Incoming transmission. Negative rebellion. Welcome to another special episode of Radio Rebellion, a Star Wars podcast. I am Alberto Calderon and today we will be focusing on the other half of the dire in the voice Ben Solo.
His transformation into Kylo Ren and his journey through the sequel trilogy. So let's go ahead and get started. Ben Solo, Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren, Supreme Leader, told him what you will love him or hate him. This is one of the most misunderstood characters in recent Star Wars history.
After the first awakened Kylo Ren was quickly dismissed by some as a whiny emo kid. Too quick to temper and violent outburst. Although some of it is true, there is more to this character than just a surface level imagery. Starting with his downfall portrayed in the child soul comic book The Fall of Kylo Ren.
The Rise of Kylo Ren, sorry. Ben Solo was an unknown victim of having the weight of his family's name on his shoulders. Even if this was of his own doing. From early on in his childhood, Snow started planting seeds in Ben's mind that the people he trusted and were supposed to be protecting him, mainly Luke Skywalker, were not who they thought they were.
Ben Solo believed that he has to live up to all the grace that share his blood and even his name. His name after a great Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi that he never met. Son to rebellion great Leia, Organa and Han Solo and nephew to Luke Skywalker. The last Jedi, the one to bring Anakin Skywalker back from the dark side and help in the fitting the Emperor and the Empire.
Most of his actions that lead to his fall are sparked by someone else acting against him first. Yes, Snow was already in his head but it wasn't until Luke ignited his lightsaber as he slept that he was forced to take action against him. Which basically constitutes personal defense. We also learned in this comic book that Ben didn't want to destroy the temple and that he wasn't the one responsible for it burning down.
As he is trying to live, three returning Jedi to the temple, Vaux, Henics and Ty stop him and stand in his way. On multiple occasions he tells them just to let him go or they block his path and don't let him go and he is forced to take actions against them. Although he doesn't injure one of them, he doesn't kill them and he has another chance to end them as they fly after him but he only disables their spaceship. When he reaches Snow, Snow prods him that he isn't strong enough to have killed Luke Skywalker.
And that if he really wants to be strong in the dark side, he has to ditch his name and try and join the Knights of Ren. After he is tracked down by the three Jedi and his force once again to engage them, he force pushes one of them off a ledge but just as he does it, he tries to catch her with the force to stop her from falling but one of the other Jedi's nicks go behind him and throws his lightsaber at him which forces him to let go of the one he is holding and redirecting force to turn the lights every back at Henics which eventually kills him. When he reaches the Knights of Ren and tells them he killed the Jedi, he is told that he can't join them yet because he really didn't want to kill him. He is always trying to prove to others, be it Snoke or the Knights of Ren that he is capable capable of dark side actions even if this is something he might not believe himself.
And both of them call him out on this which just makes him angrier. By the time we meet him in the force awakens, he has ditched his family name and is now Kaido Ren, master of the Knights of Ren but still at this point he feels that pull to the light and trying to prove to others that he is something else that he is portraying. He doesn't want to do certain things but still does them because he has to prove to others his mentors at that point that he is capable of them. When he tells his father that he knows what he needs to do but doesn't know if he has his strength to do it and need that his help, he is looking towards others to make those decisions for him.
After he returns to Snoke and tells him that he killed Han Solo, what does Snoke does? He doesn't tell him that he is closer to being Vader's heir apparent. He tells him that the act made him weaker. He tells him that he is a child in a mask and to take that ridiculous thing off.
All to keep bringing him down. Mess with his confidence which has always been fragile, making him easier to control. His mask helps him hide his true self and helps him in committing this terrible acts. And when that is taken from him he has doubts about himself as Snoke knows this.
He is controlling Rey when he keeps naps her in Takodana and takes her to his ship. But as soon as he takes the mask off during interrogation his defenses are down. She is able to see past his shield and connect with the Ben Solo still inside. When Han Solo acts in to remove his mask he also has a moment of weakness.
So having his final mentor per se telling him that his mask, the one thing he uses to channel the dark side which I don't think is an odd to Darth Vader but more to Ren, the original leader of the Knights of Ren, he is left vulnerable for the rest of the last Jedi. I don't think that he would have been able to force kite with Rey if he still hid behind the mask. All of the conversations happen when his mask is off except during the rise of Skywalker. When he brings Rey to Snoke he gets a bit of validation from him but he is still following his orders and being told that Snoke can read all of his thoughts that there is nothing that he can hide from him.
To the point that Snoke narrates Kylo's inner thoughts. But same as he did to Ren, the leader of the Knights, in the comic book, killing him when Ren told Ben that he didn't want to be in the shadow which is what the Knights of Ren called the dark side. And he tells him that he is the shadow and takes over the Knights of Ren and becomes master of the Knights. He is surprised Snoke when he least expected it and use Snoke's arrogance to slack him down and take his mantle as Supreme Leader of the First Order.
Both eggs, which are so far the only times he's actually wanted to kill his supposed masters were done because they both minimized his devotion to the dark side and he wanted, I think out of spite, to show them that he could commit fully to the dark again even if he didn't fully believe it himself. Once he takes control of the First Order he's not concerned with ruling the galaxy with Rey as any king wanted to do with Padme. He wants to destroy those who oppose him, kill anyone else that might get in the way of gaining more power. He doesn't spend time in ballroom meetings about his art destroyer planning how to take over systems and control them.
For him is, I'm told I can't commit fully to the dark side, I'm going to show them how wrong they are. Let me get the Sith way from finder, get to Exego, kill the Emperor and then I'm the only one left standing. The Emperor, of course, being the great manipulator that he is, tricks him into doing his building so that Kylo can become even more powerful while at the same time breaking Rey to him and fulfilling his plan. As where Rey was physically abandoned at an early age, Kylo was physically and emotionally abandoned by his family members and those close to him.
Han Solo, as we learned in Last Shot and Bloodline, was an absentee father and returned to racing and wasn't there. Leia was also consumed by politics and sent her son away to train as a Jedi by Luke and when we know and we know how that ended up. Plus learning just six years before the Force Awakens that he was related to Darth Vader, probably through gossip like everyone else did and then having to think what else of his parents hide away from him. He creates this connection with Rey that might not just be a romantic connection but a feeling of understanding and then trying to convince her that she cannot place her trust in those that are supposedly close to her but instead of in each other.
He appeals to her sense of abandonment and needing a familial support while she tries to appeal to his past remembrance and that there are still people that love and care for him, even her. They are both trying to appeal to each other's familial needs but coming to it from very opposite sides. Plus, of course, their connection to the Force, their Force connection. Kylo first dismisses this as her being strong in the Force but as the movie goes on, same as he learns, same as the audience, there is something else bringing them together and forming that bond.
Snoke might have been responsible for breathing their minds but after that initial introduction, if you may, the Force connection is the one that takes over and allows them to physically get close to the point of touching fingers that first time during the last daylight which then evolves to a more bigger connection through the Force as we saw in the Rise of Skywalker. Two halves of the same coin but it's not as simple as that since here that coin is being flipped by different forces. This leads us to Kylo in the Rise of Skywalker and the eventual return of Ben Solo. We are introduced to a Kylo Ren that doesn't care about the advancements of the First Order military might or just his quest for more power.
He reforges his mess and leads the knights as for me this is where he is more comfortable in accepting the dog site and being the leader with followers and not being the follower like Rey so brilliantly pointed out to him when asking if he is serving another master when he mentions the Emperor. He is taken aback when Rey blads lightning into the transport but now knows to use this against her as he hopes that telling her that she is related to Palpatine and that the dog side is in their nature will lead her to forego any of the connections she still has and lead her to him. As they both grow stronger in the Force so does their connection and are being able to pass items to each other basically bending the space around them. Not to repeat what I said when talking about Rey's journey the battle on the Death Star wreckage is when Kylo is finally able to overcome her physically because he was able to defeat her emotionally with the news of her heritage.
Okay so let's jump to Kylo's turn and the return of Ben Solo. Since I saw Kylo in the Force Awakens I didn't want him to be redeemed not because he did don't think about and kill Han Solo I just didn't want to repeat of Vader slash Anakin I didn't see how they could do it without being too obvious or too cliché but I did I complete 180 when the Rise of Skywalker came out I was so emotional during that scene. Being his parents the one responsible for his redemption worked perfectly. Leia sacrificing herself one final shot at saving her son following looks advised that no one is ever really gone and finalizing her Jedi training and of course the same with Han having a repeat of the scene in the Force Awakens Han telling him that it was his memory I want to make it come full circle it's when Kylo says I know what I have to do but I don't know if I have the strength to do it he stops there and doesn't add can you help me and Han instead of grabbing the saber tells him you do putting the decision squarely on Kylo's hand which is like I mentioned earlier the opposite of how things have worked out for him.
He has always done things to appease others and here he will be 100% responsible for his actions and decisions and after being blindsided by sensing his mom's death and then raised compassion by stopping him from dying that he finally becomes Ben again and others a simple word that this vlogming the theater I was in come I was incompletely on his redemption and having Han Solo replied with I know not needing to hear his son say that he loves him he's great acting great delivery and great writing for that important scene his redemption to me means that no cut corrupted his mind but not his soul it's sad that he died so soon after being redeemed but he was able to help raid defeat the emperor but he was still heard that gave that killing blow but then paying his debt by then using his last last bit of voice power and spirit to bring her back to life maybe I'm reading too much into it after finishing the rise of Kylo Ren comic book and interpreting it that way that he was always trying to prove himself to others instead of following his own journey and maybe Kylo was always destined to read amongst her that Ray tells him he is he does some acts that can't be justified like kidnapping Ray and invading her mind and all of the connotation behind those acts but I want to believe in this new interpretation of Kylo slash Ben that I have created so that concludes our analysis of Ben Solo slash Kylo Ren and his journey in Star Wars again I hope you enjoyed listening to this breakdown as much as I did coming up with it see you next time stay safe I'm ready for it to be with you