Will Ben Solo be Redeemed?

Fair enough, but I count both 1 & 2 as the same, a happy ending. If he's redeemed, it doesn't much matter if he lives on past SW9.

Well, that's an interesting thought. Perhaps he could disappear out of the story, like the monster at the end of Frankenstein, leaving his arc open. I'd dig that, and it would sort of echo Luke and Obi-wan too, going into exile.

 

For me it does. It would drastically change a possible EPX.

I once wrote that he could go off into deep space (with or without the Falcon) and no one knows where he's going to, except for Rey. But it will never be revealed.

 

Right, but there won’t be an Ep.X, will there? The saga all ends with this trilogy and everything beyond ST will be basically new stuff? Besides, I’m talking about ending the ST arc, for which future considerations isn’t very relevant. I am sure LFL are focused on giving Ben the best possible end they can in this trilogy. While a living bad-guy Ben could be used to facilitate a future threat in the galaxy, a redeemed Ben has pretty much exhausted his arc and would be a much weaker/less interesting character later on.

IMHO, we won’t see Ben again after Ep.IX, at least not beyond a short cameo.

Aaaanyway, this is rather off topic for the current discussion

For the record, I think it is very difficult to predict what will happen with Ben (hence, I voted "don't know") but my guess is that he will be redeemed only to heroicaly sacrifice himself to undo what he has done.

 

I don't know.

Surprises me JJ.

 

i'd be okay with this as long as it's truly ambiguous. what i dread is for it to result in endless clabbering vitriol about a.) it not being definitive, and b.) people insisting their version of interpretation is right. but there's no controlling that. maybe for that reason alone, i would slightly prefer we just got a definite cut and dried conclusion, but i do think something open-ended, regardless of the outcome, would be best.

 

I have not read through all six pages of previous responses, but here are my thoughts.

Initially, I thought this - If Ben dies unredeemed, then the entire Skywalker saga is essentially a Greek tragedy. If he gets redeemed, it is a Greek comedy. I was also thinking that Lucasfilm could not let one of the greatest sagas in cinematic history end as a tragedy.

But then I started thinking that there is more to this then just Ben Solo. Whether it is a tragedy or a comedy depends not only on Ben, but also on Rey. I think there is a definite possibility for Ben to die unredeemed, but Rey to carry forward with the triumph of the light side. Then it would not be such a true tragedy. Sure, maybe the Skywalker family line ended on a tragic note, but the story overall wouldn't. Personally, I don't really want to see Ben Solo redeemed (but I will be fine with it if it is done well), so I kind of like the thought of this kind of an ending.

 

Even though I would like to have a tragedy, SW never was about tragedy. Yes, ROTS had sad and dark themes, but it ended on a hopeful note.

I kinda want both though, tragedy and comedy. This means the light side wins by destroying the FO and bringing back Ben. But there has a price to be paid . Maybe some major deaths like Poe or Finn. Maybe even Rey and Ben die together to save the galaxy. Two (possible) lovers die to save everyone. This would be a tragedy and a comedy at the same time.

 

The KOR could say something like that. Apparently they are a cult of Vader worshipers, so as soon as they realise Kylo isn't really fulfilling Vader's legacy, they could go against him.

 

Bendemption?

 

No Bendemption?

 

Hey guys, haven't been around in a while but just wanted to pop in and say this is a great thread. I also have come to see Kylo as the main character in this trilogy, and the most interesting one as well.

This is an interesting philosophical problem going back to Aristotle's golden mean- some things you may not want a balance of, like good & evil. At least not in one entity. I always thought that bringing balance to the force meant that someone had to arise who could offset the gathering dark forces. Not that the person himself was balanced, or that the ideal would be a balanced Force. There is the Dark side, and it needed to be offset by the Light. The best thing would be NO dark side, but that wasn't the situation at hand.

The greater the fall, the bigger the save. That's not to say there won't be consequences or that it was "no biggie". Redemption has value all by itself, not just in whether it gets the bad guy off the hook, which Is actually a fairly secondary consideration. (Unless one is trying to get parole, I guess- then it would matter a lot!)

Excellent post. And if his redemption is not linked directly to Vader, it will be one of the Skywalkers. As @Adams812 pointed out, this role should have fallen to Leia. It is heartbreaking to me that that is unlikely to happen, but maybe.... they were definitely setting Leia up to be a Force user and therefore she could come back, and with CGI and the fact that she'd appear as a ghost, well who knows. It might work.

I think that Kylo might see a kindred spirit in Rey, a mirror image, so to speak. But since his issues originate with his family, they're the ones who have to solve it. She might be the catalyst, but he has to come to terms with his heritage to be redeemed.

I kind of think his breaking point will be when someone informs him that Vader actually turned to the light in the end. Apparently, that is not widely known. Think his identity is messed up now? Just wait until he hears that little tidbit.

This would be awesome.

 

I think he knows already. In the TFA novel, he blamed Vader's sentiment for the reason why the Empire failed. A big part of what drives him is to overcome Vader's mistake. He doesn't want to make the same error he did. And in TLJ, he didn't. Rather than join up with Rey after killing Snoke, he chose to continue down the dark path and fulfil Vader's destiny.

 

Thanks, I wonder why more isn't made of that in the movies? I get the feeling almost no one knows. The few references to him don't seem to suggest that his turn to the light is widely understood. Rey can read Kylo's mind, she could have used it against him, telling him Vader turned out to be good in the end.

By TFA I was expecting Vader to be almost used as propaganda, the way any major player who defects is used. But instead, it's like nothing has changed.

 

Somehow Rey already knew about Vader's story. From The Last Jedi:

LUKE
"At the height of their powers, they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire, and wipe them out. It was a Jedi Master who was responsible for the training and creation of Darth Vader."

REY
"And a Jedi who saved him. Yes. Your father was the most hated man in the galaxy. He caused so much death and destruction for many years. But you saw there was conflict inside him. You believed that he wasn't gone. That he could be turned."
​

If a girl who comes from nowhere knows what they did, then I guess it must be common knowledge to everyone else in the galaxy too.

 

Maybe Leia gave her a quick heads-up before sending her to Luke.

 

Given how much they are riffing off on the OT I would think it is at least a better than even chance the Kylo will be redeemed. I am sure that was the original plan when they were starting the ST. Maybe TLJ changed all their plans.

 

To use real life as an example, we still remember World War 1 (as well as Wars beyond that). I actually thought it's was strange that she thought Luke was a myth to begin with. I mean hell, it's not like those heroes are dead or anything like that.

 

The Kylo vs Vader thing has a strange interplay. Kylo even having greater success toward his twisted goals than Vader. He still comes off as trying to hard. Not that the actor is trying to hard that Kylo is trying TOOO hard he has something to prove and might burn down the galaxy to do so.

 

My bet is the two die together, if I'm being honest.