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Source : screenrant.com/star-wars-comics-kylo-ren-never-evil-dark-side/
Star Wars has - perhaps unwittingly - proved that Kylo Ren never fell to the dark side at all. Although Kylo Ren considered himself the heir to Darth Vader’s legacy, in truth he never seemed committed to the dark side in the same way his grandfaher was. Even in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren was portrayed as conflicted, aware of the pull of the light side of the Force.
Charles Soule’s The Rise of Kylo Ren has finally revealed how Ben Solo fell under the sway of Supreme Leader Snoke. It’s only three issues in, but the miniseries has already shown Ben Solo’s fateful duel with Luke Skywalker, the destruction of the Jedi Temple, and his recruitment into the Knights of Ren. Surprisingly, though, the story has also confirmed what many Star Wars fans had suspected all along; Ben Solo never really fell to the dark side at all. Where Anakin Skywalker was seduced by the dark side, Ben Solo was instead trapped by it.
Anakin Skywalker is a tragic figure, with his own character flaws leading him to choose the dark side every step of the way. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace touches upon his fear, anger swells within his heart in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, and by the end of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith he has chosen the way of hate. The pattern is exactly the one predicted by Jedi Master Yoda; fear leads to anger, anger to hate, and ultimately Anakin himself - and the entire galaxy - suffer because of his hatred.
But there’s no such descent for Ben Solo, no moment of choice where he embraces the dark side. Rather, every step of the way, the decisions were made for him.
Ben Solo’s Duel With Luke Skywalker
Palpatine seems to have had no conscious awareness of Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, until he was brought from Tatooine by Qui-Gon Jinn. In contrast, he appears to have been interested in Ben Solo since before the boy was born. In Chuck Wendig’s novel Aftermath: Empire’s End, there’s a scene in which Leia uses the Force to sense the child inside her womb, and momentarily becomes aware of a terrifying and malevolent presence watching over her. It only lasted for a heartbeat, and was soon forgotten, but it’s now safe to assume Leia was fleetingly aware of Palpatine himself.
The Rise of Kylo Ren reveals the Emperor’s presence haunted Ben Solo throughout his childhood and into his teenage years, a constant darkness whispering in his ear.
That accords perfectly with Palpatine’s own words to Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, when the Dark Lord of the Sith told Ben he had “been every voice you have ever heard inside your head.” Presumably Palpatine hid his presence from Luke Skywalker in the same way he concealed his inner darkness from Master Yoda and the Jedi Council all those years on Coruscant.
Finally, the moment came, and Palpatine personally orchestrated a fateful duel between Ben Solo and his uncle Luke. The Rise of Kylo Ren makes it abundantly clear Palpatine’s dark presence was at Ben’s side that night, when Luke entered his nephew’s room to watch over him. Although it’s not officially stated, the comic strongly implies Palpatine chose to let the mask slip, allowing Luke to sense the infinite evil of the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. Little wonder Luke reacted on instinct, suddenly aware of an infinite darkness and believing it to be Ben himself. It was probably Palpatine himself who stirred Ben Solo at that moment, and the boy defended himself, goaded into action by the Emperor’s words.
The Destruction Of The Jedi Temple
With Luke Skywalker supposedly slain, the entire galaxy believes Ben Solo then turned on the Jedi and destroyed the Temple, slaughtering all of Luke’s students. Star Wars: The Force Awakens intended this to parallel the sacking of Coruscant’s Jedi Temple in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. There, Darth Sidious tested Anakin Skywalker’s loyalty to the dark side by having him participate in Order 66, sending his new Sith Apprentice to the Temple to slaughter the Younglings personally. It was a horrific indication of Anakin’s descent into the dark side, and he embraced it wholeheartedly. Anakin’s actions at the Jedi Temple were essentially the point of no return, and Obi-Wan Kenobi gave up on any possibility of redeeming him after he watched the footage.
In contrast, though, Ben Solo was no participant in the destruction of a Jedi Temple; The Rise of Kylo Ren reveals Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Temple was destroyed by Palpatine. The Emperor didn’t want to act openly, fearful Luke would be too powerful for him to defeat. But with Luke down, Palpatine unleashed a terrible Force Storm upon the Jedi Temple, killing everyone there. Ben was nothing more than an observer, watching in horror as almost everyone he’d grown up with was slaughtered. He took the blame for what happened when three Jedi who had been offworld arrived, and found him standing there, grief-stricken because he believed he’d just slain his own uncle and was unable to explain the atrocity he’d just witnessed.
There’s a striking contrast between Anakin Skywalker and Ben Solo. Palpatine deliberately provided Anakin with countless moments where he could choose good or evil; the soon-to-be Emperor had stacked the odds in favor of the dark side, but there was a choice nonetheless. But Kylo Ren’s decisions were made almost by default, as he was forced down the path Darth Sidious had chosen for him. His first real moment of choice appears to have come in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when he was confronted by his father, Han Solo. According to the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary, Palpatine intended Han’s death to parallel a Sith initiation ritual, where a would-be apprentice sacrifices someone who matters to them in order to bind themselves to the dark side. It’s quite striking that, all these years after Ben Solo had become his agent, the Emperor still felt the need for an initiation ritual.
But Han Solo sabotaged it. It’s safe to assume the Sith ritual required the unwilling sacrifice, an act of violence that would see the Sith Apprentice abandon their conscience and commit an act of unspeakable evil they could never go back from. Instead, Han seems to have embraced his death, willing to offer his own life if it would ease his son’s pain.
It’s true that this act of patricide was still an act of darkness, but Han’s choice essentially corrupted it by adding an intrinsic element of love.
In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Ben Solo reimagined the conversation, and it played a key part in his finally stepping out of the darkness and into the light. The Emperor’s initiation ritual had completely backfired. There’s a sense, then, in which Han Solo was ultimately Palpatine’s undoing.
Ben Solo never truly fell to the dark side of the Force. Instead, he was imprisoned by it, trapped by the Emperor’s schemes. The idea is implicit in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where Kylo Ren sensed the truth in Han’s words when he declared Snoke would use him and cast him aside; “It’s too late,” he answered, suggesting he would choose the light if he felt able to. And it’s there in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, when Kylo Ren told Rey to “surrender” to the dark side - unwittingly hinting at the relationship he himself had with it, one of conquest and defeat rather than conscious choice.
Importantly, this reframes the end of Ben Solo’s story, because he isn’t a man of darkness redeemed, like his grandfather. Rather, he is a prisoner who was freed by the faith of his parents and the woman who loved him, and who sacrificed himself to free the galaxy and give Rey the gift of a life of freedom.
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