Read on Twitter~a thread by caitlinkenobi~
Okay, I want to start by saying: this is completely my opinion based on my experiences, interpretation and who I am, if you don’t agree, that’s completely fine! I personally love Kylo and this thread should hopefully tell you why he is my favourite Star Wars character! :)
I know it’s expected to ‘justify’ liking any ‘villian’ and I won’t act like he did nothing wrong: otherwise he would have nothing to be redeemed for. However I feel it’s completely valid to have a villian as a comfort character, especially when it’s someone as complex as Kylo.
(plus villains and redemption are another WHOLE thread in themselves
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I want to begin with the idea that Kylo felt like he had nowhere else he could turn, especially with Snoke/Palpatine grooming him from his conception to believe that everyone already thought he was a monster. Consider this:
Kylo was born into the bloodline of legends, to two parents who were renowned through the galaxy- the fact that even Rey, who had grown up alone on a desert planet even knows who Han is in TFA proves this idea- he has a huge legacy to live up to. Everyone knows who he should be.
I can personally relate to this, with the idea of feeling constantly under pressure, constantly feeling as if I have to achieve more, to be more, and to be perfect: Kylo never actually got the chance to experience a ‘normal life’ in this sense. To just be Ben.
You can see this, by the way he conducts himself- a lot of the time he seems upset/unsure even in his most dark side ‘Kylo Ren’ moments: showing the audience how he is torn between who he is and who he thinks he is supposed to be. I think this proves what Snoke said is true-
That he is a nothing but a scared ‘child in a mask’, so desperately trying to find his own way in the galaxy. He did so by doing the opposite to what his parents expected, his legacy expected and what the audience would expect from a Solo/Skywalker
I feel he chose the only place he felt able to turn and Snoke made it sound so appealing- less work with a bigger payoff than being who he was expected to be. He then ended up stuck. We see this when he kills Han, when Rey leaves him- he was never truly submitted to the dark.
The cinematography in this scene truly shows this idea- how the half blue, half-red covers his face. He is torn between the light and the dark, between two different expectations of him. Before, he was expected to be the best Jedi-
And now, Snoke expects him to be the merciless, completely evil leader Kylo Ren. Both of which, he is not. He has so much to live up to on both sides- Darth Vader in the Dark and Leia/Han in the light. He seriously never got a chance to think about who he might be.
We are meant to see this shine through in his character, no matter what he is doing. It’s almost as if the Kylo Ren persona in itself is a mask, only allowing him to show emotion through his eyes. He has no idea who he is really, so forces himself to conform to expectations.
I think the idea he chose to become Kylo Ren after being convinced it would be his ‘freedom’ and a chance for him to escape from somewhere he thought he wasn’t welcome and couldn’t live up to is so tragic, as he ended up, as Rey said ‘serving another master’.
Finally, we move on to redemption. Even after all he went through, he chose his own path again- not under any master (Luke, Palpatine or Snoke)and fought for the right side. He allowed himself to become who he truly was and relied on the command of no one except himself.
He literally went against EVERYTHING he had been taught, abused and manipulated into, to fight for the cause he truly believed in. Obviously he didn’t fully realise this by himself, Leia+Han+Rey played a huge part in it, yet he overcame his darkness and fought for his own path.
Which in my opinion, is extremely admirable. I can’t excuse what he did on the dark side as being ‘acceptable’ but I can find the good in who he is and his story. People tend to forget he was manipulated to the dark from birth and yet STILL became Ben Solo and was redeemed.
I feel the ‘moral’ I can personally find in this, and if you’re searching for one, is that no matter who you are or who you were, you should grasp any opportunity to be better, to fight for what you believe in. And that you’re not confined to who you believe you have to be.
Not to mention, I personally am a HUGE sucker for a bad guy gone good trope and a tragedy, and Ben’s story, in my opinion, is a tragedy.
It’s just very interesting to have a villian who stems from the most good in the galaxy, the legends of the light and a protagonist who stems from the most prominent evil in the galaxy. And in the end, they both choose their legacy, both choose who they are and fight for-
and also who they are/what they believe in. I personally relate to the struggle of not knowing who I am compared to who I am expected to be, so Ben/Kylo’s story is extremely close to me :)
Thank you for taking time to read my thoughts on the character of Kylo! It means so much. Thank you so much to @SWFanJordan for encouraging me to turn this into a thread, reading it multiple times and giving me so many helpful tips for my first threadhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥺" title="Pleading face" aria-label="Emoji: Pleading face">
