The Rise of Skywalker Adam Driver as Kylo Ren (IX)

[Sian]

It's funny but I am now convinced that it was Abrams' plot all along to kill off the Skywalker line and replace them with his OC.
In the EU Han and Leia had several children, and Luke had a son. In the ST there was only one offspring - Ben/Kylo - and Abrams decided to make him a villain. More than that he also decided to make him kill off the OT's most popular character. Thanks to the amazing performances of Ford and Driver the scene was genuinely heartrending, but at the end of the day it was simply a reason to make SW fans hate Kylo.
I expected to hate him as I'm a huge Han Solo fan, but I ended up loving the character. As the only descendant of the Skywalkers I wanted him to live. I wanted him to earn his redemption and find happiness. As long as this happened, I was okay with the fate of the OT cast. Han, Luke and Leia had lived fairly long and very full lives, and they would live on through their son/nephew.
But that wasn't DLF/Abrams intention. They wanted Star Wars, but not the Skywalker/Solos. So, they got rid of them. Permanently. They even went as far as having the last of the line die to save their heroine. One of the most nauseating things I've ever read was the line in Rae Carson's novel where Ben didn't mind dying because he'd 'given Rey back to the galaxy.' This confirms Rey was never meant to be a flesh and blood, flawed, interesting person but a lofty god like creature who was so magnificent the last Skywalker must die to save her for the rest of the universe. And in translation - 'Lucas's bloodline must be erased because DLF are so much better at creating heroes'.
I wonder if Lucas is regretting selling his franchise off the the Mouse?

 

[Sian]

I've just learned that apparently a new special edition Age of Resistance book has been released and according to them Kylo/Ben killed all of Luke's students and destroyed his temple. Yet the Rise of Kylo Ren comic showed quite clearly that he did not.
I'm sorry but this is baffling me.

 

[henzINNIT]

I had this headcanon of Hux deposing Kylo, heading into the Unknown Regions and finding instead Palpatine's evil soul, who possesses him!

You mentioned headcanon, and I thought it would be fun to share my ideas about a Bendemption 'Duel of the Fates' rewrite. I think you might like it, or hate it, ha. Let me know. I moved it here because it's Kylo-centric.

So I'd keep the larger story of DOTF. Finn leads a rebellion on Coruscant, Force beacons summon armies to help, and Rey has the final battle on Mortis. The film picks up with Kylo still hunting for secrets and power. But he's a little different. His time staring into the void as Supreme Leader has taken its toll, and he's a broken individual.

Kylo arrives not on Mustafar, but on Snoke's home planet. He's looking for the source of his master's power. There we have the Luke haunting scenes cause that's great, but Kylo also encounters a frail old caretaker of Snoke's estate. From him Kylo learns a few things about Snoke. He was from an ancient race that worshiped the Gods of Mortis, but Snoke became hungry for power and killed his kin (becoming horribly scarred in the process) and set off to control the galaxy instead. Kylo asks how to find Mortis, and the caretaker directs him to a cave nearby.

So we do the Kylo vs. Vader cave scene from DOTF but much sooner, and a little different. Instead of just simply losing the fight with Vader, it is far more personal and revelatory. Kylo is losing, becoming more erratic and desperate, when Vader shifts to Anakin, and the fight becomes about their nature. Anakin says this hate is not in Ben's heart, just like it ultimately wasn't in his. Kylo becomes ever more desperate and emotional, until he's just hacking and slicing and sobbing, and suddenly alone. Then we hear Han Solo speak to him. And we do that scene, Han declares Kylo Ren dead, he puts his hand on his son's lightsaber, and Ben turns it off. Above them, stars swirl and the location to Mortis is revealed.

As in DOTF, Chancellor Hux has assumed control of the First Order in Kylo's absence, but now he has a more involved plot to fully usurp power with help of the Knights of Ren. Hux schemes with a prominent female knight to kill Ben Solo and simply place Kylo Ren's costume on the brutish knight who is easily controlled, and then the First Order is theirs. The Knights of Ren launch their plan and head to find and kill Kylo Ren.

Ben is done with his old life by the time the Knights arrive. He senses their betrayal coming and manages to escape with his life, causing an explosion which they presume has killed him. The Knights retrieve his discarded lightsaber, and hand it to the new Kylo Ren, in his merchandizable reforged helmet. They kill the caretaker, but not before learning about the location of Mortis.

Rey and Poe have just visited Lando to request his aid, and are flying away when Rey doubles over in pain. She is experiencing another force-skype with Kylo, only this time the air is still burning from the recent explosion. He is badly hurt. He pleads for Rey to save him. Rey is conflicted but feels the pain he is in, and wants to help, but where is he? Ben reaches out with a bloody hand, and through the connection hands her a small tracking beacon. He's still clutching the other. 'I'm there.'

Poe despises the idea of this detour, but eventually relents and they rescue a battered Ben Solo. From here, Ben travels with the heroes, and we have a fantastic new dynamic to explore between them all. Rey is naturally guarded around him, but can sense something has changed. Finn has faith in Rey, and wants to believe people can change. Rose and Poe absolutely hate Ben for everything he has done. There's one particularly personal exchange where Ben talks about Leia visiting him before she died. Ben says it might have been her last words, when Poe bitterly interjects that they weren't, and that Poe was holding Leia's hand as she passed. The group decide that as they don't trust him, it is best to keep him away from anything too delicate.

As the film ramps up toward the climax, Rey heads to Mortis to stop our villains from seizing its power, only this time it's not against Ben, it is against our two primary Knights of Ren. She is eventually overwhelmed by both, and in another force-skype, she reaches out to Ben. Ben is wary and afraid he's a danger, but Rey reaches him and he takes her hand, traveling across the galaxy to join her in Mortis. She hands him half of her lightsaber, and the pair defeat the Knights of Ren together.

There is one last obstacle. Ghosts of the past appear to tell Rey and Ben of their destiny to become the new Gods of Mortis. It was foretold that figures of darkness and light would come together and reclaim Mortis, and it will bring new balance to the universe. Together they can make things right... and start over. It becomes clear that this process is a hard reset, and everything will be destroyed to make way for the new world. Rey scoffs at the insanity of it but Ben pauses. This is everything he wanted, to burn the past down and be rid of everything. Like the throneroom scene in TLJ, we have Rey and Ben on the cusp of splitting off, but this time Rey reaches him, and convinces Ben that people deserve an opportunity to be better. They defy prophecy and flee Mortis, which vanishes as they fly away.

 

[Sian]

Sounds pretty good actually, and a nice way to end the saga. Heck of a lot better than the rubbish we ultimately got.

You know, as a Kylo fan I was angry how his character was treated in TROS, along with Kelly Tran, but Domnhall Gleeson was shafted as well...I know he had a couple of scenes in TLJ where he was 'comic relief' but I'll never forget that predatory look on his face as he watched Ben Solo kneeling in the abandoned rebel base...
'One slip up - and I'll have you.'
Hux wasn't FS but you don't need to be FS to be a threat...remember, Tarkin originally commanded Darth Vader himself and with Snoke's death Kylo/Ben was the only FS in the First Order. Hux made a point of him 'daring to command HIS armies'; and I had the impression that threats and using the Force on Hux would only have limited success for Kylo...if Hux had discovered the truth about Snoke's death Kylo would have been out.
Yet another opportunity wasted by TROS.