucially differs. Some of its continuation from The Force Awakens is excellent. Everything about Mark Hamill’s performance and his relationship with Rey is a lovely continuation from that infamous silent ending. Similarly the bond of opposites between Kylo and Rey develops well through their Sense8 like communicating and becomes very entertaining. On the flip side, much was hyped of Supreme Leader Snoke’s actual presence within this sequel and reveals over his identity. Instead, he’s not a character, he’s a lack of. He’s nothing more than a CG Voldermort devoid of personality; a Death Star sized disappointment. Ultimately Kylo also falls short. He stood out last time for his fascinating complexity of aspiring towards being the next Darth Vader but fearful of never achieving it. This time much of that feels abandoned for an overall sense of uncertainty over just what they are trying to do with his character other than being a villain presence of necessity.

There were moments of The Last Jedi that embraced me in full blown Star Wars euphoria but more that pulled me out of the immersive escapism for their failings. I firmly believe that I will come to appreciate and enjoy The Last Jedi more in time but for now I can’t look at with the level of positively the youngling and Padowan inside me would like. It does give Carrie Fisher some good moments if this is to be her send off. It is generally very well acted from its talented cast. By no means is this a Phantom Menace or deserving of any such negative comparisons to the prequel trilogy. In the end The Last Jedi a good film where there should have been a great one.  

[dalekofchaos]

Giving Kylo Ren/Ben Solo motivation

A huge problem I have with Kylo Ren’s character is the complete lack of motivation or any reason as to why he joined the dark side and The First Order. We did get a origin comic, but  that’s the problem, you are choosing to explain his actions outside the movies. And I do not believe that scene with Luke was his reason. Ben’s heart was already turned before Luke even entered that tent, he already made his decision and it nor the Rise Of Kylo Ren doesn’t even explain as to why he even chose The First Order. So this is how I would give Ben Solo motivation to join the dark side, become Kylo Ren and to join The First Order. Please note the way I am gonna phrase this hypothetical motivation is in no way how I view things in Star Wars, just using an Imperial viewpoint as a means to give Kylo Ren any meaning behind his actions and why he chose the dark side and The First Order.

First, let’s start out things innocently. He started out as Ben Solo, who had a happy life with his family. Let’s have him growing up hearing stories of his family by Han and Leia. Their time during the Rebellion. Ben being in awe of his parents and his uncles. Wanting to grow up to be a smuggler, a prince pilot and a Jedi, to be just like Han, Leia, Chewie, Lando and Luke. Kid stuff lol. Luke would only be allowed to tell Ben about the good that his grandfather was, Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight and hero of the Republic. Leia would keep the truth from her son and would tell him when the time is right, but that’s where everything goes wrong.

As time moves on, Ben notices something. Crime, pirates and disorder within the galaxy and a government unwilling to do something about the state of the galaxy. So Ben wants to be a Jedi. As his training goes on, Snoke makes contact with the young Solo. Snoke told him the “truth” about the Rebels. They were terrorists and war criminals that usurped their legitimate government and the galaxy is worst off because of it.  Ben does not believe it, his family helped make the galaxy a better place. Snoke will continue to stoke distrust and dissent in Ben Solo’s heart. He will go on to say that The Rebels committed an atrocity by destroying the Death Star, there were 1,186,295–1,206,293 personnel on the Death Star when it exploded. Asking young Solo how many of those people had families? Ben will claim that the Death Star destroyed Alderaan and destroyed Jedha City, it committed atrocities. Snoke will retort, how many of them even knew they were on a planet-destroying superweapon? Some of them, with no idea about Jehda or Scarif, might have just been transferred to what they thought was a very large observation platform. They might have thought it was something you could launch waves of TIE Fighters from. How many of them joined the Empire just because they thought they were fighting for safety and security? Snoke will then say, we never got to know their stories because the Rebels killed them all. Even if  Ben still had trust in his family by this point, Snoke will ask him to take a deep look at the current state of the galaxy. Snoke will tell him that The New Republic is a lawless and corrupt state that usurped it’s rightful government that allows crime, pirates and slavery to go uncheck. They have caused a galaxy of disorder and chaos. The galaxy was better under Imperial rule. Ben still doesn’t believe Snoke, but then the final nail in the coffin happens, Snoke will ask them “did your family ever tell you the truth of your powerful grandfather?” Ben will say “he was a powerful and compassionate Jedi Knight.” “Is that what they told you? Young fool, they lied to you and kept the truth from you all your life. Your grandfather was Darth Vader, dark lord of the sith”  He goes on to say the Jedi were evil and Lord Vader was right to kill them. Ben breaks down and is in disbelief, but something happens that shatters his faith in his family.

The New Republic publicly spread the news that Darth Vader was Leia’s true father, so Ben would have seen this at Luke’s Jedi Temple. It could’ve been a similar situation after Luke found out the truth. “Ben, why didn’t you tell me.” “Mother…you lied to me….” He feels betrayed by his family and those feelings of resentment lead him back to Snoke. He started to embrace the dark side and his heart was already turned. Which brings us to that faithful night where Luke for a moment thought of igniting his lightsaber and ending the threat before it can begin, but couldn’t. That was all Ben needed. What happens next is he kills the Jedi, burns the temple to the ground and leaves Luke for dead.

For better story purpose, The Knights Of Ren would be the Jedi who followed Ben. These were the first six Jedi who came after Ben. and to Ben they were his closest friends from his time as a Jedi. I don’t know about the other five before becoming Knights, but Jacen Syndulla would for sure become Ben’s best friend from childhood into adulthood. These two would be as thick as thieves ever since Hera and Leia introduced them. The others would be of different races. One is a Twi'lek, a Rattataki, a Zabrak, and two female humans. 

But the gist is instead of the lightning strike from TROKR, Luke’s “death” resulted in a civil war between the new Jedi Order. Ben would be horrified that his uncle tried to kill him. Ben doesn’t just go on a slaughter as soon as he collapses the hut on Luke. Rather, the commotion wakes everyone up and Ben suddenly finds himself having to defend himself in the disbelief and horror of those who once were his friends, his brothers and sisters. and he knows how damning it sounds. Luke Skywalker: The war hero, the legend, the jedi master, his family, tried to murder him. and henceforth comes the divide: those who believe him and will stand by his side, and those who believe he has murdered the last Jedi Master and wish to avenge their teacher. the latter party strike first. and they won’t stop until they have his head. thus the bond between those who would become the knights of ren is forged in blood, baptized in tears. 

The Knights Of Ren are loyal to Kylo Ren, not Snoke or The First Order.  They are completely loyal and subserviently to Kylo Ren as he opened their eyes and saved them from the dogmatic teachings of the Jedi. We will see companionship between Kylo and his knights. We need to see them as being Kylo’s personal army and trump card. Unlike The Praetorian Guards who were faceless Guards who all just die. Let the Knights Of Ren be people and only unmask in the presence of their Supreme Leader and show them as Kylo’s only true family in his eyes. We know that the purpose of The Knights Of Ren will destroy The Resistance and finally destroy The Last Jedi.

The Knights are as followed.

Jacen Ren(The Rogue/Jacen Syndulla)

Drago Ren(The Heavy/Zabrak)

Leng Ren(The Armory/Rattataki)

Silas Ren(The Sniper/Twi'lek)

Z’Ev Ren(The Monk/female human)

Azraa Ren(Arm cannon Knight/Human females)

Like Kylo, The Knights have their own unique Lightsaber and TIE Fighter. Jacen would have a Lightblaster(like Jocasta Nu’s Rifle in the Vader comic) Leng would have a Lightbow. Drago would have a Battle Axe Lightsaber. Silas would have a Rapier Lightsaber. Z’Ev would have Lightsaber Tonfas. Azraa would have a Light Pike like the Shadow Guards from Legends used. As for their TIEs. Kylo has the TIE Silencer. Jacen has the TIE Spector. Drago has the TIE Rogue. Leng would have the TIE Dagger. Silas would have the TIE Shadow. Z’Ev would have the TIE Whisper. Azraa would have the TIE Scorpion.

Ben Solo has become Kylo Ren. He came to Snoke. He promises a place where he would never be lied to again and valued and where he can learn more of his grandfather. He embraces the dark side and becomes master of the Knights Of Ren because he saw through the lies of the Jedi and the corrupt New Republic and sees the Rebels as terrorists and war criminals and disowned a family that has lied to him his whole life and betrayed him. He joined The First Order because he saw that the New Republic as a lawless and corrupt state that usurped it’s rightful government. The galaxy has become a worst place without Imperial rule and Darth Vader’s example. 

Kylo Ren would believe in The First Order. Seeking to bring order and stability to a corrupt galaxy.  "It is the task of the First Order to remove the disorder from our own existence, so that civilization may be returned to the stability that promotes progress. A stability that existed under the Empire, was reduced to anarchy by the Rebellion, was inherited in turn by the so-called Republic, and will be restored by us. Future historians will look upon this as the time when a strong hand brought the rule of law back to civilization." 

So Ben betrays his family because the truth of Anakin was kept from him and because of that Snoke twisted the view of Vader’s fall being compassion and Kylo idolized Vader and viewed Anakin as weakness. He views Vader as the ultimate representation of might and order and power. He wants to destroy everything his family built out of spite and finish what Vader started, which was kill his master, the Jedi and rule the galaxy. Become a stronger Vader, one not held back by sentiment nor compassion. As Supreme Leader He wants to do what the Empire and even Vader could not. Bring order to the galaxy. A new order, his order. Through The First Order, with the Knights Of Ren at his side and as Supreme Leader, he can now do this.

There we have it. Kylo Ren has motives for joining the dark side, for joining The First Order and has goals. He has agency in his actions and believes them. He was radicalized by The First Order movement, wants to destroy everything his family built and believes what he is doing is right, but that his belief doesn’t justify what he’s doing, the people he’s hurt, the lives he’s destroyed, the damage that he thinks will be justified if they can only get what he really wants. Show us that Kylo Ren is wrong, show that his fall will be hard and that he has to suffer with the consequences of his actions. Show that when he is redeemed, Ben Solo will begin to make things right. To heal the damage he caused as Kylo Ren. To make things right with his family. And to finish what his grandfather started. To bring balance to the force and to save the one he loves.