 |
| Ben Solo/Kylo Ren |
One of the things that was done well in The Force Awakens was to give us dynamic characters who's backstories are still only vaguely known. Finn, Rey, and Kylo Ren, who in my mind are the "trinity" of the new trilogy all have very limited backstories. Finn was a stormtrooper who's individuality broke through and awakened during his first battle, but was there anything in his past that led him to that point? Rey was abandoned on Jakku as a young child and was forced to learn to rely on herself and survive, but what events led her to Jakku are a mystery.
Kylo though, we have a small bit more on the backstory. We know he was the son of Leia Organa and Han Solo. We know he was force sensitive and Leia decided at some point in his youth to send him to his uncle Luke to be trained. He was ~23 years old (from the new canon EU book Bloodline) when he betrayed Luke and destroyed the new Jedi training school after being seduced by Snoke.
We know a bit more, but the details of what drove him are still blurred. It can be gathered that his parents probably had a lot of friction in their marriage. Han and Leia loved each other, but have always also ground against one another with enough force to send sparks. The conversation between Han and Leia in TFA to me heavily implies that he worried them as a child and showed the darkness sometime in his youth. Between his force sensitivity and seeming darkness potential, Leia sent him away to Luke in hopes of helping him. The conversation seems to indicate this was Leia's choice and Han likely had no say. How old he was exactly isn't clear, but one can guess this likely led to more feelings of abandonment. Either he felt both his parents sent him away, or that his mother sent him away and his father was too weak to be willing to fight for him. Neither's probably good for his psyche. Since he was in his 20's when he turned, he was likely Luke's apprentice for many years, which would have made that betrayal harder for him and more painful for Luke. The EU has also established that he did not know the truth about his grandfather until around the time of his betrayal, when it was made publicly known as a political move against Leia. There may have been feelings of betrayal that he was never given this information and maybe a justification in his mind for why he could turn to the darkness.
We also know that Snoke was manipulating him from a young age. It's not ever made clear how this manipulation happened. This to me is interesting to note since Anakin was clearly being manipulated by Palpatine for a long time, not through his childhood directly at least, but as a young man, Palpatine took an interest in him and steered his way to dark decisions. How direct or indirect was Snoke's manipulation to Ben as he pushed him to the darkness?
For the most part, this is really all we know about Ben. He was a troubled boy, an apprentice to Luke, and turned to the darkness and became Snoke's apprentice, learning the ways of the dark side. Pretty much everything down from here is speculation on my part.
 |
| Kylo Ren and Crew |
We have two characters now that fell to the darkness, so I think it's likely we'll see parallel's between Anakin's fall and Ben's fall. Like Ben, Anakin had issues. Anakin had lots of issues. Anakin had enough issues at eight years old that Yoda was practically begging Obi Wan to reconsider keeping his promise to Qui Gon to train Anakin.
If we say Ben had abandonment issues, I think we could say that Anakin had reverse abandonment issues. Even with her blessing, it was his choice to leave his mother. This likely haunted him, especially given her kidnapping and death later on in episode II, for most of his life. He had issues with not feeling recognized for his loyalty and ability. All of which likely stem back to the fact that he was a slave. "I'm a person and my name is Anakin." Even as a boy the fact that he was overlooked as a person (though in the scene in question Padme had not meant it that way at all) offended him greatly. He was always seeking return recognition that he felt he was not getting. Meeting Padme again 10 years later he was upset at the thought that she had not thought of him as much as he thought of her.
Palpatine played these weaknesses in him well. He encouraged him to get his revenge on Dooku and to recognize and not suppress the jealousy and anger, as it was after all justified. He cultivated and encouraged the sense of resentment he had at the Jedi council for failing to recognize his ability and loyalty to them. And then knowing his secret marriage he was able to target his greatest fear of losing another person he loved, one he loved more than anything. The story of Darth Plagueis was told to put the idea in his head that it was possible to prevent the ones you love from dying. To prevent all the pain of loss and failure by protecting those he loved forever.
 |
| Bad Ass Grandad |
And while these things tempted him, it should be noted that he betrayed Palpatine to the council once he realized he was the Sith. Anakin was torn heavily by this choice. Yet as he walked on to the scene of Mace Windu vs Palpatine, it's important to note that the thing that made him snap was actually Mace Windu's decision that Palpatine, who appeared defeated and helpless, needed to be killed. The Jedi Master deciding to break the Jedi code--THAT is where Anakin snapped. It's a code Anakin broke himself, but here he was, torn between light and dark, holding on to the belief of his training in the light, and one of his most critical masters was about to betray the code and path of the Jedi. It wasn't the temptation of the darkness that broke him. It was the hypocrisy of the light he had sworn himself to.
Then he went full Sith and slaughtered like 30 Jedi younglings.
I think that last step was a bit of a rapid jump. Having rewatched the prequels recently during a marathon of all the movies in honor of Carrie Fisher, I have to say there is more depth and nuance to them that people give them credit for, but then there's also a lot of bad writing. And going from torn and not believing his own actions to mass child murderer with no issues is a bit of a stretch.
 |
| He told me he wanted you to have it... well, not really, but I think it was implied as he screamed "I HATE YOU" at me after I cut off his legs and left him to die in lava. |
Anyway, getting off track...
So looking at Ben, there's some interesting comparisons between him and his grandfather. Both, I think, had the same wish for recognition and need to for attention. They both felt like they were not given the respect they deserved.
But as mentioned, above, Anakin's largest push to the darkness came from his fear that he was going to fail and lose everything he loved. Anakin felt that he abandoned and failed his mother by leaving her as a child and not being able to save her at the age of 19. He was terrified he wouldn't be able to protect and save Padme. These were the emotions that made him most fragile to be swayed to darkness. And once Padme was lost, he truly had nothing to care about, and instead was a shell who dedicated himself to Palpatine, as that was all he had left.
But Ben is different. Ben's fears aren't that HE will fail those he loves, but that those he loves will fail him. He felt failed by his father, rejected and failed by his mother. And this is echoed in his turn to the darkness. He chooses to hide his face and disguise his voice. This mutes emotional connections between him and others. He wants to be recognized and feared and avoid any emotional entanglements. Because he thinks he doesn't want these connections, since people will eventually fail him. He idolizes his grandfather, someone who is dead and can't turn around and reject him. This leads to even more importance that he takes off his mask for Rey later... but I think that's more of a topic for another long rambling essay.
If I'm right and Ben's fear is that others will fail him in some way-- that leads to the question of how did Luke fail him? I can't believe that this was an easy fall. Just like Anakin, Ben may have been driven to the precipice by his weaknesses and fears, but just like Anakin's final straw was seeing Mace Windu decide he must violate the Jedi code, I suspect something had to happen that drove Ben over the edge. I'm guessing he had always had some clashes with his uncle, but something happened that drove a final break with him and Luke and enraged him enough to want to destroy everything his uncle had worked for. He spent an unknown number of years under Luke, and had to have some loyalty to him and the new Jedi that had to be shattered in order to betray them.
If it turns out to be learning that he's Vader's grandson and not having been told as being that straw I'm going to be so pissed cause that is f*cking lame. Sorry, off course, just been doing a "please please please don't do that writers" in my head over that for awhile.
So back on track here- Ben is vulnerable, Snoke somehow was able to cultivate and grow those vulnerabilities, and some unknown drove him over the edge. He spent five or six years training under Snoke, but it should be noted, he is still an apprentice. His training is not yet complete. He shuns attachments, he shuns others. He wants to be feared and respected, thus the mask. He is still fighting the call to the light, the call to compassion towards others. The call to WANT to be loved. He is still a child who feels unloved and unwanted by his parents. This is why his action to kill Han was so painful, because his father was before him expressing that love he felt he was not given. Telling him they wanted him back, accepting him, missing him. These were the things he really wanted, but in the end could not accept.
And yet, there's his interaction with Rey, where he clearly is reaching out to another, making a risk at establishing a personal connection. Which is why their relationship seems so intriguing. He's drawn to her in a way that pulls him out of himself. And it's not exactly clear yet why that is*.
*Unless you're a Reylo shipper, then you know, it's obvious why that's happening.
Rey/Kylo relationship and Rey/Kylo/Finn dynamics are probably best left for another blog post. I've probably rambled on enough.
