Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Can we ever forgive Kylo Ren?

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is pushing a narrative for Kylo Ren that’s inching toward his likely redemption — but why should we swallow that pill?

He didn’t mean to do it — he was manipulated and felt betrayed. Or in his own words, “torn apart.” He thought he was doing the right thing as if he could bring “peace, freedom, justice and security to [his] own empire.”

That’s the narrative being pushed. That morality can be gray instead of a clear, “Did he or did he not kill tons of people by his own hand and have a role in the slaughter of thousands of others?” What’s the question there? He did.

Chronicling his actions in The Force Awakens

With the Knights of Ren, he killed innocent and varying degrees of helpless students. He went to Jakku and killed Lor San Tekka, a man who’d known him his entire life. Afterward, he gave the order for the entire village of women and children to die. He lured his father into a trap by asking for help, then brutally murdered him while staring right into his eyes. He watched the fascist and genocidal regime known as the First Order execute the Republic and countless other lives both on and off screen.

And this was all just in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It wasn’t until after the film debuted that people even understood why he was so enraged. In comparison, we really didn’t know the extent of Darth Vader’s treachery during the original trilogy. Planets blew up at Tarkin’s request. The path to Vader’s redemption was an open lane that was only muddled thanks to the prequels and watching Anakin’s downfall. I’m not excusing Vader over his grandson, only pointing out how they’re separate arguments.

But Kylo Ren’s villainy was made clear from the start. The line was drawn.

However, now it feels like Star Wars: The Last Jedi wants to undo that.

His role in The Last Jedi

First of all, he’s not wearing his mask as much as he used to, if at all. They’re humanizing him. He’s not just a faceless man in a helmet. Like the end of Return of the Jedi, seeing the face is meant to pull our sympathetic strings. We’re to read the emotions and feel the depth of their pain. But I got news for you, Star Wars: I feel absolutely nothing toward Kylo Ren.

Unfortunately, I know you want me to, Star Wars. The journey ahead will be long. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the director of The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson, promised:

"“There’s a big part of the story yet to be written and not by me. But I don’t think it’s very interesting if the whole story is just ‘Will Kylo get his comeuppance?’ He’s a more complicated character than that and I think he deserves a more complicated story than that. I don’t see the point of trying to get behind his mask and learn more about him if all we’re going to learn is ‘Yeah, he’s just an evil bad guy that needs to be killed.’”"

Right after the quote in EW, we get this shot below.

That’s Kylo Ren standing in the background in a scene that we already know includes a Rey torture scene. A little lower, we read this in regards to Luke’s quick dismissal of Rey and how she feels being abandoned once again:

"That unexpected place is Kylo Ren, and the situation she finds herself in – alone, unappreciated, is similar to where Ben Solo found himself when broke from his Uncle Luke and followed the Knights of Ren down a darker path."

While I get that Rey and Kylo Ren are similar for this reason and that, Ben Solo ultimately chose a path that cost people their lives. He wasn’t a bystander. He ignorantly thought that purging large groups of people would bring him inner peace. Like, what?

Other shots call Kylo Ren’s torment, “An Anger That Never Dies.” Just … let that sink in for a second. This dude is so angry, he kills children. It’s not, ‘this dude’s so scared he’s going to lose his wife and so twisted by the conflicting ideals of the people around him, he kills children.’ Kylo Ren’s just angry.

Now, let’s look at the other side of this: Rey

Did Rey come across as angry to anyone in The Force Awakens? Where Kylo Ren seems like he’s been emo since birth, Rey patiently waited for her family for years. She fought through her reasonable fear to help the Resistance and was saddened by Han Solo’s death enough to beat the crap out of Kylo Ren, but in the end, I don’t read her as angry. At least, not to this aforementioned “never dies” extent.

I will allow that their relationship was intriguing. From his “what girl?” line to the fact that he brutally invaded her mind, it was, without a doubt, contentious. For me, though, I have to believe that her resolve is stronger than his. I have to believe that her convictions and her friendship with Finn or Chewie are stronger than Kylo Ren’s doubt.

When the EW article closes with,

"Rey and Kylo Ren are reaching toward each other in combat, but each one could also end up pulling the other to his or her side."

I find it hard to believe that he can pull Rey to the Dark Side. Her strength of character is just too powerful. And so that leaves us with a questionable Kylo Ren redemption.

Related Story: Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The focus is on the protagonists

While, yes, my entire argument is based off just two hours of film and lots of Internet chatter from articles and rumors, Kylo Ren’s “complicated” story sounds like a roundabout way of preparing the audience for a world where Kylo Ren will be considered a good guy. Which seems hard to stomach at this point. How do you make excuses for a murderer? Where’s the line? The ones you get to know are the ones who get a pass? Will this trilogy end with Kylo Ren’s death or his own exile? Is he the Zuko of Star Wars?

I can’t be the only one who wants to take the easy way out and kill him off, right? Let me know what you guys think in the comments below!