Han Solo's sacrifice and its repercussions for the ST

oh so sorry! that was no comment on your post at all. didn't mean for it to come off that way (or for it to be dismissive, now that i re-read what i wrote).
what i had written was just an off topic rabbithole of sacrifice/redemption in general that wasn't actually useful to the discussion ~ hahaha
i get easily carried away!

geh! thanks for the warning. that was jarring. not even a moment of tenderness to buffer it either ~ yikes!

i can't get through the first three movies. i just can't. even if i could sort of fast-forward the boring stuff in TPM (which would be considerable), AOTC is unwatchable start to finish for me, and i'd just end up fast-forwarding most of ROTS as well. i might watch 4-7 marathon-style today, though since i've got the time and the house to myself, which is awesome.

there really is something powerful about watching Han Solo's arc start to finish (he was so young! and yet the character is so intact ~ and holy cow you can see Driver in young Han Solo, which really surprised me. i was one of those people who didn't really see the resemblance until i rewatched the OT).

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 3, 2016, Original Post Date: Apr 3, 2016 ---

this is an awesome additional read on this ~ thank you for bringing it to the table!

 

How could, in any ways, Han's sacrifice be for nothing? If the love of my life would ask me to make one last ultimate try to save our son I would do this for her for him AND FOR the sake of a intact soul of myself! How could I live with myself without trying it! So, besides Kylo 's redemption, Han's action also is justified just by making the step on that bridge, giving everything he is capable of, for his beloved ones!

 

this is such an important point.

Han may have failed his son in the past. he may even have "abandoned" him due to circumstances in which he thought he was doing for the best (sending him to Luke). but if he walks away now, in this moment, he'd be making an actual choice to turn his back on Ben.

what loving parent could ever do that?

 

it's true: Han opens the door, but it's on Ben to choose to step through (it has to be; no one can drag him back against his will).

i'm just having a hard time seeing any satisfying outcome in which he doesn't ~ hahaha
because otherwise we're right back to Han's death being merely a tragedy rather than the lynch pin of a triumph.

 

It's a little off topic, but - oh My Goodness! Those Stormtroopers... Hux should to be MORTIFIED!


@Obi-Wan Solo I really enjoy reading your thread and appreciate your contributions

 

You know...maybe Supreme Leader Snoke should consider using a clone army.

 

Well done, @Obi-Wan Solo!

 

I think the ANH junior novelization snippet you posted earlier says all that needs to be said:




It's uncalled for, IMO, to belittle that very potent moment on the bridge when Ben's true name is revealed.

 

I'm kind of torn (not "torn apart" though ) about the Rey Kenobi theory. I'd kind of like Rey not to be related to anyone because SW is getting a little cluttered with relatives. But on the other hand, I like it for all the reasons you give, plus I like the idea of Rey being a sort of "redemption" for the Kenobi name too (sort of "finishing what Obi-Wan started"!). What a lovely circle of meaning that would be!

 

the other non-symbolic reason i think his name is Ben (and i mentioned this somewhere else, i think), is that it's a short distance between Ren and Ben (making that transition mentally easy). i don't think that's by accident.

 

i'm just saying it's a real simple transition (for the audience) to associate the names. like if his real name was Bilbo and his "Dark side" name was Kylo Ren and we (and the other characters) call him Kylo Ren for three movies, it would be a rough transition to suddenly try to call him Bilbo.
whereas Ren and Ben are so close, it's pretty smooth.

it's that hard transition from Beast to Prince where Beauty says "but where's my Beast?" i was always touched by that in the fairy tale because yeah, she falls in love with the beast, not the handsome prince; she shouldn't be able to just go: "oh you're all human and sparkly now, great!"

while Luke and Han and Leia probably won't want to call him Kylo Ren, it may be the name Rey associates with him (it would be presumptuous--and probably wreck any hope of trust between them--for her to try to call him Ben out of the gates). or not?

maybe this only makes sense in my head. i've been having a lot of that sort of thinking today apparently ~ hahaha.

 

yeah, i should have clarified: what i was saying about Ren/Ben definitely has nothing to do with why Han & Leia named him--not even why Abrams chose the name.
if anything i would wonder if "Ren" came after the fact of naming him Ben (not the other way around).
i guess i was just thinking it's not some happy accident; it was done purposefully.

and your reaction to hearing the name sounds a lot like mine: not only did i think: "spot-on it's Ben, of course", i was also actually glad it wasn't Jacen (because that would have made less sense in this world, i think).

Ben is a nice name. it's soft. it's gentle. and we associate it with a beloved character. so it's perfect for a villain who is trying so hard to be anything but soft and gentle and doesn't want anything to do with that "side" of his family.

and whether it will have deeper resonance for some future Kenobi-related business remains to be seen.
i hope it might, though i don't have any particular ideas about in what way that could happen.