The Rise of Skywalker: Was Kylo Ren redeemed?
Ahead of The Rise of Skywalker, many fans are wondering whether Kylo Ren will be redeemed like his grandfather before him and face his destiny.
Readers, be warned. There are spoilers ahead for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Ahead of the final installment in The Skywalker Saga, many fans are wondering whether Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo, will be redeemed like his grandfather before him. After an unsuccessful and tragic attempt from his father, Han Solo, in The Force Awakens, Kylo has formed an intense psychic bond with Rey that may be his last chance to turn to the light.
Here’s your last chance to skip out before spoilers. Are you ready?
The Rise of Skywalker finds Kylo and Rey’s bond stronger than ever with the threat of the risen Emperor Palpatine looming large. While Rey wants to destroy him, Kylo wants to work with Rey to end him and turn her to the Dark Side once and for all.
The film makes it very clear that, despite Kylo’s momentary relapse into full mask-wearing evil, he is still capable and worthy of redemption.
Leia continues to reach out to her son throughout the movie, so much so that the energy eventually drains her of her life force and she dies while Kylo and Rey fight. After the fight, Kylo’s father, Han Solo, appears one last time and Kylo “knows what he must do.” Unlike the parallel moment in The Force Awakens, he has the chance to make things right as he abandons his lightsaber once and for all in an effort to help Rey.
In the final act of the film, Kylo goes after Rey and finds her facing Palpatine alone. After the two of them fight off Palpatine’s Sith, he puts an end to it by drawing the life-force out of them.
If nothing else is clear, Ben Solo is a fighter. And now that he knows what he’s fighting for, he won’t give up. He’s come this far; his parents are both dead, and Rey is in danger. Ben takes another step to fight Palpatine but gets thrown over the side of the cliff.
But thankfully, Rey has all of the Jedi with her and is able to face Palpatine. However, it’s too much for her and even though she defeats Palpatine, she collapses, the life force drained out of her as well.
Ben makes one last arduous climb out of the pits of Palpatine’s Sith temple and takes Rey into his arms. Transferring his life force into hers, he heals her and they finally kiss. (Lots of people have thoughts about that particular moment, I’m sure, but that’s for another time.)
And the last of Leia’s life force, which had sustained her son in the fight, dissipates from her body and Ben dies, too. One could argue that saving Rey is not a big enough of a redemption for someone who was pretty darn evil and killed a lot of people. But as Luke mentioned earlier in the film, Rey is the future of all the Jedi. So to save her is to save all of the future generations as well. It’s a fitting end for a character as complex and emotional as Ben Solo.
dark. Next. The Rise of Skywalker plays it safe and sticks to fan service