ST Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) in Episode IX

Emotional detachment. Familial legacy pressures. Psychological instability. Suspected betrayal.

Explains why he struggles with the pull to the light. Like he subconsciously knows he has issues he can’t address

 

My guess is he was struggling to live up to the legacy of his parents and uncle which put him in a weak state of mind which Snoke then took advantage of. Also maybe he thought he would have a better chance of living up to Vader's legacy than his parents/Luke.

 

Good question! Also, how did Snoke get to him in the first place if he was under the care of Luke?

 

Well Kylo has a fear of failure, of inadequacy. He fears not being as strong as Vader. He freaks out when Snoke says he failed.

And imaginably that could have been rooted in him even since he was young given that his parents and uncle were the heroes who saved the galaxy. That's a lot of pressure. He basically has the opposite problem to Luke and Rey.

I imagine Snoke offered him an easier path, free of failure, free of the past, etc, where he can truly excel, and so Ben went down that path.

 

Without anything being explained in the two movies out so far, i'm going with his douchebag Uncle trying to kill him in his sleep tipped an angsty young hothead over the edge.

 

It isn't the story being told.

I do think these new films have made people re examine the nuance of anakins turn, though.

 

The last two yes, but aren't the first two just speculation? We don't have any evidence of that.

Part of the issue is that we are supposed to somehow feel sorry for Ben but we have no basis for it. Both Han and Leia said it was all Snoke. Well Snoke is gone, so the corruption remains.

But it is. It really really is. We're supposed to believe that Kylo is redeemable and is conflicted. Without a context for his turn, we have no real buy-in for his turn NOR for his connection to Rey. Likewise, there's no foundation for understanding Kylo in Rey.

 

I think this movie portrayed him as his own character and not a vader wanna be.

 

He found out late in life he’s the grandson of Darth Vader, the most hated man in the galaxy. There’s your pressure.

 

Merged from what? I'm lost....

 

Ah, makes sense. I'm reading on my phone so I am only seeing bits and bobs.

 

I'm also seeing that Kylo is getting a lot of love after TLJ, even from people who didn't like the movie overall. Very different from how polarized the discourse around him was post TFA.

 

Exactly. Never did I imagine that the only new Skywalker in the sequels would be evil. It's pretty depressing.

 

Going back a few posts to the discussion about AD in other movies. I just saw him in a 2010 Law and Order episode. It had such Kylo Ren foreshadowing. First there's the obligatory angst and anger. But then he literally said "He's nobody. Nobody!" I about fell out of my chair.

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Well, he was already close to the dark side.

 

Kylo’s version of events is embellished. Luke didn’t stand over him with an angry glare, moments from striking him down in rage. When Ben woke up, Luke was stuck in a moment.

 

I don't think Kylo saw it that way...

 

Kylo Ren must die in order to resurrect Ben Solo.
IF Ben wants to make ammends and join Rey (not in the Resistance, this is not what I mean) he needs a sacrifice, not just a sacrifice but THE Sacrifice = needs to lay down his life to save another (possibly Rey's)
In doing so Kylo Ren will die but Ben will come back again because Rey will bring him back. We will discover in the next course of action that Rey has healing powers:

* she is a [former] scavengers used to take spare parts and make them functional, whole again.
* she is left with a broken sword in TLJ - she asks Leia "how can we REBUILD the Rebellion from here?" and Leia says (taking her hands) "We have all that we need" - she will bring the sword back to life.
* she fixed the Millenium Falcon already, part of Ben Solo's legacy

Kylo/Ben are already starting to separate. What we saw as a tortured, conflicted entity not-quite-a-villain who claimed to have killed Ben Solo (but Han said otherwise) is slowly showing two distinct sides. We have glimpses of Ben Solo in the Force Bond with Rey and in the Throne Room switching occasionally with Kylo Ren.
On Crait we see Kylo Ren with Luke and the FO, but Ben Solo kneeling in the salt.
A brilliant analysis of the music score by John Williams by Frank Lehman points out how Kylo's themes are two (three actually), one "aggressive", the other "hesitant", played always together in TFA.
In TLJ John Williams has started to separate the two themes, playing either one or the other, the "aggressive" one becoming a kind of military march of the FO on Crait, the "hesitant" when Kylo shows his insecurities (on Crait when he orders to point all the guns on Luke or kneeling alone in the salt). The same notes just hinted at, but "unfinished", when he's with Rey in the Force Bond.

 

The new films have made me re-examine a lot.

 

Doesn't Kylo telling Hux and by extension the First Order that Rey killed Snoke make Kylo look weak and ineffective?

I can picture Hux saying, "so let me get this straight. You escorted Rey into the throne room in handcuffs and somehow she managed to free herself, kill Supreme Leader Snoke and all of his guards and you couldn't stop her and she managed to escape? Oh and for some reason she spared your life?"

Also wouldn't that seem suspicious?

 

No, because Kylo will answer: "Did you ever hear the tragedy of darth plagueis the wise..."

 

Uh, say wha?

 

If Ben Solo/Kylo Ren is the last Skywalker (and I think he may well be), I've come to terms with it. Let's be honest, watching one family screw up the galaxy again and again would get annoying eventually, anyway.