The Redemption of Ben Solo: Does it Work?

Tros felt rushed in every way, imo. That's
why I find it hard to read anything into this.

 

I think it works, but by a hanging thread. Prior to the release of the movie, I struggled to see how they would redeem him, after he seemingly "doubled down" on his own path after Rey tried to turn him back in TLJ.

The execution of it in TROS feels a little rushed in the movie itself (from the fight on the death star wreckage to the final showdown with Palpatine). But it works for me because of how insecure he has been about his aliegences over the course of the trilogy as a whole. A part of him clearly wants to go home in TFA, and he refuses to blow up Leia in TLJ. I don't think they could have made it work without bringing in Harrison Ford, like they did. But fortunately, it works for me in the movie.

 

He to got a nice send off. Though part of me wishes that things had gone differently.


I thought that he was going to turn in 9. Two things surprised me in TLJ, one was the fact that Rey's trauma at being abandoned wasn't being swept under the rug or her turned into a stoic Mary Sue. And the whole Reylo thing. The way that he spoke to her (before the denouement on Snoke's ship) really suprised me, he was for the most polite and respectful. He was direct but never mean. It was as if he genuinely respected her. And when I saw that, I realized that there was far more to the character.



Ben had to die for political purposes. Disney films have always been about righting wrongs. And there is no way on earth that Ben could live after what he did. It's really hard to excuse him as being 'manipulated' when other characters have gone through worse. To have allowed him to live would almost make it seem as if Disney is rewarding a bully.

What might have saved him is if 1. they had given us a flash back of Snoke telling him that the only way he could be powerful is to kill his father and 2. if they had split 9 into two movies. Say Rey turned to the dark and Ben had to save her in the next film. And he would have been brought back a hero.

That being said, the fact that we saw no force ghosts at the end of TROS gives me hope that he'll be brought back in some capacity.

 

I understand what you are saying. But I don't see Ben being the lone gun/Samurai Jedi Knight who wanders from town to town paying penance for his crimes by setting wrong right. I also don't like the prison option. Not for punishment reasons, but because it makes it too hard for him to be used in a potential future story. Call me biased, but having him in a story without Rey just doesn't seem as interesting ditto with him as a senior citizen ex con.

Further it just seems to hard for all that to have been addressed in a 2.5 hour film. I can't speak to the Vader thing, because from I am not that familiar with the character. But from what I do remember and having watched him in the PT, I just felt nothing for the character. He was just a bully/thug who had a change of heart at the end of his life because of the life he wasted. Whereas Ben came across as a guy who was so weighed down by guilt and shame, for past misdeeds. So he just kept 'digging a hole' because he thought that no one would want anything else to do with him and Snoke & TFO is all he had.

 

I would have loved if they'd let Leia survive and go into exaile (on Ahch-to?) with Ben. Redemption would still have worked with the Han vision alone.

 

Why Leia? Why not Rey? He's grown man, and Rey made it clear that she gladly would have taken Ben's hand, in other words she would stood by him no matter what and the kiss indicated that there were romantic feelings too.

 

Because he needs to reconcile with his mother and I don't want to have Rey in exile, I'm fine with her visiting him from time to time. And she's going to be a Jedi, so no attachment
There has to be some sort of consequences for his wrong doing.
If living on a beautiful Island with the woman you love is the consequence of being an a$$ for half of your life...

 

That doesn't mean they have to spend the rest of their lives together on an island xD

Still holding on to that ancient religion?

I hate to break it to you, but that's what Rey said- she wanted to take his hand. She would have been willing to stand by him.

It's about what the character wanted and not what you, the viewer wanted for her.

 

Him being a mother's boy was one the reason he turned to the dark side in the first place. Haha!

This. Alot of people didn't want Kylo to be redeemed because of personal reasons. But Han, Leia, Luke and Rey all wanted him back. The audience should always want what the heroes want, at least as long as its written correctly.

 

The Jedi ways is what got them destroyed in the first place. We're talking Star Wars rules... real world consequences don't always apply. *Looks at Vader*

 

That's why he is alowed to watch twice as much sunsets as anybody else on a beautiful isle with his mom and not send into prison or to the scaffold.

 

But why with his mom? Doesn't almost every mother want their boy to get a girl (or partner) and live on their own?

 

Because Luke is dead, but I'm sure he will pop up for a visit.

 

I think we're talking past one another...

 

I'd definitely turn to the dark side if I was forced to live in a deserted planet alone w/ my mother.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 24, 2020, Original Post Date: Sep 24, 2020 ---

Back in the day a friend's mother asked him when he was going to meet a girl and move out.
He replied, "mom am gay".
Conversation ended right there.

PS- he was kidding.

 

The thing I loved about The Last Jedi was the sexual tension between Ben and Rey. She loves him. She hates him. She wants him. She wants him dead. She reaches out to take his hand via Force Skype. She shoots him via Force Skype. #it's_complicated

After that build-up there simply had to be a resolution in Rise of Skywalker. Either Rey had to join Kylo or Ben had to join Rey, but something had to bring them together. They were the cure to each other's loneliness, if only they could quit trying to skewer each other with lightsabers long enough to Netflix and chill.

When they finally kissed in the Sith coliseum Ben's arc was complete. He got the girl, she got the boy, no point in prolonging it after that. It was a good place for his story to end.

 

TROS was rushed, at least I think most of us believe that it was. I think if his arc had gone the 6 episodes I originally assumed (mostly based on JJ's initial comments about Kylo) that the ST was the end of the OT, but the introduction to the next trilogy. None of the characters arcs were finished (IMO) by a long shot. Even now none of them feel complete (to me).

And it's why Ben's redemption doesn't feel complete. It feels more like a Joffrey Baratheon death instead of a Stannis Baratheon death. It feels like at this young age, he should be able to turn things around; death shouldn't be the conclusion this early. Of course that may be Anakin's arc coloring my perspective. I just would much rather have seen an older, and perhaps jaded Kylo, turn because the weight of the years of his actions finally catch up with him his conscience he can't deny who he is (or wants to be) fundamentally. This part of the story could have been so much more for all the characters (IMO)