ST Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) in Episode IX

Maybe compassion is not the right word for you and others. I believe the journey Rey follows is firstly hating Kylo in TFA for his crimes. Then having hope he could turn to the lightside as the does not see her strong enough to defeat both Kylo and Snoke. Finally, in IX, now a Jedi, he sees Kylo can do one last thing to compensate all the bad he has done, which is end with the FO, including himself. That does not make the ones he has killed back, but at least implies ending the very evil he helped taking control of the galaxy.

That is, IMO, the most "noble" a character like Vader and Kylo can go realistically.

 

https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/201...fall-and-redemption-of-ben-solo-part-two.html

Very interesting take about how Leia could play out in an emotional send off of the Skywalker family.

 

I really, really hope this is how the ending of IX pans out. I know its just someone's take, but if LFL did indeed adopt an approach like this, it could potentially be the greatest emotional send off for a Star Wars character (or in this case two characters) ever; even beating Vader's/Anakin's in ROTJ and Luke's in TLJ. A send off like this would be really effective if Kylo, even when presented with all of the facts about what has gone on with his family and Snoke's influence, continues to keep slaughtering the innocent, the Resistance, etc. Leia to sacrifice herself and take the unredeemable into the Force would be brilliant.

So much of this article is exactly how I've perceived the dynamics with Ben/Kylo and his family and everything that has evolved through that and Snoke's evil influence.

I hope this is how IX ends - or something like that.

 

You can do a pretty long list of his mistakes and weaknesses in TFA and TLJ: he thought Luke was dead in TLJ, but he came back and saved the rebellion; he thought Leia was dead, but we (and perhaps he) know she survived, and he had spared her in the first place; in TFA he let Finn go in Jakku and didnt kill him in SKB; Rey escaped from him; he killed Han but Han hasnt gone from him; and I suspect that he has made other mistakes or succumbed to 'weaknesses' in the past that only now will come to the light. (The Falcon seems to have been one of them, and he had not seen the ship in more than a decade, before TFA. He has a 'traitor!-esque attitude about the ship)

Kathleen Kennedy: 'When we look at our own lives, it all depends on the choices we’ve made. Kylo Ren seems to have taken many bad decisions, but they aren’t necessarily bad decisions within the context of Star Wars, where they can lead to almost anything'

Etc. Perhaps in IX he will see the common thread to it all and, under the light of certain family revelations, he will recognize the weaknesses as the strengths of his true but forgotten self, as ROTJ Luke would have called it, and will honor all these Kylo Ren mistakes has the hidden intentions of Ben Solo, as Brian Eno would have put it.

 

Any recent paparazzi or appearance photos of Adam?

 

He was at a festival in Mexico. Usual Kylo hair but a short beard instead of clean face.

 

‘Maybe for clarity’s sake, we need Kylo confessing his crimes.

 

Then he can follow it up w/ the Truffle Shuffle!!

 

That's a pretty interesting take, but I don't think JJ is bringing Leia back alive in 9 only to kill her off at the end of the film. If he was doing that, you could just as easily have it that Leia died between 8 and 9, and it's Leia's Force Ghost that appears to a defeated Ben and her ghost that brings him into the netherworlds of the Force...The Force doesn't need to end Leia's life in order to bring Ben into whatever plane of spiritual existence he'd be going to. The Force could just do it on its own.

I think JJ wants Leia alive for a specific reason and that she'll be alive at the end of 9, and live on as the elder leader of the New Republic in future books and comics. What better feel-good moment to end the saga than that? Chancellor Leia Organa.

I believe if he's redeemed, that Ben will live on as well. Again future tales of a good-side Ben Solo post-9 would be big sellers in books, comics, or even animated series, in some instances Mother and Son working together...But if he remains evil, he will die. We won't get a Vader 2.0 with redemption followed swiftly by death.

 

I'd like to see a scene where Ben has a class load of students...

Ben is dressed like Luke on ROTJ...

One of the students questions Ben, Ben looks at the boy seriously and merely moves a finger slightly. The boy is thrown across the room, sliding across the floor and slamming into a wall. The boy gets up gingerly and the class follow Ben/Kylo and draw their lightsabers...

 

If Ben Solo is redeemed and lives this will be the biggest challenge for any Star Wars writer and director. The only way I can see it happening is if they give him a Loki kind of arch. Not a good guy but a guy who has moments of clarity and makes good decisions sometimes.

 

This could be the foundation for a fascinating novel series (I say novels because I suspect Driver would like to step away fro the character after IX)

And I agree with you. I see a redeemed Ben Solo not all light, not all dark but a pragmatic balance striving to not miss the mark and make the right choices in a post IX galaxy.

 

Three options, in my view.

1. Eternal exile from the galaxy, ala the Icelandic sagas. Then he can wander the periphery of known space, trying to atone, but his sins are too great for that. Killing one’s father in cold blood, exactly at the moment the father was showing extreme compassion, simply can’t be atoned for. He’s riddled with guilt for eternity, and does small things to make himself feel better. Then he dies alone on a barren planet.

2. A Loki-style imprisonment for life.

3. A Gollum-style death. He seemed to have repented for a stretch, but ultimately, he was too far gone. He dies trying to hold onto power, and through his selfishness, inadvertently helps the Resistance take down the First Order.

Any conclusion that ends with Kylo and Rey together, in one way or another, is unacceptable to me.

 

Good ideas but #1 is by far the best and, to me, is preferable over both him dying and him being fully redeemed.

 

A lot of people seem to like the exile story choice but that can only work if his force powers are stripped away forever. The Resistance can't just let him roam around free with his powers. He's the Supreme Leader, his crimes against the galaxy can't be ignored and swept under the rug.

 

Yeah, I think something like that would need to be concocted. Like Magneto in the plastic prison. He would need to be without powers.

 

I think Leia will play a part in whatever happens to Kylo.

 

There's actually precedence, and perhaps a little foreshadowing in TLJ for what Kylo may do in exile:

Luke voluntarily cut himself off from the Force before Rey found him.

After all that was what Luke was doing on Ahch-To. Rian Johnson specifically said that Luke Skywalker voluntarily cut himself off from the Force while in exile. Perhaps it was a form of self-imposed punishment. Perhaps he didn't want to feel the suffering that Leia was experiencing.

Johnson explained it this way in the Amazon Prime Video event:

For a redemption to be meaningful, the motivations and actions must come from within and not be something heaped upon someone as a sanction or punishment. Sure, the Republic could exile Kylo Ren and that would be an appropriate sanction for what he has done in the past. It would leave a more open-ended type of close to the character's arc in IX if the franchise chose to explore him in more depth in the future (ie, novels, graphic novels, etc.) And this is something more dynamic than a "throw him in jail" which is a more static ending unless a future story (like Magneto who is referenced in an above post) hinges on a jailbreak.

But for the loss of Force powers to mean anything, it has to come from within, and such a choice from a repentant Ben Solo would really be a powerful choice to me and would point the character in the direction of accountability and rehabilitation.

Those not in favor of redemption often cite that Kylo redeemed would be just another rehash of Vader's ending. But to add this wrinkle to the story--an active choice to live a life of repentance in exile AND live that life as a proverbial muggle would definitely be something vastly different and something that the franchise really has not explored.

We got a hint of it with Luke. He did not seek to be a legend. Perhaps the greatest choice in choosing redemption is for the very privileged Ben Solo to elect to spend the rest of his life as a nobody with no powers. Choosing to become a nobody really would put what he said to Rey in perspective. She becomes the legend, the hero, the everything. He decides to give it all away.

Self-reflection is a powerful plot point and could be a very satisfying close to his story in IX.

 

Luke wasn't the Supreme Leader, Kylo was.

The Resistance can't just take Kylo's word that he will never use his powers again. He doesn't deserve that trust. Luke was the only person who truly forgave Vader. The rest of the galaxy, including Leia, still hated him. I don't see any reason why Kylo will not have a similar public opinion, even after redemption, as Vader.

 

I have heard a rumour (as much as the rumour may be bs) that at the time of EpIX Kylo has been seen by the public as a respectable leader, rather than a brutal tyrant like the Sith were.
So it becomes more a grey area for the Resistance wanting to take out the First Order, when Kylo appears to actually genuinely be keeping the peace and has a lot of the public on his side.
I don't know if they will go with this, but it would raise some interesting questions, and be quite an original twist.

 

And where is this rumor from?

I am LMAO at the thought of Kylo being a "respectable" leader. He was unhinged the last we saw him. But he's got it together and now knows what he's doing? Here's the thing: the Resistance is going to have more people join their side. And it's undoubtedly going to be because Kylo and the FO are tyrants and barbaric. As Pablo once explained, "these are bad people, Britney."

 

Wait, if Kylo is a respectable leader in IX, what the hell are the Resistance fighting against in the movie? Where's the conflict?

 

As confusing as a "benevolent" supreme leader Kylo Ren would be, I also wouldn't be surprised if this ST went that direction for the final chapter. One more head scratcher for us to debate.