Kylo Ren is a man of two faces…literally. On one hand an impetuous, mask-wearing, Vader-cosplaying, tantrum-prone manchild, and on the other hand…Adam Driver. It’s easy, then, to see why fans of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and even the films themselves, seem so split on the character. And while he’s experienced some development over the three films, first debuting to arguments over whether he was intimidating enough, and now closing with an army of #Reylo devotees, the character’s never been able to fully escape this duality on-screen. Recently, this came to a head on Twitter with the #SaveBenSolo campaign.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker tried to bring Kylo’s arc to a close by both punishing him for his villainy and giving him a romance-based redemption at the last second. This culminated in the film’s final act, with Kylo kissing Rey before sacrificing himself to save her life. Presumably, this was the film’s attempt to please all sides of the fanbase, both those who saw him as too toxic to redeem and those who idolized him as a heartthrob, rather than choosing one final face for the character for good.
To be fair, the original trilogy had already pulled the same move with Darth Vader, to great effect, but that only raises the other issue of the sequel trilogy’s propensity to simply retell without adding much. Were Disney to either commit to Kylo becoming a permanent heroic addition to the cast rather than a last-second, self-punishing defector, or to him being a villain, then perhaps people would have responded differently. But even with the kiss, it seems #Reylos aren’t happy with the bittersweet, indecisive ending.
Over the weekend, Kylo stans took to Twitter with a Palpatine-sized fleet of ships (I’m sorry) to execute order #SaveBenSolo, trying to convince the company to bring back Kylo…one way or the other.
Han, luke and Leia sacrificed their lives so that Ben could live and not die #SaveBenSolo pic.twitter.com/Wb9NiCoMpn
— 💛Iry94💛 (@IryLovesMusic) January 25, 2020
The tweets started shortly before Adam Driver’s guest spot on SNL this weekend, and were over 50,000 strong when they hit trending this weekend. Many of them focus on the sacrifices supposedly made for Kylo’s sake, and how having him die robs them of impact.
#SaveBenSolo because Han, Leia and Rey all believed he was worth saving. pic.twitter.com/0yeZEvBk38
— Ben Solo Is Adorkable (@BenAdorkable) January 25, 2020
“Han forgave his son for what he had done. He prayed someday his son would forgive him in turn.”
TFA Novelization/ Michael Kogge #saveBenSolo pic.twitter.com/cidxCQbncI
— REYLO_ARG (@reylo_arg) January 25, 2020
While others mourn the missed opportunities a potential continued Ben Solo character arc could offer.
#SaveBenSolo so we can actually see who Han and Leia’s son really is for more than 5 minutes pic.twitter.com/cJjRE85AxN
— rebecca | missing little starfighter (@Drunk0nSunlight) January 25, 2020
i miss this bad bitch #SaveBenSolo pic.twitter.com/cvyG6ayDsi
— ʙʀɪ (@bentargaryen) January 25, 2020
And others just want Rey to be happy.
#SaveBenSolo because Rey saved him too. She wanted him by her side. Save him so Rey’s story stops hurting so much. pic.twitter.com/oO2aXVZ1m1
— 🌈 Deea 🦄 Space Waffles 🍭 (@poopsiekittens) January 25, 2020
these two really deserved a happy ending #SaveBenSolo pic.twitter.com/yqUz0vanbc
— Instalestrange 🌟 (@LestrangeRey) January 25, 2020
It’s unlikely that a full resurrection will actually come to fruition, though Disney does of course enjoy its profits. The Last Jedi, after all, is no stranger to fan backlash, and while The Rise of Skywalker did selectively address some of that criticism, it is still a central piece of the new canon, with Rian Johnson potentially being courted for future movies. Were Disney to make future Star Wars projects in the sequel timeline, they would likely address Ben Solo in a similar way, perhaps writing around Rise of Skywalker’s themes without negating its plot completely.
That said, that doesn’t prevent the company from releasing Kylo Ren prequel material, as Marvel is currently doing with a comic series explaining the character’s origins. And the Star Wars series does already have a means of bringing back pre-existing character baked into it via Force ghosts, so a future cameo isn’t out of-the-cards. Though, my fellow Stanakins know not to get our hopes up on that front.
Were Disney to bring back Kylo, though, they’d do well to finally choose one clear arc for him. Right now, he sits as a man who we are supposed to love, who nonetheless killed his father, emotionally manipulated Rey, lead the attack that launched Leia into the vacuum of space, and only realized his follies in one eleventh hour scene of regret when he was threatened by a larger enemy. More importantly, up until The Rise of Skywalker, he doubles-down on his fall to the dark side at almost every potential opportunity for redemption, especially after his team-up with Rey in The Last Jedi, a movie where he uses their closeness not to romance her, but to trick her into trying to redeem Ben Solo only to pull her closer to Kylo Ren’s toxic influence.
For his turn to the light side to be satisfying, we need to know what was different about his redemption opportunity in The Rise of Skywalker, and no, I’m not talking about Leia saying his name on the space Skype.
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