A friendly reminder that this^ is Ben Solo’s expression after his master tortures his Force Skype™ gf.
COOOOOOOOOOOUGH. We all knew he wasn’t going to put up with that shit.
I can’t stop staring at this.
This is a little detail I missed in my first viewing. That one look is so quick, but holy crap it speaks volumes. That look is blood chilling, cold hearted RAGE… mixed with quite possibly the biggest epiphany of his life.
At the beginning of TFA, Kylo Ren was not above torture himself. Though not as needlessly cruel as Snoke, he mind probed Poe for information, and took his frustrations out on his own subordinates just like Vader did in the OT.
And he’s been on the receiving end of it himself. We see this when he tries to attack Snoke earlier in the movie, and more than likely Snoke abused him and broke him growing up to make him a better sith. To break Ben Solo and remake him as Kylo Ren in his image.
But now he’s not involved. He’s seeing cruelty for the first time from a completely outside perspective, and not just towards anyone, but towards the one person he actually cares about.
And in the moment he becomes, to use the parlance of our times, “woke AF.”
There’s the immediately anger that his loved one is being hurt, anger towards Snoke… and then, probably most importantly, self-loathing. Just like he resented the Jedi and no longer wanted to become them, now he resents Snoke and in this instant is realizing “I could’ve become Snoke later in life.”
And he HATES it all.
I guess… this is another example that love CAN change a person?
P.S. Holy crap is Kylo Ren quickly becoming one of the most complex characters in Star Wars history, and he’s only had two movies so far.
Tag: meta
here i was thinking kylo was going to have trouble keeping himself composed around rey, but rey got all up in kylo’s personal space in the elevator, looked at his lips and softly whispered a little pep talk to him and also got all flustered about seeing his naked chest. girl’s got it bad
It just hit me so hard that both Rey and Kylo had said that the only future they see is with EACH OTHER. Different, but together. I’m a MESS.
And both of them wanted that. Rey literally went after him to bring him back and see this future fulfilled. And he literally begged her to stay with him. I’m dead too.
Rey risked EVERYTHING to get Ben Solo back. She softly whispers how she’ll help him return to the light. She practically promised herself to him!
Kylo’s first line to Rey through the Force Bond is: “You will bring Luke Skywalker to me.” It’s a command, an attempt to use this new connection to find Luke, and it fails miserably. Rey just stands there staring at him and Kylo withdraws his hand, looking down as if he’s embarrassed he even attempted that again with her. This serves a really important signaling function: it tells the audience that while there is a bridge between their minds, the Force Bond cannot be used to manipulate or control the other person. That this is the first message Rian chose to send is so beautiful, because from that moment on, you know that Rey and Kylo are making their own choices and building something real.
Daisy mentioned that their intense loneliness is something that Rey and Kylo Ren have in common and I loved that comment because that’s what triggers their bond every time.
-The first time one has been rejected by Luke and the other shamed by Snoke and they are resting so they -have let their guard down.
-The second time Rey is in a very melancholy setting.
-The third time both feel terribly and neither is in the mood to talk.
-The fourth time Rey is overcome with loneliness and pain and she basically calls to him because she is overwhelmed and NEEDS to understand why he is running away from the one thing she is running towards.
The Dice…and how Han Solo’s sacrifice brought back Ben.
After the first viewing, my husband told me that Kylo Ren was irredeemable. He was now the big bad, went on a new level of crazy and turned off Rey.
The second time, we watched it, we both knew where to focus our attentions so we were more discerning of what we were seeing and listening to.
He now believes Ben Solo is coming back.
My husband’s reasons were simple: Han’s influence on Ben is very strong. Ben is still torn apart. Despite Rey’s rejection, epic meltdown and having been shamed at not seeing past Luke’s trickery – the one thing that brought back Ben’s sanity was Han.
…
Luke picked up the dice when he entered the Millenium Falcon and he projected that same dice later on.
The dice served to be a reminder to Leia and Ben.
For Leia, not to lose hope that Han didn’t lose hope even in his final moments.
But Luke admitted that he couldn’t bring back Ben.
When Kylo Ren, sees the dice – he is once again reminded of his father. And he is still torn apart despite.
It’s ironic, Luke the last of Jedi, caused Ben’s fall into the dark by attempting to kill him before he made a choice to turn dark.
But it was Snoak, the last of the Sith (?) and his order to kill Han Solo, that opened the path to Ben’s return to the light.
…
Han continues to play a very big role in Ben’s redemption. His father allowed himself to be killed and even in his final moments chose to convey how much he still loved his son.
Ben knows this with certainty.
If we are to believe the death of Snoak closed the bond between Rey and Ben – the moment Ben touches the dice, the bond is reignited once more. Perhaps Han and Luke trying to lead Ben to his salvation.
Snoke also mentioned that there’s too much of Han’s heart in Ben. It’s no coincidence.
Han’s sacrifice was not in vain.
“Fueled by the dark side, Ren’s ambition drives him to desire more, to plan on taking the place he thinks he deserves in the First Order. But there’s something else he cannot ignore. He and the scavenger from Jakku share a strange bond in the Force, a mysterious connection whose true nature and meaning Kylo Ren is still attempting to comprehend…”
— Star Wars: The Last Jedi – The Official Collector’s Edition, Kylo Ren
Kylo: [turns around quickly, sees Rey staring at him gloomily]
Kylo: [panicked, quickly gets a hold of himself] you’ll bring Luke Skywalker to me.
Rey: [stays silent]
Kylo: [mumbling] you’re not doing this, the effort would kill you.
Rey: you will pay for what you did!
Kylo: can you see my surroundings? I can’t see yours. [expression softens] Just you.
Rey: [stays silent]
Kylo: so no… this is something else.
I love everything about this scene, but especially the contrast between Kylo and Rey. While she’s all focused to let him know that she’s still mad angry at him, he’s genuinely curious about what is happening to them. At first, he’s scared that this is all Rey’s doing, so he quickly tries to take control of her mind to avoid being controlled in return. But soon, he realizes Rey can’t have the power to do this, or at least she would not risk her life to do such a thing (we all know how it ended for Luke when he projected himself onto Crait…) and gets really curious about the real mechanism behind that vision. If you notice, Kylo is the only one who keeps asking questions throughout the Force Bond moments (“can you see my surroundings?” “why is the force connecting us?”) while Rey just kind of accepts them. It makes me think they really do complete each other lol
“The outlines Rey sees in the mirror are her parents, not herself and kylo”
If you think I wouldn’t recognize the outline of my boyfriend Adam ‘built like a brick shithouse’ Driver, I’m a little offended
She’s asking who her parents are, and she sees the answer of where she can find out – Ben. she already knows who her parents are, and Ben is the one who helps her come to terms with it and stop lying to herself.
That, in addition to the symbolism of the two of them being the figures who join together in the cave of dark sexual mysteries, rather than two strangers who don’t matter, and we have a much richer and complex experience, storytelling wise. it’s Ben and Rey
Important Parallels to remember!In TFA, Kylo just assumes the saber belongs to him. But the Force knows he’s only thinking in one manner, so while there’s a bit of a tug, it eventually goes to Rey. The Force knows that at the moment, she’s the true owner of this saber. Her light, compassion and love is what the darkness needs. She’ll help Kylo to bring balance.
However, in TLJ, the scene changes. The Force knows together they can bring balance of both light and dark to the Galaxy. Not one over the other because just like yin-yang, both light and dark have one another inside of them. But the two of them are missing that point, especially Rey. She thinks that Kylo can be Ben again overnight. That he’ll just turn to her side and all will be good. But that’s not what fate has planned. While she may have brought him hope, Rey missed the message. They both did. That’s why instead of going to her again, it exploded into two pieces.
Yoda knew this and burnt down the tree. Kylo was right in that they need to let old ways go. It’s time for change.
So ultimately, the Force wants them to figure out that they are two halves of the same thing. They can do this. Episode 9 will be about how they will come together to achieve this.
And by the way, is so blatantly obvious that it was the FORCE that created their bond. Thank you, and goodbye.
Reylo Source 