Leia's message to Ben

i see all this stuff differently, but i think it's logical that we will.

even before i found out that Snoke (F-E-T-M) had some form of impact on Ben and Leia early on... my opinion was that although Luke and Leia were all smiles at the end of ROTJ, that who their father was would have a lasting and bad impact on the rest of their lives. to put more bluntly... i thought they would be head cases - especially Leia.

it's not a surprise to me that Leia was in denial.. i would have been amazed if she hadn't been.

i don't see it that she failed Ben.. i see it that she is human after all, and that is who Ben needs to have a talk with... not some strong heroic figure.

i want it and dread it all at the same time

 

Um, don't you mean blue milk? It's yer name, after all...

 

Yes, yes I did.

 

"there has been an awakening... and you have felt it"

say Leia had retired and settled down to bring up her family, and poured all her efforts into bringing up Ben.. including telling him herself that Vader was her father.

i ask myself if things would have been different... and i'm not so sure they would. sure we could all say "well she did everything she could", but i'm not sure if that matters to me.

We've seen 3 generations of Skywalker (i'm excluding Shmi). 2 of them have turned to the dark side and the other one came bloody close, and perhaps he has/will (hope not obviously). In matters of the force... the family is unique.

it's possible that Ben is mentally in the best place that he could possibly be right now... it's possible that the only reason he feels a pull to the light is because of his mother and father and the teachings that Luke gave him. it's possible that he could have been pure evil right now with no way back.. who knows.

 

I am looking forward to any kind of "conversation" happening in VIII between Kylo and Leia, even if it is just on "transmission of Leias feelings to her son via force bondig" (like Luke and Leia on Bespin).
Feelings like grief and a call for forgivness.
At the end, in my personal opinion, he will, once more, ignore his inner feelings and smash these very last bond to his parents BUT it will push him into a emotional desaster that catches him just in time, when he gets the whole picture about Snokes selfishness and betrayal when he tortures Rey. And I hope it pushes him away from the tall old monster.

 

I thought of George Lucas who always has these preference for very impressive shots, almost like dramatical paintings, where we start to get a feeling about the intense emotions that sweep through the main protagonists (like Anakin in III staring out the window in Coruscant, before he starts to his fatal meeting in Sheeves office, where we get the impression that at the same moment Padme sends him her warnings AND he is fully aware of her presence that calls out :" Don't be stupid and destroy everything we believed in!" but he ignores it, out of overwhelming fears about losses)

The scenes with Kylo and Leia could somehow have similarities with the scene I mentoined above. Just "speaking" pictures of the two of them.

 

Of course. And I hope her son is aware of the possible consequences of Leia getting one with the force...
...not one moment to rest for him until he fullfills her last will for her son:"Follow the call of the Light!".
It would haunt him as long as he doesn't follow her order.

 

Alright, alright, alright... how come you guys are talking about...

*enters C-3PO*

Leia Asteroidborn Organa, the First of Her Name, of the House Skywalker, Last Princess of Alderaan, Leader of the Rebellion, Lady of the Millennium Falcon, Protector of the Galaxy, Breaker of Wookiee Chains, Mother of Krayt Dragons, Thawer of Carbonite, Choker of Hutts, Senator of the New Republic and General of the Resistance.

and I haven't participated yet in this discussion??

(End of shameless Game of Thrones plug.)

I agree with you @FN-3263827 that maybe Claudia Gray left that open for further exploration on another canon media. However, even when we might criticise her behavior during Bloodline - apparently on a total detachment from her son - it is understandable if we analyse what happened at the end of ROTJ. I will always say it was a tremendous mistake to leave Leia out of the redemption equation: Leia should have been there with Luke witnessing their father's redemption. Being told about it wasn't the same as seeing it for herself, and seeing it for herself was something she had not experienced.

Anyhow, the point is that after reading Bloodline, I thought the morale of the story was something like this:

"Acknowledge the demons of your past. Or they will come back to haunt you."

By focusing in the Aftermath events at the macro scale of defeating the Empire once and for all, it seemed like her internal conflict was overlooked. And her stoic character - the same who endured torture and the destruction of her planet and shortly afterward, stood up on that cell and decided to keep shining in the memory of those she loved and lost - allowed her to keep going through the motions during the events after the Battle of Endor. We do have certain glimpses, though - like her initial refusal to go to Naboo to Mon Mothma when Shara Bey walks towards them in the Shattered Empire comics - but we think she's OK with it. And she seems like because in the midst of it all, she marries, keeps fighting and leading, gets pregnant, goes liberate her stubborn husband and Kashyyyk and such. BUT SHE IS NOT OK.

When Darth Vader says: "So, you have a twin sister. Your feelings have now betrayed her, too. Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete. If you will not turn to the Dark Side... then perhaps she will!" it makes sense she could have a chance to be turned to the Dark Side because her character was Anakin's whereas Luke's was Padme's. We have some moments when we see her having this feelings of anger and such, which are controlled in some way. (And then, I cannot stress enough how satisfied I am with that "I WOULD BURN DOWN THE GALAXY IF I THOUGHT IT WAS RIGHT" moment in Aftermath: Life Debt. Seriously.)

So back with the question: do I think Ben received that message?

I'm split between two choices: either he received it but it was too late, or he didn't receive it at all. I really hope this element it is included in some way during this trilogy, because it would make sense to see that message haunt Kylo Ren, in case if he didn't receive it back then, or if he remembers what he heard but didn't pay attention because he felt so betrayed by his own mother.

Agree.

I'm telling you, after reading this book, it confirmed this thought: Leia is the strongest and most tragic character of the entire saga. (Maybe some other characters will come close, but she's at the top of the list.)

Tell that to the hypocrites of the New Republic Senate, who would not enjoy the lives they had post-Empire had not Leia and other brave heroes stepped into the fight.

I mentioned this on other thread: I know their focus was to defeat the Empire but they should have taken a moment to inform the entire Galaxy of what they learned about Darth Vader and The Emperor. To let them know of the deceptions the Sith used to trick the galaxy into submission and to destroy the Jedi Order. This way, they could have included into the narrative the fact that one young Jedi Knight was a pivotal instrument into this, became part of the Sith after fathering them, and that they were raised far from his evil grasp.

Exactly! And Leia's refusal to acknowledge herself that she was daughter of Anakin Skywalker also reflected in her refusal to be trained in the Ways of the Force. Alright: we don't know yet how far into the Jedi training she went - we have just one mention on the Life Debt book but not sure how much training did she receive. But the point is that by hiding the truth from her son might have looked as treason to her origins - if we get Snoke into the equation to whisper the manipulated truth into Ben's ears - and might have been felt as being abandoned in some way.

From the beginning, Leia lived in a constant conflict of love vs duty, and Claudia Gray did a superb job portraying this in Leia Princess of Alderaan. She always struggled with her feelings vs her duty. I understand how this is frustrating, but it's basically her flaws as human showing up. She made a choice - not the best one - but the one she thought it was right. (Remember she would burn down the galaxy..?) So, from a certain point of view, she was shielding her son from pain and sorrow to find out his grandfather had caused so much pain and destruction in the galaxy by embracing the dark side. It is totally a tragedy and I do hope it can be worked out to bring Kylo Ren back to the light, no matter his parents mistakes.

Yeah and maybe it was because we have this big party in Endor where everyone is celebrating the Emperor is dead and the Empire is done for good. We have this illusion of "happily ever after" without thinking at all of all the implications the recent events we witnessed could have in our heroes.

 

That would be awesome if it mirrored that from 3. I love that scene.

 

I've known the worst parents imaginable yet their children turn out well, and I've known parents that were the best parents to walk this earth however, their kids became career criminals. Everything that Kylo Ren has done, he has brought upon himself, killing freedom fighters, kidnapping, torturing, mass murder, patricide, etc., a letter from his mum wouldn't have changed the monster one bit. This is Star Wars, so he will be redeemed somehow; I hope RJ or JJ don't do it in a way I roll my eyes in the theater. I'd love to see him redeemed with the sacrifice of his life... see ya Kylo sad to see ya go you don't deserve the sweet embrace of Rey anyone who surely does most certainly would have to be Finn.

 

Kylo is on a war path to kill his mum... maybe right before he pulls the trigger he remembers that letter... LOL

 

Finn is a good example of what all those captured souls should do... RUN... LOL If captured by me, i would put them all in rehab, until they understood what the FO did and wanted to do to them all.

Star Wars: Before the Awakening

"FN-2187," PHASMA said, " has the potential to be one of the finest stormtroopers I have ever seen."

"All of you should take your example from FN-2187," Captain Phasma said.