ST Rey & Kylo Ren in Episode IX

Do I think they will end up together in a romantic relationship. Possibly but only if Kylo redeems himself and survives, which he probably will.
Do I want them together in a romantic relationship? Not really like I said the Finn & Rey thread, I would like a main female protagonist who do experience love since it's a part of growing up but choose to be single. Being single does not mean she wouldn't want to ever speak with him again, she will still be a compassionate person and probably side with him if anyone tries (understandably) to constantly bring up the past against him (which is in the case he gets redeemed, survives and actually wants to atone for what he did). I also do not believe what TLJ planted the seeds of a healthy romantic relationship, at least if that's what they're going for -- the you're nothing but not to me line *shudder* -- and before anyone ask, no I do not think showing healthy romantic relationship in SW is "boring" see also Kanan and Hera in Star Wars Rebels for a magnificent portrayal of a long-term romance. If they want to make me believe their romance will be long-term then I need to see something I can buy into and relate to and no, lovingly looking into each other's eyes won't make it more believable to me.

Like the end of TLJ showed, they still have this connection thing going on so maybe it will continue and this time someone gives him a chance to redeem himself (preferably Leia mostly, which I think was the original plan and I would have liked to see it because to me family (biological or not) is above all else, it is the heart of SW and part of why I still watch it today).

Do I want Rey to be the one to "fix" him? Absolutely not. SHE can help him reassess his life like his own father tried and HE has to be the one to make the decisions which is why I do not consider him refusing to side with Rey to be Rey's failure but Kylo's and his alone. Whatever he decides, that will be ultimately up to him to choose his fate. Do I want them to say "**** it, let's leave them and go together"? It's a possibility but more likely to happen in a SW parody than in the actual movies.

Do I want Kylo in a romantic relationship? Not really, I think him just living on his own with his new found friends and figuring things out together and THEN maybe finding love on the way or him being judged for his crimes and having to actively prove them wrong will make a much more interesting story to me than simply having the two of them being like a happy couple settling together. I certainly won't buy it if they tell us the galaxy as a whole will forgive him. I also don't like the idea of him training the new generation of Jedi. Maybe if he crosses one or many on the way, he can tell them his story as a cautionary tale for the future generation (until his generation screw things up again anyway).

In other words, based on what they showed us so far, I would prefer they take things slowly meaning not end up together as a couple at the end of IX. They will understand each other better, they can officially become friends based on what he does and then maybe something more and show a glimpse of wherever they end up in the last scene of the movie? Or they can remain friends as well, nothing wrong with that. Or they can end up as a couple with no one understanding why. Rey not existing in a vacuum I'll take into account that she's mainly written by male writers and having watched, read enough stories with female characters, I notices some patterns so I guess we'll see where it goes for this one but so far it's mostly a mixed bag for me.

 

John Boyega shared a Reylo manip on Instagram:

 

And liked by RJ.

 

Ah, but can Daisy perform the lipstick trick? so that Adam can gripe her out for no reason

 

It was banner year at the Solo house!

 

I disagree. I'd say it's more common and generic for the conflicted, young male villain to be redeemed or to be kept alive so that he can appear in future movies. It's a lot more daring, empowering, and (dare I say) feminist for Rey to realize that Kylo has already gotten two chances at redemption, refused them both, and that it's not her job to risk her life to fix him.

Like many heroes, Rey has a fatal flaw: She idealizes people. She sees good in them that isn't there. She spent most of her life on Jakku because she thought her parents cared about her and would eventually return. Similarly, she tried to help Kylo because she thought there was good in him that wasn't actually there. Her story is the story of an abuse victim learning to cut toxic people out of her life rather than forgiving them and giving them more opportunities to hurt her.

 

Thing is this trilogy isn't just about Rey. you know Kylo is meant to be a main character so his fate will be decided apon based on his character and not based on Reys

 

Villains actually aren't redeemed and are killed in most stories. I would say redeeming a villain is now more daring than ever.

 

Even though we've been there and done that in this franchise before?

 

I'm not going to lie I'd watch this movie.

 

aren't you just against redemption period?

Every post of yours I've read has been about Kylo being seen in the most evil light possible and has been rather anti-redemption. Is that simply because a redemption happened in Star Wars before?

 

I’d totally watch this movie.

 

And we've also been there and done that with villains dying unrepentant in this franchise; wash, rinse, repeat.

As long as they keep, Don't You (Forget About Me)!!! Also; how about Ben Mendelsohn as the principal??

 

I mean you can't have any type of Breakfast Club if you don't have that.

 

I mean...

 

Partially because it's already been done in the main Saga. However, the main reason is the first two movies have done a bad job setting up a redemption story. If we were to get that, Episode 9 would have to do the heavy lifting, and that's way too fast on paper. Besides, Kylo's main story arc has not been his struggle with the light, but his quest to become the best darksider he can be. His final fate should tie into his story arc, not be a total change of gears for a "happy ending."

If nothing else, we've already covered the redemption ground in TLJ and having a cop out would undermine the story we've gotten so far.

 

His final fate can tie into the story arc with any outcome. Anyway, this isn't the Kylo redemption thread.

 

Also, redeeming a villain that gets to live would be very different from what we've seen so far. What do we know about Ben Solo before he became Kylo Ren? Not very much, since he was merely a student at the time that he fell. He grew up during a time of peace and wasn't a hero that we know of, which sets him apart from Anakin. So he still has that ahead of him possibly, assuming he is redeemed and not immediately killed off afterward.

 

Yeah, I don't really understand the idea that Kylo being redeemed would be an automatic redo of Vader. All they have to do is keep the character alive and show/write about his journey afterward and that would immediately make it different.

Whether Adam would do another movie or not, there are always the novels/comics and other media to continue the character's story - and he's popular enough that it would make smart business sense to do so.

 

“Showing/writing about his journey afterward” though, sounds like Kylo would get off with a mere” slap on the wrist” and then go on his merry way to live his life however he sees fit. I truly hope that they don’t go in that direction. Where is the justice for all of his victims in that scenario? He deprived them of the very life to live, why does he deserve to live freely after that? In my opinion, death or life in a maximum security prison would be the only viable options whether he is redeemed or not.

 

One way to do it:

In IX Rey could be tempted to a) the dark side (Luke in ROTJ) and b) to not helping Ben (Obi-Wan in ROTS)
In IX Ben could be tempted to 1)full evil (Anakin to Obi-Wan at the end of ROTS:"I hate you!") and 2)asking for help (Anakin and the end of ROTS, same scene, unused footage: "help me, master")

For example, Rey going into a brief a) in the first act and into b) at the high point of the film, while he is divided between 1 and 2 in the end, having experienced a Bespin reveal in the first act.

Or some other thing. More people (preferably alive and belonging to a past both Rey and Ben/Kylo could share) are needed than just him and her in order to articulate this type of thing, of course. The Leias and Padmes and Shmis of IX.

 

Well, we're coming at this from two different angles - from a storytelling angle, jail just exists for ongoing characters to break out of or be released from to help with a bigger threat - because keeping a character in fictional jail is basically dead end storytelling.

Take Loki - he was in prison for his crimes on Earth in Thor 2 and a storyline was written to have him broken out by Thor because Marvel was continuing to use the character. And he started on the antihero path a bit. He killed countless people in Avengers and Coulson (I would argue the only kill that really mattered to a large portion of the audience because of the audience investment in Coulson, like I would argue similar for Han), and yet he was on Thor's team in Ragnarok and now Marvel is giving him his own series, where presumably, he'll be the main character and protagonist.

Another example - Regina from Once Upon a Time. She killed countless people (mostly nobodies, but there were a couple of developed characters) as the Evil Queen but they evolved the character from the villain, to the antihero to a hero. And she was first and foremost the reason I watched.

I would argue that there are likely plenty of fans who would follow a post-IX Kylo journey. I think it would be interesting to see him in exile or on a journey of self discovery where he tries to make up for his actions.

If the trilogy ends with Kylo in jail, I could very well see a situation where he's released or is broken out, and to bring this back to Kylo and Rey, I could see them coming back together in the future, whether he's locked up or goes into exile.

I don't always need to see a real life ending to a fictional story.

 

Well, I guess i would rather he be killed off then, either in sacrificing himself for others or dying unredeemed, because I really don’t like it in real life or in fiction when someone who commits great evil gets a “pass” and gets a full and happy life that his/ her victims didn’t get. I definitely do not want to see rey and Kylo getting together. I truly hope rey is smarter than that. She deserves better than to end up with a mass murderer who killed many, many people, including his own father.

 

@ScreamingWoman2019 By the last paragraph you mean Kylo threatening to kill Finn, or Force Ghost Luke visiting Kylo and Rey individually to dissuade them?

Yeah, I know Luke is "dead", but you know.