Official Kylo Ren/Ben Solo Episode IX Discussion

I just wanna say i didn't think I needed supreme leader Kylo in my life until now

 

i'll never get tired of saying it: go home Ben! hahahahaha

his reign is almost guaranteed to be a disaster. he has no idea what he's doing.

 

and all the while he's watching his back while Hux schemes to take control.
yeah, this is gonna work out just fine. : o p

 

i'd give anything for Ben to have mercy on Hux.
at least Ben had parents who loved him even if he can't remember or feel it right now.
Hux never had anything.

you get a sense that Ben craves attention and maybe even affection.
Hux wouldn't know what to do with affection if it curled up on his lap and purred.
i think that's why fandom clings so hard to this idea of Millicent. hahahaha

these two were referred to as warring siblings, but now that "daddy" is dead it seems unlikely for them to ever find any common ground.

 

Friendly reminder to be wary with what you put in your thread titles, as the The Last Jedi has only been out for a couple of days and I doubt everyone's seen the film just yet.

I imagine Kylo Ren's reign as Supreme Leader being somewhat similar to most of Caligula's reign as Emperor of Rome, particularly due to his emotional instability. As a result I imagine we'll be seeing an internal power struggle between him and General Hux as that relationship is explored more in IX.

 

I hope Skywalker taunts him mercilessly through the Force so much that he goes mad - while Hux schemes to take over - and his reign not only fails to stamp out the resistance but in effect fans the flames as the wider public say enough is enough.

 

Some dumb guesses without much thought:

- IX starts with Leia's funeral which initiates some big events (more on that later)
- in the meantime (between episodes VIII and IX) there's been an ongoing rivalry between Kylo and Hux, there may be came serious yet unsuccessful coup attempts
- we'll finally see Knights of Ren, they will help Kylo to maintain his status
- FO rules, but the leadership rivalry can be seen at many places (more chaos and criminality, rather divided FO)
- rebellion hasn't been very active until this point, they still have been mostly in hiding, rebuilding themselves
- following Leia's death there's nothing to hold Kylo back so he goes full retard and tries to strengthen his position and also destroy the rebellion which he finally manged to locate, perhaps thanks to the funeral?
- we may finally see a successful coup at some point with Kylo ending up quite isolated with just part of FO at his side and under big attack of rebellion, however Rey saves him, he won't be redeemed at this point (yet)
- he'll end up joining forces with the rebellion and the rest of FO loyal to him and they'll attack the main part of FO (Hux) and will manage to defeat them and kill Hux
- he'll attempt to take control over the rest of the FO, but Rey won't let him to, she'll either have kill him in the end or will redeem him, if he's redeemed he may be stripped of his force abilities somehow (perhaps some force ghosts will take some part here etc), or he'll try to rebuild new Jedi order with Rey (with slightly different philosophy)
- FO will be weak and in chaos at this point, practically defeated

I expect that those mentioned criminals will play some more important role in this movie.

 

I speculate that we are going to see someone from the Unknown Regions show up in answer to the death of Snoke, attempting either to take his place or else avenge his death. So Kylo Ren's position will quickly be in jeopardy one way or another. There has been all this stuff in the recent canon pointing to the Unknown Regions as significant. The remnants of the Empire headed there after the Battle of Jakku; the First Order, born out of those remnants, came from there.

 

Yes something like this may possible, though it may result in too complicated story to resolve in one movie. They may rather keep this for another trilogy.

 

It's basically down to four options, really.

Hux deposes Kylo with the help of the other Force users from Luke's academy.

Kylo defects (unlikely)

There's another big bad waiting in the wings- the cause of all the imbalance. Something that ties all the trilogies together beyond the Skywalker blood.

Kylo dies the villain. Man, I'll be devastated if he dies the villain.

What do I want to see? Kylo and Rey leaving behind society to find and train the new Jedi in the ways of the force- neither dark nor light. But balanced. Perhaps Ben'll lose a limb or lose his connection to the force.

 

Assuming he isn't just a grumpy emperor sitting in a throne with his chin on his hands, what are Kylo's motives in IX? Now that he's supreme leader, he's going to just chase down Rey and Leia? I hope JJ Abrams has a compelling story for this character.

 

Bring balance to the Force, but in his own, twisted understanding. Yes, this will involve bringing Leia and Rey, the last keepers of the Rebellion and Jedi knowledge in the galaxy, down, if needed.

 

I see two threads: I figure the Force Bond thing is cutoff by Rey at the end of TLJ. So Kylo is truly alone and becomes more and more unstable and with it, more incompetent. The pull of the light side also isn't going anywhere either, causing him to 2nd guess himself and possibly show compassion which leads to tactical or strategic blunders. "WHY DIDN'T WE BLOW UP THAT REBEL SHIP." Nervously sweats about how Rey and/or Leia are on it. Hux and the Knights of Ren find out what Kylo did to Snoke. Hux deposes him, probably imprisonment but perhaps exile. Either way, he can't get much more alone. Kylo desperately reaches out to Rey via Force and is rebuffed repeatedly, but in his extreme loneliness, without any way to vent his rage, he starts to figure out how to handle it, slowly reverts back to Ben Solo, and I'm sure you can guess where this is going.

Alternatively, he proves to be a sufficient ruler if unstable, and the breaking of the Force Bond and his ascent as supreme ruler solidifies his status as a dark lord. Like Rey's flirtation and use of the dark side, he has one with the light side but like Rey, he knows who he is and what side he stands on now. He'll prove be even more ruthless, ruthless combined with impulsive--true chaotic evil. We're being teased about his redemption because it's so obvious, the opposite of Vader who is hard to comprehend ever turning. Except it's not coming. Twist: He dies in rage as his empire crumbles.

 

If he doesn't turn I'll be terribly disappointed. It could potentially ruin the trilogy for me. That would make so many things pointless - including Han's death first and foremost. To me the big question right now is the time jump between TLJ and IX. The longer it is, the darker he may become. On the one hand, Rey getting determined to reach the good side of Kylo made me optimistic. One the other hand, though... "Supreme Leader Kylo Ren" worries me. I can really see J.J. going either way with it.

Now, this is a wild fantasy, but I would love it if IX ended with a scene like this: After redeeming himself, Ben chooses exile in order to purify his soul. He goes to Ahch-To where we see him finding Luke's green lightsaber. He takes it (a symbol of maybe re-entering the Jedi path or coming to peace with Luke "trying" to kill him), then walks onto the rock where Luke died. Stares at the sun (somewhere during the sequence we could hear a bold statement of Han and Leia's theme) and credits roll. After that we can just not know what happened to him next. The Skywalker story could very well end like this if they really want to end it.

 

"First there is day
Then there is night
After the darkness
Shines through the light
The difference, they say,
Is only made right
By the resolving of gray
And refined Jedi sight." - The Journal of the Whills 7:477

Published at the beginning of TFA novelization. We must look to this friends, for the answers to where both our protagonist stories lead.

Also, what was the context of Rey's vision in TFA with the Knights of Ren in the rain? Everything else in that vision has reference to other parts of the story, except that scene.

During the vision we have the tunnel from Cloud City harking back the duel between Vader, and Luke > The Jedi Academy Burning Down (As shown again in TLJ) > Kylo killing someone(?) and the Knights of Ren standing in the rain on a battlefield > Rey being left by her parent with Unkar > Kylo attacking Rey in the forest of Starkiller.

We know how all of these fit into scenes from the saga, except one. We know she sees clarity of events both past, and future. So could the Knights of Ren in the rain be an event from Episode IX? If so why is Kylo wearing his mask again? TLJ makes it clear he's done with the mask. Perhaps instead it shows another event from the past, one which will be expanded upon in IX?

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 18, 2017, Original Post Date: Dec 18, 2017 ---

Brah, stop it. You getting me hype for things I should know damn well ain't gonna happen.

 

Ok so everyone thinks theres only 2 options.
1. Ben is reedemed either in death or still living. And the galaxy is saved. (Cliched, classic, could work. )

2. Kylo ren becomes savage, ruthless, and becomes the powerful villian that darthvader could never be and is killed. (Would be cool, but sad for the skywalker line to end that way)

BUT....i think there is another.

We cut 5 or 4 years. Kylo ren is now Supreme Leader. He created his knights of ren, he executes traitors daily, maybe even has a family......He got what he wanted.....But deep down...he still feels terrible and lonely. The darkness is literrally destroying him.

It doesnt help that his grandfather is now watching him and haunting him. Telling him "Is this what you really want?" Kylo lashes out at these force visions, Tells his grandfather "I became what you never could be! I succeded where you failed!" and refuses to listen to his own grandfather.

And in the end, he is tricked (Somehow) to a remote planet. The rebels with rey take down his remaining first order, and he is left. Stranded alone to himself on a planet to think about what he did. Maybe he finds forgiveness finnally with his grandfather and parents talking to him...or becomes insane as the previous sith mock him, "You were defeated like this? Look at how weak you are." and that is the end of Kylo Ren / Ben solo.

TLDR. Option 3. We have our first ever villian go insane and exile himself somehow.

 

Someone add a poll to this thread.

Will Benny boy be redeemed.