ST New Canon Materials (novels, TV shows, comics, games) and Episode IX - SEE WARNING ON PAGE 41

“Resentment of his family’s legacy”

 

I will say that this could feel like leaning into what actually makes Kylo work - and Ben Solo a waste of time - by playing up his loathsomeness, petulance, and general unsympathetic nature in a “Watch this ******* be a ******* and hate him,” type of story…

…But then you’ve got Soule’s previous work with him, and his interview about the book and the marketing behind it, and it just seems so frustrating.

Why should I - or a Rey, or a Finn, or a Luke, or a Han, or a Leia fan - give a single damn about Kylo “lying to himself” about how much of a ******* he is?

Because that’s the issue - regardless of whether he’s got a worse or better idea of himself, what he is even at his most basic level is a pathetic but vile narcissist as written by almost all of his creator-fans - who just seem ignorant that what they’re writing is a vile narcissist, because they seem to have blinders on about how anyone with different priorities for characters views, and generally seem to just assume that Kylo/Ben really *is* what the world revolves around.

They keep on writing his conflict centered around his own opinion of himself, denying him the ability to display any actual empathy he must ignore, or any level self-awareness, and while stridently avoiding how heroes or victims will see him save for a bare few moments here and there…

…And all while that TROS adaptation preview page reminds me that “Rey, main character of the ST, gets trained by Leia, last of the OT3” is just as seemingly uninteresting to LFL’s partnership with Marvel as literally anything that Finn could be doing.